, Volume 12, Issue 3, pp 481-489
Design of ultrafast all-optical 4-bit parity generator and checker using quantum-dot semiconductor optical amplifier-based Mach-Zehnder interferometer
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The feasibility of implementing all-optically an ultrafast 4-bit parity generator and checker using the quantum-dot semiconductor optical amplifier (QD-SOA)-based Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) as XOR gate is theoretically investigated and demonstrated. The proposed circuit exploits an architecture where four XOR gates are concatenated in a modular manner. The first XOR gate drives the control input of the second one whose other control port receives the current bit of the word that undergoes parity processing. This interconnection is repeated up to the fourth XOR gate, on which an extra bit is applied. Depending on the binary value of this bit, the same circuit can operate both as parity generator and checker and support both even and odd parity. The performance of the scheme critically depends on the total amplitude modulation (AM) at its output. By conducting numerical simulation the impact of the key data signal and QD-SOAs parameters on this metric is evaluated. The outcome of this treatment allows to specify the permissible range of these parameters as well as an appropriate combination of them that renders the AM acceptable and ensures logically correct operation. The obtained results also demonstrate the ability of the QD-SOA-based MZI XOR gate to be cascaded and form more complex circuits of enhanced functionality.


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Source:Methods in Molecular Biology, 1484:175-186, 2017
The conventional view of a protein structure as static provides only a limited picture.There is increasing evidence that protein dynamics are often vital to protein function including interaction with partners such as other proteins, nucleic acids, and small molecules. Considering flexibility is also important in applications such as computational protein docking and protein design. While residue flexibility is partially indicated by experimental measures such as the B‐factor from X‐ray crystallography and ensemble fluctuation from nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy as well as computational molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, these techniques are resource‐intensive. In this chapter, we describe the web server and standalone version of FlexPred, which rapidly predicts absolute per‐residue fluctuation from a three‐dimensional protein structure. On a set of 592 non‐redundant structures, comparing the fluctuations predicted by FlexPred to the observed fluctuations in MD simulations showed an average correlation coefficient of 0.669 and an average root mean square error of 1.07 Å. FlexPred is available at _URL_

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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Endoscopy Challenge #3 - May '10
Hemobilia, or bleeding from the biliary tract, is seldom seen in the pediatric population and is not one of the more commonly considered etiologies of upper gi bleeding. Causes for hemobilia are pooled from various case reports of children who endured blunt abdominal trauma, complications status post liver transplant with biliary strictures requiring balloon dilatation, liver abscess, and liver biopsy. US guided liver biopsies are safe but there are rare complications such as pseudoaneurysm and arterial-biliary fistula.1 The patient in this case report had a liver biopsy 2 weeks prior to presentation of abdominal pain, melanotic stools, and anemia.Lillienne Yoon, MD, Fellow, University of Texas Southwestern
Brad Barth, MD, MPH, University of Texas Southwestern
- Wood B, Pearson N, Crisp M, Neese P, Pohl JF. Pseudoaneurysm formation after ultrasound-guided liver biopsy in an obese child. South Med J. 2009 Apr;102(4):432-4.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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U.S. Trust Enhances Systems with 'Magic.' (Computerized Application Development Software) (Management Strategies)
Article excerpt
WILL THE FUTURE of applications development look like magic?
Executives at U.S. Trust Corp. in New York City would have to say yes.
The bank, with $227 billion in assets under administration, specializes in money management, private banking, and securities services. Whe faced with the task of developing a mutual fund accounting system, it decided to experiment with a new application development tool called Magic Software.
"Mutual fund accounting is a highly specialized, exacting business," said Bernard Edelstein, a senior vice president and director of computer services at U.S Trust. "We were faced with a situation where we needed to create our own system because typical porftolio systems lacke rigorous accounting components and simply didn't fit our needs."
Using Magic's design tools, the mutual fund accounting system was up and running within six months. The service, marketed under the name MultiFact, currently handles processing chores for more than 200 different funds.
Since the mutual fund accounting system was launched three years ago, U.S. Trust has sold services based on the new system through its Boston-based subsidiary, Mutual Funds Services Co.
U.S. Trust is one of the first American banks to take advantage of the Magic design tools, which were developed by Magic Software Enterprises, an Israeli firm with U.S. offices in Irvine, Calif.
In addition to U.S. Trust, a range of international organizations, including the Bank of Tokyo and the French government, are using systems based on Magic development methods.
Mr. Edelstein estimated that if the bank had used traditional programming languages, it would have taken more than two years to achieve similar results.
Proprietary systems development particularly at an institution of this size, can be tricky. Most programmers used third-generation languages, namely Cobol or "C," or fourth-generation languages such as Progress or Oracle.
Whatever the method, writing code is a tedious and time-consuming task. Creating or re-writing applications using traditional systems development tools often takes years.
U.S. Trust developers were able to work so quickly because Magic's method is codeless, meaning they were freed from actually writing the hundreds of thousands of lines of code necessary to complete the application.
Magic is also relational, so that once a change is made to one part of the application, the entire system is updated, again saving time that used to go into writing code.
"The problem with many custom development projects is that by the time the technology is up and running, it's sometimes behind the curve," said Mr. Edelstein. "We couldn't wait that long for a new system because we saw an opportunity to sell fund accounting services, which are a necessary complement to our existing lines of business."
One of the key challenges facing U.S. Trust developers was creating an accounting system that was expandable.
"This business is dynamic, with new types of instruments entering the market all the time," said Mr. Edelstein. "We needed a system that could grow as we grew our business."
In addition, the system had to be able to tie into a variety of on-line services, from trust accounting and securities processing components to porfolio management and pricing services.
Because Magic automates most common data base operations, including file processing and screen preparation, U.S. Trust developers were able to focus on strategic issues, application functionality, and end-user requirements. …


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I was visiting my sister in Baltimore over the weekend when I saw this really cool lighthouse known as the Seven Foot Knoll. Obviously, it is not in use anymore and has been moved to shore to preserve it as a historical sight, but it used to sit out in the water at the mouth of the Patapsco River. When the lighthouse was in use the light keeper and his family had to live inside of it for long periods of time because there wasn't any easy access to land. They would take everything they needed out with them, including livestock and food supplies. For drinking water the lighthouse funneled rainwater from the roof into 2 large cisterns.
The biggest problem with collecting the rainwater from the roof was the lead that was washed into the cistern with it. Salt spray from the ocean caused the lead roof of the lighthouse to corrode so when it rained the lead mixed with fresh rainwater and contaminated the cistern. Lead is highly toxic and is one of the contaminants that you really don't want in your drinking water. To neutralize the lead they added powdered chalk to the collected water. Fortunately, modern filters are far more effective at reducing lead, but in 1902 it was a standard practice for the light keeper and his family to add chalk to the water.


Re: declaring language in html/xhtml
From: David Clarke
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 16:41:18 +0000
Message-ID:
To: _EMAIL_
This may seem a strange question but it occurred to me during these
Consider a parallel text, such as the _URL_ (which is dual
1) How would someone tag a web page's primary language when it actually
has multiple ones?
2) Also, how should the language of a link to such a page be expressed
with the hreflang attribute?
Australian English and British English, but not American English, how
should it be specified?
David Clarke
Received on Tuesday, 14 December 2004 16:43:21 GMT


Why We're Re-Branding
We're now taking the opportunity to evolve our brand as Blueprint: Enhancing the well-being of men and communities, in order to communicate the breadth and magnitude of our efforts to help men contribute more positively to their role in families and communities. Blueprint truly represents our work and aligns with our value proposition. We believe in the possibility of all genders striving together for a more equitable, compassionate and sustainable world.
A lot has changed since we first launched The Men's Initiative in 2015. As we enter our sixth year of action research to change lives in the communities of sport, protective services and business, it is apparent that it is time for a new name and brand that reflects our impact in the world.
Blueprint, our new name, comes with a new look and logo marking a significant milestone in our journey. The year 2020 was difficult for our communities. As we dealt with COVID-19, we shifted our program delivery to support them virtually. We also took the opportunity to re-group, to reflect on our core values and to explore what we aspire to become as we move forward into a hopeful future.
Why are we re-branding?
The name change to Blueprint is part of our journey, in which we realize our true potential as a research organization that creates relevant impact in the world and expands our reach through the individual stories of change in our communities. While our focus is on men, our work is gender-inclusive and we demonstrate what is possible for diverse communities by deepening the connection between all members.
The Blueprint brand helps us create a strong presence by aligning our mission to enhance the health and well-being of men and communities as we engage with partners, lead courageous conversations with commitment to dialogue and tell the stories of men and boys thereby allowing them to enhance their contributions to their own families and communities.
What does Blueprint mean?
A blueprint is a plan that describes how to do or achieve something in the future. It comes to us from two meaningful sources. The first, a 1967 Martin Luther King Jr. speech to youth whereby he says, "I want to ask you a question, and that is: What is in your life's blueprint?".
The second is from author and powerful feminist writer bell hooks* who says, " Men cannot change if there are no blueprints for change. Men cannot love if they are not taught the art of loving" in The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity and Love'.
Through Blueprint, we are mapping men's place in a new, more inclusive world and by doing so we will enhance the well-being of men and the well-being of those in their close relationships, with whom they live, work and play. Our work cannot be done in isolation with men without the involvement of others. We conduct leading-edge research about men and their relationships, we develop programs for men and those who relate to men and we convene leading conversations about men and boys living with a more aspirational masculinity. Our work is gender-inclusive and ultimately we strive for healthier communities, deepening the connection between all members with a profound impact on enhancing safety and inclusiveness for all.
How did we decide on our logo?
The icon has a reversed fingerprint in the lower half of the B that intersects the B and creates an emergent P. This, in turn, creates a monogram and personalizes the B. The symbol of the fingerprint represents individuality, authenticity, uniqueness and also addresses the power of the collective. It celebrates the idea of an imprint. What type of mark do we as individuals want to leave in this world? Together, when a number of individuals commit to change, we see a much larger imprint and this represents a societal shift. Therefore, the fingerprint symbolizes our stamp and commitment to authenticity, redefining ourselves and community.
What does this mean for YOU?
As we launch our brand, we'd like to thank you for your ongoing support and commitment to our mission of enhancing the integrity and well-being of men for the benefit of families, communities and the world.
This is the start of many changes to our identity, as we engage with you on our website and social media. You will see some of the changes implemented already. However, there is more to come!
Stay tuned for more!
To see our updates and our new videos and podcasts, stay connected with us on our social media and subscribe to our newsletter.
* Gloria Jean Watkins chose bell hooks as her pen name, borrowed from her maternal grandmother, Bell Blair Hooks. Ms. Watkins insists that the lower case be used for her pen name. (Wikipedia: Dinitia Smith (September 28, 2006). "Tough arbiter on the web has guidance for writers". The New York Times. p. E3.)


make sense to unit test database calls.
You should, however, integration test database calls (and you can use the same tools you use for unit testing if you want).
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On JDBC based project, JDBC connection can be mocked, so that tests can be executed without live RDBMS, with each test case isolated (no data conflict).
It allow to verify, persistence code passes proper queries/parameters (e.g. _URL_ and handle JDBC results (parsing/mapping) as expected ("takes in all the necessary bits and pieces to extract some data from the database, and returns the data in a DataTable object").
Framework like jOOQ or Acolyte can be used for: _URL_
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than simply adding a few clauses in a bill already going through Parliament specifically allowing something which older legislation might otherwise have prohibited.
As an aside, the 1870 Tramways Act made this requirement after a street tramway in London using a type of rail with a three quarter inch step proud of the road surface was found to constitute a public nuisance - although apparently a similar installation did not create a nuisance in Birkenhead. By enacting this legislation Parliament decided that proud rails constitute a greater nuisance to users of the public highway than depressed rails. It is unknown whether present-day cyclists, who sometimes complain of their front wheels falling into the groove in the tramrail which is used by the flange on the tramwheel, would find depressed rails constitute a greater nuisance than a small raised flange.
In December 2006 it was revealed that in the past year the number of daily journeys on the Bordeaux tramway system had soared by as much as 26% - reaching 180,000 - this being a very commendable 90% of the projected 200,000 daily journeys for phase 1. In addition, it was revealed that the three tramlines are now carrying more than the entire Bordeaux bus system.
Also revealed is that reliability has reached 99%, which is especially significant in light of the teething problems with the APS ground power system.
Three mono soundclips recorded using a mobile telephone. All come from trams on Line B.
Passengers travelling in the correct part of the tramcar can hear the APS power collection shoes, this is especially noticeable at the transition points between the sections of powered rail and the neutral sections, and where they pass over the insulating joint boxes The first two soundclips demonstrate this.
This link for a 630kb file named 'APS1.mp3'. Also heard is the announcement for Bergonié tramstop.
This link for a 344kb file named 'APS2.mp3'. Also heard is the announcement for Berrière St-Genès tramstop.
This link is for a 745kb file named 'Arrival-Quinconces.mp3'. The third soundclip comes from the front of the tram, so the APS shoes are not heard. Instead sounds heard here include: gongs to encourage pedestrians to stay clear of the tram / not to be too near the tramstop platform edge, the 'rumble' of wheels passing over a crossing (for the future extension of Line C),'squeaking' of the tramcar as it turns right and the 'next tramstop' announcement.
These photographs include views from various locations along the Bordeaux tram system. However they are more of a collection of images than an attempt at a detailed tour of the system. For instance, there are no images of the trams on Line A crossing the River Garonne on the pont de pierre.Important Note RE: Place Names... the same capitalisation of first letters is being adopted as per the streetmap supplied by my hotel. So, whilst tram stops have the initial letters capitalised, place names are generally all in lower case.
In Bordeaux the transition between APS and overhead wires (and vice versa) is manually initiated by the tram driver whilst making station stops. The process takes just a few seconds, so is usually completed within normal station dwell times. According to the manufacturer
it is also possible for this process to be automated, allowing the transition to be accomplished with the vehicle moving.
Not shown is the actual changeover process whereby the pantograph rises or lowers (mainly because I am so used to seeing similar in London that I did not make photographing it in Bordeaux a priority!) Although this may seem novel to some viewers, for those who live in cities where there are already rail services which include 3rd rail and overhead wire operation along different stretches of the route so seeing the power supply changeover, with the pantograph rising and falling as appropriate, is 'nothing special'.
The list of locations where trains use a combination of electric rails and overhead wires for different sections of the same route includes London - several suburban routes plus Chunnel Tunnel 'Eurostar', New York City, Boston, Oslo and Amsterdam. Some of these are 'heavy' rail mainline services, others are urban / metro / subway services whilst yet others involve 'light' rail / trams. On some systems the changeover is carried out whilst stationary; on others it is 'on the fly'.
In the centre of Bordeaux the trams travel along a lawn track reservation parallel to a roadway and the left bank of the Garonne river. To the south of Quinconces this is part of Line C, whilst to the north of Quinconces this will be part of Line B.
Presumeably the local grass is of a different nature, this is because it is less dense / features more bald patches than lawn trackage seen in other cities elsewhere in Europe.
In common with many other French (and beyond) cities in Bordeaux the trams use dedicated traffic signals which to avoid confusion feature different aspects than those used by the general traffic.
Also seen here are the lower level repeater traffic signals placed at a height where they may be more easily seen by car drivers and cyclists which are a feature of French traffic signalling systems.
This page is a branchline off the main website so after viewing it should be closed - navigation through the website is only possible via the main pages - however in case you arrived here courtesy of a search engine then clicking here will take to you the opening page of this website.


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Listen to this week's lesson about Jane Austen's Georgian crime then take the online quiz.
Your lesson this week: Georgian crime in the works of Jane Austen.
Your teacher is President of the Jane Austen Society of Australia, author of the book Jane Austen and Crime, and literary lecturer, Susannah Fullerton.
You can also subscribe to Self Improvement Wednesday by copying this address into your podcast application:
Now take the quiz!
1. Jane Austen's stories were set in the Georgian era, when capital crimes were punishable by which method?
c) Electric chair
d) Lethal injection
2. What Georgian crime do Colonel Brandon and Willoughby commit together in Sense and Sensibility?
3. Which character in Pride and Prejudice had illegal gaming debts of more than a thousand pounds?
a) George Wickham
b) Charles Bingley
c) William Collins
d) Mr Darcy
4. What Georgian hanging offence was Mrs Weston the victim of in Emma?
a) Signature fraud
b) Hayrick arson
c) Poultry theft
5. In A Letter from a Young Lady, whom is Anna Parker planning to murder next?
a) Her father
b) Her mother
c) Her sister
d) Her brother
6. Which Mansfield Park character did Jane Austen imply had sued his wife's lover under a criminal conversion suit?
a) Henry Crawford
b) Dr. Grant
c) Edmund Bertram
d) Mr Rushworth
7. Which Pride and Prejudice character eloped to Gretna Green because it was illegal for her to marry in England?
a) Caroline Bingley
b) Lydia Bennet
c) Georgiana Darcy
d) Jane Bennet
8. Which character in Northanger Abbey delights in reading Gothic crime novels?
a) Catherine Moorland
b) Eleanor Tilney
c) James Morland
d) Mrs Allen
Answers: 1.b), 2.c), 3.a), 4.c), 5.c), 6.d), 7.b), 8.a)
Next week: The first flight of the Montgolfiere balloon, with Philip Dwyer from the University of Newcastle.


From clocking speed to monitoring unlawful activity, law enforcement officials rely on technology to put people behind bars. Sting operations and drug raids are also made possible thanks to highly specific tools that can detect things the naked eye never could. These tools range from special, high-powered cameras to devices that sense various drugs through a simple breath test. To better understand how these devices work (and how they might eventually affect you), we analyzed some of the technology authorities use to sniff out drugs and execute drug raids.
Remember, big brother is always watching.
RELATED: 10 Reasons to Stop Smoking Synthetic Weed
RELATED: Everything You Need to Know About Marijuana Wax
RELATED: The 25 Biggest Marijuana Busts in L.A. History


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our young people have voices
that are often taken for granted, disregarded, or silenced, globally.
the i am project is an initiative designed to bolster creativity and elevate awareness of our young creatives in both vibrant and underrepresented communities. by bringing together indigenous cultures, we create an introductory dialogue spoken through the eyes and ears of our future artistic leaders. the subsequent conversation will forge a lasting imprint for future generations of young people.
in everything we do, we believe in defying popular taste for original design. by doing so, we challenge the status quo to think differently about presentation and education. our programs seek to establish alternative exhibition and listening spaces for indigenous art and music of young people to be exhibited and performed.
our young people have voices that are often taken for granted, disregarded, or silenced, globally. yet there is a conversation happening amongst them, generally relegated to geographic and demographic identities. by giving our young a platform where their voices can be heard, we begin to hear a narrative that may be global in spectrum that identifies their commonalities in their concerns about the world they are living in and one day will inherit.
through art and music they will begin to realize that their voice is not alone and that others have the same or similar concerns. they will start conversations and expand their choices as their curiosity and creativity begins to embrace other culture's art and music. our young will see and hear their evolving world through a different lens while preserving the genius of the aesthetics of art and music.


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Why study paramedicine?
The care of patients outside of hospitals demands both highly developed clinical skills and the ability to think critically, even in stressful situations. Can you think clearly and react appropriately? Are you compassionate, tolerant and ethical? Do you have a good level of health and fitness? This is an exciting career choice for those who tick all the boxes.
Paramedics are required to treat patients across the spectrum of illness, from motor vehicle crashes and other severe trauma, to complex medical and mental health cases. They work closely with their colleagues, often in situations that are both physically and emotionally challenging.
There are a number of leadership, management and education paths within paramedicine, from a local level, to management at a more strategic level, or clinical education. There is also opportunity within the evolving field of paramedic academia, with many ambulance services partnering with universities for teaching and research.
Careers in paramedicine
Paramedics work in a diverse range of settings including but not limited to ambulances (or similar vehicles), buildings, festivals and events, sporting games, industrial sites, aged care facilities, and within people's homes.
Paramedics provide pre-hospital non-urgent, urgent and emergency treatment as well as specialised transport for patients. They work closely with members of other emergency services such as firefighters, police and the State Emergency Service (SES). Paramedics attend medical emergencies and accidents that require the administration of advanced life support, assess and treat patients at the site and on the way to hospital, attend public events (where accidents or other health emergencies may occur), and increasingly provide out-of-hospital treatment of complex medical cases. Paramedics become expert at providing a high level of care for all members of the community, from newborn to very old, across all cultures and demographics.
Extended Care Paramedic
Extended care paramedics undertake extensive further training so they can not only care for emergency cases, but also provide high-level clinical care within the community setting. Extended care paramedics, as sole practitioners, are able to suture, prescribe and administer an extended range of medications, refer patients for further medical care, and provide complex care to complement the care of other parts of the medical community.
Intensive Care Paramedic
As clinical leaders in the field of Paramedicine, an intensive care paramedic attends life-threatening emergencies such as cardiac arrests and trauma, to provide specialised clinical care to patients in pre-hospital non-urgent, urgent and emergency treatment scenarios. Intensive care paramedics undertake further education to increase their capacity to make complex clinical decisions.


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in all continents.
Fossils of seed ferns such as Glossopteris are widely distributed thoughout several continents of the southern hemisphere, a fact that gave support to Alfred Wegener's early ideas regarding Continental drift theory.
References and further reading
- Thomas N Taylor and Edith L Taylor. The Biology and Evolution of Fossil Plants. Prentice Hall, 1993.
- Tree of Life
- Chaw, S.-M. et al. Molecular Phylogeny of Extant Gymnosperms and Seed Plant Evolution: Analysis of Nuclear 18s rRNA Sequences (pdf file) Molec. Biol. Evol. 14 (1): 56-68. 1997.
Botanical and vegetation databases
- e-Floras (Flora of China, Flora of North America and others)
- United States of America
- Flora Europaea
- 'Dave's Garden' horticultural plant database
The contents of this article is licensed from _URL_ under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details


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An enhancement has been observed in the inclusive cross section for direct single electrons produced in e+e- annihilations at the (4S). This is interpreted as evidence for a new weakly decaying particle, the B meson. A branching ratio for BXe of [133 (3)]% is inferred, where the first set of errors is statistical and the estimated systematic error is enclosed in parentheses.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physics and Astronomy(all)


text:
Conditions of Use
King Arthur and His Knights Scan
You This is a representation of Howard Pyle's The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, Book 3 the Winning of a Queen. That is the Story of how King Arthur gained the hand of Queen Guenivere. The representation of the Round Table represents The Round Table which was the dowry of Queen Guenivere. The fake lance represents the jousts that King Arthur had to win Queen Guenivere. The crossed swords represent the battle he had against a duke that was assulting the city of Cameliard, Queen Guenivere home. The map of Britan represents where this story took place. The crown represents King Arthurs royalty and the heart symbolizes his love of Queen Guenivere.
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text: CWmike writes "Engineers from North Carolina State University have created a new fingernail-size chip that can hold 1 trillion bytes (a terabyte) of data. They said their nanostructured Ni-MgO system can store up to 20 high-definition DVDs or 250 million pages of text, 'far exceeding the storage capacities of today's computer memory systems.' Using the process of selective doping, in which an impurity is added to a material whose properties consequently change, the engineers worked at nanoscale and added metal nickel to magnesium oxide, a ceramic. The resulting material contained clusters of nickel atoms no bigger than 10 square nanometers — a pinhead has a diameter of 1 million nanometers. The discovery represents a 90% size reduction compared with today's techniques, and an advancement that could boost computer storage capacity. 'Instead of making a chip that stores 20 gigabytes, you have one that can handle one terabyte, or 50 times more data,' said the team's leader, Jagdish 'Jay' Narayan, director of the National Science Foundation Center for Advanced Materials and Smart Structures at the university."


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The Relentless Roger and the Caveman Doctor (RRCD) Podcast: Simplifying complex issues for healthy living
The podcast exists to take our daily efforts in the physical world and distill usable information for you, the listener.
In Episode #62 Roger and Dr. Champ Discuss:
- Roger's Book (review it!)
- How to instill swagger in your child through fitness
- Ted talk how to make stress your friend
- What is Oxytocin?
- What physiologic role does it play?
- What does it have to do with stress and can stress actually have benefits?
- A look at hypertrophy training (here and here)
- Pre-workout enhancers banned
- Dr. Champ's recent diet and cancer articles (here and here).


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Vanadium(V) oxide (vanadia) is the inorganic compound with the formula V2O5. Commonly known as vanadium pentoxide, it is a brown/yellow solid, although when freshly precipitated from aqueous solution, its colour is deep orange. Because of its high oxidation state, it is both an amphoteric oxide and an oxidizing agent. From the industrial perspective, it is the most important compound of vanadium, being the principal precursor to alloys of vanadium and is a widely used industrial catalyst.
The mineral form of this compound, shcherbinaite, is extremely rare, almost always found among fumaroles. A mineral trihydrate, V2O5·3H2O, is also known under the name of navajoite.
V2O5 is an amphoteric oxide. Unlike most metal oxides, it dissolves slightly in water to give a pale yellow, acidic solution. Thus V2O5 reacts with strong non-reducing acids to form solutions containing the pale yellow salts containing dioxovanadium(V) centers:
V2O5 + 2 HNO3 → 2 VO2(NO3) + H2O
It also reacts with strong alkali to form polyoxovanadates, which have a complex structure that depends on pH. If excess aqueous sodium hydroxide is used, the product is a colourless salt, sodium orthovanadate, Na3VO4. If acid is slowly added to a solution of Na3VO4, the colour gradually deepens through orange to red before brown hydrated V2O5 precipitates around pH 2. These solutions contain mainly the ions HVO42− and V2O74− between pH 9 and pH 13, but below pH 9 more exotic species such as V4O124− and HV10O285− (decavanadate) predominate.
Technical grade V2O5 is produced as a black powder used for the production of vanadium metal and ferrovanadium. A vanadium ore or vanadium-rich residue is treated with sodium carbonate and an ammonium salt to produce sodium metavanadate, NaVO3. This material is then acidified to pH 2–3 using H2SO4 to yield a precipitate of "red cake" (see above). The red cake is then melted at 690 °C to produce the crude V2O5.
Vanadium(V) oxide is produced when vanadium metal is heated with excess oxygen, but this product is contaminated with other, lower oxides. A more satisfactory laboratory preparation involves the decomposition of ammonium metavanadate at 500-550 °C:
Another important use of vanadium(V) oxide is in the manufacture of sulfuric acid, an important industrial chemical with an annual worldwide production of 165 million metric tons in 2001, with an approximate value of US$8 billion. Vanadium(V) oxide serves the crucial purpose of catalysing the mildly exothermicoxidation of sulfur dioxide to sulfur trioxide by air in the contact process:
2 SO2 + O2 ⇌ 2 SO3
The discovery of this simple reaction, for which V2O5 is the most effective catalyst, allowed sulfuric acid to become the cheap commodity chemical it is today. The reaction is performed between 400 and 620 °C; below 400 °C the V2O5 is inactive as a catalyst, and above 620 °C it begins to break down. Since it is known that V2O5 can be reduced to VO2 by SO2, one likely catalytic cycle is as follows:
SO2 + V2O5 → SO3 + 2VO2
2VO2 +½O2 → V2O5
It is also used as catalyst in the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NOx emissions in some power plants. Due to its effectiveness in converting sulfur dioxide into sulfur trioxide, and thereby sulfuric acid, special care must be taken with the operating temperatures and placement of a power plant's SCR unit when firing sulfur-containing fuels.
Proposed early steps in the vanadium-catalyzed oxidation of naphthalene to phthalic anhydride, with V2O5 represented as a molecule vs its true extended structure.
Maleic anhydride is produced by the V2O5-catalysed oxidation of butane with air:
Vanadium(V) oxide exhibits very modest acute toxicity to humans, with an LD50 of about 470 mg/kg. The greater hazard is with inhalation of the dust, where the LD50 ranges from 4–11 mg/kg for a 14-day exposure. Vanadate (VO3− 4), formed by hydrolysis of V2O5 at high pH, appears to inhibit enzymes that process phosphate (PO43−). However the mode of action remains elusive.
^Weast, Robert C., ed. (1981). CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (62nd ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. p. B-162. ISBN0-8493-0462-8..
^Shklover, V.; Haibach, T.; Ried, F.; Nesper, R.; Novak, P. (1996), "Crystal structure of the product of Mg2+ insertion into V2O5 single crystals", J. Solid State Chem., 123 (2): 317–23, doi:10.1006/jssc._PHONE_.
^ abcR. Robie, B. Hemingway, and J. Fisher, "Thermodynamic Properties of Minerals and Related Substances at 298.15K and 1bar Pressure and at Higher Temperatures," US Geol. Surv., vol. 1452, 1978.
^ abcGünter Bauer, Volker Güther, Hans Hess, Andreas Otto, Oskar Roidl, Heinz Roller, Siegfried Sattelberger "Vanadium and Vanadium Compounds" in Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, 2005, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim. doi:10.1002/_PHONE_.a27_367
^G. Brauer (1963). "Vanadium, Niobium, Tantalum". In G. Brauer (ed.). Handbook of Preparative Inorganic Chemistry, 2nd Ed. NY: Academic Press. p. 1267.


Gaussians for those two numbers will overlap nearly everywhere. Large overlap means high confusion. Okay, so the confusion is explained qualitatively by the curves. But what about the reaction times to discriminate among different numerosities? Those can be modeled mathematically by something known as "Welford's formula" (Welford, 1960):
Equation 5.2. Welford's formula for reaction time RT to discriminate among a large (L) and a small (S) numerosity
The reaction time RT in Welford's formula depends on L, the larger of the two numerosities, on S, the smaller of the two, and on some constants, such as a, which is a small initial overhead before a person "warms up" enough to respond to any stimulus. Equation 5.2 should not be construed too literally, however. For instance, if L = S, RT is not defined, or we may say the formula suggests that the person will wait to infinity (because dividing by zero might be thought of as producing infinity); obviously, no person will be stuck forever, like a robot. In general, for large L and S Welford's formula is not very accurate. But, approximately, it's good enough.
Welford's formula, proposed in 1960, is an elaboration of an even older formula, known as the Weber – Fechner law. That's a law stated in the 19th century, and says that if the stimulus has magnitude m, what we sense is not m itself, but a quantity s which is proportional to the logarithm of m, like this: s = k·log(m) (k is again a constant). The logarithm explains how, for example, we can see very well both under the light of a bulb, and under bright sunlight, which is thousands of times brighter than the bulb light in absolute terms.
All these formulas are fine, but they don't tell us what's special in human perception of numerosity, which doesn't occur in other animals.
Well, as usual, human cognition went one step further. Instead of perceiving the magnitude of only explicit discrete quantities (such as dots), we can perceive the magnitude of symbolic quantities as well. For example, human subjects can be asked to discriminate quantities by looking at numerals such as 5 and 6, in their common (Arabic) notation; or, to discriminate among letters, such as e and f, assuming that each letter stands for its ordinal location in the alphabet. In all such cases, the accumulator metaphor and Welford's formula are still valid. This suggests that every comparison of quantities or sizes, however abstract, is governed by the principles for numerosity perception discussed in this section.
The phrase "however abstract", above, is crucial. By means of our numerosity perception we can have a sense of the magnitude of such quantities as:
 - How many times we ate Chinese food within the past year (assuming we don't consume Chinese food on a daily basis, nor that we have some aversion to it).
 - How many times our arms move back-and-forth while brushing our teeth.
 - How many times the word "cognition" appears in this document, and that this number must be larger than the number of occurrences of "fundamental".
For none of the above examples do we have an exact number to report (under normal circumstances), nor have we thought of counting while the events were taking place. Instead, we have a "sense of magnitude", and that's what this principle is about.
That animals can form associations is well known. In fact, this used to be considered the most solid finding in animal psychology in the beginning of the 20th century (cf. Pavlov's experiments with dogs salivating after hearing a bell ringing), and formed the basis of the stimulus–response behaviorist view of cognition. Since then, the behaviorist view has fallen into disrepute in cognitive science (though it still has some avid fans in the domain of biology), because it failed to explain observations in human cognition. Its core idea, however, still appears in cognition, in what is known as "Hebbian learning", according to which, when two neurons are physically close and are activated together, some chemical changes must occur in their structures that signify the fact that the two neurons fired together (Hebb, 1949). Psychologists and cognitive scientists generalized this idea, taking it to mean that whenever two percepts are repeatedly perceived together, the mind forms an association between them, so that one can invoke the other. If they are perceived sequentially, the first will invoke the second, but not vice versa; but if their perception is simultaneous, e.g., as when we repeatedly see two friends appearing together, then the presentation of either one will invoke the concept of the other. (If only one of the friends greets us one day, we are tempted to ask how's the other one doing.) See Figure 6.1 for a well-known example.
Figure 6.1. Which "friend" does Mr. Hardy bring to your mind?
But the example that follows is a "live demonstration" of the fact that animals build associations by co-occurrence. The other day I happened to be in the zoo of Athens, Greece (the Attica Zoological Park), next to the cage of a cockatoo. Cockatoos are parrot-like birds, and, like many parrots, they can learn to "talk". This one, besides being good at talking, was also very fond of being petted. No, not just fond of it, it demanded to be petted by the visitors. I inserted one finger through the metallic grid of its cage, and the bird, delighted, lowered its head, allowing me to caress its neck and body under the wing (which it lifted, so that I could caress it there!). Then when I withdrew my finger and was about to leave, I heard it saying: "Ti kánis?" which in Greek means, "How are you doing?" Wow! — I thought — this bird can talk, too! So I went back and petted it some more. This scenario was repeated twice, and each time the bird said "Ti KAnis?" while I was distancing myself from its cage. The third time, I thought, I should record this. I asked a friend who was with me to pet the bird while I was using my camera to take a movie of it, and when we distanced ourselves, sure enough, the bird blurted out another "Ti kánis?" You can see the movie below:
Why did the bird do that? Well, the "Ti kánis?" effectively meant for the cockatoo: "Come back here! (I want more petting!)" The bird had noted, by trial and chance alone, that whenever it uttered something the visitors who were just leaving would come back with a "Wow!", and pet it some more. The bird probably used this phrase, "Ti kánis?", from the very beginning, and formed an association between its utterance and the coming back of people, which is what it wanted.
In this example we see an amazing ability for an animal, which we usually ascribe to people only. Out of all the events that were taking place while people were distancing themselves from its cage, the bird singled out the one and only event, its uttering of "Ti kánis?", which would effectively bring the people back to it. The first time that this happened, it ought to have happened by chance, for the cockatoo has no way of knowing that something it said would have a felicitous outcome. It simply noticed the co-occurrence, perhaps from the first time; then it repeated it, and got convinced that doing this, results in that. The last repetition which is always a failure (because people do have to leave its cage at some point) did not make it "forget" the association. Our cockatoo reminded me of scientists of older times who tried various medicines to cure a disease, and when they observed that the disease was indeed cured they tried to figure out which chemical it was that did the trick, until they came to an "Aha!"-moment, "It's this substance!" Except that, what we people can sometimes do with the help of consciousness, and sometimes unconsciously, birds and other animals can do unconsciously only.
Note that, so far, Hebbian learning can be seen as merely another application of the pattern-completion principle. However, the sixth principle is about a generalization of Hebbian learning, in which a percept from an entire set can be associated simultaneously with one or more percepts from another set, without anyone telling us explicitly which percept must go with which one. Here is an example:
Suppose you are an infant; you've just started learning your native language, in the automatic and unconscious way all infants do. You are presented with images of the world — things that you see — and words of your language, which, more often than not, are about the things you see, especially when adults speak directly to you. The problem that you have to solve — always automatically and subconsciously — is to figure out which word roughly corresponds to which percept in your visual input. (Let's assume you've reached a stage at which you can identify some individual words.) The difficulty of this problem lies in the fact that there is a multitude of visual percepts every time, and a multitude of linguistic tokens (words, or other morphological pieces, such as plural markers, possessives, person markers, and so on). How do you make a one-percept-to-one-token correspondence when what


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Five Fun Games to Initiate
To inspire an increased interactive attention span.
Pictures or puzzles and going on rides.
Print out a large picture of one of your child's favorite characters (Thomas the Tank, Barney, Micky etc). Laminate the picture (to make a sturdy re-usable game) and cut into pieces to make a puzzle. When you enter the room put the pieces up on the shelf.
Initiating the Game:
When your child gives you a Green Light* introduce the game by getting one or two pieces of the puzzle down from the shelf. Explain excitedly to your child what the picture will be when it is complete. Also tell your child that the way to get more pieces is for him/her to get on your back so you can ride around the room to find the next piece. Keep initiating this game each time your child gives you a Green Light until s/he gets on your back.
Building the Motivation Level:
Ride around the room with your child on your back (or in your arms, etc.) in a variety or fun ways and pick up one puzzle piece at a time. Each time you pick up a piece take it back to the table and add it into the puzzle. Show your child how exciting it is to watch the picture grow and grow and see the character start to emerge.
The goal here is to increase the duration of your child's interactive attention span, so the only thing to request is that your child climb back up and you go get another puzzle piece. If your child goes to ism before completing the puzzle, join him/her until you get another Green Light then re-introduce the puzzle game. Keep re-introducing the puzzle game until either the puzzle is completed or the session is over.
* Green Light: After child has been exclusive s/he will signal availability to social interaction through a "Green Light". There are three types of Green Light: Eye contact; Language; Physical contact.Back To Games


More biology articles in the 'Biology' category
A Vanderbilt researcher has discovered that some stealthy mammals have been doing something heretofore thought impossible -- using the sense of smell under water.
The results of the research by Vanderbilt's Kenneth Catania, assistant professor of biology, were reported Dec. 21 in the science journal Nature. He became curious when he observed that a mole he was studying blew a lot of bubbles while swimming.
"This came as a total surprise because the common wisdom is that mammals can't smell underwater,' said Catania, who earlier this year won a $500,000 "genius grant" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
"When mammals adapt to living in water, their sense of smell usually degenerates. The primary example is the cetaceans – whales and dolphins – many of which have lost their sense of smell."
Catania devised a series of experiments to determine whether the star-nosed mole and another small, semi-aquatic mammal - the water shrew - can smell objects underwater. Using a high-speed camera, he discovered how they do it. After observing that the moles were blowing bubbles out of their nostrils and then sucking them right back in, he determined they were exhaling and inhaling the bubbles rapidly, between five and 10 times per second. That is about the same rate as the sniffing behavior of comparably sized land mammals, like rats and mice. "Rats and mice don't sniff the way we do," Catania said. "They push air 'out-in out-in' in a fashion strikingly similar to what the star-nosed mole is doing, except that it is doing it under water."
Catania mounted a high-speed video camera so that it pointed up through the bottom of a glass tank. Then he stuck various objects on the bottom of the tank – pieces of earthworm, small fish, insect cuticle and blobs of wax and silicon – and observed the moles' behavior. He saw that, when the moles approached one of these targets, they would blow bubbles that came into contact with the target's surface and then were sucked back into the nostrils.
"Because the olfactory nerves in the nose are covered with mucous, odorant molecules are all water soluble," Catania said. "So, when these bubbles come into contact with an object, it is almost inevitable that odorant molecules will mix with the air and be drawn into the nose when the bubble is inhaled."
Just because the moles are getting whiffs of interesting odors underwater doesn't necessarily mean they smell them. So Catania devised some additional tests.
One of the complicating factors was the star-nosed mole's unusual nose, which is ringed by a star-shaped set of fleshy appendages. It uses its star like a super-sensitive set of fingers to identify objects it encounters while burrowing and swimming. So, at the same time it is sniffing at an object it is also fingering it with its star.
To determine if the mole can identify edible objects by sniffing alone, Catania created underwater scent trails leading to food and recorded how well the moles' could follow them. To keep the moles from using their tactile star, he put a grid-work between the animals and the scent trails. The openings in the grid were too small for the star appendages to squeeze through but large enough so the air bubbles could pass without difficulty.
These trials demonstrated that the moles could follow the scent trail by sniffing alone (without the tactile star).
Five moles were tested on earthworm scent trails and followed the trail to its reward with accuracies ranging from 75 percent to 100 percent accuracy. Two moles were tested with fish scent trails and followed them with 85 percent and 100 percent accuracy.
When the grid was replaced with a screen with openings too small for the air bubbles to pass through, however, the moles' performance dropped down to the level of chance – the same as their performance with no-scent trails.
In order to see if this capability was limited to the star-nosed mole or if other small semi-aquatic mammals also have it, Catania captured some water shrews and began testing them. He found that they also exhibit this underwater sniffing behavior and can use it to follow underwater scent trails.
"Now, the question is, 'What other semi-aquatic mammals do this"'" Catania said. "Do animals like otters and seals do anything similar" Or is there a size limit and it only works for smaller mammals""
He hopes that publication of his paper will encourage researchers who are studying all kinds of semi-aquatic animals to take a closer look at how they are using their noses underwater.
Source : Vanderbilt University
December 21, 2006 06:38 PMBiology
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Today's Parent news roundup!!
Selling reproductive eggs, sexual harassment at school and 3 other headlines that caught our parenting eyes today.
1. Woman gets $5,555 for her reproductive eggs (VIDEO)
2. The Shiloh experiment
3. Is your daughter being sexually harassed at school?
4. Ladies who can't afford birth control should just Google it, says Legislator
5. Babies and toxins: Author Joel Bakan says parents should demand accountability from coporations


Quick Answer: Why Does My Tummy Hurt After Eating Pineapple?
Why pineapple is bad for you?
Pineapple Risks and Warnings Because bromelain breaks down proteins, it can "eat away" at your flesh.
For this reason, it's also an ingredient in meat tenderizer.
But as soon as you swallow the fruit, your stomach acids destroy the flesh-eating enzyme.
Some people have an allergy to pineapple..
Can pineapple make you feel sick?
The juice from unripe pineapples can cause severe vomiting. Bromelain ingestion is associated with a low incidence of adverse reactions, including diarrhea, excess menstrual flow, nausea, skin rash, and vomiting. Swelling of the mouth and cheeks can result from eating large amounts of the fruit.
What foods are high in bromelain?
You can get papain and bromelain by eating raw papaya and pineapple, respectively. You can also buy these proteolytic enzymes in concentrated supplement form. Though pineapples and papayas are the most common sources of proteolytic enzymes, other dietary sources include ( 6, 7, 8 ):
Can pineapple give you tummy ache?
Can bromelain cause stomach pain?
Can you get sick from bad pineapple?
Pineapple food poisoning is possible. The skin of a pineapple can be contaminated by bacteria such as staphylococcus and then transferred to the edible parts when being cut. Staph food poisoning can occur as soon as 30 mins after eating and symptoms can include nausea, vomiting, and stomach ache.
Why do pineapples eat you back?
Should I take bromelain on an empty stomach?
Your doctor may recommend that you take bromelain with meals in order to aid digestion, or on an empty stomach to reduce inflammation.
Why does my mouth hurt after eating pineapple?
The irritation is caused by a combination of enzymes in pineapples called bromelian, which break down proteins and essentially attack your tongue, cheeks, and lips on contact. … So if your mouth hurts after eating raw pineapple, you're not alone—it happens to virtually everyone.
What are the side effects of eating pineapple?
Can you be intolerant to pineapple?
You may have the symptoms of a pineapple allergy immediately after being exposed to the fruit, or it could take up to several hours for your first symptoms to appear. Intense itching and hives are often the first symptoms of an allergic reaction. Hives may show up on one or more places on your body.
How do you get rid of pineapple aftertaste?
Or pair the fruit with a creamy dairy product (yogurt, ice cream, crème fraîche). Not only will this taste very good, but it will also give the bromelain another protein to digest and help neutralize the pH. So go forth and eat as much pineapple as your little heart desires, fearlessly.
Does pineapples cause gas?
Some fruit juices such as pineapple, orange, and tomato are high in acid, which can irritate the gastrointestinal tract and result in swelling and bloating. So, water is your best bet when it comes to quenching your thirst. "Drinking enough water is key to helping reduce bloat," Dr. Shemek says.
Can I drink water after eating pineapple?
Can pineapple cause miscarriage?
How do you stop your tongue from hurting after eating pineapple?
However an episode of Netflix show Ugly Delicious asserts that salt water can help render the bromelain ineffective. Therefore, soaking a fruit in salt water is said to help stop the burning sensation.
What happens if I eat pineapple everyday?
So to sum up, eating pineapple is good for your body both inside and out – eating a few slices of fresh pineapple a day can defend your body from harmful free radicals and disease, help your digestion by cleaning the body's organs and blood, increase your energy intake and boost metabolism, nourish your hair, skin, …
What does pineapple do for a woman?
How do pineapples help you sexually?
Does pineapple make your VAG taste sweeter?
There's no scientific evidence to suggest that pineapple affects how your vagina smells or tastes.
What are the side effects of taking bromelain?
Side effects commonly associated with bromelain include abnormal uterine bleeding, diarrhea, drowsiness, heavy menstruation, increased heart rate, indigestion, nausea, and vomiting.


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Alaska Herpetological Society
USFS Public Use Cabin Logbooks
This component of my citizen science research is considered "passive" because it allows interested individuals to contribute at their liesure without actively seeking their participation in a program with a defined time and place. It contains two components, amphibian specific logbooks and general logbooks as described below. Both methods are being analyzed as METHODOLOGIES for the collection of observational data and for the CONTENT of the data produced. If successful as a unique methodology, it is my hope that they can be expanded to include other taxa and other regions of Alaska.
This initiative aims to engage public guest cabin users within the Wrangell Ranger District of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in the Tongass National Forest to contribute amphibian observations made during their stay. Participation has been sought through a series of amphibian specific logbooks which concurrently attempt to educate individuals on the amphibians of the region and responsible ways to interact with these species. The books explicitly state the goals of the project as well as the do and donts of participation. Each logbook (binder) contains:
A total of twenty-three books have been distributed, one to each of the twenty-three guest cabins in the district. The map below (borrowed from USFS) combines all cabins within the Petersburg and Wrangell Ranger districts though only those within the latter are involved. These include: Anan Bay, Anan Lake, Berg Bay, Binkley Slough, Eagle Lake, Frosty Bay, Garnet Ledge, Gut Island #1, Gut Island #2, Harding River, Koknuk, Little Dry Island, Mallard Slough, Marten Lake, Middle Ridge, Mount Flemer, Mount Rynda, Sergief Island, Shakes Slough #1, Shakes Slough #2, Steamer Bay, Twin Lakes, and Virginia Lake. The books were placed in the spring and summer of 2011 and will be collected in the summer and fall of 2013, allowing them to have been in place for at least two amphibian breeding seasons. Given the difficulty of accessing these remote cabins, placement and collection is opportunistic.
The observation pages of the logbooks will be analyzed for completeness and accuracy. Descriptive and inferential analyses of contributions as a function of guest cabin use and location will be undertaken. I will furthermore analyze species specific accounts, location specific encounters and demographic correlations. Additionally, a GIS project layer will be created to spatially represent contributed observations from this component and for the analysis of correlated data points.
The idea for the amphibian-specific logbooks emerged from an unrelated scan of a general guest logbook at the Virginia Lake cabin during the 2010 pilot field season. At this time, I noticed that over a several year period cabin users had noted numerous encounters with amphibians. These observations sometimes included the weather, date, exact location, animal lifestage, sounds, and an animal description. The users unknowingly documented important observational data that can be used, when compiled with other data sources, to better understand local amphibian populations including the timing of spring emergence / chorusing, breeding sites, species diversity, distribution, etc. It occurred to me that this historical information is invaluable, available, but largely inaccessible.
Visitor logbooks situated in public guest cabins are absent from scientific literature as sources of local knowledge and citizen science observations, though opportunistic scanning of these in the Stikine region suggests that in some cases these may contain decades of valuable environmental data, not just pertaining to frogs, but to many species, resources, habitats and climactic conditions. Essentially, cabin users have been unknowing participants of a long-term landscape-monitoring program for many years.They are currently located in the cabins that they were originally placed in and are at high-risk of being permanently lost at any time. In addition, these datasets are useless to researchers until an accessible and searchable database is established.
Currently, these logbooks and the data that they contain are at high risk of being permanently lost in the event of fire, flood, or other unanticipated disaster. They have never been backed up, replaced, or digitized. The wealth of knowledge contained within their observational data is likely valuable to a number of scientific disciplines concerned with global change topics and the research costs necessary to obtain equivalent datasets through active sampling would likely cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. In addition, it would be difficult if not impossible to collect these data from the past, lending to the insurmountable need to preserve these resources. The USFS, though it supports the preservation and use of logbook data in the region, has maintained that logistical and financial constraints as well as the need to leave the logbooks in their respective cabins prevents the agency from pursuing such a project on their own.
For these reasons, I am currently seeking funding to archive the data in each of these books into a searchable database that can be easily queried by subject. If successful, the use of visitor logs as databases could become commonplace as a result of this study and could lead to the acquisition of extensive data on many state and federal lands across the United States. For my own purposes, the resulting database will be queried specifically for amphibian observations and compiled with all other observational data.
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The smart car connection
A recent ETAS donation of software and hardware to Kettering helps students use mathematical modeling techniques to develop electronic control systems that will transform the modern vehicle into a smart car.
Maybe the creation of the U.S. auto industry was simply a fluke.
But more than likely it wasn't. In 1804 Oliver Evans was just another young inventor interested in steam engines. His focus was to harness the power of steam for a variety of industrial purposes and in 1803, he developed one of the most powerful and portable steam engines ever created. One day, he figured he'd attach a steam engine to a wagon and see what happened. This exercise eventually led to the creation of the country's first steam river dredge named the Orukter Amphibolos (otherwise known as the amphibious digger)-an odd but powerful machine that was also the first amphibious vehicle ever produced.
The automobile has indeed come a long way since Evans' day. No more hand cranks. No more handles to roll up windows. No more rumble seats. Most every component and system in today's car is controlled by intricate electronics, thus making vehicles highly complex products to design, test and produce.
The BOSCH/ETAS Automotive Electronics Systems Laboratory at Kettering attempts to unravel the mystery of electronic control systems in cars by offering students the latest software and hardware for designing, simulating, testing and evaluating electronic control systems. Recently ETAS (which initially contributed software and hardware to this lab in 2000) provided yet another contribution of new software and hardware valued at more than $107,000, which, according to Electrical Engineering Professor Mark Thompson will help students make cars, "even smarter."
Thompson also said that the new upgrades "provide students the opportunity to perform control systems modeling and simulation in real-time, just like our industry partners do today."
Perhaps Evans would be proud of what today's undergraduate engineering students can accomplish in the laboratory for the automotive industry.
These upgrades include simulation controllers, PWM input/output cards, digital I/O cards and power supplies. Additionally, ETAS provided a new ES 1000 chassis to accommodate the higher performance system controller for real-time systems simulation and evaluation development. The new software, which is called INTECRIO, enables students to rapidly prototype automotive systems using mathematical models based on MATLAB/Simulink, a package students are already familiar with based on coursework in other Kettering classes. This, combined with the hardware upgrade, allows students enrolled in EE-580 Automotive Electronics Systems and EE-490 Student Design Project courses to investigate various automotive sub-system designs and support a number of diverse applied research activities.
"Based on student experience with MATLAB/Simulink," Thompson explained, "most are capable of rapidly prototyping systems using the software's mathematical models. They're familiar with MATLAB's graphical modeling, which improves learning productivity. They can then carry out simulations to gain an in-depth understanding of the design. Students follow this activity up by using the INTECRIO and ETAS hardware, import the Simulink models and perform real-time system simulations on the ES 1000 chassis."
The model-based simulation results then undergo comparison to prototyped ETC system performance to verify the validity of the design approach, Thompson said. The previous hardware and software was of great benefit, he noted, but required more time and experience for students to learn thoroughly. The updated hardware, software and new controller chassis represents exactly what corporate partners currently use and students are able to quickly pick up on how to operate the system.
Some of the areas in avehicle that students are currently modeling include electric cooling systems, memory seat positions and electric throttle control systems, or what's known as throttle-by-wire systems. Other areas include powertrain systems and braking.
"These upgrades are very user-friendly," Thompson said, adding that several individuals helped make this contribution a reality. They include Jeff Kessen '95, director of the Customer Value Team and Koos Zwaanenburg, business developer, both of whom work for the American Operations division based in Ann Arbor, Mich. Others involved in this project include Kettering Senior Jon Kowalski of Commerce Township, Mich., who co-ops at ETAS.
Thompson hopes that the relationship developed with ETAS continues to grow. "We hope to do more sub-system development in future courses," he said. "Really, any electric control systems could be examined using these resources. The more we can investigate, the more experienced students become as they approach graduation day," he concluded.
Written by Gary J. Erwin


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Mental Health Nursing: Connect with People
What is mental health nursing?
Mental health nursing is a specialised field of nursing whose main focus is on a person's subjective experiences. Mental health nursing's primary tool to understand a patient's inner world is the therapeutic nurse-patient relationship. Mental health nursing focuses on the mind of the patient with mental illness and problems, and how they relate about themselves and the world. Mental health nurses work in collaborative arrangement with patients including promotion of:
- Psychological well-being and emotional health
- Relationships with others and their peace of mind.
What do mental health nurses do?
Mental health nurses monitor the biological dimensions of mental illness through medication administration and behavioural observations and interpretation in general. In line with current trends and reforms, mental health nurses protect patients' rights and support their families, carers and significant others.
Want a fantastic career that lets you work in a range of settings and can take you interstate or overseas?
Visit the ACMHN Ambassador's Website
How do I become a mental health nurse?
With an undergraduate degree in nursing you can register to practice as a nurse and work in most mental health settings. However, to become a specialist, most nurses go on to study mental health at Graduate Diploma or Masters Level. Find out more about postgraduate mental health nursing study.
Specialist mental health nurses may also undertake additional training in specific therapies, such as couple and family therapy.
Mental Health Nurses are in demand across Australia. Scholarships to study mental health nursing are available through the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) and through each State and Territory Department of Health.


From SPARQL Working Group
Jump to: navigation, search
SPARQL expressions use a 3-state logic: true, false and unknown. Unknown is the error-raised case. To make sure a processor only returns things known to be true, FILTER turns "unknown" into false.
For the expression;
"foo"^^xsd:string != "10"^^xsd:integer
then a minimal SPARQL 1.0 query processor is not required to know that the value spaces of xsd:string and xsd:integer are disjoint. For a processor that does not know this, the result of the comparison is "unknown" and an error is raised. If the processor did know they are disjoint, then it can return "true" -- such behavior would be adding a row to the dispatch table for functions for "xsd:string != xsd:integer".
NOT IN is value based and builds on this. If the processor understands that xsd:string and the numeric value spaces are disjoint, then it would return:
?book ?discount
<> "70"
<> "700.0"^^xsd:float
<> 41
which is what I think you are expecting. It's the additional fact of xsd:string and xsd:integer having disjoint value spaces that is key here.
Being value based:
"700"^^xsd:float IN (500, 600, 700) is true.
Using sameTerm it would be false which might be surprising.
Andy, on behalf of the SPARQL-WG


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Mediterranean Enlightenment: Livornese Jews, Tuscan Culture, and Eighteenth-Century Reform (BOK)
1 129,00 1 12900
Sendes vanligvis innen 7-15 dager
The Mediterranean port of Livorno was home to one of the most prominent and privileged Jewish enclaves of early modern Europe. Focusing on Livornese Jewry, this book offers an alternative perspective on Jewish acculturation during the eighteenth century, and reassesses common assumptions about the interactions of Jews with outside culture and the impact of state reforms on the corporate Jewish community. Working from a vast array of previously untapped archival and literary sources, Francesca Bregoli combines cultural analysis with a study of institutional developments to investigate Jewish responses to Enlightenment thought and politics, as well as non-Jewish perceptions of Jews, through an exploration of Jewish-Christian cultural exchange, sites of sociability, and reformist policies. Mediterranean Enlightenment shows that Livornese Jewish scholars engaged with Enlightenment ideals and aspired to contribute to society at large without weakening the boundaries of traditional Jewish life. By arguing that the privileged status of Livorno Jewry had conservative rather than liberalizing effects, it also challenges the notion that economic utility facilitates Jewish integration, nuancing received wisdom about processes of emancipation in Europe.


Home > Topics > Premier Wen Jiabao Pays Official Visit to Nepal
China, Nepal Issue Eight-Point Joint Statement on Relations, Cooperation
Visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Saturday, Jan. 14 2012 paid an official visit to Nepal, during which China and Nepal issued an eight-point joint statement on boosting bilateral ties and strengthening cooperation in various areas.
During the visit, Premier Wen met with Nepalese President Ram Baran Yadav and held talks with the country's Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai.
The leaders of the two countries had an in-depth exchange of views and reached broad understanding on China-Nepal relations as well as on international and regional issues of mutual interest.
The two sides agreed that the China-Nepal diplomatic relations, established in 1955 and characterized by equality, harmonious co-existence, ever-lasting friendship and comprehensive cooperation, are of great importance to both nations.
"Further enhancement of the ties is in accord with the fundamental interests of the two countries and is conducive to peace, stability and development in the region and the world at large," the joint statement said.
Firstly, the two sides decided to further promote China-Nepal friendly relations of Comprehensive Partnership of Cooperation Featuring Ever-Lasting Friendship on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.
Secondly, the two sides agreed to share development experiences and technological advancement, and enhance all round cooperation so as to achieve mutual development and prosperity.
The two sides also agreed to maintain the momentum of high-level mutual visits, and have meetings between the leaders on the multilateral occasions.
The two nations will also make full use of existing mechanisms including the diplomatic consultations and the China-Nepal Joint Economic and Trade Committee Meeting. The two sides agreed to form a Consultation Mechanism at the level of Ministers for Foreign Affairs.
Thirdly, the Nepalese side expressed its firm support for China on its efforts to uphold state sovereignty, national unity and territorial integrity.
"Nepal does not allow any forces to use its territory for any anti-China or separatist activities," the joint statement said.
Fourthly, the two sides agreed to further intensify cooperation in socioeconomic development, promotion of trade and tourism, hydropower, and transportation infrastructure development, as well as other fields on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.
At the request of the Nepalese side, the Chinese side assured of increase in the volume of regular grant aid for the implementation of various infrastructure development and other projects.
Both sides agreed to improve connectivity, particularly the land transportation infrastructure between the two countries, to facilitate bilateral exchanges, cooperation and business ties.
The two sides maintained that the Tibet Autonomous Region of China and Nepal should make full potentials and take their respective advantages to strengthen people-to-people exchanges in the border areas, and to promote trade, tourism, and the flow of goods and services to expand mutually beneficial cooperation.
The Chinese side said that it encourages and supports competent and well-established Chinese companies and enterprises to promote investment and joint ventures in Nepal, and will provide financing assistance, including concessional loans, to mutually agreed projects.
In the rest part of the joint statement from the fifth to the eighth points, China and Nepal agreed to improve the meeting mechanism between law-enforcing authorities of the two countries, and to deepen cooperation on border management and law-enforcement capacity-building, so as to uphold peace and stability of China-Nepal border areas.
The two countries also announced the year 2012 as "the China-Nepal Year of Friendly Exchanges," saying the two sides will continue to promote exchanges and cooperation in the areas of culture and education and between youths, media, think tanks, scholars and friendly groups of the two countries.
The two sides believed that China and Nepal have identical or similar positions on major international issues, such as global financial crisis, energy and food security, among others.
The two sides agreed to maintain close coordination and cooperation in this regard, so as to uphold the common interests of China, Nepal and other developing countries.
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In microeconomic theory a preference map or indifference map is the collection of indifference curves possessed by an individual. Similar in nature to a topographical map, the contour lines of such a map demonstrating progressively more desirable options as they move upward or to the right. Because of the nature of indifference curves they cannot intersect and are effectively infinite in number, their sum defining all possible combinations of values.
An individual will choose to consume goods at the point where their budget constraint is tangent to an indifference curve their preference map. Because of the nature of the preference map, there is only one possible curve and one possible consumption point on any given combination of preference map and budget constraint. It is by accumulating these consumption points that a demand curve can be generated.


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History and Purpose of Math4Texas
Math4Texas was developed under the Math Initiative which was instituted through the collaborative efforts of the Education Service Center (ESC) Region 11 board and superintendents to help parents and teachers understand the content and conceptual changes of the revised Math Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills (TEKS) and their impact on students' everyday learning and thinking.
The Math Initiative was initiated to assist parents, students, and teachers not only in ESC Region 11 but in all regions across the state of Texas to be successful in understanding the depth of knowledge that the revised Math TEKS encompass and to be confident in their everyday teaching with these new shifts of thinking.
Math4Texas showcases the Math TEKS by grade level with tips, examples, digital tools, and videos to help parents understand the math concepts and skills that their children are learning.
We hope you find the support Math4Texas provides parents as effective in impacting students' learning.


Users cannot access certain Georgetown Library electronic resources off campus
Certain library electronic resources will be inaccessible to users when accessed from off campus locations:
For example, since the Georgetown library subscribes to many electronic resources, on campus access to these journals works without any issues and does not require a GU affiliation (e.g. NetID login) to be established. Off campus access to these journals, however, will need to be authenticated first by logging in to the service with the user's Georgetown NetID and password. That is, off-campus users need to access the content via the Library's EZproxy service, which rewrites the requests and proxies them through the GU network. The EZproxy service is NetID-enabled and requests credentials when the user first tries to access content via a "proxied" link.
We suggest that the following revisions be made to links that have been used in Canvas and Blackboard:
For example, instead of directly linking to a library resource:
Instructors and course site builders should instead use:
i.e.: add to the front part of the resource url
This would prompt users to log in to Georgetown services and will provide access to the resource for both on and off-campus users.


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Historical diversification of migration patterns in a passerine bird
Förlag: Society for the Study of Evolution
Migratory strategies of birds require complex orientation mechanisms, morphological adaptations, and life-history adjustments. From an evolutionary perspective, it is important to know how fast this complex combination of traits can evolve. We analyzed mitochondrial control-region DNA sequences in 241 blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) from 12 populations with different migratory behaviors. The sample included sedentary populations in Europe and Atlantic archipelagos and migratory populations with different distances of migration, from regional to intercontinental migrations, and different heading directions (due to a migratory divide in central Europe). There was no genetic structure between migratory and sedentary populations, or among populations from different biogeographic areas (Atlantic islands, the Iberian Peninsula, or the continent), however we found evidence of a genetic structure when comparing populations located on either side of the migratory divide. These findings support an independent evolution of highly divergent migratory strategies in blackcaps, occurring after a postglacial colonization of the continent along western and eastern routes. Accordingly, mismatch-distribution analyses suggested an expansion of blackcaps from a very small population size, and time estimates dated such an expansion during the last postglacial period. However, the populations in Gibraltar, located in a putative Mediterranean refuge, appeared to be independent of these processes, showing evidence of restricted gene flow with other populations and demonstrating insignificant historical changes in effective population size. Our results show that the interruption of gene flow between migratory and sedentary populations is not necessary for the maintenance of such a polymorphism, and that even the most divergent migratory strategies of a bird species are susceptible to evolution in response to historical environmental changes.
- Biology and Life Sciences
- Molecular Ecology and Evolution Lab
- ISSN: 0014-3820


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If momentum is possible without conventional mass, is momentum possible without conventional velocity?
We already know that conventionally the equation is Momentum = Mass * Velocity
It took some work, but an answerer agreed with me at: _URL_
We also know that photons don't conventionally have mass:
Consider the previous answer at:
If the equation can be fulfilled in one way, then logically it could be fulfilled in another way,
For example, an object tethered on a slope has no velocity, but it is the mass of the object that causes it to pull on the tether. Perhaps this is momentum without velocity, even to some minds, without force? Anyone agree with me?
I'm interested in detailed but very conventional explanations of how this MIGHT work AT ALL
Be careful not to conflate velocity with force. Velocity is NOT force.


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Purdue Extension suggests the following links for information about Natural
Resources and Environment:
Aquaculture and Aquatic Resources - Information on aquaculture
production, Aquatic nuisances species, and recreational fisheries.
Climate and Weather - The Indiana State Climate Office provides
official daily and hourly weather observations recorded throughout Indiana.
Forests and Trees - Information on managing trees and forests,
whether you are managing one tree, trees in your community, or large woodlands.
Forest Products - Information on Indiana Forest and Woodland industries.
K-12 Teacher and Student Resources - Teaching resources that
focus on nature; Forestry career development, and other resources.
Natural Resources Planning - Tools and products that help
managers and decision makers improve natural resource management and planning in
Ponds - Information on pond design and construction, pond
management, and mosquito concerns.
Septic Systems - Onsite wastewater information and other issues
related to soils and the home environment.
Watershed Management - Information on community watershed
protection and restoration including GIS tools.
Water and Soil Management in Agriculture:
Wildlife - Information for landowners, homeowners, and
enthusiasts on managing habitat and enjoying wildlife.
Wood Products - Assistance for wood products manufacturers and


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Mortar Training Blended Learning Solution
CDS Defence Support was tasked to develop a blended learning solution for the Army Mortar Training School.
CDS was tasked to develop a Blended Learning Solution (BLS) for the Army Mortar Training School. The aim of the solution was to allow students in training to use mortars to practice and develop the skills associated with map reading, calculating bearings and judging distance based on the terrain's features.
Scanning the Landscape
The solution needed to be able to generate targets randomly at a variety of distances within a set training area. The students would then be required to manually scan the landscape to identify potential targets.
The students also needed to be able to use a service prismatic compass to acquire the target's direction.
After calculating the bearing, the students would have to accurately identify target locations on the map.
Making Corrections Based on a Missed Shot
The students would have to have the ability to make adjustments and re-engage the target an unlimited number of times.
Working closely with a number of SMEs, CDS interpreted the requirements and developed an application that delivered the required features whilst adding additional benefits at every stage.
Our BLS allows both the students and the instructors to have sight of the students' process of acquiring and engaging a target.
The students navigate round a geographically accurate virtual environment, based on a known training area, where a number of randomly generated targets appear at different distances. Once a target is identified, the student must use the skills learned in practical training to make the correct calculations and effectively engage the target.
Complex background algorithms accurately simulate, in real time, the characteristics of a mortar round's velocity, trajectory (fall of shot) and the time of flight. The student can then watch the round hit or miss the target and can make multiple corrections to re-adjust and re-engage until a Fire for Effect (FFE) order can be given.
This solution can also be integrated with Learning Management Systems.
Other optional features include:
- Encryption to allow for off-site use.
- Secure data link to record students' information including usage and strike rate.
- Auditable confirmation of training and competency.
A BLS has many advantages including:
- Students can be trained for multiple-operational scenarios and terrains prior to deployment.
- 24/7 access to training – no down-time due to adverse weather conditions or range day losses.
- Costs are reduced by negating the need for additional range time, ammunition and coaching/training staff.
- The application has cross-platform functionality and is able to run on Android, iOS and other similar operating systems.
- The Mortar Training can be digitally tailored to suit any combination of ammunition including illumination, smoke rounds and differing terrains.
In addition to the Mortar Training, CDS has also developed a 7.62mm General Purpose Machine Gun BLS. This unique tool presents the students with a geographically accurate virtual map, a protractor, a series of range tables and issue fire control data.
The students will identify and process the 8 figure grid reference number, the altitude above sea level, the bearing and distance and finally use this information to calculate the elevation adjustments required prior to engaging the target.


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|Author: K.S.V.Phanindra 09 Mar 2012 Member Level: Silver Points : 2 Voting Score: 0|
|I think you mean "how will we improve the computing process by the help of parallel computing frameworks in fields of software development"|
Well, by using parallel computing, we can improve processing speed as parallel processing allows us to parallely process the codes. This depends mainly on the hardware used. You can also do this by software with effective programming. For example, we can execute different types of files (".asp,.html and.aspx") paralelly in IIS. So, you can divide the use the background framework of the software you are utilizing to employ parallel processing.


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Neuroscientists Investigate Lotteries to Study How the Brain Evaluates Risk
People are faced with thousands of choices every day, some inane and some risky. Scientists know that the areas of the brain that evaluate risk are the same for each person, but what makes the value assigned to risk different for individuals?
To answer this question, a new video article in Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE) uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to characterize subjective risk assessment while subjects choose between different lotteries to play.
The article, a joint effort from laboratories at Yale School of Medicine and New York University, is led by Yale's Dr. Ifat Levy. Dr. Levy explains, "This procedure allows us to examine all kinds of normal and pathological behaviors focusing on risk assessment. It could explain things like substance abuse and over-eating from a different perspective than how it is usually characterized."


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Treacherous Baths - Ladybug Washups
W. Rachel Singley
-- January 2010
Imagine that you are walking along a sandy shoreline and while taking in the natural beauty you notice that the driftwood and other debris are entirely covered in ladybugs! This is no fantasythousands of beetles wash up on the shores of lakes and ocean beaches all over the world. The first author to note that ladybugs, in particular, were predominant among them was Thomas J. Bold (1873) who wrote, "Visitors to our local [Britain] watering places must have noticed occasionally the sudden appearance of swarms of Lady-birds of various kinds. One of these, Coccinella 11-punctata, not rare generally, will some years appear in such profusion that every stone, brick, or clog of wood lying on the sandy bents will be reddened by congregated hundreds, but where they have come from, and why, is one of those perplexing questions which it is impossible to answer satisfactorily."
The phenomenon is called just what it is, a ladybug washup, and anywhere from hundreds to thousands, even millions of ladybugs can end up on the banks and shores of lakes and coastal areas.
Dunlins picking ladybugs along the beach in Chicago, October 2009, photographed by Steve Spitzer.
Harmonia axyridis gutted from a rainbow trout at Lake Winnipesaukee NH, May 2009, by Florence Dickie
We expect to see ladybugs walking along leaves, finding aphids or other soft-bodied insect prey, in grasses, bushes or trees in the spring and summer, and then crawling through cracks and crevasses into our homes in late fall and winter. But we are not used to seeing these common garden insects in an aquatic habitat, let alone swimming or floating en masse. The ladybugs are sometimes still alive, but many are found dead, having drowned before they reached shore.
Still debated are the questions of how and why the ladybugs come to gather on shorelines, and how long they can float. Ideas fall into two categories: those based on ladybugs floating to shore, and those suggesting that ladybugs are gathering at the shore from land. Either route would require large numbers of ladybugs to simultaneously take flight. Synchronized flight could happen while gathering or dispersing from over-wintering sites, or perhaps could be the result of rapid growth in ladybug populations and subsequent depletion of resources. Ladybugs could be setting off to forage. If we think that the ladybugs are coming from land to the shore, then hungry ladybugs may go to the shores to drink (Hodek et al. 1993), or gather at the shore because of reluctance to cross the water (Nalepa et al. 1998) (historical research Denemark and Losey in press).
Alternatively, the idea that ladybugs are blown or knocked into the water and then drift ashore has been suggested by several authors (e.g. Lee 1980, Schaefer et al. 1987, Turnock 1996, Acorn 2007). Many of these noted the correlation with what were termed "warm" afternoons. As early as 1900 James G. Needham observed a washup of 35 ladybug species on the shore of Lake Michigan which he believed had been caused by a serious thunderstorm the day before. Most recently, a former undergrad in John Losey's lab at Cornell University, Eric Denemark, has contributed empirical data supporting the hypothesis (Isard et al. 2001) that a specific type of wind, not necessarily a big storm, called a lake or sea breeze, is key to understanding how ladybug washups come about.
Lake and sea breezes are caused by differential heating and cooling of water and land, for example, when the air is especially warm, but the water is still cold. Isard et al. (2001) pointed out that these breezes can be affected by several local variables and can happen on a daily basis, or never, in some localities. Eric found that some ladybugs could float for over 150 hours and estimated the average time floating for washups in the Finger Lakes to be about 33 hours. His work correlated seasonal changes in the probabilities of lake breezes and of washups and the tempo of lake breezes and ladybug floating distances. Eric's was the first study of ladybug washups in the New York Finger Lakes. He showed that washups can occur by relatively small bodies of water and that the numbers of ladybugs caught in washups broadly correlates with the size of the bodies of water. This, too, would be consistent with lake and sea breeze causes.
Eric is now in graduate school in the Entomology Department at Texas A & M University and his paper was recently published in Entomologica Americana (Denemark and Losey 2010).
Acorn J. 2007. Ladybugs of Alberta: Finding the Spots and Connecting the Dots. University of Alberta Press. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Bold T. J. 1873. Note on the recent occurrence in Northumberland and Durham of the Camberwell Beauty Butterfly. Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club, Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne. 5: 30-34.
Isard, S., Kristovich, D., Gage, S., Jones, C., and N. Laird. 2001. Atmospheric motion systems that influence the redistribution and accumulation of insects on the beaches of the Great Lakes in North America. Aerobiologia Vol. 17, 275-291.
Lee. R. E. 1980. Aggregation of Lady Beetles on the shores of lakes (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae). American Midland Naturalist. 104, 295-304.
Nalepa, C. A., K. Ahlstrom, B. Nault, and J. Williams. 1998. Mass appearance of lady beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) on North Carolina beaches. Ent. News 109(4) 277-281.
Needham, J. J. 1900. Insect drift on the shore of Lake Michigan. Occas. Mem. Chicago. Entomol. Soc. 1: 19-26.
Oliver, F. W. 1943. A swarm of ladybirds (Coleoptera) in the Libyan desert coast of Egypt between Hamman and Abusir. Proc R. Entomol. Soc. Lond. Ser. A. Gen. Entomol., 18: 87-88
Schaefer, P. W., R. J. Dysart and H. B. Specht. 1987. North American distribution of Coccinella septempunctata (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) and its mass appearance in coastal Delaware. Environ. Entomol. 16: 368-373
Turnock, B. 1996. Lady beetles on the Lake Manitoba beach. UFS (Delta Marsh) Annual Report. Vol. 31.
Blog entries are also a good place to find people who have witnessed washups first hand, and they usually have a few pictures of what they saw. Though these accounts are not as reliable as scientifically collected data, blog entries are a great way to track ladybug washup sightings.
Below are links to just a few blog entries that report the amazing sight of thousands of ladybugs.


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Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
- This article is about John L. Dobson, the astronomer. For John Dobson, the British architect, see John Dobson (architect).
John L. Dobson (born September 14, 1915) is a highly influential amateur astronomer who has been dubbed the "pied piper of astronomy" and the "star monk". He was the only amateur astronomer highlighted in the PBS series The Astronomers.
He was born in Beijing, China. His maternal grandfather founded Peking University, his mother was a musician, and his father taught zoology at the University. He and his parents moved to San Francisco, California in 1927. His father accepted a teaching position at Lowell High School and taught there until the 1950s.
John Dobson took a degree in chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley in 1943 and joined the Vedanta Monastery in San Francisco in 1944, becoming a monk of the Ramakrishna Order. He left the order after his extracurricular astronomical activities brought him into conflict with his religious superiors.
The Dobsonian telescope mount is named after John Dobson. He was the co-founder of the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers, an organization that aims to popularize astronomy among the people on the street. Dobson authored the 1991 book "How and Why to Make a User-Friendly Sidewalk Telescope" (ISBN _PHONE_) with editor Norman Sperling. This book helped popularize what came to be known as the Dobsonian mount, and treats the "why" as importantly as the "how". It covers Dobson's background and his philosophy on astronomy and the universe, and the importance of popular access to astronomy for proper a appreciation of the universe.
The contents of this article is licensed from _URL_ under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details