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The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)'s Energy Policy Act of 1992 was the first major step towards electric deregulation in North America, and was followed by a much more definitive action when FERC issued Orders 888 and 889 in 1996, which laid the groundwork for formalized deregulation of the industry and led to the creation of the network of Open Access Same-Time Information System (OASIS) nodes. |
FERC is an independent agency of the U.S. Government and thus its authority extends only over electric utilities operating in the United States. However, NERC members include all of the FERC footprint as well as all of the electric utilities in lower Canada and a Mexican utility company. In the interest of reciprocity and commonality, all NERC members generally cooperate with FERC rules. |
The creation of OASIS nodes allowed for energy to be scheduled across multiple power systems, creating complex strings of single "point-to-point" transactions which could be connected end-to-end to literally travel across the continent. This frequently created situations where it was difficult or impossible for transmission system operators to ascertain all of the transactions impacting their local system or take any corrective actions to alleviate situations which could put the power grid at risk of damage or collapse. The NERC Tag was implemented as a result of this new problem introduced by deregulation. |
The earliest NERC Tag application was based on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, and was introduced in 1997. The form was usually completed by the power marketers or schedulers, by defining the date and time of the transaction, the physical path of the energy schedule from its point of generation to point of consumption, the financial path (buying/selling chain) of the energy schedule, the hourly energy amounts scheduled to flow, and also the OASIS transmission requests for each power system crossed which thereby documented that permission to cross each power system had been properly obtained. |
Elements of a NERC Tag included Control Areas (CA), Transmission Providers (TP), Purchasing/Selling Entities (PSE), transmission Points of Receipt (POR) and Points of Delivery (POD), as well as product codes for several transmission and generation priorities. |
The physical path was the most important aspect of the NERC Tag in terms of understanding the impact of a collection of individual transactions after they had been compiled into a single complete transaction. To complete the physical path it was necessary to identify the power system and power plant where the energy was to be generated, any and all power systems that would be utilized to move the energy to its eventual destination, and lastly the power system and location of the delivery point where the energy would be consumed (the "load"). |
When a NERC Tag was created in the spreadsheet, the information was then distilled into a small CSV formatted data packet which was disseminated via e-mail to all of the participants listed on the NERC tag. In this way, all participants of a transaction were able to determine which other electric utilities and power marketers were involved in the transaction, and what the roles of the other participants were. More importantly, in the event of a contingency such as a transmission line outage or generation failure, all participants could more easily be notified of the schedule change, and could then all act in cooperation to curtail the scheduled transaction. |
The NERC Tag 1.0 implementation was not capable of collecting schedule flow data in any useful way, but it did serve to familiarize schedulers with the demands of tagging their transactions, a process that would eventually be mandatory. A database of transmission scheduling points maintained by NERC through the Transmission System Information Networks (TSIN) that was originally developed for the OASIS nodes was greatly expanded to include additional information required in the process of creating NERC Tags. |
The spreadsheet-based NERC Tag application saw minor improvements in functionality and scope with small incremental changes which advanced it to NERC Tag 1.3, although there was not much discernible difference to the participants, and until version 1.4 was implemented, any previous version could still be used. |
Not long after NERC introduced the NERC Tag spreadsheet and packet emailer, NERC concluded that it did not want involvement in any future software development or maintenance. A NERC Tag specification document, version 1.4, was drafted as the next level in energy tagging, the NERC Tag would subsequently also be known as an E-Tag. Data transfer would now occur directly over an Internet connection instead of via e-mail. This eliminated the cumbersome process required to receive a data packet via email and port it back into the original spreadsheet-based tagging application. This change made the NERC Tag much easier to use in a real-time application. E-Tag 1.4 went into effect in 1999, but was replaced just nine months later with E-Tag 1.5, followed three months later with E-Tag 1.501. The 1.5 and 1.501 Specs corrected the shortcomings experienced with the initial release of the first E-Tag Spec. |
Although NERC was responsible for the E-Tag Spec, it opened development of the application to run it to the software market. Initially there were numerous E-Tagging software providers, mainly a mix of small start-ups and new applications developed by existing energy industry software developers. The E-Tag 1.5 Spec was written in such a way that the various applications were permitted to have differing graphical user interfaces (GUIs), but functionally "under the hood" they were required to be able to interact with each other when transmitting, receiving and processing E-Tags. A new feature introduced with E-Tag 1.4/1.5, made possible by the real-time sharing of E-Tags, was the ability for reliability entities (namely the CA's and TP's) in the E-Tag to electronically approve or deny E-Tags based on various criteria. |
The arrival of real-time tagging also enabled NERC to begin collecting real-time and short-term future data regarding the energy transactions scheduled throughout the North American power grid. The data from approved transactions was ported to the Interchange Distribution Calculator (IDC), where the data could be applied to a virtual study model of the Eastern Interconnection. The IDC went online in 1999. |
Building on the lessons experienced with E-Tag applications to date, E-Tag 1.6 went into effect in 2000. There were seven variations of E-Tag 1.6, up to E-Tag 1.67 which was in effect until late 2002. Most of the changes in E-Tag 1.6 were of a functional nature and not overly apparent to the users. |
Under E-Tag 1.6, NERC implemented the "no tag, no flow" rule, where all energy transactions were to be documented with an E-Tag. Accurate system studies of the Eastern Interconnection in order to determine which schedules should be curtailed would only be possible if every transaction was tagged and therefore included in the IDC calculations. Reliability Coordinators in the Eastern Interconnection could access the IDC online and run flow studies based on various operating scenarios with all of the current energy schedules derived from the E-Tags. When an actual contingency occurred, the Reliability Coordinators could identify the constrained transmission line or corridor within the IDC, and the IDC would then identify which E-Tagged schedules should be curtailed in order to ease the loading on the restricted facilities. |
NERC's E-Tag 1.7 Specification completely reworked the E-Tag platform from scratch. Some users said that it was so significant that it might have been more appropriate to have called it "E-Tag 2.0". For the first time, Extensible Markup Language (XML) was utilized to format the data transferred between E-Tag applications, finally replacing the base CSV data transfer format based on its ancestral NERC Tag 1.0 spreadsheet/e-mail origins. The TSIN database was expanded to include generation and load points which were matched with PSEs that had rights to schedule them, and also included complex associations that enforced matched sets of PORs and PODs with TPs. E-Tag 1.7 also greatly expanded the time frame flexibility of an E-Tag by allowing extensions and modifications with comprehensive approval processes, layering of multiple OASIS requests for transmission rights, and also fully automated the tag curtailment functions from the IDC so that individual manual tag curtailments were no longer necessary. |
Shortly after E-Tag 1.7 went online in 2002, the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) implemented the WECC Unscheduled Flow (USF) Tool, which accomplished a similar automated curtailing capability for the Western Interconnection that the IDC had done for the Eastern Interconnection. |
The number of software choices for E-Tag software dwindled within the first few years to a handful of major players. The number of E-Tag users was strictly limited by the number of entities involved in E-Tagging, and the cost of complying with NERC E-Tag Specifications became prohibitive for any software company that did not already have significant market share or adequate financial backing. The added complexities of E-Tag 1.7 dealt a severe blow to most of the E-Tagging software providers, and within a year of E-Tag 1.7 going online, there was only one dominant E-Tag software provider remaining, which also provided all IDC and WECC USF services, though a few holdouts and customer-developed "in-house" E-Tag applications remain. |
Version 1.7.097 of E-Tag was implemented on January 3, 2007. |
Five years following the release of E-Tag 1.7, a major update was developed and implemented on December 4, 2007. E-Tag 1.8 cleaned up some long-standing issues not easily addressed with minor revisions to E-Tag 1.7 and brought the E-Tag applications back up to current industry policy standards. |
OASIS primarily deals with the purchase and availability of transmission from individual transmission providers with a forward-looking time frame, while E-Tag is focused on real-time scheduling and power flow management across multiple systems. Nonetheless, the FERC-derived OASIS applications and NERC-derived E-Tag applications are somewhat duplicative. FERC's plan for the eventual introduction of OASIS Phase 2 envisions a combined platform to post transmission offerings, allow transmission purchases, and facilitate scheduling and flow management, effectively merging the essential functions of E-Tag and OASIS. However, there has been very little activity to move towards OASIS Phase 2 since the introduction of E-Tag 1.7 in 2002, and the future remains unclear. As both systems have increased in complexity over time, the difficulties in merging the two independently evolved systems have likewise also increased. |
= = = Hellenic Bank = = = |
Hellenic Bank Public Company Ltd () (CSE: HB) is in Cyprus. |
The bank was founded in 1976 with technical assistance from Bank of America and in 1996 it bought the local operations of Barclays Bank. A major shareholder (29%) was traditionally and for many years, the Church of Cyprus. Between November 2013 and December 2014, the Church's shareholding shrank to 0.3% making it a small shareholder, after Cyprus based Demetra Investments Public Ltd holding 21%, Belarus owned video game company Wargaming Group Limited holding 20.6%, US investment manager PIMCO via Poppy Sarl, holding 17.3%, US based CPB FBO Third Point Hellenic Recovery Fund LP holding 12.6%, the bank workers trade union ETYK provident fund holding 6.26%, Canadian based Senvest International LLC/ Senvest Masterfund LP holding 4.64% and Cyprus based 7Q Financial Services Ltd holding 2.53%. The board is composed of representatives of the top five shareholders (except the bank trade union). |
In January 2011, Hellenic Bank started operating in Russia but later, in 2014, sold the Russian operation The bank also has representative offices in Kiev, St Petersburg, Moscow and South Africa. It is also opening a representative office in Athens, Greece in 2017. |
On 25 March 2013 Hellenic Bank sold its Greek branches to Piraeus Bank. As of 27 March 2013, former Hellenic Bank customers could use the ATMs of all Piraeus Bank Group banks (Piraeus Bank & ATEbank, Geniki Bank and former Bank of Cyprus and CPB Bank networks) free of charge. The process of merging the operations of the former Hellenic Bank network in Greece into Piraeus Bank was completed in mid-July 2013. This was followed by the closure of the vast majority of the former Hellenic Bank branches and the dismissal of its personnel. |
In 2015 EBRD acquired a 5.4% share in Hellenic Bank. |
In 2016, Hellenic Bank received a Global Finance Magazine award for the third consecutive year as the Best Digital Bank in Cyprus and was upgraded to B rating by Fitch. |
In July 2017, Hellenic Bank sold 51% of its Arrears Management Division (2.3bn Euro in Non Performing Exposures and 150mn Euro in property), including its Debt Recovery Unit and Property Management Unit to Czech specialised firm APS Holdings a.s and created a new company in which it is a minority 49% shareholder: APS Debt Servicing Cyprus Ltd. 129 Hellenic Bank employees will move to the new company. |
In July 2018, Hellenic Bank purchased the performing loans and deposits of the Cyprus Cooperative Bank, including 75 branches and 1,100 staff, raising €150mn in new capital and making it the second largest Cypriot Bank with a 31% share of the Cypriot deposit market and 20% of the loans market. Youssef Nasr became Chairman of the board of Directors. |
In August 2019, Evripides Polycarpou became Chairman of the board of Directors |
= = = Kyuquot/Cheklesahht First Nation = = = |
The Kyuquot/Cheklesath First Nation (officially Ka:'yu:'k't'h'/Che:k:tles7et'h' First Nation) is a First Nations government based at Kyuquot, located on the outer coast of Kyuquot Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. It is a member of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. |
Amalgamation background: |
Before 1951, Both the Kyuquot First Nation and the Cheklesath First Nation were separately managed and funded by the then Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. The Cheklesath (people) were very few in numbers and were not receiving adequate funding [for housing and infrastructure] from the Federal Government's Department of Indian and Northern Affairs (funding based on Band Membership). |
The Chekleset chiefs and elders met with the Kyuquot chiefs and elders to ask if their people could live amongst the Kyuquot people. |
The Kyuquot chiefs and elders agreed to allow the Cheklesath to live on Č'axwataqt (Mission Island), but were not granted any rights in Kyuquot affairs. They were to remain a separate nation until conditions warranted their return to their own territory. |
= = = Justin Shekoski = = = |
Justin Paulhollis Shekoski (born June 11, 1983) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist, best known for being the former lead guitarist and backing vocalist of Saosin and The Used. He has cited guitarists John Petrucci and Paul Gilbert as some of his main inspirations. Shekoski also teaches guitar lessons in Orange County, California where he resides. |
Shekoski, along with Beau Burchell, Anthony Green, and Zach Kennedy, is a founding member of the post-hardcore band Saosin, having been with the group since their 2003 extended play "Translating the Name". In February 2015, Quinn Allman, the lead guitarist for post-hardcore band The Used, began a year-long hiatus from performing with the group, and Shekoski was selected to fill in for him. The Used bassist Jeph Howard cited their friendship with the entirety of Saosin and Shekoski specifically as the reasons he was selected. In November 2015, The Used announced that Allman would be permanently leaving the band, and that Shekoski would be replacing him as an official member. |
Shortly after that announcement, Shekoski revealed that he had been removed from Saosin "a few months [prior to November 2015]" for what he described as "questionable reasons". Shekoski expressed surprise at his removal, saying "One thing I can be sure of is that I could not and would not have done anything differently over the past years. The shows were some of the best we have ever played. It truly seemed as if everyone was happy and positivity was at an all-time high. I was proud of the new music we were creating and to be turned away right before we tracked the record that we had spent years writing and our entire career working towards is saddening at best and angering at worst. If anyone's heart or commitment to Saosin could have possibly been in question, it certainly wasn't mine, ever." |
In March 2018, The Used removed Justin Shekoski from their band members section on Facebook and edited him out of their promotional photos. On May 6, 2018, reports surfaced of the remaining members of the Used filing a restraining order against Shekoski citing "violence against us and himself." In response to these claims, Shekoski stated that "retaliation is the only way to get justice. Those fucks ruined my life and stole my creative work." He also threatened The Used with threats of suicide by hanging at one of their shows, to which the band responded "Even and especially in the toughest times, the threat of suicide should never be taken lightly." |
with Saosin |
with The Used |
= = = Graceful labeling = = = |
In graph theory, a graceful labeling of a graph with "m" edges is a labeling of its vertices with some subset of the integers between 0 and "m" inclusive, such that no two vertices share a label, and each edge is uniquely identified by the absolute difference between its endpoints, such that this magnitude lies between "1" and "m" inclusive. A graph which admits a graceful labeling is called a graceful graph. |
The name "graceful labeling" is due to Solomon W. Golomb; this class of labelings was originally given the name β-labelings by Alexander Rosa in a 1967 paper on graph labelings. |
A major unproven conjecture in graph theory is the Graceful Tree conjecture or Ringel–Kotzig conjecture, named after Gerhard Ringel and Anton Kotzig, which hypothesizes that all trees are graceful. The Ringel–Kotzig conjecture is also known as the "graceful labeling conjecture". Kotzig once called the effort to prove the conjecture a "disease". |
Another weaker version of graceful labelling is the near graceful labeling, in which the vertices can be labeled using some subset of the integers between "0" and "m+1" inclusive, such that no two vertices share a label, and each edge is uniquely identified by the absolute difference between its endpoints, such that this magnitude lies between "1" and "m+1" inclusive. |
Another conjecture in graph theory is the Rosa's Conjecture, named after Alexander Rosa, which says that all triangular cacti are graceful or nearly-graceful. |
= = = John Radcliff = = = |
John Young Radcliff (June 29, 1848 – July 26, 1911) was a professional baseball player who played for the Philadelphia Athletics (), Baltimore Canaries (–), Philadelphia Whites (), and Philadelphia Centennials (). He was primarily a shortstop. |
Radcliffe debuted with the Philadelphia Athletics of the National Association on May 20, 1871. In 28 games, he hit for a .303 batting average with 0 home runs and 22 runs batted in. He also had 5 stolen bases in his first year. The next year, playing for the Baltimore Canaries, he hit his first career home run and picked up 44 RBIs. He recorded 4 triples as well. |
In 1873, playing for Baltimore, Radcliffe hit a career high 13 doubles and hit 33 runs batted in, with a .286 batting average. In 1874, playing for the Philadelphia Whites, he hit his second and final career home run, tying for the team lead in homers with George Bechtel. |
In 1874 Radcliff was expelled from baseball for offering an umpire 175 dollars to help the Chicago White Stockings win a game. |
Radcliffe played his last season in 1875 with the Philadelphia Centennials, appearing in only 5 games, hitting a mediocre .174 with no home runs and no RBI. His final game was on May 24. |
Radcliffe died in Ocean City, New Jersey, on July 26, 1911 at the age of 65. |
= = = Historical geographic information system = = = |
A historical geographic information system (also written as historical GIS or HGIS) is a geographic information system that may display, store and analyze data of past geographies and track changes in time. It can be regarded as a subfield of historical geography and geographic information science. |
GIS was originally developed for use in environmental sciences, military and for computer assisted cartography. It is the opinion of some that the tools developed for these uses are ill suited for the features of historical data. |
= = = Pituophis melanoleucus = = = |
Pituophis melanoleucus, commonly known as the pine snake, is a species of nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to the southeastern United States. Three subspecies are currently recognized as being valid. |
Three subspecies of "Pituophis melanoleucus" are currently recognized: the nominate subspecies "P. m. melanoleucus" (Daudin, 1803), the northern pine snake; "P. m. lodingi" (Blanchard, 1924), the black pine snake; and "P. m. mugitus" (Barbour, 1921), the Florida pine snake. |
The subspecific name "lodingi" is in honor of Danish-born amateur herpetologist Peder Henry Löding (1869-1942), who lived in Alabama. |
The species has a variety of common names, including: pine snake, pinesnake, common pine snake, bullsnake, black and white snake, carpet snake, chicken snake, common bullsnake, eastern bullsnake, eastern pine snake, horn(ed) snake, New Jersey pine snake, North American pine snake, northern pine snake, pilot snake, and white gopher snake. |
Adults of "P. melanoleucus" are large, growing to in total length (including tail) and are powerfully built. The head is small and somewhat pointed with an enlarged rostral scale that extends upward between the internasal scales. Usually, four prefrontal scales are seen. At midbody are 27-37 rows of keeled dorsal scales. The anal plate is single. The color pattern consists of a light ground color overlaid with black, brown, or reddish-brown blotches. |
The species "P. melanoleucus" is found in the United States in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Delaware and Virginia. The nominate subspecies occurs in southern New Jersey, southern North Carolina west through South Carolina to northern Georgia, eastern Tennessee, southeastern Kentucky and south into Alabama. "P. m. lodingi" occurs from southwestern Alabama to eastern Louisiana, overlapping with "P. m. mugitus" from southern South Carolina to Georgia and southern Florida. A population of the subspecies, originating from released or escaped pets, has established itself in the Netherlands in the coastal dunes and dune forests around Wassenaar. |
The pine snake inhabits pine flatwoods, sandy pine-oak woodlands, prairies, cultivated field, open brushland, rocky desert and chaparral. It occurs from sea level to an elevation of . The pine snake requires well-drained, sandy soils with little vegetation for use as nesting and hibernation sites. |
The pine snake preys on rats, mice, moles and other small mammals and eggs. It often enters rodent burrows in search of a meal. In these cases, multiple kills are frequent, with the snake pressing the mice against the walls of the burrow. The snake remains underground in cold weather or during the heat of summer days. |
When disturbed, it often hisses loudly, sometimes flattening its head, vibrating its tail, and eventually striking at an intruder. To make the rattling sound, the snake forces air out of its lungs, vibrating the epiglottis. |
After mating has taken place in spring, clutches of three to 24 eggs are laid in June–August. The eggs are deposited in sandy burrows or under large rocks or logs and hatch after 64–79 days of incubation. The eggs are adherent and quite large, up to long by wide. Hatchlings measure . |
The pine snake is classified as least concern on the IUCN Red List, due to its wide distribution and large number of subpopulations; while the total populations appears to be declining, this is likely happening at a slow rate. However, the species is thought to be impacted by continued habitat degradation and destruction. It is present in a variety of protected areas. |
= = = John Radcliffe = = = |
John Radcliffe may refer to: |
= = = John Shanssey = = = |
John Shanssey (March 23, 1848 – 1919?) was an American boxer, gambler, saloon owner, and Mayor of Yuma, Arizona. He fought Mike Donovan in a bout refereed by a young 21-year-old Wyatt Earp on July 4, 1868 or 1869 in Cheyenne, Wyoming. |
= = = Konrad II, Count of Württemberg = = = |
Konrad II (died 1143) was Count of Württemberg. He reigned from 1110 until 1143. He served as marshal of Swabia and advocate of the town of Ulm, and had large possessions in the valleys of the Neckar and the Rems. |
Konrad's father is unknown, but he is believed to belong to the family of the counts of Veringen (Veringenstadt). The reason to believe so is due to the similarity of the arms of the Counts of Veringen with that of the Counts of Wirtemberg. Thus it is generally assumed that both noble families are related to each other. Konrad's mother Luitgard of Beutelsbach was a sister of his predecessor Konrad I. |
After the death of Konrad I, he assumed power as heir of castle Wirtemberg. Konrad II appears on May 12, 1110 together with his wife Hadelwig as donator of properties near Göppingen to the monastery Blaubeuren and on December 28, 1122 as a witness of emperor Heinrich V in Speyer (the first time as count, the latter without title but mentioned amongst counts). He died in 1143. |