Sunday, 29 June 2014

As mentioned in my last post I had completed the GHQ shovel.

Whilst not a hard kit to put together the real tricky bits are the pistons that control the arm as these can be a real headache to get correct.

having said that this kit has turned out ok.

A spray of Tamiya Bright Orange, a coat of dull coat and a wash with Van dyke Brown oil paint and a couple of light applications of Tamiya Panel Line Accent Paint and its ready to sit in the construction area.

Now that all of these GHQ kits are almost complete I have decided that a small asphalt paved area needs to be made adjoining the Augusta East yard tracks.

This is a nothing area and as it was completed many years ago it is indeed in need of an upgrade.

After the unit was sprayed Bright Orange I painted the tracks rust with a light dry brush of silver followed by a wash of black.

And this is the area beside the Augusta East yard tracks where the units will be housed once the area goes through its makeover.

I also had most of the crew over on Friday night for one of my regular last Friday of the Month operating sessions.

As it was two months since the last (we were on vacation when the May session was planned) I thought I should clean the track and loco wheels.

I'm very pleased I did as I was surprised that the track was a bit grimy but it was the locos wheels that really surprised.

For too many years to recall I have been using Zippo Lighter fluid to clean my track and wheels as too have many of my friends.

I have recently purchased some new cotton cloth from the local Spotlight store only this time found some much thinner than that I was using previously.

Obviously the last lot of cloth was just too thick as when using the new lot my wheels have never looked better.

I am surmising that the old cloth was not getting right into the radius of the wheels and thus leaving a large amount of gunk in place.

The new cloth looked really dirty with really black track marks where the dirt had come off the wheels after cleaning the locos.

Strong evidence that I should have been checking better and something to put in the memory bank.

Here is a few shots of the ops session, apologies for those not represented

Big John at the dispatchers desk.

John is the proud owner of the SF Boise City Sub.

Little John at Augusta (he's not really that tall) Owns the UP Oregon Sub.

Barry at Hackney pondering his next move with the Aug /Hac /Aug Grain.

Barry purchased Thompson River Canyon from Vic and Myself several years ago.

Greg ( he owns the L&N Knoxville division ) is at Ponca City pondering his next move with the Fln / Pon / Fln Sweeper.

There is not a lot of room to move at Ponca so one has to think very carefully about how to achieve the move and not hold up the main.

You can just make out Vic's cap, he was just departing with the Fln / Aug Through freight.

Dennis is in the process of building a very fine N Scale layout whilst Noel is the owner of the West Coast Mining RR in N scale.

Ron (the owner of the GC&SF RR ) is watching over the dispatchers shoulder.

Me, well I was the dispatcher for a while and Mr Fixit for the rest of the night.

Tuesday, 24 June 2014

I thought it was about time to get back and add another post since its been quiet a while since my last post.

Winter has set in here in Melbourne gusts of wind yesterday up to 125 kilometers an hour 10 degrees C with a wind chill down to 4 degrees so apart from driving up to Brisbane and back four weeks ago not that much has been happening as we have been staying in doors.

I am however working on some recently purchased GHQ kits.

A shovel, Low loader, a D8Cat bulldozer, a Cab over Freightliner and another Grain Trailer. (

Well you cannot have enough grain trailers in Kansas).

The shovel is complete including painting, the low loader is well under way as too the bulldozer.

I have sprayed this with Tamiya Brilliant Orange, Dullcoated then a wash of VanDyke Brown.

More bits to add to this

Apart from these I have been weathering some more locomotives.

John a good friend and I attended the Plastic Modellers Exhibition held over the long weekend in June.

It is always worth a visit to see how folk model plastic planes, ships, trucks and cars along with the military modellers who always impress.

Some of the models on display were outstanding with just so much detail.

I have always enjoyed looking at the military models.

The way they can make these models look just so realistic is amazing.

So I have often wondered why the military modelers and model railroad modelers haven't got together to share ideas I think we could learn a lot more about how to weather our locomotives and rolling stock.

Then there is the vast range of paints and powders that are available that the military modelers have available to help create such masterpieces.

A weathering clinic was about to start so John and I grabbed a front row seat and watched as this young fellow rusted up the back of a pre-painted tank using Tamiya panel line paint and weathering powders.

Granted it is a larger scale than I am accustomed to but I thought that some of these techniques could be applied to my locos.

The panel paint comes in three colours, Black, Dark Brown and Brown so I purchased one bottle of each.

So far I have used mostly the Black and Dark Brown in the grills and fans on about 6 locomotives.

This makes the job of blackening the grills so fast it is done in minutes.

You might recall in my last post that it took me about one hour to mask up one Alco Locomotive to spray the grills on a locomotive I was spraying for a friend.

Well that job is history I will be using this technique from now on.

Here is a shot of a highly weathered SD 45 that I had previously painted and decaled for the failed merger between the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific RR's.

I had previously dulled down the body of the loco with a light spray of flat white and thought this would be a good candidate for a test run.

I used the Tamiya Panel Paint on the grills, fans, truck side frames and around the roof and the roof mounted air conditioner.

I applied the panel paint very carefully in small amounts around the doors and door latches, around the turbo shroud and around the battery box doors.

It is hard to see the difference in my rather poor images however on the RR it looks fantastic, I am very pleased.

I also added some Pan Pastel rust powder along the roof and on some of the fans and grills.

A small dab of rust under the battery box and she was ready to put back into service, shabby but now she really looks like she has well and truly earned here keep on the SFRSD.


Q:

Objective-C Time Delay

I want to be able to execute a delay every time that a function loops through a loop.

I already have a loop setup, as shown below:
for (float batteryPercentage = 1; batteryPercentage <= 0; batteryPercentage -= 0.01)
    {
        double timeUntilNextDegreeDrop = 9.0;
        dispatch_time_t time = dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, (int64_t)(timeUntilNextDegreeDrop * NSEC_PER_SEC));
        dispatch_after (time, dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^(void)
        {
            [batteryLevel setProgress:batteryPercentage animated:YES];

            float batteryLevelPercentage = batteryPercentage * 100;
            batteryLevelLabel.text = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"Battery Level: %f%%", batteryLevelPercentage];
        });
    }

batteryPercentage is the variable that I am trying to decrement from 1 to 0 by 0.01 every 9 seconds until the value reaches 0.

The total length of the program should be 900 seconds (15 minutes).

Every 9 seconds, I want this code to execute every nine seconds and to change the value of the UIProgressView called batteryLevel.

Then, I want to multiply batteryPercentage by 100, to get a whole percentage number, such as multiplying 0.67 to get 67, then replace the batteryLevelLabel text with the new value.

When I try and execute this, the batteryLevel Progress View simply doesn't fill and the text doesn't change.

I'm assuming there's something wrong with the timer, so what would be a more effective way of inputing a 9 second delay?

A:

try with nstimer as suggested
[NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:9.0
target:self
selector:@selector(targetMethod:)
userInfo:nil
repeats:YES];

//targetMethod will be called every 9 second
//call
[myTimer invalidate]; myTimer = nil; when your task is done


Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the conversion of methane to C4+ products in high yields, and, in particular, to methods and systems for the steady state conversion of methane to C4+ aliphatic products in high yields using an integrated recycle reactor.

Description of the Background
Several recent studies have demonstrated that product yields approaching 70% may be achieved during the oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) by employing a recycle reactor with continuous removal of ethylene (Y. Jiang et al.,

A: Gen. 155:L1-L7, 1997; A. Mashocki, Appl.

The ethylene may either be directly separated from the recycle stream or it may be converted to another product, which is subsequently separated.

As an example of the former, Ag+ ions have been used to facilitate the transport of ethylene and a small amount of propylene through a membrane contactor.

The olefins were recovered in nearly pure form by heating the aqueous silver-olefin complexes to 100xc2x0 C. As an example of the second alternative, the ethylene was converted to aromatics (mainly benzene and toluene) over a Ga/H-ZSM-5 zeolite.

The aromatics were separated from the recycle stream by cryogenic means.

However, in both of these cases, chemicals rather than fuels were produced.

With respect to the utilization of methane in large remote gas fields, it is desirable to form a liquid transportation fuel that has a minimal amount of aromatics.

A two-step process for converting methane to liquid hydrocarbons in the gasoline range using oxidative coupling over a catalyst, followed by passing the product stream over a solid acid catalyst has been described (U.S. Pat.

However, this process does not recycle unreacted methane and ethane and produces products in low yields.

There is therefore a need for systems and methods for converting methane in high yields to C4+ nonaromatic hydrocarbons.

The present invention overcomes the problems and disadvantages associated with current strategies and designs and provides systems and processes for converting methane in high yields to C4+ nonaromatic hydrocarbons, producing high yields of hydrocarbons in the C4+ range.

Accordingly, one embodiment of the invention is directed to a process or method for producing C4+ aliphatic hydrocarbons in high yields from methane comprising the steps of: providing a stream of methane and a stream of O2; conveying the stream of methane and stream of O2 to an oxidative coupling reactor (OCM reactor), for the oxidative coupling of methane; converting the methane to ethylene and other by-products in the oxidative coupling reactor, thereby forming an ethylene-containing product stream; conveying the ethylene-containing product stream to a catalytic reactor; oligomerizing the ethylene in the catalytic reactor by reacting the ethylene over an acidic pentasil zeolite catalyst to produce an end product-containing stream, the end product-containing stream comprising hydrocarbons having four or more carbons; removing the hydrocarbons having four or more carbons from the end product-containing stream leaving an effluent stream; and recycling the effluent stream through the oxidative coupling reactor.

Another embodiment of the invention is directed to a process or method for producing C4+ hydrocarbons in high yields from methane comprising the steps of: reacting methane and O2 in an oxidative coupling reactor to produce a first product stream, the first product stream comprising ethylene; reacting the first product stream in a catalytic reactor in the presence of an acidic pentasil zeolite catalyst to produce a second product stream, the second product stream comprising C4+ hydrocarbons; removing C4+ hydrocarbons from the second product stream leaving an effluent stream; and recycling the effluent stream through the oxidative coupling reactor.

Another embodiment is directed to a system for producing C4+ hydrocarbons in high yields from methane comprising: an oxidative coupling reactor, the oxidative coupling reactor adapted to receive methane and O2 and to convert the methane to a first product stream, the first product stream containing ethylene; a catalytic reactor containing an acidic pentasil zeolite catalyst disposed downstream from the oxidative coupling reactor for receiving the first product stream and converting it to a second product stream, the second product stream containing C4+ hydrocarbons; means for removing C4+ hydrocarbons from the second product stream to produce an effluent stream; and means for recycling the effluent stream to the oxidative coupling reactor.

Preferably, the apparatus further comprises means for removing water from the first product stream, means for removing CO2 from the first product stream, and means for removing by-products from the first product stream.

Other embodiments and advantages of the invention are set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part, will be obvious from this description, or may be learned from the practice of the invention.


Q:

Understanding coffescript functions scope and return object kind - while trying to get JSON

I would like to have some function getTagsDict() visible to broder scope, which will be responsible for some GET request to the server and returning dictionary, which can be then easily accesed in loop like:
for k,v of getTagsDict()
For now below code returns some js crap (or at least for js-newbie): http://i.imgur.com/A3YtobD.png
getTagsDict = () ->
    $.get '/notifications/ajax_avalaible_search_tags/', (data) ->
        data
$ ->
    $('#ajax_search_input').on 'keyup', (e) ->
        for k,v of getTagsDict()
            console.log "#{k} and #{v}"

But when doing GET just inside the calling method everything works well:
$ ->
    $('#ajax_search_input').on 'keyup', (e) ->
        $.get '/notifications/ajax_avalaible_search_tags/', (data) ->
            for k,v of data
                console.log "#{k} and #{v}"

QUESTION: How should I use coffee's functions to be globaly and to be utilized as described?

A:

The clue was to build getTagsDict as function with asynchronus ajax call.

It can look for example like this:
getTagsDict = ->

  strReturn = ""

  jQuery.ajax
    async: false
    url: "/notifications/ajax_avalaible_search_tags/"
    success: (data) ->
      strReturn = data

  strReturn


I make a lot of characters, and when I do I want to get all the One Shot Chests and Devotions Shrines.

The only downside was keeping track of all the ones I'd already ticked.

So I decided screw it, I'm sick of using my brain for silly things like "remembering".

So I release the website for anyone else who happens to hate remembering things.

Because the more remembering we have to do the less Grim Dawn we get to play!

The following still needs to be added:

Shrine screenshots

Notes

If you find any problems or see some wrong information feel free to respond and I'll look into it.

Code:

Changelog:20th November 2018:

Updated One-Shot Chests and Quests for Ashes of Malmouth.

20th December 2017:

Updated shrines for Ashes of Malmouth.

One-Shot Chests a WIP because I have to actually find those.

Updated the Special Thanks section on the About change: Massive shoutout to both jajaja and Luzzifus for their direct and indirect support.

28th February 2017:

Renewed domain so the website actually shows now, lel.

Added donation button as suggested by Anyx.

Donations are optional but appreciated and all funds will go towards website maintenance.

21st December 2016:

Added About page which briefly describes the website with all the special thanks relocated to it.

Added nav links for popular fansites and services like GrimCalc, Graceful Dusk, the Discord server, etc.

A lot of these people make great services and deserve thanks too!

21st October 2016:

Fixed typo on Quests page

Removed links to Notes/Misc page - I may get around to finishing these later but there's other more pressing issues for me in the meantime

Added checklists for Quests from Act 1 through 4, including Order of the Death's Vigil, Kymon's Chosen and The Outcast factions.

Fixed counter error in Act 2 Ultimate for Devotion Shrines.

Given how the code works you might see some oddities if you've ticked boxes here already (some boxes might become unticked, some might be ticked).

Ticking/unticking as necessary will fix this.

7th March 2016

Ominous Lair screenshot updated as the entrance has grown legs and moved.

5th March 2016

Massive overhaul of the website.

Added the ability to save multiple characters, as well as changed the way extra difficulties are displayed.

Due to the nature of this update all previous data will have been lost.

26th February 2016

Checkboxes are now saved upon reload.

Rejoice!A "Reset" button is at the top of the page that clear the storage -- PLEASE NOTE THIS WILL REMOVE BOTH CHESTS AND SHRINE DATA.

Darkvale Gate's screenshot has been updated to reflect the chest moving a few inches to the right.


Project Summary/Abstract The proposed project focuses on method of recording and tracking self-administered injectable medications designed to provide support mechanisms the data they need to monitor adherence to medication regimes and intervene when necessary.

Significance: Poor adherence to treatment of chronic diseases is a worldwide problem of striking magnitude with nonadherence rates among developed countries averaging 50%.

Poor adherence and nonadherence are associated with significant societal costs comprising up to 10% of total health care costs, estimated to be upwards of $300 billion in avoidable costs.

While nonadherence support mechanisms have been shown to be effective, the initiation and tailoring of interventions require objective and accurate adherence data.

Hypothesis: We hypothesize that an easy-to-use and accurate method to track patient adherence to self-injectable medication protocols will allow caregivers and clinicians to provide appropriate support and interventions to increase adherence rates.

Specific Aims: To prove feasibility of the proposed system in Phase I, IDL and its collaborators will: (1) consult with an expert advisory panel to establish stakeholder requirements (2) prototype the monitoring system (3) implement the required cloud- based infrastructure and interfaces.


german
aircraft designer and manufacturer
1954
walter extra
walter extra

Context: walter extra

walter extra is a german award-winning aerobatic pilot , chief aircraft designer and founder of extra flugzeugbau -lrb- extra aircraft construction -rrb- , a manufacturer of aerobatic aircraft .
extra was trained as a mechanical engineer .
he began his flight training in gliders , transitioning to powered aircraft to perform aerobatics .
he built and flew a pitts special aircraft and later built his own extra ea-230 .
extra began designing aircraft after competing in the 1982 world aerobatic championships .
his aircraft constructions revolutionized the aerobatics flying scene and still dominate world competitions .
the german pilot klaus schrodt won his world championship title flying an aircraft made by the extra firm .
walter extra has designed a series of performance aircraft which include unlimited aerobatic aircraft and turboprop transports .


klagenfurt , nazi germany

majda vrhovnik

slovene

ljubljana , kingdom of yugoslavia

shot

lojzka

majda vrhovnik.jpg

communist

people 's hero of yugoslavia

espionage

04 may 1945

14 april 1922

klagenfurt , austria

medicine

faculty of medicine , university of ljubljana

majda vrhovnik

Context: majda vrhovnik

majda vrhovnik -lrb- nom de guerre lojzka -rrb- -lrb- 14 april 1922 -- 4 may 1945 -rrb- was a slovene communist and medical student .
she was a member of the district committee of the communist party of slovenia for klagenfurt and was named a people 's hero of yugoslavia after her death .


stanmore , middlesex , england
actress
19 january 1953
linda hayden
linda hayden
linda m. higginson

Context: linda hayden

linda hayden -lrb- born 19 january 1953 -rrb- is an english film and television actress and the sister of actress jane hayden .
she is best known for her roles in 1970s british horror films and sex comedies .


statsend debutdate originalteam debutstadium years birth_date debutteam clubs debutopponent article_title name

round 1 , 1987

east perth -lrb- wafl -rrb-

victoria park

1987 '' ' -- 1993 1994 -- 1995 '' ` total

16 may 1967

collingwood

collingwood brisbane bears

sydney swans

craig starcevich

craig starcevich

Context: craig starcevich

craig starcevich -lrb- born 16 may 1967 -rrb- is a former australian rules footballer who played in the vfl/afl .
he currently works as a fitness trainer .
he was recruited from east perth whom he played 37 games for after he won the 1986 f. d. book medal for being judged their best and fairest player .
on the back of this , he was recruited to collingwood in the vfl .
starcevich made his vfl debut in 1987 with the collingwood football club .
the key position player came off the bench in collingwood 's 1990 premiership side and was a solid contributor during the 1990 afl grand final .
he played 124 games , kicking 162 goals for collingwood before moving to the brisbane bears in 1994 .
he went on to play 20 games for 16 goals for the bears before retiring at the end of 1995 .
following his retirement from afl football , starcevich has become one of the most prominent fitness trainers in the afl , providing his services to the brisbane lions and being part of premiership success with his conditioning work .
in 2006 he was recruited as part of the st kilda football club 's head of training services in an attempt to turn around the club 's large injury list in the 2005 season .
during the 2006 pre-season starcevich adopted a controversial policy whereby players were banned from wearing thongs , citing the fact that they could increase the risk of injuries to feet .
he left the saints before the 2007 season citing `` family reasons '' .
in march 2007 , starcevich joined a-league team queensland roar as strength and conditioning coach .


bristol , england

8 5 5 1

eastville , bristol , england

1919 1926 -- 1928 1928 -- 1929 1929 -- 1931 1931 -- -- ? 1922 1922 -- 1925 1925 -- 1926

joseph dorville walter

117 55 31 7

23 may 1995

16 august 1895

5 7.5

half back/inside forward/outside forward

all blackburn rovers bristol rovers bath city kingswood hallows cliftonians bristol rovers huddersfield town taunton united

joe walter -lrb- footballer -rrb-

joe walter

all hallows cliftonians

Context: joe walter -lrb- footballer -rrb-

joseph dorville `` joe '' walter -lrb- 16 august 1895 -- 23 may 1995 -rrb- was a professional footballer , who played for bristol rovers , huddersfield town , taunton united and bath city .
he was the last surviving player to play under herbert chapman while at huddersfield .
walter 's early footballing experience came while serving in the gloucestershire regiment during the first world war , when he represented the third battalion of the `` glorious glosters '' , before joining horfield united in the horfield area of his home city of bristol .
after a year playing in the bristol and suburban association football league , he joined his first professional team in 1919 when he signed for bristol rovers .
later in life he worked as a groundsman , firstly for the bristol co-operative society , before taking responsibility for bristol city 's ashton gate pitch in 1955 .
he was later appointed as an assistant coach at his former club , bristol rovers , in 1960 when he was aged 65 .
in huddersfield 's final game at leeds road , against blackpool on 30 april 1994 , he was the guest of honour .
he was also present for town 's visit to bristol rovers ' twerton park .
on 5 november 1994 , he made english football history as he became the oldest living professional player at 99 years , on the death of former brighton & hove albion player zillwood march in his 102nd year .


tony steratore

tony steratore

nfl official -lrb- 2000 -- '' present '' -rrb-

Context: tony steratore

tony steratore has been an american football official in the national football league -lrb- nfl -rrb- since the 2000 nfl season , who wears uniform number 112 .
he currently works as a back judge .
for the 2015 nfl season , steratore is the back judge on the officiating crew headed by referee jerome boger .
he is a native of the pittsburgh suburb of washington , pennsylvania .
-lsb- http://www.postgazette.com/pg/12033/1207550-66.stm] referee gene steratore jr. is his younger brother .
his father , gene steratore sr. , was an official in both college football and basketball .
he officiated two super bowl games , which were super bowl xxxix in jacksonville , florida , and super bowl xlvi in indianapolis .
outside of his nfl officiating duties , tony steratore is the president of steratore sanitary supplies in washington , pennsylvania ; his younger brother gene is vice-president .


since my dad is a mechanic we had mostly car books .


i am so sorry ! my parents died as well . they were very unhealthy so i am vegan .


we do not , our apartment is way too small for a pet .


i work as a receptionist at a lawyers office .


that is cute . my girlfriend is pregnant , we do not have any pets .


Paulina: we're approaching the town
Amy: where are you?
Jesus: waiting at the platform, no worries

Paulina and Amy are reaching the town. Jesus is waiting at the platform.


Ray: It was awesome, thank you all!
Amy: <3
Garry: Thank youuuu, it was so much fun. I'm sorry I couldn't stay longer. Hugs for everyone :D
Amy: (Y)
Paula: I agree with Garry. It short yet intense :D it was so good to see everyone, and you Amy. Again happy happy birthday, NOT relatively good as Artie wrote hahaha
Amy: :D
Kris: We also had so much fun :D Thank you so much :D it was super cool to get to know Amy's friends :) P.S. standing ovation for choral performances :)
Amy: <3
Rory: I also wanna thank you Amy. Unfotunately, "boogers" didn't allow us to stay longer.
Amy: :D
Paula: Did you catch a cold rory? haha :D

Amy's birthday party gets great feedback from Ray, Garry, Paula, Kris and Rory. Some people like Rory or Garry had to leave earlier.


Veki: Are they finished their job?
Meki: No, they are playing right now.
Veki: Who is the better?
Meki: Rada is the best, then Radmila and at the end is Gorjana.
Veki: which game they are playing?
Meki: Canasta game.
Veki: do you know to play a Canasta?
Meki: No, I do not like to play cards.
Veki: Why?
Meki: For me, playing a cards is rather losing i nice time.
Veki: Hm.
Meki: It is better to read something actual rom news papers or from some Internet blogs.
Veki: You are right.
Meki: Good bye, I love you.
Veki: I love you too. Good bye.

Meki is watching Rada, Radmila, and Gorjana play Canasta. Meki prefers reading to playing cards.


Anne: <file_photo>
Nick: Wow, what's that?
Anne: You remember the curry wurst you brought me from Berlin?
Nick: Yeah, how was it?
Anne: Frankly? I've just thrown it away and used the jar as a pot for this lovely hyacinth!
Nick: You're not only creative, but also have green fingers, wow!

Anne didn't eat the curry wurst Nick brought her from Berlin. She disposed of it and used the jar as a flower pot.


Josef: join me today
Bryan: where?
Josef: i will be selling my products in the old town
Bryan: oh, wow
Josef: yeah, there is a market of local products and i go there with my cheese
Bryan: so i will help ypu
Josef: you dont need to i just want you to be there with me :)

Josef will be selling his cheese at a market in the old town and wants Bryan to join him.


Hank: Mom were out of ice cream
Fay: Is this your way of asking for more?
Hank: Mom please!
Fay: you have money you can go to the store
Hank: yeah but youre going anyway
Fay: and you wonder why your sister is our favourite


Rob: can you man the calls today
Sue: fine all day?
Rob: well I have the meeting in Plymouth so will probably be out of the office most of the day
Sue: ok thats fine, what time is the meeting?
Rob: need to be in the centre of Plymouth for about 11.30
Sue: no worries.. let me know how you get on
Rob: will do should be a good little job ongoing
Sue: great will we get Graham Mason on that?
Rob: yes I think so we can start after the new yer

Rob has a meeting in Plymouth at 11.30 and asks Sue to man the calls today. Rob expects a good job, engage Graham Mason in the job and start it after the New Year.


Roc: I spy with my little eye
Will: Who is this?
Roc: It's Roc!
Will: I'm sorry, but I think you got the wrong number.
Roc: Oops, really sorry.
Will: No problem :)


Do booster shots have side effects worsen than the second shot ?


the vaccine has side effects?


booster vaccine leaves worse side effects than first and second doses


because the second dose of the covid-19 vaccine is higher in side effects


really the side effects are worse after the first injection?


Will the second injection have fewer effects than the side effects of the vaccine?


because the second dose of the vaccine causes more side effects in people


Are the side effects of the booster worse than those of the second


Does the booster have stronger side effects?


Update imagenet gate

_The documentation is not available anymore as the PR was closed or merged._


Dataset Viewer issue for [conll2012_ontonotesv5]

dataset-viewer

Related to the dataset viewer on huggingface.co

Thanks for reporting, @jiangwy99.

I guess this could be addressed only once we fix our issue with irresponsive backend endpoint.

CC: @severo

### Link

https://huggingface.co/datasets/conll2012_ontonotesv5

### Description

Dataset viewer outage.

### Owner

No


Improve language tag for PIAF dataset

Hi,

As pointed out by @lhoestq in this discussion (https://huggingface.co/datasets/asi/wikitext_fr/discussions/1), it is not yet possible to edit datasets outside of a namespace with the Hub PR feature and that you have to go through GitHub.

This modification should allow better referencing since only the xx language tags are currently taken into account and not the xx-xx.


[TypeError: Couldn't cast array of type] Cannot process dataset in v2.2.2

bug

Something isn't working

And if the problem is that the way I am to construct the {Entity Type: list of spans} makes entity types without any spans hard to handle, is there a better way to meet the demand? Although I have verified that to make entity types without any spans to behave like `entity_chunk[label] = [[""]]` can perform normally, I still wonder if there is a more elegant way?

## Describe the bug
I am trying to process the [conll2012_ontonotesv5](https://huggingface.co/datasets/conll2012_ontonotesv5) dataset in `datasets` v2.2.2 and am running into a type error when casting the features.

## Steps to reproduce the bug
```python
import os
from typing import (
    List,
    Dict,
)
from collections import (
    defaultdict,
)
from dataclasses import (
    dataclass,
)
from datasets import (
    load_dataset,
)

@dataclass
class ConllConverter:

    path: str
    name: str
    cache_dir: str

    def __post_init__(
        self,
    ):
        self.dataset = load_dataset(
            path=self.path,
            name=self.name,
            cache_dir=self.cache_dir,
        )

    def convert(
        self,
    ):

        class_label = self.dataset["train"].features["sentences"][0]["named_entities"].feature
        # label_set = list(set([
        #     label.split("-")[1] if label != "O" else label for label in class_label.names
        # ]))

        def prepare_chunk(token, entity):
            assert len(token) == len(entity)
            # Sequence length
            length = len(token)
            # Variable used
            entity_chunk = defaultdict(list)
            idx = flag = 0
            # While loop
            while idx < length:
                if entity[idx] == "O":
                    flag += 1
                    idx += 1
                else:
                    iob_tp, lab_tp = entity[idx].split("-")
                    assert iob_tp == "B"
                    idx += 1
                    while idx < length and entity[idx].startswith("I-"):
                        idx += 1
                    entity_chunk[lab_tp].append(token[flag: idx])
                    flag = idx
            entity_chunk = dict(entity_chunk)
            # for label in label_set:
            #     if label != "O" and label not in entity_chunk.keys():
            #         entity_chunk[label] = None
            return entity_chunk

        def prepare_features(
            batch: Dict[str, List],
        ) -> Dict[str, List]:
            sentence = [
                sent for doc_sent in batch["sentences"] for sent in doc_sent
            ]
            feature = {
                "sentence": list(),
            }
            for sent in sentence:
                token = sent["words"]
                entity = class_label.int2str(sent["named_entities"])
                entity_chunk = prepare_chunk(token, entity)
                sent_feat = {
                    "token": token,
                    "entity": entity,
                    "entity_chunk": entity_chunk,
                }
                feature["sentence"].append(sent_feat)

            return feature

        column_names = self.dataset.column_names["train"]
        dataset = self.dataset.map(
            function=prepare_features,
            with_indices=False,
            batched=True,
            batch_size=3,
            remove_columns=column_names,
            num_proc=1,
        )
        dataset.save_to_disk(
            dataset_dict_path=os.path.join("data", self.path, self.name)
        )

if __name__ == "__main__":
    converter = ConllConverter(
        path="conll2012_ontonotesv5",
        name="english_v4",
        cache_dir="cache",
    )
    converter.convert()

```

## Expected results
I want to use the dataset to perform NER task and to change the label list into a {Entity Type: list of spans} format.

## Actual results
<details>
<summary>Traceback</summary>

```python
Traceback (most recent call last):                                                                                | 0/81 [00:00<?, ?ba/s]
  File "/home2/jiangwangyi/miniconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/multiprocess/pool.py", line 125, in worker
    result = (True, func(*args, **kwds))
  File "/home2/jiangwangyi/miniconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/arrow_dataset.py", line 532, in wrapper
    out: Union["Dataset", "DatasetDict"] = func(self, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/home2/jiangwangyi/miniconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/arrow_dataset.py", line 499, in wrapper
    out: Union["Dataset", "DatasetDict"] = func(self, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/home2/jiangwangyi/miniconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/fingerprint.py", line 458, in wrapper
    out = func(self, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/home2/jiangwangyi/miniconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/arrow_dataset.py", line 2751, in _map_single
    writer.write_batch(batch)
  File "/home2/jiangwangyi/miniconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/arrow_writer.py", line 503, in write_batch
    arrays.append(pa.array(typed_sequence))
  File "pyarrow/array.pxi", line 230, in pyarrow.lib.array
  File "pyarrow/array.pxi", line 110, in pyarrow.lib._handle_arrow_array_protocol
  File "/home2/jiangwangyi/miniconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/arrow_writer.py", line 198, in __arrow_array__
    out = cast_array_to_feature(out, type, allow_number_to_str=not self.trying_type)
  File "/home2/jiangwangyi/miniconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/table.py", line 1675, in wrapper
    return func(array, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/home2/jiangwangyi/miniconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/table.py", line 1793, in cast_array_to_feature
    arrays = [_c(array.field(name), subfeature) for name, subfeature in feature.items()]
  File "/home2/jiangwangyi/miniconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/table.py", line 1793, in <listcomp>
    arrays = [_c(array.field(name), subfeature) for name, subfeature in feature.items()]
  File "/home2/jiangwangyi/miniconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/table.py", line 1675, in wrapper
    return func(array, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/home2/jiangwangyi/miniconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/table.py", line 1844, in cast_array_to_feature
    raise TypeError(f"Couldn't cast array of type\n{array.type}\nto\n{feature}")
TypeError: Couldn't cast array of type
struct<CARDINAL: list<item: list<item: string>>, DATE: list<item: list<item: string>>, EVENT: list<item: list<item: string>>, FAC: list<item: list<item: string>>, GPE: list<item: list<item: string>>, LANGUAGE: list<item: list<item: string>>, LAW: list<item: list<item: string>>, LOC: list<item: list<item: string>>, MONEY: list<item: list<item: string>>, NORP: list<item: list<item: string>>, ORDINAL: list<item: list<item: string>>, ORG: list<item: list<item: string>>, PERCENT: list<item: list<item: string>>, PERSON: list<item: list<item: string>>, QUANTITY: list<item: list<item: string>>, TIME: list<item: list<item: string>>, WORK_OF_ART: list<item: list<item: string>>>
to
{'CARDINAL': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'DATE': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'EVENT': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'FAC': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'GPE': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'LAW': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'LOC': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'MONEY': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'NORP': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'ORDINAL': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'ORG': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'PERCENT': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'PERSON': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'PRODUCT': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'QUANTITY': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'TIME': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'WORK_OF_ART': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None)}
"""

The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home2/jiangwangyi/workspace/work/Entity/dataconverter.py", line 110, in <module>
    converter.convert()
  File "/home2/jiangwangyi/workspace/work/Entity/dataconverter.py", line 91, in convert
    dataset = self.dataset.map(
  File "/home2/jiangwangyi/miniconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/dataset_dict.py", line 770, in map
    {
  File "/home2/jiangwangyi/miniconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/dataset_dict.py", line 771, in <dictcomp>
    k: dataset.map(
  File "/home2/jiangwangyi/miniconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/arrow_dataset.py", line 2459, in map
    transformed_shards[index] = async_result.get()
  File "/home2/jiangwangyi/miniconda3/lib/python3.9/site-packages/multiprocess/pool.py", line 771, in get
    raise self._value
TypeError: Couldn't cast array of type
struct<CARDINAL: list<item: list<item: string>>, DATE: list<item: list<item: string>>, EVENT: list<item: list<item: string>>, FAC: list<item: list<item: string>>, GPE: list<item: list<item: string>>, LANGUAGE: list<item: list<item: string>>, LAW: list<item: list<item: string>>, LOC: list<item: list<item: string>>, MONEY: list<item: list<item: string>>, NORP: list<item: list<item: string>>, ORDINAL: list<item: list<item: string>>, ORG: list<item: list<item: string>>, PERCENT: list<item: list<item: string>>, PERSON: list<item: list<item: string>>, QUANTITY: list<item: list<item: string>>, TIME: list<item: list<item: string>>, WORK_OF_ART: list<item: list<item: string>>>
to
{'CARDINAL': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'DATE': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'EVENT': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'FAC': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'GPE': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'LAW': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'LOC': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'MONEY': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'NORP': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'ORDINAL': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'ORG': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'PERCENT': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'PERSON': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'PRODUCT': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'QUANTITY': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'TIME': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None), 'WORK_OF_ART': Sequence(feature=Sequence(feature=Value(dtype='string', id=None), length=-1, id=None), length=-1, id=None)}
```

</details>

## Environment info
<!-- You can run the command `datasets-cli env` and copy-and-paste its output below. -->
- `datasets` version: 2.2.2
- Platform: Ubuntu 18.04
- Python version: 3.9.7
- PyArrow version: 7.0.0


Dataset should have a `.name` field

enhancement

New feature or request

Hi! You can already use `dset.builder_name` and `dset.config_name` for that purpose. And when it comes to versioning, it's better to use `dset._fingerprint` than the `version` attribute as the former represents a deterministic hash that encodes all the mutable ops executed on a dataset, and the latter stays the same unless it's manually updated after each op.

**Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.**
If building pipelines that can evaluate on more than one dataset, it would be nice to be able to log results of things like `Evaluating on {dataset.name}` or `results for {dataset.name} are: {results}`

Without some way of concisely identifying a dataset from the dataset object, tools which might run on more than one dataset must be passed the dataset object _and_ the name/id of the dataset being used.

**Describe the solution you'd like**
The DatasetInfo class should have a `name` field which is the name of a dataset. then for a given dataset if it evolves in time the `version` can be updated but its different versions of the same dataset with a unique `name`. The name could then all be accessed by `dataset.name`

**Describe alternatives you've considered**
For my own purposes I am considering making `NamedDataset[Dataset]` where the subclass just has a .name field.

**Additional context**
My guess is that most usecases are not working with more than one dataset in a given pipeline so a name is not really needed. This has surprised me though as one of the advantages of a standard dataset interface is to be able to build pipelines which can be passed in a dataset and separate responsibilities of the dataset loading from the train or eval pipeline.


Uncomment logging deactivation for ArrowBasedBuilder

The docs for this PR live [here](https://moon-ci-docs.huggingface.co/docs/datasets/pr_4403). All of your documentation changes will be reflected on that endpoint.


Skip identical files in `push_to_hub` instead of overwriting

Skip identical files instead of overwriting them to save bandwidth and circumvent (user-side/server-side) errors, which can arise when working with large datasets due to long-lasting HTTP connections, by repeating calls to `push_to_hub` to resume an upload.

To be able to check if an upload can be resumed, this PR modifies the shard naming scheme from:
```
data/{split}-[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]-of-[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9].parquet
```
to:
```
data/{split}-[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]-of-[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]-<SHARD_FINGERPRINT>.parquet
```
cc @LysandreJik


"NonMatchingChecksumError" when importing 'spider' dataset

bug

Something isn't working

Thanks for reporting, @OmarAlaaeldein.

Datasets hosted at Google Drive give problems quite often due to a change in their service:
- #3786

Related to:
- #3906

I'm having a look.

We have made a Pull Request to replace the Google Drive URL. This fix will be accessible in our next `datasets` library release.

In the meantime, once the PR merged into master, you can get this fix by installing our library from the GitHub master branch:
```shell
pip install git+https://github.com/huggingface/datasets#egg=datasets
```
Then, if you had previously tried to load the data and got the checksum error, you should force the redownload of the data (before the fix, you just downloaded and cached the virus scan warning page, instead of the data file):
```shell
load_dataset("...", download_mode="force_redownload")
```

## Describe the bug
When importing 'spider' dataset [https://huggingface.co/datasets/spider] an error occurs

## Steps to reproduce the bug
```python
from datasets import load_dataset
dataset = load_dataset('spider')
```

## Expected results
Dataset object

## Actual results
NonMatchingChecksumError: Checksums didn't match for dataset source files:
['https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1_AckYkinAnhqmRQtGsQgUKAnTHxxX5J0']

## Environment info
- `datasets` version: 2.2.2
- Platform: Windows-10-10.0.19041-SP0
- Python version: 3.7.11
- PyArrow version: 6.0.1
- Pandas version: 1.3.5


load dataset wikitext-2-raw-v1 failed. Could not reach wikitext-2-raw-v1.py.

Something isn't working

## Describe the bug
Could not reach wikitext-2-raw-v1.py

## Steps to reproduce the bug
```python
from datasets import load_dataset
load_dataset("wikitext-2-raw-v1")
```

## Expected results
Download `wikitext-2-raw-v1` dataset successfully.

## Actual results
```
  File "load_datasets.py", line 13, in <module>
    load_dataset("wikitext-2-raw-v1")
  File "/root/miniconda3/lib/python3.6/site-packages/datasets/load.py", line 1715, in load_dataset
    **config_kwargs,
  File "/root/miniconda3/lib/python3.6/site-packages/datasets/load.py", line 1536, in load_dataset_builder
    data_files=data_files,
  File "/root/miniconda3/lib/python3.6/site-packages/datasets/load.py", line 1282, in dataset_module_factory
    raise e1 from None
  File "/root/miniconda3/lib/python3.6/site-packages/datasets/load.py", line 1224, in dataset_module_factory
    dynamic_modules_path=dynamic_modules_path,
  File "/root/miniconda3/lib/python3.6/site-packages/datasets/load.py", line 559, in get_module
    local_path = self.download_loading_script(revision)
  File "/root/miniconda3/lib/python3.6/site-packages/datasets/load.py", line 539, in download_loading_script
    return cached_path(file_path, download_config=download_config)
  File "/root/miniconda3/lib/python3.6/site-packages/datasets/utils/file_utils.py", line 246, in cached_path
    download_desc=download_config.download_desc,
  File "/root/miniconda3/lib/python3.6/site-packages/datasets/utils/file_utils.py", line 582, in get_from_cache
    raise ConnectionError(f"Couldn't reach {url} ({repr(head_error)})")
ConnectionError: Couldn't reach https://raw.githubusercontent.com/huggingface/datasets/2.2.2/datasets/wikitext-2-raw-v1/wikitext-2-raw-v1.py (ReadTimeout(ReadTimeoutError("HTTPSConnectionPool(host='raw.githubusercontent.com', port=443): Read timed out. (read timeout=100)",),))
```
I tried to download wikitext-2-raw-v1.py by chrome and got:
![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/20658907/170171595-0ca9f1da-c05a-4b57-861e-9530bfa3bdb9.png)

## Environment info
<!-- You can run the command `datasets-cli env` and copy-and-paste its output below. -->
- `datasets` version: 2.2.2
- Platform: CentOS 7
- Python version: 3.6
- PyArrow version: 3.0.0


LocalDatasetModuleFactoryWithoutScript extracts invalid builder name

Something isn't working

Ok, so
```
os.path.basename("/home/user/")
```
gives `''` while
```
os.path.basename("/home/user")
```
gives `user`.
The code should check if the last char is a slash.

The fix is:
```
"name": os.path.basename(self.path[:-1] if self.path[-1] == "/" else self.path)
```

## Describe the bug
Trying to load a local dataset raises an error indicating that the config builder has to have a name.
No error should be reported, since the call is completly valid.

## Steps to reproduce the bug
```python
load_dataset("./data/some-dataset/", name="some-name")
```

## Expected results
The dataset should be loaded.

## Actual results
```
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "train_lquad.py", line 19, in <module>
    load(tokenize_target_function, tokenize_target_function, {}, tokenizer)
  File "train_lquad.py", line 14, in load
    dataset = load_dataset("./data/lquad/", name="lquad")
  File "/net/pr2/scratch/people/plgapohl/python-3.8.6/lib/python3.8/site-packages/datasets/load.py", line 1708, in load_dataset
    builder_instance = load_dataset_builder(
  File "/net/pr2/scratch/people/plgapohl/python-3.8.6/lib/python3.8/site-packages/datasets/load.py", line 1560, in load_dataset_builder
    builder_instance: DatasetBuilder = builder_cls(
  File "/net/pr2/scratch/people/plgapohl/python-3.8.6/lib/python3.8/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 269, in __init__
    self.config, self.config_id = self._create_builder_config(
  File "/net/pr2/scratch/people/plgapohl/python-3.8.6/lib/python3.8/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 403, in _create_builder_config
    raise ValueError(f"BuilderConfig must have a name, got {builder_config.name}")
ValueError: BuilderConfig must have a name, got
```

## Environment info
- `datasets` version: 2.2.2
- Platform: Linux-4.18.0-348.20.1.el8_5.x86_64-x86_64-with-glibc2.2.5
- Python version: 3.8.6
- PyArrow version: 8.0.0
- Pandas version: 1.4.2

The error is probably in line 795 in load.py:

```
 builder_kwargs = {
     "hash": hash,
     "data_files": data_files,
     "name": os.path.basename(self.path),
     "base_path": self.path,
     **builder_kwargs,
 }
```

`os.path.basename` for a directory returns an empty string, rather than the name of the directory.


Wall St. Bears Claw Back Into the Black (Reuters) Reuters - Short-sellers, Wall Street's dwindling\band of ultra-cynics, are seeing green again.


Carlyle Looks Toward Commercial Aerospace (Reuters) Reuters - Private investment firm Carlyle Group,\which has a reputation for making well-timed and occasionally\controversial plays in the defense industry, has quietly placed\its bets on another part of the market.


Oil and Economy Cloud Stocks' Outlook (Reuters) Reuters - Soaring crude prices plus worries\about the economy and the outlook for earnings are expected to\hang over the stock market next week during the depth of the\summer doldrums.


Iraq Halts Oil Exports from Main Southern Pipeline (Reuters) Reuters - Authorities have halted oil export\flows from the main pipeline in southern Iraq after\intelligence showed a rebel militia could strike\infrastructure, an oil official said on Saturday.


Oil prices soar to all-time record, posing new menace to US economy (AFP) AFP - Tearaway world oil prices, toppling records and straining wallets, present a new economic menace barely three months before the US presidential elections.


Stocks End Up, But Near Year Lows (Reuters) Reuters - Stocks ended slightly higher on Friday\but stayed near lows for the year as oil prices surged past  #36;46\a barrel, offsetting a positive outlook from computer maker\Dell Inc. (DELL.O)


Money Funds Fell in Latest Week (AP) AP - Assets of the nation's retail money market mutual funds fell by  #36;1.17 billion in the latest week to  #36;849.98 trillion, the Investment Company Institute said Thursday.


Fed minutes show dissent over inflation (USATODAY.com) USATODAY.com - Retail sales bounced back a bit in July, and new claims for jobless benefits fell last week, the government said Thursday, indicating the economy is improving from a midsummer slump.


Safety Net (Forbes.com) Forbes.com - After earning a PH.D. in Sociology, Danny Bazil Riley started to work as the general manager at a commercial real estate firm at an annual base salary of  #36;70,000. Soon after, a financial planner stopped by his desk to drop off brochures about insurance benefits available through his employer. But, at 32, "buying insurance was the furthest thing from my mind," says Riley.


Wall St. Bears Claw Back Into the Black  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Short-sellers, Wall Street's dwindling  band of ultra-cynics, are seeing green again.


Abstract: Author(s): Kuperberg, Greg; Thurston, Dylan P. | Abstract: We give a purely topological definition of the perturbative quantum invariants of links and 3-manifolds associated with Chern-Simons field theory. Our definition is as close as possible to one given by Kontsevich. We will also establish some basic properties of these invariants, in particular that they are universally finite type with respect to algebraically split surgery and with respect to Torelli surgery. Torelli surgery is a mutual generalization of blink surgery of Garoufalidis and Levine and clasper surgery of Habiro.

Two other generalizations that can be considered are invariants of graphs in 3-manifolds, and invariants associated to other flat connections @cite_16 . We will analyze these in future work. Among other things, there should be a general relation between flat bundles and links in 3-manifolds on the one hand and finite covers and branched covers on the other hand @cite_26 .

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to construct new topological invariants of compact oriented 3-manifolds and of framed links in such manifolds. Our invariant of (a link in) a closed oriented 3-manifold is a sequence of complex numbers parametrized by complex roots of 1. For a framed link in S 3 the terms of the sequence are equale to the values of the (suitably parametrized) Jones polynomial of the link in the corresponding roots of 1. In the case of manifolds with boundary our invariant is a (sequence of) finite dimensional complex linear operators. This produces from each root of unity q a 3-dimensional topological quantum field theory

Abstract: Recently, Mullins calculated the Casson-Walker invariant of the 2-fold cyclic branched cover of an oriented link in S^3 in terms of its Jones polynomial and its signature, under the assumption that the 2-fold branched cover is a rational homology 3-sphere. Using elementary principles, we provide a similar calculation for the general case. In addition, we calculate the LMO invariant of the p-fold branched cover of twisted knots in S^3 in terms of the Kontsevich integral of the knot.


Abstract: A statistical model for segmentation and word discovery in child directed speech is presented. An incremental unsupervised learning algorithm to infer word boundaries based on this model is described and results of empirical tests showing that the algorithm is competitive with other models that have been used for similar tasks are also presented.

Model Based Dynamic Programming, hereafter referred to as MBDP-1 @cite_0 , is probably the most recent work that addresses the exact same issue as that considered in this paper. Both the approach presented in this paper and Brent's MBDP-1 are based on explicit probability models. Approaches not based on explicit probability models include those based on information theoretic criteria such as MDL , transitional probability or simple recurrent networks . The maximum likelihood approach due to Olivier:SGL68 is probabilistic in the sense that it is geared towards explicitly calculating the most probable segmentation of each block of input utterances. However, it is not based on a formal statistical model. To avoid needless repetition, we only describe Brent's MBDP-1 below and direct the interested reader at Brent:EPS99 which provides an excellent review of many of the algorithms mentioned above.

Abstract: We initiate the probabilistic analysis of linear programming (LP) decoding of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes. Specifically, we show that for a random LDPC code ensemble, the linear programming decoder of Feldman succeeds in correcting a constant fraction of errors with high probability. The fraction of correctable errors guaranteed by our analysis surpasses previous nonasymptotic results for LDPC codes, and in particular, exceeds the best previous finite-length result on LP decoding by a factor greater than ten. This improvement stems in part from our analysis of probabilistic bit-flipping channels, as opposed to adversarial channels. At the core of our analysis is a novel combinatorial characterization of LP decoding success, based on the notion of a flow on the Tanner graph of the code. An interesting by-product of our analysis is to establish the existence of ldquoprobabilistic expansionrdquo in random bipartite graphs, in which one requires only that almost every (as opposed to every) set of a certain size expands, for sets much larger than in the classical worst case setting.


Abstract: We solve the subgraph isomorphism problem in planar graphs in linear time, for any pattern of constant size. Our results are based on a technique of partitioning the planar graph into pieces of small tree-width, and applying dynamic programming within each piece. The same methods can be used to solve other planar graph problems including connectivity, diameter, girth, induced subgraph isomorphism, and shortest paths.

Recently we were able to characterize the graphs that can occur at most @math times as a subgraph isomorph in an @math -vertex planar graph: they are exactly the 3-connected planar graphs @cite_41 . However our proof does not lead to an efficient algorithm for 3-connected planar subgraph isomorphism. In this paper we use different techniques which do not depend on high-order connectivity.

Abstract: Given two graphs @math and @math , the Subgraph Isomorphism problem asks if @math is isomorphic to a subgraph of @math . While NP-hard in general, algorithms exist for various parameterized versions of the problem: for example, the problem can be solved (1) in time @math using the color-coding technique of Alon, Yuster, and Zwick; (2) in time @math using Courcelle's Theorem; (3) in time @math using a result on first-order model checking by Frick and Grohe; or (4) in time @math for connected @math using the algorithm of Matou s ek and Thomas. Already this small sample of results shows that the way an algorithm can depend on the parameters is highly nontrivial and subtle. We develop a framework involving 10 relevant parameters for each of @math and @math (such as treewidth, pathwidth, genus, maximum degree, number of vertices, number of components, etc.), and ask if an algorithm with running time [ f_1(p_1,p_2,..., p_ ) n^ f_2(p_ +1 ,..., p_k) ] exist, where each of @math is one of the 10 parameters depending only on @math or @math . We show that all the questions arising in this framework are answered by a set of 11 maximal positive results (algorithms) and a set of 17 maximal negative results (hardness proofs); some of these results already appear in the literature, while others are new in this paper. On the algorithmic side, our study reveals for example that an unexpected combination of bounded degree, genus, and feedback vertex set number of @math gives rise to a highly nontrivial algorithm for Subgraph Isomorphism. On the hardness side, we present W[1]-hardness proofs under extremely restricted conditions, such as when @math is a bounded-degree tree of constant pathwidth and @math is a planar graph of bounded pathwidth.


Abstract: We present an open architecture for just-in-time code generation and dynamic code optimization that is flexible, customizable, and extensible. While previous research has primarily investigated functional aspects of such a system, architectural aspects have so far remained unexplored. In this paper, we argue that these properties are important to generate optimal code for a variety of hardware architectures and different processor generations within processor families. These properties are also important to make system-level code generation useful in practice.

Pioneering research in dynamic runtime optimization was done by Hansen @cite_8 who first described a fully automated system for runtime code optimization. His system was similar in structure to our system---it was composed of a loader, a profiler, and an optimizer---but used profiling data only to decide when to optimize and what to optimize, not how to optimize. Also, his system interpreted code prior to optimization, since load time code generation was too memory and time consuming at the time.

Abstract: Optimizing programs at run-time provides opportunities to apply aggressive optimizations to programs based on information that was not available at compile time. At run time, programs can be adapted to better exploit architectural features, optimize the use of dynamic libraries, and simplify code based on run-time constants. Our profiling system provides a framework for collecting information required for performing run-time optimization. We sample the performance hardware registers available on an Itanium processor, and select a set of code that is likely to lead to important performance-events. We gather distribution information about the performance-events we wish to monitor, and test our traces by estimating the ability for dynamic patching of a program to execute run-time generated traces. Our results show that we are able to capture 58 of execution time across various SPEC2000 integer benchmarks using our profile and patching techniques on a relatively small number of frequently executed execution paths. Our profiling and detection system overhead increases execution time by only 2-4 .


Premise: Conceptually cream skimming has two basic dimensions - product and geography.

( ( Conceptually ( cream skimming ) ) ( ( has ( ( ( two ( basic dimensions ) ) - ) ( ( product and ) geography ) ) ) . ) )

(ROOT (S (NP (JJ Conceptually) (NN cream) (NN skimming)) (VP (VBZ has) (NP (NP (CD two) (JJ basic) (NNS dimensions)) (: -) (NP (NN product) (CC and) (NN geography)))) (. .)))

Hypothesis: Product and geography are what make cream skimming work.

( ( ( Product and ) geography ) ( ( are ( what ( make ( cream ( skimming work ) ) ) ) ) . ) )

(ROOT (S (NP (NN Product) (CC and) (NN geography)) (VP (VBP are) (SBAR (WHNP (WP what)) (S (VP (VBP make) (NP (NP (NN cream)) (VP (VBG skimming) (NP (NN work)))))))) (. .)))


Premise: you know during the season and i guess at at your level uh you lose them to the next level if if they decide to recall the the parent team the Braves decide to call to recall a guy from triple A then a double A guy goes up to replace him and a single A guy goes up to replace him

( you ( ( know ( during ( ( ( the season ) and ) ( i guess ) ) ) ) ( at ( at ( ( your level ) ( uh ( you ( ( ( lose them ) ( to ( the ( next level ) ) ) ) ( if ( ( if ( they ( decide ( to ( recall ( the ( the ( parent team ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ( ( the Braves ) ( decide ( to ( call ( to ( ( recall ( a guy ) ) ( from ( ( triple A ) ( ( ( then ( ( a ( double ( A guy ) ) ) ( ( goes up ) ( to ( replace him ) ) ) ) ) and ) ( ( a ( single ( A guy ) ) ) ( ( goes up ) ( to ( replace him ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

(ROOT (S (NP (PRP you)) (VP (VBP know) (PP (IN during) (NP (NP (DT the) (NN season)) (CC and) (NP (FW i) (FW guess)))) (PP (IN at) (IN at) (NP (NP (PRP$ your) (NN level)) (SBAR (S (INTJ (UH uh)) (NP (PRP you)) (VP (VBP lose) (NP (PRP them)) (PP (TO to) (NP (DT the) (JJ next) (NN level))) (SBAR (IN if) (S (SBAR (IN if) (S (NP (PRP they)) (VP (VBP decide) (S (VP (TO to) (VP (VB recall) (NP (DT the) (DT the) (NN parent) (NN team)))))))) (NP (DT the) (NNPS Braves)) (VP (VBP decide) (S (VP (TO to) (VP (VB call) (S (VP (TO to) (VP (VB recall) (NP (DT a) (NN guy)) (PP (IN from) (NP (NP (RB triple) (DT A)) (SBAR (S (S (ADVP (RB then)) (NP (DT a) (JJ double) (NNP A) (NN guy)) (VP (VBZ goes) (PRT (RP up)) (S (VP (TO to) (VP (VB replace) (NP (PRP him))))))) (CC and) (S (NP (DT a) (JJ single) (NNP A) (NN guy)) (VP (VBZ goes) (PRT (RP up)) (S (VP (TO to) (VP (VB replace) (NP (PRP him))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Hypothesis: You lose the things to the following level if the people recall.

( You ( ( ( ( lose ( the things ) ) ( to ( the ( following level ) ) ) ) ( if ( ( the people ) recall ) ) ) . ) )

(ROOT (S (NP (PRP You)) (VP (VBP lose) (NP (DT the) (NNS things)) (PP (TO to) (NP (DT the) (JJ following) (NN level))) (SBAR (IN if) (S (NP (DT the) (NNS people)) (VP (VBP recall))))) (. .)))


Premise: One of our number will carry out your instructions minutely.

( ( One ( of ( our number ) ) ) ( ( will ( ( ( carry out ) ( your instructions ) ) minutely ) ) . ) )

(ROOT (S (NP (NP (CD One)) (PP (IN of) (NP (PRP$ our) (NN number)))) (VP (MD will) (VP (VB carry) (PRT (RP out)) (NP (PRP$ your) (NNS instructions)) (ADVP (RB minutely)))) (. .)))

Hypothesis: A member of my team will execute your orders with immense precision.

( ( ( A member ) ( of ( my team ) ) ) ( ( will ( ( execute ( your orders ) ) ( with ( immense precision ) ) ) ) . ) )

(ROOT (S (NP (NP (DT A) (NN member)) (PP (IN of) (NP (PRP$ my) (NN team)))) (VP (MD will) (VP (VB execute) (NP (PRP$ your) (NNS orders)) (PP (IN with) (NP (JJ immense) (NN precision))))) (. .)))


Premise: How do you know? All this is their information again.

( ( How ( ( ( do you ) know ) ? ) ) ( ( All this ) ( ( ( is ( their information ) ) again ) . ) ) )

(ROOT (S (SBARQ (WHADVP (WRB How)) (SQ (VBP do) (NP (PRP you)) (VP (VB know))) (. ?)) (NP (PDT All) (DT this)) (VP (VBZ is) (NP (PRP$ their) (NN information)) (ADVP (RB again))) (. .)))

Hypothesis: This information belongs to them.

( ( This information ) ( ( belongs ( to them ) ) . ) )

(ROOT (S (NP (DT This) (NN information)) (VP (VBZ belongs) (PP (TO to) (NP (PRP them)))) (. .)))


Premise: yeah i tell you what though if you go price some of those tennis shoes i can see why now you know they're getting up in the hundred dollar range

( yeah ( i ( ( tell you ) ( what ( ( though ( if ( you ( go ( price ( some ( of ( those ( tennis shoes ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ( i ( can ( see ( why ( now ( you ( know ( they ( 're ( ( getting up ) ( in ( the ( hundred ( dollar range ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

(ROOT (S (VP (VB yeah) (S (NP (FW i)) (VP (VB tell) (NP (PRP you)) (SBAR (WHNP (WP what)) (S (SBAR (RB though) (IN if) (S (NP (PRP you)) (VP (VBP go) (VP (VB price) (NP (NP (DT some)) (PP (IN of) (NP (DT those) (NN tennis) (NNS shoes)))))))) (NP (FW i)) (VP (MD can) (VP (VB see) (SBAR (WHADVP (WRB why)) (S (ADVP (RB now)) (NP (PRP you)) (VP (VBP know) (SBAR (S (NP (PRP they)) (VP (VBP 're) (VP (VBG getting) (PRT (RP up)) (PP (IN in) (NP (DT the) (CD hundred) (NN dollar) (NN range)))))))))))))))))))

Hypothesis: The tennis shoes have a range of prices.

( ( The ( tennis shoes ) ) ( ( have ( ( a range ) ( of prices ) ) ) . ) )

(ROOT (S (NP (DT The) (NN tennis) (NNS shoes)) (VP (VBP have) (NP (NP (DT a) (NN range)) (PP (IN of) (NP (NNS prices))))) (. .)))


Premise: my walkman broke so i'm upset now i just have to turn the stereo up real loud

( ( my walkman ) ( broke ( so ( i ( 'm ( upset ( now ( i ( just ( have ( to ( ( turn ( the stereo ) ) ( up ( real loud ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

(ROOT (S (NP (PRP$ my) (NN walkman)) (VP (VBD broke) (SBAR (IN so) (S (NP (FW i)) (VP (VBP 'm) (ADJP (VBN upset) (SBAR (RB now) (S (NP (FW i)) (ADVP (RB just)) (VP (VBP have) (S (VP (TO to) (VP (VB turn) (NP (DT the) (NN stereo)) (ADVP (RB up) (RB real) (JJ loud)))))))))))))))

Hypothesis: I'm upset that my walkman broke and now I have to turn the stereo up really loud.

( ( ( ( I ( 'm ( upset ( that ( ( my walkman ) broke ) ) ) ) ) and ) ( now ( I ( have ( to ( ( turn ( the stereo ) ) ( up ( really loud ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) . )

(ROOT (S (S (NP (PRP I)) (VP (VBP 'm) (ADJP (VBN upset) (SBAR (IN that) (S (NP (PRP$ my) (NN walkman)) (VP (VBD broke))))))) (CC and) (S (ADVP (RB now)) (NP (PRP I)) (VP (VBP have) (S (VP (TO to) (VP (VB turn) (NP (DT the) (NN stereo)) (ADVP (RB up) (RB really) (JJ loud))))))) (. .)))


Premise: But a few Christian mosaics survive above the apse is the Virgin with the infant Jesus, with the Archangel Gabriel to the right (his companion Michael, to the left, has vanished save for a few feathers from his wings).

( But ( ( a ( few ( Christian mosaics ) ) ) ( ( survive ( above ( ( the apse ) ( ( ( is ( ( the Virgin ) ( with ( the ( infant Jesus ) ) ) ) ) , ) ( with ( ( ( the ( Archangel Gabriel ) ) ( to ( the right ) ) ) ( -LRB- ( ( ( his companion ) ( ( ( ( Michael , ) ( to ( the left ) ) ) , ) ( has ( vanished ( save ( for ( ( a ( few feathers ) ) ( from ( his wings ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) -RRB- ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) . ) ) )

(ROOT (S (CC But) (NP (DT a) (JJ few) (JJ Christian) (NNS mosaics)) (VP (VBP survive) (PP (IN above) (NP (NP (DT the) (NN apse)) (SBAR (S (VP (VBZ is) (NP (NP (DT the) (NN Virgin)) (PP (IN with) (NP (DT the) (JJ infant) (NN Jesus)))) (, ,) (PP (IN with) (NP (NP (DT the) (NNP Archangel) (NNP Gabriel)) (PP (TO to) (NP (DT the) (NN right))) (PRN (-LRB- -LRB-) (NP (NP (PRP$ his) (NN companion)) (SBAR (S (NP (NP (NNP Michael)) (, ,) (PP (TO to) (NP (DT the) (NN left))) (, ,)) (VP (VBZ has) (VP (VBN vanished) (S (VP (VB save) (PP (IN for) (NP (NP (DT a) (JJ few) (NNS feathers)) (PP (IN from) (NP (PRP$ his) (NNS wings)))))))))))) (-RRB- -RRB-)))))))))) (. .)))

Hypothesis: Most of the Christian mosaics were destroyed by Muslims.

( ( Most ( of ( the ( Christian mosaics ) ) ) ) ( ( were ( destroyed ( by Muslims ) ) ) . ) )

(ROOT (S (NP (NP (JJS Most)) (PP (IN of) (NP (DT the) (JJ Christian) (NNS mosaics)))) (VP (VBD were) (VP (VBN destroyed) (PP (IN by) (NP (NNPS Muslims))))) (. .)))


Premise: (Read  for Slate 's take on Jackson's findings.)

( -LRB- ( ( ( Read ( for ( ( ( Slate 's ) take ) ( on ( ( Jackson 's ) findings ) ) ) ) ) . ) -RRB- ) )

(ROOT (S (-LRB- -LRB-) (VP (VB Read) (PP (IN for) (NP (NP (NP (NNP Slate) (POS 's)) (NN take)) (PP (IN on) (NP (NP (NNP Jackson) (POS 's)) (NNS findings)))))) (. .) (-RRB- -RRB-)))

Hypothesis: Slate had an opinion on Jackson's findings.

( Slate ( ( had ( ( an opinion ) ( on ( ( Jackson 's ) findings ) ) ) ) . ) )

(ROOT (S (NP (NNP Slate)) (VP (VBD had) (NP (NP (DT an) (NN opinion)) (PP (IN on) (NP (NP (NNP Jackson) (POS 's)) (NNS findings))))) (. .)))


Premise: Gays and lesbians.

(ROOT (NP (NP (NP (NNS Gays)) (CC and) (NP (NNS lesbians))) (. .)))

Hypothesis: Heterosexuals.


Premise: At the end of Rue des Francs-Bourgeois is what many consider to be the city's most handsome residential square, the Place des Vosges, with its stone and red brick facades.

( ( At ( ( the end ) ( of Rue ) ) ) ( ( des Francs-Bourgeois ) ( ( is ( what ( many ( consider ( to ( ( be ( ( ( ( ( the ( city 's ) ) ( ( most handsome ) ( residential square ) ) ) , ) ( the ( Place ( des Vosges ) ) ) ) , ) ) ( with ( its ( stone ( and ( red ( brick facades ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) . ) ) )

(ROOT (S (PP (IN At) (NP (NP (DT the) (NN end)) (PP (IN of) (NP (NNP Rue))))) (NP (NNP des) (NNP Francs-Bourgeois)) (VP (VBZ is) (SBAR (WHNP (WP what)) (S (NP (DT many)) (VP (VBP consider) (S (VP (TO to) (VP (VB be) (NP (NP (NP (DT the) (NN city) (POS 's)) (ADJP (RBS most) (JJ handsome)) (JJ residential) (NN square)) (, ,) (NP (DT the) (NNP Place) (NNP des) (NNPS Vosges)) (, ,)) (PP (IN with) (NP (PRP$ its) (NN stone) (CC and) (JJ red) (NN brick) (NNS facades)))))))))) (. .)))

Hypothesis: Place des Vosges is constructed entirely of gray marble.

( ( Place ( des Vosges ) ) ( ( is ( ( constructed entirely ) ( of ( gray marble ) ) ) ) . ) )

(ROOT (S (NP (NNP Place) (FW des) (NNP Vosges)) (VP (VBZ is) (VP (VBN constructed) (ADVP (RB entirely)) (PP (IN of) (NP (JJ gray) (NN marble))))) (. .)))


According to Gran , the company has no plans to move all production to Russia , although that is where the company is growing .


Technopolis plans to develop in stages an area of no less than 100,000 square meters in order to host companies working in computer technologies and telecommunications , the statement said .


The international electronic industry company Elcoteq has laid off tens of employees from its Tallinn facility ; contrary to earlier layoffs the company contracted the ranks of its office workers , the daily Postimees reported .


With the new production plant the company would increase its capacity to meet the expected increase in demand and would improve the use of raw materials and therefore increase the production profitability .


According to the company 's updated strategy for the years 2009-2012 , Basware targets a long-term net sales growth in the range of 20 % -40 % with an operating profit margin of 10 % -20 % of net sales .


FINANCING OF ASPOCOMP 'S GROWTH Aspocomp is aggressively pursuing its growth strategy by increasingly focusing on technologically more demanding HDI printed circuit boards PCBs .


For the last quarter of 2010 , Componenta 's net sales doubled to EUR131m from EUR76m for the same period a year earlier , while it moved to a zero pre-tax profit from a pre-tax loss of EUR7m .


In the third quarter of 2010 , net sales increased by 5.2 % to EUR 205.5 mn , and operating profit by 34.9 % to EUR 23.5 mn .


Operating profit rose to EUR 13.1 mn from EUR 8.7 mn in the corresponding period in 2007 representing 7.7 % of net sales .


Operating profit totalled EUR 21.1 mn , up from EUR 18.6 mn in 2007 , representing 9.7 % of net sales .


Worth the entertainment value of a rental, especially if you like action movies. This one features the usual car chases, fights with the great Van Damme kick style, shooting battles with the 40 shell load shotgun, and even terrorist style bombs. All of this is entertaining and competently handled but there is nothing that really blows you away if you've seen your share before.

The plot is made interesting by the inclusion of a rabbit, which is clever but hardly profound. Many of the characters are heavily stereotyped -- the angry veterans, the terrified illegal aliens, the crooked cops, the indifferent feds, the bitchy tough lady station head, the crooked politician, the fat federale who looks like he was typecast as the Mexican in a Hollywood movie from the 1940s. All passably acted but again nothing special.

I thought the main villains were pretty well done and fairly well acted. By the end of the movie you certainly knew who the good guys were and weren't. There was an emotional lift as the really bad ones got their just deserts. Very simplistic, but then you weren't expecting Hamlet, right? The only thing I found really annoying was the constant cuts to VDs daughter during the last fight scene.

Not bad. Not good. Passable 4.

Worth the entertainment value of a rental , especially if you like action movies . This one features the usual car chases , fights with the great Van Damme kick style , shooting battles with the 40 shell load shotgun , and even terrorist style bombs . All of this is entertaining and competently handled but there is nothing that really blows you away if you 've seen your share before.

The plot is made interesting by the inclusion of a rabbit , which is clever but hardly profound . Many of the characters are heavily stereotyped -- the angry veterans , the terrified illegal aliens , the crooked cops , the indifferent feds , the bitchy tough lady station head , the crooked politician , the fat federale who looks like he was typecast as the Mexican in a Hollywood movie from the 1940s . All passably acted but again nothing special.

I thought the main villains were pretty well done and fairly well acted . By the end of the movie you certainly knew who the good guys were and were n't . There was an emotional lift as the really bad ones got their just deserts . Very simplistic , but then you were n't expecting Hamlet , right ? The only thing I found really annoying was the constant cuts to VDs daughter during the last fight scene.

Not bad . Not good . Passable 4 .


its a totally average film with a few semi-alright action sequences that make the plot seem a little better and remind the viewer of the classic van dam films. parts of the plot don't make sense and seem to be added in to use up time. the end plot is that of a very basic type that doesn't leave the viewer guessing and any twists are obvious from the beginning. the end scene with the flask backs don't make sense as they are added in and seem to have little relevance to the history of van dam's character. not really worth watching again, bit disappointed in the end production, even though it is apparent it was shot on a low budget certain shots and sections in the film are of poor directed quality

its a totally average film with a few semi - alright action sequences that make the plot seem a little better and remind the viewer of the classic van dam films . parts of the plot do n't make sense and seem to be added in to use up time . the end plot is that of a very basic type that does n't leave the viewer guessing and any twists are obvious from the beginning . the end scene with the flask backs do n't make sense as they are added in and seem to have little relevance to the history of van dam 's character . not really worth watching again , bit disappointed in the end production , even though it is apparent it was shot on a low budget certain shots and sections in the film are of poor directed quality


STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Former New Orleans homicide cop Jack Robideaux (Jean Claude Van Damme) is re-assigned to Columbus, a small but violent town in Mexico to help the police there with their efforts to stop a major heroin smuggling operation into their town. The culprits turn out to be ex-military, lead by former commander Benjamin Meyers (Stephen Lord, otherwise known as Jase from East Enders) who is using a special method he learned in Afghanistan to fight off his opponents. But Jack has a more personal reason for taking him down, that draws the two men into an explosive final showdown where only one will walk away alive.

After Until Death, Van Damme appeared to be on a high, showing he could make the best straight to video films in the action market. While that was a far more drama oriented film, with The Shepherd he has returned to the high-kicking, no brainer action that first made him famous and has sadly produced his worst film since Derailed. It's nowhere near as bad as that film, but what I said still stands.

A dull, predictable film, with very little in the way of any exciting action. What little there is mainly consists of some limp fight scenes, trying to look cool and trendy with some cheap slo-mo/sped up effects added to them that sadly instead make them look more desperate. Being a Mexican set film, director Isaac Florentine has tried to give the film a Robert Rodriguez/Desperado sort of feel, but this only adds to the desperation.

VD gives a particularly uninspired performance and given he's never been a Robert De Niro sort of actor, that can't be good. As the villain, Lord shouldn't expect to leave the beeb anytime soon. He gets little dialogue at the beginning as he struggles to muster an American accent but gets mysteriously better towards the end. All the supporting cast are equally bland, and do nothing to raise the films spirits at all.

This is one shepherd that's strayed right from the flock. *

STAR RATING : * * * * * Saturday Night * * * * Friday Night * * * Friday Morning * * Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Former New Orleans homicide cop Jack Robideaux ( Jean Claude Van Damme ) is re - assigned to Columbus , a small but violent town in Mexico to help the police there with their efforts to stop a major heroin smuggling operation into their town . The culprits turn out to be ex - military , lead by former commander Benjamin Meyers ( Stephen Lord , otherwise known as Jase from East Enders ) who is using a special method he learned in Afghanistan to fight off his opponents . But Jack has a more personal reason for taking him down , that draws the two men into an explosive final showdown where only one will walk away alive.

After Until Death , Van Damme appeared to be on a high , showing he could make the best straight to video films in the action market . While that was a far more drama oriented film , with The Shepherd he has returned to the high - kicking , no brainer action that first made him famous and has sadly produced his worst film since Derailed . It 's nowhere near as bad as that film , but what I said still stands.

A dull , predictable film , with very little in the way of any exciting action . What little there is mainly consists of some limp fight scenes , trying to look cool and trendy with some cheap slo - mo / sped up effects added to them that sadly instead make them look more desperate . Being a Mexican set film , director Isaac Florentine has tried to give the film a Robert Rodriguez / Desperado sort of feel , but this only adds to the desperation.

VD gives a particularly uninspired performance and given he 's never been a Robert De Niro sort of actor , that ca n't be good . As the villain , Lord should n't expect to leave the beeb anytime soon . He gets little dialogue at the beginning as he struggles to muster an American accent but gets mysteriously better towards the end . All the supporting cast are equally bland , and do nothing to raise the films spirits at all.

This is one shepherd that 's strayed right from the flock . *


First off let me say, If you haven't enjoyed a Van Damme movie since bloodsport, you probably will not like this movie. Most of these movies may not have the best plots or best actors but I enjoy these kinds of movies for what they are. This movie is much better than any of the movies the other action guys (Segal and Dolph) have thought about putting out the past few years. Van Damme is good in the movie, the movie is only worth watching to Van Damme fans. It is not as good as Wake of Death (which i highly recommend to anyone of likes Van Damme) or In hell but, in my opinion it's worth watching. It has the same type of feel to it as Nowhere to Run. Good fun stuff!

First off let me say , If you have n't enjoyed a Van Damme movie since bloodsport , you probably will not like this movie . Most of these movies may not have the best plots or best actors but I enjoy these kinds of movies for what they are . This movie is much better than any of the movies the other action guys ( Segal and Dolph ) have thought about putting out the past few years . Van Damme is good in the movie , the movie is only worth watching to Van Damme fans . It is not as good as Wake of Death ( which i highly recommend to anyone of likes Van Damme ) or In hell but , in my opinion it 's worth watching . It has the same type of feel to it as Nowhere to Run . Good fun stuff !


I had high hopes for this one until they changed the name to 'The Shepherd : Border Patrol, the lamest movie name ever, what was wrong with just 'The Shepherd'. This is a by the numbers action flick that tips its hat at many classic Van Damme films. There is a nice bit of action in a bar which reminded me of hard target and universal soldier but directed with no intensity or flair which is a shame. There is one great line about 'being p*ss drunk and carrying a rabbit' and some OK action scenes let down by the cheapness of it all. A lot of the times the dialogue doesn't match the characters mouth and the stunt men fall down dead a split second before even being shot. The end fight is one of the better Van Damme fights except the Director tries to go a bit too John Woo and fails also introducing flashbacks which no one really cares about just gets in the way of the action which is the whole point of a van Damme film.

Not good, not bad, just average generic action.

I had high hopes for this one until they changed the name to ' The Shepherd : Border Patrol , the lamest movie name ever , what was wrong with just ' The Shepherd ' . This is a by the numbers action flick that tips its hat at many classic Van Damme films . There is a nice bit of action in a bar which reminded me of hard target and universal soldier but directed with no intensity or flair which is a shame . There is one great line about ' being p*ss drunk and carrying a rabbit ' and some OK action scenes let down by the cheapness of it all . A lot of the times the dialogue does n't match the characters mouth and the stunt men fall down dead a split second before even being shot . The end fight is one of the better Van Damme fights except the Director tries to go a bit too John Woo and fails also introducing flashbacks which no one really cares about just gets in the way of the action which is the whole point of a van Damme film.

Not good , not bad , just average generic action .


Isaac Florentine has made some of the best western Martial Arts action movies ever produced. In particular US Seals 2, Cold Harvest, Special Forces and Undisputed 2 are all action classics. You can tell Isaac has a real passion for the genre and his films are always eventful, creative and sharp affairs, with some of the best fight sequences an action fan could hope for. In particular he has found a muse with Scott Adkins, as talented an actor and action performer as you could hope for. This is borne out with Special Forces and Undisputed 2, but unfortunately The Shepherd just doesn't live up to their abilities.

There is no doubt that JCVD looks better here fight-wise than he has done in years, especially in the fight he has (for pretty much no reason) in a prison cell, and in the final showdown with Scott, but look in his eyes. JCVD seems to be dead inside. There's nothing in his eyes at all. It's like he just doesn't care about anything throughout the whole film. And this is the leading man.

There are other dodgy aspects to the film, script-wise and visually, but the main problem is that you are utterly unable to empathise with the hero of the film. A genuine shame as I know we all wanted this film to be as special as it genuinely could have been. There are some good bits, mostly the action scenes themselves. This film had a terrific director and action choreographer, and an awesome opponent for JCVD to face down. This could have been the one to bring the veteran action star back up to scratch in the balls-out action movie stakes.

Sincerely a shame that this didn't happen.

Isaac Florentine has made some of the best western Martial Arts action movies ever produced . In particular US Seals 2 , Cold Harvest , Special Forces and Undisputed 2 are all action classics . You can tell Isaac has a real passion for the genre and his films are always eventful , creative and sharp affairs , with some of the best fight sequences an action fan could hope for . In particular he has found a muse with Scott Adkins , as talented an actor and action performer as you could hope for . This is borne out with Special Forces and Undisputed 2 , but unfortunately The Shepherd just does n't live up to their abilities.

There is no doubt that JCVD looks better here fight - wise than he has done in years , especially in the fight he has ( for pretty much no reason ) in a prison cell , and in the final showdown with Scott , but look in his eyes . JCVD seems to be dead inside . There 's nothing in his eyes at all . It 's like he just does n't care about anything throughout the whole film . And this is the leading man.

There are other dodgy aspects to the film , script - wise and visually , but the main problem is that you are utterly unable to empathise with the hero of the film . A genuine shame as I know we all wanted this film to be as special as it genuinely could have been . There are some good bits , mostly the action scenes themselves . This film had a terrific director and action choreographer , and an awesome opponent for JCVD to face down . This could have been the one to bring the veteran action star back up to scratch in the balls - out action movie stakes.

Sincerely a shame that this did n't happen .


It actually pains me to say it, but this movie was horrible on every level. The blame does not lie entirely with Van Damme as you can see he tried his best, but let's face it, he's almost fifty, how much more can you ask of him? I find it so hard to believe that the same people who put together Undisputed 2; arguably the best (western) martial arts movie in years, created this. Everything from the plot, to the dialog, to the editing, to the overall acting was just horribly put together and in many cases outright boring and nonsensical. Scott Adkins who's fight scenes seemed more like a demo reel, was also terribly underused and not even the main villain which is such a shame because 1) He is more than capable of playing that role and 2) The actual main villain was not only not intimidating at all but also quite annoying. Again, not blaming Van Damme. I will always be a fan, but avoid this one.

It actually pains me to say it , but this movie was horrible on every level . The blame does not lie entirely with Van Damme as you can see he tried his best , but let 's face it , he 's almost fifty , how much more can you ask of him ? I find it so hard to believe that the same people who put together Undisputed 2 ; arguably the best ( western ) martial arts movie in years , created this . Everything from the plot , to the dialog , to the editing , to the overall acting was just horribly put together and in many cases outright boring and nonsensical . Scott Adkins who 's fight scenes seemed more like a demo reel , was also terribly underused and not even the main villain which is such a shame because 1 ) He is more than capable of playing that role and 2 ) The actual main villain was not only not intimidating at all but also quite annoying . Again , not blaming Van Damme . I will always be a fan , but avoid this one .


Technically I'am a Van Damme Fan, or I was. this movie is so bad that I hated myself for wasting those 90 minutes. Do not let the name Isaac Florentine (Undisputed II) fool you, I had big hopes for this one, depending on what I saw in (Undisputed II), man.. was I wrong ??! all action fans wanted a big comeback for the classic action hero, but i guess we wont be able to see that soon, as our hero keep coming with those (going -to-a-border - far-away-town-and -kill -the-bad-guys- than-comeback- home) movies I mean for God's sake, we are in 2008, and they insist on doing those disappointing movies on every level. Why ??!!! Do your self a favor, skip it.. seriously.

Technically I'am a Van Damme Fan , or I was . this movie is so bad that I hated myself for wasting those 90 minutes . Do not let the name Isaac Florentine ( Undisputed II ) fool you , I had big hopes for this one , depending on what I saw in ( Undisputed II ) , man .. was I wrong ? ? ! all action fans wanted a big comeback for the classic action hero , but i guess we wo nt be able to see that soon , as our hero keep coming with those ( going -to - a - border - far - away - town - and -kill -the - bad - guys- than - comeback- home ) movies I mean for God 's sake , we are in 2008 , and they insist on doing those disappointing movies on every level . Why ? ? ! ! ! Do your self a favor , skip it .. seriously .


Honestly awful film, bad editing, awful lighting, dire dialog and scrappy screenplay.

The lighting at is so bad there's moments you can't even see what's going on, I even tried to playing with the contrast and brightness so I could see something but that didn't help.

They must have found the script in a bin, the character development is just as awful and while you hardly expect much from a Jean-Claude Van Damme film this one manages to hit an all time low. You can't even laugh at the cheesy'ness.

The directing and editing are also terrible, the whole film follows an extremely tired routine and fails at every turn as it bumbles through the plot that is so weak it's just unreal.

There's not a lot else to say other than it's really bad and nothing like Jean-Claude Van Damme's earlier work which you could enjoy.

Avoid like the plaque, frankly words fail me in condemning this "film".

Honestly awful film , bad editing , awful lighting , dire dialog and scrappy screenplay.

The lighting at is so bad there 's moments you ca n't even see what 's going on , I even tried to playing with the contrast and brightness so I could see something but that did n't help.

They must have found the script in a bin , the character development is just as awful and while you hardly expect much from a Jean - Claude Van Damme film this one manages to hit an all time low . You ca n't even laugh at the cheesy'ness.

The directing and editing are also terrible , the whole film follows an extremely tired routine and fails at every turn as it bumbles through the plot that is so weak it 's just unreal.

There 's not a lot else to say other than it 's really bad and nothing like Jean - Claude Van Damme 's earlier work which you could enjoy.

Avoid like the plaque , frankly words fail me in condemning this " film " .


Regulation (EEC) No 2481/75 of the Council of 29 September 1975 amending Regulation (EEC) No 2511/69 laying down special measures for improving the production and marketing of Community citrus fruits

REGULATION (EEC) No 2481/75 OF THE COUNCIL  of 29 September 1975  amending Regulation (EEC) No 2511/69 laying down special measures for improving the production and marketing of Community citrus fruits
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 43 thereof;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission;
Having regard to the Opinion of the European Parliament (1);
Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 2511/69 (2) of 9 December 1969 laying down special measures for improving the production and marketing of Community citrus fruits, as amended by Regulation (EEC) No 175/73 (3), provides for the granting of additional aid to small farmers to compensate for part of the loss of income caused by replanting;
Whereas one of the conditions for the granting of this aid is that the area of the undertaking does not exceed five hectares ; whereas, when the total area of the undertaking exceeds five hectares but the area fit for agricultural use does not exceed that limit since the rest of the land is not cultivable, the farmer's economic situation is the same as in the cases mentioned in the Regulation ; whereas all farmers of an area fit for agricultural use not exceeding five hectares should receive identical treatment;
Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 2511/69 set up in particular a scheme of financial compensation to promote sales of Community-produced oranges and mandarins on Community import markets by means of contracts ensuring regular supplies for these markets;
Whereas experience has shown that the contractual scheme referred to above has not had the desired results as regards the growth of Community outlets for the products in question ; whereas, moreover, the increase in competition from certain producer third countries can only make it more difficult to market Community-produced citrus fruit on the Community market;
Whereas to counter these difficulties Regulation (EEC) No 2511/69 should be modified by discontinuing the contractual scheme and increasing the amounts of financial compensation ; whereas this compensation should be extended to include clementines;
Whereas during the recent marketing years there have also been problems as regards the distribution of Community lemon production on the Community import markets ; whereas, therefore, it is advisable, as a precautionary measure, to grant financial compensation in respect of this product for the remainder of the 1975/76 marketing year;
Whereas, in order to ensure the effectiveness of such a system, provision should be made for bringing up to date the amounts fixed in respect of oranges, mandarins and clementines, taking into account the trend of the basic and buying-in prices for the products concerned,