Why should we wonder about oliguria and AKI?
Urine output often is used as a marker of acute kidney injury but also to guide fluid resuscitation in critically ill patients. Although decrease of urine output may be associated to a decrease of glomerular filtration rate due to decrease of renal blood flow or renal perfusion pressure, neurohormonal factors and functional changes may influence diuresis and natriuresis in critically ill patients. The purpose of this review is to discuss the mechanisms of diuresis regulation, which may help to interpret the urine output in critically ill patients and the appropriate treatment to be initiated in case of changes in urine output.
Acute renal failure or acute kidney injury (AKI) is defined by an acute decline of glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Occurrence of AKI is associated with substantial in-hospital mortality, exceeding 50% when AKI is part of a multiple organ failure syndrome [1, 2]. Therefore, early recognition of AKI, better understanding of its pathogenesis, and development of preventing strategies appear to be potential areas of improvement of patient's prognosis. The decrease of glomerular filtration rate and urine output in response to a decrease of renal blood flow is classically referred as pre-renal azotemia, which can evolve into structural damage if renal hypoperfusion persists. In this line, urine output often is used as a marker of AKI but also to guide fluid resuscitation in critically ill patients. However, both the contribution of renal hypoperfusion to AKI and the genuine definition of pre-renal and intra-renal azotemia have been challenged by several authors [3–5]. The recent international consensus conference on acute renal failure therefore recommended the term "acute kidney insufficiency" rather than "acute kidney injury" in the light of paucity of evidence of a relation between tissue damage and organ failure in human AKI . The purpose of this review is to discuss the mechanism of diuresis regulation and the interpretation of urine output in critically ill patients in the light of clinical and physiological studies.
There is accumulating evidence that critically ill patients developing AKI have an increase relative risk of death. Occurrence of AKI is a marker of severity of the underlying acute illness but also appears as an independent factor associated with mortality in unselected critically ill patients , in sepsis , pneumonia , or cardiac surgery . The mechanistic pathways of such an association remain elusive, with intrication of inflammation, metabolism, and apoptotic phenomena. Remote organs damage has been suggested in several experimental studies [11, 12]. Ischemic-induced AKI has been found to induce myocardial apoptosis , to activate lung inflammatory and apoptotic pathways, and to increase lung water permeability . Surprisingly, even a small increase of serum creatinine after cardiac surgery or transient (i.e., reversible within 3 days) AKI has been found to be associated with an increased risk of death . Although fluid resuscitation and optimization of renal perfusion pressure are central to the prevention and treatment of AKI, excessive fluid resuscitation may be harmful in some critically ill patients. Payen et al.  and Bouchard et al.  found, when analyzing two large cohorts of critically ill patients, that a positive fluid balance was associated with an increased risk of death in patients suffering from AKI. First, aggressive fluid resuscitation, although increasing renal blood flow, can be ineffective in restoring renal microvascular oxygenation due to hemodilution with no increase in blood-oxygen carriage capacities . Second, positive fluid balance can deteriorate cell oxygenation and prolong mechanical ventilation . Finally, fluid overload may lead to central venous congestion and decrease of renal perfusion pressure , which will promote the development of AKI in patients with acute heart failure  or sepsis . The type of fluid used also can have a role with "renal toxicity" associated with the use of colloids.
In clinical research, more than 30 definitions of acute renal failure have been used before the release of the RIFLE criteria by the Acute Dialysis Quality Initiative group in 2004 . The first merit of this classification was to introduce a standard and simple definition of AKI for clinical research purposes but also to stratify the severity of AKI based on serum creatinine level, creatinine clearance, or urine output. In 2007, the Acute Kidney Injury Network classification was published, introducing subtle modifications to the RIFLE criteria. A part from the change in nomenclature (Risk, Injury, and Failure were replaced by stage 1, 2, and 3, the categories Loss and Endstage disappeared), an absolute increase of serum creatinine of 0.3 mg/dl was sufficient to classify patients in stage 1, introducing the notion than only small changes in serum creatinine are of clinical relevance. Finally, the AKIN criteria should be applied "after following adequate resuscitation when applicable" with the purpose of excluding patients with pure renal pre-azotemia. The introduction of the RIFLE and AKIN definitions were a crucial step forward in the development of clinical research and have since been widely accepted by the medical community. Using these classifications, a patient with decrease of urine output will be classified as "AKI." However, a nonsustained decrease of urine output does not necessarily imply a decrease of glomerular filtration rate but can simply represent a physiological renal adaptation (i.e., antidiuresis and antinatriuresis) to maintain the body volume and/or electrolytes homeostasis. This would be the case if decreased urine output is not associated with a decline of creatinine clearance. Although severe acute renal failure with oliguria or anuria has been reported to be associated with a worse outcome compared with patients with preserved urine output, the use of urine output as a criterion to classify AKI severity may be misleading. It was reported that the combination of creatinine and urinary output for classifying the patient's risk of death was more stringent than urinary output alone for classifying patients [7, 24]. One can conclude that patients classified according to the urine output criterion only might be less severe than those classified according to the combination of creatinine and urine output . On the other hand, severe tubular dysfunction can lead to increased urine output despite low GFR. Urine output therefore seems to be a nonspecific and poor parameter for classifying of AKI in critically ill patients.
At constant hydraulic permeability of the glomerular filtration barrier, the glomerular filtration is driven by the pressure gradient across the glomerular capillary walls (Figure 1). The pressure gradient across the glomerular capillary wall is determined by the opposing forces of the hydraulic and oncotic pressures gradients between the capillaries and the Bowman's space. Because the length of the afferent and efferent arterioles in the glomerular capillary network is relatively short and the resistance is low, the glomerular capillary hydraulic pressure remains rather constant along the capillaries, whereas the oncotic pressure along the capillary increases in relation with filtration. Therefore, the limiting factors of GFR are the renal plasma flow and the plasma protein concentration. A higher renal plasma flow will induce a reduction in filtration fraction (i.e., ratio of ultrafiltration to renal plasma flow) with a lesser increase of capillary plasma protein concentration along the glomerular capillaries. Conversely, when the renal plasma flow is reduced, the glomerular filtration rate decreases but with an increase in the filtration fraction. An increase of capillary hydraulic pressure will cause the ultrafiltrate to be mainly generated on the first portion of the afferent side of the capillary network and to cease when hydraulic and oncotic pressures become equal along the glomerular capillary network (Figure 1). Therefore, the oncotic pressure becomes the limiting factor of glomerular filtration . In this line, the natriuresis and diuresis response to crystalloids infusion are in part mediated by the changes of intraglomerular oncotic forces following plasma protein dilution [27, 28], an effect that is not observed after hyperoncotic colloids administration. When hydraulic permeability is altered (decreased of glomerular surface area as in chronic kidney disease) glomerular hydraulic capillary pressure becomes the major determinant of the glomerular filtration rate (Figure 1) .
Schematic representation of the glomerular capillary hydraulic and oncotic pressure in normal kidneys (A and B) and pathologic kidneys with decrease of the total ultrafiltration surface (C and D). The difference between the hydraulic pressure difference [PGC, glomerular capillary hydraulic pressure-PT hydraulic pressure in Bowman's space) and the intracapillary oncotic pressure (∏GC) represents the effective filtration pressure gradient. In normal condition (A), the PGC-PT slightly decreases along the glomerular capillary axe and the ∏GC increases leading to equilibrium between the opposing forces to filtration. If renal perfusion pressure and PGC increase (B), the point of equilibrium is reached earlier along the axe due to increase of filtration fraction. GFR does not change and only increase of renal plasma flow and decrease of filtration fraction causes the GFR to increase (B). GFR is likely to increase with rise of renal perfusion pressure if the filtration surface is impaired, the point of equilibrium not being reached (C and D). Note the role of plasma oncotic pressure. Infusion of crystalloid decreases plasma oncotic pressure due to hemodilution favoring the net filtration pressure while infusion of colloids increases plasma oncotic pressure therefore reducing GFR. GFR, glomerular filtration rate.
Physiologically, the renal blood flow is autoregulated, which means that it remains unchanged when arterial blood pressure varies . Such autoregulation is mediated by a myogenic mechanism, the tubuloglomerular feedback (TGF), and a "third mechanism" not yet fully identified. The lower autoregulatory threshold of mammalian kidney occurs at a mean arterial pressure (MAP) of ~80 mmHg. Below this pressure level, renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate decrease along with the decrease in pressure .
In normal kidneys, the total interruption of renal blood flow for a prolonged period of time (i.e., more than 30 minutes) followed by reperfusion is always associated with major tubular and microvascular damage. In this condition, cellular lesions result from a combination of cellular hypoxia-reperfusion injury and oxidative stress-associated damage . This situation is a rare clinical scenario except during suprarenal aortic surgery with aortic clamping. Experimental studies have shown that prolonged period of renal hypoperfusion would not systematically lead to renal histological damage and renal failure [33, 34]. Saotome et al. reported that prolonged mechanical reduction of renal blood flow by 80% for 2 h in conscious sheep did not induce sustained renal function impairment or kidney damage . In a rat model, Johannes et al. have shown that temporary mechanical reduction of renal blood flow does not impair microcirculatory oxygenation and renal function . However, severe renal damage were observed in rats recovering from an ischemic acute renal failure induced by intra-arterial infusion of norepinephrine , which underwent additional injury by mild hemorrhage, an effect partially prevented by renal denervation. These observations highlight the role of renal innervation in the induction of renal failure. Together, these experiments suggest that a severe transient hypoperfusion is able to reduce GFR and urine output but is not sufficient to induce persistent AKI. However, this is the superimposition of renal hypoperfusion episodes in relation to other insults, such as sepsis or ischemia, which may induce renal failure. Because of the above-mentioned arguments, it is expected that preventing a decrease of renal blood flow may prevent or limit the occurrence of AKI in ICU patients.
Renal blood flow autoregulation exists at high mean arterial blood pressure, protecting the glomerular structure from hypertensive injury by a decrease of glomerular capillary pressure . Therefore, one can expect that increasing renal perfusion pressure when MAP is below the threshold of renal blood flow autoregulation or if autoregulation is impaired could improve GFR and urine output through an increase of renal blood flow. Sepsis is the leading contributor to AKI in the ICU setting, accounting for more than 50% of episodes of AKI. Whereas fluid challenge can improve renal perfusion pressure and renal perfusion in hypovolemic states, the sole fluid resuscitation is unlikely to increase largely the mean arterial pressure. Vasopressor infusion is therefore required to improve renal perfusion pressure in conditions with systemic inflammation . Norepinephrine has been reported to increase renal blood flow, urine output, and creatinine clearance in experimental sepsis . Although norepinephrine also has been found to increase creatinine clearance in human sepsis , clinical studies in which MAP was increased with norepinephrine have provided conflicting results. Bourgoin et al. found that increasing MAP from 65 to 85 mmHg did not further improve creatinine clearance in patients with septic shock . In contrast, in a more recent study among patients with vasodilatory shock after cardiac surgery, infusing norepinephrine was found to improve renal oxygen delivery, oxygen delivery/consumption balance, and GFR when MAP was increased from 60 to 75 mmHg . Infusion of norepinephrine in septic patients titrated to increase MAP from 65 to 75 mmHg was associated with a decrease of renal Doppler resistive index, suggesting an increase in renal vascular conductance , confirming the experimental data. These results are in accordance with physiological animals studies that showed that norepinephrine and vasopressin can induce, in septic states, an increase of renal blood flow through a combined increase of renal perfusion pressure (i.e., prerenal mechanism) and an increase of renal vascular conductance (i.e., intrarenal mechanism) [38, 43].
Such an increase of renal blood flow does not necessarily translate into GFR increase. For example, infusion of low-dose dopamine (2 μg/kg/min) can increase renal blood flow, induce renal vasodilatation, and increase urine output but with no effect on creatinine clearance .
These apparent conflicting findings call for several comments. First, increase of renal blood flow or urine output does not necessarily translate into increase of creatinine clearance. The systematic review of human AKI by Prowle et al. showed that renal plasma flow and GFR were poorly correlated . In a septic hyperdynamic animal, a fall in creatinine clearance can occur despite an increase of renal blood flow . The same group using the same model found that infusion of angiotensin II could improve creatinine clearance while depressing renal blood flow . Ventilation with positive end expiratory pressure always decreases urine output in correlation with a decreased renal perfusion pressure (mean arterial blood pressure - renal venous pressure) and reduced renal blood flow . A nonpharmacologic technique (lower body positive pressure) was used to increase cardiac output and renal blood flow but with no impact on diuresis . In other words, increasing renal perfusion pressure can increase urine output and natriuresis independently of changes in total renal blood flow and GFR. These discrepancies could, in part, be due to the effect of neurohormonal regulation of vascular tone between the afferent and efferent glomerular arterioles (Figure 2). As an example, predominant vasodilatation on efferent arterioles leads to increase renal blood flow with a steady glomerular capillary pressure and GFR. Conversely, a predominant vasoconstriction of the efferent arterioles, even if renal blood flow remains unchanged, increases the GFR and urine output, potentially inducing renal ischemia. Second, renal fluid and sodium excretion (i.e., diuresis and natriuresis) can exhibit a pressure-dependency response [43, 49, 50]. Several humoral factors control sodium excretion through, in part, changes of renal medulla blood flow and intrarenal redistribution of blood flow.
Schematic view of regulating factors of diuresis and natriuresis. Renal blood flow, renal perfusion pressure, and plasma oncotic pressure influence the effective filtration pressure gradient. Afferent and efferent glomerular arteriole tone can further influence the glomerular capillary hydraulic pressure while tubular cast accumulation increases the Bowman's hydrostatic pressure decreasing the effective filtration pressure gradient. Finally intrarenal blood flow distribution, conformational changes of tubule Na+/H+ exchanger, urea, and chloride channels and aquaporin-2 expression regulate water and sodium (Na+) handling of the ultrafiltrate (see text for further details). GFR, glomerular filtration rate.
Whereas normal kidneys receive ~20% of cardiac output, the medulla receives less than 10% of renal blood flow . Even with a stable renal blood flow within the range of autoregulation, the cortical and medulla have different responses to changes in renal perfusion pressure (RPP). In contrast to the cortical microcirculation, the medulla microcirculation appears to be poorly autoregulated, i.e., pressure-dependent. Renal medulla blood flow regulation is of paramount importance with respect of the regulation of diuretics and natriuresis and, therefore, the response of the kidney to the body fluid composition and volume status (Figure 2). In fact, in mammalians kidneys, the ability of the medulla circulation to regulate its own blood flow depends largely on the body volume status. In euvolemic dogs, when a RPP is decreased from 153 to 114 mmHg within the range of RBF autoregulation (i.e., with no change of renal blood flow), flow in the inner medulla decreases with no redistribution of flow within the renal cortex . In contrast, both renal cortical and medulla are well autoregulated in hydropenic rats. Because the descending vasa recta provide blood flow to the medulla emerge from efferent arterioles of juxtamedullary glomerules, these data suggest that changes in resistance in the postglomerular circulation of juxtamedullary nephrons might be responsible for the lack of autoregulation of medullary blood flow in volume expended animals . Increase in renal medullary blood flow decreases the outer-inner medullar osmotic gradient and increases renal interstitial hydrostatic pressure, which both impair the ability to concentrate urine and participate in the natriuresis response to hypertension in well-hydrated mammalians. In hydropenic animals, this response is blunted preventing further loss of water and sodium. The tubular sodium handling may be mediated more by the angiotensin II and paracrine effects of NO rather than the increase in RPP per se. In the absence of angiotensin II, volume expansion with no increase in MAP induces natriuresis, whereas the increase in MAP by angiotensin II infusion did not induce a natriuresis response . Increase of plasma vasopressin concentration (independently of any increase of systemic arterial pressure) also influences the pressure-natriuresis/diuresis relationship in decreasing the medullary blood flow through receptor V1a . Binding to the V2-receptors in the inner medullary collecting ducts activates the UT-A1 molecules, which increases the urea permeability of collecting duct and increase the ability to concentrate urine. Increased vascular response of the renal microcirculation to vasoconstrictors has been proposed to elicit intense renal vasoconstriction in sepsis-induced AKI . Although this hypothesis warrants further exploration, it is possible in sepsis that endogenous vasoconstrictors, including angiotensin II, could both decrease GFR due to decrease in renal blood flow but also blunt the natriuresis response after the renal perfusion pressure has been restored. Endotoxemia also can increase urine output and water clearance despite decrease in GFR due to tubular aquaporin-2 dysfunction .
The adaptation of medullary blood flow to the Na+ concentration in the tubular lumen adds another level of complexity to the regulation of regional blood flow and sodium handling. The glomerular filtration rate will decrease due to vasoconstriction of the afferent glomerular arteriole in response to increase of the filtrated Na+ reaching the macula densa, a mechanism called the tubuloglomerular feedback (TGF, Figure 2). Tubular salt sensing by the macula densa involves the Na+/K+/2Cl- cotransporter (NKCC2). The mechanism of TGF consists in an increase of the glomerular afferent arteriole vascular tone, mainly mediated by adenosine release, in response to a raise of the [NaCl] concentrations in the tubular fluid. The juxtaglomerular apparatus also mediates renin-release signals through prostaglandins (i.e., PGI2 and PGE2) and nitric oxide release. The TGF response to increase of Na+ concentration in the tubular fluid operates within a few seconds but is not sustained. Prolonged stimulation of the TGF will induce the TGF to reset within 30-60 minutes, increasing the renal blood flow without restoring the GFR . Activation of the TGF has long been proposed by Thureau et al. as an adaptative mechanism to tubular dysfunction and referred as an "acute renal success" in acute renal failure . In theory, TGF response could prevent the rapid loss of water and electrolytes in conditions of tubular dysfunction-associated decrease of Na+ reabsorption. Na+-tubular reabsorptive work constitutes a major part of renal oxygen consumption in the healthy kidney. As a consequence, decrease of GFR or inhibition of Na+ tubular reabsorption can decrease renal oxygen consumption . However, in ischemic-induced AKI there is a diversion of oxygen consumption from Na+ reabsorption to other oxygen-consuming pathways illustrated by an increase of the ratio oxygen consumption/Na+ reabsorption . Redfors et al. have recently shown in an elegant physiological study in patients developing AKI after cardiac surgery that total renal oxygen consumption increases despite a decrease of Na+ reabsorptive work . The oxygen consumption to absorptive work mismatch is not well understood and may result from: 1) higher production of reactive oxygen species by infiltrative immune cells ; 2) high level of NO, which regulates the renal oxygen consumption . This may partially explain why strategies designed to inhibit renal oxygen consumption (e.g., loops diuretics) have failed to improve the prognosis of patients suffering from AKI .
Medical textbooks provide urine biochemistry profiles to differentiate prerenal causes from intra renal causes of AKI in oliguric patients. Although very popular among clinicians, the ability of urinary indices, such as urinary Na+ (UNa) and excretion fraction of Na+ (FeNa), to separate prerenal from intrarenal causes of AKI is questionable. First, these urinary markers have been poorly studied among critically ill patients. Recent reviews of experimental and human sepsis have highlighted the paucity of available studies and their design heterogeneity regarding urinary findings in septic AKI [62, 63]. Most importantly, there is no evidence that these urinary biochemical findings can predict the response to hemodynamic optimization in terms of renal injury and renal function. Although a low UNa or FeNa (e.g., FeNa <1%) suggest a preserved renal tubular reabsorptive capacity, there is no evidence for a correlation between urinary biochemical modifications and tissue damage. Inflammation mediators can induce tubular cell dysfunction with conformational changes of tubule Na+/H+ exchanger, urea, or chloride channels that will influence urine composition independently of any structural damage [14, 64, 65]. As mentioned, the control of urinary Na+ excretion results from a complex neurohumoral regulation and is influenced by fluid resuscitation, arterial pressure, or infusion of diuretics. A fractional excretion of urea (FeU) of 35% or less has been proposed to differentiate prerenal AKI from intrarenal causes independently of the use of diuretics. However, mechanically ventilated patients with transient AKI (resolving within 3 days) exhibited higher FeU than patients with persistent AKI in a recently published cohort . To summarize, sensitivity and specificity of traditional urinary biochemicals showed significant disparities among clinical studies such that their value to classify AKI remains doubtful. There is much more expectation in the use of new biomarkers (i.e., NGAL, KIM1) to make an early diagnosis of tubular damage during the course of AKI and therefore to differentiate prerenal from intrarenal AKI in oliguric patients. Only a few studies are available regarding the association between plasma and/or urine levels of those biomarkers and the reversibility of AKI. Bagshaw et al. reported that plasma NGAL had an area under the ROC curve of 0.71 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.55-0.88) for predicting AKI progression and of 0.78 (95% CI, 0.61-0.95) for need for renal replacement therapy. Cruz et al. reported an area under the ROC curve of 0.82 (95% CI, 0.7-0.95) for predicting the use of renal replacement therapy . Nickolas et al. reported that urine NGAL remained low in patients admitted in the emergency department with prerenal azotemia versus AKI .
Decrease urine output is common among critically ill patients and can mirror a decrease in creatinine clearance. Although a decrease in renal blood flow and/or a decrease in renal perfusion pressure is a major determinant of GFR, plasma oncotic pressure appears to be central in the glomerular hydrodynamic forces. In hypovolemic states, prompt fluid resuscitation is needed to prevent further deterioration of renal function. The choice of the type of fluid also seems to be crucial, because colloids increase the oncotic pressure and may reduce filtration rate. Fluid administration may be found inappropriate and even harmful in numerous situations due to the inconstant relationship between renal blood flow or renal perfusion pressure and diuresis/natriuresis due to complex neurohormonal control. Furthermore, systemic inflammation can induce natriuresis and diuresis changes due to functional changes unrelated to hypoperfusion, histological, or tubular damage. Experimental and clinical research is needed to determine appropriate therapeutic response to oliguria in critically ill patients.
ML and DP wrote and approved the final manuscript.


IS rural America in a depression? The word is bandied about a lot these days. ``It's an agricultural depression,'' says Kingman, Kan., farmer Clarence Clossen.
But unlike the '30s, not everyone is in trouble, says Rita Light, waiting on late-night customers at a convenience store here in Rockwell City, Iowa.
``You're either doing great -- or you're not going to make it,'' she says. She and her husband are making it, she adds, but only because her store job and her husband's truck-driving supplement the money they make raising hogs.
In fact, some historians and economists believe the rural situation of the 1980s closely resembles the farm depression of the 1920s. Then, as now, urban America was booming. Bank failures were concentrated in the rural areas. The farm economy was coming off a boom.
In some ways, today's situation is better than it was in the '20s. Rural America is now less dependent on natural-resource employment. Also, farm subsidies that did not exist 60 years ago have slowed the fall of commodity prices during a period of stiff competition in world markets.
In other ways, today's situation is worse. The rate of decline in farmland values has actually been faster now than in the 1920s.
``What we're talking about is a very run-of-the-mill depression,'' says Neil Harl, an agricultural economist. The result: an increasing split between languishing rural communities and booming cities just at a time when it appeared that rural standards of living were beginning to catch up.
The split between haves and have-nots is played out in rural areas, too. While the mining town of Babbitt, Minn., is suffering badly, the only vacant storefront in the nearby town of Virginia is a building that burned down. In fact, says University of Missouri sociologist Rex Campbell, the contact with thriving regions -- either in person or through television -- makes it harder on families and towns that have felt the full impact of the rural downturn.


Testosterone decreases in males between 1-1.5% per year, right? Isn't that a given?
It does seem to be almost always the case in modern, industrialized societies. Many studies, in one way or the other, have verified this observation. In fact, another way to say this is that age is a strong predictor of testosterone levels, which is definitely the case.
Or is it? To really answer the question, we need to look at one of the world's supercultures, the Okinawans. The Okinawans do everything wrong to preserve their testosterone according to the pop health media.
First of all, the eat a relatively low fat, high fiber diet. The common wisdom is that this type of diet will lower testosterone when compared to the typical high fat, low fiber Western diet. Okinawans eat relatively little meat and saturated fat, so, according to the school of thought, should have low testosterone.
Even worse according to some is the fact that the Okinawans eat boat loads of soy. Some studes have shown that soy may lower testosterone somewhat and it is a well-known source of phytoestrogens. Again, this would seem to be the antithesis of a pro-testosterone, anti-andropause lifestyle.
Finally, the typical Okinawan male eats a relatively low calorie level, less than 2,000 per day on average. Limiting calories is also a known testosterone-reducer.
So, when you look at the whole picture, it would seem like the typical Okinawan male would be in the fast lane to the land of andropause, correct? Basically, according to a large block of the health community, these men are doing just about everything wrong that they could be doing wrong in order to preserve their testosterone.
Well, interestingly enough, the Okinawans have been extensively studies and it has been found that the typical Okinawan male has testosterone levels of someone 20-30 years younger than him. For example, the average 70 year old Okinawan has testosterone of 439 ng/dl versus 314 ng/dl for the typical 70-year old American.  In fact, the typical Okinawan 100-year old has testosterone of 298, which is above the hypogonadal level!
NEWS FLASH: A recent study in mice showed the a probiotic (L. reuteri) significantly reversed the age-related loss in testosterone! The researchers found it likely has to do with this bacteria's inflammation-lowering powers in the gut, something I discuss here: Testosterone, Probiotics and Gut Health.
NOTE: In my opinion the Okinawan lifestyle is something that every sane person should read and study: they have dramatically lower rates of cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis and have an incredibly high rate of active, healthy centennarians. My advice: if you care about your health, read anything and everything you can about these people.
Researchers have noted that there is a general thirty year difference between testosterone levels of an Okinawan versus the typical Westerner.  This is a remarkable observation if you stop and think about it. Your testosterone peaks in your early twenties and so this means for the typical American that lives to about 80, i.e. about 60 years from peak to death, the decline in testosterone is about half.
So the bottom line is the Okinawans do not completely eliminate andropause, but they do slow it so much that it becomes effectively irrelevant. Think about the typical 70-year old with 419 ng/dl. At this level, most guys will stay have respectable libido, muscle mass and mental acuity. In other words, most Okinawans have reasonable testosterone levels well into their senior years, something that is the exception in industrialized societies, where HRT is an ever-growing business.
The obvious conclusion from all of this is that the Okinawan culture trades some short term, insignificant decreases in testosterone during their younger years for a lifetime of ample testosterone. This reminds me of the Ikarain males, who are renowned for their sexual abilities and libido well into their 90's.
I don't know about you, but I would have gladly traded a slight decrease in testosterone for decades of strong hormonal output later. Most of you could barely think straight as it was during those years, eh?
So what is it about the Okinawan lifestyle that slows down the decline in testosterone levels. The term for the output of testosterone and other androgens is called steroidogenesis and researchers do not really understand what is occurring here. However, it looks like one of the keys is likely mitochondrial function leading to varying degrees of insulin resistance.  Researchers have found that as males age, their testosterone output is correlated with these two factors.
Furthermore, mitochondrial function is tied to free radical levels  and, it should be no surprise, that Okinawans are known for low free radical and high antioxidant levels. In other words, the Okinawan lifestyle slows down many known aspects of aging and so it is no wonder that it should extend to hormonal output as well. For additional root issues behind andropause, see my link on The Causes of Andropause for more information.
All you young guys out there: you may want to consider the wisdom of the Okinawans - it will likely preserve your testosterone, libido and sexual process well into the years most Americans are checking into nursing homes..
2) Healthy at 100, John Robbins, Chap. 4, "The Okinawan Centennarians", p. 78.
3) Diabetes Care, Jul 2005, 28(7):1636-1642, "Relationship Between Testosterone Levels, Insulin Sensitivity, and Mitochondrial Function in Men"
4) Clin Interv Aging, Dec 2007, 2(4): 537 543, "Lifestyle and nutrition, caloric restriction, mitochondrial health and hormones: Scientific interventions for anti-aging"


Let's face it: 2D interface and presentation design is being done to death. We're running out of elbow room in this arena of creativity and the only way out is to climb above it all. As processor speed continues its steady ascention, and systems like the iMac begin to flood the low-end userbase, three-dimensional graphics become ever more feasable; the gaming industry realized this a long time ago -- the reason 3D has not been heavily embraced on the web is twofold: Downloading 3D engines, models, and other data takes a long time. Secondly, if you've ever run CosmoPlayer or some other playback engine and tried delving into VRML you've probably found that there's no such thing as a 3D graphics standard on the web; from machine to machine results vary drastically and half the time your system is brought to it knees by some software bug in a plug-in somewhere. Luckily, there's Shockwave.
Shockwave/Flash has become ubiquitous on the web - it's solid and rarely ever crashes. The problem is it can't do 3D, right? Wrong. On any computer monitor, 3D graphics algorithms are simply mathematically sophisticated 2D graphics. All depth cues -- shading, blurring, motion parallax -- are simulated by making 2D graphics on the screen colored and positioned correctly to fool you into thinking you're looking at something in three dimensions. As this follows, all you need to do is throw a few math equations in your shockwave movie (note: no big increase in download time) and you've entered the third dimension. It is clear that shockwave is the best vessel for 3D graphics on the web. This article seeks to explain some basic principles of 3D graphics and how you can apply them to your Director movies.
It all begins with a point in space. 3D graphics are often made of models. These models are made from polygons. These polygons are represented by their vertices. These vertices are often represented as 1x4 arrays -- x, y, z location, and the homogeneous coordinate w (I won't go too deeply into w… suffice to say that it makes the math easier, and is usually set to 1.0). The actual units used are irrelevant. Each model is defined as a set of points in its own individual local coordinate system, and must be translated, rotated, and scaled into its position in the world coordinate system which is relative to the user's view. Every rotation, translation, and scaling operation is often performed using well-known 4x4 matrices in which every step in the transformation process multiplies a 4x4 matrix by another 4x4 matrix. The resulting matrix is called the ModelView matrix, because it holds the transformations to move Models around the virtual world, as well as data defining what the Viewer's virutal camera is positioned to capture. More on this later.
After the final 4x4 matrix has been determined, you multiply every point's coordinates, a 1x4 matrix, against the final 4x4 matrix and this determines its new location in 3D space. This result is then multiplied against another 4x4 matrix known as the Projection matrix. This operation simulates what a camera lens does to a ray of light from the 3D world as it intersects 2D film. The final operation, called a Viewport transformation, stretches the resulting coordinates to fit whatever window size you have established on the user's screen. The result is a 1x4 array for each point where the x and y values determine where on the screen the pixel is to show up (the locH and locV if you will), the z value is normalized between 1 and -1 indicating how far (or near) from the screen it is, and w is 1.0 (like I said, don't worry about w). This operation occurs for every vertex in the 3D world, for every frame of animation.
Lost? If so, it's ok - it's as easy to get lost in graphics theory as it is hard to explain it in layman's terms. Luckily, you don't have to worry much about the math - I've already written a robust 3D lingo engine for you to use.
This engine comes in two flavors: One for D6 and one for D7. Unfortunately, the version for Director 6.5 and D6 does not contain lingo calls to draw & color simple polygons. As a result, the next easiest thing is to use the vertices to define sprite positions on the stage as opposed to defining polygons, using the z-depth information to appropriately scale the sprite, change its blend values, and/or change the member of the sprites. This technique can create fairly convincing 3D effects. This is how Dave's 3D Engine for D6 operates. I call this method of 3D "point-based" 3D.
The engine for D7, what I call the "3DE7", has added support for polygonal 3D graphics, since D7 has the wonderful Quad feature which allows you to stretch a given bitmap sprite at any of the four corners of the bitmap. This allows for pseudo texture-mapped 4-vertex polygons. For the remainder of this article I will refer to this method of 3D as "polygonal 3D".
There are two script cast members that are common to both engines. The first is a movie script that holds all the handlers which perform the actual 3D work and which automate numerous aspects of authoring 3D graphics for you. It's loosely modeled after the popular (and superior) graphics API OpenGL - in fact, I recommend referring to an OpenGL manual while using Dave's 3D Engine. This script is named "3DEngine."
The second cast member is a parent script called "3DSprite." This cast member is what allows point-based 3D to happen. One instance of a 3DSprite represents one 3D sprite channel.
Dave's 3D Engine v7 for Director 7 gives you three additional parent script cast members. 3DQuad, which is pretty much like 3DSprite except it stretches a sprite's Quad for the purposes of representing polygonal 3D. The next member, 3DModel, is what makes life easy for you. It encapsulates both the 3DSprite and 3DQuad behaviors so that you don't have to get your hands dirty. With it, you can load 3D models in from a variety of 3D Model file formats, and it will generate the set of 3DSprites or 3DQuads which are required to represent the model you've imported. You can then manipulate the whole collection of sprites through one easy interface.
The remainder of this article will explain how to use this engine to create a simple 3D interface, covering step by step some of the principles of 3D graphics theory. We'll do a step-by-step example of how to make a simple 3D movie with the engine -- after you run through this example you should have a firm hold on the concepts involved in order to create more complex movies.
What we'll be doing in this example is creating a four-sided pyramid that will float in the center of the screen. When the user clicks and drags on that pyramid, it will spin accordingly.
When you download the 3D Engine, you receive an example movie with some code detailing some of the basic functionality of the engine. Linked to this movie is an external cast called "3DE7.cst". To create your own movie with the 3D Engine, simply import this external cast, or cut & paste the members into the internal cast of your movie (this is a better idea if you want to Shock any of your content).
Create a movie that is 400x400 and import the 5 cast members of the 3D Engine as you choose; these 5 members reside in the 3DE7.cst file distributed with the Dave's 3D Engine release archive. Set the background color of the movie to black or dark grey.
Put any two bitmap images of your choice in the cast. Make sure they're not too big. I recommend making one just a single blue pixel, and making the other a picture of something. Call the first one "bitmap1" and the second one "bitmap2". We'll use these as textures for our model. For every polygon in the model, there is one Quad needed to represent that polygon. These bitmaps will be fit to every Quad in the model we'll use. Unfortunately, right now there is no way to take a single bitmap and stretch it across several Quads, so we have to apply one bitmap to every polygon quad in our 3D Model.
There's no rule that says you can't do otherwise, but how I typically set up the score in using Dave's 3D Engine is to loop on a single frame - in this particular case it makes sense since all our graphics are going to be controlled with lingo. So, in frame 5 of your movie, set up a frame script to "go to the frame".
Now, with the inception of D7, you don't have to put placeholder sprites in the sprite channels you are planning on using for 3DSprite/3DQuad objects, however, it is sometimes helpful to put a sprite there to avoid at times unpredictable ink effects and such. I often just make a pixel bitmap in the paint window and stick it offscreen. The 3D engine will replace the sprite and reposition it as needed. In this case, we'll be creating a 3D Model that will be a pyramid with four sides and a base. That's 5 surfaces, which means 5 3DQuad objects, which means 5 sprite channels you'll need to allocate. Let's allocate sprite channels 11 through 15, starting at frame 3.
We want to define a frustum that has the same aspect ratio as our viewport. A viewport is the actual 2D window that the 3D world is shown within. We'll make our viewport (or view window) 400x400, the stage size, and our frustum of a square aspect ratio, with an average viewing volume.
The viewing volume of the frustum is the area that is between the top,bottom, left, right, far, and near planes that describe the viewing frustum. This volume you could imagine looks like a pyramid with the top chopped off with a base that grows away from the viewer. Only vertices that lie within this volume will be shown on the screen, everything else will not be shown because it is presumed to be outside of the reach of the lens of the virtual camera.
mSelectMatrix selects which matrix to edit. There are two possible matrices we could edit, the Projection matrix which defines how the viewing is done, and the ModelView matrix which determines how objects are placed and oriented in the virtual world. We wish to edit the Projection matrix.
mLoadIdentity sets the matrix to an identity matrix - the matrix equivalent of setting a coeffieicent to 1.
The pFrustum call sets up the Projection matrix to represent a frustum that is of average width and height, the same aspect ratio as the viewport, and clips all objects which are closer than 0.9 units from the camera, and farther than 200 units from the camera. Clipping is the act of deciding not to draw an object because it falls outside of the camera view. Feel free to play with these values later, particularly the 0.9, for different perspective effects.
pViewPort defines a viewing window that is the size of the stage.
The next two calls simply ensure that any further transformation calls will be applied to the ModelView matrix and sets the matrix to the identity matrix, which means that no transformations are saved in the ModelView matrix.
cullBackfaces_cw -- When set to TRUE, this determines that all polygons will be front facing when their vertices appear to be defined in a clockwise order. When set to FALSE, front facing polygons are assumed to have their vertices defined in a counter-clockwise order. This is useful for turning objects "inside out". Once we've created this example, flip the value and take a look.
use3DWatcher -- The 3DWatcher is a parent script I wrote which is enabled automatically by creating a 3DQuad. What it does it watches the 3D world for any changes you've made since the last frame was drawn - if no changes were made, it doesn't call for the 3D Engine to do anything that frame. This saves on computation time for other non-3D elements of your movie. When set to TRUE, the 3DWatcher is enabled. Sometimes, for reasons beyond the scope of this article, the 3DWatcher can think that no change is necessary when one actually is necessary. I recommend setting this to FALSE while you develop, and then once you're done, turning it on to and see if nothing breaks.
In this example, we're going to use the 3DModel parent script to generate the model from a field cast member that we're about to create.
The first step is to define the model within a field cast member using a format I created called .D3D -- this model format will define, face by face, a pyramid shaped model. Each face we'll assign an ink value, blend value, bitmap member to fill in the polygon. We'll also define the vertices of each face in a clockwise fashion to indicate to the 3D engine that its front face is facing outward.
This is an excellent opportunity to introduce the concepts of the World Coordinate System (WCS) versus each object's Local Coordinate System (LCS). Each model is defined in its own local coordinate system that has nothing to do with the 3D world. The units in both systems are arbitrary. The models are then positioned in the World Coordinate System along with all the other models.
There is an LCS for every model, but only one WCS. In the "Pyramid.D3D" field above, the reason that the "front" face is called the front face here is due to the nature of the WCS. By default, the virtual camera sits at the origin of the WCS and points down the negative Z axis. Without any transformations applied to the pyramid model (or any model), it will also be drawn at the origin of the WCS, oriented such that what is called the front face of the pyramid would face the camera. I say would because at this point the camera and the model are in the same place, so the camera is inside the pyramid. If you were to slide the model back along the Z axis, then the front face would face the viewer.
Envisioning this situation, I defined the polygons of the pyramid in a clockwise order as they would appear if I were looking at them head on. This way I can enable backface culling for a cleaner result.
Now we must create a lingo script to represent this object. Create a new parent script, call it "Pyramid". This script will encapsulate the model, representing both its visual status and its interactivity. In the constructor handler, we'll import the .D3D model.
First we set up some properties, rotX and rotY which we will use for interactivity later. We keep the model property around to hold a pointer to the 3DModel object. The call to create a new 3DModel takes the argument 1, which tells the 3D model a .D3D file is coming (you can choose other numbers for other formats, see the docs), the name of the field that defines the Pyramid, and then the range of sprite channels the model is allowed to occupy, 11-15. We then add the Pyramid object to the actorlist so it can receive stepFrame events. Make sure that on stopMovie you're setting the actorlist = .
This is a very simple step. All we aim to do here is provide the interface with which the user spins the pyramid. We'll go for a click n' drag approach. Create a quickdraw box cast member that covers the stage -- make it a non-filled quickdraw box with a line width of 0. Put it in sprite channel 20. Attach a behavior to it. This behavior will track the mouse's movements and modify the global variables rotX and rotY, which we'll use as arguments later to move the pyramid.
This is the part of the article where we actually affect the 3D model's position in space. Now that we have a way to interactively change the rotX and rotY values, we need to plug them into the 3D engine's transformation calls.
Simply put, a transformation is anything that potentially affects the position of a vertex in space. It can, for instance, be a translation, a rotation, or a scaling procedure. In this case we will be modifying the pyramid's rotation.
After any model has been properly transformed to its correct position in the world coordinate system (known as a model transformation) that model must be then transformed again to represent the virtual camera's position and orientation. The idea of positioning a camera is really a falsehood. What you are in actuality doing is moving every model in the world coordinate system, one at a time, to a new space in the world coordinate system to fake the idea that a camera is being moved. For instance, by default the view of the 3D engine is positioned at the origin of the world coordinate system looking down the negative Z axis. In some respects it always is. If you position several models, say, -30 units away from the origin on the Z axis, and then translate them to -50 units away from the origin on the Z axis, the appearance to the viewer is that the camera is moving away from the objects 20 units. In reality, it is the objects that have moved. This is how it is with moving a virtual camera in 3D.
The general rule is, first make the transformations to position your models in space, after which we'll make the camera transformations. First do your rotations to orient the model, then do your scaling if needed (often it is not), then do your translation to position your model in the world coordinate system. After all this, now perform your camera transformations. To move your camera "forward" --translate all your models back; to move your camera left, translate all your models right. The same rotation calls you made to orient your model, now that it has been translated to the right place in the WCS, will cause your models to orbit around the origin of the world coordinate system (technically where your camera is always located). Rotations always happen around the center of the WCS - if your model is not centered on the WCS origin then it will appear to orbit around the origin instead of spin on its own center.
That having been said, we will write the code to move the pyramid. We'll do this using the stepFrame event. Write this into the code of your container script for the Pyramid, "Pyramid".
--  step 5 - Draw the model with its newly transformed vertices.
Step 1 of this script does is sets the ModelView matrix, the 4x4 matrix I mentioned earlier to an identity matrix. This is the mathematical equivalent of not performing any transformations -- wiping the slate clean. One approach to 3D animation is to do this every frame and then reposition every model all over again for every frame of the animation. Another approach never initializes the ModelView matrix between frames and uses the cumulative transformations to move the geometries -- but we're not going to use that one for this example.
Step 2 then applies the rotation global variables rotX and rotY to the rotation transformation handlers. I divide these values by 100 because we're going from pixel difference to radians -- not doing this would cause the pyramid to spin wildly. The pyramid will spin on its origin because the model is defined around its own origin in its local coordinate system and has not yet been translated away from the origin of the world coordinate system. This is technically our "model" transformation.
Step 3 then moves the model 30 units down the -Z axis -- which is equivalent to backing the camera off the model 30 units. This is technically our "viewing" transformation. Note that both step 2 and 3 have affected the ModelView matrix -- it is the order that is important.
Step 4 actually multiplies the local coordinate system vertices of the model against the modelView matrix and the projection matrix, and saves the results within the model datatype. These results are either each vertex's transformed locH and locV on the screen (viewport) or 0 if the vertex has been translated outside of the viewing frustum and hence is offscreen.
Step 5 finally draws each polygon of the model based on its locally stored transformed vertices. If a vertex is outside of the viewing frustum, that polygon is not drawn. This is known as clipping. The idea of clipping is a powerful one because it means that you can define a whole virtual universe and only the portions of the universe that appear within the viewing frustum will be drawn. All the processor time it would have taken to blit the image is not allocated.
We could add a further step to the drawing cycle of our pyramid which would ensure that the sprites which represent the frontmost surfaces will be assigned a higher locZ property so as to always properly appear on the screen. After all, it would be a bit embarrasing to have the rear polygons of a model starship, for instance, be drawn on top of the front ones.
This feature is easily enabled by setting a global variable called "sortSprites" to TRUE. Do this in prepareMovie and the 3DModel object of the 3DE7 is smart enough to make a call to the engine's zSort() handler for that model. This variable is already set to TRUE by default in the prepareMovie handler of the engine.
All you have to do now is instantiate the object. Since you are looping on frame 5 of your score, create a frame script in frame 4. This script will instantiate the 3D model and get things underway.
That should do it. Make sure rotX and rotY are set to 0 in the prepareMovie handler, rewind, press play, and you should have a pyramid sitting in front of you! If you click and drag over the pyramid (where you have placed your invisible quickdraw character), you should be able to "spin" the pyramid interactively. You have now scratched the surface of a much larger 3D framework. Using the basic skills you have learned in this article, you should be able to go on and create far more complicated 3D environments to suit your needs.
No. As my graphics professor put it, don't be a slave to your mathematical system -- you create your mathematical system to be subjugate to your needs. There are many ways in which you can represent the math needed to render 3D graphics; it just happens that the path I have taken is one of the most versatile, adaptable, scalable, and widely written-about methods humanity knows about today. If you are daring, and your needs don't require such a generalized system, feel free to explore your own avenues; you might come upon a faster, more streamlined way to do what you need to do -- but if you ever want to expand an existing system troubles could creep in. Explore the links below, widen your horizons, and make your own decisions. Personally, I find the exploration of new ways to express mathematical concepts in artistically enticing ways to be the driving impetus behind my work; Leonardo DaVinci followed this path and look where it got him.
A Director 7.0 movie of this completed example can be be downloaded in Mac or PC format.
Dave Cole is a computer scientist/filmmaker from Detroit, Michigan. After having learned Director and lingo studying animation at the University of Michigan, he moved on to develop CD-ROMs, applications, and web sites for Sigma6 Interactive Media in Detroit. In addition, he has produced a short animation shown at UCON 99, "Infestation," as well as an interactive weather browser, "BlueSkies 3," through the Weather Underground. In his spare time, he freelances, plays music, and builds 3D engines.


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This intensive two-day course will not only get you comfortable with your camera and it's settings, it will also make you look at the reef and your photo subjects in a new light!
Taught by Roatan author Mickey Charteris, the course focuses on where to focus! How to find and capture fishes and critters on a Caribbean reef. How to choose and use a variety of settings and techniques for each subject. It's like an underwater safari with your own photo pro, guiding you towards the shots you'll be proud of.
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All of Mickey’s photos are taken with Canon point-and-shoot cameras, using no extra strobes or lenses, aiming for simplicity and capturing the moment. See examples of Mickey’s work here.
Steve’s award-winning underwater photos have taken him around the world. He is based in the Pacific Northwest, and for many years Roatan has been his warm-water, get-away destination, and he has introduced many divers to its wonders. He specializes in transferring cold water techniques to warm Caribbean diving, as well as image post-production. See examples of Steve’s work in underwater photography here.


Internal validity checking might be able to reveal bugs that neither black- nor white-box testing would be likely to encounter.
Last week, I suggested by example that looking only at a program's externally visible behavior — black-box testing — can let major bugs go undetected. In particular, such testing cannot easily verify that a program will never behave (or misbehave) in a particular way, and that security considerations were one reason why such guarantees were often important.
Here is an example that makes this general claim concrete. I once used a time-sharing implementation of an interpretive language that was intended to be semantically safe: Every operation that a user could perform was intended to have a well-defined result (which might be a diagnostic message). To that end, the implementation checked for validity each individual operation that user programs performed as they did so.
Unfortunately, one of those checks contained a subtle bug: When a program tried to allocate a multidimensional array, the allocator computed the amount of memory it needed by multiplying the array's dimensions. Unfortunately, it forgot to check for overflow. As a result, a program could allocate a very large two-dimensional array — much larger than was actually capable of fitting in memory. For example, allocating a 222-by-214+1 array would compute a size of 236+214. On a 32-bit machine, this size would quietly overflow to 214, which was well within the available memory for allocation purposes.
Bugs of this sort are particularly pernicious because testing will often fail to reveal them. In this particular case, for example, an array that was only too big for memory, but not big enough to overflow, would cause an appropriate diagnostic message. So would an array with a size that overflowed to a value that still would not fit in memory. To trigger the bug, one would have to allocate an array with an overall size that was in bounds when viewed modulo 232 bytes. In that case, the size computation would yield what looked like a plausible value after the overflow. Although aggressively systematic testing might reveal this particular kind of misbehavior, the bug would be much easier to find if whoever was doing the testing knew enough about the code being tested to construct tests that were particularly likely to evoke bugs.
On the surface, this overflow bug does not seem particularly harmful, because it's the kind of bug that users normally would not encounter — and user programs that would legitimately fit in memory would never encounter. However, in practice, this bug made possible a data structure that looked like an ordinary two-dimensional array that overlaid all of memory. As a result, it gave user programs the ability to access any part of the computer's memory that was not protected by hardware. Further experimentation showed that it was possible to use this ability to turn on the bit that gave the user administrative privileges, after which the entire system was within reach.
This example shows a key way in which security bugs differ from others. Ordinary programs are very unlikely to create a multidimensional array of just the right "size." As a result, there is not much reason to test for such bugs because they happen so rarely.
However, in the presence of malicious users, not only do such bugs take on a malevolence far beyond their surface qualities, but there is good reason to believe that a user who discovers such a bug will not report it; instead saving the knowledge of its existence for later use. In other words, not only are obscure security bugs more severe than they might seem, but developers cannot rely on users to report such bugs when they do encounter them.
Many similar actions would have caused that message.
It is not even good enough to say that a white-box test should have revealed it, because the knowledge needed to construct such a white-box test would also have made it possible to anticipate and avoid the problem in the first place.
The program allocates an array by multiplying its dimensions to yield a size.
This size is used to allocate a block of memory.
The block's size can be figured out, either by asking the memory allocator or by storing it explicitly as part of the block.
As originally written, when it came time to use such a block, the system would take a sequence of array indices as input, check whether each one was within its corresponding bound, then compute the address corresponding to that array element. The authors of the code assumed that this check was enough to ensure validity, because each individual array bound was known to be valid. The problem in this case, then, was that the authors assumed that if each individual bound was valid, all of them together were also valid.
If the authors' attitude had been that such assumptions weren't enough by themselves, then whenever a user program tried to access memory in an array, the system might have verified that the address to be accessed was actually a valid address in the block of memory, as defined by the block's address and size. Such verification would be able to preserve an important property: Even a nonsensical request would not cause the system to access unauthorized memory. This property would hold even if the address computation overflowed, because either it would yield a valid address, in which case there would be no harm done, or it wouldn't, in which case the result would be a runtime diagnostic message.
In short, this kind of program is one in which internal validity checking might be able to reveal bugs that neither black- nor white-box testing would be likely to encounter. C++ is particularly well suited to such internal validity checking because C++ class definitions make it possible to implement data structures for which all accesses pass through a single, common piece of code. A validity check in that common code will run as part of every access. If that check is implemented as part of an assert statement, it is even possible to turn it off should it be too expensive. As ever, it is an open question whether the ability to turn off such sanity checks is a feature or a bug.


"How many ounces of sugar do we have?"
Translation:Berapa ons gula yang kita punya?
I am wary of this sentence. An ounce (oz) in US is about 28 grams. The "ons" commonly used in Indonesia, like in the traditional markets, is Dutch ons, which is 100 grams.


Business Intelligence and Analysis Services in the "Real World"
I wonder if I could as your advice as a BI / Data warehousing specialist.I have been studying Analysis Services recently having read a couple of books Which step me through the process of building the cubes etc but as I donâ€™t come From a DB background one thing is not clear to me is how does one determine that They need to use BI / Analysis Services etc in the real world? As you, I am a .NET developer with a background of building thick client apps and am Familiar with creating layered architectures etc building on frameworks like NHibernate Etc to abstract out the DB stuff into my more familiar object world. My question how does one Generally interface with this Data Warehousing / Analysis Services stuff in the real world? I am looking for answers from people who have used these technologies in anger and not Like me from canned text book examples scenarios etc. Thanks for your time it is would be appreciated.
And I wrote an response, but after reading the response I figured I could post it up here as it is pretty general.
Basically what I have seen is this. You make your application (either web or windows) that saves transactional data, or logs, or something like that. End users usually want reports off of that data. At first, developers will report directly off that data (OLTP database). It becomes slow, and unusable after tons of data is there, so then developers tweak timeouts, things like that. Then the next step is custom summarizations into other tables, and then archiving off transactional data. Usually, because developers don’t know about data warehousing/BI stuff, all this stuff is custom up to this point.
Eventually, someone realizes that, “hey, there is a way to do this better”, which involves a structured ETL either using stored procs or SSIS or something similar. Also, instead of just ad-hoc or custom summarization tables, a well designed data warehouse (OLAP) database is key.
Now, from there, you can write your reports off your OLAP database, which is OK because the data is summarized, scrubbed, etc. But you really give it an adrenaline boost when you create a cube off that data warehouse OLAP db, it takes care of the summarization, the relationships, all that. You put the reporting in the hands of your end users (excel 2007 for example) – let them pivot and slice and dice the data, its all ready and set for them to do it, with really nothing you have to do on your end except make sure the cube is processed regularly off the DW.
You are basically abstracting your OLTP data up two levels… In all reality you should be able to query your OLTP data for a time frame and get say revenue, and then query the OLAP and the CUBE and get the same results. Now, with your cube, you can still access data from it in your .NET apps using AMO, which is cool as well, or you can write Reporting Services reports directly off the cube as well, makes it a lot easier than writing custom .NET reports.
So, interfacing with your Data Warehouse, the best options to get data in is usually SSIS packages or stored procedures, no .NET coding really. To get data out, you would probably want to use Reporting Services, or you can query it with SqlClient in .NET apps like you would a regular OLTP database.
The cube, you can get data out using AMO objects in .NET, you can query using MDX, XMLA, etc in management studio, or you can write reporting services reports, but the best client is Excel 2007, its built to be tied to SSAS 2005, so it really works out well.
One thing about all the technologies (SSIS, SSRS, SSAS, AMO, etc) is that there really isn’t a lot online as far as examples and documentation, or it is scattered. It is getting better though. Most of the stuff I do I just have to figure out on my own, through trial and error, but it is OK.
Maybe not the cover all response but it kind of covers what I have seen in the past, from my own experiences, and others.


Context. It is generally agreed upon that stars form in open clusters (OCs) and stellar associations, but little is known about structures in the Galactic OC population; whether OCs and stellar associations are born isolated or if they prefer to form in groups, for example. Answering this question provides new insight into star and cluster formation, along with a better understanding of Galactic structures.
Aims. In the past decade, studies of OC groupings have either been based solely on spatial criteria or have also included tangential velocities for identifications. In contrast to previous approaches, we assumed that real OC groupings occupy a well defined area in the sky and show similar velocity vectors. For the first time, we have used 6D phase-space information, including radial velocities from the RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) and other catalogues, for the detection of OC groupings. We also checked the age spread of potential candidates to distinguish between genuine groupings and chance alignments.
Methods. We explored the Catalogue of Open Cluster Data (COCD) and determined 6D phase-space information for 432 out of 650 listed OCs and compact associations. The group identification was performed using an adapted version of the Friends-of-Friends algorithm, as used in cosmology, with linking lengths of 100 pc and 10–20 km s-1. For the verification of the identified structures, we applied Monte Carlo simulations with randomised samples.
Results. For the linking lengths 100 pc and 10 km s-1 , we detected 19 groupings, including 14 pairs, 4 groups with 3−5 members, and 1 complex with 15 members. The Monte Carlo simulations revealed that, in particular, the complex is most likely genuine, whereas pairs are more likely chance alignments. A closer look at the age spread of the complex and the comparison between spatial distributions of young and old cluster populations suggested that OC groupings likely originated from a common molecular cloud.
Current postal address: Elfenstraße 43, 68169 Mannheim, Germany.


1) Box: Box has always been one of the top apps in our network, coming in third overall behind Microsoft Office 365 and Salesforce. It gives companies a way to securely store, share and manage their files, making it easy for employees to access the content they need to be productive.
2) Dropbox: An alternative to Box, Dropbox started off as a consumer file sharing service, but has recently set its sights on the enterprise, boasting 150,000 businesses on Dropbox Business and gaining a top spot among the productivity tools in our network.
3) Slack: Relative newcomer Slack has taken the business world by storm and was the fastest growing app in our network in 2015, and one of the top three productivity tools. It's on a mission to replace email--which, I should note, is a category I didn't include here, as "email" isn't exactly synonymous with "productivity"--with its slick messaging platform and integrations. It's certainly making team communication more fun (just play with its giphy integration for a few minutes and you'll know what I mean) if not more productive.
4) Confluence: The tagline for Atlassian's Wiki product, Confluence, is "where work becomes teamwork." That's certainly the case at Okta, where we use Confluence to share essential information with everyone in the company. We upload presentations, how-to's, team breakdowns and more to Confluence, giving us a repository of information to help everyone get their work done.
5) Hipchat: HipChat, another Atlassian product, brings the ease of a consumer messaging platform to the enterprise with its group chat functionality. It's advertised as a "communication solution optimized for the workplace," and one of the productivity tools in our network.
6) Yammer: Microsoft acquired its answer to HipChat, Yammer, in 2012 and the private social network is another popular choice among our customers. It's no wonder when you see how easy Yammer makes it to start a conversation, organize projects and share files.
7) Asana: Asana's a popular work tracking app, helping teams to get more done and achieve results. It integrates with other apps--including files (Box, Dropbox) and messaging (Slack, HipChat)--to help teams track their work, from tasks and projects to meeting agendas and action items. The company says that 10,000 teams get started on Asana every month.
8) Basecamp: Basecamp, formerly 37signals, combines project management with the chat capabilities of your favorite collaboration tools. Teams can easily track messages, files, to-dos, schedules and major milestones, making productivity easy.
9) Smartsheet: Smartsheet was another one of our fastest growing apps earlier this year, which is really something considering how much employees typically love spreadsheets (cue sarcastic laugh). But Smartsheet's intuitive spreadsheet-like app makes it easy to collaborate, share files and manage projects, giving teams one place to track tasks, projects, event schedules, business processes and even customer information and sales pipelines.
10) Trello: Another productivity tool our customers love is Trello, which takes a visual approach to project management. Trello lets you easily organize projects by owner, category or schedule.
11) Evernote: I'm an avid Evernote user myself, so I can vouch for its inclusion in our top productivity tools. As I recently shared with Inc., I've taken over 700 Evernote notes since co-founding Okta and I spend time every Friday typing up all my notes and organizing them as actions and to-dos. Over 100 million users depend on Evernote for note-taking and it's a popular choice among our customers as well.


question_answer1) There are books of the same size. These books are arranged in shelves. Find the number of books in each shelf.
question_answer2) There are ice creams. These ice creams should be equally divided among girls, how many ice creams each girl will get?
question_answer3) A man spent Rs.15500 on 5 suits. What is the cost of each suit?
question_answer4) If Rs.1205 is to be divided among 5 persons equally. How much amount will each get?
question_answer5) Each bag can hold bananas and there are bananas in all. How many bags can be filled?
question_answer6) There are sheets of paper. If I want to make bundles, then how many sheets will be there in each bundle?
question_answer7) In a division sum, the divisor is 8, the quotient is 42, and the remainder is 5. What is the dividend?
question_answer8) Find the number if a number which when divided by 5 gives 3 as the remainder and 6 as the quotient.
question_answer9) Divide: 68 by 2.
question_answer10) Divide the product of 14 and 12 by 8.


Two Vietnamese stars performed live at Viral Fest Asia 2016 in Bali, Indonesia on July 16. With over 27 acts from 12 Asian countries, Viral Fest Asia is an event that celebrates some of Asia's most viral YouTube artists. The two Vietnamese artists that were invited to perform this year at Viral Fest Asia were Chi Pu and Miu Lê.
Chi Pu performed Fighting Fighting -- a new OST song for her upcoming web drama series Wake Up that she will be starring in. Fighting is your old school style pop song. I quite enjoyed it. It reminds me of Asian girl pop music back during the late 1990's and early 2000's. S.E.S anyone?
Miu Lê performed two of her most recent hit songs -- Mình Yêu Từ Bao Giờ (When Did We Fall In Love) and Anh Đang Nơi Đâu (Where Are You). Mình Yêu Từ Bao Giờ is my jam. That song always gets me hyped. The dance version of Anh Đang Nơi Đâu performed by Miu Lê at Viral Fest was a nice surprise. The original version of Anh Đang Nơi Đâu is a little too slow for my liking.
All in all, I thought Chi Pu And Miu Lê did a pretty good job showcasing Vietnamese pop music to an international audience.
Chi Pu And Miu Lê Perform At Viral Fest Asia 2016 Two Vietnamese stars performed live at **Viral Fest Asia 2016** in Bali, Indonesia on July 16. With over 27 acts from 12 Asian countries, Viral Fest Asia is an event that celebrates some of Asia's most viral YouTube artists. The two Vietnamese artists that were invited to perform this year at Viral Fest Asia were **Chi Pu** and **Miu Lê**. ---  Chi Pu performed **Fighting Fighting** -- a new OST song for her upcoming web drama series **Wake Up** that she will be starring in. *Fighting* is your old school style pop song. I quite enjoyed it. It reminds me of Asian girl pop music back during the late 1990's and early 2000's. S.E.S anyone? ---  Miu Lê performed two of her most recent hit songs -- **Mình Yêu Từ Bao Giờ (When Did We Fall In Love)** and **Anh Đang Nơi Đâu (Where Are You)**. *Mình Yêu Từ Bao Giờ* is my jam. That song always gets me hyped. The dance version of *Anh Đang Nơi Đâu* performed by Miu Lê at Viral Fest was a nice surprise. The original version of *Anh Đang Nơi Đâu* is a little too slow for my liking. All in all, I thought Chi Pu And Miu Lê did a pretty good job showcasing Vietnamese pop music to an international audience.


Q:-> Whilist loading an .mts file I got the message, "Can't render an audio stream (ac3). The necessary codecs are not found." Can this problem be overcome?
A:-> The answer is yes, quite easily. This problem can happen with any media format the Splitter supports - AVI, MKV, MP4 etc., as the Splitter does not ship all kind of codecs that can be met in different videos. But in most cases user's PC has all necessary codecs and that's what the Splitter relies to. If you get a such a message as "Can't render an audio stream (ac3). The necessary codecs are not found" just download and install such a codec and the Splitter will use it for preview.


Return the object that helps the UI rendering by providing the details.
Loads the configuration from the configuration file.
Goes through the parser with the given text to make sure it doesn't yield any error.
This method is equivalent to load2(), except that any IOException that occurs is wrapped as a RuntimeException.
This method exists for source compatibility. Users should call load2() instead.
IOException - if the configuration file could not be read.


EU's Tusk sends firm message to #POTUS Trump: "EU and Japan stand side by side"
How did the EU go from a trade agreement to a multinational European government? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do you want to support Europe?: https://www.facebook.com/mycountryeurope/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/averythingchannel/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seeing the economic benefits, more countries WANTED to join. They were Spain, Norway, Denmark, Ireland, and the UK. The last four had actually tried joining a couple of years ago but De Gaulle, ever afraid that the UK and USA would try to dominate the European Communities, vetoed their ascension. Well, the French had elected a new president so they tried applying for membership a second time. Spain was refused on the basis that it was a dictatorship. The other four countries held a referendum where the citizens could vote on whether to join the European communities or not. The Norwegians voted against, the other 3 countries voted in favour. And so 6 countries became 9. Greece joined later in 1981. Greenland became independent in 1985, held a referendum, and left the European Community as it doesn't agree with its fishing regulations. Spain and Portugal overthrew their dictatorships and were now allowed to join the European Communities as DEMOCRACIES in 1986. Bringing the number to a grand total of 12 members. In 1975 the European Regional Development Fund was created. Its purpose is to transfer money from rich REGIONS, not countries, to poor regions to improve infrastructure, attract investment, and create jobs. This type of activity currently accounts for over 1/3 of EU spending. I’ll leave this map here if you want to pause the video and take a closer look. Funny thing. One of the reasons the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016 was because they did not want to spend their money on poorer eastern European countries. Well do you know who the biggest supporter was of this fun? The UK. They went so far as to make this a major issue when they joined the EU, pressuring the rest to create this fund. Why? Because at the time, the UK had many of the poorest regions in Western Europe and they received large sums of money to build up their economy. There is some irony for you. Then came the last goal of the European Communities: free movement. Over the years, European countries had already made some progress towards this; European citizens didn't need visas any more cross borders. You just showed your passport, got a stamp, and moved on. So, if for example, you as a Portuguese citizen, woke up in the morning deciding you wanted visit Paris, you could just hop on a plane and be in Paris that evening without first going through the lengthy and expensive process of getting a visa.
As Mexico continues to struggle through NAFTA renegotiations with the U.S. and Canada, it is making headway elsewhere. Mexico just came to an agreement with the European Union on a more extensive free trade partnership.
http://exporthelp.europa.eu/thdapp/in... The Export Helpdesk is an online service to inform on how to export to the European Union. It's a free and user-friendly service that provides all necessary information concerning EU import requirements, trade preferential agreements and trade statistics.
Trump: "The European Union has been terrible to the United States on trade"
More tensions are mounting in trade and this time it's not between the United States and China. Kayla Tausche explains.
Europe is rapidly changing this video is just one example - Right to self determination is being whipped out (national sovereignty) - Traditions are being destroyed - Multiculturism is being forced upon nations (for example why are there no Ukrainians fleeing towards Europe due to the civil war, but on the other hand thousands of African and Middle Eastern immigrants are being trafficked towards Europe?) These poor people are being told that Europe is the big paradise but it is not. They are being conned by human traffickers and stripped of all their assets. When they arrive in Europe they can stay in a concentration camp. - Free trade = Slave labor - Privatizations (many utilities are being sold of which causes prices to rise) - Budget control (Brussels is controlling the policies of individual nations) - Many more thing to address We know by now that Europe is a Jewish project and many of the things pointed out above are being financed by Jewish organizations. It is not the Zionist as many people claim. It is the Jewish mafia with their banking cartel with usury as their key element that makes them able to determine the faith of the people.
European Union, United States commit to trade with Kenya. SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel for more great videos: https://www.youtube.com/ Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KTNNews Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KTNNewsKenya For more great content go to http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/ktnnews and download our apps: http://std.co.ke/apps/#android KTN News is a leading 24-hour TV channel in Eastern Africa with its headquarters located along Mombasa Road, at Standard Group Centre. This is the most authoritative news channel in Kenya and beyond.
DONALD TUSK OF THE EUROPEAN UNION MAKES FREE TRADE OFFER TO UK!
The EU made a free trade offer to the UK.
Responding to the debate, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom says she "doesn't know much" about why Australia is apparently in line for an exemption to the tariffs. President Trump tweeted last week that he was "working very quickly" on a "security agreement" so tariffs on Australian imports would not be imposed. She says it is true that the EU puts tariffs on American car imports, but points out that US tariffs on European trucks and pick-ups are higher, at 25%. The EU is "reaching out" to other parties around the world to defend the international trading order, she adds. Closing statements by Cecilia MALMSTRÖM, Member of the EC in charge of Trade and by Jyrki KATAINEN, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness.
Steel and the European Union Emissions Trading System The steel industry is one of the most vital sectors for the European economy. As the EU begins the procedure to reform the Emissions Trading System, this EUROFER video explores how this strategic sector will be affected by the changes.
Cultivating trade relationships between the United States and the European Union is the goal of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership or TIPP. This CMC forum will focuses on the implications of TIPP, the opportunities and concerns about increased trade with the European Union. The discussion was moderated by Tim Sword, president of Columbus Sister Cities International. The European Commission, the organization that is negotiating the treaty on behalf of the European Union, outlines the case that TIPP would open the door to increased trade between the EU and the US by cutting red tape and creating rules to make it easier to trade goods, services and culture across the Atlantic Ocean. This increased trade should increase jobs and spur economic growth on both sides. TIPP could offer consumers a greater ranges of choices at better prices than without the agreement. From soybeans to aircraft engines, the US Department of Commerce estimates that goods exported from Ohio in 2013 supported 259,000 jobs in the US. Over half of Ohio’s exports last year were supported by free trade agreements with approximately 17% of Ohio goods and services exported to the EU. TIPP would increase this trade opportunity by eliminating tariffs, providing greater access to markets while maintaining commitments to best practices in safety and regulatory standards. Think of TIPP as NAFTA for Europe. Although the North American Trade Agreement has been in effect since 1994, there is disagreement about the net effect of the agreement. While trade increased between the US, Canada and Mexico, critics blame NAFTA for moving US manufacturing jobs to Mexico.
Capstone presentation by Martina Kristianova, an Interdisciplinary Studies (INDS) major at UMBC.
BOOK REVIEW THE EUROPEAN UNION TRADE MARK A Practical Guide By Mark Holah and Patricia Collis ISBN: 978 1 90941 666 6 GLOBE LAW AND BUSINESS www.globelawandbusiness.com AS EUROPE ENTERS A CRUCIAL PHASE IN ITS HISTORY, HERE’S AN INVALUABLE WORK OF REFERENCE ON THE MODERN TRADE MARK An appreciation by Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers Published by Globe Law and Business, ‘The European Union Trademark’ is a business-like book. Dispensing with extraneous commentary, it focuses purely on the facts pertaining to the ways in which the European Union Trade Mark (EUTM) system works. The result is a practical guide for practitioners needing to understand the EUTM system. It is objective, clear-eyed, clearly explained and up to date. Speaking of timeliness, the two expert authors – both lawyers – reveal that the book was being written when the UK referendum on European membership took place in June 2016, which confirmed that the British public had voted by a small-ish majority to leave the EU. They hasten to point out however, that in their view ‘the formal process of withdrawal will likely not be completed until ‘early 2019,’ adding that ‘in the meantime, the UK remains a full member of the EU and EUTM rights continue to apply to the country.’ The authors, by the way, are respectively, a senior partner and associate at the London-based firm of Bird and Bird. Mark Holah has acted for thousands of EUTM (formerly CTM) applications (particularly on brand protection) and is cited as a leading individual in the relevant directories and guides, including the ‘Guide to the World’s Leading Trade Mark Law Practitioners.’ Patricia Collis also specialises in trade mark law, primarily in brand protection and trade mark portfolio management, which encompasses a range of experience that includes the UK national trade mark system and cross-proceedings at national and EU level. In all, the book is as clear and succinct an analysis of the workings of the EUTM system as you’re likely to find anywhere. Also – and this is useful by way of reminder – it includes an introduction to the structure of the European Union itself, referred to throughout the text as ‘the Union’. Divided into eight parts, the book provides details of, for example, the EUTM application process including the formalities involved in filing an application and ‘what happens if anything is missing.’ Note also the advice on such matters as opposition procedures and appeals processes, international marks, the Madrid Protocol and of course, much more. You might well ask if any or all of this will be relevant when the UK leaves the EU. ‘No Member State has ever left the Union,’ say the authors ominously – and while it is unclear as to what might happen when a Member State has the temerity to do so, the authors speculate that not all EUTM rights would be lost ‘by the departing country.’ They suggest that certain mechanics might allow EUTM applications and registrations to be ‘turned into national registrations and applications.’ Time, obviously, will tell. For practitioners involved in intellectual property and/or trademark law, this book certainly excels as a work of reference. Those requiring references to legislation and case law will notice the ‘further references’ section at the end of most chapters, plus some useful website addresses, including that of the European Commission and other relevant sites. The publication date is cited as at 2016.
Cross-border cooperation in energy is not a new idea. Historically, it is at the core of the development of the European Community. In 1951 France, West Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands decided to form the European Coal and Steel Community. They hoped that pooling vital natural resources would ‘make war not only unthinkable but materially impossible’. In 2014 the goals of cooperation in energy have changed. Member states seek to complete an internal energy market which will ensure competitiveness, sustainability and security of supply. As a small, peripheral market with a reliance on imported fossil fuels, Ireland has much to gain from the increased integration of energy markets in the EU. However, this must be a gradual process as member states remain reluctant to cede control of how they use the national energy resources which fuel their economies. Electricity remains one of last sectors without free trade in the EU. Therefore, in 2006 the European Regulators Group for Electricity and Gas (ERGEG) established seven regional electricity markets as an interim step toward a single European electricity market.1 The regional markets are as follows: 1. France-UK-Ireland, (FUI) 2. Central-East 3. Central-West 4. Central-South 5. South West 6. Baltic 7. Northern Ireland, operating as an all-island Single Electricity Market (SEM) since 2007, is part of the regional energy market covering the FUI region and cooperates with two of the biggest electricity producers in Europe: France and the UK. The governments, regulators and grid operators from these countries are working together to develop solutions for a regional market. While the target for the completion of the internal energy market is the end of 2014, Ireland has been granted an extension until 2016 to allow for transitional arrangements, due to the significant differences between the SEM and European market models. The incoming European Commission President, Jean Claude Juncker, has reaffirmed the priority of completing the internal energy market, emphasising the benefits of driving down costs and boosting growth. Meanwhile, in the wake of concerns about European energy security, the current Italian Presidency has argued that the completion of the internal energy market will increase member state solidarity, ensure safety of energy supplies and facilitate the integration of indigenous sources of energy, like renewables. However, completing the internal energy market by 2014 remains a sizeable challenge. Member states still need to increase interconnections and further harmonise their market rules. This video explains the role regional electricity markets are playing in meeting this challenge and the benefits they are expected to bring.
The European Union and Japan will launch the world's largest free trade zone early next year after their economic partnership cleared a final hurdle tonight. Some 70 percent of European Parliament lawmakers backed the agreement that binds two economies accounting for about a third of global gross domestic product and signals their rejection of protectionism. While they have agreed to start separate trade talks with the United States, both face trade tensions with Washington and their steel and aluminium producers remain subject to U.S. tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. It has been dubbed the world's biggest trade deal, covering economies that represent a third of the world's GDP. The deal will come into effect in February, a month before the United Kingdom leaves the European Union. Some EU leaders see the deal as a possible model for future relations with the United Kingdom. EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom predicted a deal with the UK would "go even further" than Japan's. This video has the debate, by members of European Parliament. Video (dubbed) in English.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern expects negotiations with the European Union over the free-trade deal to go beyond this year despite a European goal of concluding the deal in 2019. Jacinda Ardern has arrived in Brussels to begin negotiations for the two-way deal which she says is now worth about $20 billion. "For us it’s essentially as soon as possible, I think it will go beyond 2019 though," she said. "When you look at on average. Some of the free trade agreements we’ve undertaken, I think China took around four years, CPTPP took a number of years.” "We have an ambition to conclude as quickly as we can, but we also want it to be a high-quality deal." Agriculture will be a key part of free negotiations with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying that industry is too important to New Zealand to be left behind. "We have been through many occasions and negotiations where agriculture has been raised as a sensitivity and we've worked through that through those negotiations," she said. "Agriculture is too important for us to leave that behind in these negotiations. It will be a keeper out of them." Agriculture would be among the sectors in New Zealand to benefit most but France and other EU nations are expected to protest about some dairy and meat products in the deal.
Q: How do you know when Trump has a good day? A: the networks don't cover it. Plus Eli Steele on "How Jack Became Black." To watch the full show live, become a premium subscriber. Join the team! https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe Like this video? For more Ben Shapiro and Daily Wire content, subscribe to this channel and the Ben Shapiro YouTube channel youtube.com/c/benshapiro and ring the bell for notifications so you never miss a story!