457 F.Supp.2d 1228 (2006)
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff,
v.
Robin Dean MURPHY, Defendant.
No. 05-40040-01-SAC.
United States District Court, D. Kansas.
September 7, 2006.
*1230 John J. Ambrosio, Kathleen A. Ambrosio, John J. Ambrosio, Chartered, Topeka, KS, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
CROW, Senior District Judge.
This case comes before the court on the government's motion to exclude the testimony of Mr. William Logan, defendant's proffered expert witness. The government contends that Logan is biased toward the use and legalization of marijuana, that he is not qualified to testify on the subject matter of his proffered testimony, that his testimony is not scientifically reliable, and that his testimony is irrelevant to the issues before the jury and would be "highly prejudicial" pursuant to Rule 403.

General gatekeeper rule
The district court's role in determining admissibility of scientific testimony under Fed.R.Evid. 702 is that of gatekeeper. E.g., Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993). Rule 702 sets the admission standard:
If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise, if (1) the testimony is based upon sufficient facts or data, (2) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods, and (3) the witness has applied the principles and methods reliably to the facts of the case.
The proponent has the burden of establishing, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the pertinent admissibility requirements are met. See Fed.R.Evid. 104(a).
The court's duty is to "ensure that any and all scientific testimony or evidence admitted is not only relevant, but reliable." Daubert, 509 U.S. at 589, 113 S.Ct. 2786. The reliability of expert testimony turns on its status as scientific knowledge. Id. at 590, 113 S.Ct. 2786. The district court may determine that expert testimony is reliable by inquiring into the qualifications and background of the expert and asking if "the reasoning or methodology underlying the testimony is scientifically valid." Bitter v. A.O. Smith Corp., 400 F.3d 1227, 1233 (10th Cir.2004) (quoting Daubert, 509 U.S. at 592-93, 113 S.Ct. 2786).
To fulfill its gatekeeping role, the court must conduct a two-part inquiry. First, the court asks whether the proffered testimony has "a reliable basis in the knowledge and experience" of the relevant discipline. Bitler, 400 F.3d at 1232-33. To make such a determination, a court should inquire into the qualifications and background of the expert and ask if "the reasoning or methodology underlying the testimony is scientifically valid." Id. (quoting Daubert, 509 U.S. at 592-93, 113 S.Ct. 2786). "[A]ny step that renders the analysis unreliable ... renders the expert's testimony inadmissible." Mitchell v. Gencorp., Inc., 165 F.3d 778, 782 (10th Cir. 1999). "The law grants the trial judge broad latitude to determine" what are "reasonable measures of reliability." United States v. Allerheiligen, 221 F.3d *1231 1353, 2000 WL 1055487, **11-12 (10th Cir. 2000), quoting Kumho Tire v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137, 137-38, 119 S.Ct. 1167, 143 L.Ed.2d 238. Second, the court must determine if the testimony is "relevant to the task at hand." Bitter, 400 F.3d at 1234 (quoting Daubert, 509 U.S. at 597, 113 S.Ct. 2786).
A district court has some latitude in determining the procedures used to perform its gatekeeping function, United States v. Charley, 189 F.3d 1251, 1266 (10th Cir.1999), and is not required to hold a Daubert evidentiary hearing. See United States v. Call, 129 F.3d 1402, 1405 (10th Cir.1997). Here, the court has sufficient evidence to assess whether the expert testimony rests on a reliable foundation and is relevant to the task at hand, so will satisfy the gatekeeping function by ruling on this motion in limine. See Goebel v. Denver & Rio Grande Western R.R. Co., 215 F.3d 1083, 1087 (10th Cir.2000).

Bias
The government makes much of the fact that Logan is biased toward the legalization of marijuana and the defense of those accused of violating marijuana laws. Defendant does not dispute that Logan is biased, but contends that his advocacy should not disqualify him as an expert and that the bases for his opinions are independent of his advocacy work. Dk. 112, p. 3.
The court believes that Logan's obvious bias toward those charged with marijuana offenses goes to the weight, not the admissibility of the testimony, and does not disqualify him from becoming an expert. See e.g., Scheidt v. Klein, 956 F.2d 963, 968 (10th Cir.1992). However, a "selfcreated advocacy role can be just cause for taking more care in determining [an expert's] qualifications, the relevance and reliability of his opinions, and the factual foundation for his opinions." United States v. Allerheiligen, 1998 WL 918841, *7 (D.Kan.1998).

Allerheiligen case
Logan, a criminal defense attorney, has previously been barred as an expert in a similar case in this district. In United States v. Allerheiligen, 1998 WL 918841, * 15 (D.Kan.1998), a defendant sought to call Logan to "testify to [the] defining elements which constitute personal use of marijuana" and "the expected yield of the marijuana seized." Judge Saffels barred his testimony, finding too great a chasm between the subject matter of his proffered testimony and his expertise. Allerheiligen, 1998 WL 918841 at * 15.
Logan's testimony was found to lack valid indicators of reliability, as required under Daubert.
... the information provided to the court by defendant tells the court nothing about the scientific reliability of the opinions proffered by Logan and Carroll. There is no evidence that either man's writings on marijuana have been recognized as a valid research effort or reference book in the field of botany. There is nothing of record that would lead this court to believe that it should rely on Logan's former clients, members of the California criminal defense bar, California marijuana users or the readers of his articles as a valid indicator of reliability.
Allerheiligen, 1998 WL 918841 at *15. The Tenth Circuit affirmed the court's decision to bar Logan's proffered testimony on yield and personal use of marijuana, finding that it extended beyond his demonstrated area of specialized knowledge.

Logan's present report
Logan's proffered expert report, distilled to its essential opinion, is that the marijuana which is the subject of this case *1232 was not purposefully cultivated. Logan's report indicates that "the plants I saw were very much cannibas sativa, as opposed to the other sub-groups." Dk. 105, attachment, p. 2. The controlled substances law defines marihuana as, "all parts of the plant Cannabis sativa L...." 21 U.S.C. § 802(16). The thrust of Logan's report is that the plants he examined were marijuana, but were not of a quality good for producing the "desired effects of marijuana consumption." Id.
Logan bases his opinion on his conclusions that the plants were the wrong species, were not properly spaced, were not in properly prepared or amended soil, had not been properly sexed (by removing the males and hermaphrodites), and were not properly protected from predators. It concludes:
The actions of Murphy are inconsistent with the conclusion that he was cultivating these plants. Murphy appears of above-average intelligence and has apparent connections to farming. Only someone who was ignorant of farming practices in general, and marijuana growing in particular, would undertake to purposefully grow a (potentially) very valuable crop and remain so purposefully ignorant of each, every, and all of the basic requirements of successful cultivation of that crop.
In conclusion, it is my opinion that the marijuana plans (sic) seized in this case were not purposefully planted, cultivated, or tended by anyone.
Dk. 105, attachment.
Logan's assertions or implications that "Murphy appears of above-average intelligence," that Murphy is a generally a good farmer, and that the trail leading to the area where the plants were growing had been made by animals, are speculative and lack foundation and shall not be permitted. The primary issue is, of course, whether to permit Logan's opinion testimony that the marijuana plants were not cultivated.

Logan's background
Logan's curriculum vitae (Dk.104, attachment), states that he has a B.A. in Political Science, a J.D. degree, and has worked as a criminal defense attorney since 1975. Not qualified as an expert on the cultivation of marijuana by his formal education, he seeks such status by virtue of his experience. The court appreciates that one can be an expert by reason of experience and acquired knowledge.
Logan lists several books and articles he has authored or co-authored, but presents no evidence that his writings on marijuana have been recognized as a valid research effort or reference book in the field of botany. Here, as in Allerheiligen, there is nothing of record that would lead this court to believe that it should rely on Logan's former clients, members of the California criminal defense bar, California marijuana users or the readers of his articles as a valid indicator of reliability. See Allerheiligen, 1998 WL 918841 at * 15.
The same is true for the legal seminars Logan has presented and the legal papers he has distributed. No record supports a finding that his work in the legal arena relating to strategies of criminal defense attorneys is scientifically reliable. Additionally, many of his seminars do not appear to focus on the issue of cultivation, and instead bear titles such as "medical marijuana" or broader "issues involved in the defense of marijuana cases."
Logan's previous experience as an expert on this topic remains a bit of a mystery. He asserts in his resume that he has:
qualified and given evidence as an expert on various issues in marijuana cultivation and possession/possession for sale cases in over one hundred cases in more *1233 than thirty counties in California, as well as the Federal Courts of most districts of California, in Federal Courts in Guam, South Dakota, Montana, Texas, and Florida, and in the State courts of Wisconsin and Colorado.
In contrast, the list of cases Logan appended to his resume lists only 15 cases in the past eight years in which he has "appeared and testified." No prior testimony in any federal court is listed. Instead, all cases in which he has given live testimony are in California. Even assuming that Logan's representations about his testimony are not inconsistent,[1] no prior testimony in Kansas or about Kansas crops is alleged.
Further, Logan's testimony and giving of evidence as an expert appears to have been on multiple topics other than the cultivation of marijuana, as evidenced in his resume:
I have qualified as an expert on many issues in marijuana cases, including the potential yield from a particular project, the consumption issues, whether the amount grown/possessed was for personal use, the importance of the other factors affecting the issue of possession versus possession for sale, as well as other more exoteric aspects of marijuana cultivation, preparation and use. I have qualified and given evidence about the smell of marijuana on more than ten occasions, in State and Federal Courts around the nation.
This assertion fails to inform the court of how many times, if any, Logan has qualified as an expert on crop cultivation or rendered an expert opinion whether a particular crop was cultivated.
Logan asserts that he has "visited sites where marijuana was under cultivation over fifty times, in the United States, Canada, Africa, Mexico, Jamaica, and Holland," and "talked to the growers about methods, yields, and consumption." But this conclusory assertion fails to tell the court how many of the fifty times were in the United States, and whether any were in Kansas or in geographic locations having climate, soil, and other growing conditions similar to those in Kansas. Cultivation of marijuana in Holland may have little in common with cultivation of marijuana in Kansas. The same problem is apparent with Logan's assertion that he has spoken to more than 300 marijuana growers about their cultivation practices and methods.
Logan indicates that he has reviewed many reports, read many books, and spoken with many people about marijuana issues including cultivation. But these and similar assertions require the court to trust that Logan's conclusions are sound, and are too generic to show the court that Logan's knowledge or experience qualifies him to give an opinion based on reliable principles and methods applied to the facts. For example, Murphy's conclusion that he saw no evidence of soil preparation or amendment was based solely upon the video tapes taken by the law enforcement officers and his "walking the area." The court believes that a scientifically reliable method to determine whether the soil had been prepared or amended by the addition of nitrogen, other nutrients or soil conditioners would be to test the soil for the presence of such substances. No such method is alleged to have been used.
Similarly, Logan's conclusion that the plants were not of the type of species which is usually cultivated was based solely upon his view of the plants and his determination that they contained low levels of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol). Yet Logan admits that "it is impossible to estimate *1234 the amount of THC in a growing plant by the way it looks," that THC concentrations vary range from less than onehalf of one percent to almost thirty percent, and that "determining the relative drug strength (if any) of marijuana requires sophisticated chemical testing or a simple test by the consumer." Instead of conducting either such test, Logan merely states, "it is not uncommon to find that the type of plant I saw in this case contains less than one-half of one percent of THC. This level of drug will not produce the desired effects of marijuana consumption." Dk. 105, attachment, p. 2. The court believes that a scientifically reliable method to determine whether these marijuana plants contained levels of THC which would produce the stated "effects of marijuana consumption" would be to test them for the presence of that substance.
Defendant contends that "Logan's opinions are scientifically reliable because he has extensive personal knowledge about marijuana morphology based, inter alia, on observation of over 50 cultivation sites and discussions with growers in addition to his extensive readings about marijuana botany." Dk. 112, p. 4. This is tantamount to saying that any opinion Logan gives is scientifically reliable because of his knowledge and the basis of his knowledge. This is insufficient to meet defendant's burden to show that the reasoning or methodology underlying Logan's testimony is scientifically valid.
Defendant contends that Logan's report demonstrates that he has applied the "basic principles of plant morphology and growth characteristics" to the evidence in this case, and that his resume reflects his "basis of familiarity with marijuana morphotology." Dk. 112, p. 2, 4. The court believes that defendant intends to refer in both instances to "morphology," which is defined to mean "a branch of biology that deals with the form and structure of animals and plants." Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, p. 749 (1976). But a careful review of Logan's resume and report give rise to this court's firm conviction that Logan's area of expertise, which may include criminal defense in marijuana cases in California, does not extend to the cultivation of marijuana plants in Kansas. The court finds that the purported testimony of Logan about the species, spacing, soil, sexing, and vulnerability of the marijuana plants extends beyond his area of specialized knowledge, lacks foundation, and has not been shown to be scientifically reliable.
This court's previous critique of Logan's co-author, Rosenthal, is squarely applicable to Logan in this case.
As for the general practices of outdoor marijuana growers, the court also finds an inadequate foundation for Rosenthal's testimony on this subject. Just saying you've talked with "many" outdoor growers does not make one an expert on the general practices of outdoor growers in Kansas. Rosenthal offers nothing to suggest that the growers with whom he talked are a representative sample of marijuana growers. For that matter, Rosenthal does not explain why those growers' practices would be the same ones followed in Kansas. Rosenthal has never seen marijuana growing outdoors in Kansas and has never studied specifically the outdoor growing practices in Kansas. "Evidentiary reliability, or trustworthiness, is demonstrated by a showing that the knowledge offered is more than speculative belief or unsupported speculation." United States v. Posado, 57 F.3d 428, 433 (5th Cir.1995) (internal quotation omitted).
United States v. Kelley, 6 F.Supp.2d 1168, 1184-1185 (D.Kan.1998).
The court finds it unnecessary to address the government's contention that Logan's testimony is irrelevant and that its *1235 probative value is substantially outweighed by its prejudicial effect. The court notes only that good quality of drugs, in conjunction with their quantity and value, can give rise to an inference of intent to distribute them. See e.g., United States v. Valdiosera-Godinez, 932 F.2d 1093, 1095-96 (5th Cir.1991), but poor quality of marijuana does not necessarily give rise to the converse inference, see United States v. Baker, 905 F.2d 1100, 1106 (7th Cir.1990) (finding "the substantial quantity of the load and the poor quality of ditch weed support an inference that [defendant] planned to distribute the drug as a filler for other marijuana rather than to consume it all himself.)
For all the reasons stated above, the court finds that Logan has not been shown to be qualified to give an expert opinion on the cultivation of marijuana in Kansas.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the government's motion in limine to exclude proffered testimony of William Logan (Dk.110) is granted. Dated this 7th day of September, 2006, Topeka, Kansas.
NOTES
[1]  Logan has apparently "given evidence" as an expert in over 100 cases, perhaps by deposition or affidavit, and has "appeared and testified" in 15 cases.


Working with material IDs

- [Instructor] In this video,we're going to take a look at creating a layer groupthen masking that based on a material ID.So here to start,I'm just going to look at my grip underscore barreltexture set.And so here I don't have anything enabled herein my layer stack.And so what I'm going to do is just come over to my layer stackand I'm going to click the Paint button iconto create a fill layer.So now we have a fill layer.Let's take a look at our shelf here,and let's come over to our materials,and here I'm just going to use this cobalt pure.

So I'm just going to just left-click,and that is going to just fill the channels herein that fill layer with the preset valuesfrom this metal material.So here I'm looking around in the view port,again Shift right mouse buttonjust to kind of rotate the light around,here's kind of the metal texture that we have.Now the idea behind this work flowis that we have this single texture set,now remember this texture represents a materialthat we create in our 3D program.And when that model is imported here into Painter,that material ID is created into a texture set.

Now within this texture set though,we're going to end up creating different kind ofmaterial group sections.So right now, I have a metal,and that's going to work here for kind ofthis barrel muzzle area,but it's not going to work here for this grip.And I may want to have a different metal for thesebolts and screws and such.So right now we have this fill layer,and it's just filling everything herewithin this texture set.So here I'll double-click to edit this layer,and we'll just call this Base Metal for now.So what I want to showcase nowis kind of this start of the workflowthat we'll end up using throughout the rest of this course.

So what I do in this situation, I have my texture set.And what I want to do is break my layer stack upinto what I call material groups.And I'll do that using a layer group.So what I'm going to do here at the layer stackis come all the way over here to this folder icon,and I'm going to click to add a folder.And now I can take this layer, I can select it, left-clickand drag and drop that right here into the folder.And so here, actually I'm going to call this Metal,and this fill layer, I usually use this naming convention,I just called is Base.

Because this is kind of the base start of my materialand then as we kind of showed in the previous video,we're going to start to kind of layer on top of that.So here we have this layer groupand I can click the folder iconto minimize this group or expand it hereby again just clicking that folder icon.Here I have this little circle icon,if I just turn this on and off,that's going to turn the visibility off for the entire group,so within this group I'm going to end up having multiplelayers with this.So what I want to do at this stage hereis I want to set up a mask for this main layer group.

And there's a couple ways that we can do that.So one of the ways is with the layer group selected,I can right-click and I can choose to add a maskwith a color selection.So that's one way.Another way is just to come over here to this Mask button,I can click this, and I can choose againadd mask with color selection.Either way is fine, I typically just use the right-click.So right-click, add mask with color selection,so we do that,and you can see here that it creates this iconor thumbnail here, which is all black,and that's going to be our mask view.

And we can actually move between these two modes,and it's kind of important to think of it that way,like a mode.So right now we have mask mode, and you can seethat we have this slight kind of white outlinearound this mask.And that means that that is what is selected.If I come over here to this kind of swatch areaand I left-click,you can see now I get this blue outline,and that means I'm in kind of the layer mode.So this is layer mode, and this is,we'll click again here on the mask, this is mask mode.

And these two modes are different.We cannot copy and paste,or move data between these two different modes.So now you'll notice that we have our mask.And underneath that mask,you'll see that we have this color selection added.And so really all this is is a shortcut,so here with this effect here, I'm just going to come overand I'm going to click this X button here and get rid of it.So now I just have a mask.If I come over here to this Add Effect button,well here's the effect here as well,add color selection.So really all we're doing is a short cut to creating a mask,and adding a color selection.

If I wanted to do this manually,here's what it would look like,let's kill that effect,let's right-click on this mask,and here I'll just choose remove mask.So here, just to do this manually,we could right-click,we could choose add a black mask,so there's also an option to add a white mask.Now in Substance Painter, black denotes transparency,and white denotes opaque.So we want this to be transparent,so that's why we would choose a white mask.So here we've added the mask, the mask selected,we're going to click this effect button,and we're just going to choose add color selection.

So again, same thing that we've done there.It's just a shortcut by just usingadd mask with color selection.So now that we have color selection selected,if I come over here to the Properties,it's context sensitive,so you can see that it's properties for the color selectionthat we have selected.Here we have this ID Mask.Now this ID mask is going to be automatically setbased on the ID mask that is set here in my additional maps.If I did not have an ID map here in this additionalmap input slot, then this would be blankand none of this would work.

Or I would have to manually add the ID mask.If for some reason that ID mask is not set herebut I do have a texture that I want to use as an ID mask,maybe it's not something I baked,maybe it's something that I paintedin a different application.I could import that as a resource, click this button,and just browse for that texturethat I want to use as my ID mask.Here in this case, it's automatically assignedbecause we are using a ID Map that we baked.Okay so, now we have that set,all I have to do is just click this Pick Color button,and when I do that, the view port then is set into thatadditional map viewing mode, and it's set to IDas you can see here in the top left corner.

And now I have this little picker iconthat allows me just to choose the colorthat I want to add as the mask or the ID.So this pink is kind of what I set up in my 3D programto represent where I want to place the metal areason the mesh,so all I have to do is just left-click this pink area,and you can see that we've now masked this layer group herebased on that ID mask.And if I had multiple areas, I could pick those as well,so here we have one pick.

If I click this picker again,and this time I'ma use this green as well,it's going to represent another metal.I'll just click this.And now you can see that we have pink and greenfrom the ID mask, both of them kind of blend or mix togetherto create this mask.And here if we rollover our mask,we can see kind of a thumbnail preview of what that mask is.Another shortcut to that is if I hold down the Alt keyand left-click on this mask,it then is going to showcase the mask here in the view port.So right now it's showing everythingand that's a little confusing,so let's come over here to our texture setand just solo that grip barrel.

Now this is actually more accurately showingthe mask that we just created here.And if I want to go out of that mode,I can just hit M on the keyboardto go back to my material mode.And then here I'll un-solo that.So this here allows me to quickly maskbased on that ID, and like I said,when we covered this ID bake here a couple videos backin the baking section,you can see where creating or baking an ID map like thisreally speeds up the process of masking.Now in the next video, we're going to take a look atmanually masking some areas without using an ID mask.

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Author

Released

12/23/2016

These days, nearly every AAA game studio uses Substance Painter, making it the industry standard for physically-based rendering material authoring. In this course, Wes McDermott takes a beginner's look at Substance Painter by walking you through a basic project—texturing a weapon asset. He starts with the basics, showing you how to create a project and import assets, as well as use the integrated baking system. Next, Wes shows you how to work with materials and layers, and provides a primer on the brush tool set. After you finish tackling the fundamentals, Wes shows you how to fully texturize a weapon asset, step-by-step. He wraps up by showing you how to create portfolio renders using Iray, the integrated path-tracing renderer in Substance Painter.


My 10 Non-Negotiables in my Personal Life

There are certain things I do on a regular basis that may not align with my traditional beliefs. They may not be seen as traditionally healthy or good for me, but nonetheless, I do not see myself giving them up.

Why?

Because, to be honest, they make me happy.

They really do. And despite me maybe knowing better, I also know that no one is perfect. In my mind, these are the things that I can’t/don’t want to give up because they genuinely make me a happier human.

Life is about balance and finding yours in imperative in order to maintain your own happiness.

Alright- peep my 10 non-negotiables.

Cream in my coffee

Not skim, not 1%, CREAM. It’s a no go without it.

CBD oils & such.

The cannabinol effects of CBD oils are known to relax people & improve muscle tension while decreasing stress. Such other natural plants, herbs & flowers can be helpful as well to reducing anxiety & even help to decrease DOMS. (Delayed onset of muscle soreness.)

Chocolate

I will never give up chocolate.

Period.

My minimal requirement for maximum happiness? 3 to 5 times a week.

Steaming the shit out of my bathroom when taking a shower

My future partner will hate me for this as I’ve found over the years, steaming up your small bathroom consistently will destroy any paint on walls, but hey, I don’t own my apartment and don’t have any partners so until then, YOLO. I’m steaming away biiiitch.

My microfiber towels I use to scrunch my curls

They look like dirty old dishrags but are essential to create the perfect curl.

The various oils I use as my personal perfume

I use a number of scented oils like Egyptian musk, sandalwood and vanilla. Maybe a drop of this. a splash of that. Tbh, i mix a lot of oils (which can be annoying as I need to get them from different vendors), BUT it’s a non negotiable for me. Scent is a personal thing & I take pride in mine.

The huge gallon of coconut oil in the bathroom

I haven’t used lotion in years. Coconut oil- for everything. Everywhere. You’re welcome.

Not putting the cap back on my toothpaste

Not that this makes me happy, but I’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember and it’s more of a heads up to any of my potential partners in the future- do not expect me to change this. I literally am incapable of replacing the toothpaste cap on top of the tube. Forgive me Darling. I love you.

No TV in the bedroom

Period. To be honest, I haven’t owned a TV in eight years I think.

Sure, I could be down to get one, but you’ll be the one hooking it up and it will NOT be in the bedroom.

The amount of base needed when I listen to all my music

If you know me you know that music is very important to me and I may be known to be what others would call a “music snob” - which I would gladly accept as a compliment even if it’s a back handed one.

What I listen to is very important to me but honestly how I listen to it as equally as important.

If you know me then you know that when it comes to my music, I’ve got to be able to feel that shit. Base and adequate speakers is a must in my home.


Cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis in a Saudi Arabian family-genotyping and long-term follow-up.
A Saudi Arabian family is described in which there were 2 siblings with typical features of cerebral xanthomatosis CTX including premature cataracts, xanthomata of the Achilles tendons, neuro-psychiatric disturbances, and atherosclerosis. The 2 patients were homozygous for a point mutation in the mitochondrial 27-hydroxylase gene CYP27A1, OMIM 606530 located in the splice site of intron 6, where G was exchanged for A IVS6+1G>A. Their parents were cousins, 5 siblings were healthy, 2 were heterozygous for the mutation, and one showed the wild-type genotype. The father was heterozygous for the mutation, while the other family members were not tested. The progress of the 2 CTX patients over 14 years is described; firstly when they were receiving treatment with chenodeoxycholic acid; when this medication was not available, and later when it was restored. A hereditary hyperlipidemia was also present in this family. It is suggested that when this occurs with CTX, a more serious illness results that merits more aggressive dual therapy.


Q:

Is Thread is kernel object ?

In this book I read that each instance of the Thread class is actually allocating a kernel object - and this is one of the overheads of using Thread.
As far as I know, the thread is not kernel object (only the process is a kernel object in this case. The thread that the process contains are not kernel objects?)
Can someone explain?

A:

Thread is a managed object first, you know the System.Threading.Thread class.  It is an internal CLR object next, a C++ class also named Thread.  There's rather a massive amount of plumbing involved with it, iceberg style.  That plumbing certainly uses kernel objects, five of them.  Something you can see in Taskmgr.exe.  One of them is the native operating system thread handle, the other four are a bit mysterious but probably are synchronization object handles.
The decoupling of Thread with actual Windows thread objects in .NET 2.0 is pretty infamous.  It is only technically possible, nobody well known actually ever implemented a CLR host that made it work.  It was an important project for the SQL Server team to implement Thread with fibers and they gave up on it.  Couldn't make it reliable enough.  Hasn't been tried since that I know of.


I t must be strange to live in a midwest town that is home to nefarious conspiracies, secret experiments and a portal to an alternate dimension populated by grotesque monsters. But coming of age is still stranger.

After an absence of almost two years, Stranger Things returns on 4 July for its third season on Netflix, and a lot has changed in that time. It’s still the 1980s, the era of New Coke, Jazzercise and George A Romero’s Day of the Dead. But as we catch up with the kids we’ve followed on their adventures – Will (Noah Schnapp), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Max (Sadie Sink), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and the psychic Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) – we discover they’re not kids any longer.

Season three finds them in the summer between their middle school and high school years, and they are unmistakably teenagers now, teeming with all the passions and messy feelings that come with that phase of life. Their growing up is reflected in the Eighties-era touchstones this series is famous for cribbing from, as the innocence of ET the Extra-Terrestrial and The Goonies gives way to reference points intended for more grown-up audiences, like Fast Times at Ridgemont High. (Fittingly, portions of this season take place in Hawkins’s new shopping mall.)

While the Stranger Things friends once again contend with hideous beasts of the human and non-human varieties, they are also finding their first loves, suffering their first breakups and discovering it’s not as easy as it used to be to keep their gang together.

The actors who play these characters have also grown up. Some were as young as nine and 10 years old when they first auditioned for the Duffer Brothers, who created Stranger Things, and now they are between the ages of 14 and 17. They are poised and precocious, increasingly visible from their work on the show and in other projects. And they are supremely aware they lead lives that are very different from a typical teenager’s, even as they strive to stay humble and normal.

Hidden gems: The best Netflix originals you might have missed Show all 20 1 /20 Hidden gems: The best Netflix originals you might have missed Hidden gems: The best Netflix originals you might have missed Money Heist (TV series, one season, 2017–) Known as La Casa de Papel (House of Paper) in its native Spanish, Money Heist is Netflix’s most streamed non-English language show. The bank heist is a tired dramatic trope these days, but don’t let that, or the show’s bland English-language title, put you off – creator Álex Pina has made something special. The heist here, led by a mysterious man known only as The Professor, involves breaking into the Royal Mint of Spain and printing off €2.4 billion. There are even more twists in the show’s 15 episodes than there are hostages. Netflix Hidden gems: The best Netflix originals you might have missed American Vandal (TV series, two seasons, 2017–2018) Part satire of true crime documentaries such as Making a Murderer, part carefully observed portrayal of teenage life, American Vandal was criminally underappreciated during its two season run. It’s been cancelled now, but that doesn’t mean you can’t catch up with it, and then write Netflix a strongly worded email. Netflix Hidden gems: The best Netflix originals you might have missed One Day at a Time (TV series, two seasons, 2017–) In stark contrast to the off-beat, low-key comedy that currently rules TV – the kind that provokes a wry smirk rather than a hearty laugh – One Day at a Time is a big, bright sitcom filmed in front of an interminably enthusiastic studio audience. You wouldn’t have thought that the story of a Cuban-American army veteran / nurse / single mother – who suffers from PTSD and depression – would fit into this format, but it does so beautifully, tackling issues of sexuality, racism and sexism in the process. Netflix Hidden gems: The best Netflix originals you might have missed Private Life (Film, 2018) Based on writer / director Tamara Jenkins’s own fertility struggles, Private Life stars Kathryn Hahn and Paul Giamatti (both giving brilliant performances) as a spiky, loving middle-aged couple desperate to have a baby. They even rope their enthusiastic but irresponsible niece Sadie (Kayli Carter) into the mix, much to the horror of Sadie’s mother (Molly Shannon, turning a potentially repellent character into one worthy of empathy). It’s subtle, restrained and beautifully realised. Netflix Hidden gems: The best Netflix originals you might have missed Big Mouth (TV series, two seasons, 2017–) Crude, rude, and rife with surprise emissions and bodily functions, animated sitcom Big Mouth is also a sensitive, nuanced deep dive into the various horrors of teenagehood. When 12-year-old Andrew Glouberman (John Mulaney) is visited by the hormone monster (Nick Kroll, who voices many of the show’s best characters), he finds his life irreversibly – and seemingly disastrously – changed. Unlike many other puberty-centred comedies, Big Mouth makes as much time for its confused female protagonists as its male ones; Maya Rudolph is a delight as the female hormone monster, and look out for Kristen Wiig’s wonderful turn as a talking vagina. Netflix Hidden gems: The best Netflix originals you might have missed Easy (TV series, two seasons, 2016–) Joe Swanberg’s style of defiantly undramatic mumblecore isn’t for everyone, but if you enjoyed his earlier films, Drinking Buddies and Happy Christmas, you’ll find plenty to admire in this anthology comedy-drama series. Big-name stars such as Orlando Bloom and Aubrey Plaza crop up, but Jane Adams – who you might remember from Todd Solondz’s chronically depressing 1998 film Happiness – is the show’s heart, and Marc Maron is its jaded soul. Netflix Hidden gems: The best Netflix originals you might have missed Love (TV series, three seasons, 2016–2018) Community’s Gillian Jacobs is brilliant as the prickly, magnetic recovering addict Mickey, who forms an unlikely – and arguably deeply unwise – relationship with her nerdy neighbour Gus (Paul Rust). Despite Gus’s pathological need to be the nice guy, we’re never quite sure who or what we’re rooting for – which is what makes Love such complex, compelling viewing. Netflix Hidden gems: The best Netflix originals you might have missed Patton Oswalt: Annihilation (stand-up special, 2017) In 2016, comedian Patton Oswalt’s wife, the true crime writer Michelle McNamara, died suddenly in her sleep. That subject matter doesn’t exactly scream “stand-up special”, but out of his devastating loss, Oswalt managed to craft something funny and profound. Over the course of an hour, he processes his grief onstage, managing to find humour in the struggle to raise his grieving six-year-old daughter alone. Netflix Hidden gems: The best Netflix originals you might have missed Santa Clarita Diet (TV series, two seasons, 2017–) Granted, this horror-comedy – which stars Drew Barrymore as a neurotic real estate agent who suddenly develops a taste for human flesh – is really silly, and really, really disgusting. But it’s also strangely charming, and funny. Timothy Olyphant is excellent as Sheila’s frazzled husband Joel, and the pair’s idiosyncratic but respectful relationship with their smart teenage daughter Abby (Liv Hewson) isn’t quite like anything else on TV right now. Netflix Hidden gems: The best Netflix originals you might have missed Dark Tourist (TV series, one season, 2018–) New Zealand journalist David Farrier is an unlikely TV presenter in the same way that Louis Theroux is – in just about every scenario in which he finds himself, he’s a little bit awkward. But as with Theroux, Farrier’s weakness is actually his strength, allowing him to endear himself to the many unusual people he meets on his journey through the world’s most questionable tourist destinations. Farrier’s stops include the site of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the road where JFK was assassinated, and the Milwaukee suburbs where serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer murdered his victims. Netflix Hidden gems: The best Netflix originals you might have missed Sacred Games (TV series, one season, 2018–) Based on Vikram Chandra’s epic 2006 novel, Netflix’s first Indian original series is a slowly unfolding gem. The first season of Sacred Games – which follows a troubled police officer (Saif Ali Khan) who has 25 days to save his city thanks to a tip-off from a presumed dead gangster – only covered one quarter of Chandra’s 1,000-page novel. As the show itself declared when it announced the forthcoming second season, “the worst is yet to come”. Netflix Hidden gems: The best Netflix originals you might have missed Dumplin’ (Film, 2018) When the trailer for Dumplin’ first landed, it seemed all the ingredients were in place for a film that was at worst tone-deaf, and at best vaguely patronising. Thank heavens, then, that the trailer did Dumplin’ such a disservice. Starring Danielle Macdonald (who broke out in the excellent 2017 film Patti Cake$) as Willowdean, a self-described “fat girl” who enters a local pageant to annoy her former beauty queen mother (Jennifer Aniston), Dumplin’ is as funny, warm and sensitive as its protagonist – and with a killer Dolly Parton-laden soundtrack to boot. Netflix Hidden gems: The best Netflix originals you might have missed Dark (TV series, one season, 2017–) This sci-fi thriller – which features disappearing children, a mysterious local power plant, and scenes set in the Eighties – has, for obvious reasons, drawn comparisons to Stranger Things. But Dark is even more beguiling and (true to its name) less family-friendly than Stranger Things. Netflix Hidden gems: The best Netflix originals you might have missed The Death and Life of Marsha P Johnson (Film, 2017) Though it’s been somewhat tarnished by claims that director David France appropriated the work and research of trans film-maker Reina Gossett, this documentary is nonetheless a loving, respectful tribute to gay rights activist Marsha P Johnson. One of the key figures in the Stonewall uprising (though her involvement was almost entirely eradicated in 2015’s critically hated Stonewall), Johnson modelled for Andy Warhol, performed onstage with drag group Hot Peaches, helped found the Gay Liberation Front, and then died under suspicious circumstances in 1992. Netflix Hidden gems: The best Netflix originals you might have missed On My Block (TV series, one season, 2018–) This coming-of-age series might not have found as many eyeballs as it deserved last year, but those it did find were glued to the screen. In fact, it was the most-binged show of 2018 – meaning that it had the highest watch-time-per-viewing session of any Netflix original. Created by Awkward’s Lauren Iungerich, On My Block follows a group of Los Angeles teens as they navigate both the drama of high school and the danger of inner-city life. John O Flexor/Netflix Hidden gems: The best Netflix originals you might have missed Set It Up (Film, 2018) Two beleaguered assistants (Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell) conspire to get their over-demanding bosses (Taye Diggs and Lucy Liu) together in order to get their lives back in this winning romantic comedy. Set It Up is responsible not only for coining the term “over-dicking” (it’s much more innocent than it sounds), but for rejuvenating a tired genre. Netflix Hidden gems: The best Netflix originals you might have missed Cargo (Film, 2017) Martin Freeman stars as the father struggling to protect his young daughter from a zombie epidemic spreading across Australia. So far, so overdone. But this drama thriller, directed by Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke and based on their 2013 short of the same name, throws a handful of unpredictable spanners in the works. Netflix Hidden gems: The best Netflix originals you might have missed 3% (TV series, two season, 2016–) Like a cross between The Hunger Games and CW series The 100, this Brazilian dystopian thriller, set in an unspecified future, revolves largely around an impoverished community known as the Inland. Every year, each 20-year-old takes part in a series of tests; the highest scoring 3% will be chosen to live in paradise in the Offshore. It is an intriguing and addictive commentary on class and privilege. Netflix Hidden gems: The best Netflix originals you might have missed Godless (TV series, one season, 2017–) With shades of John Ford's The Searchers, this languorous western was critically acclaimed but swiftly forgotten after it landed on Netflix in 2016. Set in 1884, it's about Frank Griffin (Jeff Daniels) and his notoriously ruthless gang of outlaws’ pursuit of their injured former ally Roy Goode (Jack O’Connell), who is hiding out in a small town populated solely by women after a mining accident killed off all its men. A gun-toting Michelle Dockery, clearly relishing the change of scenery after years of Downton Abbey, and a taciturn Jack O’Connell, are on brilliant form. Netflix Hidden gems: The best Netflix originals you might have missed Atypical (TV series, two seasons, 2017–) This coming-of-age series about a teenage boy with autism was sweet and well-intentioned from the start, but its first season was criticised for a handful of inaccuracies, and for its lack of autistic actors. Rather than drowning in a sea of defensiveness – as too many shows tend to do – it listened, and brought in autistic actors and writers for its excellent second season. Netflix

Here, the young Stranger Things actors speak about growing up, on camera and off, their appreciation for the sometimes inexplicable pop culture of the Eighties, and what they’ve learned about themselves.

What are your characters up to in season three?

Millie Bobby Brown I don’t think El knows how to use her powers properly. That’s what she learns about this season. Obviously it’s led her to a different lifestyle, and she has a lot of PTSD. But she’s trying to become normal again. Just like any other teenager, El’s learning not to be what people tell her to be and to be herself. I relate to that a lot.

Caleb McLaughlin It’s so different from the last two seasons. It’s tasty. There’s a friendship between Mike and Lucas this season. We think we know a lot about life, and we think we’re all grown up, but we’re really not. I’m trying to teach Mike how to live life. I’m like the master, and he’s the grasshopper.

Finn Wolfhard Mike thinks he’s a man. He has a little bit of a God complex at the beginning. He’s a teenager and he has a girlfriend. He feels untouchable, he feels immortal, like any teenager that just turned 13. You’re like, whatever, I don’t care.

Noah Schnapp In season one, Will is more shy and reserved, and then in season two, after the monster attacks him and takes over his body, Will gained more courage and became braver. Throughout season three, you see how the monster’s still lingering inside him, and how he deals with that. Because he’s not fully better.

Gaten Matarazzo It seems that the stakes for Dustin’s stories having been rising more and more. He’s always had his little side stories, but this year he’s got an entire shopping mall to contend with.

The new mall is a prominent setting, which makes sense given that your characters are now teenagers. One of the big themes this season is how their core group of friends is not only growing and changing, but also fraying and being pulled in different directions. Did that feel authentic to you?

McLaughlin Things happen. Friends separate. When I left school, I would check in on a friend and be like, yeah, I don’t talk to that person anymore. It was just because of me not going to school. But I don’t really talk to them that much.

Matarazzo Obviously, it’s sad. I always think about this one thing my history teacher told me this year. He’s sitting there on his desk, sipping coffee, talking about how this generation sucks, as he always does. And he’s not even that old, he’s like 40. [Laughs.] And in the middle of his lecture, he goes: “I was just thinking earlier this week, there was this one time I was hanging out with my friends, all of us together – and then it never happened again. Something happens or something changes, and then it never happened again.” And that’s how friendships work, especially when you’re a kid.

Sadie Sink Max makes friends with El this season. Me and Millie, on weekends, we’d have sleepovers and stuff – I think that’s why our onscreen relationship came across as very genuine, because of how close Millie and I are. Being the two girls on-set, we had this automatic bond. It could have been a really bad situation or something, there could have been jealousy: “Oh, there’s a new girl.” But it wasn’t, because me and Millie just really get along.

Eleven (centre) and the gang in ‘Stranger Things’ season three (Netflix)

The presence of the supernatural is still an important part of the show. Is it tricky to pretend to use psychic powers or react to monsters that aren’t really there?

Schanpp A lot of Stranger Things is having to be able to, in your mind, turn a little tennis ball into a huge monster. In season two, there was one scene where I was screaming at the monster and I was screaming at nothing. It was just the sky. So I really have a big imagination, I guess? In another scene, I had to collapse and have a seizure. I’ve never experienced one; I’ve never seen anyone have one. So I just researched it on the internet. I looked at videos of it. Winona [Ryder] helped me too – she talked me through one of the scenes.

Brown I channel energy. I channel a lot of my memories. Especially when I’m angry – it becomes very raw and emotional and real and genuine. You’d think all that crying would make you feel better, but no, actually, you feel the opposite. Usually when I do those scenes I go home. I take a bath, I listen to some sad music and cry it out myself. It lasts less than five minutes, but it’s something you need to do in order to get on with it. And then I’m good for the rest of the day.

What did you know about Eighties culture before Stranger Things?

Wolfhard I had already seen all the classics. I’d seen all of John Hughes’s movies. All the Spielberg stuff. A bunch of Eighties horror, like Evil Dead. It was cool when the Duffers assigned a list of movies to watch. Gaten and I were just like, oh, we’ve already seen these. And they were like, all right, well, good.

Matarazzo My parents were so keen on making sure I knew all that. I remember my dad showed me a Duran Duran album once, and I was obsessed with it. And so was my brother, but my brother was only obsessed with the song “Girls on Film” and he played it about 14 million times in a day. And it drove me nuts. But now I have a connection with that album and that time.

Sink My mom always plays Madonna in the car, so I was kind of familiar with what she was into in the 1980s. I’m a huge Back to the Future fan. I rewatched it recently, and I see a lot of similarities between Max and Marty. They have the same skateboard, the same backpack.

The highest-rated TV shows on IMDb Show all 10 1 /10 The highest-rated TV shows on IMDb The highest-rated TV shows on IMDb 10. The Twilight Zone (1959-1964) IMDB score: 9.0 The highest-rated TV shows on IMDb 9. Sherlock (2010-) IMDB score: 9.1 Hartswood Films/REX/Shutterstock The highest-rated TV shows on IMDb 8. Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008) IMDB score: 9.2 The highest-rated TV shows on IMDb 7. The Sopranos (1999-2007) IMDB score: 9.2 HBO The highest-rated TV shows on IMDb 6. Rick and Morty (2013-) IMDB score: 9.3 Netflix/Adult Swim The highest-rated TV shows on IMDb 5. The Wire (2002-2008) IMDB score: 9.3 The highest-rated TV shows on IMDb 4. Game of Thrones (2011-2019) IMDB score: 9.4 HBO The highest-rated TV shows on IMDb 3. Breaking Bad (2008-2013) IMDB score: 9.5 Sony The highest-rated TV shows on IMDb 2. Band of Brothers (2001) IMDB score: 9.5 The highest-rated TV shows on IMDb 1. Chernobyl (2019) IMDB score: 9.7 Sky / HBO

What’s something from the Eighties that you hadn’t encountered until you worked on Stranger Things?

Sink Definitely the video games. I knew Pac-Man, but that was it. In season two we had the arcade set and all the games were working, so in between takes you could go around and play whatever you wanted. I never actually played Dig Dug, though, because the machine they had didn’t work. [The show introduced Max in season two as a Dig Dug ace.] The night before that scene, I was looking at how to play Dig Dug, making sure I was prepared. And then I got on-set and they were like, OK, it’s not working so you’re just going to press this button like you’re playing it. I was so ready.

Schnapp My parents always told me about VHS tapes. And the Walkman, everyone had those. I had never even seen one until I got onto Stranger Things.

Is there anything from 2019 that you think will still hold up in 30 years?

Sink I just saw Booksmart, and I felt like that really captured what it’s like to be a high schooler right now. That’s definitely a movie we’ll look back on, that captures the spirit of 2019.

Wolfhard If you don’t realise that there are great rock bands out there, you should look for them. Pup, who’s like the most amazing, they’re keeping rock ’n’ roll and punk alive. A band called Whitney. And my friend Snail Mail. All those are so important.

Schnapp I always wonder if Apple iPhones and all these electronics that we use today are still going to be a thing in like 10, 20 years. It’s nice being on-set because it teaches you, oh, you don’t need your phone all the time. People lived like this.

David Harbour as sheriff Jim Hopper and Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers (Netflix)

How have you seen yourself change since you started working on Stranger Things?

Sink I’ve definitely grown up, but I’m the same Sadie now that I would have been, even if I wasn’t on Stranger Things. I’ve always been laid back, go with the flow. There’s that whole thing about how child actors all end up being crazy, but I don’t think that’s the case for any of us. We’re all just good kids, especially when you surround yourself with supportive, loving people.

McLaughlin I have open ears, and I have a personality to hear out other people. I don’t really have a stubborn way about myself. I thought that I knew enough, but as I get older, I’ve realised that I don’t know a lot.

Matarazzo I’ve just become more of a sarcastic [expletive]. Other than that, I really haven’t changed much at all. I look back at the old footage of me, and my sense of humour then, and I’m like, ugh, that’s the people I make fun of now. The reason I’m sarcastic is from this deep-down insecurity that I was totally unaware of. [Laughs.] That’s all humour, though.

Brown I’ve learned to like new things and different things. Obviously, my lifestyle has changed quite drastically. Taking more safety precautions and my privacy, being more careful. But me, my love and passion for acting hasn’t changed at all.

Joe Keery who plays Steve and Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin (Netflix)

But has it been strange to grow up in front of millions of viewers?

Brown People think that we haven’t had a childhood. If you have a daughter, everything your daughter has gone through or is going to go through is exactly what I’ve been through. You still cry. You still get emotional at random things. It’s like any other kid: “Let me go be a kid, and let me do things.”

Matarazzo There’s going to be so much footage of me from the past and it’s never going to leave me alone. When I’m like 30, all I’ve got to do is type in “Gaten Matarazzo when he was a kid” and then a bunch of stuff is going to come up and I’ll be like, oh, no.

SCHNAPP I’m the youngest on-set, and I’ve never felt like, oh, they’re so much older than me. But it’s crazy now – like, Caleb has a beard. Everyone’s tall. We’ve grown up so much. But it’s nice to be able to look back at season one and see, like, wow, that’s what our voices sound like. We have that forever.


The envisaged future telecommunications network includes electronic edge nodes and an optical core that comprises a plurality of optical cross connectors. Currently, an optical cross connector has no practical means for storing optical signals. This severe limitation has implications regarding the structure and operation of an optical-core network.
Wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) fiber links, each carrying several wavelength channels, connect the edge nodes to the optical cross connectors. The optical cross connectors may also be interconnected by WDM fiber links. In multi-hop routing, individual wavelength channels routed through the network may traverse several optical cross connectors. Such multi-hop routing within the optical core precludes the use of time sharing scheme, such as TDM (time-division multiplexing) switching or burst switching, due to the difficulty of coordinating the switching times among the bufferless optical core nodes.
In a switching node having a plurality of input ports and output ports, where signals arriving at the input ports are generally uncoordinated in the time domain, being generated by independent sources, and have arbitrary destinations, contention resolution is required because input signals arriving at two or more input ports may require connection to a single output port. Contention resolution can be based on a primitive method where one of the signals competing for an output port is accepted while the remaining signals are blocked, i.e., denied a path through the switching node. The blocked signals would be discarded if the respective input ports have no storage facility. Otherwise, the blocked signals can be buffered until given permission to proceed at subsequent intervals of time. Alternatively, contention is avoided by scheduling the transfer of data from input to output.
An edge node that establishes a path through a core node is said to subtend to the core node. An edge node may subtend to some or all of the core nodes of a network. When an edge node subtends to two or more core nodes, it selects a core node to establish a path to a given destination edge node according to some merit criterion. The edge nodes sending data traffic through a core node are said to be subtending edge nodes of the core node.
The path availability for signals arriving at a given input port and destined to several output ports of a switching node do not necessarily occur according to the same order in which the signals arrive to the switching node. Thus, a simple sequential storage facility is not useful to deploy, and, currently, there are no practical means for buffering incoming optical signals and selectively retrieving any signal for switching to a respective output port when a path across the switching node becomes available.
The use of interconnected optical cross connectors in the core of the network leads to an inefficient rigid network. Traversing two or more optical nodes is problematic for the following reasons:                (1) As described above, the absence of buffers makes time sharing of wavelength channels virtually impossible.        (2) The required paths for edge-node pairs must be established, through the core, one at a time. Resources must then be reserved during the path setup phase, which may take a considerable amount of time, several-hundred milliseconds for example. During the path setup phase, the reserved channels are kept idle.        (3) Paths can be blocked due to mismatch of links of sufficient vacancies. For example, there may be several candidate routes, each having two or more hops, from a source edge node to a sink edge node through a plurality of interconnected optical cross connectors. If each candidate route has one link that is fully reserved, a free end-to-end path can not be found even when all other links in the set of candidate routes are lightly loaded. This is conventionally called mismatch blocking. To reduce the mismatch probability, the occupancy of the optical core must be kept at a relatively low level, which can be realized by known internal-expansion techniques but may be considered costly.        (4) Wavelength conversion is often needed in multi-hop optical paths.
To circumvent these difficulties, an obvious solution is to disallow the use of consecutive optical nodes in any path. With this approach, complemented with time coordination between each core node and each of its subtending edge nodes, the buffers at each edge node can be exploited for contention resolution. A time-locking technique is detailed in Applicant's copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/054,509, filed on Nov. 13, 2001 and titled “Time-Coordination in a Burst-Switching Network”. With time locking, all edge nodes subtending to a core node can time their transmission to arrive at the optical core node at any desired instant of time. Time locking is feasible when a path between two electronic edge nodes traverses only a single optical core node. This enables adaptive channel switching at the optical core nodes without the need to allow large idle periods between successive path changes. Time locking also enables the use of time-sharing schemes; TDM or burst switching. It also allows the network core to operate at a high mean occupancy, 0.95 for example. Without time locking, time sharing of network transport resources is not possible, and channel switching would require that the core be operated at a lower mean occupancy, of 0.7 for example.
A complete network is defined herein to be a network that can allocate paths of a total capacity of C (bits per second) from any set of channels collectively having a capacity of C (bits per second) and emanating from any group of source nodes to any set of egress channels, collectively having a capacity that equals or exceeds C, and belonging to any group of sink nodes. For example, a source node can transfer its entire traffic to a sink node of at least equal capacity. Therefore, any spatial variation of traffic loads can be accommodated and the need for traffic engineering is virtually eliminated.
The capacity of a node is defined herein as the total data rate that can be switched from the input ports to the output ports of the node. The degree of a node refers to the number of ports in the node. In an asymmetrical node, where the number of output ports differs from the number of input ports, an input-side degree of the node refers to the number of input ports and an output-side degree refers to the number of output ports.
An efficient wide-coverage high capacity complete network that does not allow traversing two consecutive optical nodes would take the form of a composite-star network, or a plurality of composite-star networks as described in Applicant's U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/624,079 filed on Jul. 24, 2000, and titled “Multi-dimensional Lattice Network”.
To be complete, the composite star network must be uniform, having identical optical-core nodes and identical edge nodes. To enable wide coverage, each edge node must have a high degree, having several links to the optical core, and each core node must be able to accommodate a large number of subtending edge nodes.
To enable a high capacity, each edge node must have a large number of input ports and a large number of output ports, with each input or output port supporting a channel of a high bit rate, 10 Gb/s for example. The edge node should also be provided with a high-speed controller to enable fast scheduling that can follow traffic-intensity variation. A versatile high capacity edge node is described in Applicant's copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/025,982, filed Dec. 26, 2001, and titled “Universal Edge Node”.
A complete network, as defined above, responds gracefully to wild spatial traffic variation. However, this may be realized at the expense of some added optical-link mileage, as explained in a paper titled “Comparison of two optical-core networks”, authored by Blouin et al., Journal of Optical Networking, Vol. 1, No. 1, January 2002.
If the spatial traffic distribution can be determined with a reasonable level of confidence, then it would be possible to relax the strict requirement of network completeness and employ, instead, an incomplete network that is still tolerant to considerable spatial traffic variation.
It is desirable, therefore, to find a structure of an incomplete network that employs edge nodes of different capacities and degrees, and core nodes of different capacities and degrees, while still realizing a high capacity wide-coverage network that also provides high performance under diverse traffic conditions. An optimum incomplete network may include edge nodes of widely varying capacities and degrees and core nodes of different capacities and degrees to reduce fiber-link mileage. There is a need to realize such a network without significantly affecting network performance and agility.
Thus, a non-uniform incomplete composite-star network structure that can realize network economy and control simplicity is required and methods of route selection in such a structure are needed.


Q:

iOS:OCMapper: Deserialize date from json

I have integrated OCMapper for converting json string to custom model object.I cannot able to deserialize date object. for example I have one json like
NSString* sampleOutput=@"{\"UserType\":\"Admin\",\"testdate\":\"/Date(1438545600000+0400)/\"}";

NSData* sampleDate= [sampleOutput dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];

NSDictionary *loginDictionary = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:sampleDate options:NSJSONReadingAllowFragments error:&responseError];

MyModel* loginResponse= [[ObjectMapper sharedInstance] objectFromSource:loginDictionary toInstanceOfClass:[MyModel class]];

My Model class structure is
`@interface MyModel : NSObject
@property(nonatomic,strong) NSString* userType;
@property(nonatomic,strong) NSDate* testdate;
@end`

But I got nil value for testdate object. Kindly provide me best way to do so.
If the json is
 NSString* sampleOutput=@"{\"UserType\":\"Admin\",\"testdate\":\"2015-08-05\"}";

I can able to parse the date by InCodeMappingProvider
like
InCodeMappingProvider *inCodeMappingProvider = [[InCodeMappingProvider alloc] init];
        NSDateFormatter *dateOfBirthFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
        [dateOfBirthFormatter setDateFormat:@"yyyy-dd-MM"];
        [inCodeMappingProvider setDateFormatter:dateOfBirthFormatter forPropertyKey:@"testdate" andClass:[MyModel class]];
        [[ObjectMapper sharedInstance] setMappingProvider:inCodeMappingProvider];

But I need to convert the specific C# Date serialize format NSString* sampleOutput=@"{\"UserType\":\"Admin\",\"testdate\":\"/Date(1438545600000+0400)/

A:

Finally I found answer.
In ObjectMapper.m-> processDictionary:
// Convert NSString to NSDate if needed
                    if ([propertyTypeString isEqualToString:@"NSDate"])
                    {
                        if ([value isKindOfClass:[NSDate class]])
                        {
                            nestedObject = value;
                        }
                        else if ([value hasPrefix:@"/Date("]){
                            nestedObject = [self myCustomDateConversion:value];
                        }
                        else if ([value isKindOfClass:[NSString class]])
                        {
                            nestedObject = [self dateFromString:value forProperty:propertyName andClass:class];
                        }
                    }


Image copyright Laura Dodsworth

Victims of domestic abuse who contact Scottish Women's Aid (SWA) for help face being put on waiting lists of up to six months, the charity has said.

SWA figures show it supports more than 1,000 women and children across the country on any given day.

The group is now urging the Scottish government and councils to provide increased funding to make sure victims are helped more quickly.

The government said it was committed to tackling all forms of domestic abuse.

SWA published a report on its work to mark International Women's Day.

Refuge spaces

It said the vast majority (84%) of Women's Aid groups have to operate waiting lists of up to six months for at least one of their services.

More than half of its services were forced to operate a waiting list for refuge spaces in 2018-19.

On one day in 2019, SWA was unable to provide accommodation for 58% of the women and 38% of the children and young people seeking refuge, the report said.

Also on a single day last year, 1,235 women, children and young people contacted a Women's Aid service - with 101 of them seeking help for the first time.

The charity, which has 38 local groups, said funding for specialist services was "insufficient due to funding cuts, freezes, and the nature of short-term, precarious funding".

'Vital support'

Scottish government statistics show that in 2018-19, there were 60,641 incidents of domestic abuse recorded by Police Scotland.

But the SWA report stresses that "most domestic abuse is not reported to the police".

It said 79% of its services have either received no increase in funding or have seen funding cut - on average by 10%.

The report highlights a "stark increase in the waiting time for women and children to access a refuge".

It added: "This means that women and children forced to leave their home because of domestic abuse are left without a safe place to go."

The charity's Ash Kuloo said: "It is women, children and young people experiencing domestic abuse who bear the brunt of cuts to funding.

"It is their safety and survival that lies behind these statistics and every increased waiting list means another person not getting the vital support they need, at the time they need it."

She said Women's Aid services were "continuously being asked to do much more, with much less".

'Significant funding'

A Scottish government spokeswoman said: "We are absolutely committed to tackling all forms of domestic abuse and violence against women and girls, and ensuring that victims receive the support they need.

"We are working with Cosla and key partners to implement our Equally Safe strategy across Scotland.

"We have invested significant levels of funding into front-line services, as well as working closely with statutory agencies to improve their response to victims and survivors."

Cosla, which represents local authorities, said while the Scottish government had made a significant investment, the "underinvestment" in councils had impacted its work in this area.


Q:

parsing string starting with @ and # in objective-C

So I am trying to parse a string that has the following format:
baz@marroon#red#blue #big@cat#dog
or, it can also be separated by spaces:
baz @marroon #red #blue #big @cat #dog
and here's how I am doing it now:
- (void) parseTagsInComment:(NSString *) comment
{
    if ([comment length] > 0){
        NSArray * stringArray = [comment componentsSeparatedByString:@" "];
        for (NSString * word in stringArray){

        }
    }
}

I've got the components separated by space working, but what if it has no space.. how do I iterate through these words? I was thinking of using regex.. but I have no idea on how to write such regex in objective-C. Any idea, for a regex that would cover both of these cases?
Here's my first attempt:
NSError * error;
    NSRegularExpression *regex = [NSRegularExpression regularExpressionWithPattern:@"(@|#)\\S+" options:NSRegularExpressionCaseInsensitive error:&error];

    NSArray* wordArray = [regex matchesInString:comment
                                      options:0 range:NSMakeRange(0, [comment length])];

    for (NSString * word in wordArray){

    }

Which doesn't work.. I think my regex is wrong.

A:

Here is a way to do it using NSScanner that puts the separated strings and a string representation of their ranges into an array (this assumes that your original string started with a # -- if it doesn't and you need it to, then just prepend the hash to the string at the start).
NSMutableArray *array = [NSMutableArray array];
    NSString *str = @"#baz@marroon#red#blue #big@cat#dog";
    NSScanner *scanner = [NSScanner scannerWithString:str];
    NSCharacterSet *searchSet = [NSCharacterSet characterSetWithCharactersInString:@"#@"];
    NSString *outputString;

    while (![scanner isAtEnd]) {
        [scanner scanUpToCharactersFromSet:searchSet intoString:nil];
        [scanner scanCharactersFromSet:searchSet intoString:&outputString];
        NSString *symbol = [outputString copy];
        [scanner scanUpToCharactersFromSet:searchSet intoString:&outputString];
        NSString *wholePiece = [[symbol stringByAppendingString:outputString]stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet whitespaceCharacterSet]];
        NSString *rangeString = NSStringFromRange([str rangeOfString:wholePiece]);
        [array addObject:wholePiece];
        [array addObject:rangeString];
    }
    NSLog(@"%@",array);