Many flywheels are built with composite rotors because of the higher strength-to-weight ratio of composites versus steel. Unfortunately, the strength advantage is reduced by the additional mechanical complexity of a composite rotor and the safety derating factor necessary for composites. The derating is necessary because the failure behavior for composite materials is more difficult to predict than for steel. Composite rotors also impose a stricter limit on the rotor operating temperature and temperature cycling.

Furthermore, while a composite flywheel of a certain energy storage capacity may have a lighter rotor than a steel flywheel system of the same energy storage capacity, the rotor itself is only a small fraction of the overall flywheel system weight. Since the remainder of the system, such as the stator, containment, and electronics, remains basically the same, the reduction in weight is a very small percentage of the total system weight. This is particularly true for high power flywheels designed for discharges in the range of tens of seconds. Since many flywheel systems are aimed at power quality and hybrid vehicle load-levelling applications that require short, high power discharges, many of them fall into this category. However, because the mass of the electromagnetic rotor and stator is a function of power, for flywheels with a high ratio of power-versus-energy-storage, the electromagnetic portions of the rotor and stator will comprise an even larger portion of the system mass, further reducing the advantage of composite rotors.

In a similar manner, the vacuum and burst containment necessary for composite rotors also offsets their advantages over steel rotors, especially when compared to an integrated design where a large portion of the containment structure is comprised by the motor stator and housing.

Perhaps the most attractive feature of a steel rotor integrated flywheel design is that it is similar in material composition, design, and complexity to a standard electric machine, therefore, it is reasonable to expect that for volume production the manufacturing costs of such a flywheel would be comparable to those of a similar-sized electric machine. The cost of a standard electric machine can be estimated based on its weight, and, using this method, the cost of a steel rotor integrated flywheel design could be much lower than other designs.

The integrated flywheel configuration can achieve comparable specific energy to a composite rotor flywheel system. While a comparison between a composite rotor and steel rotor of the same weight (disregarding all the other components of the flywheel system) might indicate that twice as much energy could be stored in the composite rotor, the additional housing and containment weight for the composite rotor in a conventional or barrel configuration versus a steel rotor in an integrated configuration offsets this advantage to a certain degree.

As an example, consider a composite rotor 100kW and 420W·hr flywheel energy storage system with a rotor of mass 40kg and total system weight of 545kg.1 The rotor of a steel rotor flywheel with the same energy storage available might weigh two times more, but since the rotor weight is a small fraction of the total system weight and the weight of the remainder of the system remains basically the constant, the steel rotor system would have a specific energy only 7% lower. It would be incorrect to say that a well-engineered composite flywheel energy storage system could not have a higher specific energy, but it is argued that a steel rotor flywheel in an integrated configuration could have comparable specific energy at lower complexity and lower cost.

A high power integrated flywheel system with a solid-steel rotor can achieve similar performance to a composite rotor flywheel system, with less complexity, lower manufacturing costs, and lower material costs.

High efficiency, a robust rotor structure, and low rotor losses are the key requirements for a flywheel system’s motor/generator. High efficiency is required so that the flywheel can be an effective energy storage medium. Motor efficiency must be high over the entire speed and power range of operation, in this case 50,000rpm to 100,000rpm, with a power rating of up to 30kW. In addition, the zero power spinning losses of the machine must be very low. A robust rotor structure is necessary for obvious reliability and safety reasons.

The third requirement of low rotor losses is also critical and drives many of the design decisions in a flywheel system. Because high-speed flywheels operate in a vacuum to reduce windage losses, the main paths for heat transfer from the rotor are through radiation and through the bearings (if ball bearings are used). The amount of heat transfer through radiation is small except at high temperatures, and the thermal path through the bearings is minimal; therefore, controlling the rotor losses is critical to prevent overheating of the rotor. Fig. 1 plots the rate of heat loss through radiation versus rotor temperature. This graph was calculated for the prototype rotor, and assumes that the stator temperature remains at 50˚C. From this, it can be seen that even 300W of rotor loss (1% of the 30kW output power) would lead to a steady-state rotor temperature of 320˚C. This thermal limit on rotor losses rules out machines such as induction machines and switched reluctance machines because of their respective conduction and core losses on the rotor. The remaining motors to consider are permanent magnet and synchronous reluctance.

Permanent magnet (PM) motors are currently the most commonly used motors for flywheel systems.2, 3, 4 While they have the advantages of high efficiency and low rotor losses, the presence of PMs on the rotor makes the rotor more temperature sensitive (thus requiring even lower rotor losses) and the mechanical structure of the rotor more complicated, because of the brittleness and low strength of the PMs. The cost of the PMs, especially the high-temperature Sm-Co type, can also be considerable.

Synchronous reluctance (SR) motors are also used in some flywheel systems. They can also have high efficiency, low rotor losses, and low zero torque spinning losses. Unfortunately, it is difficult to construct an SR rotor with a high Ld/Lq ratio while maintaining a robust rotor structure. Examples of SR rotors constructed using several axially bonded sheets of high strength steel as in5 and6 have been made, however, this leads to a moderate Ld/Lq ratio which in turn leads to a moderate power factor. Low power factor increases the required VA rating of the drive and can add significantly to the cost of the system.

All three of these motor types (PM, SR, and homopolar inductor) share the advantage of high efficiency, however, PM rotors tend to be more temperature sensitive, mechanically complex, and costly; and solid rotor SR motors have either complex rotor structures or low power factors. While these issues can be overcome, homopolar inductor motors present an attractive alternative with a low-cost rotor machined from a single piece of steel that is more robust and less temperature sensitive than PM or SR rotors. In addition, a homopolar inductor motor with a slotless stator and six-step drive eliminates stator slot harmonics and maintains low rotor losses while also allowing operation at unity (or any desired) power factor.

These advantages of robust rotor structure and low rotor losses make homopolar inductor motors particularly well-suited for flywheel energy storage applications.

Although not widely used in practice, homopolar inductor motors have been researched for a variety of applications. They are sometimes referred to as “synchronous homopolar motors”,7, 8, 9 or “homopolar motors”,10, 11 but “homopolar inductor motor”12, 13, 14 is also commonly used and will be the term applied in this thesis. The defining feature of these motors is the homopolar d-axis magnetic field created by a field winding,15, 16, 17, 18, 19 by permanent magnets, or by a combination of permanent magnets and windings.20 The principle is the same as in a traditional synchronous generator, with which the homopolar inductor motor has similar terminal characteristics. However, in the case of the homopolar inductor motor, the field winding is fixed to the stator and encircles the rotor rather than being placed on the rotor. The field winding and the magnetizing flux path in the present motor design are shown schematically in Fig. 3. Note that the rotor pole faces on the upper part of the rotor are offset from the pole faces on the lower part (see Figs. 3 and 24).

There are several advantages to having the field winding in the stator. Among these are elimination of slip rings and greatly simplified rotor construction, making it practical to construct the rotor from a single piece of high strength steel. This feature makes homopolar motors very attractive for high-speed operation; a single piece steel rotor is used in the design presented here and in.21, 22, 23 Other homopolar rotor designs include laminations,24 permanent magnets,25 or other non-magnetic structural elements to increase strength and reduce windage losses.26 Additional advantages of having the field winding in the stator include ease in cooling the field winding and increased volume available for this winding. The large volume available for the field winding allows high flux levels to be achieved efficiently, making a slotless stator design feasible.

The slotless stator is an advantage for solid rotor machines because it eliminates slotting induced rotor losses.27 A slotless stator also allows for higher gap flux densities because saturation of the stator teeth is no longer a concern. The design principle is similar to a slotless permanent magnet machine, with the advantage that the magnetizing field can be controlled to keep efficiency high at low and zero torque. A possible disadvantage of the slotless stator is the difficulty in constructing the armature winding, which must be bonded to the smooth inner bore of the stator iron. A relatively simple and effective process was developed to construct the winding.

Flywheels have very demanding requirements for their bearing systems because of the high rotational speeds and operation in a vacuum. Since it is impossible to balance a high-speed rotor so that the center of mass and the bearings’ axis of rotation coincide perfectly, it is often preferable to mount the flywheel rotor on compliant bearings. Compliant bearings allow the rotor to translate radially, allowing the axis of rotation to shift, and thus allowing the rotor to spin about the center of mass. This dramatically reduces the forces on the bearings caused by rotor unbalance.

Compliant bearings can be achieved either by using a magnetic bearing which levitates the rotor with magnetic fields or conventional ball bearings in a compliant mount. Magnetic bearings have the advantage that they can be controlled electronically, and their stiffness and other performance characteristics can be tuned during operation. They are also vacuum compatible and capable of operating over a very large temperature range. One small disadvantage is that magnetic bearings are larger than conventional bearings, but their primary disadvantages are their cost and complexity. Unfortunately, there are several disadvantages inherent to using ball bearings in a flywheel. Although there are standard ball bearings designed for operation at speeds up to 100,000 rpm, their lifetime is reduced by operation in a vacuum. The grease used to lubricate these bearings is not vacuum compatible, and thus it volatizes as the bearings heat up and eventually leads to bearing failure. There are vacuum compatible greases, but they are generally high viscosity or for low temperatures and unsuitable for this application.

PROTOTYPE

The rotor for the machine consists of a single piece of high strength steel. As shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 26, four poles are cut into both the upper and lower parts of the rotor, with the lower poles rotated 45 degrees with respect to the upper poles. The center portion of the rotor is cylindrical, and the field winding encircles this portion of the rotor. The four upper poles are all the same magnetic polarity (N), and the flux returns down through the backiron to the lower set of poles (S). The machine has 8-poles, and no saliency, i.e. Ld/Lq = 1.

Two different rotors were built, as shown in Fig. 26. The profile for each rotor was analyzed using FEM (finite element method), and a shape optimization was applied to achieve the desired rotor MMF profile. For the sinusoidal rotor, the goal was to design a rotor to achieve a sinusoidal MMF waveform with no harmonics. A minimum and maximum magnetic gap were specified, and a 2D FEM analysis was conducted to determine the MMF waveform for a given rotor profile. The rotor profile was modified iteratively to minimize the harmonics. Fig. 24 shows the sinusoidal rotor profile and the resulting MMF profile.

For the square-cut rotor, FEM analysis was used to adjust the size of the pole-face arc with parameter α (as defined in Fig. 4) so that the rotor would have an Ld/Lq = 1. Since the FEM analysis takes into account the effects of fringing flux, the pole faces were adjusted so that they spanned 42˚ instead of the full 45˚ if fringing flux was ignored.

The two rotor shapes were built with the intent of comparing their performance. The sinusoidal rotor has no rotor MMF harmonics so its associated stator core loss would presumably be smaller. However, it also has a lower Lmf which would then require more field winding excitation to achieve the same flux level. Unfortunately, the square-cut rotor was damaged during a bearing failure before complete experimental results could be obtained, and a comparison was not possible.

The housing consisted of a carbon steel tube that contained the stator stacks and field winding. Also included were the endplates that were made out of stainless steel in Fig. 27.

One of the endcaps was modified to accommodate an infrared thermocouple which was used to measure the temperature of the rotor. All the wiring was connected through vacuum-sealed feedthroughs, which were all located on one endplate. The same endplate also contained a vacuum connection to connect to the vacuum pump.

The stator was made from 0.005” thick laminations, stacked and press-fit into a steel tube that serves as both the back iron and housing for the machine. Only the field winding flux, and not the alternating flux of the armature, travels through the back iron, so core loss in the back iron is not an issue.

The field winding was wound around a bobbin and also pressed into the back iron. Fig. 28 shows the field winding and the split bobbin that it was wound around. The bobbin was made out of aluminum and split into two sections to improve heat transfer to the stator stacks and the housing.

The most challenging part of the prototype construction was the winding of the stator armature. The armature was formed from rectangular Litz wire bonded to the inner bore using thin sheets of FR4 prepreg. FR4 prepreg is the partially cured form of the yellow-green epoxy-fiberglass laminate commonly used as printed circuit board substrate. The type of FR4 employed here was very thin (roughly 63.5μm or 0.0025”). A diagram of the construction assembly is shown in Fig. 5. First, a layer of FR4 was placed against the inner bore, followed by the windings, and then an additional layer of FR4 on the inside of the windings. Then an air bladder was inserted and inflated to 1 atm. (15 psi) to compress the FR4-Litz wire-FR4 assembly against the inner bore. The stator assembly was then baked in an oven to reflow and fully cure the epoxy in the FR4. After baking, the air bladder was removed, and the result was a smooth and solid winding structure bonded tightly to the inner bore of the motor. After the windings are bonded to the inner bore, the endturns are potted using 3M DP-105 epoxy. Photos of the completed armature are shown in Fig. 29 and 30.

A compliant bearing mount was designed and built to allow the rotor to operate at high speeds. The mount consisted of a tolerance ring28 clamped around the outside of the bearing and compressed into a bore. The tolerance ring, (Fig. 6), is a band of spring steel with ridges that flex to provide compliance.

Angular contact ball bearings with ceramic nitride balls were used (Barden model number CZSB101JSSDL). An axial preload is necessary for angular contact bearings to operate properly. In this design, a 20 lbf. preload was provided by an axially loaded wavespring mounted in one of the endplates.

Fig. 7 diagrams the principle components of the inverter, sensing, and control electronics. The 3-phase inverter consisted of three 600V, 200A IGBT half-bridge packages (Powerex PM200DSA060). The IGBTs were driven by opto-isolated gate driver chips, which were driven by logic level signals generated by the Altera FPGA. The inverter was connected to a dc bus fed by a 6-pulse diode rectifier, which was supplied by a 3-phase variac or directly from the line. When discharging the flywheel, a dump resistor (not shown in the diagram) was used to dissipate the excess power from the bus. The field winding for the inverter was powered by a dc-dc converter supplied by a separate 200V power supply. A description of the dc-dc converter can be found in.29

Current sensors were put in place to measure each of the three motor phases ia, ib, and ic; the field winding current if; and the dc bus current into the inverter ibus. Voltage measurements of phase voltages va, vb, vc, and vbus were also available. The analog sensing signals were filtered through an analog filtering box which performed a 3-phase to 2-phase conversion on the armature current and armature voltage measurements. The analog filter box is described in footnote 30.30

The analog outputs of the analog filter box are sampled by A/D converters on the dSPACE DSP card. The dSPACE processor executes the control algorithm, and calculates up- dated ωe-command and if-command. The ωe-command is passed to the Altera FPGA, which uses it to generate the gate drive signals. The if-command is converted into a PWM gate drive signal, which is then passed to the dc-dc converter.

Fig. 8 diagrams the three main processes running in the dSPACE controller. The inverter switching and the generation of a sampling interrupt are both handled by the Altera FPGA, which coordinates the timing with the dSPACE card with control interrupt int0 and sampling interrupt int1.

Sampling interrupt int1 triggers the sampling process sample fcn in the dSPACE card at a rate of 6ωe. Samples of armature currents and voltages are taken by the A/D converters just before inverter switching occurs, so the orientation of the measurements relative to the inverter voltage is known. These samples (which are measured in the stationary frame) are then rotated into the synchronous reference frame, filtered, and then made available to the motor control process io fcn. Since the sampling process sample fcn runs at a rate of 6ωe, it is typically running 4 to 16 times faster than the control process io fcn. Thus, the filtering has only a small effect on the delay of the controller.

The control process io fcn calculates updated commands for ωe and if based on the sampled currents id and iq. This process is triggered by int0 at a fixed rate of 1.5kHz. The interrupt int0 also synchronizes the communication of the ωe command back to the FPGA. The if command calculated in io fcn is passed directly to pwm fcn, the dc-dc converter control process. This process is triggered off an internally generated 50 kHz clock, and in each cycle, pwm fcn samples if, calculates a new duty cycle for the dc-dc converter, and generates the appropriate gate drive signal.

For safety reasons, the high-speed testing of the flywheel system was conducted in a containment chamber mounted in a pit beneath the surface of the floor. The pit was approximately 3’ deep and 4’ by 4’ in area. The motor was mounted on a steel plate bolted directly to the concrete floor of the pit, and a 3” thick steel pipe encircled the flywheel system. Sandbags were placed between the outside wall of the pipe and the concrete wall of the pit. Two 1” thick steel plates and sandbags were placed on top of the assembly with a hydraulic lift and bolted down with eight 1” diameter steel rods. When completely assembled, the top plates are just below the level of the floor. Cabling for the motor is run through a feedthrough at the bottom of the steel pipe and around the top plates. Photos of the motor in the containment pit are shown in Figs. 31-32.

ISSUE

The Canadian Loonie and Toonie coins are currently only authorized to be produced using nickel compositions. In recent years, nickel prices have been very volatile and have increased dramatically, leading to higher production costs. Also, as an actively traded commodity, lead times to acquire nickel can fluctuate based on world supply and demand, and this could result in a shortage of material required to meet Canadian coin demand.

DESCRIPTION

The Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) seeks an amendment to the Royal Canadian Mint Act to allow for the composition of the one-dollar and two-dollar coins to be produced using its patented multi­ply plated steel (MPPS) technology as the core material. This would result in significant cost savings and also reduce the risks associated with price volatility and availability should there ever be a shortage of nickel.

Cost­/benefit statement

Producing the Loonie­ and Toonie coins using the MPPS technology would result in an estimated annual $16 million cost savings to the Government or a present value of $107.5 million over 10 years. There would be an estimated one-­time cost to the vending industry of $40 million to recalibrate its automated coin acceptance equipment to read the new coins; however, as part of the industry’s capital planning, such updates already occur on a somewhat regular basis. The cost to the nickel industry would be lowered demand for nickel which would be offset by a benefit of increased demand to the steel industry, as the primary metal source used in the coins would be steel. However, the change would represent less than 0.05% of the total worldwide nickel annual demand and less than 0.00005% of the total worldwide annual steel demand, so it would have very little quantifiable impact on prices or the industries as a whole.

Business and consumer impacts

The change in composition to MPPS for the production of Loonie­ and Toonie coins would be transparent to consumers. The vending industry and other industries using automated coin acceptance and processing equipment would be required to update and recalibrate their equipment to accept the new coin composition. Also, small retailers or organizations using weight-­based coin sorting or counting equipment could be affected due to the slight difference in weight of the new coins relative to the existing coins. Although this will vary from company to company, it is estimated that the overall impact would be minimal. With two versions of each coin in circulation, no capital outlay to modify equipment would be needed, but a requirement of an additional process to pre­sort the Loonie and Toonie coins prior to using weight­-based equipment would be possible. The RCM has plans to recover, and remove from circulation, the current nickel alloy coins through its Alloy Recovery Program (ARP) to minimize these impacts as time progresses.

Domestic and international coordination and cooperation

The RCM is working closely with the vending and coin acceptance industry. Sample tokens were provided to the Canadian Automated Merchandising Association’s (CAMA) members in late 2009 and their feedback was taken into account when determining the best coin composition. The RCM regularly consults with CAMA and hosted an educational seminar at the CAMA 2010 Expo in Calgary in late September 2010 to further educate the industry members of the change and to address any concerns. Based on the success and positive feedback from the seminar, CAMA extended an invitation, and the RCM will deliver another session at the CAMA 2011 Expo in Montréal to further update their members ahead of the coins being released into general circulation. The RCM has also hosted stakeholder information sessions in 2010 with invitees from the parking, transit, casino gaming, retail, and pay telephone industries. The purpose of these sessions was to provide information on the change in coin compositions to the large stakeholders from the industries that handle and process a large volume of coin in order to assist them in their preparation for the transition. These sessions also allowed the RCM to address any concerns that the groups may have had with the introduction of the new Loonie and Toonie coins. Based on feedback, the RCM committed to provide these industries with access to samples of the new Loonie­ and Toonie coins a minimum of six months prior to their anticipated launch to ensure there would be enough time for all required updates and calibration to take place. In April 2011, sample coins were sent out to a variety of automated coin acceptance equipment manufacturers and suppliers for this activity to take place. The RCM will continue to accept and respond to requests from other companies requiring samples until the coins are launched into general circulation.

Issue

Traditionally, coins around the world have been produced using high-cost alloys that are procured at market rates and are, therefore, subject to the volatility and availability of the commodities market. Canadian and foreign governments continue to struggle with rising production costs for coinage, which are mainly driven by the cost of raw materials. In many countries, the intrinsic metal value of the coins are greater than their face value, leading to coin-hoarding activities that reduce the efficiency of the monetary system.

The current Loonie­ and Toonie Canadian coins are manufactured from nickel alloy which, in recent years, has experienced increased volatility in pricing, reaching record high levels. Over the last decade, the London Metal Exchange (LME) price for nickel has fluctuated over 1000% and is currently trading at nearly four times higher than it was in 2000. According to data from TD Waterhouse and RBC Capital Markets, the nickel price is forecasted to remain at or near these current levels through the foreseeable future.

In addition, as an actively traded commodity used in numerous other applications, the high demand for nickel can reduce world inventory levels resulting in long lead times for delivery. With nickel being the only approved core raw material for the Loonie­ and Toonie coins in Canada, the RCM is exposed to risks in reacting to demand increases for the Loonie and Toonie coins which could lead to coin shortages in the marketplace should nickel not be readily available.

Objectives

The price of metal accounts for the majority of the production costs for the Loonie and Toonie coins. The RCM seeks to reduce the risks associated with price volatility and availability should there ever be a shortage of nickel.

Description

In 2000, to help mitigate the impact associated with price fluctuations in the commodities market, the RCM introduced coins using a patented technology that utilizes a plating process with multiple layers. The RCM’s MPPS technology utilizes the more common and less expensive steel as the core raw material, which is as durable as the nickel alloy and significantly improves the overall cost­ effectiveness of coinage. With over six billion Canadian circulation pieces produced since 2000, the RCM has successfully implemented this technology for Canada’s one, five, ten, twenty­-five, and fifty-cent pieces, saving the Government over $250 million to date.

The Loonie­ and Toonie coins have been in circulation since 1987 and 1996 respectively. With over 1 billion Loonie coins and over 700 million Toonie coins produced to date, both coins are important for daily trade and commerce activities in Canada. Both denominations are essential coins for the vending and service industry because they enable operators to offer higher-valued services and merchandise which, in turn, provides them with more flexibility in the types of products offered, thereby increasing the margins that are earned. Presently, the composition of multi­ply plated steel for the Loonie and Toonie coins is not included in the characteristics of circulation coins that the RCM is authorized to produce.

Starting in the first quarter of 2012, the RCM would like to produce the Loonie­ and Toonie circulation coins using a multi­ply plated alloy composition. This composition, introduced by the RCM in 2000, would be in addition to the current alloys listed for these denominations in the Royal Canadian Mint Act. The current compositions for the Loonie coin are bronze-plated nickel and brass-plated nickel. The current composition for the Toonie coin is, for the inner core, aluminum bronze (copper, aluminum, and nickel), and for the outer ring, pure nickel. The proposed composition for the Loonie coin would consist of a steel core coated with multi­ply plated brass. The proposed composition of the Toonie coin would consist of, for the outer ring, a steel core coated with multi­ply plated nickel; the insert of the Toonie coin would consist of an aluminium bronze core coated with multi­ply plated brass.

At present the RCM is not authorized to produce Loonie and Toonie coins with this composition. This proposal would allow new composition for the Loonie­ and Toonie coins in addition to the existing composition, and would allow the issuance of the coins using the new characteristics. Retaining the existing composition would allow flexibility should the RCM so require for production purposes.

It should also be noted that security features including a lasermark, virtual images, and edge-­lettering would also be added to the current compositions. Although evidence indicates that there is currently not a security problem with non­-genuine Loonie­ and Toonie Canadian circulation coins, these features will enhance the security of the new coins. The new features present a major deterrent to forgers trying to duplicate them as it would require a significant capital investment along with strong technical knowledge to effectively operate the process. Many countries are moving towards visual features on their high denomination coinage, and the lasermark technology is a new technology developed in Canada.

Criteria for the Loonie and Toonie coins

The following would be the criteria for the Loonie coin:

The coin would be yellow in colour and the edge would continue to be 11-­sided so that it could be readily recognized by visually impaired individuals; The coin’s diameter and edge thickness would remain unchanged from the existing specifications; for the purposes of security in vending and other automated coin acceptance equipment, the coin would have an electromagnetic signature (EMS) that would help to discourage the use of slugs, foreign coinage, and non­-genuine coinage that have similar physical characteristics as the one-dollar coin and would make it more difficult to counterfeit; and A lasermark of a maple leaf within a circle would appear on the reverse of the one-dollar coin as an additional security feature.

The following would be the criteria for the Toonie coin:

The coin would contain an outer ring which would continue to be white in colour and an insert which would be yellow in colour; The coin’s diameter and edge thickness would remain unchanged from the existing specifications; for the purposes of security in vending and other automated coin acceptance equipment, the coin would have an electromagnetic signature (EMS) that would help to discourage the use of slugs, foreign coinage, and non­-genuine coinage that have similar physical characteristics as the Toonie coin and would make it more difficult to counterfeit; The serrations along the edge of the coin which help the visually impaired identify the denomination value would remain but the spacing would be slightly smaller to accommodate the lettering along the edge. The thinner serrations would still be prevalent to ensure the visually impaired can recognize these new coins; Two lasermarks of maple leaves, each within a circle, at the bottom of the coin and two virtual images of maple leaves at the top of the coin would appear on the reverse of the coin as additional security features.

Regulatory and non-regulatory options considered

Option 1: Status Quo

The status quo represents continuing with the bronze-plated nickel and brass-plated nickel compositions for the Loonie coin and with the pure nickel ring and insert of aluminium bronze composition for the Toonie coin. Due to the rising cost of nickel, producing coins with nickel alloy reduces the cost effectiveness of the Loonie and Toonie coins. Also, because nickel strip is limited in supply, this increases the lead­ time to receive raw materials as well as increases the risk that the shortage of this alloy could lead to coin supply issues, i.e., no nickel alloy available to produce the coins.

Option 2: Transition to the Multi­ply Plated Steel Composition

The MPPS technology is less expensive than nickel thereby reducing the cost to produce the Loonie­ and Toonie coins, which represents cost savings to the Government. Worldwide steel availability and inventory stocks are also higher and less volatile than nickel thus better protecting the supply of coins required to meet market demand from the risk of material shortage. When comparing MPPS coins to other plated coins such as mono-­ply plated, MPPS coins do not wear as quickly because they have a harder surface obtained through the RCM’s patented innovative manufacturing process. This conclusion is based on much third party research conducted by such organizations as the National Research Council of Canada, the University of Birmingham, the Center for Tribology in California, and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.

Benefits and costs

It is beneficial to have more than one type of alloy to produce the Loonie and Toonie coins to mitigate any potential risk that may come as a result of using only the current nickel alloy which is limited in supply. Based on the forecasted requirement of an average of 30 million pieces annually for each of the Loonie­ and Toonie coins over the next 10 years, the Government would save approximately $16 million annually. The cost savings consider that the price of nickel will remain consistent with the current price used in calculating the standard production costs for the one and two­-dollar coins. Although variations in the price of nickel could change the total savings, it is believed that the current standard production costs represent a realistic average of the actual costs per coin that would be experienced over the next 10 years in producing the Loonie­ and Toonie coins with their existing compositions.

The proposed Loonie­ and Toonie coins would have a different EMS from the existing one­ and two-dollar coins. Vending operators would need to recalibrate their automated coin acceptance equipment so that they would continue to accept the existing Loonie­ and Toonie coins as well as the new MPPS Loonie­ and Toonie coins.

The cost to the vending industry to recalibrate machines could be approximately $100 to $300 per machine. In other words, the cost to recalibrate older vending machines could be approximately $300 while the cost to recalibrate newer machines could be approximately $100. This would be a one­time cost incurred in the first year following the introduction of the coins to update their existing machines.

As the vending machine industry grows over time, these costs would not be incurred again, as any new machines purchased would come equipped with the proper technology to recognize the new Loonie and Toonie MPPS coins. However, as part of capital planning, the vending industry normally updates their equipment on a regular basis, so this change would help to ensure vending equipment is updated with the latest coin acceptance technology. When the one, five, ten, twenty­-five and fifty-cent pieces were launched in 2000, the change from nickel alloy to multi­ply plated steel was transparent in that it did not negatively affect over­-the-­counter trade and commerce transactions. Although vending operators were required to update their equipment, no compensation was awarded by the Government.

Other organizations using weight-­based equipment to sort and count coins by denomination may also be affected. Due to the lower density of steel relative to nickel, the new Loonie­ and Toonie coins will be slightly lighter than the existing coins. With two versions of each coin in circulation, no capital outlay to modify equipment will be needed, but a requirement of an additional process to pre­-sort the Loonie and Toonie coins prior to using weight-based equipment is possible. Although it is expected to be minimal, an exact cost cannot be quantified since it will be variable from organization to organization based on their current coin sorting volumes, equipment, and existing sorting processes. The RCM has plans to recover and remove from circulation the current nickel alloy coins through its Alloy Recovery Program (ARP) to minimize these impacts as time progresses.

It is also recognized that changing the main composition of a coin from a nickel blank to a steel blank will have an impact on the respective metal industries. There will be a cost to the nickel industry, as the RCM will reduce the amount of metal purchased, while the steel industry will benefit from an offsetting increase. The production of the average annual requirement of 30 million one­-dollar and 30 million two-dollar coins would require 539 metric tonnes of nickel. This represents less than 0.05% of the total forecasted 2011 nickel consumption of 1.54 million metric tonnes and 0.00005% of the forecasted 2011 steel consumption of 1.32 billion metric tonnes. At such small amounts, the redistribution of the metal purchases from the nickel industry to the steel industry is so small that it will not have a quantifiable impact on metal prices or inventory levels for either of the commodities.

There is no additional cost to the RCM for the lasermark application to the coins. The laser equipment was purchased many years ago by the RCM for use on numismatic coins.

Rationale

Despite the cost to their industry for recalibrating their coin acceptance equipment, the vending industry represents less than 1% of total retail trade according to data obtained from Statistics Canada Annual Retail Trade Surveys. The cost savings to the remainder of the Canadian public as well as the added qualitative environmental and security benefits outweigh the calibration costs to the vending industry, which should already be part of their routine capital planning process.

Base Year: 2012 (millions) Mid­ Point: 2016 (millions) Final Year: 2021 (millions) Total (PV) (millions) Average Annual (millions) A. Quantified impacts $ Benefits Canadians 14.0 14.9 16.0 107.5 16.02 Costs Vending industry 40.0 0 0 40.0 5.96 Net benefits 67.5 10.06 B. Quantified impacts — non $ There are coin sorting and counting mechanisms used primarily in the retail industry that use weight to determine the denomination of coins. With the introduction of the new MPPS one­ and two-­dollar coins that are lighter than the existing nickel-based alloy one­ and two­-dollar coins, these mechanisms may no longer be able to properly sort the coins in one pass. Organizations that use such technology will need to adjust their processes to add a pre­-sort operation to sort the MPPS one­ and two­-dollar coins separately from the nickel coins prior to using the equipment to do a final sort and count on the coins. This will add extra time to the process, but it is very difficult to fully quantify how much this would be since it would vary from operator to operator depending on the volume of coins they process and also the specific type of equipment that they are using. C. Qualitative impacts Environmental impacts The proposed multi­ply plated composition is a process that was developed in 2000 by the RCM and is unique in that it is produced using an acid plating process rather than the cyanide process currently being used by other facilities. The benefit of the acid plating process is that it is easier to neutralize by using chemicals commonly employed worldwide. As a result of the neutralization process, acid becomes environmentally safe when disposed of. MPPS coins are lighter in weight than the current nickel-­based one­ and two-­dollar coins. All coins are produced in Winnipeg, Manitoba and must be shipped across Canada for distribution. Using multi­ply plated steel would result in a weight savings of 2,160 lbs for a truckload of one­-dollar coins and 630 lbs for a truckload of two­-dollar coins, improving the fuel efficiency of transportation and reducing the carbon footprint of delivering coins to the Canadian public.

Security impacts Coins produced using the multi­ply plated steel composition result in a distinctive EMS making them more difficult to counterfeit. The vending industry would also benefit in that this would reduce the ability for steel slugs or other foreign lower value currencies of the same sizes as the one­ and two­dollar coins to be accepted by their coin acceptance equipment. The new lasermark, virtual images and edge lettering features will allow for a visual authentication of the new one­ and two­dollar coins and the cost to produce such features would result in it being prohibitive for counterfeiters to duplicate.

However, recognizing the impact to this stakeholder group in particular, ongoing discussions about this proposal have been held between the vending industry and the RCM. As a result of these discussions, the vending industry and the RCM agreed that the following criteria will be met to ensure a smooth transition to the proposed steel alloy:

Joint communication efforts with the Canadian Automatic Merchandising Association (CAMA) members and the RCM; Work closely with the vending industry coin acceptance manufacturers; Sample token coins to be provided by the RCM to the vending machine manufacturers to conduct trials on automated coin acceptance equipment; A minimum of six months prior to launching the new coins to the public, the RCM to provide CAMA and other impacted industry members with actual coins to allow for calibration; and Ongoing support and communications from the RCM administration.

The Worldwide Vending Association (WVA), which represents the vending industry in Canada, the United States, and Europe, opposes the decision to use any plated steel coins for high value coinage as they feel it would be easier to produce counterfeit coins with the new composition due to the availability of steel metal discs. The RCM has been working closely, over the last few years, with the WVA and the Canadian Automatic Merchandising Association (CAMA) to ensure these new coins are reliable and secure in the Canadian marketplace. Notwithstanding the opposition from the WVA, the RCM maintains that multi­ply plated steel coins are more secure than traditional alloy coins. Although steel metal discs are readily available, the unique EMS obtained from the multi­ply plated steel technology would result in it being far more difficult to produce counterfeit coins than it would be for coins using regular alloy metal discs which do not have multi­layer plating technology.

Evidence of the ability to counterfeit regular alloy discs has been found with the United Kingdom’s Royal Mint £1 coin produced using a nickel-­brass alloy composition. Figures from 2010 indicate that there are currently 41 million counterfeit £1 coins (one in every 36 pieces) circulating in England. Due to the wide EMS range required to accept traditional alloy coins, it is estimated that close to half of the non­-genuine coins are being accepted by automated coin acceptance equipment even though they are supposed to correct for metal composition.

To ensure efficient trade and commerce activity, it is of paramount importance that the public have confidence that the country’s monetary supply is genuine and secure. Although there is not a counterfeiting problem in Canada, in addition to changing the composition of the coins, the addition of visual security design features represents a proactive measure that enhances the security of the new coins.

Consultation

The RCM continues to work closely with members of the WVA by providing them with trial coin samples for testing purposes. Based on initial feedback, the RCM produced new coin samples and sent the modified trials to a wider group of institutions for testing (i.e. transit, parking, and telephone). The physical specifications for the new coins were then finalized based on the collaborative feedback received from the participating coin acceptance equipment manufacturers.

The RCM also scheduled an information briefing at the CAMA Expo 2010 that was held in Calgary in late September 2010. The session served as an educational opportunity to the entire vending industry about the Canadian Coinage System while continuing the joint efforts with these key stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition to market of any new products that could impact their operations. The event also gave the RCM the opportunity to address any questions or concerns that the vending industry had about the proposed change. Based on the success and positive feedback from the seminar, CAMA extended the invitation, and the RCM will deliver another session at the CAMA 2011 Expo in Montréal this coming September to further update their members ahead of the coins being released into general circulation.

In addition to the vending industry, the following industries were also advised about the change in coin compositions: casino gaming, parking, pay telephones, retail, transit, and other large coin users. The RCM organized two stakeholder information sessions that took place on August 4 and 5, 2010, in Toronto and Vancouver. Forty-­four companies/organizations from the various industries were invited including national and provincial associations and other large private or public companies with a presence in one of the industries. In addition, invitations were sent to the 10 largest municipalities across Canada based on population, recognizing the role that cities play in terms of parking and transit. Not only did the large cross-section of invitees cover all of the affected industries, the reach extended to each principal geographic region in Canada (Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Ontario, the Prairies, and Western Canada).

The overall response to the information sessions was positive. Attendees were pleased to be notified of the changes well in advance of the proposed launch dates for the new Loonie­ and Toonie coins. They were encouraged by the fact that the RCM had already held detailed discussions with equipment manufacturers and assured stakeholders that a significant amount of preparatory work had already been conducted.

The RCM has consulted with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) to ensure the new Loonie and Toonie coins do not negatively impact people with impaired vision. The CNIB has confirmed that because the new multiply plated steel coins are similar in look and feel to the original nickel alloy one-dollar and two-dollar coins, people with impaired vision would continue to be able to recognize the difference between the one-dollar and two-dollar coins regardless of the alloy, so this would not be an issue when the new coins are introduced.

In April 2011, the RCM sent out samples of the new Loonie­ and Toonie coins to a variety of automated coin acceptance equipment manufacturers and suppliers to begin calibrating their equipment. With the launch of the new coins into circulation planned for early 2012, the providing of the samples at this time allowed for more than the six months of calibration requested in the consultations between the RCM and the vending industry. Also of note, the proposed visual security features were present on the distributed sample coins. To date, no issues have been reported back to the RCM with calibration issues relating to the presence of the security features as their presence does not affect the electromagnetic signature (EMS) of the coins. The RCM will continue to accept and respond to requests from other companies requesting samples for equipment calibration until the coins are issued and made available in general circulation.

The final design elements for the visual security features for these coins (i.e., location on the coin) were determined by an internal RCM executive steering committee post pre­publication in the Canada Gazette. The original order has been amended to include these specifics. The committee members determined the ideal image that incorporated the new lasermark and virtual image features. The maple leaf was selected as the symbol for the security feature as based on market research. The symbol of the maple leaf tested very well with the public in terms of its representation of an iconic symbol of Canada and Canadian heritage. The maple leaf image has also been used in the past for circulation coin designs with very positive public reaction.

The RCM and the RCMP consult on a regular basis to address any issues affecting the security of coinage in Canada as they may arise. Decisions relating to the inclusion of design features to enhance the security of coinage are left to the RCM’s discretion due to its role as the producer of the coins and its expertise in advanced minting techniques and technologies.

This Order was pre-­published in the Canada Gazette, Part I, on February 19, 2011, and no comments were received.

Implementation, enforcement and service standards

The new one­ and two­-dollar coins would be produced, along with other circulation coins, at the RCM’s Winnipeg plating facility. Since 2005, Jarden Zinc Products Incorporated, a company based in the United States, has supplied one-­dollar bronze­-plated blanks to the RCM. They would continue to be retained as a secondary source of supply for the multi­ply plated one-­dollar blanks.

As we look at the specifications, right off the bat we can see that EVGA has factory overclocked the card from reference design speeds. The reference design card has a base clock of 1020 MHz and a boost clock of 1085 MHz, but here we have 1189 MHz and 1268, respectively. I’d say that’s a pretty hefty overclock right from the start. The card also features 2 GB of GDDR5 memory set to a quad-pumped speed of 5400 MHz. Another added bonus is the inclusion of a 6-pin PCI-E power connection, whereas there is no such connector found on the reference design cards. Specifications provided by EVGA.

A quick glance at GPU-Z confirms much of what we see above. History tells us that the actual boost clock usually comes in quite a bit higher than the official specification. This held true with this card, too, and it actually boosted up to 1345 MHz when under load.

For features, we first have a list of those that are more related to NVIDIA and commonly found on most of their newer GPUs.

Specifications Graphics Processing Clusters 1 Streaming Multiprocessors 5 CUDA Cores 640 Texture Units 40 ROP Units 16 Base Clock 1189 MHz Boost Clock 1268 MHz Memory Clock (Data Rate) 5400 MHz L2 Cache Size 2048 KB Total Video Memory 2048 MB GDDR5 Memory Interface 128-bit Total Memory Bandwidth 86.4 GB/s Texture Filtering Rate (Bilinear) 40.8 GigaTexels/s Fabrication Process 28 nm Transistor Count 1.87 Billion

Connectors 1 x Dual-Link DVI 1 x HDMI 1 x DisplayPort 1.2 Form Factor 2 Slots Power Connectors 1 x 6-Pin PCI-E Recommended Power Supply 400 Watts/20A +12V Thermal Design Power (TDP) 60 Watts Thermal Threshold 95 ℃

We already mentioned the GTX 750 Ti FTW is outfitted with the ACX cooler. I’ve tested EVGA cards in the past that used the ACX cooler and have always came away impressed with how well it works. On the software side, EVGA’s Precision X is quickly becoming the go-to utility for overclocking NVIDIA based GPUs. OC Scanner X is another useful tool for checking overclock stability and monitoring information.

When you buy into the EVGA product line, you get one of the best online community experiences found anywhere. From EVGA’s game servers and social networking to 24/7 tech support and forums, you can quickly find help when needed.

KEY FEATURES NVIDIA TXAA Technology NVIDIA GPU Boost 2.0 NVIDIA PhysX Technology NVIDIA FXAA Technology NVIDIA Adaptive Vertical Sync NVIDIA Surround Support for three concurrent displays; dual-link DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort 1.2 Microsoft DirectX 11.2 API (feature level 11_0) with Direct Compute 5.0 support NVIDIA 3D Vision-Ready NVIDIA CUDA Technology PCI Express 3.0 Support OpenGL 4.4 Support OpenCL Support NVIDIA SHIELD-Ready NVIDIA G-SYNC-Ready

I attended a web conference with NVIDIA on February 13th, so they could present information on the new Maxwell platform. I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least pass on some of that information here. It does, in fact, bring quite a few new features to the GPU world. The first item of note is that the GTX 750 Ti and GTX 750 will be the first to use the new Maxwell GM107 GPU core. The GTX 750 Ti is aimed squarely at AMD’s R7 260X, while the GTX 750 stacks up against the R7 260. The GeForce GTX 750 Ti will replace the GeForce GTX 650 Ti in NVIDIA’s GPU lineup, but the GTX 650 and GTX 660 will continue to be produced.

Buying into the NVIDIA GTX family of graphics cards allows the user to take advantage of several GTX Gaming technologies. ShadowPlay, G-Sync, and SHIELD are just a few of the unique NVIDIA technologies that promise enhanced gaming options not found elsewhere. Whether your intent is to stream game play, obtain smooth and stutter free visuals, or even make a video of your game session, you’ll find all the tools you need to accomplish this within the NVIDIA ecosystem.

As NVIDIA put it during the web conference, “The soul of Maxwell is improving performance per watt.” The Maxwell architecture brings a new design to the Streaming Multiprocessor (SM) that improves performance per watt and performance per area. Logic partitioning, workload balancing, clock-gating granularity, number of instructions issued per clock cycle, and compiler-based scheduling are just a few of the many improvements over the Kepler architecture. The number of SMs has increased to five compared to Kepler’s two and done so with only a 25% increase in die area. The L2 cache sees a huge increase from Kepler’s 256 KB to Maxwell’s 2048 KB. With more L2 cache on chip, there is a large drop in requests to the DRAM, which reduces power demand and improves overall performance. To further maximize energy efficiency, NVIDIA states the engineers have aggressively tuned the implementation of each unit in the Maxwell GPU down to the transistor level. In a nutshell, this all boils down to NVIDIA’s claim that Maxwell-based GM107 GPUs can deliver two times better performance per watt when compared to a Kepler based GK107 GPU, while continuing to use the same 28nm manufacturing process.

One GPC, five Maxwell Streaming Multiprocessors (SMM), and two 64-bit memory controllers (128-bit total) make up the contents of the GM107 GPU. This is the uncut implementation of the GM107 and is what’s found on the GTX 750 Ti. Below is the full chip block diagram showing the GPU configuration.

For a down and dirty comparison, here is a chart summarizing the major improvements that the Maxwell GPU provides over the Kepler GPU. Keep in mind, a few of these numbers vary depending on NVIDIA partner card designs, especially when it comes to clock speeds.

I wanted to touch on two other aspects I found appealing about the Maxwell based GTX 750 Ti GPU. The first being how it stacks up against the R7 260X in performance and efficiency. Based on the following graphs, NVIDIA claims the GTX 750 Ti outperforms the R7 260X with just a fraction of the power.

GPU GK107 (Kepler) GM107 (Maxwell) CUDA Cores 384 640 Base Clock 1058 MHz 1020 MHz GPU Boost Clock N/A 1085 MHz GFLOPs 812.5 1305.6 Texture Units 32 40 Texel fill-rate 33.9 GigaTexels/s 40.8 GigaTexels/s Memory Clock 5000 MHz 5400 MHz Memory Bandwidth 80 GB/s 86.4 GB/s ROPs 16 16 L2 Cache Size 256 KB 2048 KB TDP 64W 60W Transistors 1.3 Billion 1.87 Billion Die Size 118 mm2 148 mm2 Manufacturing Process 28 nm 28 nm

Secondly, the extremely low power draw makes it an attractive option for HTPC, mITX, or basic store-bought systems that may have smaller wattage PSUs. If you buy a reference design GTX 750 Ti, there won’t be a 6-pin power connector needed, which adds a wider variety of potential usage options. Currently, the GTX 750 Ti is the fastest available graphics card that does not have a power connector. As is the case with today’s review sample, you’ll probably find that NVIDIA partners will add a 6-pin power connector to some of their Maxwell models. The other item that makes the GTX 750 Ti an easy upgrade for a wide variety of systems is the card’s physical size. In its reference form, the card only measures 5.75′′ long. Even the EVGA GTX 750 Ti FTW only measures out at a smidgen over 9′′ long. Either way, the card will fit into almost any system design out there.

As you can see, the new Maxwell GPU brings a lot of new technologies to the table, and it should make for interesting times ahead!

HARDWARE

The information on the box does a nice job of explaining the product found within. Looking at the box front, you see a few high-level features mentioned, as well as that the card is in the “FTW” family. Around back, the features and specifications we talked about above are displayed. The box sides are a placard for additional branding and a multilingual list of key features.

Inside the box, you will find the GTX 750 Ti FTW well protected in a bubble wrap envelope. Also included are lots of documentation, a DVI to VGA adapter, a PCI-E adapter cable, and the driver/utility CD. EVGA also tosses in a poster, case badge, and a couple different stickers.

The first thing worth noting is the lack of SLI support on the GTX 750 Ti series of cards. It’s understandable that SLI wouldn’t be a feature of this card, as it’s probably not in the class of cards most would consider for that type of setup anyway. The card supports up to three concurrent displays through the available dual-link DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort connections. As we mentioned earlier, EVGA opted to include a 6-pin PCI-E power connector. Adding this power connector is said to provide a 25 watt boost (30% increase) in power delivery, which should improve overclocking potential.

The ACX cooler features a dual fan design that sits on the aluminum fin stack. There are two large copper heat pipes that pass through the cooling block as they weave their way through the fin stack. This isn’t the most robust implementation of the ACX cooler I’ve seen, but given the smaller size of the card and the low power draw that the Maxwell GPU has, it should work just fine. We’ll find out later in the review.

With the ACX cooler removed, we can get a clear view of the PCB layout. It appears we have a 3+1 power phase design implemented here (3 GPU + 1 Memory).

The 2 GB of onboard memory are courtesy of the Samsung K4G41325FC-HC03 GDDR5 memory ICs. Finally, we have a close-up look at the Maxwell GM107 GPU.

SOFTWARE

Precision X has evolved into one of the better GPU overclocking utilities over the past couple of years. It allows for real time monitoring of vital GPU information, overclocking capabilities, and the ability to control the ACX cooler fans. The fan control option allows for setting the speed manually or by using the fan curve option. In the case of this particular video card, there is no power target adjustment available. However, we do have the option to raise the temperature target as high as 95 °C. There is a slight core voltage adjustment available as well, but it’s a mere +31 mV. Another item of note is the ability to save up to ten different profiles.

To compliment Precision X, you might want to get a copy of OC Scanner X, too. It’s a quick way to test GPU overclocking stability and check for any artifacting issues. It even comes with its own monitoring capabilities.

Plates 41-45 are images of the EVGA GTX 750 Ti FTW taken from different angles as well as the Precision X overclocking software. We’ll have a close-up look at the card as the review progresses.

OVERCLOCKING

It was mentioned by NVIDIA that the GTX 750 Ti would overclock to 1250 base clock without much trouble, and that’s exactly where it landed, while still being able to complete all of the tests in our suite. That might not sound like a lot compared to the 1189 MHz clock the card is factory overclocked to, but when compared to the reference clock of 1020 MHz, it’s actually pretty impressive. The actual boost clock landed at 1407 MHz when the GPU was overclocked to 1250 MHz. On the memory side, I was able to push it to an additional 200 MHz, which landed us at 1550 MHz (6200 MHz quad pumped). Nothing to complain about there either!

Ok, now that we have our 24/7 stable overclock established, let’s get to the benchmarks!

System Components Motherboard ASUS Maximus VI Formula CPU Intel i7 4770K Haswell Memory G.SKill TridentX DD3-2666 MHz 2x4 GB SSD Samsung EVO 500 GB Power Supply Corsair HX 1050 Professional Series Video Card EVGA GTX 750 Ti FTW w/ ACX Cooler Cooling Swiftech Apogee HD CPU Water Block - 360 mm Radiator - MCP35X Pump

For the sake of comparison, I’ve chosen four different new generation AMD cards. Because NVIDIA claims better performance than the R7 260 series cards, we’ll use the R7 260X and R7 260 in the comparison graphs. Taking a step up in price and performance, I also used the R9 270 and R9 270X for comparison. How close can the mid-range level GTX 750 Ti FTW come to the higher-priced R9 270 series cards? Let’s find out.

Synthetic Tests 3DMark Vantage DirectX 10 benchmark running at 1280X1024 – Performance preset 3DMark 11 DirectX 11 benchmark running at 1280X720 – Performance preset 3DMark Fire Strike DirectX 11 benchmark running 1920X1080 – Standard test (not extreme) Unigine Heaven (HWBot) DX11 Benchmark – Extreme setting

Our synthetic tests show a pecking order that actually held true throughout our entire test suite. The EVGA GTX 750 Ti FTW had no trouble topping the R7 260 and R7 260X in all the tests. Once it was overclocked, it closed the gap substantially when compared to the R9 270 and R9 270X. Game Tests Batman: Arkham Origins Vantage 1920X1080, 8x MSAA, PhysX off, V-Sync off, The rest set to on or DX11 enhanced Battlefield 4 1920X1080, Ultra Preset, V-Sync off Bioshock Infinite 1920X1080, Ultra DX11 preset, DOF on Crysis 3 1920X1080, Very high settings, 16x AF, 8x MSAA, V-Sync off Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn 1920X1080, Maximum preset Grid 2 1920X1080, 8x MSAA, Intel specific options off, everything else set to highest available option Metro Last Light 1920X1080, DX11 preset, SSAA on, Tessellation very high, PhysX off

The game benchmarks show the same pattern with the EVGA GTX 750 Ti FTW topping the R7 260 series cards handily. Of note here are the Bioshock Infinite results, where the EVGA GTX 750 Ti FTW actually topped the R9 270 at stock speed. Then, when overclocked, it topped the R9 270X just for good measure! The Battlefield 4 and Crysis 3 results also show this card holding very close to the R9 270 series cards.

If you were paying attention, you will have noticed that every game surpassed the 30 FPS threshold we call “playable,” except for Crysis 3 and Metro: Last Light. That’s some pretty impressive stuff for a card in this class. In the end, a pretty sweet showing here for the EVGA GTX 750 Ti FTW!

POWER CONSUMPTION AND TEMPERATURES

With the aid of a Kill-A-Watt meter, I used HWBot Heaven and the Combined Test within 3DMark 11 to get the maximum power draw from the video card. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I’m amazed when I see how little power these modern PCs use. Even with the EVGA GTX 750 Ti FTW overclocked and under load, the total system draw still remained under 200 watts. When idle, the entire system used no more wattage than your standard 100 watt light bulb. Yea, amazing!

Equally impressive are the temperatures this card runs at. With temperature readings normalized to 25°C ambient, the card never even sniffed the threshold temperatures. While it’s true we didn’t have a lot of voltage manipulation at our disposal, it’s easy to see that the thermal improvements that Maxwell GPUs bring forward do indeed work quite well. With temperature readings like these, there is no reason to take the fan off of auto control... even if overclocked. The ACX cooler performs quite admirably, to say the least.

PUSHING THE LIMITS

I wasn’t able to get a whole lot more out of the card before stability issues arose, but I did manage a 3DMark Fire Strike run with an additional 15 MHz added to the GPU and 25 MHz added to the memory speed. This gave us just short of another 100 points added to our previous overclocked score.

I must admit, I was thoroughly impressed with the EVGA GTX 750 Ti FTW from the moment I started working with it. From impressive overclocking to the great performance of the ACX cooler, everything worked terrific right out of the box. The improvements that the Maxwell GPU brings are impressive, especially on the performance per watt front. EVGA has done a great job with their first implementation of a Maxwell-based graphics card. The card is aesthetically pleasing and will fit into just about any PC application I can think of, which allows a good gaming experience to be brought to systems that couldn’t before handle the power demands.

Typical profiles showing bathymetry and the associated total magnetic field anomaly observed on crossing the north Atlantic and North­west Indian Oceans are shown in Fig. 9. They illustrate the essential features of magnetic anomalies over the oceanic ridges: (1) long-period anomalies over the exposed or buried ground foothills of the ridge; (2) shorter­period anomalies over the rugged flanks of the ridge; and (3) a pronounced central anomaly associated with the median valley. This pattern has now been observed in the North Atlantic,31, 32 the Antarctic,33 and the Indian Oceans.34, 35 In this article, we describe an attempt to account for it.

The general increase in wave­length of anomalies away from the crest of the ridge is almost certainly associated with the increase in depth to the magnetic crustal material.36 Local anomalies of short-­period may often be correlated with bathymetry and explained in terms of reasonable susceptibility contrasts and crustal configurations, but the long-­period anomalies of category (1) are not so readily explained. The central anomaly can be reproduced if it is assumed that a block of material very strongly magnetized in the present direction of the Earth’s field underlies the median valley and produces a positive susceptibility contrast with the adjacent crust. It is not clear, however, why this considerable susceptibility contrast should exist beneath the median valley but not elsewhere under the ridge. Recent work in this Department has suggested a new mechanism.

In November 1962, H.M.S. Owen made a detailed magnetic survey over a central part of the Carlsberg Ridge as part of the International Indian Ocean Expedition. The area (50 X 40 nautical miles; centred on 5° 25’ N., 61° 45’ E.) is predominantly mountainous, depths ranging from 900 to 2,200 fathoms, and the topographic features are generally elongated parallel to the trend of the Ridge. This elongation is more marked on the total magnetic field anomaly map where a trough of negative anomalies, flanked by steep gradients, separates two areas of positive anomalies. The trough of negative anomalies corresponds to a general depression in the bottom topography which represents the median valley of the Ridge. The positive anomalies correspond to mountains on either side of the valley.

In this low magnetic latitude (inclination ­ 6°), the effect of a body magnetized in the present direction of the Earth’s field is to reduce the strength of the field above it, producing a negative anomaly over the body and a slight positive anomaly to the north. Here, over the centre of the Ridge, the bottom topography indicates the relief of basic extrusives such as volcanoes and fissure eruptives, and there is little sediment fill. The bathymetry, therefore, defines the upper surface of magnetic material having a considerable intensity of magnetization, potentially as high as any known igneous rock type37 and probably higher, because it is extrusive, than the main crustal layer beneath. That the typographic features are capable of producing anomalies is immediately apparent on comparing the bathymetric and the anomaly charts; several have well­-defined anomalies associated with them.

Two comparatively isolated volcano­-like features were singled out and considered in detail. One has an associated negative anomaly as one would expect for a normal magnetization; the other, completely the reverse anomaly pattern, that is, a pronounced positive anomaly suggesting reversed magnetization for each obtained. Fig. 10 shows the directions of the resulting vectors plotted on a stereographic projection. Having computed the magnetic vector by a ‘best fit’ process, the computer recalculated the anomaly over the body, assuming this vector, thus giving an indication of the accuracy of fit. The fit was good for the case of reversed magnetization but poor for that of approximately normal magnetization. This discrepancy is scarcely surprising since we have ignored the effects of adjacent topography and the interference of other anomalies in the vicinity. In addition, the example of normal magnetization is near a corner of the area where the control contouring is less precise. The other example is central where the control is good. In both cases, the intensity of magnetization deduced was about 0.005 e.m.u.; this is equivalent to an effective susceptibility of ± 0.0133: (effective susceptibility = total intensity of magnetization (remanent + induced)/present total magnetic field intensity : mean value for basalts of the order 0.01).

In addition, three profiles, perpendicular to the trend of the Ridge, have been considered. Computed profiles along these, assuming infinite lateral extent of the bathymetric profile and uniform normal magnetization, bear little resemblance to the observed profiles (Fig. 11). These results suggested that whole blocks of the survey area might be reversely magnetized. The dotted curve in Fig. 11 B was computed for a model in which the main crustal layer and overlying volcanic terrain were divided into blocks about 20 km wide, alternatively normally and reversely magnetized. The blocks were given the effective susceptibility values shown in the caption for Fig. 12.

Work on this survey led us to suggest that some 50 per cent of the oceanic crust might be reversely magnetized, and this, in turn, has suggested a new model to account for the pattern of magnetic anomalies over the ridges.

The theory is consistent with, in fact a virtually a corollary of, current ideas on ocean floor spreading38 and periodic reversals in the Earth’s magnetic field.39 If the main crustal layer (seismic layer 3) of the oceanic crust is formed over a convective up­current in the mantle at the centre of an oceanic ridge, it will be magnetized in the current direction of the Earth’s field. Assuming impermanence of the ocean floor, the whole of the oceanic crust is comparatively young, probably no older than 150 million years, and thermo­remanent component of its magnetization is therefore either essentially normal or reversed with respect to the present field of the Earth. Thus, if spreading of the ocean floor occurs, blocks of alternately normal and reversely magnetized material would drift away from the centre of the ridge and parallel to the crest of it.

This configuration of magnetic material could explain the lineation or ‘grain’ of magnetic anomalies observed over Eastern Pacific to the west of North America40 (probably equivalent to the long­-period anomalies of category (1)). Here, north­-south highs and lows of varying width, usually of the order of 20 km, are bounded by steep gradients. The amplitude and form of these anomalies have been reproduced by Mason,41, 42 but the most plausible of the models used involved very severe restrictions on the distribution of lava flows in crustal layer 2. They are readily explained in terms of reversals assuming the model shown Fig. 12 (1). It can be shown that this type of anomaly pattern will be produced for virtually all orientations and magnetic latitudes, the amplitude decreasing as the trend of the ridge approaches north-­south or the profile approaches the magnetic equator. The pronounced central anomaly over the ridges is also readily explained in terms of reversals. The central block, being most recent, is the only one which has a uniformly directed magnetic vector. This is comparable to the area of normally magnetized late Quaternary basics in Central Iceland43, 44 on the line of the Mid­Atlantic Ridge. Adjacent and all other blocks have doubtless been subjected to subsequent volcanism in the form of volcanoes, fissure eruptions, and lava flows, often oppositely magnetized and hence reducing effective susceptibility of the block, whether initially normal or reversed. The effect of assuming a reduced effective susceptibility for the adjacent blocks is illustrated for the North Atlantic and Carlsberg Ridges in Fig. 12 (2, 3).

In Fig. 12, no attempt has been made to reproduce observed profiles in detail, the computations simply show that the essential form of the anomalies is readily achieved. The whole of the magnetic material of the oceanic crust is probably of basic igneous composition; however, variations in its intensity of magnetization and in topography and direction of magnetization of surface extrusives could account for the complexity of the observed profiles. The results from the preliminary Mohole drilling45, 46 are considered to substantiate this conception. The drill penetrated 40 ft. into a basalt lava flow at the bottom of the hole, and this proved to be reversely magnetized.47 Since the only reasonable explanation of the magnetic anomalies mapped near the site of the drilling is that the area is underlain by a block of normally magnetized crustal material,48 it appears that the drill penetrated a layer of reversely magnetized lava overlying a normally magnetized block.

In Fig. 12, it will also be noticed that the effective susceptibilities assumed are two to five times less than that derived for the isolated features in the survey area described. Although no great significance can be attached to this derived intensity, it is suggested that the fine­grained extrusives (basalts) of surface features are more highly magnetized than the intrusive material of the main crustal layer which, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, we assume to be of analogous chemical composition (that is, gabbros). This would appear to consistent with recent investigations of the magnetic properties of basic rocks.49

The vertical extent of the magnetic crust is defined by the depth to the curie­point isotherm. In the models this has been assumed to be at 20 km below sea­level over the deep ocean but at a depth of 11 km beneath the centre of the ridges where the heat flow and presumably the thermal gradient are higher. These assumptions are questionable but not critical because the amplitude of the simulated anomaly depends on both the thickness of the block and its effective susceptibility, and, although the thickness is no doubt by a factor of two, the susceptibility is in doubt by a factor of ten. Present magnetic declination has been assumed throughout the calculations: it would probably have been better to have ignored this, as in paleomagnetism, assuming that true north approximates to the mean of secular variations; but this is unimportant and in no way affects the essential feature of the computations.

In order to explain the steep gradients and large amplitudes of magnetic anomalies observed over oceanic ridges all authors have been compelled to assume vertical boundaries and high­susceptibility contrasts between adjacent crustal blocks. It is appreciated that magnetic contrasts within the oceanic crust can be explained without postulating reversals of the Earth’s magnetic field; for example, the crust might contain blocks of very strongly magnetized material adjacent to blocks of material weakly magnetized in the same direction. However, the model suggested in this article seems to be plausible because high susceptibility contrasts between adjacent blocks can be explained without recourse to major inhomogeneities of rock type within the main crustal layer or to unusually strongly magnetized rocks.

BACKGROUND

At 10:15 a.m. local time, a damaging earthquake strikes along the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone (WVSZ) in southeastern Illinois and southwestern Indiana. The epicenter is determined to be near Mt. Carmel, Illinois. The most damaging shaking occurs in Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky. Less severe but still damaging shaking occurs in an area stretching from St. Louis, Missouri southward to Memphis, Tennessee and from Cincinnati, Ohio southward to Lexington, Kentucky and areas in between. Seismologists measure the earthquake a magnitude 6.5, making it the largest earthquake to hit the region since the late 1800s. Ground shaking from the main shock lasts for approximately 45 seconds in some areas. Aftershocks of varying intensity are felt throughout the region for several days after the main shock and cause further damage to structures already weakened by previous shaking. Tremors are felt as far away as the east coast of the United States, and damage is seen in at least eight states.

Direct Earthquake Damage

As a result of this earthquake, there are more than 2,500 people with injuries requiring hospitalization and an estimated 100 fatalities. Thousands of others receive injuries requiring minor medical attention. Most of the injuries are caused by objects (bookshelves, top‐heavy furniture, appliances, and electronics) falling on people. Other injuries are caused by people walking on broken or falling glass and by people who were trying to walk or run during the earthquake and were injured by pieces of buildings falling on them during which they were thrown to the ground, many suffering broken bones.

Thousands are missing or separated from their families. Thousands of earthquake victims’ homes and possessions are destroyed or damaged, causing many to seek short-term shelter. Partial levee collapses and high water conditions due to heavy spring rains result in flooding along rivers and waterways, displacing hundreds of people. Most of the region is experiencing shortages of essential supplies, such as fresh food, bottled water, fuel, and generators.

Damaged bridges and roadways and damage to shipping vessels cause oil and hazardous material (HAZMAT) contamination in cities, towns, waterways, and farmland in the affected area. Some rivers and waterways experience brief uplifting of their riverbeds, causing temporary appearance of reverse‐flow.

Across the affected states, widespread damage occurs to drinking water distribution and wastewater collection systems as well as treatment facilities, the national power grid, oil and natural gas pipelines, and roadways. Large structural fires break out because of damage to gas pipelines.

Due to the nature of the geology in the region, shaking and soil liquefaction of land surrounding the fault line causes the following circumstances:

Localized flooding in low‐lying areas with river bed changes along some rivers, Compromised or damaged bridges, roads, railroad bridges and tracks, buildings, and other components of the infrastructure, Compromised or damaged oil and natural gas pipelines, Structural damage to dams and levees (including burms and built‐up road beds), Structural damage to drinking water treatment and distribution as well as wastewater collection and treatment facilities, Power outages as a result of transmission line damage, Communication failure because of cell phone tower and phone line damage.

LONG-TERM EFFECTS

Many buildings, bridges, and other components of the infrastructure will need to be inspected for safety and repaired before they are safe to use after a damaging earthquake. This process could take months to complete in some areas and years to complete in others. Aftershocks may cause the inspection process to start over. Some households will need long‐term sheltering or relocation assistance. Many businesses may close in the areas closest to the epicenter, causing economic depression, loss of jobs, and loss of tax base for many small communities.

PREPARE

By planning and practicing your response to an earthquake (or any disaster), you are putting yourself in a better position to be able to resume a normal life afterwards. This is why the ShakeOut is important. It allows us an opportunity to prepare now and increase our chances for survival. What we do now, before an earthquake, will help determine what our lives are like afterwards. Some key questions to ask yourself if a major earthquake were to hit your community:

How would you react when the ground begins shaking? You never know when a tremor might be the next big earthquake. After a disaster, who would you contact? What actions would you take to ensure the immediate safety of yourself, your family, or those in your workplace? Do you have a family emergency plan? Is your information stored in several locations (even out of state or online) so that if your residence is destroyed, you can still access it? Do you have an emergency supply kit? If so, do you review its contents regularly? Do you need to add anything to it (new prescriptions, extra clothes, etc.)? What items in your home or workplace could be easily secured to prevent earthquake-related injuries or deaths? Things like bookshelves, water heaters, appliances, and heavy pictures are all easy candidates for earthquake mitigation measures. Earthquake mitigation can be affordable and easy to do when taken in small steps.

BACKGROUND

At 10:15 a.m. local time, a damaging earthquake strikes along the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) in the central region of the United States. The epicenter is determined to be in the Bootheel of Missouri. The most damaging shaking occurs in northeastern Arkansas, western Tennessee, the Bootheel of Missouri, western Kentucky, and southern Illinois. Less severe but still damaging shaking occurs in an area stretching from St. Louis, Missouri southward to Grenada, Mississippi and from Little Rock, Arkansas east to Nashville, Tennessee. Seismologists measure the earthquake a magnitude 6.5, making it the largest earthquake to hit the region since 1895. Ground shaking from the main shock lasts for approximately 45 seconds in some areas. Aftershocks of varying intensity are felt throughout the region for several days after the main shock and cause further damage to structures already weakened by previous shaking. Tremors are felt as far away as the east coast of the United States, and damage is seen in at least eight states.

Direct Earthquake Damage

As a result of this earthquake, there are more than 2,500 people with injuries requiring hospitalization and an estimated 100 fatalities. Thousands of others receive injuries requiring minor medical attention. Most of the injuries are caused by objects (bookshelves, top‐heavy furniture, appliances, and electronics) falling on people. Other injuries are caused by people walking on broken or falling glass and by people who were trying to walk or run during the earthquake and were injured by pieces of buildings falling on them during which they were thrown to the ground, many suffering broken bones.

Thousands are missing or separated from their families. Thousands of earthquake victims’ homes and possessions are destroyed or damaged, causing many to seek short term shelter. Partial levee collapses and high water conditions due to heavy spring rains result in flooding along the Mississippi River, displacing hundreds of people. Most of the region is experiencing shortages of essential supplies, such as fresh food, bottled water, fuel, and generators.

Damaged bridges and roadways and damage to shipping vessels cause oil and hazardous material (HAZMAT) contamination in cities, towns, waterways, and farmland in the affected area. The Mississippi River experiences a brief uplifting of its riverbed, causing temporary appearance of reverse‐flow.

Across the affected states widespread damage occurs to drinking water distribution and wastewater collection systems as well as treatment facilities, the national power grid, oil and natural gas pipelines, and roadways. Large structural fires break out because of damage to gas pipelines.

Due to the nature of the geology in the Mississippi River Valley, shaking and soil liquefaction of land surrounding the fault line causes the following circumstances:

Localized flooding in low‐lying areas with river bed changes along the Mississippi River, Compromised or damaged bridges, roads, railroad bridges and tracks, buildings, and other components of the infrastructure, Compromised or damaged oil and natural gas pipelines, Structural damage to dams and levees (including burms and built‐up road beds), Structural damage to drinking water treatment and distribution as well as wastewater collection and treatment facilities, Power outages as a result of transmission line damage, Communication failure because of cell phone tower and phone line damage.

LONG-TERM EFFECTS

Many buildings, bridges, and other components of the infrastructure will need to be inspected for safety and repaired before they are safe to use after a damaging earthquake. This process could take months to complete in some areas and years to complete in others. Aftershocks may cause the inspection process to start over. Some households will need long‐term sheltering or relocation assistance. Many businesses may close in the areas closest to the epicenter, causing economic depression, loss of jobs, and loss of tax base for many small communities.

PREPARE

By planning and practicing your response to an earthquake (or any disaster), you are putting yourself in a better position to be able to resume a normal life afterwards. This is why the ShakeOut is important. It allows us an opportunity to prepare now and increase our chances for survival. What we do now, before an earthquake, will help determine what our lives are like afterwards. Some key questions to ask yourself if a major earthquake were to hit your community:

How would you react when the ground begins shaking? You never know when a tremor might be the next big earthquake. After a disaster, who would you contact? What actions would you take to ensure the immediate safety of yourself, your family, or those in your workplace? Do you have a family emergency plan? Is your information stored in several locations (even out of state or online) so that if your residence is destroyed, you can still access it? Do you have an emergency supply kit? If so, do you review its contents regularly? Do you need to add anything to it (new prescriptions, extra clothes, etc.)? What items in your home or workplace could be easily secured to prevent earthquake-related injuries or deaths? Things like bookshelves, water heaters, appliances, and heavy pictures are all easy candidates for earthquake mitigation measures. Earthquake mitigation can be affordable and easy to do when taken in small steps.

Season 1

1 Das Mouse Brain must recover crab meat from those that only live in the sunken wreckage of the Titanic to implement a hypnotic food additive for world domination.

2 Of Mouse and Man Brain, in his human suit, gets a job and then stages an accident, suing the company as to obtain enough money to set up an automated answering system that will keep people busy while he takes over the world.

3.1 Tokyo Grows Brain plans to use a “growing ray” to grow Pinky into super-size while dressed up as “Gollyzilla”, while Brain would stop him in exchange for world domination. However, the real Gollyzilla emerges from the ocean and starts to rampage, making Brain think that the lizard is Pinky. The episode ends with the ray making everything on Earth grow, including the Earth itself, to the point that Pinky, the Brain, and even Gollyzilla are mouse-sized by comparison again.

3.2 That Smarts Brain uses a machine that can increase or decrease intelligence, and uses it so that Pinky can become smart enough to understand that he is the cause of Brain’s failures due to research Brain conducted. Pinky, depressed over the fact that Brain doesn’t like him when he is smart, uses the machine to make himself stupid, so Brain will like him again. However, Brain, discovering that he himself is the cause of his failures and believing both of them to be better off with Pinky as the genius and Brain as a moron, uses the machine on himself as well. In the end, both of them are idiots and are too dumb to operate the machine and restore either of them to their intelligent selves.

3.3 Brainstem Pinky and Brain sing about the parts of the human brain, to the tune of “Camptown Races”.

4.1 Pinky & the Fog Brain becomes a serial radio voice actor similar to the Shadow as a means to use a special voice modulation device in order to control the minds of the listeners.

4.2 Where No Mouse Has Gone Before Brain changes a message on a deep space probe about to be launched that he is the ruler of the world instead of the humans; the probe is found by aliens who come to Earth to show their respect for Brain.

4.3 Cheese Roll Call Pinky sings about the world of cheeses.

5 Brainania Brain creates a fictional island nation in an attempt to exploit the United States for billions of dollars in foreign aid.

6 TV or Not TV Brain invents dentures that give him a smile that can hypnotize anyone that sees them without sunglasses. He goes on to attempt to become a celebrity (a stand-up comic specifically) in order to achieve mass population control. When starting out on his first show, he uses the jokes used by other comics, which gets him instant boos. But when he starts insulting the audience, everyone bursts out laughing, showing the benefits of his friendship with Pinky.

7 Napoleon Brainaparte After inventing exploding crepes, Brain is mistaken for Napoleon Bonaparte and rises to the seat of power.

8 A Pinky and the Brain Christmas Brain builds a toy based on him called a “Noodle-Noggin Doll”, which has the power to hypnotize people so he can order the world to obey him. Taking a job as one of Santa’s elves, he puts the doll on every Christmas list in the world, so that every household receives a doll. When the time comes to switch the machine on, Pinky is horrified to find his letter to Santa wasn’t given to him and gets upset, but Brain isn’t interested and forces Pinky to man the equipment. However, just before the machine is switched on Brain starts reading Pinky’s letter to Santa which praises Brain despite the fact he can’t succeed, and asks Santa to give all of Pinky’s presents to Brain. Brain, finally realizing how much of a selfish jerk he had been to his best pal, bursts into tears and orders the world to have a merry Christmas, after which he smashes the machine. Pinky gives Brain a keyring Earth for which Brain is truly grateful.

9 Snowball Brain conducts a chain letter scheme that will make him the ruler of the world by simply spelling “you will bow before the Brain” backwards. But unknown to the pair that Brain’s childhood friend (now his worst enemy), Snowball (a genetically altered hamster), has been spying on them and stole Brain’s plan. Brain becomes frustrated and creates a new holiday, Wink Martindale Day, and closes the post office. Snowball then tries to convince Pinky that Brain is only using him and offered him fudge, but Pinky refuses to believe him. Later, Snowball buys out the world with his incredible wealth, and builds a Pinky themed amusement park. Pinky begins to consider Snowball’s offer, to which Brain replies, unbeknownst to Pinky’s talk with Snowball, “Oh, go ahead, Pinky; I don’t need you. What, do you think I just have you around so I can steal your brilliant ideas and claim them as my own? That I’m just using you? Oh, yes, I’m using you for your brilliance.” Pinky, unable to distinguish that he was being sarcastic, accepts Snowball’s offer, but misses Brain terribly. The episode ends when Brain snaps and challenges Snowball to a fight.

10 Around the World in 80 Narfs Brain attempts to circumnavigate the globe in 79 days in order to become the president of the Pompous Explorers Club, a position that typically leads to becoming the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Pinky and the Brain travel east around the world and reach New York, and only need to take an already scheduled ship to Britain to secure Brain’s position as Prime Minister. But upon catching a cab to the pier, the driver only speaks ‘New York Cabbie’, the one language that Pinky’s guidebook does not contain, so Brain loses the challenge.

11 Fly Brain buys out all real estate above the 39th floor, and then he and Pinky travel to the Hubble telescope in an attempt to melt the ice caps and flood the Earth.

12.1 Ambulatory Abe Brain converts the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial into a robot to make people believe that Lincoln has returned and that he will be returned to power immediately.

12.2 Mouse of La Mancha Brain tells the story of “Don Cerebro”, a mouse with plans to take over the world.

13.1 The Third Mouse Pinky searches for Brain in post-World War II Vienna, despite constant attempts from individuals who convince him that Brain is dead.

13.2 The Visit While attempting to lure white mice into the Labs for his latest plan, Brain discovers two that are his parents and immediately creates devices to give them intelligence, but his parents drive him off the deep end and he sends them to Florida, fooling them into thinking the trip is only a vacation.

A CSTR model of heterogeneous catalytic oxidation of CO and C2H2 exhibits various types of dynamical behavior (multiple steady states, oscillatory behavior) that are caused by a complex interaction of multiple reaction and absorption steps. For a lumped model, we report results of the stoichiometric network analysis of CO and C2H2 oxidation using a detailed kinetic reaction scheme of a three-way catalytic converter. The reaction subnetworks determine feedback loops, which cause the oscillations within certain regions of parameters in bifurcation diagrams constructed by numerical continuation techniques. We use these results to find conditions in a spatially one-dimensional reaction-diffusion-convection model for occurrence of travelling concentration waves.

Catalytic oxidation of CO is the most often studied oscillatory heterogeneous catalytic reaction. Oscillations in the course of CO oxidation on the porous platinum catalyst and on CuO/Al2O3 were reported since the 1970s.50 Under low-pressure conditions, the CO oxidation on platinum single-crystal surfaces was found to proceed via a Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism.51 Under oscillatory conditions, the interaction of transport and reaction steps leads to the development of various spatiotemporal patterns, including rotating spiral waves, target patterns, and chemical turbulence.52 We are interested in catalytic converters (TWC).53 CO and hydrocarbons are oxidized and nitrogen oxides are reduced. Recently, a detailed kinetic reaction scheme for reactions in the TWC has been proposed.54 Here we focus on subnetworks that involve CO and C2H2 (a prototypical hydrocarbon) oxidation and identify feedbacks and autocatalytic loops leading to oscillations using the stoichiometric network analysis.55 The predicted oscillatory instabilities are used to elucidate bifurcation diagrams calculated by numerical continuation56 for a lumped model of the catalytic converter. Building on this analysis, in a specifically one-dimensional model with axial diffusion/dispersion, we study concentration waves travelling along the reactor.

Lumped parameter model

This model consists of two isothermal continuous stirred tank reactors (CSTRs) with mutual mass exchange (Koči et al., 2004). The subset of a detailed kinetic reaction mechanism involving CO and C2H2 (found in Table 1) is taken from Nibbelke et al. (1998) and Harmsen et al. (2001). The model consists of three sets of mass balance equations in the bulk gas phase, in the pores of the catalyst and on the catalyst surface:

where c is the concentration in the bulk gas, cs is the concentration in the porous space, θ is the coverage of noble metal sites (Pt), ς is the coverage of oxygen storage sites (Ce), kc is the mass transfer coefficient, a is the specific external surface area, R is the reaction rate, v denotes the stoichiometric coefficient, LNM (80.0 mol m-3) is the concentration of noble metal sites (Pt), LOSC (0.1 mol m-3) is the concentration of oxygen storage sites (Ce), εg (0.917) is the macroscopic porosity (void fraction) of the reactor, εs (0.8) is the porosity of the washcoat, u (20.8 s-1 at 273.15 K) is the space velocity, and ι is time.

A further step beyond the CSTR approximation is to add transport phenomena. The effect of combining reaction and axial diffusion/dispersion has been studied using a spatially one-dimensional model based on local mass balances of each species in a 1D tubular flow reactor (TFR):

where y(t,z) is a vector of concentrations and v and D are (diagonal) matrixes of convection and diffusion/dispersion coefficients. The term f(y) represents kinetics of the reaction mechanism described in Eqs. (1)-(3).

Stoichiometric network analysis and classification of oscillatory dynamics

The analysis of possible sources of oscillatory behavior in the TWC reaction mechanism was initiated in.57 The analysis begins with determination of a set of reaction rate vectors of major (or extreme) subnetworks from stoichiometric constraints imposed on steady states of the reaction mechanism (assumed to take place in the CSTR) and a subsequent stability analysis (Clarke, 1980). Any steady state reaction rate vector in the network is a linear combination of the rate vectors of the extreme subnetworks, which form a basis of simplest or elementary pathways defining characteristic models available in the network. In geometric terms, the space of all admissible (i.e., non-negative) rate vectors is an open cone with the extreme subnetworks forming its edges (1-faces). Certain pairs of edges span 2-faces, etc. The edges and the faces constitute a natural hierarchy of increasingly complex subnetworks whose stability is examined to reveal potential sources of oscillatory behavior by determining conditions for a Hopf bifurcation. At the Hopf bifurcation, a classification and determination of the role of species in oscillations58, 59 can be done, for example, by calculating mutual phase shifts of oscillating species or other methods.60

With this information, we can interpret the bifurcation diagram of the model (1)-(3) obtained by numerical continuation. We focus on simultaneous CO and C2H2 oxidation according to Tab. 1. By taking the inlet molar percent of oxygen yinO2 and the temperature Tin as variable parameters, we construct the bifurcation diagram in Fig. 15. There is a closed bow-like curve of a saddle-node bifurcation enclosing a region of multiple steady states. The Hopf bifurcation curves terminating at the saddle-node bifurcation indicate two regions of stable oscillatory dynamics outside the multiple steady state region. The Hopf curves enter the multiple steady state region and meet in a ben at yinO2 ≈ 0.78. This bend corresponds to the stoichiometric amount of oxygen. Such a situation indicates that two different unstable subnetworks generating oscillations are associated with the sub- and super-stoichiometric regions.

According to the classification system of chemical oscillators,61 each of the two oscillatory regions is tied up with a particular topology distinct to the oscillatory subnetwork. We use the stoichiometric analysis outlined above to conclude that the occurrence of oscillations in the two regions of the bifurcation diagram in Fig. 15 is accounted for by two unstable subnetworks shown in Fig. 16. The subnetwork in Fig. 16a corresponds to the surplus of oxygen. It involves the Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism whereby both O2 and CO absorb first, and the absorbed forms react to produce CO2 and regenerate active catalytic sites. The autocatalytic cycle involves reactions 1 and 3 and the species CO* and * (autocatalytic species). An instability is achieved by combining this cycle with an exit reaction 2,62 involving O2 (exit species). Finally, the oscillatory instability is made possible by the presence of CO and its flow-controlled availability. There is a negative cycle feedback exerted by CO (negative feedback species) upon itself via the path through CO* and * implying that the autocatalysis depletes the supply of CO, which must be replenished by the feed at a later time, leading thus to oscillations. The subnetwork in Fig. 16b corresponds to a sub-stoichiometric oscillator. The autocatalytic cycle passes through *, O* and OCO*. The exit and the negative feedback species are CO and O2, respectively. The topology of the subnetwork corresponds to the Eley-Riedel mechanism: oxygen is adsorbed on an active site and subsequently reacts with gaseous CO to provide an adsorbed carbon dioxide species OCO*.

Travelling waves in 1D-system

Waves in spatially distributed media can occur due to a nonlinear chemical reaction coupled with transport. Solitary travelling pulse and front waves represent the simplest cases. Pulses are associated with the occurrence of excitable conditions while fronts can be found in regions with multiple steady states, i.e., one can use the bifurcation diagram in Fig. 15 to determine the regions where waves in the TFR can be expected.

The system of partial differential equations (4) has been solved by direct numerical integration using method of lines with no-flux boundary conditions on tubular reactor with length L = 100 mm. The choice of boundary conditions has no effect on the shape of observed waves. Assuming that only species in the gas phase can be transported by diffusion/dispersion, we set the relevant coefficients of the matrix D to 10-4 m2s-1, the inlet oxygen concentration was fixed, yinO2 - 0.7 mol %, and the spatiotemporal dynamics have been studied with respect to temperature Tin. In correspondence with Fig. 15, for higher values of Tin only one steady state can be found, and dynamics in TFR leads to a spatially homogeneous profile with high concentration of CO, i.e., the overall conversion is very low. Below Tin ≈ 607 K, the region of multiple steady states occurs and is travelling front which transforms the low-conversion steady state to that in which a high-conversion is found, see Fig. 17. The travelling front moves toward the inlet with the velocity of 15 mm/s when the flow velocity v is set to zero. This implies that the maximal v for achieving a high overall conversion is just equal to the front velocity.

A systematic approach to the analysis of complex chemical reaction networks and reactor dynamics was applied to a detailed kinetic scheme of simultaneous oxidation of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons occurring in a three-way catalytic converter. The stoichiometric network analysis was used to find positive and negative feedbacks that may cause oscillations of reaction components in the lumped isothermal model of the reactor. These results were used to explain the structure of the bifurcation diagrams obtained by numerical continuation. Thus, one can make an educated choice of conditions for a spatially 1D model to display travelling concentration waves.

ARTS VENTURE COMPETITION

The biennial Arts Venture Competition is designed to reward new thinking and viable, innovative ideas with a $2,000 award for the winner. The NFA Annual Convention will include four 15-minute presentations by competition finalists (individuals or teams of up to three people, with a minimum of one person required to be an NFA member per team), summarizing their proposed projects. Finalists’ projects will demonstrate creativity, added value to the flute community, and potential for success. Projects could include a new kind of collaboration with community arts organizations, an online course, a series of performances, an outreach program, etc. All finalists (individuals or teams) will receive a certificate. The winner or winning team will receive a $2,000 award and must submit a report documenting how the award was spent over the course of the following nine months. The winner or winning team will be invited to speak at the following year’s convention at the Career and Artistic Development Committee’s Career Mini-Conferences.

Application process: Complete NFA competitions application form, located at nfaonline.org/Annual-Convention/Competitions/; Pay entry fee of $70; Provide biography (300-character limit) of applicant; Be current member of the NFA.

Submit the following proposals to decisiondesk.com: Overview, Detailed Budget, Proposal for Finalist Presentation at the 2014 NFA Convention (.docx or .pdf), and Sample Advertisement Artwork (.png or .jpg). Optional: Upload a promotional video link for the proposal that is less than three minutes in length.

BAROQUE FLUTE MASTERCLASS COMPETITION

The triennial Baroque Flute Masterclass Competition selects baroque flutists of any age attending the convention and interested in performing for a master teacher. Three applicants of the highest proficiency will be chosen to perform at the convention in Chicago, Illinois. You are no longer required to be enrolled in school to participate in this competition.

Application process: Complete NFA competitions application form, located at nfaonline.org/Annual-Convention/Competitions/; Pay entry fee of $55; Provide biography (300-character limit) of applicant; Be current member of the NFA.

Baroque Flute Masterclass Competition audition recorded repertoire must be performed on Baroque flute/traverso (with harpsichord when basso continuo is specified). All pieces should be played with repeats as written, with ornamentation at the performer’s discretion, and presented in the following order:

Joseph Bodin de Boismortier: Sonata Seconda (Op. 19, No. 2), movements I. Allemande, IV. Largo, V. Gigue (SPES recommended); Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach: Sonata in A Minor, Wq. 128, movement II. Allegro (Amadeus).

COLLEGIATE FLUTE CHOIR COMPETITION

The Collegiate Flute Choir Competition selects college students to perform in the Collegiate Flute Choir, which provides opportunities for these students to participate in the NFA convention. All applicants must be undergraduates who have been enrolled in an accredited institution in 2013-2014.

Application process: Complete NFA competitions application form, located at nfaonline.org/Annual-Convention/Competitions/; Pay entry fee of $55; Provide biography (300-character limit) of applicant; Be current member of the NFA.

All applicants must play the C flute selection. Piccolo, alto, and bass selections are for those interested in performing on those instruments. Notate on the entry form all the instruments on which you are auditioning. Applicants are required to play pieces in the order listed on the audition recording. All excerpts should be played with piano accompaniment if there is one.

National Collegiate Flute Choir recorded repertoire, presented in the following order by ALL applicants:

C flute: Georges Enesco: Cantabile et Presto (any edition) (must be accompanied by piano or SmartMusic™).

Applicants wishing to perform on piccolo, alto, or bass in the flute choir must also add the following to their audition recording:

Piccolo: David Loeb: Preludes Volume III for solo piccolo, III. Akitsuki and VIII. Denshoh (ALRY); Alto: David Gunn: Lunar Mural I for alto flute and CD playback, *MM 1-89 only (David Ross Gunn); Bass: Gabriel Fauré: Morceau de concours. (must be accompanied by piano or SmartMusic™).

CONVENTION PERFORMERS COMPETITION

The Convention Performers Competition is open to all professional flutists and flute teachers. Winners will perform repertoire assigned by the Program Chair during the 2014 Chicago convention. The NFA will provide a staff accompanist for the convention performance if necessary, although winners may bring their own accompanists. Applicants to the Convention Performers Competition are eligible to win this competition a maximum of two times.

Application process: Complete NFA competitions application form, located at nfaonline.org/Annual-Convention/Competitions/; Pay entry fee of $55; Provide biography (300-character limit) of applicant; Be current member of the NFA.

Convention Performers audition recorded repertoire, presented in the following order:

Gergely Ittzés: Totem (Falls House Press); Anze Rozman: Phoenix, III. The Last Flight – Death (ALRY Publications). Must be played with piano accompaniment.

FLUTE CHOIR COMPOSITION COMPETITION

The Flute Choir Composition Competition is for composers who write works for flute choir/flute orchestra, including piccolo, concert flute, alto flute, bass flute, and optional contrabass flute. Composition should include a minimum of six parts, including any combination of instrumentation from piccolo to bass flute and optional contrabass flute. This annual competition calls for one work each year designated for performance by the Professional Flute Choir, High School Flute Choir, and Collegiate Flute Choir in rotation. The 2014 winning composition will be performed by the National High School Flute Choir during the 2014 NFA Convention in Chicago, Illinois, on Sunday, August 10. Judges will award a $2,000 cash prize to the winner of the competition. Prize monies will be paid by check in U.S. dollars, not by wire transfer or by other specialized financial services. Conversion of funds is the responsibility of each prize winner.

The winning publication will be on display in the exhibit area during the convention, and a final report listing the winner will appear on the NFA’s website at nfaonline.org.

Scores must be accompanied by a statement (“attestation statement”) attesting that the work has not yet been premiered. The NFA reserves the right to disqualify any submission that, in its judgment, fails to reflect the spirit of those rules of eligibility.

Submissions are judged anonymously. Please remove any identifying composer or copyright information from submitted scores, parts, and sound files.

Applicants should provide electronic sound files (MP3 or WAV) or “reading” recordings of the submitted work, with which applicant is artistically satisfied and that accurately reflect the composer’s intentions. The recording is extremely important to the adjudication process. Please assume that the NFA will not secure a recorded performance of your work for the adjudication process. Applicants waive all rights for publication, broadcasting, and recording of their premiere and/or performance. Composition remains property of the composer. Decisions of the competition judges are final. Competitions are subject to all rules and regulations listed in this brochure. Applicants accept the competition rules unconditionally and without reservation.

Application process: Complete NFA competitions application form, located at nfaonline.org/Annual-Convention/Competitions/; Upload one copy of the score and parts for composition, without any identifying composer or copyright information; Include short essay explaining composition; Include attestation statement of original and new work; Upload electronic sound files (MP3 or WAV) of your work (please do NOT label with composer name); Pay entry fee of $20.

GRADUATE RESEARCH COMPETITION

The 2014 NFA Convention will include up to two presentations by recent master’s or doctoral graduates summarizing their dissertations, theses, treatises, or other substantial research projects that have been selected for their outstanding contributions to flute study. The presentations are intended to expose fine new scholarly work by NFA members and to promote the value of research. Applicants must be NFA members who have completed a graduate degree at the time of application, earned no more than five years prior to the convention. Projects submitted for consideration should be original research and not previously published. Applicants who have previously presented materials from their graduate research at an NFA convention must make a proposal that is significantly different from the earlier presentation. The proposal should note the earlier presentation and explain how this one will differ. A committee of NFA members will review the submissions and select up to two winners based on the quality of research, the abstract, and the proposal. Each winner will be invited to give a 25-minute presentation highlighting the important contributions of the dissertation/thesis/treatise/project at the 2014 convention in Chicago, Illinois. The abstracts of the winners’ doctoral papers will be published in The Flutist Quarterly.

Application process: Complete NFA competitions application form, located at decisiondesk.com; Pay entry fee of $20; Provide biography (300-character limit) of applicant; Be current member of the NFA; Upload the following to decisiondesk.com: abstract, table of contents, a sample chapter, and a detailed proposal for a 25-minute presentation; Submit the following via regular mail: one BOUND copy of the doctoral dissertation/thesis/treatise to competition coordinator.

Do not include your name or affiliation on the proposal or abstract. Incomplete entries will not be judged. Copies of dissertations/theses/treatises will be deposited in the NFA Resource Collection after review.

HIGH SCHOOL SOLOIST COMPETITION

The 30th annual High School Soloist Competition for outstanding high school flutists will have eight finalists selected on the basis of their recorded preliminary auditions to compete at the 2014 convention in Chicago, Illinois. Judges will award cash prizes to the finalists of $500, $250, and $150. In addition, the $400 Geoffrey Gilbert Scholarship will be awarded to the first-place winner, to be used for further flute study with any teacher who is a member of the NFA. The $300 Deveau Scholarship is awarded to the finalist who gives the best performance of the newly commissioned work. Prize monies will be paid by check in U.S. dollars, not by wire transfer or by other specialized financial services. Conversion of funds is the responsibility of each prize winner. All applicants must have been enrolled full-time in an accredited institution in grades 9–12 in high school or the equivalent and be between the ages of 14–19 in 2013–14. Teacher must be a current NFA member.

Application process: Complete NFA competitions application form, located at nfaonline.org/Annual-Convention/Competitions/; Pay entry fee of $55; Provide biography (300-character limit) of applicant; Be current member of the NFA.

High School Soloist recorded round repertoire, presented in the following order:

Gabriel Fauré: Fantasie, Op. 79, for flute and piano (G. Schirmer/Hal Leonard) (must be accompanied by piano or Smart Music™); One of the following: (a) Paul Hindemith: Acht Stücke, Movements I, II, III, IV, and V. (Edition Schott) OR (b) Berglind Tómasdóttir: Bambaló.

No repertoire substitutions will be accepted. Read all details related to required selections carefully including keys, opus numbers, movements, and publishers. JAZZ SOLOIST COMPETITION

The biennial Jazz Soloist Competition is open to all flutists. Two winning competitors will be selected to perform during the 2014 Chicago convention as jazz soloist with a rhythm section consisting of piano, bass, and drums. The rhythm section will be provided by the NFA. The winners will perform their own choice of four jazz standards for their convention performance. There will be one rehearsal with the rhythm section scheduled during the convention, prior to the performance.

Application process: Complete NFA competitions application form, located at nfaonline.org/Annual-Convention/Competitions/; Pay entry fee of $55; Provide biography (300-character limit) of applicant; Be current member of the NFA.

Applicants may play either C flute, piccolo, alto, or bass flute on their recordings. Each selection should include one to two improvised choruses. Recordings must not be edited, nor should they contain studio-produced effects. Audition repertoire should be played with jazz piano, guitar, and full rhythm section accompaniment OR with a play-along recording (i.e. Aebersold, Band-in-a-Box, iRealb app).

Jazz Soloist Competition audition recorded repertoire, presented in the following order:

Charlie Parker: Dexterity; Frank Churchill/Larry Morey: Some Day My Prince Will Come; Antonio Carlos Jobim: any one composition.

Improvisation on submitted recordings is required by all applicants on each piece.

MASTERCLASS PERFORMERS COMPETITION

The Masterclass Performers Competition selects college students to perform at the convention. The competition is open to any flutist who is an undergraduate or graduate full-time student enrolled in an accredited institution at a college, university, or conservatory during the 2013-14 academic year.

Application process: Complete NFA competitions application form, located at nfaonline.org/Annual-Convention/Competitions/; Pay entry fee of $55; Provide biography (300-character limit) of applicant; Be current member of the NFA.

Masterclass Performers Competition audition recorded repertoire, presented in the following order:

Jacques Ibert: Pièce pour flûte seule (Leduc); Charles-Marie Widor: Suite for flute and piano, Op. 34, II. Scherzo, and III. Romance (any edition).

NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL FLUTE CHOIR COMPETITION

The High School Flute Choir Competition selects high school students to perform in the National High School Flute Choir. All applicants must have been enrolled full-time in an accredited institution in grades 9–12 in high school before the start of the convention and be between the ages of 14–19 on the first day of the convention. Teacher must be current NFA member.

Application process: Complete NFA competitions application form, located at nfaonline.org/Annual-Convention/Competitions/; Pay entry fee of $55; Provide biography (300-character limit) of applicant; Be current member of the NFA.

All applicants MUST play the C flute selection. The piccolo, alto, and bass selections are for those interested in performing on those instruments. Applicants auditioning on piccolo, alto, or bass are responsible for bringing these instruments with them for use during the convention if selected to perform. All excerpts should be played with piano or SmartMusicTM accompaniment, when applicable, and each piece should be recorded on a separate track.

National High School Flute Choir recorded repertoire, presented in the following order: C Flute: Arnold Cooke: Sonatina for flute and piano, II. Andantino and III. Allegro vivace (Oxford University Press).

Applicants wishing to perform on piccolo, alto, or bass in the flute choir must also add to their recording: Piccolo: Gary Schocker: Sonata for piccolo and piano, II. In olden style (Theodore Presser Company); Alto Flute: Kathleen Vadala: Sea Change for alto flute and piano, no repeats (Southern Music Company); Bass Flute: J. S. Bach: Partita in A Minor for flute alone, III. Sarabande, no repeats (any edition).

NEWLY PUBLISHED MUSIC COMPETITION

The Newly Published Music Competition is a competition for publishers of music who are businesses and legitimate members of the publishing community. Though the competition regularly examines new compositions for flute, it is not, per se, a competition for new compositions for flute. The competition specifically discourages submissions from composers who make their music available on demand. While anyone may make submissions for the competition, the competition endeavors to recognize, in priority, the publisher.

The winning publications will be performed, if possible, during the 2014 convention in Chicago or during a subsequent convention and will also be given high priority as required works for subsequent NFA competitions. A final report listing winners, finalists, and honorable mentions will appear on the NFA’s website at nfaonline.org. They will also be on display in the exhibit area during the convention (attended by more than 2,000 flutists). Any new publication or newly re-edited publication for solo flute, flute and electronics, flute and keyboard, flute duet/trio/quartet, flute choir, flute plus one to five instruments, woodwind quintet, and pedagogical works for flute published during 2013 is eligible. If a piece is written for multiple instruments, all parts should be submitted with the score. Any publication not bearing a 2013 copyright mark must be accompanied by a statement attesting that the work is receiving its first publication during this period. The NFA reserves the right to disqualify any submission that in its judgment fails to reflect the spirit of those rules of eligibility. Please note that the term “flute” means any member of the transverse flute family including the piccolo and baroque traverso. This contest does not consider works for the recorder or whistle-like instruments. The term “keyboard” means piano, harpsichord, keyboard percussion, or electronic synthesizer.

Application process: Publisher’s contact information; NFA competitions application form is NOT needed.

ORCHESTRAL AUDITION AND MASTERCLASS COMPETITION

The Orchestral Audition and Masterclass Competition is open to flutists who are age 30 or younger by the final day of the 2014 convention and are capable of demonstrating a high level of playing ability. This competition is in two sections: an actual mock audition and a masterclass. Three finalists will be chosen to perform a mock audition at the Chicago, Illinois convention, where prizes of $750, $500, and $250 will be awarded during the closing ceremonies. Prize monies will be paid by check in U.S. dollars, not by wire transfer or by other specialized financial services. Conversion of funds is the responsibility of each prize winner. A masterclass will be held with winners playing the same repertoire as in the mock audition itself. Competitions are subject to all rules and regulations listed in this brochure. Previous first-prize winners in this competition are ineligible to compete again.

Application process: Complete NFA competitions application form, located at nfaonline.org/Annual-Convention/Competitions/; Pay entry fee of $70; Provide biography (300-character limit) of applicant; Be current member of the NFA.

Orchestral Audition and Masterclass Competition recorded repertoire (accompaniment is not necessary for this recording), presented in the following order: Béla Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra, flute I, mvt. IV: mm. 139-144; Cristoph Willibald Gluck: Dance of the Blessed Spirits, flute I, Lento excerpt (mm. 29-downbeat of m. 64), without da capo.; Giachino Rossini: William Tell Overture, flute I, mm. 181-226; Igor Stravinsky: Firebird Suite (1919 version), flute I, “Variation de l’oiseau de feu” (rehearsal 9 to 5 measures after rehearsal 18).

PICCOLO ARTIST COMPETITION

The Biennial Piccolo Artist Competition is for outstanding players of the piccolo. A jury will select six semi-finalists on the basis of their recorded preliminary auditions to compete at the 2014 convention in Chicago, Illinois. Judges will choose three finalists to appear in a convention recital. The NFA will provide a staff accompanist for the semi-final rounds, although competitors may bring their own accompanists. Judges will award cash prizes of $1,500, $750, and $400 to the finalists and $100 to each semifinalist not chosen as a finalist. All applicants must be age 30 or younger by the final day of the 2014 convention. Previous first-prize winners in this competition are ineligible to compete again.

Application process: Complete NFA competitions application form (including final round repertoire); Pay entry fee of $70; Provide biography (300-character limit) of applicant and any living composers included in final round repertoire; Be current member of the NFA.

Preliminary recorded audition repertoire, presented in the following order: Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto in C Major, RV 444, P.78, F. VI No. 5, II. Largo and III. Allegro molto (any edition); John La Montaine: Sonata for Piccolo and Piano, Op. 61, I. With driving force, not fast (Fredonia); Thea Musgrave: Piccolo Play: In Homage to Couperin, I. L’Enchanteresse, III. Le Pateline, IV. Les Papillons, and VI. Le Bruit de Guerre (Novello).

Semifinal Round repertoire, at the convention in Chicago:

Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto for Piccolo in C Major, RV 443, P. 79, F.VI no. 4, I. Allegro (any edition); Lowell Liebermann: Concerto for piccolo, II. Adagio (Presser); Martin Amlin: Ephemeropterae for Solo Piccolo, I and II (2004) (Presser); Franco Donatoni: Nidi, Two Pieces of Piccolo, mvt. II (part two) only (1979) (Ricordi).

Please note: It is your discretion to choose the Vivaldi selections for the recorded round. For both Vivaldi selections, the dynamics, articulation, and select ornaments are at the discretion of the performer.

Final audition repertoire, at the convention in Chicago: total maximum time is 25 minutes (including final round required piece, time between movements, applause, etc.). Please time your program carefully, as all competitors will be stopped after 25 minutes. The required piece will be seven minutes in duration and will be sent to the semi-finalists in early June. Each finalist shall create a program demonstrating artistic maturity, technical and tonal qualities, and knowledge of program design and balance excluding any repetitions of preliminary or semi-final repertoire. However, since repertoire for the piccolo is limited, keyboard reductions for concerti will be allowed, as well as one piccolo transcription, if desired. Final round repertoire, including titles, movements, exact timings, composer’s dates, and publishers, must accompany the application. Competitors shall be bound by their original selections. PROFESSIONAL FLUTE CHOIR COMPETITION

The Professional Flute Choir Competition is open to all professional flutists and flute teachers. A jury will select a flute choir consisting of a minimum of 14 players to perform pre-selected repertoire during the 2014 Chicago convention.

Application process: Complete NFA competitions application form, located at nfaonline.org/Annual-Convention/Competitions/; Pay entry fee of $55; Provide biography (300-character limit) of applicant; Be current member of the NFA.

All applicants must play the C flute selection. The piccolo, alto, and bass selections are for those interested in performing on those instruments. Remember to notate on the entry form whether or not you have any of these instruments available for your convention use. Applicants are requested to play pieces in the order listed on the audition recording. All excerpts should be played with piano accompaniment when prescribed.

Professional Flute Choir recorded repertoire, presented in the following order by ALL applicants: C flute: Claude Pascal: Six Pièces Variées, movements 4. Prélude à L’Automne and 5. Au fil de l’eau (Durand).

If applicant wishes to perform on piccolo, alto, or bass in the flute choir, applicant must also add the following to the audition recording: Piccolo: Jean-Michel Damase: Insectes, movement 4, Allegro giocoso (Billaudot); Alto flute: William Noll: Nocturne (ALRY Publications); Bass flute: Gary Schocker: Small Sonata for a Large Flute, Movement 3, Snappy (Falls House Press).

YOUNG ARTIST COMPETITION

The 36th annual Young Artist Competition is for outstanding flutists. A jury will select 15 preliminary round competitors on the basis of the recorded round. These competitors will perform an unaccompanied live audition in Chicago on Wednesday, August 6, 2014. Judges will select six semi-finalists from the live preliminary auditions to compete at the 2014 convention and will then choose three finalists to appear in a convention recital. The NFA will provide a staff accompanist for the semifinal and final rounds, although competitors may elect to bring their own accompanists at their own expense. Judges will award cash prizes to the finalists of $5,000, $2,500, and $1,000. Prize monies will be paid by check in U.S. dollars, not by wire transfer or by other specialized financial services. Conversion of funds is the responsibility of each prize winner. The NFA will present the first-prize winner in a performance at its 2015 convention and announce the winner in The Flutist Quarterly. All applicants must be age 30 or younger by the final day of the 2014 convention. Previous first-prize winners in this competition are ineligible to compete again.

Application process: Complete NFA competitions application form, located at nfaonline.org/Annual-Convention/Competitions/; Provide biographies (300-character limit) of applicant and any living composers included in final round repertoire; Be current member of the NFA.

Qualifying round recorded audition repertoire, presented in the following order: Robert Dick: Flying Lessons, Vol. 1 #6 (Multiple Breath Music); Georg Philipp Telemann: Fantasia No. 2 in A Minor (with repeats, ornamentation at the performer’s discretion) (Breitkopf &Hartel); Francis Poulenc: Sonata (all movements) (Chester Music) (must be recorded with piano accompaniment).

Quarter-final round repertoire, to be performed unaccompanied on Wednesday, August 6, 2014, in Chicago: J. Misurell-Mitchell: Sometimes the City is Silent; Johann Sebastian Bach: Partita in A Minor, Allemande (no repeats, ornamentation at the performer’s discretion); Niccolo Paganini: Caprice #20 (no repeats).

Semi-final audition repertoire, at the convention in Chicago: Newly commissioned work for the competition (music will be sent in June); Johann Gottfried Müthel: Sonata in D Major, movements I and II (no repeats, ornamentation at the performer’s discretion) (Masters Publications); Jules Demersseman: Grand Air Varié.

No repertoire substitutions will be accepted. Read all details related to required selections carefully including keys, opus numbers, movements, and publishers. If your local store cannot locate music for you, please contact one of the commercial members listed in the membership directory or consult the advertisers in The Flutist Quarterly.

Final audition repertoire, at the convention in Chicago: total maximum time is 25 minutes (including time between movements, etc.). Each finalist shall create a program demonstrating artistic maturity, technical and tonal qualities, and knowledge of program design and balance, excluding any repetitions of recorded, quarter-final, or semi-final repertoire or any concerti. Please time your program carefully, as all competitors will be stopped after 25 minutes. Performers may omit repeats, long introductions or interludes in the piano score, or entire selected movements or variations. Otherwise, cuts are not permitted in the final round repertoire selection. The entire proposed program should come in under the 25-minute maximum. Since the YAC is primarily a C-flute competition, the vast majority of final round repertoire must be performed on C flute. Works must be unaccompanied OR accompanied by piano (e.g. no works for flute and electronics or flute and harpsichord). Final round repertoire, including titles, movements, exact timings, composer’s dates, and publishers, must accompany the application. Competitors shall be bound by their original selections.

The enamels of advanced cimolodontan multituberculate teeth from the Paleocene Bug Creek Anthills locality in Montana were found to be prismatic.63 It was later hypothesized that members of the suborder Taeniolabidoidea64 had enamel with exceptionally widely spaced prisms never seen before in fossil or extant mammalian enamels, whereas members of the suborder Ptilodontoidea had enamels consisting of small prisms like all other known extinct or extant mammalian enamels. The exceptional taeniolabidoid enamel was called “gigantoprismatic”.65 This hypothesis was confirmed independently seven years later by one North American team66, 67 and one European team.68

In enamel formation of extant mammals, the closely apposed columnar ameloblasts are hexagonally arranged in cross sections planoparallel with the ameloblast/enamel contact surface. Each ameloblast produces one prism rod and half the thickness of its surrounding interprismatic enamel. Therefore, the prisms are also hexagonally distributed in such sectional planes. The enamel prisms run from the dentin−enamel junction to the outer surface of the enamel mantle.69, 70 Hunter−Schreger bands seen in longitudinal sections characterize their centrifugal course in most mammalian enamels.71 Fig. 18 is a diagrammatic description of prismatic enamel in a section tangential to the enamel surface. The prisms are represented by hexagonally distributed circles. The hexagon in the lower left corner represents the cross-sectional secretory area of one ameloblast producing a prism and half the thickness of interprismatic enamel along its peripheral rim. It is evident that there are as many contiguous hexagons with common sides as circles in the diagram. Such hexagons cannot easily be delineated and measured in a less regular prism pattern. However, the area of a tetragon with its corners in the centers of four adjacent cross-cut prisms equals the secretory area of one ameloblast, since there are as many contiguous tetragons as prisms in such a distributional pattern.72 It is not difficult to plot approximate geometrical centers of cross−cut prisms. The area of each tetragon is the sum of the areas of the two triangles formed by the shorter diagonal. The area of a tetragon is thus easily calculated. One mm2 divided by the mean tetragon area expresses the number of prisms per mm2 and thus also the original ameloblast number per mm2.73 The diameters of the prisms are without consequence for these values. Prismatic diameters vary independently from central distances between prisms and only reflect diameters of Tome’s processes inameloblasts.74, 75, 76

In Fig. 19, showing planed and etched enamel of the cimolodontan multituberculate Meniscoessus sp., the scale bar in the original photo represents 10 μm and measured 40 mm. The linear magnification was thus 4000x. The mean length of the sides of the traced pair of adjoining triangles constituting the tetragon in the original photo was 61.5 mm. The following proportion is then valid: 10/40 = d/61.5. Thus d = (10 * 61.5)/40 = 15.375 μm, d being the true length of the mean triangle side, hence called central distance (CD), in the Meniscoessus enamel in Fig. 19. The number of cross−cut prisms per mm2 is given by the general equation: a = (2*106) / (d2*3½) where a is the number of prisms per mm2. The exponent “½” signifies square root. For the Meniscoessus specimen, the numerical prism density in the micrographed enamel location is 4884/mm2.

For any enamel, the calculated mean CD and number of prisms/mm2 are never exact values but good statistical approximations. Only in small enamel areas are cross-cut prisms regularly arranged as in Fig. 19. The numerical prism density is ideally computed by the mean tetragon area defined by the sides in a pair of triangles joined by one common side.77 However, the average CD is less time consuming to calculate and use; this method was first applied by Carlson and Krause.79 The results are close to and do not seem to deviate systematically from the density calculated by the mean tetragon area expressed by the contiguous triangles of the measured enamel surface.

When only four given cross-cut adjacent prisms, describing one tetragon, are used for calculation, the errors in plotting centers and measuring the central distances will be greater than if several contiguous tetragons are traced.80

Except the untreated Bolodon crassidens enamel in Fig. 23, the following enamel micrographs depict planed and etched surfaces planoparallel with the natural outer enamel surface and have been presented in separate earlier publications by the author.

Gigantoprismatic enamels have until now been observed in numerous multituberculates.85 In the superfamily Ptilodontoidea, normal prismatic enamels seem characteristic, as well as in many other known extant and extinct mammals.86, 87, 88, 89 Central distances in gigantoprismatic enamel imply ameloblast diameters that have never been seen in any extant vertebrate. Moreover, to my knowledge, no other secretory columnar epithelium with such large cells is known elsewhere in the body of extant mammals. Therefore, it is safe to maintain that the gigantoprismatic enamel demonstrates a unique anatomical character in mammalian evolution.

The montage in Fig. 20 demonstrates the difference between gigantoprismatic and normal prismatic enamel. The magnification is the same in A and B, and, in both micrographs, the centers of 12 adjacent prisms have been connected in groups, each forming a continuous cluster of 12 triangles. The difference in size is obvious, but less striking than in many other comparisons between normal and gigantoprismatic enamels with identical magnification. Clusters of triangles describe more accurately the mean CD, the marginal errors in plotting and measuring single, separate triangles being reduced significantly. The drawn triangle clusters in A and B need not necessarily be identical with those used by calculation in the original micrographs.

Fig. 21 graphically demonstrates qualitatively the probability that gigantoprismatic enamels form their own morphological “class” or universe. To firmly support this supposition statistically, each single value should have been qualified by its standard deviation. To obtain this, deeper planing and thus more destructive methods would have been necessary. However, the variation in mean numerical prism densities did not seem significantly different in the two enamel types.

Recently, some authors, including myself, have used the term “microprismatic” for ptilodontoid and most other mammalian enamels. This might imply that there is also a medium prism size. Therefore, all nontaeniolabidoid90 enamels should be designated “normal.”

Whether the different crystal aggregates (prisms?) shown in Fig. 22 have had a relation to original ameloblasts like normal prisms and continue into the enamel below the micrographed surface is questionable. A more superficial planed and etched enamel surface planoparallel to the one in Fig. 22 in the same tooth was also micrographed and showed a much higher relative number of the smaller crystal bodies.91 Thus, there seems to be no point in calculating their numerical density since a corresponding variation in cell size (CD) within a population of enamel-producing ameloblasts is improbable. Enamel etching lasted maximally 5 secs using 5% HNO3 and was always interupted by rinsing in pure water.92, 93 Recrystallization after etching is, therefore, very improbable as no precipitation could occur, and it is no more probable than for the derived cimolodontan enamels. Clusters of bodies of the same size and distribution as the larger structures in Fig. 22 were also seen in unplaned and unetched enamels by incident light microscopy in this and other specimens of Purbeck multituberculates (Fig. 23). Furthermore, size and distribution of prisms are identical using SEM techniques with etching or with polarized light microscopy without etching.95, 96 Thus Jurassic plagiaulacidan enamels in plesiomorphic and geologically older multituberculates deserve a closer, more invasive examination regarding the continuity of possible structures from inner to outer enamel surface, to compare with more derived multituberculate enamel forms. Also, an important aim is to describe micromorphological evolutionary stages between the types represented in Figs. 20 and 22.

An exposure index (EI) is a numerical value that is inversely proportional to the exposure provided to an image sensor to obtain an image. Images obtained from a DSC (Digital Still Camera) using a range of EI values will normally provide a range of image quality levels. The ISO speed of a DSC is equal to a particular exposure index value calculated from the exposure provided at the focal plane of the DSC to produce specified camera output signal characteristics, using the methods described in this International Standard. The equations used in this International Standard have been chosen to create a link between electronic and conventional silver-halide-based photographic systems. Using a particular ISO speed value as the exposure index on a DSC should result in the same camera exposure settings, and resulting focal plane exposures, as would be obtained using the same exposure index on a film camera or other photographic exposure meter. Where possible, the exposure index values corresponding to the arithmetic mean focal plane exposure used to capture an image should be reported in the image file header as the exposure index.

For DSC exposure meters, where the arithmetic mean focal plane exposure is measured within a circle lying in the centre of the image with a diameter of 75/100 times the shorter dimension of the image field, the exposure index values, IEI should be computed using Equation (1), as described in ISO 2721,

where Ha is the arithmetic mean focal plane exposure, expressed in lux-seconds (lx•s).

The value of 10 as the constant in Equation (1) is consistent with ISO 2721 and ISO 5763. These International Standards assume that the exposure is an arithmetic mean value, as is normally provided by a camera light meter. If the geometric mean exposure was used in place of the arithmetic mean exposure, a lower value for this constant would be appropriate. Note that the arithmetic mean exposure is obtained when the linear exposure values are averaged, while a geometric mean exposure is obtained by taking the antilog of the average of the logarithmic exposure values. An approximation to the geometric mean is also obtained by taking the antilog of the average measured film densities in conventional photographic systems, provided that the film H&D curve has a straight line characteristic over the film exposure range. Note also that the brightness response of the human visual system to the luminances of objects in a scene is approximately logarithmic.

The arithmetic mean focal plane exposure for statistically average scenes is often assumed to be equal to approximately 18% of the focal plane exposure, which would be obtained from a perfectly diffuse 100% reflectance object in a statistically average scene. Therefore, the arithmetic mean focal plane exposure would equal 2/10 times the focal plane exposure that would be obtained from a 90% reflectance test card in a statistically average scene.

For DSC exposure meters where the arithmetic mean scene luminance is measured, the expected value of the arithmetic mean focal plane exposure required in Equation (1) can be computed using Equation (2).

where A is the effective f-number of the lens; La is the arithmetic mean luminance, expressed in candelas per square metre; t is the photosite integration time, expressed in seconds.

The laboratory measurement of L can be simplified by using a full frame uniformly illuminated diffuse reflecting test card, so that the arithmetic mean luminance can be measured by simply measuring the luminance at the centre of the image.

The effective f-number, Nfeff, of the lens for the focused image shall be calculated using Equation (3)

where R is the ratio of the height of the camera field of view at the focus distance to the height of the image at the focal plane. If the camera is focused at infinity, the effective f-number is equal to the f-number of the lens.

Therefore, for electronic still (or other) camera exposure meters where the arithmetic mean scene luminance is measured, exposure index values should be computed using Equation (4), derived by substituting Equation (2) into Equation (1).

The following measurement conditions should be used as nominal conditions when determining the ISO speed ratings, SOS, and REI values of a DSC. If it is not possible or appropriate to achieve these nominal operating conditions, the actual operating conditions shall be listed along with the reported values.

The reported values shall indicate whether the daylight or tungsten illuminant was used. ISO 7589 describes the procedures for determining if the illumination used in a specific speed rating determination test is an acceptable match to the daylight and tungsten sensitometric illuminants.

For daylight measurements without the camera lens, the ISO sensitometric daylight illuminant given in Table 2 of ISO 7589:2002 shall be used. This illuminant is defined as the product of the spectral power distribution of CIE colorimetric standard illuminant D55 and the spectral transmittance of the International Standard camera lens. For measurements with the camera lens in place, the spectral radiance characteristics of the light used for the measurement should be equivalent to the daylight ISO standard source provided in the second column of Table 2 of ISO 7589:2002. In order to apply the ISO SDI (spectral distribution index) criterion, the spectral radiance of the light shall be measured and then multiplied by the relative spectral transmittance of the ISO standard lens, which is also described in ISO 7589, prior to multiplying by the weighted spectral sensitivities.

For tungsten measurements without the camera lens, the ISO sensitometric studio tungsten illuminant given in Table 2 of ISO 7589:2002 shall be used. This illuminant is defined as the product of the average spectral power distribution of experimentally measured sources having a colour temperature of approximately 3050 K and the spectral transmittance of the International Standard camera lens. For measurements with the camera lens in place, the spectral radiance characteristics of the light used for the measurement should be equivalent to the tungsten ISO standard source provided in the second column of Table 2 of ISO 7589:2002. In order to apply the ISO SDI (spectral distribution index) criterion, the spectral radiance of the light shall be measured and then multiplied by the relative spectral transmittance of the ISO standard lens, which is also described in ISO 7589, prior to multiplying by the weighted spectral sensitivities.

The ambient temperature during the acquisition of the test data shall be (23 ± 2) °C, as specified in ISO 554, and the relative humidity should be (50 ± 20) %.

For a colour camera, the camera white balance should be adjusted, if possible, to provide proper white balance (equal RGB signal levels) for the illumination light source, as specified in ISO 14524. If required, an infrared (IR) blocking filter shall be used as specified in ISO 14524.

The photosite integration time should not be longer than 1/30 s. If the DSC includes any form of lossy compression, the compression shall be disabled, if possible, during the determination of σ(DH) or σ(DL) in the following clause. If it is not possible to disable the camera compression, the noise-based values cannot be properly determined and shall not be reported.

All other camera controls (e.g., sharpness, contrast) shall be set to the factory default settings. Additional, optional, measurements can also be made using camera control settings that are not the factory default settings, for example with the DSC set to monochrome mode. However, the reporting of such optional measurements shall be done in a manner that does not cause confusion with the primary measurements made using the factory default settings.

With appropriate electrical or digital gain, a DSC can provide an appropriate output signal level for a range of sensor exposure levels. The maximum exposure level is the exposure level where typical picture highlights will be clipped as a result of saturating the image sensor signal capacity or reaching the camera signal processing maximum signal level. The minimum exposure level depends on the amount of noise that can be tolerated in the image. These situations lead to two different types of speed values, saturation signal-based values and noise-based values. The ISO speed is preferably determined using a noise-based method. The saturation-based value is preferably used to indicate the camera’s overexposure speed latitude. A second noise-based value is preferably used to indicate the camera’s underexposure speed latitude. For some types of DSCs, such as those employing lossy compression methods, it is not possible to correctly determine the noise-based ISO speed. In such cases, the ISO speed of the camera is determined using the saturation- based measurement, and the ISO speed latitude values are not reported. In other cases, the noise-based ISO speed may be lower than the saturation-based speed, in which case the saturation based-speed is reported.

In photographic applications where the scene illumination level can be controlled, for example in studio photography, the photographer normally prefers to use a camera exposure index which provides the best possible image quality. In this situation, a saturation signal-based rating is appropriate. This rating allows the user to set the camera exposure so that typical image highlights are just below the maximum possible (saturation) camera signal value.

The saturation based speed, Ssat, of an electronic still picture camera is defined as

where Hsat is the minimum focal plane exposure, expressed in lux-seconds (lx-s), that produces the maximum valid (not clipped or bloomed) camera output signal.

Equation (5) provides 1/2 “stop” of headroom (41% additional headroom) for specular highlights above the signal level that would be obtained from a theoretical 100% reflectance object in the scene, so that a theoretical 141% reflectance object in the scene would produce a focal plane exposure of Hsat. Therefore, an 18% reflectance test card in the scene would produce a focal plane exposure of 128/1000 Hsat. Thus, the multiplicative constant 78 in Equation (5) is equal to 10 times 1000/128, where the value 10 is the constant from Equation (1).

If the focal plane exposure of the DSC cannot be measured directly, it shall be computed from the scene luminance using Equation (2).

In many photographic applications, it is desirable to use the highest exposure index (i.e., the lowest exposure) possible, in order to maximize the depth of field, minimize the exposure time, and offer the maximum acceptable latitude for exposure of image highlights. An exposure index that provides an appropriately low noise image for a typical DSC is called a “noise-based speed.” The value is based on an objective correlation to subjective judgements of the acceptability of various noise levels in exposure series images. Two different noise-based speeds are determined, one (Snoise40) that provides the “first excellent” image and a second (Snoise10) that provides the “first acceptable” image. The recommended procedure for determining these noise-based speeds is given in Annex A.

The two noise-based speeds of a DSC, Snoise40 and Snoise10, shall be determined from the focal plane exposure required to produce specific image incremental signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio values, measured using linearized output signals from the DSC, using the following equations97

where HS/N40 is the exposure that provides DSC output signals which, when linearized, satisfy the equation

and HS/N10 is the exposure that provides DSC output signals which, when linearized, satisfy the equation

where H is the input photometric exposure, in lux-seconds, needed to produce the linearized luminance signal level D, and σ(D) is the standard deviation of the linearized monochrome output level values at the linearized signal level D (for monochrome cameras) or standard deviation of the linearized, weighted colour DSC output values (for colour cameras, as provided in 6.2.3), taken from a 64 by 64 pixel area.98

The DSC output signals shall be linearized in accordance with ISO 14524, and the linearized values shall be filtered using the filter provided in Annex D prior to determining σ(D). If a DSC is too noisy to meet the HS/N40 criterion, the saturation based value shall be reported as the ISO speed of the DSC.

If the focal plane exposure of the DSC cannot be measured directly, it shall be computed from the scene luminance using Equation (2).

The noise of the luminance and colour difference signals shall be determined from CRT display output-referred RGB colour signals based on the ITU-R BT.709 RGB primaries and white point, such as the sRGB and sYCC signals defined in IEC 61966-2-1, which are used as output signals in many DSCs.

For colour cameras using a single exposure process, σ(D) shall be determined using the linearized DSC output signals. If the DSC provides CRT display output-referred RGB colour signals based on the ITU-R BT.709 primaries and white point, these signals shall be converted to linearized RGB signals in accordance with ISO 14524. If the DSC encodes these RGB signals as Y, Cr, Cb output signals, the signals shall be decoded to provide RGB output signals using the inverse of the matrix used to encode the signals. The decoded RGB output signals shall then be converted to linearized RGB signals in accordance with ISO 14524.

If the DSC colour output signals are not CRT display output-referred RGB colour signals based on the ITU-R BT.709 primaries and white point, they shall be converted to the required signals, using an appropriate colour space conversion and rendering process, if necessary, prior to performing the noise analysis.

The linearized luminance signal shall be formed from the linearized RGB signals using the equation

The standard deviation of the camera noise, σ(D), shall be computed using the following equation

If the DSC has quantization steps which are similar in magnitude to, or larger than, the measured standard deviation, quantization effects may result in the measured standard deviation being incorrect. This type of error may be corrected to some extent by repeated measurements on different image files, but if the actual standard deviation is small, even repeated measurements may result in the value determined being too low. To compensate for this effect, the value of σ(H) or σ(L) used in Equations (10) and (11) shall be not less than 1/2.

The value of 1/2 is greater than the standard deviation of noise from uniform quantization, which equals the square-root of 1/12. The value of 1/2 has been chosen because if the measured standard deviation is below this value, the measured values are significantly influenced by quantization effects and are no longer meaningful.

The ISO speed of a DSC shall be denoted “ISO xxx D” (or alternatively “ISO xxx”) for daylight illumination and “ISO xxx T” for tungsten illumination. If Snoise40 is higher than Ssat, the reported number “xxx” shall be the value from the third column of Table 2 from the same row as the Snoise40 value (in the second column of Table 2) determined in 6.2. The ISO speed latitude shall be denoted “ISO Speed Latitude yyy - zzz D” (or alternatively “ISO Speed Latitude yyy – zzz:”) for daylight illumination and “ISO Speed Latitude yyy - zzz T” for tungsten illumination. The reported number “yyy” shall be the value from the third column of Table 2 from the same row as the Ssat value in the first column of Table 2. The reported number “zzz” shall be the value from the third column of Table 2 from the same row as the Snoise10.

Some DSCs form a colour image using a monochrome image sensor and a colour filter wheel to provide colour sequential image records. These cameras may use different photosite integration times, or different lens apertures, for the different colour sequential exposures. For such cameras, the ISO speed and ISO speed latitude of each colour should be measured and reported separately for each colour.

The ISO speed ratings reported in image file headers shall conform to the reporting requirements outlined above. Since the user controls on DSC adjust the exposure index used to capture each image rather than the ISO speed of the DSC, the user controls should be labelled as “exposure index” or “exposure setting” controls, rather than as “ISO speed” controls.

The “standard output sensitivity” (SOS) is the exposure index value (ISOS) for a DSC that provides a still image with a specified digital output signal value under specified test conditions. Unique SOS values can only be determined for DSC operational modes where the electronic or digital gain is fixed, and, therefore, the DSC SOS shall be reported as “variable” for DSC operational modes where the electronic or digital gain is variable. However, in this case, the ISOS corresponding to the gain or digital processing used to create a particular image file may be reported in the file header, and the range of ISOS values a particular DSC can produce may be reported.

The SOS (ISOS) shall be computed using the following equation

where HSOS is the exposure required to produce the specified standard level digital signal output equal to

where OMAX is the maximum output value of the digital system. For 8-bit systems, the reference level shall be 118.

If a camera OECF chart is used to determine SOS values, the illumination level should be 2000 lx at the chart surface for reflection test charts, and 637 cd/m2 for the most transparent portions of transparency charts.

If the DSC includes a user-controlled sensitivity setting, it shall be set to one or more specific levels, which shall be reported along with the measurement results.

The value calculated using Equation (12) shall be rounded off using Table 2 and reported as the “Standard Output Sensitivity (ISOS). A “D” or descriptive term such as “Daylight” can be used to designate daylight illumination but is not required. A “T” or descriptive term such as “tungsten” shall be used to designate tungsten illumination. An example of acceptable reporting is as follows:

It is possible that the ISOS value changes as a function of the f/number of the lens, for example, due to the structure of a microlens overlay on the image sensor. In such cases, the f/number used for the measurement shall be reported along with the ISOS value.

The DSC recommended exposure index (IREI) is a numerical value that is recommended by the DSC provider as a reference. The IREI can be used to provide appropriate settings for photographic accessories, such as exposure meters and strobe lights.

When the DSC includes a manual exposure mode, or includes an exposure mode using a simple automatic exposure function, then the IREI value is useful. However, when the DSC includes only a sophisticated automatic exposure function, which adjusts the exposure level based on the subject pattern or the absolute luminance range in the scene, the IREI value is not useful and should not be reported.

The DSC recommended exposure index shall be computed using the following equation:

where Hm is the arithmetic mean focal plane exposure, expressed in lux-seconds, recommended by the DSC provider.

If the recommended exposure index varies as a function of camera mode settings or environmental conditions, these factors shall be reported. Unless otherwise indicated, the default camera mode settings shall be used.

The Hm should be reported for both daylight and tungsten illumination.

The value calculated using Equation (14) shall be rounded off using Table 2 and reported as the “recommended exposure index” (IREI). A “D” or descriptive term such as “Daylight” can be used to designate daylight illumination but is not required. A “T” or descriptive term such as “tungsten” shall be used to designate tungsten illumination. An example of acceptable reporting is as follows:

The ADA requires that all new buildings and facilities constructed by a State or Local government be accessible. In addition, when a State or Local government undertakes alterations to a building or facility, it must make the altered portions accessible.

Anytime alterations are made to a building or facility where barriers still exist, 20% of the construction costs must be spent on barrier removal on the “path of travel.” For ADA purposes, the “path of travel” also includes restrooms, telephones, and drinking fountains. Any alteration to a “primary function area” triggers the requirement. A “primary function area” is an area where the activities are germane to the building or facility.

Common barriers

Many older buildings have architectural features that are barriers for people who have disabilities. Some are obvious impediments such as curbs, steps, narrow doors, aisles and other passageways. But there are many other, less obvious barriers.

Doorknobs and operating mechanisms that require tight grasping or pinching can be barriers for people who have limited manual dexterity. Deep pile carpeting on floors or loose gravel on exterior walkways are barriers for people who use a wheelchair, scooter, or walker. Most signs are useless for people who are blind. Audible alarm systems are useless for people who are deaf. Public telephones, drinking fountains, mirrors, and paper towel dispensers are often mounted too high, making them unusable by people who use wheelchairs or scooters. Low-hanging tree branches, wall-mounted light fixtures that are mounted at head height and extend more than four inches from the wall, or other objects that overhang or protrude into a walkway can be a hazard for people who are blind or have low vision. Within a building, movable elements such as furniture, equipment, or display racks can be barriers if their location blocks an aisle or hinders a person’s ability to move around.

Removing barriers

Removing or correcting barriers can be simple and inexpensive in one facility, but difficult and costly in another. For this reason, the ADA sets out a flexible rule for removing barriers. When the cost of improvements made to the path of travel exceeds 20% of the cost of the alteration to the primary function area, the ADA considers this ratio to be disproportionate, in which case the path of travel need only be made accessible to the extent necessary without having to incur the disproportionate cost.

Anytime alterations are made to a building or facility where ADA deficiencies at the path of travel still exist, up to 20% of the construction costs must be spent on barrier removal at the “path of travel.” For example, if the construction cost of alterations equals $100, then a maximum of $20 will need to be spent on barrier removal at the “path of travel.”

General Rules

A common misconception about the ADA is that older buildings are not covered or do not have to comply, that they are “grandfathered.” Those types of misconceptions are simply not true. The “path of travel” requirement provides that when a “primary function” area of an existing facility is altered, the “path of travel” to that area must also be made accessible, but only to the extent that the cost of doing so does not exceed 20% of the cost of the “alterations” to the “primary function” area. For the purposes of this part, the term “path of travel” also includes the restrooms, telephones, and drinking fountains serving the altered area. As per the applicable ADA provisions, it would be unacceptable to alter any “primary function” area without improving the “path of travel,” unless the “path of travel” already complies with ADA. For instance, if a tenant space includes a “primary function” area, then the “path of travel” must be improved if non-compliant, despite the consequences for any lessees or ownership. Entities can alter as many elements within a “primary function” room or space as they like without triggering a requirement to make the entire room or space accessible based on the alteration of individual elements. However, if the intent was to alter the entire space, the entire space must be made accessible and comply with the applicable requirements of Chapter 2 of the 2010 Standards. Newly constructed or altered items that may have an effect on accessibility must be made accessible at the time of installation if altered or replaced. The changed portion(s) must be made accessible as if newly constructed. Non-complying existing construction and alterations must be corrected, and are not considered a portion of the funds required for the 20% disproportionate costs at the ADA path of travel improvements. Existing construction and alterations are considered non-compliant if they did not comply with the applicable codes or standards required at the time of installation. The International Building Code (IBC) mandates that a design must ensure compliance with federal accessibility requirements. Many local codes such as the IBC contain accessibility provisions, but they are separate from the ADA Standards. It is very common for architects and contractors to follow only their local building codes, which may not provide the same degree of accessibility to persons with disabilities. Compliance with local building codes does not ensure compliance with the ADA. In the few places where requirements between the two differ, the requirements of ADA prevail, unless the adopted code or standard is more restrictive. Simply put, it is best to follow the requirements that will result in greater accessibility.

TO TNRLC AND U.S. DOE AND CHICAGO TITLE INSURANCE COMPANY AND TRINITY ABSTRACT AND TITLE COMPANY, PARCEL #257

I, John F. Wilder, a Registered Professional Land Surveyor for Espey, Huston & Associates, Inc. do hereby certify that the above legal description and accompanying plat were prepared from a survey made on the ground in May of 1990 in compliance with the SSC specifications and in accordance with the property description and that this survey plat correctly shows the following: boundary lines, dimensions, and area of the land indicated; the facts found at the time of the survey; the location of all buildings, structures, and other improvements and visible items on the property pertinent to the survey; the locations and dimensions of all alleys, streets, roads, rights-of-way, easements, and other matters of record as furnished.

That the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, acting by and through the United States Department of Energy (2275 N. Highway 77, Waxahachie, Texas 75165) (hereinafter, sometimes called “Grantor”), for and in consideration of the mutual benefits to be derived by Grantor and the COUNTY OF ELLIS, a political subdivision of the State of Texas (c/o Ellis County Clerk, Ellis County Courthouse, Waxahachie, Texas 75165) (hereinafter sometimes called “Grantee”), does, by these presents, bargain, sell, grant, and convey without warranty, express or implied, convenant of title, any warranty that may arise under common law, or the warranties in Section 5.023 of the Texas Property Code, unto Grantee, its successors and assigns, all the certain land situated in Ellis County, Texas, and more fully described in Exhibit “A” attached hereto and made a part hereof (the “Property”) together with all buildings, improvements, fixtures, and structures located thereon. This conveyance is SUBJECT, HOWEVER, to those exceptions described in Exhibit “B” attached hereto and made a part hereof, to the extent the same are valid and subsisting and affect the Property.

Also subject, however, to existing easements for public roads and highways, public utilities, railroads, and pipelines.

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the foregoing Property, together with all and singular rights, privileges, and appurtenances thereto in anyway belonging unto said Grantee, its successors and assigns forever, subject to the reservations, exceptions, covenants, and conditions herein contained. No description of the Property or of such rights and appurtenances or any other provision hereof shall affect the disclaimer of warranties set forth herein.

The Property is transferred in accordance with the settlement terms set forth within the “Settlement Agreement” between the U.S. Department of Energy and Ellis County, Waxahachie Independent School District, and Ennis Independent School District, dated August 23, 1996, as amended by a “Supplement, Modification, and Amendment to Settlement Agreement,” dated October 29th, 1996 and to facilitate the orderly termination of the Superconducting Super Collider Project as provided in Public Law 103-126.

Executed this ________ day of October, 1996.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Acting by and through the United States Department of Energy

By: ____________________________ TERRY D. WILLIAMS Project Director

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

STATE OF TEXAS ) ) COUNTY OF ELLIS )

On this ______ day of October, 1996, before me, the undersigned officer, personally appeared the within named Terry D. Williams, Project Director, Superconducting Super Collider United States Department of Energy, on behalf of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, and known to me to be the person whose name is subscribed to the foregoing instrument by virtue of the authority of the Secretary of Energy and acknowledged to me that he executed the same in such capacity for the purposes and consideration therein expressed.

Given under my hand and seal this _____ day of October, 1996.

Notary Public, State of Texas

Printed Name : My Commission expires:

EXHIBIT “A”

A 1.001-ACRE PARCEL OF LAND BEING ALL OF THAT CALLED 1.00-ACRE LOT 12 AND LOT 13, ROBERT SANKEY LOTS, AS RECORDED IN VOLUME S31, PAGE 465, OF THE DEED RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS (DIRECT), BEING DEEDED TO BOBBY MICHAEL HOWARD AND WIFE VICKI LYNN HOWARD, AS RECORDED IN VOLUME S91, PAGE 50, DRCT, GRANTED TO BOBBY M. HOWARD IN CAUS 36091, 40TH J.D.C.E.C.T. AND BEING A PART OF THE JOHN ESTES SURVEY, ABSTRACT NO. 335 ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS. ALL BEARINGS AND COORDINATES ARE REFERRED TO THE TEXAS COORDINATE SYSTEM, NORTH CENTRAL ZONE, N.A.D. 1963 AND BASED ON THE POSITION OF SSC MONUMENT NO. 157 HAVING COORDINATES N=6820148.23 AND E = 2449207.85. SAID 1.001-ACRE PARCEL IS MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS:

BEGINNING at a 1.2-inch iron rod found at the southeast corner of said Lot 12, being the southwest corner of Lot 4 of the Quarter Horse Estates, as platted in Cabinet “B,” Slide 143, of the Plat Records of Ellis County, Texas, also being in the north line of FM 1445 (80-foot right-of-way), and the POINT OF BEGINNING, having grid coordinates of N=6818040.90 and E=2449504.85;

THENCE S 59° 34’ 32° W, with the south line of said Lot 12 and said Lot 13, being in the North line of said 80-foot right-of-way, a distance of 208.80 feet to the southwest corner of said Lot 13;

THENCE N 30° 23” 18° W, with the West line of said Lot 13, passing at 20.32 feet the southeast corner of Lot 5 of said Quarter Horse Estates, from which a found ½-inch iron rod bears S 51° 48; 17° W, a distance of 0.35 foot, continuing with the line common to said Lot 5 and said Lot 13, in all a distance of 209.00 feet to the northwest corner of said Lot 13, being an interior ell corner of said Lot 5, from which a found ½-inch iron rod bears N 30° 21’ 04° W, a distance of 0.20 foot;

THENCE N 59° 36’ 26° E, with the north line of said Lot 13 and said Lot 12, being the south line of said Lot 5, passing at 104.50 feet a found ½-inch iron rod at a southeast corner of said Lot 5, and being a southwest corner of said Lot 4, continuing with the south line of said Lot 4, in all a distance of 208.67 feet to a found ½-inch iron rod at the northeast corner of said Lot 12 being an interior ell corner of said Lot 4;

THENCE S 30° 25’ 28° E, with the east line of said Lot 12, being the west line of said Lot 4, a distance of 208.88 feet to the POINT OF BEGINNING, and containing 1.001 acres of land.

EXHIBIT “A”

A 1.992-ACRE PARCEL OF LAND BEING ALL OF LOT 1, QUARTER HORSE ESTATES, AS PLATTED IN CABINET “B,” SLIDE 143, OF THE PLAT RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS (PRECT), SAME BEING CALLED 2.0-ACRE PARCEL DEEDED TO SAMMY LEE PHILLIPS AND WIFE ANNE E. PHILLIPS, OF RECORD IN VOLUME 713, PAGE 748, IN THE DEED RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY TEXAS (DRECT), SAID PARCEL BEING A PART OF THE JOHN ESTES SURVEY, ABSTRACT NO. 335, ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS. ALL BEARINGS AND COORDINATES ARE REFERRED TO THE TEXAS COORDINATE SYSTEM, NORTH CENTRAL ZONE, N.A.D. 1983, AND BASED ON THE POSITION OF SSC MONUMENT NO. 157, AND HAVING COORDINATES N=6820148.23 AND E=2449207.85. SAID 1.992-ACRE PARCEL IS MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS:

COMMENCING for reference at a found nail marking the southeast corner of said John Estes Survey, being the southwest corner of the G. W. Keen Survey, Abstract No. 603, also being in the north line of the B. W. Wade Survey, Abstract No. 1151, and being in the intersection of FM Road No. 1446 and Hoyt Road;

THENCE N 67° 19; 20° W, a distance of 50.37 feet, to the POINT OF BEGINNING, said point being a set 5/8-inch iron rod being the southeast corner of said Lot 1, said Point of Beginning having grid coordinates of 6,818,447.14N and 2,450,196,59E;

THENCE S 59° 34; 32° W, with the south line of Lot 1, being the north line of an 80-foot wide right-of-way for FM 1446, a distance of 209.41 feet to a found 1” pipe, being the southwest corner of said Lot 1, also being the southeast corner of Lot 2, of said Quarter Horse Estates, as deeded to Lane Edward Chiles and wife Cathy Coleen Chiles, of record in Volume 729, Page 928, DRECT;

THENCE N 30° 25’ 28° W, with the line common to said Lot 1 and said Lot 2, a distance of 416.92 feet to the northwest corner of said Lot 1, being the northeast corner of said Lot 2, same being in the south line of a called 5-acre tract, being part of Lot 9 of said Quarter Horse Estates, as deeded to Gene E. Garner, of record in Volume 719, Page 543, DRECT;

THENCE N 59° 37; 29° E, with the line common to said Lot 1 and said Lot 9, a distance of 206.91 feet to a set 5/8-inch iron rod for the northeast corner of said Lot 1, being the southeast corner of said Lot 9, same being in the west line of a 30-foot right-of-way for Hoyt Road;

THENCE S 30° 46’ 01° E, with the line common to the East line of said Lot 1 and the West line of said Hoyt Road right-of-way, a distance of 416. 75 feet to the POINT OF BEGINNING, and containing 1.992 acres of land.

EXHIBIT “A”

A 1.998-ACRE PARCEL OF LAND BEING ALL OF THAT CALLED 2.0-ACRE LOT 2 OF QUARTER HORSE ESTATES, AN ADDITION IN ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS, AS RECORDED IN CABINET “8,” SLIDE 143, OF THE PLAT RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS (PRECT), AND BEING ALL OF THAT PARCEL OF LAND DEEDED FROM ROBERT S. STRAUSS TO LANE EDWARD CHILES AND WIFE CATHY COLEEN CHILES, AS RECORDED IN VOLUME 729, PAGE 928, OF THE DEED RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS (DRECT), AND BEING OUT OF THE JOHN ESTES SURVEY, ABSTRACT NO. 335, ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS. ALL BEARINGS AND COORDINATES ARE REFERRED TO THE TEXAS COORDINATE SYSTEM, NORTH CENTRAL ZONE, N.A.O. 1983, AND BASED ON THE POSITION OF SSC MONUMENT NO. 157, HAVING COORDINATES N=6820148.23 AND E=2449207.85. SAID 1.998-ACRE PARCEL IS MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS:

COMMENCING for reference at a found nail marking the southeast corner of said John Estes Survey, being the southwest corner of the G. W. Keen Survey, Abstract No. 603, also being in the north line of the B. W. Wade Survey, Abstract No. 1151, and being in the intersection of FM 1446 (80-foot right-of-way) and Hoyt Road (30-foot right-of-way);

THENCE N 67° 19’ 20° W, a distance of 50.37 feet to the southeast corner of Lot 1 of said Quarter Horse Estates;

THENCE S 59° 34’ 32° W, with the south line of said Lot 1, being the north line of said FM 1446, a distance of 209.41 feet to the POINT OF BEGINNING, being the southeast corner of said Lot 2, being the southwest corner of said Lot 1, and having grid coordinates of N=5818341.10 and E=2450016.04;

THENCE S 59° 34’ 32° W, with the south line of said Lot 2, being said north line of FM 1446, a distance of 208.69 feet to the southwest corner of said Lot 2 being the southeast corner of Lot 3 of said Quarter Horse Estates, from which a ½-inch iron rod found bears S 64° 36’ 00° W, a distance of 0.25 foot;

THENCE N 30° 25’ 15°W, with the common line of said Lot 2 and said Lot 3, a distance of 417.09 feet to the northwest corner of said Lot 2, being the northeast corner of said Lot 3, being on the south line of Lot 9 of said Quarter Horse Estates, from which a ½-inch iron rod found bears N 09° 52; 57° W, a distance of 0.36 foot;

THENCE N 59° 37’ 29° E, with the common line of said Lot 2 and said Lot 9, a distance of 208.68 fet to the northeast corner of said Lot 2, being the northwest corner of said Lot 1;

THENCE S 30° 25’ 28° E, with the common line of said Lot 2 and said Lot 1, a distance of 416.92 feet to the POINT OF BEGINNING, and containing 1.998 acres of land.

EXHIBIT “A”

A 2.658-ACRE PARCEL OF LAND BEING ALL OF THAT CALLED 2.6-ACRE LOT 5 OF QUARTER HORSE ESTATES, AN ADDITION IN ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS, AS RECORDED IN CABINET “8,” SLIDE 143, OF THE PLAT RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS (PRECT), DEEDED FROM ROBERT S. STRAUSS TO ALAN RAY CHILES AND WIFE DONNA GAY CHILES, AS RECORDED IN VOLUME 721, PAGE 16, OF THE DEED RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS (DRECT), AND BEING OUT OF THE JOHN ESTES SURVEY, ABSTRACT NO. 335, ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS. ALL BEARINGS AND COORDINATES ARE REFERRED TO THE TEXAS COORDINATE SYSTEM, NORTH CENTRAL ZONE, N.A.O. 1983, AND BASED ON THE POSITION OF SSC MONUMENT NO. 157, HAVING COORDINATES N=6820148.23 AND E=2449207.85. SAID 2.658-ACRE PARCEL IS MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS:

BEGINNING at a found ½-inch iron rod having coordinates of N=6818115.44 and E=2449219.10, and marking the northwest corner of the 1.00-acre parcel of land as deeded to Bobby Michael Howard and wife Vicki Lynn Howard, of record in Volume 591, Page 50, DRECT, same being an ell corner of said Lot 5;

THENCE S 30° 23’ 18° E, with the line common to said Lot 5 and said 1.00-acre tract, a distance of 188.68 feet to a point, being the southeast corner of said Lot 5, and being in the north line of the variable-width right-of-way for FM 1446, from said point a found ½-inch iron rod bears S 51° 48; 17° W, a distance of 0.35 foot;

THENCE S 59° 10’ 42° W, with the line common to said Lot 5 and said variable-width right-of-way for FM 1446, a distance of 81.00 feet to a point of curvature on a curve to the right having a radius of 1,849.86 feet;

THENCE with said curve to the right, through a delta angle of 04° 19’ 07°, an arc distance of 139.44 feet, having a chord which bears S 61° 20’ 47°, a chord distance of 139.41 feet to the southwest corner of said Lot 5, same being the southeast corner of Lot 6, as deeded to Robert S. Strauss, of record in Volume 679, Page 233, DRECT;

THENCE N 30° 25’ 31° W, with the line common to said Lot 5 and said Lot 6, a distance of 420.66 feet to the northeast corner of said Lot 5, being the northwest corner of Lot 4 of said Quarter Horse Estates, as deeded to Robert S. Strauss, of record in Volume 679, Page 233, DRECT;

THENCE N 30° 25’ 31° W, with the line common to said Lot 5 and said Lot 6, a distance of 420.66 feet to the northwest corner of said Lot 5, being the northeast corner of said Lot 6, and being in the south line of Lot 9 of said Quarter Horse Estates, as deeded to Gene E. Garner and wife Donna R. Garner, of record in Volume 719, Page 543, DRECT, from said point a ¾-inch iron pipe bears N 45° 49’ 40°E, a distance of 1.51 feet;

THENCE N 62° 10’ 29° E, with the line common to said Lot 5 and said Lot 9, a distance of 325 feet to the northeast corner of said Lot 5, being the northwest corner of Lot 4 of said Quarter Horse Estates, as deeded to Robert S. Strauss, of record in Volume 679, Page 233 DRECT;

THENCE S 30° 21’ 04° E, with the line common to said Lot 5 and said Lot 4, a distance of 221.02 feet to a southeast corner of said Lot, being a southwest corner of said Lot 4, same being in the north line of said 1.00-acre parcel, as deeded to Bobby Michael Howard and wife Vicki Lynn Howard;

THENCE S 59° 36’ 26° W, with the line common to said Lot 5 and said 1.00-acre parcel, a distance of 104.50 feet to the POINT OF BEGINNING, and containing 2.658 acres of land.

EXHIBIT “A”

A 2.071-ACRE PARCEL OF LAND BEING ALL OF THAT CALLED 2.07-ACRE LOT 6 OF QUARTER HORSE ESTATES, AN ADDITION IN ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS, AS RECORDED IN CABINET “8,” SLIDE 143, OF THE PLAT RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS (PRECT), AND BEING OUT OF THAT PARCEL OF LAND DEEDED TO WILLIAM L GARRISON, JR. AND WIFE RITA M. GARRISON, AS RECORDED IN VOLUME 803, PAGE 158, OF THE DEED RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS (DRECT), AND BEING OUT OF THE JOHN ESTES SURVEY, ABSTRACT NO. 335, ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS. ALL BEARINGS AND COORDINATES ARE REFERRED TO THE TEXAS COORDINATE SYSTEM, NORTH CENTRAL ZONE, N.A.D. 1983, AND BASED ON THE POSITION OF SSC MONUMENT NO. 157, HAVING COORDINATES N=6820148.23 AND E=2449207.85. SAID 2.658-ACRE PARCEL IS MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS:

BEGINNING at a ½-inch iron rod having coordinates of N=6817649.94 and E=2448746.15, being the southeast corner of said Lot 8, and the southwest corner of Lot 7, Quarter Horse Estates, as deeded to Robert S. Strauss, as recorded in Volume 679, Page 233, DRECT, same being in the north line of a variable width right-of-way for FB 1446;

THENCE with the South line of said Lot 8, being the North line of FM 1446, S 59° 32’ 42° W, a distance of 211.41 feet to the southwest corner of Lot 8, being on the east line of a called 98.045-acre parcel of land deeded to Kars Tamminga and wife Grace Tamminga, of record in Volume 755, Page 996, DRECT;

THENCE N 31° 07’ 14° W, with the common line of said Lot 8 and said 98.045-acre parcel, a distance of 426.82 feet to the northwest corner of said Lot 8, being the southwest corner of Lot 9 of said Quarter Horse Estates, as deeded to Gene E. Garner and wife Donna R. Garner of record in Volume 719, Page 543, DRECT, from which a ½-inch iron rod found bears N 62° 10’ 29° E, a distance of 0.29 feet;

THENCE N 62° 10’ 29° E, with the north line of said Lot 8, being the south line of Lot 7, a distance of 216.69 feet, to the northeast corner of said Lot 8, being the northwest corner of Lot 7 of said Quarter Horse Estates, from which a ½-inch iron rod found bears N 51° 37’ 48° E, a distance of 0.71 foot;

THENCE S 30° 26’ 31° E, with the common line of said Lot 8 and said Lot 7, a distance of 416.85 feet to the POINT OF BEGINNING, and containing 2.071 acres of land.

EXHIBIT “A”

A 9.999-ACRE PARCEL OF LAND BEING ALL OF LOT 11 OF QUARTER HORSE ESTATES, AS RECORDED IN CABINET “8,” SLIDE 143, OF THE PLAT RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS (PRECT), SAID LOT 11 BEING DEEDED TO E. R. MORRIS, OF RECORD IN VOLUME 746, PAGE 404, OF THE DEED RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS (DRECT), AND BEING IN THE JOHN ESTES SURVEY, ABSTRACT NO. 335, ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS. ALL BEARINGS AND COORDINATES ARE REFERRED TO THE TEXAS COORDINATE SYSTEM, NORTH CENTRAL ZONE, N.A.D. 1983, AND BASED ON THE POSITION OF SSC MONUMENT NO. 157, HAVING COORDINATES N=6820148.23 AND E=2449207.85. SAID 9.999-ACRE TRACT IS MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS:

COMMENCING for reference at a found nail marking the occupied southeast corner of the G. W. Keen Survey, Abstract No. 603, Ellis County, Texas, said point being in the intersection of Hoyt Road (30-foot right-of-way);

THENCE N 67° 19’ 20° W, a distance of 50.37 feet to the southeast corner of said Quarter Horse Estates;

THENCE No 30° 46’ 01° W, with the east line of said Quarter Horse Estates, being the West line said Hoyt Road right-of-way, a distance of 1,094.43 feet to the POINT OF BEGINNING, said point being the southeast corner of said Lot 11, same being the northeast corner of Lot 10, having grid coordinates of 6,819,387.45N and 2,449,636.79E, from which a found ½-inch iron rod bears S 59° 12’ 13° W, a distance of of 0.17 feet;

THENCE S 59° 12’ 13° W, departing said right-of-way, with the line common to said Lot 11 and said Lot 10, a distance of 1,872.04 feet to the southwest corner of said Lot 11, being the northwest corner of said Lot 10, same being in the east line of a called 98.045-acre tract, as deeded to Kars Tamminga and wife Grace Tamminga, of record in Volume 755, Page 996, DRECT from which a found ½-inch iron rod bears N 59° 12’ 13° E, a distance of 0.12 feet;

THENCE N 31 07’ 14° E, with the line common to said Lot 11 and said Lot 12, a distance of 1873.48 feet to the northeast corner of said Lot 11, being the southeast corner of said Lot 12, same being in the west line of said 30-foot right-of-way for Hoyt Road, from which a found ½-inch iron rod bears S 59° 12’ 12° W, a distance of 0.25 feet;

THENCE S 30° 46’ 01°E, with the line common to the east line of said Lot 11 and the west line of said Hoyt Road right-of-way, a distance of 232.57 feet to the POINT OF BEGINNING, and containing 9.999 acres of land.

EXHIBIT “A”

A 15.003-ACRE PARCEL OF LAND BEING ALL OF LOT 9 OF QUARTER HORSE ESTATES, AN ADDITION IN ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS, ACCORDING THE MAP THEREOF RECORDED IN CABINET “8,” SLIDE 143, OF THE PLAT RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS (PRECT), AND BEING ALL OF THAT 5.00-ACRE PARCEL AS DESCRIBED IN THAT DEED FROM ROBERT S. STRAUSS TO GENE E. GARNER AND WIFE DONNA R. GARNER, AS RECORDED IN VOLUME 719, PAGE 543 OF THE DEED RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS (DRECT), AND BEING ALL OF THAT 10.00-ACRE PARCEL AS DESCRIBED IN THAT DEED FROM THE VETERANS LAND BOARD OF THE STATE OF TEXAS TO GENE E. GARNER AND WIFE, DONNA R. GARNER, RECORDED IN VOLUME 774, PAGE 74, DRECT, SITUATED IN THE JOHN ESTES SURVEY, ABSTRACT NO. 335, ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS. ALL BEARINGS AND COORDINATES ARE REFERRED TO THE TEXAS COORDINATE SYSTEM, NORTH CENTRAL ZONE, N.A.D. 1983, AND BASED ON THE POSITION OF SSC MONUMENT NO. 157, HAVING COORDINATES N=6820148.23 AND E=2449207.85. SAID 15.003-ACRE PARCEL IS MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS:

COMMENCING for reference at a found nail marking the southeast corner of said John Estes Survey, being the southwest corner of the G. W. Keen Survey, Abstract No. 603, also being in the north line of the B. W. Wade Survey, Abstract No. 1151, and being at the center-line intersection of FM 1446 and Hoyt Road;

THENCE N 67° 19’ 20° W, a distance of 50.37 feet to the southeast corner of said Quarter Horse Estates;

THENCE N 30° 46’ 01° W, with the east line of said Quarter Horse Estates, being the west line of said Hoyt Road right-of-way, a distance of 416.75 feet to a ½-inch iron rod set for the POINT OF BEGINNING, having coordinates N=6818805.20 and E=2449983.43, being the southeast corner of said Lot 9, same being the northeast corner of said Lot 1 of said Quarter Horse Estates;

THENCE S 59° 37’ 29° W, leaving said right-of-way and with the south line of said Lot 9 and the North line of Lot 1, as deeded to Sammy Lee Phillips et ux., as recorded in Volume 713, Page 748, DRECT, Lot 2 as deeded to L. E. Chiles et ux., as recorded in Volume 729, Page 928, DRECT, and Loto 3, as deeded to R. S. Strauss, as recorded in Volume 679, Page 233, DRECT, passing at 415.57 feet a point being the northwest corner of said Lot 2 and the northeast corner of said Lot 3, from which point a found ½-inch iron rod bears N 09° 52’ 57° W, a distance of 0.36 feet, continuing with said south line and the north line of Lot 3, in all a distance of 624.30 feet to a ½-inch iron rod set, being the northwest corner of said Lot 3 and the northeast corner of Lot 4, as deeded to R. S. Strauss, and recorded in Volume 679, Page 233, DRECT, from which point a ½-inch iron rod found bears N 02° 03’ 55° E, a distance of 5.48 feet;

THENCE S 62° 10’ 29° W, with the south line of said Lot 9, being the north line of said Lot 4 and Lot 5, as deeded to A. R. Chiles et ux., as recorded in Volume 721, Page 16, DRECT, Lot 6, as deeded to R. S. Strauss, as recorded in Volume 679, Page 233, DRECT, Lot 7, as deeded to R. S. Strauss, as recorded in Volume 679, Page 233, DRECT, and Lot 8, as deeded to W. L. Garrison et ux., as recorded in Volume 803, Page 158, DRECT, passing at 279.67 feet the northwest corner of said Lot 4, being the northeast corner of said Lot 5, from which point a found ½-inch iron rod found inside a ¾-inch iron pipe bears N 30° 21’ 04° W, a distance of 0.20 feet, passing at 605.35 feet a point being the northwest corner of said Lot 5, being the northeast corner of said Lot 6, from which point a ¾-inch iron pipe found bears N 45° 49’ 40° E, a distance of 1.61 feet, passing at 815.14 feet a point being the northwest corner of said Lot 6, being the northeast corner of said Lot 7, from which point a ½-inch iron rod found bears N 52° 34’ 16° E, a distance of 0.77 feet, passing at 1,028.93 feet a point being the northwest corner of said Lot 7, being the northeast corner of said Lot 8, from which point a ½-inch iron rod found bears N 51° 37’ 48° E, a distance of 0.71 feet, in all a distance of 1,245.64 feet to a point being the southwest corner of said Lot 9, being the northwest corner of said Lot 8, being in the east line of that called 98.045-acre tract described in that deed to Kars Tamminga and wife Grace Tamminga, as recorded in Volume 755, Page 996, DRECT, from which point a ½-inch iron rod bears N 62° 10’ 29° E, a distance of 0.29 feet;

THENCE N 31° 07’ 14° W, with the line common to said Lot 9 and said Tamminga tract, a distance of 305.82 feet to the northwest corner of said Lot 9, being the southwests corner of Lot 10, as deeded to R. S. Strauss, as recorded in Volume 679, Page 233, DRECT;

THENCE N 59° 12’ 15° E, with the line common to said Lot 9 and said Lot 10, a distance of 1,870.17 feet to a point being the northeast corner of said Lot 9, same being the southeast corner of said Lot 10, also being in the west line of a 30-foot right-of-way for Hoyt Road;

THENCE S 30° 46’ 01° E, with the east line of said Lot 9, being the said west line of Hoyt Road, a distance of 374.95 feet to the POINT OF BEGINNING, and containing 15.003 acres of land.

EXHIBIT “A”

AN 11.408-ACRE PARCEL OF LAND BEING ALL OF A CALLED 11.37-ACRE TRACT DEEDED TO LARRY V. SCHAEFER AND WIFE MARSHA L. SCHAEFER, AS RECORDED IN VOLUME 613, PAGE 397, OF THE DEED RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS (DRECT), SITUATED IN THE GEORGE W. KEEN SURVEY, ABSTRACT NO. 603, ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS. ALL BEARINGS AND COORDINATES ARE REFERRED TO THE TEXAS COORDINATE SYSTEM, NORTH CENTRAL ZONE, N.A.D. 1983, AND BASED ON THE POSITION OF SSC MONUMENT NO. 157, HAVING COORDINATES N=6820148.23 AND E=2449207.85. SAID 11.408-ACRE PARCEL IS MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS:

BEGINNING at a set ½-inch rod having grid coordinates of N=6819152.79 and E=2449811.40, marking the northwest corner of said 11.37-acre parcel, being the southwest corner of a called 20.4-acre parcel, as deeded to Rodney E. Gray and wife Linda K. Gray, of record in Volume 756, Page 303, DRECT, same being in the east line of a 30-foot right-of-way per plat of Quarter Horse Estates, an Addition to Ellis County, of record in Cabinet “8,” Slide 143, Plat Records of Ellis County, Texas;

THENCE N 59° 35’ 16° E, with the line common to said 11.37-acre parcel and said 20.4-acre parcel, a distance of 618.30 feet to the northeast corner of said 11.37-acre parcel, being the northwest corner of a called 19.77-acre parcel of land deeded to Kenneth Johnson and wife Jonnie V. Johnson, of record in Volume 667, Pag e93, DRECT;

THENCE S 30° 25’ 31° E, with the line common to said 11.37-acre parcel and said 19.77-acre parcel, a distance of 800.25 feet to the southeast corner of said 11.37-acre parcel, being the southwest corner of said 19.77-acre parcel, same being in the north line of a variable-width right-of-way for FM 1446;

THENCE S 58° 30’ 21° W, with the line common to said 11.37-acre parcel and said north right-of-way, a distance of 254.00 feet to a P.I. in said right–of-way;

THENCE S 59° 47’ 21° W, with the line common to said 11.37-acre parcel and said right-of-way, a distance of 186.50 feet to a point of width change in said right-of-way;

THENCE S 30° 12’ 39° E, with said right-of-way, a distance of 10.00 feet to a point;

THENCE S 59° 00’ 21° W, with the line common to said 11.37-acre parcel and said highway, a distance of 172.95 feet to a point in the southwest corner of said 11.37-acre parcel, same being in the east line of a 30-foot right-of-way for Hoyt Road;

THENCE S 30° 46’ 01° W, with the line common to said Hoyt Road right-of-way and said 11.37-acre parcel, a distance of 816.16 feet to the POINT OF BEGINNING, and containing 11.408 acres of land.

EXHIBIT “A”

A 19.763-ACRE PARCEL OF LAND BEING ALL OF A CALLED 19.77-ACRE TRACT DEEDED TO KENNETH JOHNSON AND WIFE JONNIE V JOHNSON, AS RECORDED IN VOLUME 667, PAGE 93, OF THE DEED RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS (DRECT), SITUATED IN THE GEORGE W. KEEN SURVEY, ABSTRACT NO. 603, ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS. ALL BEARINGS AND COORDINATES ARE REFERRED TO THE TEXAS COORDINATE SYSTEM, NORTH CENTRAL ZONE, N.A.D. 1983, AND BASED ON THE POSITION OF SSC MONUMENT NO. 157, HAVING COORDINATES N=6820148.23 AND E=2449207.85. SAID 19.763-ACRE PARCEL IS MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS:

BEGINNING at a found ½-inch iron rod having grid coordinates of N=6819731.74 and E=2450797.72, marking a point of intersection in the north line of said 19.77-acre parcel, being in the south line of a 20.59-acre tract deeded to Rodney E. Gray and wife Linda K. Gray, of record in Volume 758, Page 303, DRECT;

THENCE N 38° 05’ 16° E, with a line common to said 19.77-acre tract and said 20.59-acre tract, a distance of 542.30 feet to the northeast corner of said 19.77-acre tract, said point being the south-east corner of said 20.59-acre tract, also being in the west line of a called 34.25-acre tract deeded to Jack T. May, as recorded in Volume 526, Page 284, DRECT;

THENCE S 30° 39’ 08° E, with the line common to said 19.77-acre tract and said 34.26-acre tract, a distance of 913.41 feet, to the southeast corner of said 19.77-acre tract, same being the southwest corner of said 34.26-acre tract, from which a ½-inch iron rod found bears S 30° 39’ 08° E, a distance of 4.77 feet, and being in the north line of the non-tangent curving right-of-way for FM 1446 (80-foot right-of-way), said curve having a radius of 532.96 feet;

THENCE with said non-tangent curve to the right through a delta of 28° 49’ 59°, having an arc length of 268.20 feet, and having a chord which bears S 44° 05’ 22° W, a distance of 265.38 feet to a point of tangency;

THENCE S 58° 30’ 21° W, continuing with said right-of-way line, a distance of 778.09 feet, to the southwest corner of said 19.77-acre tract, being the southeast corner of a called 11.37-acre tract deeded to Larry V. Schaefer and wife Marsha L. Schaefer, as recorded in Volume 513, Page 397, DRECT;

THENCE N 30° 25’ 31° W, with the line common to said 11.37-acre tract and said 19.77-acre tract, a distance of 800.25 feet, to the northwest corner of said 19.77-acre tract, same being the northeast corner of said 11.37-acre tract, and being in the south line of said 20.59-acre tract;

THENCE N 59° 35’ 16° E, with the line common to said 19.77-acre tract and said 20.59-acre tract, a distance of 525.48 feet, to the POINT OF BEGINNING, and containing 19.763 acres of land.

EXHIBIT “A”

A 40.108-ACRE PARCEL OF LAND BEING ALL OF THAT CALLED 12.00-ACRE TRACT NO. 1 AND THAT CALLED 7.39-ACRE TRACT NO. 2, AS DESCRIBED IN THAT DEED FROM DWIGHT R. WALTON AND WIFE, EMMA LEAH WALTON, TO RODNEY E. GRAY AND WIFE, LINDA K. GRAY, AS RECORDED IN VOLUME 756, PAGE 417, OF THE DEED RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS (DRECT), AND BEING PART OF THE GEORGE W. KEEN SURVEY, ABSTRACT NO. 603, ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS, AND BEING ALL OF THAT CALLED 20.59-ACRE TRACT, AS DESCRIBED IN THAT DEED FROM KENNETH JOHNSON TO RODNEY E. GRAY AND WIFE LINDA K. GRAY, AS RECORDED IN VOLUME 756, PAGE 303, DRECT. ALL BEARINGS AND COORDINATES ARE REFERRED TO THE TEXAS COORDINATE SYSTEM, NORTH CENTRAL ZONE, N.A.D. 1983, AND BASED ON THE POSITION OF SSC MONUMENT NO. 157, HAVING COORDINATES N=6820148.23 AND E=2449207.85. SAID 19.763-ACRE PARCEL IS MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS:

BEGINNING at a ½-inch iron rod sat, having grid coordinates N=6820078.43, E=2449250.38, being the south corner of that called 1-acre tract, as described in that deed to Gary L. Chiles, as recorded in Volume 704, Page 258, DRECT, and being the west corner of the said 12.00-acre tract, being in the center line of Hoyt Road, being on the northeast line of the 30-foot dedicated portion of Hoyt Road;

THENCE with the southeast line of the said 1-acre tract, being the northwest line of the said 12.00-acre tract and 7.39-acre tract, N 58° 46’ 03° E, passing at 301.63 feet at ½-inch iron rod found for the east corner of the said 1-acre tract, being the south corner of that called 65.515-acre tract as described in that deed to Paul G. Wyche et al., as recorded in Volume 481, Page 303, DRECT, and continuing with the southeast line of the said 65.515-acre tract, being the north corner of the said 7.39-acre tract, also being on the southwest line of that tract of land described in that deed to Jack T. May, as recorded in Volume 526, Page 284, DRECT;

THENCE with the said southwest line of the Jack T. May tract, being the northeast line of the said 7.39-acre tract and the said 20.59-acre tract, being the north corner of that called 19.77-acre tract, as recorded in that deed to Kenneth Johnson et ux., as recorded in Volume 667, Page 93, DRECT:

THENCE with that southeast line of the said 20.59-acre tract, being the northwest line of the said 19.77-acre tract, and of that called 11.37-acre parcel described in that deed to Larry Schaefer et ux., as recorded in Volume 613, Page 397, DRECT, the following two courses:

S 38° 05’ 16° W, a distance of 542.30 feet to a 5/8-inch iron rod found, and S 59° 35’ 16° W, passing at 525.38 feet the north corner of the said 11.37-acre parcel, in all a total distance of 1,143.78 feet, a ½-inch iron rod set for the south corner of the said 20.59-acre tract, being the west corner of the said 11.37-acre tract, and being in the said center line of Hoyt Road;

Exhibit “A” Parcel 462 TRACT I FEE SIMPLE

A 10.707-acre tract out of a called 103.361-acre tract situated in the William C. Moody Survey, Abstract No. 747, in Ellis County, Texas, said 103.361-acre tract is described in deed from George Emmett, et al., to Gerald C. Morgan, et ux., dated July 27, 1984 and recorded in Volume 710, Page 298 of the Deed Records of Ellis County, Texas, all bearings and coordinates are referenced to the Texas Coordinate System, North Central Zone, NAD 1983, and based on the position of SSC Monument No. 157 having coordinates N = 6,820,148.23 and E = 2,449,207.85 and the combined scale factor of 0.99991158. Said 10.707-acre tract is further described by metes and bounds as follows:

BEGINNING at an SSC Monument with aluminum cap stamped SSC-Boundary No. 600-4 having coordinates N = 6,820.962.19 and E = 2,447,303.22 set in the line common to said 103.361-acre tract and a called 29.92-acre tract known as Lot 18 of Quarter Horse Estates, a subdivision situated in said Ellis County, Texas, according to the map or plat thereof recorded in Cabinet “B”, Slide 143 of the Plat Records of Ellis County, Texas, said 29.92-acre tract is described in deed to Robert S. Strauss, dated September 2, 1982 and recorded in Volume 679, Page 233 of the Deed Records of Ellis County, Texas, the common southerly corner of said 103.361-acre tract and a called 128-acre tract described in deed to Kars Taminga, et ux., dated July 2, 1984 and recorded in Volume 708, Page 875 of the Deed Records of Ellis County, Texas bears North 59° 05’ 48” East, 330.44 feet.

THENCE: South 59°05’48” West, a distance of 1,853.54 feet, along said common line to an SSC Monument with aluminum cap stamped SSC-Boundary No. 600-3 set in said common line.

THENCE: North 14°27’26” West, a distance of 524.73 feet to an SSC Monument with aluminum cap stamped SSC-Boundary No. 462-1 set for corner.

THENCE: North 75°32’30” East, a distance of 1,777.70 feet to the POINT OF BEGINNING, containing 10.707 acres of land.

EXHIBIT “A”

A 138-321-ACRE PARCEL OF LAND BEING ALL OF LOTS 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 AND 18 OF QUARTER HORSE ESTATES AS RECORDED IN CABINET “8,” SLIDE 143, OF THE PLAT RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS (PRECT), AND BEING OUT OF THAT PARCEL AS DESCRIBED IN THAT DEED FROM RICHARD C. STRAUSS, TRUSTEE, TO ROBERT R. STRAUSS AS RECORDED IN VOLUME 679, PAGE 233, OF THE DEED RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS. ALL BEARINGS AND COORDINATES ARE REFERRED TO THE TEXAS COORDINATE SYSTEM, NORTH CENTRAL ZONE, NAD. 1983, AND BASED ON THE POSITION OF SSC MONUMENT NO. 157, HAVING COORDINATES N=6820148.23 AND E=2449207.85. SAID 15.003-ACRE PARCEL IS MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS:

BEGINNING at an SSC Monument with an aluminum cap stamped ‘SSC Boundary 600-2” set over a ½-inch iron rod found at the northwest corner of said Quarter Horse Estates, also being the northeast of Emerald Forest Addition, a subdivision recorded in Cabinet “A”, Slide 476, PRECT, also being at the northwest corner of said John Estes Survey and the northeast corner of the William Abney Survey, Abstract No. 32, and having grid coordinates N=6819714.54 and E=2445218.82;

THENCE N 59° 05 48” E, with the line common to the north line of said Quarter Horse Estates and the south line of a called 102.20-acre parcel of land of Gerald C. Morgan as shown on the Tax Appraisal Map of Ellis County Texas, passing at a distance of 575.95 feet an SSC Monument with an aluminum cap stamped “SSC Boundary No. 600-3,” set on a west line of the proposed SSC boundary, passing at distance of 2429.45 feet an SSC Monument with an aluminum cap stamped “SSC Boundary No. 600-4” set on a north line of the proposed SSC boundary, in all a distance of 2728.58 feet to an SSC Monument with an aluminum cap stamped “SSC Boundary 600-5” set at the southeast corner of said Morgan Parcel and the northwest corner of a 30 foot wide Roadway Dedication of said Quarter Horse Estates;

THENCE S 30° 46’ 01” E with the line common to said Lot 18 and said Roadway Dedication and with the proposed SSC Boundary a distance of 30.00 feet to an SSC Monument with an aluminum cap stamped “SSC Boundary 600-6” set at the southwest corner of said Roadway Dedication;

THENCE N 59° 05’ 48: E with a line common to the north line of said Lot 18 and the south line of said Roadway Dedication and with the north line of the said proposed SSC boundary, a distance of 900.60 feet to an SSC Monument with an aluminum cap stamped “SSC Boundary 600-7” set at the northeast corner of said Lot 18 and in the west line of Hoyt Road (30 foot wide right-of-way) and on the proposed SSC Boundary;

THENCE S 30° 46’ 01” E with the proposed SSC Boundary and the line common to the west line of said Hoyt Road and the east line of said Lot 18 passing at a distance of 323.93 feet to an SSC Monument with an aluminum cap stamped “SSC Boundary 600-8” set at the southeast corner of said Lot 18 and the northeast corner of said Lot 17, departing the proposed SSC Boundary and with the line common to the east line of said Lot 17 and the west line of said Hoyt Road passing at a distance of 707.24 feet, 0.65 foot right, a ½-inch iron rod found for the northeast corner of said Lot 16 and the southeast corner of said Lot 17, and passing at a distance of 987.44 feet a point for the southeast corner of said Lot 16 and the northeast corner of Lot 15 of said Quarter Horse Estates, from which a ½-inch iron rod found bears S 59° 12’ 12 “ W, a distance of 1.26 feet, in all a distance of 2,054.75 feet to the southeast corner of Lot 13, same being the northeast corner of Lot 12, conveyed to Robert S. Strauss in said Volume 679, Page 233, DRECT:

THENCE 59° 12’ 12” W departing said Hoyt Road and with the line common to Lot 12 and Lot 13, a distance of 1,874.91 feet a ½-inch iron rod found for the northwest corner of Lot 12 and the southwest corner of Lot 12, and being in the east line of a 98.045-acre parcel of land deeded to Kars Tamminga and wife Grace Tamminga, on October 1, 1986, as recorded in Volume 755, Page 996, DRECT;

THENCE N 31° 07’ 14” W with a west line of Quarter Horse Estates and the east line of said 98.045-acre parcel, a distance of 856.00 feet to a fence corner at the northeast corner of said 98.045-acre tract and a southeast corner of Lot 16;

THENCE S 59° 07’49” W, with the north line of said Tamminga parcel, being the south line of Lot 16 of said Quarter Horse Estates, passing at a distance of 1,531.53 feet an SSC Monument with an aluminum cap stamped “SSC Boundary No. 271C-1, on said west line of the proposed SSC Boundary, in all a distance of 1742.53 feet to an SSC Monument with an aluminum cap stamped “SSC Boundary No. 600-1” set at the southwest corner of said Lot 16 and the northeast corner of said Tamminga Parcel and in the east line of said Emerald Forest Addition;

THENCE N 31° 04’ 08” W, with the line common to the east line of said Emerald Forest Addition and the west line of said Lots 16, 17, 18 a distance of 1224.24 feet to the POINT OF BEGINNING and containing 138.321 acres of land.

Exhibit “A” FEE SIMPLE

All that certain lot, tract, or parcel of land being Lot 23 of Quarter Horse Estates, an Addition in Ellis County, Texas, as recorded in Cabinet “B”, Slide 143 of the Plat Records of Ellis County, Texas (PRECT), and being out of that parcel of land described in that deed from Richard C. Strauss, Trustee, to Robert S. Strauss, as recorded in Volume 679, Page 233, of the Deed Records of Ellis County, Texas (DRECT), and being out of the John Estes Survey, Abstract No. 335, Ellis County, Texas.

All bearings and coordinates are referred to the Texas Coordinate System, North Central Zone, NAD 1983, and based on the position of SSC Monument No. 157, having coordinates N=6820148.23 and E=2449207.85.

The southeast corner of Lot 12 has coordinates of N=6819587.27, E=2449517.83.

AND

A 13.003-ACRE PARCEL OF LAND BEING ALL OF THAT CALLED 13-ACRE LOT 10 OF QUARTER HORSE ESTATES, AN ADDITION IN ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS, AS RECORDED IN AS RECORDED IN CABINET “B”, SLIDE 143, OF THE PLAT RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS (PRECT),

BEING OUT OF THAT PARCEL OF LAND DESCRIBED IN THAT DEED FROM RICHARD S. STRAUSS, TRUSTEE, TO ROBERT S. STRAUSS, AS RECORDED IN VOLUME 679, PAGE 233, OF THE DEED RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS (DRECT0, AND BEING OUT OF THE JOHN ESTES SURVEY, ABSTRACT NO. 335, ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS. ALL BEARINGS AND COORDINATES ARE REFERRED TO THE TEXAS COORDINATE SYSTEM, NORTH CENTRAL ZONE, N.A.D. 1983, AND BASED ON THE POSITION OF SSC MONUMENT NO. 157, HAVING COORDINATES N=6820148.23 AND E=2449207.85. SAID 13.003 -ACRE PARCEL IS MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS:

COMMENCING for reference at a found nail marking the southeast corner of the G. W. Keen Survey, Abstract No. 603, Ellis County, Texas, said point being in the intersection of Hoyt Road (30-foot right-of-way) and FM 1446 (80-foot right-of-way);

THENCE N 67° 19’ 20” W, a distance of 50.37 feet to the southeast corner of said Quarter Horse Estates;

THENCE N 30° 45’ 01” W, with the east line of said Quarter Horse Estates, being the west line of said Hoyt Road right-of-way, a distance of 791.70 feet to the POINT OF BEGINNING, having grid coordinates N=6819127.35 and E=2449791.64, said point being the southeast corner of said Lot 10, same being the northeast corner of Lot 9 of said Quarter Horse Estates;

THENCE S 59° 12’ 15” W, with the common line of said Lot 9 and said Lot 10, a distance of 1,870,17 feet to the southwest corner of said Lot 10, being the northwest corner of said Lot 9, and being on the East line of that called 98.045-acre parcel of land deeded to Kars Tamminga and wife Grace Tamminga, as recorded in Volume 755, Page 996, DRECT;

THENCE N 31° 07’ 14” W, with the common line of said Lot 10 and said Tamminga parcel, a distance of 302.72 feet to the northwest corner of said Lot 10, being the southwest corner of Lot 11 of said Quarter Horse Estates, from which a 12/-inch iron rod found bears N 59° 12’ 13” E, a distance of 0.12 foot;

THENCE N 59° 12’ 12” E, with the common line of said Lot 10 and Lot 11, a distance of 1,872.04 feet to the northwest corner of Lot 10, being the southeast corner of said Lot 11, being on the said west line of said Hoyt Road, from which a ½-inch iron rod bears S 59° 12’ 13” W, a distance of 0.17 foot;

THENCE S 30° 46’ 01” E, with the common line of said Lot 10 and said Hoyt Road, a distance of 302.74 feet to the POINT OF BEGINNING, and containing 13.003 acres of land.

EXHIBIT “A”

A 4.024-ACRE PARCEL OF LAND BEING ALL OF THAT CALLED 4.04-ACRE LOTS 6 AND 7 OF QUARTER HORSE ESTATES, AN ADDITION IN ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS, AS RECORDED IN CABINET “B”, SLIDE 143, OF THE PLAT RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS (PRECT), AND BEING OUT OF THAT PARCEL OF LAND DEEDED FROM RICHARD S. STRAUSS, TRUSTEE, TO ROBERT S. STRAUSS, AS RECORDED IN VOLUME 679, PAGE 233, OF THE DEED RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS (DRECT), AND BEING OUT OF THE JOHN ESTES SURVEY, ABSTRACT NO. 335, ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS. ALL BEARINGS AND COORDINATES ARE REFERRED TO THE TEXAS COORDINATE SYSTEM, NORTH CENTRAL ZONE, N.A.D. 1983, AND BASED ON THE POSITION OF SSC MONUMENT NO. 157, HAVING COORDINATES N=6820148.23 AND E=2449207.85. SAID 13.003 -ACRE PARCEL IS MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS:

COMMENCING for reference at a ½-inch iron rod found at the southwest corner of said Quarter Horse Estates, being the southwest corner of that strip of land dedicated to roadway as shown on the plat of said Quarter Horse Estates, also being on the east line of that called 98.045-acre parcel as deeded to Kars Tamminga and wife Grace Tamminga, as recorded in Volume 755, Page 996, DRECT;

THENCE the following two (2) courses:

1. N 31° 07’ 14” W, a distance of 44.82 feet to the southwest corner of Lot 8 of said Quarter Horse Estates, and 2. N 59° 32’ 42” E, a distance of 211.41 feet to the POINT OF BEGINNING, having coordinates N=6817649.94 and E=2448746.16, being the southwest corner of said Lot 7, being the southeast corner of said Lot 8, and being on the north line of FM 1446 (variable-width right-of-way);

THENCE N 30° 26’ 31” W, with the common line of said Lot 7 and said Lot 8, a distance of 416.85 feet to the northwest corner of said Lot 7 being the northeast corner of said Lot 8, being on the south line of Lot 9 of said Quarter Horse Estates, from which a ½-inch iron rod found bears N 51° 37’ 48” E, a distance of 0.71 feet;

THENCE N 62° 10’ 29” E, with the north line of said Lot 6 and said Lot 7, being said south line of Lot 9, passing at 213.79 feet the common corner of said Lot 6 and said Lot 7, from which a ½-inch iron rod found bears N 52° 34’ 16” E, a distance of 0.77 feet, in all a distance of 423.58 feet, to the northeast corner of said Lot 6, being the northwest corner of Lot 5 of said Quarter Horse Estates, from which a ¾-inch iron pipe found bears N 45° 49’ 40: E, a distance of 1.61 feet;

THENCE S 30° 26’ 31” E, with the common line of said Lot 5 and said Lot 6, a distance of 420.66 feet to the common corner of said Lot 5 and said Lot 6, being on the curving north line of said FM 1446;

THENCE with the south line of said Lot 6, being said north line of FM 1446, along the arc of a non-tangent cure to the right a distance of 63.14 feet, with a central angle is 01° 57’ 20”, with a radius of 1,849.86 feet, and with a chord that bears S 64° 29’ 02” W, a distance of 63.14 feet;

THENCE S 65° 27’ 42” W, continuing with the common line of said Lot 6 and said FM 1446, a distance of 71.28 feet to a point of curvature;

THENCE continuing with the common line of said Lot 6 and said Lot 7, being said north line of FM 1446, along the arc of a curve to the left, passing at 76.04 feet a ½-inch iron rod found that bears N 79° 12’ 58” E, a distance of 0.86 foot, in all a distance of 203.09 feet, with a central angle of 05° 54’ 25”, with a radius of 1,969.86 feet, with a chord that bears S 62° 29’ 55” W, a distance of 203.00 feet;

THENCE S 59° 32’ 42” W, continuing with the common line of said Lot 7 and FM 1446, a distance of 86.60 feet to the POINT OF BEGINNING, and continuing 4.024 acres of land.

EXHIBIT “A”

A 1.999-ACRE PARCEL OF LAND BEING ALL OF THAT CALLED 2.21-ACRE LOT 3 OF QUARTER HORSE ESTATES, AN ADDITION IN ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS, AS RECORDED IN CABINET “B”, SLIDE 143, OF THE PLAT RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS, AND BEING OUT OF THAT PARCEL OF LAND DEEDED FROM RICHARD S. STRAUSS, TRUSTEE, TO ROBERT S. STRAUSS, AS RECORDED IN VOLUME 679, PAGE 233, OF THE DEED RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS (DRECT), AND BEING OUT OF THE JOHN ESTES SURVEY, ABSTRACT NO. 335, ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS. ALL BEARINGS AND COORDINATES ARE REFERRED TO THE TEXAS COORDINATE SYSTEM, NORTH CENTRAL ZONE, N.A.D. 1983, AND BASED ON THE POSITION OF SSC MONUMENT NO. 157, HAVING COORDINATES N=6820148.23 AND E=2449207.85. SAID 13.003 -ACRE PARCEL IS MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS:

COMMENCING for reference at a found nail marking the southeast corner of said John Estes survey, being the southwest corner of the G. W. Keen Survey, Abstract No. 603, also being in the north line of the B. W. Wade Survey, Abstract No. 1151, and being in the intersection of FM 1446 (80-foot right-of-way) and Hoyt Road (30-foot right-of-way);

THENCE N 67° 19’ 20” W, a distance of 50.37 feet to the southeast corner of Lot 1 of said Quarter Horse Estates;

THENCE S 59° 34’ 32” W, with the south line of said Lot 1 and Lot 2 of said Quarter Horse Estates being the north line of said FM 1446, a distance of 418.10 feet to the POINT of BEGINNING, being the southeast corner of said Lot 3, being the southwest corner of said Lot 2, and having grid coordinates of N=6818235.43 and E=2449836.10, from which a ½-inch iron rod found bears S 64° 38’ 00” W, a distance of 0.25 foot;

THENCE S 59° 34’ 32” W, with the South line of said Lot 3, being said north line of FM 1446, a distance of 208.70 feet to the southwest corner of said Lot 3, being the southeast corner of Lot 4 of said Quarter Horse Estates, from which a ½-inch iron rod found bears S 06° 11’ 15” W, a distance 0f 0.24 foot;

THENCE N 30° 25’ 28” W, with the common line of said Lot 3 and said Lot 4, a distance of 417.27 feet to a ½-inch iron rod set at the northwest corner of said Lot 3, being the northeast corner of said Lot 4, being on the south line of Lot 9 of said Quarter Horse Estates, from which a ½-inch iron rod found bears N 02° 03’ 55” E, a distance of 5.48 feet;

THENCE N 59° 37’ 29” E, with the common line of said Lot 3 and said Lot 9, a distance of 208.72 feet to the northeast corner of said Lot 3, being the northwest corner of said Lot 2, from which a ½-inch iron rod found bears N 09° 52’ 57” W, a distance of 0.36 foot;

THENCE S 30° 25’ 15” E, with the common line of said Lot 2 and said Lot 3, a distance of 417.09 feet to the POINT OF BEGINNING, and containing 1.999 acres of land.

EXHIBIT “A”

A 2.219 -ACRE PARCEL OF LAND BEING ALL OF THAT CALLED 2.21-ACRE LOT 4 OF QUARTER HORSE ESTATES, AN ADDITION IN ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS, AS RECORDED IN CABINET “B”, SLIDE 143, OF THE PLAT RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS (PRECT), AND BEING OUT OF THAT PARCEL OF LAND DESCRIBED IN THAT DEED FROM RICHARD S. STRAUSS, TRUSTEE, TO ROBERT S. STRAUSS, AS RECORDED IN VOLUME 679, PAGE 233, OF THE DEED RECORDS OF ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS (DRECT), AND BEING OUT OF THE JOHN ESTES SURVEY, ABSTRACT NO. 335, ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS. ALL BEARINGS AND COORDINATES ARE REFERRED TO THE TEXAS COORDINATE SYSTEM, NORTH CENTRAL ZONE, N.A.D. 1983, AND BASED ON THE POSITION OF SSC MONUMENT NO. 157, HAVING COORDINATES N=6820148.23 AND E=2449207.85. SAID 13.003 -ACRE PARCEL IS MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS:

COMMENCING for reference at a found nail marking the occupied southeast corner of said John Estes Survey, being the southwest corner of the G. W. Keen Survey, Abstract No. 603, also being in the north line of the B. W. Wade Survey, Abstract No. 1151, and being in the intersection of FM 1446 (80-foot right-of-way) and Hoyt Road (30-foot right-of-way);

THENCE N 67° 19’ 20” W, a distance of 50.37 feet to the southeast corner of Lot 1 of said Quarter Horse Estates;

THENCE S 59° 34’ 32” W, with the south line of said Quarter Horse Estates, being the north line of said FM 1446, a distance of 626.80 feet to the POINT OF BEGINNING, said point being the south common corner of Lot 3 and said Lot 4 of Quarter Horse Estates, said POINT OF BEGINNING having grid coordinates of N=6818129.76 and E=2449656.16, from which a ½-inch iron rod found bears S 06° 11’ 15” W, a distance of 0.24 foot;

THENCE S 59° 34’ 32” W, with the common line of said Lot 4 and said north line of FM1446, a distance of 175.49 feet to a point, being the southwest corner of said Lot 4, being the southeast corner of Lot 12 of the Robert Sankey Lots, as recorded in Volume 531, Page 465, DRECT;

THENCE N 30° 25’ 28” W, with a west line of said Lot 4 and the east line of said Lot 12, a distance of 208.88 feet to a ½-inch iron rod found;

THENCE S 59° 36’ 26” W, with a southeasterly line of Lot 4 and the northwesterly line of said Lot 12, a distance of 104.17 feet to a ½-inch iron rod found, being the south common corner of said Lot 4 and Lot 5 of said Quarter Horse Estates;

THENCE N 30° 21’ 04” W, with the common line of said Lot 4 and Lot 5, a distance of 221.02 feet to a point, being the north common corner of said Lot 4 and Lot 5 being in the south line of Lot 9 of said Quarter Horse Estates, from which a ½-inch iron rod found bears N 30° 21’ 04” W, a distance of 0.20 foot;

THENCE No 62° 10’ 29” E, with the common line of said Lot 4 and said Lot 9, a distance of 279.67 feet to a ½-inch iron rod set, being the common north corner of said Lot 3 and said Lot 4, from which a ½-inch iron rod found bears N 02° 03’ 55” E, a distance of 5.48 feet;

THENCE S 30° 25’ 28” E, with the common line of said Lot 3 and said Lot 4, a distance of 417.27 feet to the POINT OF BEGINNING, and containing 2.219 acres of land.

Rapid Match, Mainz, GERMANY 17 AUGUST, 2003

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Kh1 Nc6 10.Be3 Be6 11.Qd2 a5 12.Rfd1 a4 13.Nc1 Ra5 14.Bf3 a3 15.b3 Qc7 16.Nd3 Rc8 17.Rac1 h6 18.h3 Nd4 19.Bxd4 exd4 20.Ne2 d5 21.e5 Ne4 22.Qe1 Nc3 23.Nxc3 Qxc3 24.Bg4 Qxe1+ 25.Rxe1 Ra6 26.g3 Rac6 27.Re2 g6 28.Kg2 h5 29.Bxe6 fxe6 30.h4 Bd8 31.f4 Ba5 32.b4 Bd8 33.Kf2 Be7 34.Ke1 Rc4 35.Kd1 Kf7 36.Rb1 Rc3 37.Rb3 Ke8 38.Rd2 R8c4 39.b5 Bd8 40.Rg2 Ba5 41.Rxc3 dxc3 42.Ke2 Bb6 43.Kf3 Ra4 44.g4 hxg4+ 45.Kxg4 Ra5 46.Kg5 Kf7 47.Kh6 Rxb5 48.Rxg6 Be3 49.Rg7+ Ke8 50.Kg6 Rb1 51.h5 Rg1+ 52.Kf6 Rh1 53.Kxe6 Kd8 54.Kd6 Ke8 55.e6 1-0

Rapid Match, Mainz, GERMANY 17 AUGUST, 2003

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.a3 Na5 11.Ba2 c5 12.Nbd2 Bc8 13.Nf1 Be6 14.Bb1 Nd7 15.Ne3 Nb6 16.Nf5 Bf6 17.Be3 Na4 18.g4 g6 19.Nh6+ Kh8 20.Qc1 Bg7 21.Ba2 Rc8 22.Bg5 Qd7 23.Bd5 Nc6 24.c3 Nb6 25.Bxc6 Qxc6 26.Kh2 f6 27.Be3 d5 28.b4 Na4 29.Bd2 c4 30.dxc4 dxe4 31.cxb5 axb5 32.Nh4 Nb6 33.a4 bxa4 34.b5 Qxb5 35.Rb1 Qc6 36.Rg1 Nc4 37.N6f5 Nxd2 38.Nxg7 Kxg7 39.Qxd2 Rfd8 40.Qe2 Bb3 41.Rg3 Qc4 42.Qe3 Rd3 43.Qb6 Rxg3 44.Kxg3 Qxc3+ 45.Kh2 Qc5 46.Qb7+ Rc7 47.Qxe4 Bc2 0-1

Having completed the last in a seven-year, three-stage renovation of the Pentagon food service, the iconic Department of Defense (DoD) building’s cuisine spans the spectrum from fast food to fine dining.

Three main food courts comprise the lion’s share of Pentagon food service. Two of the food courts, each offering seating for approximately 250, feature a mélange of branded and non-branded concepts, including Peruvian Chicken, Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, Sbarro, and Panda Express, plus clerk-served salad bars and fresh sandwich and Panini stations.

The largest food court, the Concourse Food Court, is also the one opened most recently, in September. It is an 875-seat space that houses a Burger King, Subway, Popeyes, Starbucks, RollerZ, Surf City Squeeze, and a Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin-Robbins joint concept.

Single-unit food service operations, which are spaces featuring and run by only one business, include a 180-seat Sbarro; the Center Court Café, a 70-seat café located in the middle of the Pengaton’s Center Courtyard; a 40-seat Subway; a 24/7 Dominic’s food service operation; and various cart operations.

On December 2, 2009, food service renovation plans culminated with the new Pentagon Dining Room opening its doors, introducing a fine-dining experience and signaling that the work had reached completion. “This facility,” said Jeff Keppler, a business manager/contracting officer for the Department of Defense Concessions Committee (DoDCC), “is a 220-seat tablecloth restaurant that also offers two private function rooms, capable of seating 40 and another with a capacity of 20. The Pentagon Dining Room menu has an American regional focus highlighting products and ingredients from across the United States.”

The first renovated food service operation opened on March 11, 2002, six months to the day after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which included a plane crashing into a section of the Pentagon. That particular food court is located in the damaged section of the building. “In fact, on the morning of 9/11, a final construction walk-through was taking place to turn over the facility from the Pentagon Renovation (PENREN) team [of various government employees and contract support] to the Concessions Committee,” Keppler said. The food court received extensive damage from the jet fuel, smoke, water, etc., and, thus, could not be opened later that September, as was planned. Work was required to repair walls and ceilings and to refurbish or install new serving and production kitchen equipment, seating, and more.

The second renovation came three years later, providing a second medium-sized food court and the 180-seat Sbarro restaurant, both of which opened in early 2007. Construction of the Center Courtyard Café began in the spring of 2007. It opened in March 2008.

Next, construction for the Concourse Food Court project began in mid-2007. The court is located in the main retail and food service area along with 16 retail stores; Market Basket, an outlet of a small chain that has other locations in Washington, DC and Chicago, IL; and the Pentagon Dining Room.

The single-unit Market Basket operation followed in July 2009. Market Basket offers fresh sandwiches, a sushi bar, and gourmet retail grocery items in addition to extensive hot and cold bars where customers purchase food by the pound. “It has been extremely well received by the Pentagon population,” Kepler said. Finally, the Concourse Food Court opened in September 2009.

All of the food service operations in the Pentagon are operated via a Memorandum of Agreement between the DoDCC and NEXCOM that began in mid-2001. The various food service operators hold individual, competitively bid contracts with NEXCOM to operate in the Pentagon. There is no one single food service provider performing in the Pentagon, and each of the food service operators uses its own sources for food requirements.

“McDonald’s uses their folks, Subway uses their folks, and so on,” Keppler said. “As does even the Pentagon Dining Room, which is not a brand-name operation, but they might use U.S. Foods, Sysco, whomever.”

The DoDCC, a seven-member committee, is a non-appropriated fund instrumentality serving civilian and military employees in the Pentagon and the Navy Annex. Specifically, it issues contracts to others for the provision of all food services, 331 vending machines, and 33 activities providing retail goods and personal services.

The DoDCC uses its revenues, after paying its operational costs, to provide funding to four civilian Military Welfare and Recreation (MWR) funds benefitting military and civilian employees working in the Pentagon and the Navy Annex.

Regarding the awarding of contracts for these renovations, Keppler commented, “The DoDCC has either utilized existing Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM) contracts or requested a competitive solicitation to be released by NEXCOM for a specific type of food service menu segment for which there was not an existing contract.”

As he explained in depth, “If NEXCOM had in place the contracts that fit whatever kind of food service we were desiring, then we use an existing contract. If we had a requirement for something that they didn’t have a contract for, then through them and their contracting office, we went out and solicited industry for that specific menu segment. Market Basket is an example. Another is the Pentagon Dining Room, because NEXCOM does not typically have locations that use that kind of service.”

The DoDCC’s food service partners average 15,506 daily transactions, and there are approximately 160 personnel working for the various food service contractors. Although the DoDCC has not experienced a full year of sales as yet with all operations open, for the most recent fiscal year, food service sales were $17,005,925.

An exception is operations for the private dining areas (e.g., the one for the Joint Chiefs), which are overseen by the individual DoD service branch they serve. “Many of the DoDCC food service partners offer catering services wherever needed throughout the Pentagon,” Keppler added.

Nutrition is an essential aspect of food service operations. Since many of the Pentagon food service offerings are branded, they are not reviewed internally for information about nutrition. Additionally, the DoDCC is not involved in the specification of branded food program ingredients. But Keppler reported that a “new initiative has recently started to highlight some of the non-branded food offerings that meet a 5-5-5 rule: less than 500 calories, less than five grams of fat, and 5 or more grams of fiber. This initiative just began in the last month or so and is available at a number of our non-branded food operations.”

The DoDCC oversees food service, retail, and vending service on board the Pentagon reservation. However, at the Navy Annex, it oversees only food service and retail.

DoDCC must operate within the high levels of security required for both employees and deliveries. “This is a challenge,” Keppler acknowledged, “but this is the Pentagon. We have 25,000-plus hungry customers, and our job is to provide them the food and variety they demand. What we have to do to accomplish that is part of the job. And, I might add, our partners meet that challenge successfully every single day we are open, as do their suppliers.”

At two o’clock in the morning, my wife and I were roused from sleep by a loud noise in front of our house. When we looked outside to see what had caused it, we saw fifteen soldiers of the Red Guard in front of our door who threatened firing at the house if we didn’t open the door immediately. Since resisting was not an option, I asked to be allowed to get dressed first and then opened the front door. I was immediately grabbed and told that I was arrested, without any reasons being given. This caused great commotion among the servants and residents of the house, who had by then assembled; the husband of my former chambermaid declared that he wanted to be arrested in my place, which, of course, neither I nor the soldiers accepted. After most of the troops set off to take the others hostage, two soldiers with bayonets took me to a school building in Haidhausen that they were using as a prison, where I was escorted through a lobby filled with soldiers and their lady companions. I was brought into a classroom furnished with cots where two prisoners were already being held. After introducing ourselves—they were generals—I lay down on the upper bed that was assigned to me and slept tolerably until the early morning, interrupted now and then by the arrival of new hostages. Thus, I abided until the afternoon without knowing what they were planning to do with me. Meanwhile, the husband of my housemaid, who was employed at the Hoftheater, had, on the recommendation of Florat, a Hoftheater actor, repaired to the Central Council of the provisional government of the Bavarian Soviet Republic,143 at the Wittelsbach Palais, where he very emphatically lobbied for my release and, indeed, received a note authorizing it. After I and my companions-in-misfortune had been served quite a tasty lunch (frugal soup with meat), a sailor suddenly beckoned me with a document and told me I was free. When I returned home to the delight of my family, they immediately pleaded with me to leave Munich as soon as possible. I stayed for another day, though, and set off for Schwanegg only at the insistent urging of my wife and daughter.144 There I stayed overnight, and the next day I wanted to continue my journey as far away as possible from Munich, into the mountains, to Bichl. On the way, I encountered an acquaintance and a baroness who were fleeing Munich. They warned me not to go Bichl, for that town, too, was already occupied by the communists. They suggested that I go with them to the Schäftlarn Monastery, where the monks would take us in. And that is exactly what happened; we were well accommodated on the monastery and the ladies in the small farmhouse across from it. Now we felt quite safe. Yet, the very first evening, a car with Red Guard soldiers drove up and demanded to be let into the monastery to search for refugees. The two of us wanted to escape through the cow barn, but we could already see a soldier with a rifle and hand grenades standing in front of it. We then squeezed into the adjacent woodshed, where we remained for almost two hours without moving or making a sound. Then, suddenly, a man approached with a lantern and inspected the entire barn with his light. Two more steps and he was at the woodshed, where he could not but discover us. We summoned him, asking, “What are you doing here?” and he asked the same of us. Fortunately, though, he turned out to be the monastery physician and quickly told us that the guard and the other soldiers were having supper in the village and that we could move on. The best we could do was flee to the farmhouse next door, where the baroness was staying; we established ourselves there for two days with the family of seven in two rooms and were not harassed anymore. They assumed that no suspects [like us] would be with such poor people. From our hiding place we were able to follow the fighting between government forces and the Red Guard; we saw the latter retreat, but we also, unfortunately, watched the Red Guard troops that had stayed back advance again once the White Guard had withdrawn; and then we saw how they were captured by the Whites. Only at one point could I notify my family that I was still alive. In the meantime, people in Munich, including the police, had believed me to be among those hostages who had been shot and mutilated. By the way, I must say that the Red Guard treated me very decently!

22 MARCH, 1429

+ Jesus, Mary +

King of England and you, Duke of Bedford, who call yourself Regent of the Kingdom of France; you, William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk; John, Lord of Talbot; and you, Thomas, Lord Scales, who call yourselves Bedford’s lieutenants, do right by the King of Heaven.

Hand over to the Maiden, who is sent here by God the King of Heaven, the keys to all the towns which you have taken and violated in France. She has come here in the name of God to support the Royal family.

She is quite prepared to make peace, if you are willing to do right, so long as you give up France and make amends for occupying it.

And you, archers, soldiers both noble and otherwise, who are around the town of Orléans, in God’s name go back to your own lands. And if you will not do so, await word of the Maiden, who will go to see you soon to your very great misfortune.

King of England, if you do not do so, I am a commander, and wherever I come across your troops in France, I shall make them go, whether willingly or unwillingly; and if they will not obey, I will have them wiped out.

I am sent here by God the King of Heaven - an eye for an eye - to drive you entirely out of France. And if they are willing to obey, I shall have mercy on them. And do not think otherwise, for you will never hold the Kingdom of France from God the King of Heaven, the Son of Saint Mary; King Charles, the true heir, will hold it, for God the King of Heaven wills it; and this has been revealed by the Maiden to him [i.e., Charles], who shall enter Paris with a fine contingent of troops.

If you do not believe the tidings sent by God and the Maiden, wherever we find you we will strike against you, and will cause such a great clash of arms there that not for a thousand years has France seen one as great, if you do not do right. And firmly believe that the King of Heaven will send greater force to the Maiden than you would be able to bring against her and her good men-at-arms in all of your assaults.

And in the fighting we shall see who has the better right, whether God of Heaven or you. Duke of Bedford, the Maiden asks and requests that you will not cause your own downfall. If you will do right, you could yet come in her company to where the French will do the noblest deed which has ever been done for Christianity.

And reply if you wish to make peace in the city of Orléans; and if you do not do so, you will shortly contemplate your great misfortunes.

Written this Tuesday in Holy Week.

5 MAY, 1429

You, men of England, who have no right to this Kingdom of France, the King of Heaven orders and notifies you through me, Joan the Maiden, to leave your fortresses and go back to your own country; or I will produce a clash of arms to be eternally remembered. And this is the third and last time I have written to you; I shall not write anything further.

Jesus, Mary, Joan the Maiden

I would have sent you my letter more properly, but you detain my heralds, for you have detained my herald called “Guyenne.” Please send him back to me, and I will send some of your men captured in the fortress of Saint Loup, for they are not all dead.

4 JULY, 1429

+ Jesus, Mary +

Very dear and good friends - if you don’t mind - lords, bourgeois, and inhabitants of the town of Troyes, Joan the Maiden sends word and makes known to you, in the name of the King of Heaven, her rightful and sovereign Lord, in whose royal service she remains each day, that you should render true obedience and recognition to the noble King of France, who will be at Rheims and Paris quite soon, regardless of whomever may come against us; and [will be] in his towns of the Holy Kingdom with the help of King Jesus. Loyal Frenchmen, come before King Charles, and let there be no failing; and do not worry about your lives nor your property if you do so; and if you do not do so I promise and guarantee upon your lives that we will enter, with the help of God, into all the towns which should be part of the Holy Kingdom, and make there a good durable peace, regardless of whomever may come against us.

I commend you to God; may God protect you, if it pleases Him.

Reply soon.

Before the city of Troyes, written at St. Phal, Tuesday July 4th.

9 NOVEMBER, 1429

Dear and good friends,

You well know how the town of Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier was taken by assault, and with God’s help, I intend to clear out the other places which are against the King. But because so much gunpowder, projectiles, and other war materials had been expended before this town, and because myself and the Lords who are at this town are so poorly supplied for laying siege to La Charité,where we will be going shortly, I pray you, upon whatever love you have for the well-being and honor of the King and also all the others here, that you will immediately send and donate for the siege gunpowder, saltpeter, sulfur, projectiles, arbalests and other materials of war. And do well enough in this matter that the siege will not be prolonged for lack of gunpowder and other war materials, and that no one can say you were negligent or unwilling. Dear and good friends, may Our Lord protect you. Written at Moulins the 9th day of November.

Jehanne

23 MARCH, 1430

+ Jesus, Mary +

For a long time now, common knowledge has made it clear to me, Joan the Maiden, that from true Christians you have become heretics and practically on a level with the Saracens [i.e., Muslims].

You have eliminated the valid faith and worship, and have taken up a disgraceful and unlawful superstition; and while sustaining and promoting it there is not a single disgrace nor act of barbarism which you would not dare. You corrupt the sacraments of the Church, you mutilate the articles of the Faith, you destroy churches, you break and burn statues [of the saints] which were created as memorials, you massacre Christians unless they adopt your beliefs.

What is this fury of yours, or what folly and madness is driving you?

You persecute and plan to overthrow and destroy this Faith which God Almighty, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have raised, founded, exalted, and enlightened a thousand ways through a thousand miracles. You yourselves are blind, but not because you’re among those who lack eyes or the ability to see.

Do you really believe that you will escape unpunished, or are you unaware that the reason God does not hinder your unlawful efforts and permits you to remain in darkness and error is so that the more you indulge yourselves in sin and sacrileges, the more He is preparing greater suffering and punishments for you.

For my part, to tell you frankly, if I wasn’t busy with the English wars I would have come to see you long before now; but if I don’t find out that you have reformed yourselves, I might leave the English behind and go against you, so that by the sword—if I can’t do it any other way—I will eliminate your false and vile superstition and relieve you of either your heresy or your life. But if you would prefer to return to the Catholic faith and the original light, then send me your ambassadors, and I will tell them what you need to do; if not however, and if you stubbornly wish to resist the spur, keep in mind what damages and crimes you have committed and await me, who will mete out suitable repayment with the strongest of forces both human and Divine.

Given at Sully [i.e., Sully-sur-Loire] on the 23rd of March, to the heretics of Bohemia.

28 MARCH, 1430

Very dear and good friends, may it please you to know that I have received your letters, which mention how word had been brought to the king that there were a multitude of traitors in the city of Rheims. Please know that it was certainly true that he had been told there were many who belonged to a conspiracy and who would have betrayed the city and brought in the Burgundians.

But thereafter, the King learned otherwise because you had sent him assurances, for which he is well pleased with you. And know that you are in his favor, and if you will have to fight, he will aid you in the event of a siege. And he well knows that you have much suffering to endure from the hardships which these treasonous Burgundian enemies inflict on you; so he will deliver you, if it pleases God, very soon - that is to say, as soon as is feasible.

So I beg and request, very dear friends, that you defend the city for the King and that you keep good watch. You will soon hear my good news in greater detail.

I will not write any more for the present except that all of Brittany is now French, and the Duke must send three thousand soldiers to the king, paid for two months.

I commend you to God, may He watch over you. Written at Sully on the 28th of March.

Jehanne