---
abstract: 'We investigate the electronic structure of epitaxial VO$_2$ films in the rutile phase using density functional theory combined with the slave-spin method (DFT+SS). In DFT+SS, multi-orbital Hubbard interactions are added to a DFT-fit tight-binding model, and slave spins are used to treat electron correlations. We find that while stretching the system along the rutile $c$-axis results in a band structure favoring anisotropic orbital fillings, electron correlations favor equal filling of the $t_{2g}$ orbitals. These two distinct effects cooperatively induce an orbital-dependent redistribution of the electron occupations and spectral weights, driving strained VO$_2$ toward an orbital selective Mott transition (OSMT). The simulated single-particle spectral functions are directly compared to V L-edge resonant X-ray photoemission spectroscopy of epitaxial 10 nm VO$_2$/TiO$_2$ (001) and (100) strain orientations. Excellent agreement is observed between the simulations and experimental data regarding the strain-induced evolution of the lower Hubbard band. Simulations of rutile NbO$_2$ under similar strain conditions are performed, and we predict that an OSMT will not occur in rutile NbO$_2$. Our prediction is supported by the high-temperature hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES) measurement on relaxed NbO$_2$ (110) thin films with no trace of the lower Hubbard band. Our results indicate that electron correlations in VO$_2$ are important, and can be modulated even in the rutile phase before the Peierls instability sets in.'
author:
- 'Wei-Cheng Lee'
- 'Matthew J. Wahila'
- Shantanu Mukherjee
- 'Christopher N. Singh'
- Tyler Eustance
- Anna Regoutz
- 'H. Paik'
- 'Jos E. Boschker'
- Fanny Rodolakis
- 'Tien-Lin Lee'
- 'D. G. Schlom'
- 'Louis F. J. Piper'
title: 'Cooperative Effects of Strain and Electron Correlation in Epitaxial VO$_2$ and NbO$_2$'
---

Introduction
============

Enormous efforts have been made to understand vanadium dioxide (VO$_2$), which exhibits a metal-to-insulator transition (MIT) near room temperature.[@morin1959] The MIT in VO$_2$ is accompanied by a structural transition from the rutile R (metallic) to the monoclinic M$_1$ (insulating) crystal structure, and it is understood that both Mott (electron correlation)[@mott1975; @imada1998] and Peierls (structural distortion)[@goodenough1971] physics play essential roles in this transition. A large amount of theoretical research has been performed to investigate the electronic structures of VO$_2$ using the local density approximation (LDA), LDA + U, LDA + DMFT, quantum Monte Carlo, etc.. However, the role of electron correlations in driving the MIT is still under debate, due to the fact that the Mott insulating phase cannot be disentangled from the Peierls instability. [@eyert2002; @haverkort2005; @koethe2006; @biermann2005; @weber2012; @zheng2015; @brito2016]

Recent progress in strain-engineering VO$_2$ grown by molecular beam epitaxy on TiO$_2$ substrates has opened the possibility of modulating electron correlation with strain before the Peierls instability sets in. [@paik2015; @quackenbush2015; @mukherjee2016; @quackenbush2016; @laverock2012] Since TiO$_2$ remains in the rutile crystal structure at all temperatures, and has a $c$-axis lattice constant approximately $3.8\%$ longer than bulk VO$_2$, the strain can be engineered by choosing the thin film growth direction. If the growth direction is along the rutile $c$-axis, denoted as VO$_2$ (001), the strain is small and the corresponding VO$_2$ thin film behaves like bulk VO$_2$.[@quackenbush2013] On the other hand, if the growth direction is perpendicular to the rutile $c$-axis, e.g., (100) and (110), a large strain is induced due to significant elongation of the $c$-axis lattice constant. Recent evidence of a strain-induced orbital selective Mott state was reported from hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES) and x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) experiments in epitaxial (100) and (110) films by Mukherjee and Quackenbush et al.[@mukherjee2016; @quackenbush2016] The reports revealed how electron correlation can be strain-enhanced in VO$_2$ thin films, but a full theoretical description of the interplay between strain and electron correlation remained incomplete.

In this paper, we employ density functional theory implemented with the slave spin method (DFT+SS) to investigate the electronic structure of VO$_2$ thin films under strain. We focus on the rutile phase and study the phase diagram as a function of doping, strain, and correlation strength. We find that while the band structure is modified by the elongation of the $c$-axis driving more electrons into the $d_{\parallel}$ band, electron correlation has the opposite effect, and tends to distribute electrons more evenly among the three $t_{2g}$ bands. The interplay between these two effects results in orbital-dependent redistributions of the electron occupations and spectral weights, which pushes the strained VO$_2$ toward an orbital selective Mott transition (OSMT). Our theoretical models are in excellent agreement with V L-edge resonant x-ray photoemission spectroscopy of both (001) and (100) epitaxial 10 nm VO$_2$/TiO$_2$, which highlights the evolution of the lower Hubbard band as a function of strain. We have further employed the same theoretical approach to study rutile NbO$_2$ under similar strain conditions, and conclude that no OSMT can be found for comparable strain regimes. Our conclusion is supported by the high-temperature hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES) measurement on relaxed NbO$_2$ (110) thin film with no trace of the lower Hubbard band. Our results demonstrate that electron correlation has significant effects on the physical properties of VO$_2$ even in the rutile phase, and can be modified dramatically by strain engineering.

General discussion
==================

![\[fig:OSMT-2o\] Schematic illustrations of the Mott insulator and the orbital selective Mott state. (a) The Fermi surface of a non-interacting generic two-orbital system with $d_{xz}$ and $d_{yz}$. The red (black) color represents larger $d_{xz}$ ($d_{yz}$) component at these momenta. (b) At half-filling ($n=2$), the Fermi surface completely vanishes in the Mott insulating state. (c) In the orbital selective Mott state, only parts of the Fermi surface associated with one particular orbital vanish, exhibiting an interesting ’Fermi arc’ profile. This can be achieved by strain engineering even at non-integer fillings.](OSMT-2o.eps){width="3.4in"}

Mott physics can be generally described by a Hamiltonian containing two terms: $H = H_{t} + H_U$. $H_{t}$ is the kinetic energy, typically obtainable from band structure calculations, and $H_U$ is the multi-orbital Hubbard interaction that provides a Coulomb penalty for two electrons on the same atom. In the single band case, if the system is at ’half-filling’, which refers to the electron density being 1 electron per site ($n=1$), the transition from metallic to Mott insulating state can be tuned by varying the ratio of $U/W$, where $U$ is the Hubbard on-site Coulomb energy, and $W$ is the bandwidth.

The physics of “Mottness” is even richer in a multi-orbital system. The half-filling condition for the Mott insulating state becomes $n=N_o$, where $N_o$ is the number of orbitals, but there could exist a new state beyond the standard Mott insulator. Let’s consider a generic two-orbital system with $d_{xz}$ and $d_{yz}$ whose typical Fermi surface is plotted in Fig. \[fig:OSMT-2o\](a). At half-filling ($n=2$), the Mott insulating state can occur with large enough on-site Coulomb interaction, and the Fermi surface will be completely gapped out, as shown in Fig. \[fig:OSMT-2o\](b). As the electron density moves away from half-filling, the correlation effect becomes weaker, and it is generally expected that Mott physics becomes much less important. However, strain engineering facilitates the OSMT mechanism as explained below.

Let’s assume that $n_{xz,yz}$ and $W_{xz,yz}$ are the electron density and bandwidth of orbitals $d_{xz}$ and $d_{yz}$. The total electron density is just $n=n_{xz} + n_{yz}$, and the correlation effect on each orbital can be characterized by the ratio of $U/W_{xz,yz}$. The key part of this mechanism is that the orbital wavefunctions are highly anisotropic in real space, thus the bandwidths can be modulated quite differently in different orbitals under the same tensile strain. In this example of the two-orbital system, the $d_{xz}$ ($d_{yz}$) orbital has a much larger wavefunction overlap along the $x$ ($y$) direction. If a tensile strain is applied along the $x$ direction, the lattice constant along $x$ direction will be elongated, which reduces $W_{xz}$ more significantly than $W_{yz}$. This orbital-dependent bandwidth reduction due to tensile strain leads to two important consequences. First, it is entirely possible to put more electrons in the $d_{xz}$ orbital. Second, the correlation effect is increased only in the $d_{xz}$ orbital, expressed by the ratio of $U/W_{xz}$. As a result, even if the system is not strictly half-filled originally, the application of the strain along $x$ direction could drive the system to a state where only the $d_{xz}$ orbital is Mott insulating ($n_{xz}\sim 1$ with larger $U/W_{xz}$) while the $d_{yz}$ orbital remains weakly-correlated ($n_{yz}$ away from $1$ with smaller $U/W_{yz}$). In this new state of matter, namely the orbital selective Mott state, the Fermi surfaces will be disconnected, exhibiting an interesting ’Fermi arc’ profile shown in Fig. \[fig:OSMT-2o\](c).

The mechanism described above is quite general for a system with multiple orbitals near the Fermi surface together with strong Hubbard interactions. [@anisimov2002; @liebsch2003; @liebsch2004; @fang2004; @koga2004; @demedici2005] In the following sections, we present our theoretical study and supporting experimental data for the case of VO$_2$ thin films. We also perform the same calculations for rutile NbO$_2$ under similar strain conditions. Our results show that the OSMT occurs in VO$_2$ thin films, but not in NbO$_2$, which can be attributed to the fact that NbO$_2$ has much larger bandwidths in general compared to VO$_2$.

Theoretical Methodology
=======================

We solve the Hamiltonian expressed as H = H\_[TB]{} + H\_U. $H_{TB}$ is the tight-binding model composed of the $d$-orbtials of the $V$ atom as well as the $p$ orbitals of the $O$ atom, and the hopping parameters are determined by fitting the band structure calculated by density functional theory using Wannier90[@wannier90]. The DFT calculations are performed with full potential linear augmented plane waves plus local orbitals (FP-LAPW+lo) and the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof generalized gradient approximation (PBE-GGA) provided in the WIEN2k code.[@wien2k] The electron correlations are treated by the multi-orbital Hubbard term $H_U$ on the $d$ orbitals of the $V$ atom defined as H\_U &=& U\_[i]{} \_[i]{}\_[i]{}+ \_[i,]{} \_\_[i]{}\_[i,|]{}\
&+&\_[i,]{} \_\_[i]{}\_[i,]{} + H\_[pair]{} + H\_[\_d]{}, \[hubbard\] where $c^\dagger_{i\alpha\sigma}$ creates an electron in a V $d$ orbital $\alpha$ with spin $\sigma$ at site $i$. $J$ is the Hund’s coupling, $U'$ the inter-orbital coupling, $\bar{\sigma} = -\sigma$, $\hat{n}_{i\alpha\sigma} = c^\dagger_{i\alpha\sigma} c_{i\alpha\sigma}$, and $H_{pair}$ is the pair hopping term defined as H\_[pair]{}= -\_[i,]{} . Lastly, H\_[\_d]{} = - \^U\_d \_[i]{} \_[i]{}, is the on-site energy introduced to make $H_U = 0$ at the half-filling condition.[@ssreview] It is easy to show that for a five orbital model, $\mu^U_d = (9U - 20 J)/4$ if we adopt the form of the Hubbard interactions defined in Eq. \[hubbard\]. We will use the values of $U=6$ eV, $J=1$ eV, and $U'=U-2J$ for VO$_2$ and NbO$_2$ throughout this paper.

The slave spin method [@ssreview; @demedici2005; @demedici2009; @hassan2010; @demedici2011; @yu2011; @yu2012; @yu2013; @demedici2014; @giovannetti2015; @fanfarillo2015; @mukherjee2016; @pizarro2017; @yu2017; @leewc2017] will be employed to treat $H=H_{TB} + H_U$. It is worth mentioning that the slave spin formalism[@demedici2005; @hassan2010] has been shown to capture the featureless Mott transition in good agreement with DMFT results, and it correctly reproduces the Gutzwiller limit for the quasiparticle weight $Z\to 2x/(1+x)$, where $x$ is the doping away from the half-filling in the large $U$ limit.[@hassan2010; @yu2012; @mukherjee2016] We adopt the $U(1)$ version of the slave spin method described in Ref. \[\], and focus only on the rutile phase of VO$_2$ in the normal state without any spontaneous symmetry-breaking order in this study. A brief review on the formalism of $U(1)$ slave spin method can be found in Appendix A.

![\[fig:100\] Schematic illustration of the VO$_2$ thin film grown along the rutile $a$-axis (100) direction. ](100.eps)

The strained case of VO$_2$ thin films grown on a TiO$_2$ substrate with the growth direction along the rutile $a$-axis, denoted as VO$_2$ (100), is schematically illustrated in Fig. \[fig:100\]. In this case, the lattice constants of the $b$- and $c$-axis of the VO$_2$ match those of the TiO$_2$ substrate while the $a$-axis lattice constant shrinks. Table \[table\] summarizes the lattice constants used in the present study. We now compare the unstrained (bulk) VO$_2$ and VO$_2$ (100) to resolve the interplay between band structures and electron correlations.

      System      a$_R$    b$_R$    c$_R$
  -------------- -------- -------- --------
   Bulk VO$_2$    4.554Å   4.554Å   2.851Å
   VO$_2$ (100)   4.47Å    4.594Å   2.958Å

  : \[table\] Lattice constants of the bulk VO$_2$ and VO$_2$ (100) in rutile phase[@mukherjee2016]

Results
=======

Non-interacting limit
---------------------

We first present our results without the interaction term $H_U$. This will serve as a reference to highlight the effects of strain on the band structures. We follow the local coordinate system introduced by Eyert [@eyert2002], in which the $t_{2g}$ orbitals are $d_{x^2-y^2}$ ($d_\parallel$), $d_{xz}$ and $d_{yz}$ ($d_\pi$ bands), and the $e_g$ orbitals are $d_{3z^2-r^2}$ and $d_{xy}$. Fig. \[fig:non-int\](a) summarizes our results for the density of states (DOS) from $H_{TB}$ in unstrained VO$_2$. This result reproduces the previous DFT calculations accurately.[@eyert2002] The electron density in the vanadium $d$ and oxygen $p$ orbitals has been found to deviate significantly from the ionic picture, one that predicts full occupation of the oxygen $p$ orbitals, and 1 electron in the vanadium $d$ manifold. While DFT calculations obtain a total electron filling in V $d$ and O $p$ orbitals per unit cell ($n_{tot}$) to be thirteen as expected, the electron filling in the vanadium $d$ orbitals ($n_d$) is significantly larger than 1 due to strong hybridization between V $d$ and O $p$ orbitals. Previous calculations have obtained $n_d$ ranging from $1.0$ to $3.15$,[@eyert2002; @biermann2005; @haverkort2005; @weber2012]. Because in DFT-SS we employ a tight-binding model, and the total electron filling can be varied freely by changing the chemical potential $\mu$, we can access general trends in the range of $13 < n_{tot} < 14$, which covers the range of $n_d$ of the experimental interest.

![\[fig:non-int\] Results of $U=J=0$ for both unstrained (bulk) VO$_2$ and VO$_2$ (100). The density of states on V $d$ and O $p$ orbitals obtained from $H_{TB}$ are plotted for (a) unstrained VO$_2$ and (b) VO$_2$ (100), and the corresponding electron fillings in $d$ orbitals are plotted in (c) and (d) respectively. The figure legends are $d_{x^2-y^2}$ (red, circle), $d_{xz}$ (blue,square), $d_{yz}$ (yellow, up-pointing triangle), $d_{3z^2-r^2}$ (green, down-pointing triangle), $d_{xy}$ (black, diamond). The pink lines in (a) and (b) represent the DOS of the oxygen $p$ orbitals. ](non-int.eps){width="3.4in"}

Figs. \[fig:non-int\](c) and (d) plot the electron filling in each $d$ orbital as a function of $n_{tot}$ for the unstrained VO$_2$ and VO$_2$ (100). Clearly, in both cases, the electron filling in the $e_g$ orbitals remains almost the same as $n_{tot}$ increases, while those in $t_{2g}$ orbitals increases significantly as $n_{tot}$ increases. This indicates that only the $t_{2g}$ orbitals are important near the Fermi energy, and consequently, the correlation effects will be primarily on $t_{2g}$ orbitals.

Now we discuss the effects of the (100) strain on the band structure. Comparing Fig. \[fig:non-int\](a) and (b), it can be seen that under this strain the bandwidth of the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ ($d_\parallel$) near the Fermi energy is significantly reduced, while those of the $d_{xz}$ and $d_{yz}$ ($d_\pi$ bands) remain roughly the same. This orbital-dependent reduction of the bandwidth is one of the crucial ingredients for the occurrence of the orbital selective Mott state driven by strain.

Effects of $H_U$ in unstrained VO$_2$
-------------------------------------

Before we turn on the Hubbard interactions $H_U$, it is helpful to discuss the general effects of $H_U$. First, it costs energy to put two electrons on the same site, so electron hopping is suppressed. This results in the reduction of the quasiparticle weight $Z$. Second, $H_U$ could produce orbital-dependent effective on-site potentials that lead to the redistribution of orbital occupation numbers. To see why this happens, we analyze $H_U$ given in Eq. \[hubbard\]. If $J$ is nonzero, $U' = U-2J < U$. This means that if two electrons are at the same site, the interaction energy will be lower for them to stay in different orbitals than in the same orbital. As a result, $H_U$ favors an equal orbital filling and this tendency is reflected in the orbital-dependent effective on-site potentials generated by $H_U$. Such an orbital-dependent on-site potential can be ignored only if the Hund’s coupling $J$ is negligible, which does not seem to be the case for VO$_2$.[@biermann2005; @lazarovits2010; @weber2012; @brito2016]

![\[fig:u6jh1\] The electron fillings of $d$ orbitals with $U=6$ eV and $J = 1$ eV are calculated using the slave-spin method for (a) unstrained VO$_2$ and (b) VO$_2$ (100), and the corresponding quasiparticle weights are plotted in (c) and (d) respectively. The figure legends are $d_{x^2-y^2}$ (red, circle), $d_{xz}$ (blue,square), $d_{yz}$ (yellow, up-pointing triangle), $d_{3z^2-r^2}$ (green, down-pointing triangle), $d_{xy}$ (black, diamond).](u6jh1.eps){width="3.4in"}

The slave-spin method can capture both effects from $H_U$, as demonstrated in previous works.[@yu2012; @yu2013; @mukherjee2016; @yu2017; @leewc2017] The orbital occupation numbers and the quasiparticle weights as a function of the total electron filling $n_{tot}$ with $U=6$ eV and $J=1$ eV for the unstrained VO$_2$ are plotted in Figs. \[fig:u6jh1\](a) and (c). It can be seen that the Hubbard interactions make the electron occupation of the $t_{2g}$ bands more symmetrical. Moreover, the quasiparticle weights of $t_{2g}$ bands are much smaller than those of the $e_g$ bands. These observations are consistent with the discussions given above. It is also interesting to note that the correlation effects are more and more pronounced as $n_{tot}$ approaches 14. As mentioned above, since the $e_g$ bands are away from the Fermi energy, they are not affected by $H_U$, and most extra electrons will go into the $t_{2g}$ bands. Consequently, the electron filling in the $t_{2g}$ bands increases with $n_{tot}$. If the electron filling in the $t_{2g}$ bands ($n_{t_{2g}}$) approaches 3, the ‘half filling’ condition for a three-orbital ($t_{2g}$) model, the correlation effects in the $t_{2g}$ bands will be enhanced significantly. From Fig. \[fig:u6jh1\](a), it can be seen that $n_{t_{2g}}$ increases from 1.88 to 2.38 as $n_{tot}$ increases from 13 to 14, which explains the rapid reduction of the quasiparticle weights in the $t_{2g}$ bands.

Orbital Selective Mott State in VO$_2$ (100)
--------------------------------------------

Here, we discuss the strained case of VO$_2$ (100) with Hubbard interactions. As mentioned above, the strain results in an orbital-dependent reduction of the bandwidth, and turning on the $H_U$ interaction leads to even more non-trivial effects, as shown in Figs. \[fig:u6jh1\](b) and (d). An intriguing difference in the behaviors of the quasiparticle weights can be seen from the comparison between strained and unstrained cases. As $n_{tot}$ is fixed, the quasiparticle weights of the $d_\pi$ bands remain roughly the same but the $d_\parallel$ band decreases significantly in the strained system. This suggests only the $d_\parallel$ band is driven to be more correlated under strain. Moreover, we find that the electron filling in $d_\parallel$ band increases, while that in $d_\pi$ bands decreases in VO$_2$ (100). These two behaviors strongly indicate that strained VO$_2$ is approaching an orbital selective Mott transition (OSMT), consistent with our previous reports [@mukherjee2016; @quackenbush2016]

Fig. \[fig:delta-nz\] plots the differences in electron filling and quasiparticle weights between VO$_2$ (100) and unstrained VO$_2$. In the non-interacting limit, shown in Fig. \[fig:delta-nz\](a), we find that $\Delta n$ in the $d_\parallel$ (red dots) changes sign as $n_{tot}$ increases from 13 to 14. With the interactions, it can be seen in Figs. \[fig:delta-nz\](b) and (c), that $\Delta n$ ($\Delta Z$) in the $d_\parallel$ increases (decreases) monotonically as $n_{tot}$ increases from 13 to 14. This observation proves that electron correlation plays a crucial role here, and the mechanism for the OSMT relies on the cooperative interplay between strain-modulated band structures and electron correlation. In VO$_2$ (100), because the $c$-axis is elongated due to the strain, and the $d_\parallel$ band has a large wavefunction overlap along $c$-axis, the bandwidth of the $d_\parallel$ band is significantly reduced compared to the $d_\pi$ bands. Since correlation effects are usually characterized by the ratio of the Hubbard interaction to the bandwidth ($U/W$), the $d_\parallel$ band effectively becomes more correlated if Hubbard interactions exist. These two strain effects cooperatively induce the intriguing OSMT in VO$_2$ (100).

![\[fig:delta-nz\] (a) Difference in the electron filling in the non-interacting limit ($U=0$) on each $d$ orbital between VO$_2$ (100) and the unstrained VO$_2$. Differences in the electron filling (b) and the quasiparticle weight (c) on each $d$ orbital between VO$_2$ (100) and the unstrained VO$_2$ for $U=6$ eV and $J=1$ eV. The figure legends are $d_{x^2-y^2}$ (red, circle), $d_{xz}$ (blue,square), $d_{yz}$ (yellow, up-pointing triangle), $d_{3z^2-r^2}$ (green, down-pointing triangle), $d_{xy}$ (black, diamond).](delta-nz.eps){width="3.4in"}

Single particle spectral function
---------------------------------

![image](Aw-ss.eps)

Another important feature of Mott physics is the emergence of the incoherent spectra, known as the upper and lower Hubbard bands (LHB and UHB), in the single particle spectral function.[@phillips2010; @leewc2011] We adopt the formalism of the single particle Green’s function in the slave-spin method derived in Ref. \[\], and the spectral function at the mean-field level can be calculated directly by A() = \_k \_ A\_[,]{}(,), where $A_{\alpha,\sigma}(\vec{k},\omega)$ is the spectral function with orbital $\alpha$ and physical spin $\sigma$[@yu2011]. In the slave spin formalism, the electron Green’s function can be approximated as the convolution of the spinon and slave spin propagators, and contributions from the coherent and incoherent parts can be separately calculated.[@yu2011] The derivation of $A_{\alpha,\sigma}(\vec{k},\omega)$ in the slave spin method can be found in Appendix B. With the spectral function, we can simulate spectral functions for occupied states and unoccupied states by A\^[occu]{}() &=& n\_F() A(),\
A\^[unoccu]{}() &=& \[1-n\_F()\] A(). $n_F(\omega)$ is the Fermi Dirac function at room temperature $\frac{1}{\beta} =25$ meV. The photoemission spectra is typically proportional to $A^{occu}(\omega)$, the spectral weights of occupied states. Fig. \[fig:aw\] presents the simulated spectra for cases of unstrained and VO$_2$ (100) with several different total electron filling numbers. At smaller $n_{tot}$, the incoherent spectrum (green line) due to the LHB around 1 eV in energy can be clearly seen, and becomes more pronounced in the strained sample. This is more evidence of strong correlation effects in the strained sample, consistent with the OSMT scenario. At larger $n_{tot}$, the incoherent spectrum is pushed to more negative energy, and both bulk and strained samples have a pronounced LHB. This is not surprising, since as $n_{tot}$ approaches 14, the electron filling in the $t_{2g}$ orbitals approach 3, which is ‘half-filling’ for a three-orbital model. In this case, the system is already close to the Mott limit, even for the unstrained material. As a result, the physical properties do not change dramatically under the strain.

**Comparison with Resonant Photoemission Data of Strained VO$_2$**
==================================================================

![\[fig:VO2\_RPES\] (a) Vanadium L-edge XAS of the high temperature rutile phase of VO$_2$/TiO$_2$ (001). The photon energies used to excite resonant photoemission are denoted by vertical lines. (b) The corresponding RPES spectra for VO$_2$/TiO$_2$ (001) in the rutile phase. (c) Direct comparison of the RPES on (001) and (100) rutile phases for select photon energies, showing the strain-enhancement of the incoherent features at $\sim$ 1.5 eV. The arrow highlights the enhancement of the LHB with strain.](vo2_RPES.eps){width="3.0in"}

We previously presented evidence of a strain-induced OSMT for epitaxial VO$_2$/TiO$_2$ films in the high temperature, rutile phase using a combination of HAXPES and V L$_3$-edge XAS.[@mukherjee2016] The preferential orbital filling was evidenced by the XAS dichroism and the loss of quasiparticle weight was observed in the HAXPES. In addition, $c$-axis elongation also increased spectral weight away from the Fermi energy (i.e., at $\sim$ 1.5 eV). Our simulations presented in Fig. \[fig:aw\] suggest that the LHB contributes to this region and is dependent on the strain orientation. In order to interrogate these features further, we have employed [*[resonant]{}*]{} x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (RPES) at the V L$_3$-edge to enhance our sensitivity of the occupied V 3$d$ orbital region. The 10 nm epitaxial films were grown by reactive molecular beam epitaxy at Cornell University, further details are provided by Paik et al.[@paik2015] Fresh samples were prepared ahead of the RPES experiments at the 29-ID beamline at Argonne Photon Source on the soft x-ray ARPES end-station. The samples were measured in their respective high temperature phases (at room temperature for (001) and at 398K for (100)), and spectra were energy calibrated using a combination of Au foil and VO$_2$ film references. When at resonance, the direct recombination of the decay process emits 3$d$ electrons when excited at the L-edge resulting in enhanced 3$d$ contributions in the measured x-ray photoemission spectra. Eguchi [*[et al.]{}*]{} previously employed V L-edge RPES to measure the insulating and metallic phases of 10 nm thin VO$_2$ (001) films, where they were able to enhance sensitivity to the quasiparticle peak and incoherent feature.[@eguchi2008] For the VO$_2$ (001) case we reproduced the metallic phase RPES spectra presented in Ref. [@eguchi2008] for the same energies they employed, as shown in Fig. \[fig:VO2\_RPES\](b). Fig. \[fig:VO2\_RPES\](c) directly compares the resonant spectra for the VO$_2$ (001) and (100) cases for select energies. The largest enhancement compared to the off-resonance data was observed for the energies resonant with the knee and main peak of the V L$_3$-edge absorption line. We note that these energies displayed the largest strain-induced dichroism due to the preferential orbital filling associated with the strain-induced OSMT.[@mukherjee2016] In addition to the weaker quasiparticle peak intensity of the VO$_2$ (100) compared to the (001) case that we reported on previously,[@mukherjee2016] the increased sensitivity afforded by the resonance reveals how this effect is correlated with increased incoherent peak at $\sim$ 1.5 eV for the (100) case. These data agree with simulated spectral functions in Fig. \[fig:aw\], where a stronger incoherent peak at $\sim$ 1.5 eV is always observed for the case where the c-axis is elongated i.e. (100), compared to bulk or when the c-axis is compressed i.e (001). As a result, we can assign this feature as the lower Hubbard band and conclude that VO$_2$ can be strain-engineered as predicted by our modeling of the OSMT. Fig. \[fig:phase\] summarizes the general trends of the redistribution of electron occupation numbers due to the interplay between strain and Hubbard interactions in the epitaxial VO$_2$/TiO$_2$ systems.

![\[fig:phase\] Schematic illustration of the orbital-dependent redistributions of electron fillings due to the strain and the electron correlation. In the epitaxial VO$_2$/TiO$_2$ (100)[@mukherjee2016], the system is pushed toward the orbital selective Mott transition (OSMT), as indicated by the green arrow.](phase.eps){width="3.5in"}

Strain effect on NO$_2$ in rutile phase
=======================================

As a comparison, in this section we study the strain effect on NbO$_2$ in rutile phase. NbO$_2$ undergoes a metal-to-insulator transition at a temperature around 810$^\circ C$. It simultaneously undergoes a crystal structure change between a high temperature, undistorted rutile phase and a low temperature, body-centered tetragonal, distorted rutile phase.[@ohara2015] Although strain engineering on NbO$_2$ in the rutile phase has not yet been achieved experimentally, here we investigate the change of quasiparticle weights in rutile NbO$_2$ under the same strain condition as the VO$_2$ case. For the bulk NbO$_2$, we adopt the LDA-optimized lattice parameters, $(a_R,b_R,c_R)=(4.93\AA,4.93\AA,2.9\AA)$[@ohara2015]. For NbO$_2$ (100), we choose the lattice parameters of $(a'_R,b'_R,c'_R)=(4.74\AA,4.93\AA,3.016\AA)$, which is in the same strain condition of VO$_2$ (100) studied in previous sections. Note that the spin-orbit coupling is not included in our calculations. Fig. \[fig:nbo2\](a) and (b) plot the non-interacting DOS obtained from the DFT-fitted $H_{TB}$ for bulk and (100) respectively, and the orbital-dependent quasiparticle weights calculated from our DFT-SS method with $U=6$ eV and $J = 1$ are summarized in Fig. \[fig:nbo2\](c) and (d). We find that although the bandwith of the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ orbital still has a significant reduction in (100) compared to the bulk, the quasiparticle weights are almost the same in NbO$_2$ with and without the strain, which is very different from the VO$_2$ case. We attribute this result to the fact that the bandwidth of $d$ orbitals in NbO$_2$ is larger than that of VO$_2$, thus, the ratio of the interaction energy to the bandwidth ($U/W$) is generally smaller even with the same values of interaction parameters. This suggests that NbO$_2$ has a weaker correlation and consequently, is not an ideal material for modulating Mott physics with strain.

![\[fig:nbo2\] The non-interacting DOS of $d$ and $p$ orbitals for (a) unstrained NbO$_2$ and (b) NbO$_2$ (100) in rutile phase. The orbital-dependent quasiparticle weights with $U=6$ eV and $J = 1$ are plotted in (c) and (d) respectively. The figure legends are $d_{x^2-y^2}$ (red, circle), $d_{xz}$ (blue,square), $d_{yz}$ (yellow, up-pointing triangle), $d_{3z^2-r^2}$ (green, down-pointing triangle), $d_{xy}$ (black, diamond).](nbo2.eps){width="3.4in"}

To experimentally investigate this conclusion, HAXPES was performed on rutile VO$_2$ (100), VO$_2$ (001), and relaxed NbO$_2$ (110) thin films, as shown in Fig. \[fig:vo2-nbo2\]. The HAXPES measurements were performed with 5.95 keV x-rays at the I09 beamline of the Diamond Light Source. HAXPES spectra were energy-resolved and measured using a Scienta Omicron EW4000 high-energy analyzer with a $\pm 30^\circ$ acceptance angle. The x-ray beam was monochromatized using a Si (111) double-crystal monochromator followed by a Si(004) channel-cut crystal resulting in an overall energy resolution of $\leq 250$ meV. The films were all heated above their respective MIT temperatures during measurement to transition them into their metallic, rutile phases. It can be clearly seen that unlike the VO$_2$ thin films, the Nb $d$-orbital feature near the Fermi level of NbO$_2$ can be well-fit by a single peak without the need for an additional hump feature associated with the lower Hubbard band. This observation is completely consistent with our conclusion on the NbO$_2$ discussed above.

![\[fig:vo2-nbo2\] HAXPES valence band edge spectra of rutile VO$_2$ (100), VO$_2$ (001), and relaxed NbO$_2$ (110) thin films with peak fits. All the measurements were performed above their respective MIT temperatures. Compared to the VO$_2$ thin films, the spectrum of NbO$_2$ can be well-fit by a single peak, indicating the absence of the lower Hubbard band (LHB).](vo2-nbo2.eps)

Conclusion
==========

In this paper, we have studied general trends in the redistribution of electron occupation numbers due to interplay between strain and correlations in epitaxial VO$_2$/TiO$_2$ systems, which is summarized in Fig. \[fig:phase\]. Since the $e_g$ bands are far from the Fermi energy, the correlation effects will be related mainly to the $t_{2g}$ bands. We find that stronger Hubbard interaction tends to make the electron fillings in $t_{2g}$ orbitals more even, which is a general trend for a non-zero Hund’s coupling $J$. Moreover, because most extra electrons will go into the $t_{2g}$ orbitals as $n_{tot}$ increases, increasing $n_{tot}$ will push the system closer to the half-filling condition ($n=3$ for a three-orbital $t_{2g}$ system). This consequently enhances correlation effects, resulting in the reduction of quasiparticle weights, and emergence of the incoherent spectrum as shown in our calculations. Finally, the strain in VO$_2$ (100) causes an elongation of the rutile $c$-axis that produces a significant reduction of the bandwidth, particularly on the $d_{\parallel}$ band, but not on the $d_\pi$ bands. This orbital-dependent reduction of the bandwidth leads to an intriguing ‘orbital-selective’ Mott transition (OSMT) in which only one of the orbitals is pushed much closer to the Mott insulating state. Based on our results, we conclude that in epitaxial VO$_2$/TiO$_2$ (100) and (110),[@mukherjee2016] the system moves toward the OSMT due to $c$-axis elongation by the strain from lattice matching with the TiO$_2$ substrate, as indicated by the green arrow in Fig. \[fig:phase\].

In summary, we have employed density functional theory combined with the slave spin method (DFT+SS) to study the electronic structures of epitaxial VO$_2$ films under strain in the rutile phase. We have found that while asymmetrical orbital occupation numbers are favored due to band structure effects in the strained systems with an elongated $c$-axis, strong electron-electron correlation drives orbital-dependent modifications of the quasiparticle weights, as well as the incoherent spectra in the single particle Green’s function. The interplay between these two distinct effects pushes epitaxial VO$_2$ films toward an orbital selective Mott transition (OSMT) in the rutile phase without a Peierls instability. Our results indicate that Mott physics is important and can be significantly modulated even in the rutile phase of VO$_2$ by appropriate strain-engineering.

Acknowledgement
===============

This work is supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under award number FA9550-18-10024. This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated by the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357; additional support by National Science Foundation under Grant no. DMR-0703406. Part of calculations used the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) supported by National Science Foundation grant number ACI-1548562. AR acknowledges the support from Imperial College London for her Imperial College Research Fellowship. We thank Diamond Light Source for access to beamline I09 (SI20647 and SI21430-1) that contributed to the results presented here. J.E.B acknowledges funding by the Leibniz association within the Leibniz Competition through a project entitled ’Physics and control of defects in oxide films for adaptive electronics’.

Appendix A: U(1) slave spin formalism
=====================================

The motivation behind the slave-spin formalism is to introduce a two-level degree of freedom to handle the charge dynamics of interacting fermions. The occupation of each local degree of freedom, whether it be site, spin, or orbital, can be treated as either occupied (1), or unoccupied (0), so a spin algebra can be used to represent this. That means, the spin operator seen in the following derivations is not for the physical spin, but rather, it is a ‘slave’ spin capturing the dynamics of ‘charge’ degrees of freedom. The physical spin is described by fermionic operators called spinons. With these definitions, one can rewrite the electron creation operator as: c\^\_[i]{}S\^+\_[i]{} f\^\_[i]{}, where $i$ is the site index, $\alpha$ is the orbital index, $\sigma$ is the physical spin. The spinon $f^\dagger_{i\alpha\sigma}$ is a fermionic operator capturing the dynamics of the physical spin. Because the Hilbert space for the charge degree of freedom is parameterized as two levels (states with 0 and $-e$ charge), which is fully described by a spin 1/2 algebra, we can have $S^+_{i\alpha\sigma}$ be the spin raising operator for the charge part of the electrons. Since we have a slave spin for each set of quantum numbers $(\alpha,\sigma)$, $S^+_{i\alpha\sigma}$ carries both the orbital and the physical spin indices. Similar to other slave particle formalisms, the Hilbert space has been enlarged in this process, and will contain unphysical states. For example, a state such as $| n^{f}_{i \alpha \sigma} = 0, S^{z}_{i \alpha \sigma} = +1/2 \rangle$ would be unphysical, and must be projected out of the enlarged space. This projection can be done by enforcing the constraint S\^z\_[i]{} = f\^\_[i]{}f\_[i]{} - . Following the procedure outlined in Ref. \[\], we can define the mean-field parameters z\_[,]{} S\^+\_[i]{}, and $\lambda_{\alpha,\sigma}$ being the Lagrange multipliers to enforce the constraint on the average over the sites: \_i S\^z\_[i]{}= \_i (f\^\_[i]{}f\_[i]{}- ), where $N$ is the total number of sites. At the mean-field level, we have the decoupled Hamiltonians for the spinons ($H^f$) and for the slave spins ($H^S$) which can be used to solve $\{z_{\alpha,\sigma},\lambda_{\alpha,\sigma}\}$ self-consistently. After the self-consistent solution is obtained, the quasiparticle weight for each orbital can be evaluated by Z\_[,]{} = z\_[,]{}\^2. Because we are only interested in paramagnetic phase, we have $Z_{\alpha} = \vert z_{\alpha,\uparrow}\vert^2 = \vert z_{\alpha,\downarrow}\vert^2$.

Appendix B: Single Particle Green function
==========================================

Using the same procedure given in Ref. \[\], the imginary-time ordered Green function can be evaluated at the mean-field level as G\_[,]{}(,) && -T\_c\_() c\^\_(0)\
&& -T\_S\^-\_() S\^+\_(0)T\_f\_() f\^\_(0)\
\[green0\]

In the Lehmann representation, the retarded Green function can be evaluated directly by G\^[ret]{}\_[,,]{}(,) &=& \_[n,m]{} nS\^+\_m\^2 (U\_\^)\^\*U\_\^\
&& , \[green\] where $\{\vert m\rangle\}$ and $\{ E_m\}$ are the sets of eigenvectors and eigenvalues of the slave spin mean-field Hamiltonian $H^S$, $\lambda$ is the band index, $n^f_\lambda(\vec{k})$ is the Fermi distribution function for the state with momentum $\vec{k}$ in $\lambda$th band, $\{\epsilon_{\lambda}(\vec{k})\}$ is the set of eigenvalues of the spinon mean-field Hamintonian $H^f$, and $U_{\vec{k}\sigma}^{ij}$ is the unitary matrix that diagonalizes $H^f$. Eq. \[green\] can be evaluated directly without any difficulty after the mean-field equations are solved.

With the electron Green function given in Eq. \[green\], the electron spectral function for electrons in each orbital can be obtained straightforwardly by A\_[,]{}(,) = - 2 \_G\^[ret]{}\_[,,]{}(,).

One common problem with the slave particle approaches is the missing spectral weight at doping away from the half-filling. We check the sum rule: \_[-]{}\^dA\_[,]{}(,) = 2n\_ - 2(2n\_ -1), \[sumgreen\] and we find that the integrated spectral weight equals to 1 only as $2n_{\alpha\sigma} -1=0$, which corresponds to the ’half-filling’ in the orbital $\alpha$. This failure is an artifect of the mean-field approximation in which the couplings between spinons and slave spins are neglected in Eq. \[green0\]. It is generally expected that once the couplings are turned on, the spinon Fermi surface will be smeared out. As a result, we can set $n^f_{\sigma\vec{k}} = 1/2$ in Eqs. \[green\] and \[sumgreen\] at the mean-field level, which leads to the correct sum rule of \_[-]{}\^dA\_[,]{}(,) = 1.

Finally, as pointed out in Ref. \[\], the contribution to the spectral function from $m=n$ in Eq. \[green\] is the coherent part, while other contributions from $m\neq n$ corresponds to the incoherent part.

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A letter (or e-mail in today's world) that is used by a woman to break up with their boyfriend from a distance. Usually used by girls who have boyfriends in the military deployed for extended periods of time.

Susie couldn't wait for her boyfriend Sam to finish his one year deployment in Iraq, so she sent him a Dear John letter over the Internet three months into his deployment to tell him she was seeing someone else.

A "Dear John letter" is a letter written to a husband or boyfriend to inform him their relationship is over, usually because the author has found another lover. Dear John Letters are often written out of an inability or unwillingness to inform the man in person. The reverse situation, in which someone writes to his wife or girlfriend to break off the relationship, is referred to as a "Dear Jane letter".

"Dear John..
I'm writing to inform you that I've found another replacement to my lonely vagina, please understand that, I'm a whore and needed another man.
With Love,

A break up letter sent to a girl's significant other. Generally used in military relationships, while the man is deployed for a long period of time. Usually, Dear John letters are reserved for bitches who can't be proud of their man who is risking his life to protect his country.

She started sleeping around with other guys while her fiance was deployed to Afghanistan, so she wrote him a Dear John letter to break off the engagement.


Pages

WELCOME...

to Bishop David's blog. Here you can find news, information, articles and pictures about the Church of England Diocese in Europe. We have over 300 congregations or worship centres serving Anglican and (mostly) English-speaking people in Europe, Morocco, Turkey, Russia and some central Asian countries.

Thursday, 22 August 2013

Not gone for long!

Each year we raise up
more vocations to the sacred ministry than we have places for in this diocese. In the Church of
England, people are ordained to serve a curacy - a "title" it is
called - a period of 3 to 4 years in post-ordination training. So each year our Director of Ordinands, Canon William Gulliford,
negotiates with other dioceses to seek title posts for some of our ordinands. Thus we are a net exporter of fine talent to the rest of the Church of
England. However, as this is the best
diocese in the Church of England (or even in the Anglican Communion?) we should
not be surprised that people, whose vocation was discerned here but who left
and were ordained in other dioceses, find their way back.

This
summer, two priests who were originally our ordinands but whom we
exported to other dioceses have recently returned to take up positions, both
co-incidentally in the Netherlands.

The
Reverend James Hill (pictured above) began his work as Assistant Chaplain of
Christ Church, Amsterdam, on 30 June. He comes back to us from the Diocese of
Coventry where he served his title curacy. James is accompanied by his wife
Anna and their two children, Jonathan and Lucy.

The Reverend Ruan Crew began his work as Chaplain of the Anglican Church of St James, Voorschoten, on 1 July. He returns to us from the Diocese of Bristol where he served his title curacy, and is joined by his wife Lisette and children Emily, Hanna and Tim. Ruan is pictured above, left, as he is licensed by the Acting Archdeacon of NW Europe, Meurig Williams.

About me

Burmese-Scottish, educated in Canada. Former priest in Niagara Diocese, Anglican C. of Canada’s Mission Co-ordinator for Latin America & the Caribbean, and Anglican Communion's Director of Ecumenical Affairs & Studies. Bishop since 2002. IARCCUM co-chairman. My wife Dr Colleen Hamid is a medical researcher. We have two sons, Jonathan and Michael. My office is in that great European city called London


Roy Matthews

Roy Henderson Matthews (born 29 March 1940) is a Scottish footballer who played as an inside right in the Football League.

As a player, he won a trebel with Arcadia Shepherds in 1974.  NFL Championship, NFL Castle Cup and the NFL UTC Bowl Cup.

As a manager, he led Jomo Cosmos to the National Soccer League title in 1987.

References

External links
Roy Matthews's Career

Category:1940 births
Category:Living people
Category:Sportspeople from Slough
Category:English footballers
Category:Association football inside forwards
Category:Arbroath Victoria F.C. players
Category:Charlton Athletic F.C. players
Category:Arcadia Shepherds F.C. players
Category:English Football League players
Category:Jomo Cosmos F.C. managers
Category:SuperSport United F.C. managers
Category:English football managers


Vetiver for Land Restoration

Friday, January 8, 2016

Liyu Xu, Vetiver Coordinator for China, has been promoting the Vetiver System for 20 years, and continues to provide us with feedback on the use of vetiver in south China. Most of the areas that he personally is involved with are relatively high rainfall and hilly areas where soil is poor and where people are poor. In Yunnan province a group of farmers have formed a cooperative to support the production of cattle and goats using vetiver as the main source of feed. Liyu's note is at: http://www.vetiver.org/CHN_cooperative%20of%20raising%20cattle.pdf and is well worth reading. The bottom line is that when grown as a forage, and managed and fed on a rotational cutting system at a time when the vetiver leaf is young it is possible to get good growth and substantial increase in incomes. It is interesting that these farmers also sell some of their vetiver as plant material to local construction companies for slope stabilization and other purposes. In addition on farm erosion and rainfall runoff is reduced. Seems to be a WIN WIN situation!!
I have been writing about the potential of these multipurpose applications of vetiver for a number of years now. This one from Yunnan is a good example. Vetiver is grown and managed (not just as a hedge) as a forage crop supporting in this case 3 head of cattle/ha; it is cut as forage every two or three weeks (at larger scale it could be strip grazed); some of it is being harvested and sold as planting material; it is drought tolerant, it grows with minimum inputs, and is protecting and enhancing the soil. The cow manure will either be used for biogas production or returned to the land. The cooperativer structure is interesting, quote "The cooperative operates as a combination of company, cooperative, and farmers. The Yunnan Vetiver Sci-Tech Co. Ltd, a branch company of Kunming Guangbao Biotechnology
Engineering Co. Ltd is a shareholder in the form of technical service, seedling
supply, and Vetiver plant material repurchase; the cooperative distributes seedlings to farmers in terms of
individual need; and the farmers individually cultivate the Vetiver. Worth trying in other countries????Dick Grimshaw


Family disputes police report in case of father shot by off-duty cop

Conflicting reports of what happened after a tragic motorcycle crash involving a 4-year-old girl, Taniyah Middleton, are coming to light. An off-duty officer was riding his motorcycle down First Avenue in Maywood Saturday night around 10 pm. When the officer saw a girl in the street, he jumped off his bike in an effort to avoid her, but his motorcycle hit Taniyah and the cousin she was walking with.

Authorities said Christopher Middleton, the little girl’s 26-year-old father, approached the scene in a rage. According to the Chicago Tribune, Pat Camden, Fraternal Order of Police spokesman, said the officer immediately identified himself, and told Middleton to calm down. To which Middleton allegedly responded with “I don’t give a f**k,” and punched the officer in the face.

theGrio: Father killed by off-duty cop who ran over his daughter

Maywood village spokesman Larry Shapiro claims that the girl’s 18-year-old cousin, John Passley, of Bellwood, also joined in the attack of the officer by kicking him. The officer felt he was near losing consciousness when he removed his weapon and fired once, said Shapiro.

Camden stated, “Had the father simply stood there instead of attacking a police officer he might be alive today.”

However, Middleton’s family and friends say the officer never identified himself as a cop before firing. Tanya Jones, Middleton’s fiancee and Taniyah’s mother, told to the Tribune that she approached the scene after the fight had already broke out. She saw both men trying to get off the ground, when Middleton was shot. “Chris asked him, ‘Why did you shoot me, why did you shoot me,’ ” Jones said.

“I saw him take his last breath. He was a father trying to protect his daughter. He was never a violent person,” Jones added. Jones and Middleton also have a 6-year-old son together, and Jones is pregnant with their third child, a girl.

Middleton, the officer, and Taniyah were all taken to Loyola Hospital. A spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner’s office said Middleton was pronounced dead just before 10:30pm. Both the officer and the child were treated overnight at the hospital for abrasions and contusions.

Follow Carrie Healey on Twitter @CarrieHeals.


function results = run_tests()
% results = run_tests()
%   run all tests in this caffe matlab wrapper package

% use CPU for testing
caffe.set_mode_cpu();

% reset caffe before testing
caffe.reset_all();

% put all test cases here
results = [...
  run(caffe.test.test_net) ...
  run(caffe.test.test_solver) ...
  run(caffe.test.test_io) ];

% reset caffe after testing
caffe.reset_all();

end


“An anaerobic digester is an air tight, oxygen‐free container that is fed an organic material, such as animal manure or food scraps. A biological process occurs to this mixture to produce methane gas, commonly known as biogas, along with an odor‐reduced effluent. Microbes break down manure into biogas and a nutrient‐rich effluent.”

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Anaerobic digestion is a collection of processes where microorganisms break down biodegradable (think food waste) material in the absence of oxygen. At Energy Recyclers location, the anaerobic digestion process is used for to further sustainable agriculture, recycle biodegradable waste and produce electricity.

Anaerobic digestion occurs naturally in some soils and other natural environments. The Anaerobic digestion system at our location in Pennsylvania benefits the environment by capturing the gases released in decomposition of biodegradable products and using those gases for electrical generation. Anaerobic digestion often reduces the emission of landfill gas into the atmosphere.

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A daily papercrafting blog which features my handmade cards showcasing Creative Expression's products including my own line of cutting dies and embossing folders, Cosmic Shimmer, Ranger and more which use various techniques and ideas to hopefully inspire the creativity in you.

Sunday, 13 March 2016

You Are Special

Good Sunday morning all! I was having a look around some of my card picture folders and found this one. I thought it should have it's day on the blog, don't you? I started by embossing a piece of milk card with the Leafy Quad embossing folder. I used the Double Pierced Square Noble set to create a multi layer frame using both Vintage gold and black card. I mounted the frame with mounting foam to raise it for dimension. I cut the You Are Special die in milk card, black card and just the flower in vintage gold card. I used the black as a shadow for the milk die cut and adhered it with spray adhesive. Then I paper pieced the gold fallaway pieces back into the flower to give it a bit of colour. I cut the Vela Gemini die out of milk card. I used just the outer cutting edges to cut a black backing for it and glued the two pieces together. I cut the decorative piece of the die one more time in Vintage gold and paper pieced the flowers back into the die to add colour to it as well. I mounted it up a bit so it sits on the edges of the frame. I completed the card with milk, black and vintage gold card. Definitely more of a unisex sort of card or great for females that aren't into really girlie sort of cards! The finished dimensions are 7 3/4" x 7 3/4" in size.

Unusual card, Sue, love the frames and haven't caught up with that Gemini yet, almost a Gaelic feel to it. Lots of subtle little touches with the shadowing and paper piecing that make this really interesting.Laine - we have a Bootiful cat named Bernard of course - long haired dark ginger and white, still semi-feral but mellowing by the day! Also his shorthair identikit brother Russell. Bit of a long journey ahead with these two.Well done to the comment winners - esp Heather cr@fty.

Beautiful combination of colours in this card and that is the first time I have seen that gemini too I think, lovely.The noble frames always set a card off so well.Congratulations to the winners,HugsMuriel x

Morning Sue. A very elegant looking card today. The colours are gorgeous as well as the layout. Your framed cards always stand out and you must have the patience of a saint to paper piece everything back into place lol. Congratulations to all the lucky comment winners.Best Wishes.Denise T x

Good morning Sue and crafters all,Happy Sunday!Lovely card, colours work so well together, what patience putting the fall away back. Congratulations to the comments winners.Love and crafty hugsTina T 💐✂xx

Morning Sue,Another lovely card, I love the square nobles they just add that extra touch to cards. I also like the colour combination you have used.I bought the Australisn background die set yesterday, I am hoping to have a play with it some time today.Congratulations to all the winners.Have a lovely SundayMaggie

Morning Sue and all Wilsonettes, a stunning card today, very regal with the black and golds, I like doing the paper piecing because it always gives it that extra bit of umph so I am going to have to have a go at this one.

SURPRISE! Okay once again you gotta pick yourself up & sit back on your chair in order to see why I have been absent for many months, though don’t go getting the idea that I have been on a 3 month cruise around the world or anything, I wish.

I have emailed Sue & Laine what has been happening so I pray that you will also welcome me back with open arms, not all at once please, lol.

But first let me begin with a funny story to break the ice...I had a medium sized MDF unit (for my craft room) which has been waiting to be put together for ages & to be lovingly paper decorated on the outside, very fiddly as many areas & not so straight shapes. I sat on the floor (Mr B can pick me up later) followed instructions & hey presto when down to the last large side piece, hooray says I after many hours, I applied the CE glue, I was leaning forward & about to turn it over to put in place when I gave an almighty sneeze for England, you know the one where you wish you were wearing a Tena’s, & you all know the scenario of dropping a slice of buttered bread & it never falls butter side up, that was the case with the paper as I sneezed I dropped the paper fell forward & my face & hair was plastered in glue (we know how well CE glue works) & as I fell forward I also smashed onto the unit & it splayed apart, it broke couldn’t be repaired so had to reorder to begin again. Come on admit it my friends I can hear you chuckling on this one Lol.

Before I begin with a short version of events, you hope, Lol. I would like to say what a stupendous card you have for us today Sue, often I had imagined that I couldn’t send someone a card made in Black & Gold but in true form you have shown that anything is possible with any shape & any colour, as always your masterpieces & ingenuity are beholding to the eye & I don’t hesitate to place you on top & way ahead of the best of them. I particularly love your Gemini dies as with all your dies the versatility is limitless. Thank you for sharing such a delectable card & of course it goes without saying that I would like to send the “your so special” sentiment right back to you. X x x

Well my friends, the short version, Dentist (you may remember) pain & recurring infections not responding to treatment, lengthy surgery, slow healing & I didn’t get my 2 front teeth for Xmas, I was on Santa’s good girl list now you can bet he’s on my naughty list, ok now & have new 2 tooth plate. Recurring chest/lung infections which brought my chronic ME to the forefront with a vengeance, under control now.

Jan 4th when I was still recovering Mr B found his 83 yr old Dad on the bedroom floor after a fall, been there for 6 ½ hours with no heating on, he’s on meds for diabetes & on Warfarin, Beta Blockers & loads of other meds we later found out he hadn’t been taking as he had given up on life. Had to go round to help & muster what little strength (luckily no bones broken) to change him from wet to dry & warm him up.

He went into hospital so I was taking care of his pets & running 2 households for some time & well as work, eventually Mr B said as his sister had made herself dad’s number one carer I have to take a back seat & she can do more, needless to say her visits to him have become far less frequent & feel guilty but taking a back seat has helped me to recover better. I have been getting myself back into a routine once again because I have every intention of getting to Ally Pally on Sat 9th. Only 27 more sleeps....

Well that is the short version my friends, doesn’t seem much when put this way. I sincerely pray that you have all & four paws have been keeping well & if any of you lovely crafty people need cuddles, for whatever reason, then please grab all you need as I have a basket brimming with more than enough to go round x x x

LAINE...my friend I hadn’t forgotten you & I have emailed you several times, you have my email address please confirm that your address is the same & you have received them okay x x x

Hello Sue, today's card is perfect for so many occasions, love the way you have used the colours together, especially with the paper piecing. Congrats to the comment game winners. Have a lovely Sunday. Bx

Hi Sue - a very different card today and one which could be used for many people in our lives. Thank you for another great idea. Congratulations to the three lucky winners today. Sending best wishesYvonneMayxx

Hi Sue. Gorgeous card today - love all the detail. Congratulations to the lucky winners :-)Beth B - sorry to hear that you have been through the wars, and your father-in-law too :-( Hoping you're on the mend and take it easy XHave a good day everyone and hugs to all xxx

Good morning SueWow! I'm one of the winners!!!! Thank you so much xxToday's card is fabulous I love creating the dropped shadow effect (something I learned from you) it makes your sentiment stand out. The colours go together beautifully. I forgot to say how much I enjoyed the video yesterday.Hugs xHeather 'P' in Wales I bet you heard me cheering lol! X

Oh I do love this colour combo it just works so well together. I've not tried the paper piecing amongst a lot other techniques as it just looks so fiddly and my patience wears thin very easily lol.

Laine/alimecca. I am doing ok. I'm just so very tired all the time and body doesn't always co operate with what I want it to do. However I've managed a few cards this weekend.

Only a week to go before radiotherapy begins! So we decided to go ahead and get our new bathroom fitted as I'd decided that super gluing the shower rail up again was not an option!! It had to go. It was meant to be done last year but I was diagnosed just before it was due to be fitted so we cancelled till i was a bit better.

Morning SueAnother early comment (well for me anyway).My goodness what an opulent card this is. Stunning colour combo. I can see beautiful abstract flowers in the Vela Gemini die which is something I have not seen before. That is probably just me though! You have made life incredibly easy for us with the Pierced Noble Dies as they add such a touch of class to any card. Circles and ovals would be lovely - but knowing you they are something that you have already thought of xOnly 19 more sleeps til I see you again. Ally Pally is not going to be an option this time round unfortunately so will have to settle with being able to gaze at you through the screen on Hochanda rather than in person. Aiming for September :(Never mind - thank goodness for your dedication and overwhelming generosity on a daily basis which is an inspiration and a heart-warming tonic to so many of us. You are special Sue. Love and hugs xLAINE - unsuspecting beefcake would be rather nice but it is sadly not on the horizon at the moment. According to you my body is adorned with stretch marks like train tracks and much sagging so I think said beefcake would run a mile. To be honest I don't have the energy to entertain the idea of an Adonis being part of my leisure time at the moment. After all there are certain duties that would more than likely be an expectation from any testosterone fuelled hunk and if I am perfectly honest I'd rather have a cup of tea! You need to use all your will power to keep that credit card under lock and key. I don't want you upsetting your mum and her throwing you out. The invitation I extended to you to come and stay was short term and not long term if you find yourself homeless. House trained or not, this is a respectable area and does not need a wee drunken lassie lowering the tone. Unbridled fun in this house is polishing off a whole vienetta in one go and debauchery is far too much effort. Life here may not be in the fast lane like you are used to xMARIA - missed you hun. My sleep pattern has never been fantastic but seems to be getting worse. Hoping it is just a phase. Being friends with the moon sounds so much more romantic than my description even if it does suck! Lol xALISON - hope your headache has gone and you are feeling brighter. Lots of love xLYNDA - beginning to feel that odd sleep patterns are the norm amongst many of the Wilsonettes. Hey ho xTRES - there are a lot of Wilsonettes who are going to have numb hands due to the amount of bottoms that are firmly in place to guarantee a lack of activity in order to stop them from upsetting their bank manager xBETH B - hello stranger. Welcome back lovely lady. So sorry that life has been so hectic and you have been in the wars. Fingers crossed it is onwards and upwards. I will confess I do have a rather wicked sense of humour which finds the mishaps of others (as long as they are not hurt), highly amusing. I am sorry Beth but I had more than a little chuckle at your gluey face drama. Sorry that your misfortune has made me smile so much but I do get the impression that you won't be too upset. It is lovely to 'see' you again. Big hugs xOk - weather looking sort of hopeful. I want to take full advantage of child labour and use the boys to enable my addiction of hanging my washing on the line. Their arms are much quicker than mine. They are not impressed by my supervision in the form of insistence in shaking the washing and telling them where to put the pegs. Happy Sunday everyone. Love and smiles to you all xCrafty hugsYvonnex

Hi SueWhat a lovely card today and yes it deserves its day. Black and gold always say sophisticated so it really is a great card. Thank you for sharing.Love Diane G xxxCongratulations to all the lucky winners xxx

Good morning Sue and the Wilsonettes,What a great card for those awkward people in our lives Sue as you say very much a unisex card. Although the black frame around it is not me i can see where it is ideal for this card and surely even the most crabbitest of folk would like their special card. I like your soft antique gold as it is just right for some off our cards where we can't get away with the bright shiny sort. Thank you Sue for another great card to help us out of that quandry that we can't get out off.Congratulations to all of this weeks winners, i hope that you enjoy your prize when it arrives.Sending hugs to Tina E and her family, Tracey because you could do with some just to let you know you are coming on great and you soon will be finished and anyone else that could do with one,Love and crafty hugsNorah (Glenochil Village)

Being a lover of word only cards, this would have the effect of making the receiver feel 'special'. It sure put a smile on my face. Truly, as close to perfect as you can get. Excellent choice of colours. :-)

A stunning card Sue, even if it isn't in my favourite colours!! :) I'm amazed at the patience you have, I always seem to be rushing to make a card these days so don't have the time to do all the little touches you do. I must try and give myself more time.Congratulations to today's winners.Sending hugs to all in need of them.Paula x(WelshPaula)

To My Very Special Dearest Friend Sue,Today's Card "You Are So Special" This Sentiment Is Right Back At You,As Your One Extremely Wonderful Caring Person.I Love Today's "Truly Tremendous Card" I Just Love "The Fantastic Colour Palette"Which Is So Exquisite And Rich And Opulent With The Vintage Gold/Black Just So Very Classy, I Love "The Leafy Quad Embossing Folder" Such Fabulous Detail...I Was Never Very Good At Piercing Around The Edges Of My Cards But NowI've Got "The Tremendous A/B Pierced Square Dies Life Is So Much Easier, I Tend To Only Make Square Cards So These Are Terrific.I Love How You've Cut "You Are Special" Die In Milk/Black And Cut The Flower In Vintage Gold Using The Black As A Shadow I Use This Technique All The Time Now SinceYou First Showed Us As It Looks Stunning.I Love "The Vela Gemini Die" Which You've Also Used, I Agree With "June Smith"The Piercing Gives Extra Umph...... Around Your Cards.Sue Thank You As Always For Sharing And Bringing Such "Awesome Cards" To Us On A Daily Basis, Everyday You Inspire Me And I So Appreciate That Such A Great Deal..Take Care My Dear FriendWarmest Fond Wishes To Colin And HeatherLove And Huge Hugs To YourselfLove From Sam xxxHugs To All Wilsonettes Congratulations To This Weeks Comment Gift Winners Enjoy!!!!!!Hugs To Lancashire Steph.

Hi Sue, although there is a lot of black I really like this card:-) The soft gold and milk seem to diffuse the black somewhat and the paper piecing of the Gemini is lovely.

Welcome back Beth, you have certainly had your troubles but glad that you are getting through them. I'm sorry, but yes, I did chuckle at your sneezing. I did something similar last week and lost about a dozen stitches from my knitting needles lol

'P' in Wales - Bernard & Russell sound gorgeous, I love gingers.

Tracy - sorry you are still so tired but it will improve and well done you for making some cards.

Congratulations to all the comment game winners, happy post to look forward to.

A lovely card today. Very elegant. I think I must be the only person who doesn't really like the dropped shadow effect though. I much prefer using a few of the same die cuts and stacking them. Or even using just the one. Love everything else though.

Sunny Sunday smiles to you Sue. A lovely spring day in Lancashire at last, although the temperature needs to go up a fair few notches before I put my walking/hobbling shoes on and put my gloves away before I go any further from door to car !! Although my gloves are a big part of my 'summer layering' wardrobe too lol.

Regal and elegant are the words I'd use to describe today's sample its beautiful. The piecing back of the fall out is gorgeous, something I enjoy doing with the larger fall out pieces anything smaller is just impossible with my stupid little numb fingers which is such a shame but I've tried all sorts of gadgets to try and help, but that's how life goes, some things you can do and be thankful for, some things you try but just resolve yourself to the fact it just ain't gonna happen !I'm just so very grateful that you are here with your wonderful inspirational blog to show us that with a little extra time (and artistic brain) I wish, what can be done with the 'bits' that normally end up in the bin.It's so lovely to see the fb group growing each day, with many wonderful projects inspired by yourself and this lovely blog.

Hope you are having 'better' day today Sue.Sending love and thoughts to Tina E and her lovely family and to my lovely friends xx

Black and hold always a winner and I like the Gemini die. Used your new happy birthday die for a male friend last week in his football team's colours. He loved it. Works well over the weaving dies as well.

Wow BETH B so lovely having you back with us. So sorry you have you have been so unwell with the the dentist treetment & bring your ME flaring up, also your father in law hope he will be on the mend soon.. Sorry BETH like Yvonne I had a chuckle with the cosmic shimmer glue all in your hair & over your face. I'm pleased your back I have missed all your funny stories. Hows Hannah doing hope she is ok.We had a scare with Annie a couple of months ago had to rush her to the vets she has a very bad heart murmur & fluid on her lungs,but thankfully with heart tablets & water tablets she is fine. It's a worry as she is 13 now. Take car lovely lady Big Hug's Lynda xx

Tracy pleased your getting your new bathroom now. Good for you making two cards well done you. please send me picture I would love to see them.. Sending Big Hug's my friend love Lynda xxx

Another fantastic taste of your genius Sue to brighten up another dull Sunday in Stirling. I love the colour palette and composition of today's card, the pierced Nobles have revolutionised our crafting and the create such a polished result. Your use of the shadowing has had a similar effect and really enhances your sentiment dies. The Vela is beautiful and the paper piecing is ingenious . Just in case you were in any doubt, I love today's card, thanks for the inspirationxxxWell, it's not often that I am lost for words but this morning was one of those occasions when I spied a post from our dear friend Beth....you have been sadly missed my dear and I am over the moon that you are well enough to join us again! You have been through the wars dear but you always meet diversity with humour and as in times of old we could all have a giggle at your expense regarding the MDF incident. I'm happy to report that the only individual in our household prone to being doused in glue and glitter is Brodie:-) I'm glad you are feeling better and that Lauren and Hannah are well.....oh, not forgetting Mr B too:-)P, Bernard and Russell sound gorgeous, I'm very partial to a ginger pussy, Darceys brother was a ginger nut and a real force of nature I would love another like him.Yvonne, sagging and stretch marks aside, I thought a gorgeous hunk catering to your every whim would tickle your fancy, sadly I was wrong, a box of Tetleys is more to your liking....Nevermind, I'm sure that I can still persuade you down the path ,well trodden by myself, to enlightenment and the glories of Prosecco...it would be a lovely accompaniment to that Vienetta methinks? I'm not put off by your tame lifestyle, I more than capable of whipping you into a adrenalin.....and alcohol....fuelled frenzy, in fact maybe your boys would prefer to stay at home than jet off to Amsterdam again. Don't worry though, I won't overstay my welcome but you do make it sound so inviting, cheesecake on tap, retro desserts and a tv in the bedroom, what more could a girl want?:-)Tracy, I do hope your managing to regain your strength in between treatments. Well done on making a couple of cards and organising your new bathroom, hope it goes wellxxxxLynda, poor Annie has really been through the wars poor little mite. It's always a worry when they reach a certain vintage but we have to focus on making their time with us a loving and pleasure able as we can. Hugs from Darcey and BrodiexxxCuddles to my buddies Pam, Maria,Theresa, Rebecca, Wheely Bad,Deb C, Linda and LorrainexxxHugs to all

Hi SueHope you have a lovely Sunday. It is a gorgeous day here sun shinning. Todays card is beautiful but must admit I just adore yesterdays. Received my pierced Nobles yesterday yippee. Perhaps my cards will look a little bit more professional! lolCongratulations to the winners.Take care Sue, sending HugsJennywren x

Hi Sue. Oooooh this is a fab card today !!! I recently bought the "you are special" die and it is lovely !!! I really love how you have used it to make this gorgeous card. Your black, white and gold colour combo looks beautiful. I think the frames look great and your Gemini Die with the fall away pieces replaced in it looks gorgeous !!! I have been making quite a few cards using this technique lately as I have really been enjoying doing the paper piecing and the finished results are beautiful !!! Thanks for sharing another beautiful card. Sending you lots of love and hugs from Tres x x x

Hi Sue and all your crafty crew What a wonderful and opulent card Black and gold go so well together and your shadowing of the sentiment works so well Beth B. I don't always read everyone's posts but stopped and read yours today made me smile and then made me cry You have been through the mill sweetheart and I wish you nothing but good things and a speedy recovery Keep crafting xx Hugs to those that need one Theresa G xx

Good evening all :)Two beautiful cards over the past two days Sue even though they are very different styles I love them both.I have had a bust few days which caught up with me today. Friday evening we went to collect our new car the trip took four hours in total and I was very,very sore and tired. Saturday we took my Mum and daughter out for a drive around the Forest of Dean and we stopped at a tea shop and craft centre. Again I became very sore despite the pillow behind me.Then Saturday night hubby and I went to see an Abba tribute band. They didn't really look or sound like the real thing but they had good strong voices and played well. It was great to have a singalong and it brought back many happy memories. On the flip side I really wanted to dance but could not risk it as I was already in pain and that made me sad and I felt down about my body.I wanted to craft today but I was just too tired and slept for 3 hours.Hoping to get out a bit this week and look forward to crafting.Welcome back Beth and many hugs xWishing good things to all xxx

I love black, white & gold. Such a classy combination. A lovely card, I particularly like the piecing in the Gemini die, couture dressmaking has that attention to detail and hand finishing that makes it extra special, that's the best comparison I can make to not just this card but all your cards and dies.

I read some of the comments re awards and I agree with all of it!

Oh, before I forget, congratulations to the weekends winners, enjoy your prizes!

Tina E, extra big hugs from Billy and I for all your family xxx

Beth B, lovely to hear from you, we have been concerned. Glad you're back now and I hope your little accident hasn't made you scared of cosmic shimmer glue! Hugs xxx

Lynda, Billy sends big cuddles, and big hugs from me xxx

Alison, hope your head is OK and cuddles for Scamp, big hugs xxx

Tracy, so glad that despite still feeling tired you've made some cards, hope they made you feel better, big hugs xxx

Laine and Yvonne, big hugs xxx

Thanks to everyone who asked... My new tyres are standing up well round the house. Got cousins wedding reception next Sunday so they'll get a slightly better test then, They work round in laws house too. Billy came with us to see in laws for mum in laws birthday, he was so good, he had six people to pick and choose who to get fusses from! I managed the two cards I needed for this weekend but they were old school, low tech made in the living room using papers and toppers as I can't access my craft gear due to boxes of donations for the local refugee support group sitting on my craft table. I need to call them in the morning to collect them as my little house can't cope with boxes that don't have a home! I went back in time with layering papers, tearing, distressing the edge etc. Was pretty chuffed with the results all things considered but I do need my dies for this wedding card!!! Not sure I'll struggle to sleep tonight after being out today and two cards made over Friday and Saturday. Billy went out at 10:30pm just before I started this so I can pack up now and go lay down in bed.

Wishing all Wilsonettes a great week with lots of crafting! Sending hugs to every one of you, I have lots of extra hugs here if you need one, take what you need!!!

Lovely design, I really like the fall-out pieces being put back into the design. The black is a bit too heavy for me (but that's just my weird thing about not liking black on cards).Congratulations to the lucky winners.Take care everyone.

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While no NFL players (or anyone else) should be pulling down a woman’s top in public and exposing one of her breasts, the last one who should be doing it is Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliot. And yet he has done just that, via TMZ.

Elliott, who remains under investigation for domestic violence allegations made against him last year, pulled at the top of a woman and exposed her breast in an incident that was captured on video during a St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Per TMZ, one of Elliott’s representatives claims it was “all in good fun” and that the “woman wasn’t upset.”

Whether the woman whose clothing was partially removed in a public place by Elliott is upset doesn’t matter. Whether the league office views the behavior in a negative way does. If the folks at 345 Park Avenue trying to sift through the evidence are still undecided on whether to believe Elliott or the woman who has accused him of five incident of domestic violence in a six-day period, this is the kind of thing that could break the tie under the very low “more likely than not” standard of evidence.

It also could amount to an aggravating circumstance for any violation happening in 2016, enhancing the punishment the league imposes. It also could amount to a separate violation of the Personal Conduct Policy.

Given the explanation provided nearly seven years ago when Goodell suspended Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, it’s not a stretch to conclude that the league would take action for this kind of conduct regardless of whether the woman was upset by it.

“My decision today is not based on a finding that you violated [the] law,” Goodell told Roethlisberger. “[Y]ou are held to a higher standard as an NFL player, and there is nothing about your conduct . . . that can remotely be described as admirable, responsible, or consistent with either the values of the league or the expectations of our fans. . . . Your conduct raises sufficient concerns that I believe effective intervention now is the best step for your personal and professional welfare.”

It doesn’t matter whether Elliott, the woman, the media, the fans, or anyone else believe that Elliott’s conduct crosses the line. What matters is whether the NFL believes it, and whether the NFL will do something about it.


Presidential candidate Joe Biden Joe BidenThe Memo: Warning signs flash for Trump on debates Senate Republicans signal openness to working with Biden National postal mail handlers union endorses Biden MORE’s wife Jill Biden said if she becomes the first lady, the Bidens would “get rid of Betsy DeVos Elizabeth (Betsy) Dee DeVosOVERNIGHT ENERGY: House Democrats tee up vote on climate-focused energy bill next week | EPA reappoints controversial leader to air quality advisory committee | Coronavirus creates delay in Pentagon research for alternative to 'forever chemicals' Senate Democrats demand White House fire controversial head of public lands agency Poll: Majority of teachers worried that school districts will reopen too quickly MORE.”

Jill Biden told “Morning Joe” on MSNBC that DeVos would be removed from office if her husband is elected.

“We’re going to have a secretary of Education who has been in the classroom,” she said. “These are all things that I have personally seen and have been important to me as a teacher.”

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“When he’s elected president, when you look right next to him, there will be standing a teacher,” she added.

Jill Biden, a professor of English at Northern Virginia Community College, praised her husband’s education plan, saying it will “raise up the profile of teachers and celebrate who they are.”

The former vice president has previously promised to nominate a teacher to be the secretary of Education but assured that he would not put up his wife for the nomination.

“First thing as president of the United States, not a joke, first thing I will do is make sure that the secretary of Education, not Betsy DeVos, is a teacher,” Biden said at a National Education Association forum in Houston in July.

“So the press doesn’t get confused, I promise I’m not going to appoint my wife,” he added. "She'd be a good one."

His wife's comments come hours before the results of the Iowa caucuses are expected.


2002 European Korfball Championship

The 2002 European Korfball Championship was held Catalonia from March 31 to April 7, with 10 national teams in competition. The matches were played in Terrassa, Badalona, Sant Boi de Llobregat and Mataró.

First round
Three best teams of each pool went to second round qualifying matches with The Netherlands and Belgium, that entered then in competition.

Second round qualifying matches

Second round
Pools C and D played for the title and pool E played for 7th to 10th places.

Finals

Final standings

See also
European Korfball Championship
International Korfball Federation

External links
International Korfball Federation

Category:European Korfball Championship
Category:2002 in korfball
Category:Korfball in Catalonia
Category:International sports competitions hosted by Catalonia
Category:2002 in Catalan sport


Q:

can sessions be periodically recycled depending on server load?

With servlets/jsp, can sessions be recycled by the web container (say tomcat), depending on how much traffic a site is getting?
Update
By recycled I mean, the tomcat container will wipe it out since it is running out of memory or busy trying to server requests for another website on the same server
This happens with IIS and .net

A:

According to the API specification, a servlet container is not allowed to invalidate or delete a session before the session timeout is reached (it is however allowed to keep it longer than the session timeout). To cope with a high number of simultaneous sessions, most servlet containers can be configured to persist sessions to disk or to a database, allowing the container to free memory, but still being able to restore the session later if it is required. It is therefore required by the specification that all objects stored in the session must be serializable, although most servlet containers (also Tomcat) do not check this explicitly.


Donations made by President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden on Trump's refusal to commit to peaceful transfer of power: 'What country are we in?' Romney: 'Unthinkable and unacceptable' to not commit to peaceful transition of power Two Louisville police officers shot amid Breonna Taylor grand jury protests MORE’s foundation largely went to charities that hosted galas at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, according to an analysis by the Palm Beach Post published Friday.

The Post reviewed the Donald J. Trump Foundation’s tax records dating back to 2008 and found that a vast majority of the $706,000 distributed by the charity went to groups that chose to hold opulent events at the president’s private resort.

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The Post found that the foundation gave donations of generally $25,000 to eight charities after they relocated their events to Mar-a-Lago.

Charity leaders and event planners told the newspaper that the donations were a surprise and had nothing to do with their decision to change locations to the Palm Beach resort, denying any tit-for-tat business dealings.

The Post noted that charities’ decision to switch locations for annual galas can result in a logistical headache, including finding and working with new vendors and management.

The Trump Foundation is facing intense scrutiny after New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood (D) filed a lawsuit against the charity last month, alleging that it repeatedly violated state and federal law.

The lawsuit claims that the charity was used to promote Trump’s private businesses and his presidential campaign, also alleging that Trump requested foundation funds be used to settle a case between the city of Palm Beach, Fla., and Mar-a-Lago.

The complaint seeks to dissolve the foundation, as well as for Trump and his children to be temporarily blocked from serving in other charities in New York.

Trump has promised to fight the lawsuit in court.

Several charities chose to pull their annual events from Mar-a-Lago after Trump’s comments last year placing blame on “both sides” for the violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va.


jonathan parker's bartleby should have been the be-all-end-all of the modern-office anomie films .


CCHRC developed a model to estimate PM2.5 emissions from residential heating sources in Fairbanks and evaluated a variety of policy options aimed at reducing emissions, finding that these efforts could cut emissions in half.


Name: Dashboard
AntiForgery: enabled
Author: The Orchard Team
Website: http://orchardproject.net
Version: 1.10.3
OrchardVersion: 1.10.3
Description: The dashboard module is providing the dashboard screen of the admininstration UI of the application.
FeatureDescription: Standard admin dashboard.
Category: Core


Q:

ios performing calculations with large numbers

I am just multiplying two very big value in ios.
            value 1 999999999999
            value 2 99999

I am using the data type as double long i.e long long and this works for only too big values but not for small values like 10*23 something like that i get different answers example
           10.0*111.5 actual value in calculator is 1115 but i wat i get is 1110

please help me and i also want to roundof my answer to  3places like %.3f

A:

This is probably what you are doing
long long left = 111.5; //Not good!  Will truncate to 111
long long right = 10.0; //10
long long result = left * right; //111 * 10 = 1110

This is what you should do
double left = 111.5;
double right = 10.0;
double result = left * right; //111.5 * 10.0 = 1115.0

If for some reason double is not enough you can go for long double.


672 F.2d 900
Romanov.City of New York, Consolidated Edison Co.
81-5013
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Second Circuit
9/3/81

1
S.D.N.Y.

AFFIRMED


Q:

C++ program...overshoots?

I'm decent at C++, but I may have missed some nuance that applies here.  Or maybe I completely missed a giant concept, I have no idea.  My program was instantly crashing ("blah.exe is not responding") about 1/5 times it was run (other times it ran completely fine) and I tracked the problem down to a constructor for a world class that was called once in the beginning of the main function.  Here is the code (in the constructor) that causes the problem:
int ii;
for(ii=0;ii<=255;ii++)
{
    cout<<"ent "<<ii<<endl;
    entity_list[ii]=NULL;
}
for(ii=0;ii<=255;ii++)
{
    cout<<"sec "<<ii<<endl;
    sector_list[ii]=NULL;
}
entity_list[0] = new Entity(0,0);
entity_list[0]->_world = this;

Specifically the second for loop.  The cout references are new for the sake of telling where it is having trouble.  It would print the entire "ent 1" to "ent 255" and then "sec 1" to "sec 255" and then crash right after, as if it was going for a 257th run through of the second for loop.  I set the second for loop to go until "ii<=254" which stopped all crashes.  Does C++ code tend to "overshoot" for loops or something?  What is causing it to crash at this specific loop seemingly at random?
By the way, entity_list and sector_list point to classes called Entity and Sector, respectively, but they are not constructing anything so I didn't think it would be relevant.  I also have a forward declaration for the Entity class in a header for this, but since none were being constructed I didn't think it was relevant either.

A:

You are going beyond the bounds of your array.
Based on your comment in Charles' answer, you stated:

I just declared them in the world class as entity_list[255] and
  sector_list[255]

And therein lies your problem. By declaring them to have 255 elements, that means you can only access elements a[0] through a[254] (If you count them up, you'll find that that is 255 elements. If index a[255] existed, then it would mean that there were 256 elements).

Now for the question: Why did it act so erratically when you accessed an element outside of the bounds of the array?
The reason is because accessing elements outside of the bounds of the array is undefined behavior in C++. I can't tell you what it should do, because it has been intentionally left undefined (don't ask me why--maybe someone who knows can comment?).
What this means is that the results will be sporadic and unpredictable, especially when you run it on different machines.
It might work just fine. It might crash. It might delete your hard drive! (this one is unlikely, but doing so wouldn't be a violation of the C++ protocol!)
Bottom line--just because you got a strange or non-existant error message does NOT mean its ok. Just don't do it.


Neural model of gene regulatory network: a survey on supportive meta-heuristics.
Gene regulatory network (GRN) is produced as a result of regulatory interactions between different genes through their coded proteins in cellular context. Having immense importance in disease detection and drug finding, GRN has been modelled through various mathematical and computational schemes and reported in survey articles. Neural and neuro-fuzzy models have been the focus of attraction in bioinformatics. Predominant use of meta-heuristic algorithms in training neural models has proved its excellence. Considering these facts, this paper is organized to survey neural modelling schemes of GRN and the efficacy of meta-heuristic algorithms towards parameter learning (i.e. weighting connections) within the model. This survey paper renders two different structure-related approaches to infer GRN which are global structure approach and substructure approach. It also describes two neural modelling schemes, such as artificial neural network/recurrent neural network based modelling and neuro-fuzzy modelling. The meta-heuristic algorithms applied so far to learn the structure and parameters of neutrally modelled GRN have been reviewed here.


Friend of the Preserve Bah'glenn has been very busy over in his workshop, and is preparing to launch a number of new figures in his Ston'emm line, along with some great artwork and packaging to go along with them! The first new release will be available at the Long Island Toy Show, which takes place next weekend, July 13th.

Check out the sneak peek of their next figure, which is an homage to The Inhumanoids! I can't wait to read the bio for "Grah'nitt Tribe Ston'emm Warrior", since it is that careful attention to detail which really makes these figures stand out above the rest, and appeal to those of us with an '80s sensibility. Be sure to follow all the action on his new site, and pick up the figures when they are released!


Q:

overridding GetMedialUrl of the mediaprovider class in 8.2 update 7

I'm currently upgrading Sitecore to 8.2 update 7 from 8.0 and have come across an issue with some custom code that overrides the GetMediaUrl of the MediaProvider class.  It states that MediaProvider.MediaProvider() is obsolete. Does anyone know of a solution for this or has anyone overridden this method in 8.2 update 7?
public class MediaProvider : Sitecore.Resources.Media.MediaProvider
{
    public override string GetMediaUrl(MediaItem item, MediaUrlOptions options)
    {
        Assert.ArgumentNotNull(item, "item");

        var url = base.GetMediaUrl(item, options);
        if (url.ToLowerInvariant().Contains("/-/media"))
        {
            var revision = item.InnerItem.Statistics.Revision;

            ID revisionId;
            if (ID.TryParse(item.InnerItem.Statistics.Revision, out revisionId))
                revision = revisionId.ToShortID().ToString().ToLowerInvariant();

            var revisionUrl = new UrlString(url);
            revisionUrl.Add("sc_revision", revision);
            return HashingUtils.ProtectAssetUrl(revisionUrl.ToString());
        }
        return HashingUtils.ProtectAssetUrl(url);
    }
}

A:

If you look at the code for the MediaProvider you will notice that only the parameterless constructor is marked as obsolete:
/// <summary>
/// Initializes a new instance of the <see cref="T:Sitecore.Resources.Media.MediaProvider" /> class.
/// </summary>
[Obsolete]
public MediaProvider()
  : this(ServiceLocator.ServiceProvider.GetRequiredService<BaseFactory>())
{
}

This is because, in later versions of Sitecore, the MediaProvider can be created using the container that will inject the BaseFactory object into the constructor that is not obsolete.
public MediaProvider(BaseFactory factory)
{
    // omitted for brevity...
}

So its not entire MediaProvider class that is obsolete and you are fine to continue to override that GetMediaUrl method in your code.