A catalyst for the production of methacrylic acid comprising a heteropolyacid compound containing phosphorus and molybdenum is regenerated by a method comprising the steps of heat-treating a mixture containing a deactivated catalyst, water, a nitrate ion and an ammonium ion having a molar ratio to the nitrate ion of 1.3 or less at a temperature of at least 100° C., drying the mixture to obtain a dried catalyst, and calcining the dried catalyst. The regenerated catalyst has substantially the same catalytic activity as a fresh catalyst in a gas phase catalytic oxidation reaction of methacrolein, isobutylaldehyde, isobutane or isobutyric acid to prepare methacrylic acid.
1. A method for regenerating a catalyst for the production of methacrylic acid comprising a heteropolyacid compound containing phosphorus and molybdenum, which method comprises the steps of heat-treating a mixture containing a deactivated catalyst, water, a nitrate ion and an ammonium ion having a molar ratio to the nitrate ion of 1.3 or less at a temperature of at least 100.degree. C., drying the mixture to obtain a dried catalyst, and calcining the dried catalyst.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said dried catalyst is firstly calcined in an atmosphere of an oxidizing gas at a temperature of 360 to 410.degree. C., and secondly calcined in an atmosphere of a non-oxidizing gas at a temperature of 420 to 500.degree. C.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said dried catalyst is molded and then exposed to an atmosphere having a relative humidity of 10 to 60% at a temperature of 40 to 100.degree. C. for 0.5 to 10 hours prior to calcination.
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the heteropolyacid compound further comprises vanadium, at least one element selected from the group consisting of potassium, rubidium, cesium and thallium, and at least one element selected from the group consisting of copper, arsenic, antimony, boron, silver, bismuth, iron, cobalt, lanthanum and cerium.
5. A process for preparing methacrylic acid comprising the steps of:regenerating a catalyst for the production of methacrylic acid by the method according to claim 1 and thensubjecting at least one compound selected from the group consisting of methacrolein, isobutylaldehyde, isobutane and isobutyric acid to a gas phase catalytic oxidation reaction in the presence of the regenerated catalyst.
The present invention relates to a method for regenerating a catalyst for the production of methacrylic acid. The present invention also relates to a process for preparing methacrylic acid using a catalyst regenerated by such a regeneration method.
It is known that a catalyst for the production of methacrylic acid comprising a heteropolyacid compound containing phosphorus and molybdenum is deactivated when the catalyst is used for a long time in a gas phase catalytic oxidation reaction using methacrolein or the like as a raw material, because the catalytic activity of the catalyst is reduced due to heat load or the like.
As a method for regenerating a deactivated catalyst, JP-A-61-283352 discloses a method comprising the steps of dissolving or suspending a deactivated catalyst in water to prepare a mixture containing 7 to 15 moles of an ammonium ion and 0.1 to 4.0 moles of a nitrate ion per 12 atoms of molybdenum (a molar ratio of an ammonium ion to a nitrate ion being at least 1.75) and then drying and calcining the mixture.
JP-A-2001-286763 discloses a method comprising the steps of dispersing a deactivated catalyst in water, adding a nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compound, ammonium nitrate and nitric acid to the dispersion at a temperature of 70° C. to prepare a mixture, and drying and calcining the mixture. JP-A-2001-286763 also describes that, in this method, the amounts of ammonium nitrate and nitric acid are adjusted so that a molar ratio of the ammonium ion to the nitrate ion in the mixture is maintained to 1.7 or less.
However, any of the conventional regeneration methods described above necessarily does not necessarily have a sufficient effect of recovering the catalytic activity and the catalytic activity of the obtained regenerated catalyst is not always satisfactory.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method for regenerating a catalyst for the production of methacrylic acid, which can effectively recover the catalytic activity of a deactivated catalyst.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a process for preparing methacrylic acid using a catalyst regenerated by such a regeneration method at a high conversion and an excellent selectivity.
To achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a method for regenerating a catalyst for the production of methacrylic acid comprising a heteropolyacid compound containing phosphorus and molybdenum, which method comprises the steps of heat-treating a mixture containing a deactivated catalyst, water, a nitrate ion and an ammonium ion having a molar ratio to the nitrate ion of 1.3 or less at a temperature of at least 100° C., drying the mixture to obtain a dried catalyst, and calcining the dried catalyst.
Further, the present invention provides a process for preparing methacrylic acid comprising the steps of regenerating a catalyst for the production of methacrylic acid by the regeneration method according to the present invention and then subjecting at least one compound selected from the group consisting of methacrolein, isobutylaldehyde, isobutane and isobutyric acid to a gas phase catalytic oxidation reaction in the presence of the regenerated catalyst.
According to the present invention, the activity of a deactivated catalyst for the production of methacrylic acid can be effectively recovered. In addition, the regenerated catalyst thus obtained can be used to prepare methacrylic acid at a high conversion and an excellent selectivity.
The catalyst for the production of methacrylic acid, which is regenerated by the method of the present invention, comprises a heteropolyacid compound containing phosphorus and molybdenum as essential elements, and may comprise a free heteropolyacid or a salt of a heteropoly acid. Particularly, the catalyst preferably comprises an acid salt (i.e. a partially neutralized salt) of a heteropoly acid, more preferably an acid salt of a Keggin-type heteropoly acid.
Besides phosphorus and molybdenum, the catalyst preferably contains vanadium as an additional element, or at least one element selected from the group consisting of potassium, rubidium, cesium and thallium (hereinafter sometimes referred to as element X), or at least one element selected from the group consisting of copper, arsenic, antimony, boron, silver, bismuth, iron, cobalt, lanthanum and cerium (hereinafter sometimes referred to as element Y). Preferably, a catalyst contains 3 atoms or less of each of phosphorus, vanadium, element X and element Y, per 12 atoms of molybdenum.
When such a catalyst for the production of methacrylic acid is used in the production of methacrylic acid, or it is subjected to heat load, active sites are decomposed or a specific surface area is decreased and as a result, the catalytic activity is reduced. In the present invention, the deactivated catalyst with a reduced catalytic activity is a subject of the regeneration treatment. Here, the decomposition of active sites can be confirmed by determining if molybdenum trioxide as a decomposition product of the catalyst is detected or not by XRD (X-ray diffraction), and the specific surface area of the catalyst can be determined by the measurement of a BET specific surface area by nitrogen (N2) adsorption.
In the regeneration treatment, a mixture containing the deactivated catalyst, water, a nitrate ion and an ammonium ion having a molar ratio to the nitrate ion of 1.3 or less is heat-treated at a temperature of at least 100° C. The catalytic activity of a deactivated catalyst can be effectively recovered by controlling the amounts of the nitrate ion and the ammonium ion in the mixture and also heat-treating the mixture at a temperature of at least 100° C.
A method for preparing the mixture is not limited. For example, the deactivated catalyst may be suspended in water, followed by adding source materials of an ammonium ion and a nitrate ion, or the deactivated catalyst may be suspended in an aqueous solution containing an ammonium ion and a nitrate ion.
When the deactivated catalyst is a molded catalyst, it may be suspended as such, or it may be pulverized and then suspended. When fibers or the like as a reinforcing material are contained in the molded catalyst, the strength of the catalyst may be decreased if the fibers or the like are cut or broken. Thus, the molded catalyst is preferably pulverized without cutting or breaking the fibers or the like.
Examples of the source material of an ammonium ion include ammonia and ammonium salts such as ammonium nitrate, ammonium carbonate, ammonium hydrogencarbonate and ammonium acetate, preferably ammonia and ammonium nitrate. Examples of the source material of a nitrate ion include nitric acid and nitrates such as ammonium nitrate, preferably nitric acid and ammonium nitrate. The amounts of these source materials are suitably selected such that the molar ratio of the ammonium ion to the nitrate ion is 1.3 or less.
When the catalyst for the production of methacrylic acid is used in the production of methacrylic acid, or it is subjected to heat load, a part of the constituent elements of the catalyst such as phosphorus and molybdenum may be dissipated. In such a case, preferably, the kinds and amounts of the dissipated elements are determined by a fluorescent X-ray analysis or an ICP emission spectrometry and the dissipated elements are added to the mixture upon preparation. The compounds to be added to supplement the dissipated elements may be the same as the raw material compounds used in the production of a heteropolyacid compound containing phosphorus and molybdenum. Examples of such compounds include oxo-acids, oxo-acid salts, oxides, nitrates, carbonates, hydroxides and halides of those elements. Examples of a compound containing phosphorus include phosphoric acid and phosphates, examples of a compound containing molybdenum include molybdic acid, molybdates, molybdenum oxide and molybdenum chloride, and examples of a compound containing vanadium include vanadic acid, vanadates, vanadium oxide and vanadium chloride. Examples of a compound containing element X include oxides, nitrates, carbonates, hydroxides and halides, and examples of a compound containing element Y include oxo-acids, oxo-acid salts, nitrates, carbonates, hydroxides and halides. When the compounds used to supplement the dissipated elements contain a nitrate ion and an ammonium ion, the amounts of the compounds added are adjusted so that a molar ratio of the nitrate ion to the ammonium ion in the mixture is within the predetermined range as above.
As a source of water, ion-exchange water is usually used. The amount of water used is usually 1 to 20 parts by weight per 1 part by weight of molybdenum in the mixture.
In the present invention, as explained above, the mixture is heat-treated at a temperature of at least 100° C. and then aged. The catalytic activity can be effectively recovered by subjecting the mixture to such a heat-treatment step. Preferably, the heat treatment temperature does not exceed 200° C., more preferably 150° C. The heat treatment can be usually carried out in a closed vessel. The heat treatment time is usually at least 0.1 hour, preferably at least 2 hours, more preferably 2 to 10 hours. When the heat treatment time is shorter than 0.1 hour, the catalytic activity may not be recovered sufficiently. Preferably, the heat treatment time is not longer than 10 hours in view of the productivity.
As described above, the mixture is heat-treated and then dried. The drying may be carried out by any conventional method used in this art field, for example, evaporation to dryness, spray drying, drum drying, flash drying and the like. Although the dried mixture as such may be calcined, it is preferably molded in the form of a ring, a pellet, a sphere, a cylinder or any other suitable shape by tablet compression or extrusion molding. In this case, a molding aid such as ceramic fiber or glass fiber may be compounded in the mixture to reinforce the molded catalyst.
When the mixture is molded as explained above, the molded catalyst is preferably conditioned prior to calcination, that is, the molded product is exposed to an atmosphere maintained at a temperature of 40 to 100° C. and a relative humidity of 10 to 60% for 0.5 to 10 hours. Thereby, the catalytic activity of the regenerated catalyst can be more effectively recovered. The conditioning may be carried out by placing the molded catalyst in a temperature and humidity-conditioned vessel, or by blowing a temperature and humidity-conditioned gas to the molded catalyst. An air is usually used as an atmospheric gas used in the conditioning process, although an inert gas such as nitrogen gas may be used.
The dried catalyst as such may be calcined, or it is molded, conditioned and then calcined to obtain the regenerated catalyst. The calcination may be carried out in an atmosphere of an oxidizing gas such as oxygen or in an atmosphere of a non-oxidizing gas such as nitrogen. Preferably, the molded catalyst is firstly calcined in an atmosphere of an oxidizing gas at a temperature of 360 to 410° C. (the first calcination step), and secondly calcined in an atmosphere of a non-oxidizing gas at a temperature of 420 to 500° C. (the second calcination step). Such a two-step calcination process can effectively recover the catalytic activity.
When the calcination is carried out in two steps, the oxidizing gas used in the first calcination step contains an oxidizing material. A preferred example of such a gas is an oxygen-containing gas. The concentration of oxygen in the oxygen-containing gas is usually from about 1 to about 30% by volume. As a source of oxygen, an air or pure oxygen may be used, and it may be diluted with an inert gas, if necessary. The oxidizing gas may optionally contain water. However, the concentration of water in the oxidizing gas is usually 10% by volume or less. The oxidizing gas is preferably an air. Usually, the first calcination step is carried out in the stream of an oxidizing gas. A temperature in the first calcination step is usually from 360 to 410° C., preferably from 380 to 400° C.
The non-oxidizing gas used in the second calcination step contains substantially no oxidizing material such as oxygen. Specific examples of the non-oxidizing gas include inert gas such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide, helium, argon, etc. The non-oxidizing gas may optionally contain water. However, the concentration of water in the non-oxidizing gas is usually 10% by volume or less. In particular, nitrogen gas is preferably used as a non-oxidizing gas. Usually, the second calcination step is carried out in the stream of a non-oxidizing gas. A temperature in the second calcination step is usually from 420 to 500° C., preferably from 420 to 450° C.
Prior to the calcination step, the molded catalyst is preferably heat-treated (pre-calcined) in an atmosphere of an oxidizing gas or a non-oxidizing gas at a temperature of about 180 to about 300° C.
The regenerated catalyst thus obtained comprises a heteropolyacid compound, and may comprise a free heteropolyacid or a salt of a heteropolyacid. In particular, the regenerated catalyst preferably comprises an acid salt of a heteropoly acid, more preferably an acid salt of Keggin-type heteropoly acid. More preferably, a structure of the Keggin-type heteropolyacid salt is formed upon the heat treatment (pre-calcination).
Such a regenerated catalyst has a well recovered catalytic activity. In the presence of the regenerated catalyst, a raw material such as methacrolein is subjected to a gas phase catalytic oxidation reaction, whereby methacrylic acid can be produced at a high conversion and an excellent selectivity.
Methacrylic acid is usually prepared by charging the catalyst in a fixed-bed multitubular reactor and supplying a starting gas mixture containing oxygen and a raw material selected from the group consisting of methacrolein, isobutylaldehyde, isobutane and isobutyric acid, although a reaction system such as a fluidized bed or a moving bed may also be used. As an oxygen source, an air is usually used. Besides oxygen and the above-mentioned raw material, the starting gas mixture may contain nitrogen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, water vapor, etc.
For example, when methacrolein is used as a raw material, the reaction is carried out usually under conditions such that a concentration of methacrolein in the starting gas is 1 to 10% by volume, a molar ratio of oxygen to methacrolein is 1 to 5, a space velocity is 500 to 5000 h-1 (based on the normal state), a reaction temperature is 250 to 350° C., and a reaction pressure is 0.1 to 0.3 MPa. The starting methacrolein used may not necessarily be a purified product with a high purity and may be, for example, a methacrolein-containing reaction product gas obtained by a gas phase catalytic oxidization reaction of isobutylene or tert-butyl alcohol.
When isobutane is used as a raw material, the reaction is carried out usually under conditions such that a concentration of isobutane in the starting gas is 1 to 85% by volume, a water vapor concentration is 3 to 30% by volume, a molar ratio of oxygen to isobutane is 0.05 to 4, a space velocity is 400 to 5000 h-1 (based on the normal state), a reaction temperature is 250 to 400° C., and a reaction pressure is 0.1 to 1 MPa. When isobutyric acid or isobutylaldehyde is used as a raw material, substantially the same reaction conditions as those employed when methacrolein is used as the raw material are adopted.
subjecting at least one compound selected from the group consisting of methacrolein, isobutylaldehyde, isobutane and isobutyric acid to a gas phase catalytic oxidation reaction in the presence of the regenerated catalyst.
Hereinafter, the present invention is explained in more detail by reference to the Examples, which do not limit the scope of the present invention in any way.
An air used in the Examples contains 2% by volume of water (corresponding to the water content of an atmosphere), and nitrogen used in the Examples is substantially free of water.
The fluorescent X-ray analysis and the measurement of a BET specific surface area in the Examples were carried out in the following manner.
As a fluorescent X-ray analyzer, ZSX Primus II manufactured by Rigaku Corporation was used.
About one gram of the catalyst was degassed under vacuum, then dehydrated at 200° C. for 0.5 hour and subjected to the measurement of a BET specific surface area by nitrogen adsorption. As a measuring apparatus, Macsorb Model-1208 manufactured by Mountech Co., Ltd. was used.
In 224 kg of ion-exchange water heated to 40° C., 38.2 kg of cesium nitrate [CsNO3], 27.4 kg of 75 wt % orthophosphoric acid, and 25.2 kg of 70 wt % nitric acid were dissolved to prepare Solution A. Separately, 297 kg of ammonium molybdate tetrahydrate [(NH4)6Mo.sub.7O24.4H2O] was dissolved in 330 kg of ion-exchange water heated to 40° C., followed by suspending 8.19 kg of ammonium metavanadate [NH4VO3] therein to prepare Solution B. Solutions A and B were adjusted to 40° C. After Solution A was dropwise added to Solution B while stirring, the mixture was further stirred for 5.8 hours at 120° C. in a closed vessel, and then a suspension of 10.2 kg of antimony trioxide [Sb2O3] and 10.2 kg of copper nitrate trihydrate [Cu(NO3)2.3H2O] in 23 kg of deionized water was added thereto. Then, the mixture was stirred at 120° C. for 5 hours in the closed vessel. The mixture thus obtained was dried with a spray dryer. To 100 parts by weight of the resulting dried powder, 4 parts by weight of ceramic fibers, 13 parts by weight of ammonium nitrate and 9.7 parts by weight of ion-exchange water were added, and the resulting mixture was kneaded and extrusion-molded into cylinders each having a diameter of 5 mm and a height of 6 mm. The molded product was dried at a temperature of 90° C. and a relative humidity of 30% for 3 hours, and then heat-treated (pre-calcinated) at 220° C. for 22 hours in an air stream and then at 250° C. for 1 hour in an air stream, and thereafter, heated to 435° C. in a nitrogen stream and kept at the same temperature for 3 hours. Then, the product was cooled to 300° C. in a nitrogen stream. After changing the nitrogen stream to an air stream, the product was heated to 390° C. in the air stream and kept at the same temperature for 3 hours. Thereafter, the product was cooled to 70° C. in an air stream, and the catalyst was recovered.
This catalyst contained an acid salt of Keggin-type heteropoly acid containing phosphorus, molybdenum, vanadium, antimony, copper and cesium at an atomic ratio of 1.5, 12, 0.5, 0.5, 0.3 and 1.4 respectively.
Nine grams (9 g) of the catalyst obtained in Reference Example 1(a) were charged into a glass micro-reactor having an inner diameter of 16 mm, and a starting gas composed of 4% by volume of methacrolein, 12% by volume of molecular oxygen, 17% by volume of water vapor and 67% by volume of nitrogen, prepared by mixing methacrolein, air, steam and nitrogen, was fed thereto at a space velocity of 670 h-1 and a furnace temperature (a temperature of a furnace for heating the micro-reactor) was raised to 355° C. and this temperature was maintained for 1 hour, followed by cooling to 280° C. Thereafter, the reaction was continued at 280° C. for 1 hour and then a conversion and a selectivity were determined. The results are shown in Table 1.
The fresh catalyst prepared in Reference Example 1(a) was used in a gas phase catalytic oxidation reaction of methacrolein for a long time to give a deactivated catalyst. The BET specific surface area of the deactivated catalyst is shown in Table 1. The deactivated catalyst was also subjected to the activity test in the same manners as those in Reference Example 1(b) to determine a conversion and a selectivity. The results are shown in Table 1.
Two hundred grams (200 g) of the deactivated catalyst obtained in Reference Example 1(c) was added to 400 g of ion-exchange water and the mixture was stirred. The kinds and amounts of the deficient elements (dissipated elements) of the deactivated catalyst in comparison with the fresh catalyst obtained in Reference Example 1(a) were determined by the fluorescent X-ray analysis. Thus, 31.5 g of molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) and 2.7 g of 75 wt % orthophosphoric acid were added to compensate for the deficient elements. Then, 69.2 g of ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) was added thereto and the mixture was heated to 70° C. and kept at the same temperature for 1 hour. Thereafter, 12.5 g of 25 wt % aqueous ammonia was added. After being kept at 70° C. for 1 hour, the mixture was stirred at 120° C. for 5 hours in a closed vessel. The molar ratio of the ammonium ion to the nitrate ion in the slurry was 1.2. The slurry was dried at 120° C. To 100 parts by weight of the resulting dried material, 5 parts by weight of ammonium nitrate and 7 parts by weight of ion-exchange water were added, and the resulting mixture was kneaded and extrusion-molded into cylinders each having a diameter of 5 mm and a height of 6 mm. The molded product was dried at a temperature of 90° C. and a relative humidity of 30% for 3 hours, and then heat-treated in an air stream at 220° C. for 22 hours and further at 250° C. for 1 hour, and heated up to 390° C. in an air stream and kept at the same temperature for 3 hours. After switching the air stream to a nitrogen stream, the product was heated up to 435° C. in the nitrogen stream and kept at the same temperature for 4 hours. Thereafter, the product was cooled to 70° C. in the nitrogen stream, and the regenerated catalyst was recovered. This regenerated catalyst contained an acid salt of Keggin-type heteropoly acid containing phosphorus, molybdenum, vanadium, antimony, copper and cesium at an atomic ratio of 1.5, 12, 0.5, 0.5, 0.3 and 1.4 respectively. The BET specific surface area of the regenerated catalyst is shown in Table 1.
The activity test was carried out in the same manners as those in Reference Example 1(b) for the regenerated catalyst obtained in Example 1(a) to determine a conversion and a selectivity. The results are shown in Table 1.
A regenerated catalyst was obtained in the same manners as those in Example 1(a) except that the amount of the 25 wt % aqueous ammonia was changed from 12.5 g to 16.9 g and that the molar ratio of the ammonium ion to the nitrate ion was adjusted to 1.3. The BET specific surface area of the regenerated catalyst is shown in Table 1.
The activity test was carried out in the same manners as those in Reference Example 1(b) for the regenerated catalyst obtained in Example 2(a) to determine a conversion and a selectivity. The results are shown in Table 1.
A regenerated catalyst was obtained in the same manners as those in Example 1(a) except that the amount of the 25 wt % aqueous ammonia was changed from 12.5 g to 5.7 g and that the molar ratio of the ammonium ion to the nitrate ion was adjusted to 1.1. The BET specific surface area of the regenerated catalyst is shown in Table 1.
The activity test was carried out in the same manners as those in Reference Example 1(b) for the regenerated catalyst obtained in Example 3(a) to determine a conversion and a selectivity. The results are shown in Table 1.
A regenerated catalyst was obtained in the same manners as those in Example 1(a) except that 78.4 g of 70 wt % nitric acid was used in place of 12.5 g of 25 wt % aqueous ammonia and that the molar ratio of the ammonium ion to the nitrate ion was adjusted to 0.5. The BET specific surface area of the regenerated catalyst is shown in Table 1.
The activity test was carried out in the same manners as those in Reference Example 1(b) for the regenerated catalyst obtained in Example 4(a) to determine a conversion and a selectivity. The results are shown in Table 1.
A regenerated catalyst was obtained in the same manners as those in Example 1(a) except that the amount of the 25 wt % aqueous ammonia was changed from 12.5 g to 22.8 g and that the molar ratio of the ammonium ion to the nitrate ion was adjusted to 1.4. The BET specific surface area of the regenerated catalyst is shown in Table 1.
The activity test was carried out in the same manners as those in Reference Example 1(b) for the regenerated catalyst obtained in Comparative Example 1(a) to determine a conversion and a selectivity. The results are shown in Table 1.
A regenerated catalyst was obtained in the same manners as those in Example 1(a) except that the amount of 25 wt % aqueous ammonia was changed from 12.5 g to 41.2 g and that the molar ratio of the ammonium ion to the nitrate ion was adjusted to 1.7. The BET specific surface area of the regenerated catalyst is shown in Table 1.
The activity test was carried out in the same manners as those in Reference Example 1(b) for the regenerated catalyst obtained in Comparative Example 2(a) to determine a conversion and a selectivity. The results are shown in Table 1.


It's a bird, it's a plane, it's...a blue guy in red tights? Here are 10 character writing prompts based on heroes. While Superman may be losing his red tights in the upcoming movie adaptation, you can't take the hero out of this classic character. There have been a lot fewer heroes in movie and books as of late because they've moved to the side for the much more popular anti-hero. Heroes are as much mocked as they are revered for being steadfastly opposed to evil and cynicism in a world where many have negativity as their only defense mechanism. Let's not forget the heroes by including one in our stories: even as a side character.
1. Upon hearing screams, you look up into the air and see a man falling to his death from a rooftop tour. All of a sudden, a bulky man in a camouflage jumpsuit swoops in, grabs the man and parachutes them both to safety. You catch up with the man afterward and it turns out he's part of a secret project to protect citizens. This hero joined the Army shortly after a terrorist attack, hoping he could make a difference. He spends time away from his family while on assignment but he has a deep love for his wife, treating her with respect and appreciation. Why does he feel so compelled to help people he barely knows?
2. With his country in ruins, a second-tier baron in a monarchy peacefully assumes control of his nation with peaceful rhetoric. He prevents a near civil war by granting rights to the commoners of both sides and within a decade of his rule, the kingdom is flourishing economically after a long period of darkness. It was his father's steady hand and great sense of compromise that taught him the secrets to governing and he is extremely thankful daily. He does not look like a king, clean-shaven, a large nose and bright green eyes make him appear more like an elf, but as soon as he opens his mouth you realize the power he wields. What goals does a man like this seek for his name in posterity?
3. She quickly rose through the ranks of the large city's police department to become the youngest superintendant and the first woman of the position. In a place and career hounded by corruption, she was able to weed out those who were exploiting their power within a few months. By removing the bad seeds, she was able to reduce crime and the department's budget during her tenure. She works hard and has had a difficult time keeping in touch with family. Her demeanor warms some and intimidates others. What is a typical day like for this high-ranking cop?
4. An accident with medication quickly left this mid-ranking civil servant blind at the age of 30. She wallowed in misery for nearly a year before coming to terms with her ailment. An absolute beauty who loved seeing the world around her, she determined that if she would never be able to look at herself again, she would make her life as wonderful as possible instead. That would be the beauty she could see. She founded an organization to help those in her situation to cope with their condition and rehabilitate their lives. Just twenty years after her accident she was a loving mother to three and a beacon of hope to thousands. What's the next step in the life of a woman who has done so much?
5. You attend a workshop led by a man who seems too good to be true. At the age of 25, he wrote a book that changed the world and has since been giving seminars to change people's lives. He looks more like an NFL linebacker than a transformational coach, but when you finally get a chance to meet him face to face he warms your heart and invigorates your soul. It's something about the way he connects with you. You are fortunate enough to sit down with him at a coffee shop after the workshop. What is the first question you ask him?
6. A war has broken out between a large country and its colony. One man steps forward to lead the colony in a battle that nearly seems impossible. This leader came from humble beginnings and despite this sense of humility he is able to command the attention of everyone he comes into contact with. His personal life may be the only aspect of his life that is not commendable as his luck with the ladies is far below his battle acumen. What is the outcome of this war and does it help his social life?
7. She had been on the job for about nine months when she noticed the accounting error. It had been two weeks since her boss told her to ignore the issue and a week since the accounting issue mysteriously disappeared. It turned out her company had been essentially stealing from the Medicare program and even though it might cost her job, she scheduled a meeting with her state attorney general. She was incredibly torn because since she moved to the city, she'd had few friends and all of them were at work. She stuck to her guns, however, and though she lost her job and her friends, she received a percentage of the state's settlement agreement. What will she do with the money and what is the next step for her?
8. As you wait in the emergency room for a friend to be treated for a minor injury, you notice several gurneys entering into the hospital at lighting speed carrying gunshot victims. One doctor at the hospital takes charge of the situation quickly. She commands respect with a deeper than normal voice and authority that can't be trumped. At the same time, however, she seems to reassure the patients with true compassion. Later on, as your friend is checking out, you see the doctor joking with a co-worker provoking a laugh. You approach her and ask if everyone is OK. Not only are the gunshot victims going to survive, but the doctor asks about your friend by name. What has made this woman as strong-willed and perceptive as she is today?
9. In his stage life, he was a professional wrestler who was loved by the masses. The people upstairs never dared turn him into a villain, especially because he was such a cash cow as a hero. To continue in this lifestyle, he was away from home most of the year and his personal life suffered. Despite how tired he was on a day-to-day basis, he still stopped by local charities and made as many appearances as possible to boost awareness for important causes. Between charity, travel and wrestling, he didn't have much time for friends but kept a positive attitude nonetheless. Why does he work so hard on his career and charitable causes and what will he do when his wrestling career ends?
10. She was bullied throughout high school because of her sexual orientation, but she never stopped joking around with her friends and teachers, making her one of the most revered kids in school. When she went to college, she began a campaign to prevent such bullying in high school and she became a national sensation. Despite her ability to coast on account of her rapport with people and her blond, cheerleader looks, she determined early on that she would follow a higher calling. How does she react upon hearing that her girlfriend from high school has been assaulted and what does she do next?
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Who is Bernie Madoff, and how did he pull off the biggest Ponzi scheme in history?These questions have fascinated people ever since the news broke about the respected New York financier who swindled his friends, relatives, and other investors out of $65 billion through a fraud that lasted for decades. Many have speculated about what might have happened or what must have happened, but no reporter has been able to get the full story-until now.In The Wizard of Lies, Diana B. Henriques of the New York Times-who has led the paper's coverage of the Madoff scandal since the day the story broke-has written the definitive book on the man and his scheme, drawing on unprecedented access and more than one hundred interviews with people at all levels and on all sides of the crime, including Madoff's first interviews for publication since his arrest. Henriques also provides vivid details from the various lawsuits, government investigations, and court filings that will explode the myths that have come to surround the story.A true-life financial thriller, The Wizard of Lies contrasts Madoff's remarkable rise on Wall Street, where he became one of the country's most trusted and respected traders, with dramatic scenes from his accelerating slide toward self-destruction. It is also the most complete account of the heartbreaking personal disasters and landmark legal battles triggered by Madoff's downfall-the suicides, business failures, fractured families, shuttered charities-and the clear lessons this timeless scandal offers to Washington, Wall Street, and Main Street.
These questions have fascinated people ever since the news broke about the respected New York financier who swindled his friends, relatives, and other investors out of $65 billion through a fraud that lasted for decades. Many have speculated about what might have happened or what must have happened, but no reporter has been able to get the full story—-until now.
In The Wizard of Lies, Diana B. Henriques of the New York Times—-who has led the paper's coverage of the Madoff scandal since the day the story broke—-has written the definitive book on the man and his scheme, drawing on unprecedented access and more than one hundred interviews with people at all levels and on all sides of the crime, including Madoff's first interviews for publication since his arrest. Henriques also provides vivid details from the various lawsuits, government investigations, and court filings that will explode the myths that have come to surround the story.
A true-life financial thriller, The Wizard of Lies contrasts Madoff's remarkable rise on Wall Street, where he became one of the country's most trusted and respected traders, with dramatic scenes from his accelerating slide toward self-destruction. It is also the most complete account of the heartbreaking personal disasters and landmark legal battles triggered by Madoff's downfall—-the suicides, business failures, fractured families, shuttered charities—-and the clear lessons this timeless scandal offers to Washington, Wall Street, and Main Street.


This pasta dish serves 4-6.
1. To make the meatballs: combine the bread crumbs, milk and cream together in a medium bowl and let stand until the crumbs are softened by the milk, about 3 minutes. Add the Romano, eggs, parsley, salt, thyme, sage, garlic powder, and black pepper, and mix well. Add the veal and pork. Using your hands, mix the ingredients together just until combined--do not over mix or the meatballs will be heavy. Refrigerate for 15 to 30 minutes so the mixture can firm up a bit.
2. Using wet hands rinsed under cold water, and scooping about 2 tablespoons of the meat mixture for each meatball, divide and shape the meat mixture into 24 equal meatballs (you can use a food portion scoop, if you wish) and place them on a platter or baking sheet. Loosely cover the meatballs with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes to 2 hours.
3. Meanwhile, start the sauce: Heat the oil in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until it is fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the wine and bring to a boil. Stir in the tomatoes, water, oregano, red pepper flakes, and bay leaf. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring often. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes.
4. Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Working in batches without crowding, add the meatballs and cook, turning occasionally and adding more oil to the skillet as needed, until they are browned, 6 to 8 minutes (Wait for a crust to form on the underside of the meatballs before turning them.) Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meatballs to a plate. Pour off the fat in the skillet. Add about ½ cup water to the skillet and bring to a boil, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom with a wooden spoon. Stir the deglazed mixture into the sauce.
5. Carefully add the meatballs to the sauce, making sure they are submerged in the sauce. (Add more hot water to the sauce if needed.) Adjust the heat so the sauce is simmering and partially cover the saucepan to keep the sauce from reducing too quickly. Cook, occasionally stirring to avoid scorching, until the meatballs are cooked through and the sauce has thickened slightly, about 45 minutes. During the last 10 minutes, stir in the basil.
6. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the spaghetti and cook, according to the package directions, according to the package directions, until al dente. Drain well and return the spaghetti to the cooking pot.
7. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meatballs to a serving platter. Remove and discard the bay leaf from the sauce. Stir about 3 cups of the sauce into the spaghetti. Transfer the spaghetti to a serving bowl and top with the remaining sauce. Serve immediately with the meatballs, and the Romano passed on the side.
Substitute regular ground turkey (93 percent lean, not extra-lean ground turkey breast) for the veal.
Many fine cooks swear by this method, which skips the browning step and ensures tender, melt in your mouth meatballs. After the sauce has simmered for about 20 minutes, one at a time, drop the raw meatballs into the simmering sauce, letting each meatball cook for about 15 seconds to firm slightly before adding another. Be careful when moving the meatballs while making room for more in the saucepan to avoid breaking them. Once the meatballs have been added, adjust the heat so the sauce is simmering, and cook as directed.


A user has reported that their laptop is not charging and often turns off, even when the charger is plugged in. Which of the following is most likely the problem?
If the battery is not charging and the laptop powers off when plugged in, it is most likely an issue with the power cord or DC jack. Remember: Laptops do not convert AC->DC. The power is converted by the power cord before reaching the laptop's DC jack.


After checking several sources throughout the internet, the consensus appears to be the same. So here is the challenge coin history.
During World War 1, American volunteers took action to fill their newly formed flying squadrons. Many who joined were college students from Yale and Harvard. Some even quit mid-term to join the war. In one squadron, a lieutenant ordered medallions to be made and presented them to his unit. One young pilot placed his medallion in a small leather pouch that he wore around his neck.
At one point, the pilots' aircraft was badly damaged by ground fire and the pilot was forced to land behind enemy lines. He was immediately captured by the Germans. Trying to discourage his escape, the Germans took all his personal identification except for the leather pouch that contained the pilots' medallion.
The pilot was taken to a small French town near the front. That very evening the pilot escaped from German captivity. However, the pilot was without identification.
The pilot took decisive action and succeeded in avoiding German patrols. He acquired civilian clothing and eventually reached the front lines. Throughout his quest, he encountered many difficulties, but eventually overcame the challenge and made it to a French outpost.
Unfortunately, saboteurs invaded that French sector. They sometimes portrayed themselves as civilians and wore civilian clothing. Not recognizing the pilots accent, the French thought him to be a saboteur and were ready to take action and execute him.
Having no identification to identify himself, the pilot did have his medallion. He took action again, and was able to show his executioners the "Challenge Coin," or medallion. One of the French captors recognized the squadron insignia on the challenge coin.
The French delayed his execution long enough for the pilot to confirm his identity. So, as the story goes, instead of shooting the pilot, they gave him a bottle of wine.
A challenger would ask to see the coin of a squadron member. If the challenged could not produce a challenge coin, he was required to buy the drink of choice for the member who challenged him. If the challenged member could produce his "Action" challenge coin, then the member who initiated the challenge was required to buy the drink. Hence the tradition of the challenge coin was started, and the tradition is still carried on today.
We have taken the challenge coin concept to the next level. Many business men and women who have served in different branches of the military and public sector such as police and fire departments are well aware of the significance and comradery that exists with the "Action" Challenge Coin.
Sports teams, Alumni's, Sororities, Police and Fire departments, and businesses recognize the value and team spirit that is achieved when their company or department has it's own Action Challenge Coin.
We know too, that these companies are on the move. They take action. Hence Action Challenge Coins. Just as many other companies have their own custom "Action" challenge coin, we will work with you throughout the whole manufacturing process, from design to delivery to fulfill your request for your own custom Action Challenge Coin.


How about a "real" button on the iPhone 7?
I've had one of the newer MacBook Pro's for about 6-months now and those laptops have a new trackpad that is no longer a physical button. The trackpads on these laptops are just a non-moving slightly recessed piece of aluminum (or Al-U-MEN-E-UM as Jonny Ive likes so say). But these track pads have a bit of magic to them. When the MacBook Pro is powered on and you press down on the trackpad you would swear the trackpad moved down and "clicks" just like the old mechanical trackpads would do. I tried this with my kids and they all thought I was messing with them. But then I shut the MacBook Pro off and had them press the trackpad and sure enough it didn't move. This "fake click" is called haptic feedback. It is essentially a very short and sharp vibration that is triggered each time you press down on the trackpad to mimic the old mechanical action of the trackpad...and it is extremely convincing.
Fast forward to the iPhone 7. One of the changes to the iPhone this time around was that they changed the home button from the physical button that it has always been to just a slightly recessed pressure sensitive circular area...it is no longer a physical button. Apple did this for a couple of reasons. The main reason was so that they could make the phone more "waterproof." The other reason is that physical buttons wear out over time, so this is just one less thing that people need to worry about breaking on their iPhone. Believe it or not this is actually a "thing" outside of the U.S. So much so, in fact, that people in other countries would use some of Apple's accessibility features as a way to avoid pressing the home button on their iPhones as a way to ensure the button would not break.
So what's it like to actually use the new iPhone 7 now that Apple has killed the physical home button? Well...its different. If you handed someone the iPhone 7 and they had never heard of an iPhone or touched one before (maybe someone from Mars?) they might mistake the home button for just a very stiff non-responsive physical button, but I doubt it. The new iPhone 7 home button is no MacBook Pro trackpad. It is very obviously not a button anymore. That being said, if you put aside the initial negative reaction to the change there are some positives. For one, the response from pressing the home button is very crisp and is exactly the same every time. With some of my past iPhones the button would sometimes not feel the same every time I pressed it. I would certainly feel the difference between my iPhone and someone else's. It always gave me the impression that the button was flimsy or changing over time, even though through the 9 years of using various iPhones I have NEVER had a home button fail on me. I also really appreciate having an iPhone that is more waterproof. I live in Florida and it is not unheard of to get caught in a brief downpour that comes out of nowhere. If you are out on a walk when this happens with your iPhone it could mean the death of your $1000 phone. That is no longer a concern anymore.
It doesn't feel like a button. The haptic feedback just isn't very convincing. Maybe Apple will be able to improve this over time but they aren't fooling anyone right now.
When your iPhone is powered off or the operating system is not responding the home "button" doesn't work. In fact, in order to do a hard restart of your iPhone you now have to press the on/off button and the volume down button at the same time (this used to be the on/off button and the home button). Not a big deal, but if you don't know the new button combination and you need to restart your phone it can be a problem.
Overall, I really like the change. I like the firm and crisp response I get from having a non-physical button. But I realize this is not for everyone. I have more of an industrial taste with things...sleek and streamlined. So I like eliminating a mechanical item on my iPhone that has the potential to break or allow water into my device. The haptic response could definitely use some improvement, but it does the job and I suspect I and many other people will get used to it over time. I also think Apple will improve the haptic response feel (with some improvement simply from a software upgrade). In a few years people won't even remember a time when Apple used physical buttons on their iPhones. But make no mistake, this is big change from having a physical button. For many people this is going to seem like a downgrade. If you think you may be one of those people I highly suggest you try out an iPhone 7 in a store or play with a friend's phone before purchasing one yourself. The iPhone is a very personal device. As an iPhone user you will probably end up pressing that home "button" hundreds of times a day and if that becomes a negative experience for you it might be wise to delay switching to the new button design until Apple is able to improve the haptic feedback and make it feel more like a physical button. For the rest of you, enjoy the crisp non-mechanical response of the new button and the improved waterproof characteristics of your iPhone 7.


Rex Tillerson said that China should be denied access to islands it has built in the contested South China Sea.
[WASHINGTON] US President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of state set a course for a potentially serious confrontation with Beijing on Wednesday, saying China should be denied access to islands it has built in the contested South China Sea.
In comments expected to enrage Beijing, Rex Tillerson told his confirmation hearing before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee that China's building of islands and putting military assets on those islands was "akin to Russia's taking Crimea" from Ukraine.
Mr Trump's transition team did not immediately respond to a request for specifics on how China might be blocked from the artificial islands.
Mr Tillerson also said Washington needed to reaffirm its commitment to Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province, but stopped short of Mr Trump's questioning of Washington's long-standing policy on the issue.
"I don't know of any plans to alter the 'one China'position," he said.
Mr Tillerson said he considered China's South China Sea activity "extremely worrisome" and that it would be a threat to the "entire global economy" if Beijing were able to dictate access to the waterway, which is of strategic military importance and a major trade route.
"The failure of a response has allowed them just to keep pushing the envelop on this," Mr Tillerson said.
"The way we've got to deal with this is we've got to show back up in the region with our traditional allies in South-east Asia," he said.
Under his strategic "pivot" to Asia, Mr Obama has increased the US military presence in the region, and Mr Trump has vowed a major naval buildup.
Mr Tillerson's words also went beyond Mr Trump's own tough rhetoric on China.
Mr Obama has sought to forge a united front in South-east Asia against China's pursuit of its territorial claims, but some allies and partners who are rival claimants have been reluctant to challenge Beijing.
Mr Tillerson called China's South China Sea island-building and declaration of an air defence zone in waters of the East China Sea it contests with Japan "illegal actions."
He said his approach to dealing with North Korea - which recently declared it is close to carrying out its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile - would be "a long-term plan" based on sanctions and their proper implementation.
Asked if Washington should consider imposing "secondary sanctions" on Chinese entities found to be violating existing sanctions on North Korea, Mr Tillerson said: "If China is not going to comply with those UN sanctions, then it's appropriate... for the United States to consider actions to compel them to comply."
He accused China of failing to live up to global agreements on trade and intellectual property, echoing past remarks by Mr Trump, who has threatened to impose high, retaliatory tariffs on China. But Mr Tillerson also stressed the "deeply intertwined" nature of the world's two biggest economies.


Today I spent a lot of time on Yelp because I had this strong cravings for dumplings. I searched for Chinese food options around where I live, and I realized that most of the businesses had lower than 4 out of 5 stars. Usually when I'm at neighborhoods that I've never been to, I trust Yelp religiously and go for the best-reviewed restaurants--after all, if the data is telling me that this place is awesome, the chance is that I'm going to enjoy that place.
But today, I realized that some of my favorite restaurants around here (Nikko, for example), had really bad reviews and stars. I found it interesting that a newer restaurant (La Salle Dumpling room) with a more hip-vibe had four stars on yelp, while I wasn't impressed by their food the two times I visited there.
Database like Yelp definitely helped me choose what to eat for so many times, but today I reexamined my restaurant-decision strategies: Yelp reviewers are just a small sample from the restaurant's customers, and they do not necessarily represent the general public's taste. People write Yelp only if they are SUPER impressed or if they had bad experience. OR if they are one of those "Elite" reviewers on Yelp, a.k.a foodies. That's why local restaurants like Nikko, that are reasonably priced and yummy, but not fancy or super impressive, fail to get 4 stars.
Side note: while our local restaurants are lovely, tomorrow I'm making a trip to midtown to get soup dumplings from Joe's Shanghai that got high reviews on Yelp. I think I deserve a premium dumpling experience after all these analysis.


When is the next solar eclipse in Iraq?
The following table listens all solar eclipses, whose path is crossing Iraq. It is crucial that the eclipse path touches the country. Solar eclipses which can only be seen partital are not considdered in the table below. With other words: The following table shows all solar eclipses, whose totallity or annularity can be seen in Iraq.
The next partial solar eclipse in Iraq is in 425 days on Sunday, 06/21/2020.
The next total solar eclipse in Iraq is in 22779 days on Wednesday, 09/03/2081.
The next annular solar eclipse in Iraq is in 27120 days on Thursday, 07/23/2093.


Narrated 18 years ago The Queen was dead leaving everyone with questions..her departure destroyed the Palace their king couldn't live without his Queen the love of his life.his world crashed the moment his wife took her last breath...Their princess was just 4 years old when the king married Queen Cataliya..but their marriage wasn't successful because the king died after his first night with Queen Cataliya...she killed him and The Princess witnessed that she saw her father laying helpless in bed in the pool of blood...The Queen wasn't aware of the princess presence The poor child had no idea of what was going on but she felt her father's pain in her heart..she turned without any noise and go back to her bed...she couldn't fall asleep suddenly a women appear next to her bed..The woman told her not to scream..and she nodded Lady:"We are going far away from here..you mother was a good friend of mine..you like a daughter to me. My mission is to protect you now sleep you gonna wake up in a safe place" the princess fall asleep and she placed the princess on her back..covered her with the blankets and carefully left the PALACE IN A MEANWHILE Queen Cataliya was happy that she got rid of the king now she was going to rule the Palace the way she likes but the thought of the princess stuck on her my Her:"Liza "she yelled calling one of the maids Maid:"yes your Highness" she bowed down Her:"Bring me my princess she has to bond with her stepmother " Maid:"yes your highness" she quickly stood up..and goes to the princess's room..The bed was neatly made..The was no sign of her..but the note that says" You killed him" the note was folded..The maid quickly made her way to the Queen Maid:"she's not there your highness I found this" she handed the letter to the Queen Her:"you can leave" she was shocked by the letter..The kid was too young to write and yet she's not there..she needed to think fast Her:"Guads!!"they all gathered in the room Her:"I want you to find the princess. .someone kidnapped her" she faked the tears Her:"now I want my daughter back go and find her" she roared.they all nodded and prepared their weapons After seems to be forever the Palace solders came back with nothing..The Queen was beyond angry she wanted to kill them all Her:"where are they?"She shouted * * * The Princess And The women were far from the Palace.Their journey was long but that didn't stopped the woman from going After a long walk journey they arrived at Colombia Town. The woman entered a beautiful House the yard was clean with lovely flowers around it. the woman was shown the person who was going to be the princess Gurdian She knocked at the wooden door An old women opened up Woman:"we are here" Old woman:"you can come in my child you must be tired from the walking" she get in with the baby on her back Old woman:"oh this is the princess" she said while taking the baby from the back Woman:"yes she's safe here.. from now on she goes by the name 'Natalie ' .when she's old enough she will have to go back where she belongs. .she will discover her destiny when she's 21" she stood up and kissed the baby's forehead Woman:"when you old enough we will be waiting for you my Queen" she bow down Woman:"I don't have enough time I have to go..Please do take care of her..treat her like an egg" she smiled admiring the princess beauty Old woman:"Travel safe. Take this it shall protect you and give you strength" she handed her a gold necklace that was sparkling with shining light..
Hello Kedi. I love reading your books they are interesting they just get me carried away once I start reading. But I'm still waiting patiently for Imani Smiso's chosen one.
Hi Lexi I'm so I love with your books .anyone I can't find the one about Smiso and imani please help.
Hy Kedibone, i have read nomhlekhabo nd loved it but still waiting for imani nd smiso's book.
Hi Kedi, I love your stories ...love how imagination and how deeply you research certain events...You are truly talented. My friends and I are hooked on your books. Please get published ASAP so we can buy the books re-read the them. We are patiently waiting for "Imani the Chosen One". Let us know how we can financilly contribute...we know you love this and we'd love to see more of your work...but also know it can be costly.
Hey kedi , thank you for the amazing , stories that addict me. That take me to another world you are a good writer , can you please send me imani and on the above email , I can't wait.
I really enjoyed your work Kedi .Am in love with your work.Am really looking forward to Thor and Imani.
HI Kedi, I absolutely love your stories. I was literally heart broken when I finished Nomhle cause I so wanna know what is gonna happen with Imani and Thor. So I guess I am also in line with the many people waiting for this story. Keep up the good work. Your fan.
Good day Kedibone.....first of all I would like to say thank you for your stories, I really enjoy them a lot although they are addictive , I cannot get enough. I have read Kedi and Nomhlekhabo and have been waiting impatiently for the next one of Thor and Imani, so I would like to understand if this one is a continuation from Nomhlekhabo ?


LONDON (REUTERS) - A former tabloid journalist who has admitted phone-hacking while at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World British newspaper admitted on Thursday he had given wrong information earlier this week at the trial of one of the now defunct paper's former editors.
Dan Evans, who is giving evidence for the prosecution in the case of Andy Coulson and other former Murdoch staff, said he was sorry if he had misled the court during evidence he had given during four days of testimony.
Coulson, editor of the paper until 2007 and Prime Minister David Cameron's communications chief up to 2011, denies conspiracy to illegally intercept voicemail messages on mobile phones and authorising illegal payments to public officials.
Evans has told the Old Bailey he hacked thousands of voicemails during his time at the News of the World and that Coulson knew exactly what he did.
During three earlier days of testimony, Evans said he had hacked the phone of interior designer Kelly Hoppen and had heard actress Sienna Miller leaving a tearful message on it which formed the basis of a story in the paper.
However, on Thursday he told the jury he had been thinking very hard and now had "nagging doubts" about what he had said and instead believed the message had been left by Miller's sister.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to mislead anybody and I misspoke my evidence," Evans said.
"I don't have specific total recall of everything that went on a long time ago."
During a morning of often heated exchanges, Coulson's lawyer Timothy Langdale accused Evans, who has admitted lying in legal statements and to police when he was first accused of hacking, of changing his testimony to fit other evidence being put before the court.
Quizzed about the detail of the Miller story which appeared in the paper, Evans said much of it came from his hacking of Hoppen's phone but he had embellished it with a "bit of made-up 'friend said' quotery".
He said that regularly in tabloid newspapers quotes from a source or other information were just made up.
"Sorry to shatter everybody's illusions but it's a fact," Evans said.
The trial of Coulson and six others accused of offences relating to the phone-hacking scandal, including Rebekah Brooks the former News International chief, is due to last until May.


Use this skill to drive a team of horses pulling a wagon over rough terrain, to teach a dog to guard, or to teach a tyrannosaur to 'speak' on your command.
The DC depends on what you are trying to do.
1 See the specific trick or purpose below.
Handle an Animal: This task involves commanding an animal to perform a task or trick that it knows. For instance, to command a trained attack dog to attack a foe requires a DC 10 Handle Animal check. If the animal is wounded or has taken any nonlethal damage or ability score damage, the DC increases by 2. If your check succeeds, the animal performs the task or trick on its next action.
'Push' an Animal: To push an animal means to get it to perform a task or trick that it doesn't know but is physically capable of performing. This category also covers making an animal perform a forced march or forcing it to hustle for more than 1 hour between sleep cycles (see Chapter 9: Adventuring). If the animal is wounded or has taken any nonlethal damage or ability score damage, the DC increases by 2. If your check succeeds, the animal performs the task or trick on its next action.
Teach an Animal a Trick: You can teach an animal a specific trick with one week of work and a successful Handle Animal check against the indicated DC. An animal with an Intelligence score of 1 (such as a snake or a shark) can learn a maximum of three tricks, while an animal with an Intelligence score of 2 (such as a dog or a horse) can learn a maximum of six tricks. Possible tricks (and their associated DCs) include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following.
Attack (DC 20): The animal attacks apparent enemies. You may point to a particular creature that you wish the animal to attack, and it will comply if able. Normally, an animal will attack only humanoids, monstrous humanoids, giants, or other animals. Teaching an animal to attack all creatures (including such unnatural creatures as undead and aberrations) counts as two tricks.
Come (DC 15): The animal comes to you, even if it normally would not do so (following you onto a boat, for example).
Defend (DC 20): The animal defends you (or is ready to defend you if no threat is present), even without any command being given. Alternatively, you can command the animal to defend a specific other character.
Down (DC 15): The animal breaks off from combat or otherwise backs down. An animal that doesn't know this trick continues to fight until it must flee (due to injury, a fear effect, or the like) or its opponent is defeated.
Fetch (DC 15): The animal goes and gets something. If you do not point out a specific item, the animal fetches some random object.
Guard (DC 20): The animal stays in place and prevents others from approaching.
Heel (DC 15): The animal follows you closely, even to places where it normally wouldn't go.
Perform (DC 15): The animal performs a variety of simple tricks, such as sitting up, rolling over, roaring or barking, and so on.
Seek (DC 15): The animal moves into an area and looks around for anything that is obviously alive or animate.
Stay (DC 15): The animal stays in place, waiting for you to return. It does not challenge other creatures that come by, though it still defends itself if it needs to.
Work (DC 15): The animal pulls or pushes a medium or heavy load.
Train an Animal for a Purpose: Rather than teaching an animal individual tricks, you can simply train it for a general purpose. Essentially, an animal's purpose represents a preselected set of known tricks that fit into a common scheme, such as guarding or heavy labor. The animal must meet all the normal prerequisites for all tricks included in the training package. If the package includes more than three tricks, the animal must have an Intelligence score of 2. An animal can be trained for only one general purpose, though if the creature is capable of learning additional tricks (above and beyond those included in its general purpose), it may do so. Training an animal for a purpose requires fewer checks than teaching individual tricks does, but no less time. At your DM's option, you may be able to train an animal for a purpose that isn't mentioned here.
Combat Riding (DC 20): An animal trained to bear a rider into combat knows the tricks attack, come, defend, down, guard, and heel. Training an animal for combat riding takes six weeks. You may also 'upgrade' an animal trained for riding to one trained for combat riding by spending three weeks and making a successful DC 20 Handle Animal check. The new general purpose and tricks completely replace the animal's previous purpose and any tricks it once knew. Warhorses and riding dogs (see the Monster Manual) are already trained to bear riders into combat, and they don't require any additional training for this purpose.
Fighting (DC 20): An animal trained to engage in combat knows the tricks attack, down, and stay.
Training an animal for fighting takes three weeks.
Guarding (DC 20): An animal trained to guard knows the tricks attack, defend, down, and guard. Training an animal for guarding takes four weeks.
Heavy Labor (DC 15): An animal trained for heavy labor knows the tricks come and work. Training an animal for heavy labor takes two weeks.
Hunting (DC 20): An animal trained for hunting knows the tricks attack, down, fetch, heel, seek, and track. Training an animal for hunting takes six weeks.
Performance (DC 15): An animal trained for performance knows the tricks come, fetch, heel, perform, and stay. Training an animal for performance takes five weeks.
Riding (DC 15): An animal trained to bear a rider knows the tricks come, heel, and stay. Training an animal for riding takes three weeks.
Rear a Wild Animal: To rear an animal means to raise a wild creature from infancy so that it becomes domesticated. A handler can rear as many as three creatures of the same kind at once. A successfully domesticated animal can be taught tricks at the same time it's being raised, or it can be taught as a domesticated animal later.
Varies. Handling an animal is a move action, while pushing an animal is a full-round action. (A druid or ranger can handle her animal companion as a free action or push it as a move action.) For tasks with specific time frames noted above, you must spend half this time (at the rate of 3 hours per day per animal being handled) working toward completion of the task before you attempt the Handle Animal check. If the check fails, your attempt to teach, rear, or train the animal fails and you need not complete the teaching, rearing, or training time. If the check succeeds, you must invest the remainder of the time to complete the teaching, rearing, or training. If the time is interrupted or the task is not followed through to completion, the attempt to teach, rear, or train the animal automatically fails.
Yes, except for rearing an animal.
You can use this skill on a creature with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2 that is not an animal, but the DC of any such check increases by 5. Such creatures have the same limit on tricks known as animals do. The Monster Manual provides information on teaching or training other kinds of creatures as appropriate.
A druid or ranger gains a +4 circumstance bonus on Handle Animal checks involving her animal companion. In addition, a druid's or ranger's animal companion knows one or more bonus tricks, which don't count against the normal limit on tricks known and don't require any training time or Handle Animal checks to teach.
If you have 5 or more ranks in Handle Animal, you get a +2 bonus on Ride checks and wild empathy checks.


When you have a cycloalkane and you have more than one substituent, how do you number when the all the corners of the molecule have a substituent. Is it alphabetical order?
It should be alphabetical with lowest number.
Do the numbers need to be lowest according to alphabetical order or is the alphabetical order only relevant when arranging the name of the molecule?
If there are two substituents on the cycloalkane then the substituent with the earlier name alphabetically is given the first number.
If there are more than two substituents, then alphabetical naming is irrelevant to the numbering (only to the name) and the numbers are arranged so that the possible name with the lowest given numbers is chosen. The "in-between" numbers should be the lowest possible.
It is alphabetical, and whichever combination of numbers allows for the lowest numbers is the correct name.


Why Does The Queen Call Meghan Markle ‘Rachel’?
This morning, royal fans worked themselves into quite the tizzy when Queen Elizabeth officially gave her consent for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to marry.
Using an extraordinary amount of capitals, the Queen wrote: "I declare My Consent to a Contract of Matrimony between My Most Dearly Beloved Grandson Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales and Rachel Meghan Markle, which Consent I am causing to be signified under the Great Seal and to be entered in the Books of the Privy Council."
Some people interpreted this as shade, thinking that the Queen of England forgot the name of her soon to be granddaughter-in-law on purpose—but it's actually another matter entirely.
So, it turns out that the Queen is just a stickler for protocol (surprise!).
But considering Meghan has been referred to as such in every formal announcement, engagement and event leading up to this (she was even referred to as 'Ms. Meghan Markle' in their engagement statement), people are wondering if that will be the go for her official royal life.
But will Meghan be referred to as 'Meghan, Duchess of So-and-So,' or 'Rachel, Duchess of So-and-So'?
Sorry to disappoint, folks, but only time will tell. The Meghan vs Rachel debate is actually wading into uncharted territory, as name switches aren't really all that common in British history. In fact, there's not really any evidence of a duchess or princess changing her name once she gets married, so we don't have anything to go off.
There's been plenty of times where kings and queens have changed their names when they are crowned (Princess Alexandrina Victoria became Queen Victoria; Prince Albert became King George VI; there are even rumours that Prince Charles will choose to skip 'King Charles III' because of bad associations and be called King George VII), but these are 'regnal names' and are considered normal practice.
There are other people who think that Meghan might have chosen to be re-named as 'Meghan Rachel' at her recent baptism into the Church of England, giving her a little side-step of the formality. But that's looking less likely considering the Queen's statement this morning (her being the head of the Church of England means she would probably be on top of that stuff).
And there are some who think we should let go of Meghan altogether. In the same way that 'Kate Middleton' became 'Catherine Middleton' (and is referred to as 'Catherine' in all official capacities and in public, and is only called 'Kate' by us mere mortals), many believe Meghan will make the switch to 'Rachel' after she's married.


The birds are singing, the flowers in bloom and Spring is most definitely in the air in today's gorgeous real wedding, we're absolutely delighted to present the beautiful wedding of Melissa & Bryan, which took place this Spring in the romantic setting of Borris House, Co. Carlow.
We were very excited to receive the lovely photographs taken by Johannes Roux of Johannes Photography from Linda McAllorum of Perfect Irish Weddings who planned and managed the whole day, and very excited to see one of our very own wedding diy projects was put into practice.
Melissa looks every inch the fairytale bride in her strapless layered princess wedding gown, while Bryan opted for the sleek sophistication of three piece suit and white tie. The whole wedding is flawlessly presented, thanks both to the great work of Melissa who took the opportunity as a bride to really personalise her wedding with lots of subtle touches, and of course having a great wedding planner in Linda McAllorum is invaluable.
Borris House was the chosen venue for Melissa & Bryan's wedding reception, and they chose oh-so-well. Borris is a jewel among Ireland's country houses. The ancestral home of the Mc Morrough Kavanaghs, High Kings of Leinster, Borris is one of the few Irish estates that can trace its history back to the royal families of ancient Ireland. Borris House is also an Eco Venue (everything possible is composted or recycled, with complete consideration for the environment).
Recognise these? We're delighted to see our Art Deco Mr & Mrs Chair signs DIY Project being used! So exciting!!
Melissa & Bryan chose a springy yellow and white theme for all aspects of their wedding - from Melissa's bouquet to the bridesmaids dresses and all the table decor. The overall look is fresh and fun and so cheering, and the sunny weather certainly sets it off to perfection. The reception room at Borris House is also the perfect backdrop with its brick walls and exposed beams, the feeling is so light and airy.
It's the little touches that make all the difference - the sprigs of ivy, paired with tealights in glass jars with yellow ribbon ties is so simple but beautifully effective.
Linda McAllorum from Perfect Irish Weddings planned the wedding with Melissa & Bryan, her role was both to find suppliers for the wedding and to put it all together for the couple on the day.
And what a wonderful day it was. As a wedding planner I think this was one of my favourite jobs to date! It was a pleasure to work with fantastic professionals at a great wedding.
A Huge Congratulations to Bryan and Melissa, hope you're both enjoying wedded bliss!
And very big thank you to Linda McAllorum for sharing this with us, if you're in the market for a wedding planner, you can see what a super job she does here, so check out her website.
Wedding Dress & Bridesmaids Dresses: All bought online.


"more than half of Americans think China is already the world's leading economy — an astonishing misperception, given that China's gross domestic product is still less than half of America's."
That is not what our friends at the IMF say. On a purchasing power parity basis, which assigns the same set of prices to goods and services produced in both countries, China is already almost 80 percent of the size of the U.S. economy. There is also some serious research suggesting that because of mis-measurement of prices in rural areas, China's economy is already larger than the U.S. economy.
"It is well known that developing nations hit a "middle-income trap," and stop catching up to rich nations, when per-capita income reaches about $5,000 to $15,000 (in current dollars). The examples (Brazil, Mexico, Malaysia) are numerous."
Huh? This is well-known to whom? This is a huge range (imagine per capita GDP in the U.S. tripled to $150,000 per person) that includes almost 70 countries. It makes a huge difference whether a country's growth slows near the bottom of this range, where they are still relatively poor, as opposed to the top, where they are decidedly middle class.
Furthermore, countries enter this range with radically different growth paths. The speedy growers like China are the exception. More typically countries edge up into this range with modest growth rates. In the more typical case, there is not much room for a slowdown. Of course in some of the fast growers, like Malaysia, one of Sharma's examples of a slowdown country, there is little evidence of a slowdown as they maintain rapid growth right through this range.
Then Sharma tells us that China passed his $5,000 mark last year. Actually the IMF says it was 2007, and if the understatement view is right, China hit this mark as early as 2005.
"In recent years China has accounted for nearly half of global growth in oil demand, and every 1 percent of G.D.P. growth in China added 10 to 30 percent to the price of oil."
I'm still trying to figure this one out. China consumes a bit more than half as much oil as the U.S., but somehow if its GDP increases by 1 percent, the price of oil rises by 10-30 percent. How exactly does that work? If U.S. GDP rises by 1 percent, does the price of oil rise 20-60 percent.
"China's slowdown is also opening the door to a revival in American manufacturing. China is suffering many symptoms typical of a maturing miracle economy, from a strengthening currency to rising wages, land prices and transport costs, while the United States has a weak currency, stagnant wages and a moribund property market. The dollar is near record lows (in inflation-adjusted terms) against many of its trading partners, including China."
I understand the point about relative prices, but don't we have a better export market if China is growing rapidly? What did I learn in my econ 101 class that was wrong, don't fast-growing countries have more rapid import growth than slow-growing countries?
Perhaps there is something that made sense in this piece, but it's not easy to find. It's hard to understand how a piece so chock full of errors finds its way into the NYT oped page.


How do graphs look like? How do they evolve over time? How can we find patterns, anomalies and regularities in them? How to find influential nodes in the network? We will present both theoretical results and algorithms as well as case studies on several real applications. Our emphasis is on the intuition behind each method, and on guidelines for the practitioner.
The tutorial has the following parts: (a) Statistical properties and models and graph generators of static and evolving networks. (b) Tools for the analysis of static and dynamic graphs, like the Singular Value Decomposition, tensor decomposition for community detection, HITS/PageRank etc. (c) Proximity measurements on graphs, the main ideas to quantify the closeness of two nodes of the graph, fast algorithms to compute the proximity scores, applications of proximity, like CenterPiece subgraphs, pattern match, trend analysis etc. (d) Case studies of how a virus or information or influence spreads through the network, how to find influential bloggers or nodes to target for viral marketing, how to find fraudsters on eBay, how to find communities on graphs.
The goal of the tutorial is to cover the most powerful tools for the analysis of large, real graphs. The tutorial starts old and new patterns that most real graphs obey (small diameter, power laws etc). It continues with powerful, traditional tools from linear algebra (singular value decomposition SVD, eigenvalue analysis); it shows that they form the basis for the extremely successful PageRank and HITS algorithms; and it concludes with more advanced tools, namely, sparse low rank approximations ('CUR' and derivatives).
The next part focuses on proximity of two nodes on a graph, and how to assess it. We describe several measures (electric current, maximum flow, escape probability), we compare them and we focus on the most successful ones and on fast algorithms to compute them.
The tutorial concludes with several case studies: influence propagation, fraud detection on e-bay, a survey of algorithms for community detection and graph partitioning, and a description of the map/reduce method for the analysis of Tera- and Peta-byte scale graphs.
The proposed format is 1 day (6 hours).
The target audience is data management, data mining and machine learning researchers and professionals who work on static or time-evolving graphs and want to know about tools and models when dealing with large network datasets.
Prerequisites: Computer science background (B.Sc. or equivalent); familiarity with undergraduate linear algebra (eigenvectors). The tutorial will focus on intuition and examples, carefully introducing only the minimal necessary mathematical tools, and always focusing on practical applications.
We also plan to submit a short version (3 hours) of this tutorial to ICDE 2009.
Christos Faloutsos is a Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He has received the Presidential Young Investigator Award by the National Science Foundation (1989), the Research Contributions Award in ICDM 2006, twelve ``best paper'' awards, and several teaching awards. He has served as a member of the executive committee of SIGKDD; he has published over 160 refereed articles, 11 book chapters and one monograph. He holds five patents and he has given over 20 tutorials and 10 invited distinguished lectures. His research interests include data mining for streams and graphs, fractals, database performance, and indexing for multimedia and bio-informatics data.
Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page. The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine, Computer Networks 30(1-7): 107-117, 1998.
Randy Bryant. Data Intensive Scientific Computing, Tech report. available at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~bryant/pubdir/cmu-cs-07-128.pdf.
Deepayan Chakrabarti, Spiros Papadimitriou, Dharmendra S. Modha, and Christos Faloutsos. Fully Automatic Cross-Associations, KDD 2004, Washington, DC.
Inderjit S. Dhillon, Subramanyam Mallela, and Dharmendra S. Modha. Information-theoretic co-clustering. KDD 2003, Washington, DC.
Petros Drineas, Ravi Kannan, and Michael W. Mahoney. Fast monte carlo algorithms for matrices iii: Computing a compressed approximate matrix decomposition, SIAM Journal of Computing, 2005.
Jon Kleinberg. Authoritative sources in a hyperlinked environment, Proc. 9th ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms, 1998.
Tamara Kolda, Brett Bader, and Joseph Kenny. Higher-order Web link analysis using multilinear algebra, ICDM 2005, Houston, Texas.
Jure Leskovec, Jon Kleinberg and Christos Faloutsos. Graphs over Time: Densification Laws, Shrinking Diameters and Possible Explanations, KDD 2005, Chicago, IL. ("Best Research Paper" award).
Jure Leskovec, Deepayan Chakrabarti, Jon Kleinberg, and Christos Faloutsos. Realistic, Mathematically Tractable Graph Generation and Evolution, Using Kronecker Multiplication, ECML/PKDD 2005, Porto, Portugal.
Jure Leskovec, Mary McGlohon, Christos Faloutsos, Natalie S. Glance, and Matthew Hurst. Patterns of Cascading Behavior in Large Blog Graphs, SDM 2007, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Shashank Pandit, Duen Horng (Polo) Chau, Samuel Wang and Christos Faloutsos. NetProbe: A Fast and Scalable System for Fraud Detection in Online Auction Networks WWW 2007, Banff, Alberta, Canada, May 8-12, 2007.
Jimeng Sun, Dacheng Tao, and Christos Faloutsos. Beyond Streams and Graphs: Dynamic Tensor Analysis, KDD 2006, Philadelphia, PA.
Jimeng Sun, Spiros Papadimitriou, Philip S. Yu, and Christos Faloutsos. GraphScope: parameter-free mining of large time-evolving graphs, KDD 2007, San Jose, CA.
Hanghang Tong and Christos Faloutsos. Center-Piece Subgraphs: Problem Definition and Fast Solutions, KDD 2006, Philadelphia, PA.
Hanghang Tong, Brian Gallagher, Tina Eliassi-Rad, and Christos Faloutsos. Fast best-effort pattern matching in large attributed graphs, KDD 2007, San Jose, CA.
Hanghang Tong, Yehuda Koren, and Christos Faloutsos. Fast direction-aware proximity for graph mining, KDD 2007, San Jose, CA.
Hanghang Tong, Spiros Papadimitriou, Jimeng Sun, Philip S. Yu, and Christos Faloutsos. Colibri: Fast Mining of Large Static and Dynamic Graphs, KDD 2008, Las Vegas, NV.
Yang Wang, Deepayan Chakrabarti, Chenxi Wang and Christos Faloutsos. Epidemic Spreading in Real Networks: an Eigenvalue Viewpoint, SRDS 2003, Florence, Italy.


CAR-T Cell Therapy: Will First To Market Mean First To Disappoint?
Gilead and Novartis have launched the first two autologous CAR-T cell therapies. Combined, their first year revenues were less than $250 million.
Significant manufacturing expansion plans have been announced despite a ramp constrained by pricing and reimbursement.
Despite increased risk, treatment is being shifted to out-patient settings to limit losses by containing cost.
So far, the oncology community has greeted CAR T cell therapy with extraordinary enthusiasm. We've had few effective treatment options for difficult-to-treat blood cancers like diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The newest data from ASCO continues to suggest that CAR T cell therapy may represent an important advance for some patients.
Autologous CAR-T, short for chimeric antigen receptor T-cell, therapy is being pursued by dozens of gene therapy companies. Novartis (NVS) and Kite, a Gilead (GILD) company, were the first to market in late 2017 launching Kymriah and Yescarta, respectively. Now, a year later, the question to ask is will the first to market become the first to disappoint? My first article entitled Genomic Medicine: Catch the Gene Therapy Wave is a primer providing context for this article.
Both companies have led off their commercialization efforts with a focus on treatment center coverage and manufacturing capacity. As of September 30, 2018, there were 63 cancer centers for Kymriah and 64 for Yescarta.
Yescarta for refractory large B-cell lymphoma has a manufacturing turnaround of 17 days. They estimated their El Segunda, CA factory would have annual capacity of 4,000 to 5,000. This year, Gilead announced plans to build an EU CAR-T manufacturing facility along with expansion plans in the US.
Kymriah for acute lymphoblastic leukemia has a manufacturing turnaround of 22 days. Novartis has announced plans to build EU capacity in Germany and Switzerland. They have also signed a deal to manufacture in China. Novartis reported the first manufacturing batch control mistake which led to a fatal relapse.
The research, clinical and commercialization expenses were substantial. Add in the investment required to build manufacturing and treatment capacity, and it appears obvious that costs are dwarfing the minimal revenues achieved since launch. That said, the Novartis pipeline indicates they are "all-in" on CAR-T.
These medicines are not pills being manufactured by the millions with increasing economies of scale. These are expensive medicines that have been called "living drugs". The autologous process requires harvesting a patient's T cells in a process called apheresis. These T cells are engineered to produce CARs on their surface, becoming CAR-T cells. In two to three weeks, the cells have been multiplied in a lab and are ready to be infused back into the patient to seek out, recognize and kill cancer cells. This process can be seen in the above graphic.
How much is financial loss stopping centers from adopting Yescarta?
CAR-T has been commercially launched in an era of escalating price concerns. Price gouging has been added to the lexicon of the pharmaceuticals industry from the EpiPen pricing from Mylan (NASDAQ:MYL) to the antics of Martin Shkreli. Politicians are successfully using price control sound bites to generate support. Despite the desperate need of patients and the clinical evidence of efficacy, these treatments are too expensive to be priced low enough to escape public attention.
Gene and cell therapies also present an insurance coverage dilemma. One of the cornerstones of reimbursement is a determination of cost effectiveness. These are cutting edge medicines that cannot today prove durability which is an essential input variable in this equation. The lack of US single-payers creates insurer concerns that future treatment savings could accrue elsewhere if a patient changes to another provider.
Inpatient Payment: The current FY 2019 national Inpatient PPS payment rate for MS-DRG 016, into which CAR-T cases are grouped, is approximately $39,000. For providers subject to IPPS, the payment may be augmented by the full New Technology Add-on Payment or NTAP, and they may potentially also receive an outlier payment. The total payment providers are likely to receive will still leave the vast majority of inpatient CAR-T cases as substantially under-paid, given the high product acquisition cost.
New Technology Add-on Payment: While helpful to supplement a relatively low base payment rate, the NTAP mechanism is problematic in several ways for drugs acquired at a high cost, such as CAR-T.
In the case of CART, the maximum amount a center could receive for an NTAP payment is $186,500. This amount is a significant improvement over the MS-DRG 016 base payment of $39,000, but it is still $186,500 short of the acquisition cost that each provider is currently paying the manufacturers in order to deliver the intervention to a patient in need.
Access to Care Implications and Analysis: The financial losses associated with providing CAR-T treatment to Medicare beneficiaries is impacting access to care and will continue to do so unless the payment challenges are resolved.
Members have shared that their teams have felt compelled to consider one or more of the following treatment pathway modifications, due to the current payment systems: 1) Shifting some CAR-T therapy to the outpatient setting to recover product acquisition costs. 2) Choosing not to participate in the clinical studies associated with a Coverage with Evidence Development. 3) Electing not to provide commercial CAR-T products to any portion of their patient population.
A major concern of this therapy is its cost, which some estimates predict could go over $1 million per patient. Please talk about the cost vs value of CAR T-cell therapy.
We have reported on the very high response rates and durable remission rates in patients with ALL. We have treated more than 300 patients with Tisagenlecleucel in clinical trials, and a lot of that information was used for FDA approval of the therapy.
CAR-T cell medicines are breaking commercial ground in a new era of genomic medicine. Autologous CAR-T is extending the lives of patients suffering from incurable diseases. Yet the access to these potential curative medicines is being constrained by their cost and an insurance system trying to come to grips with a new pricing paradigm. So far, this does not appear to be slowing development. For example, bluebird bio (BLUE) exercised its option to co-develop and co-promote bb2121 in the US, as part of their collaboration with Celgene (CELG). Bluebird disclosed they would likely also opt-in for the second product candidate bb21217. These disclosures speak well to program progress. They also beg the question: Would bluebird be better off avoiding the cost of commercializing until Novartis and Gilead have made more progress on pricing and reimbursement? First movers in any market are usually embraced by investors, but it remains unclear if first movers in autologous CAR-T will grow fast enough to avoid being labeled first to disappoint.
Disclosure: I am/we are long GILD. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.


When you donate to Goodwill you help people achieve independence and dignity through work.
Goodwill depends on the donation of clothing and household goods to fulfill its mission of helping people with barriers to self-sufficiency to achieve independence and dignity through work. Each year, Goodwill collects more than 31 million pounds of donations at its donation centers and retail stores in eastern and central Massachusetts.
Are handled, sorted, packaged, shipped and sold by a team that includes job trainees with disabilities and other barriers to self-sufficiency who earn a paycheck while being trained for competitive jobs in the marketplace.
Generate revenue that supports Goodwill's many job training and community programs, serving thousands of people in eastern and central Massachusetts.
Provide low-cost, quality clothing and merchandise that allows people in the community to stretch their dollars.
Give Boston-area job training graduates interview appropriate clothing free of charge through Goodwill's Clothing Collaborative for Job Trainees.
Are also distributed to dozens of other community-based organizations, such as Pine Street Inn, the region's largest provider of services to homeless individuals, to help them achieve their missions.
Whether it is an individual living with a developmental disability who receives on-the-job-training sorting, pin-tagging and hanging your donated clothing; a single parent able to support her family through her job in one of the Goodwill stores, or the 16-year-old girl growing up in a family of limited means who is able to find her "dream prom dress" at one of the Goodwill stores – when you donate goods to Goodwill you help to make a very big difference in people's lives.
Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries is a regisered 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization. Our federal tax ID number is 04-2106765.
Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries collaborates with hundreds of employers to promote and facilitate the hiring of individuals facing barriers to employment. These collaborations bring trained, dedicated employees to the workforce, and help people achieve independence and dignity.


Is WMA Lossless streaming possible to Denon AVP-A1HDCI?
I just installed the ver.1.2 trial version of TMM and have successfully streamed WAV and MP3's, but I have not been able to stream WMA Lossless. Is this possible, or is only lossy WMA stream-able to my Denon AVP-A1HDCI preamp?
The majority of music I have in my library is WAV, but at least 300 songs are WMA Lossless. I can re-rip those songs to WAV, but it would be so much easier if I could stream them.