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Rider burial mound Tenlik (III.-II. B.C.) The Tenlik kurgan is associated with the Wusun.[1]
The Wusun (Chinese: 烏孫; pinyin: Wūsūn; Wade–Giles: Wū-sūn; literally: "Grandchildren/Descendents of the Crow/Raven") were an Indo-European semi-nomadic steppe people mentioned in Chinese records from the 2nd century BC and the 5th century AD.
The Wusun originally lived between the Qilian Mountains and Dunhuang (Gansu) near the Yuezhi. Around 176 BC the Yuezhi were raided by the Xiongnu, subsequently attacking the Wusun, killing their king and seizing their land. The Wusun prince was subsequently adopted by the Xiongnu ruler and made a Xiongnu general and leader of the Wusun. After the Yuezhi around 162 BC were driven into the Ili Valley of Zhetysu, Dzungaria and Tian Shan formerly inhabited by the Sai (Scythians), the Wusun resettled Gansu as vassals of the Xiongnu. In 133-132 BC, the Wusun drove the Yuezhi from the Ili Valley and settled the area. They subsequently became close allies of the Han dynasty and a powerful force in the region for several centuries. Pressured by the Rouran, the Wusun are last mentioned by the Chinese as having settled the Pamir Mountains in the 5th century AD. They possibly became subsumed into the later Hephthalites. They had conflicts with the Nomadic Xiongnu and the Chinese empires. After having been defeated they migrated further west.
Wusun is a modern pronunciation of the Chinese Characters '烏孫'. The Chinese name '烏孫' ('Wusun') literally means Wu = 'crow' or 'raven' + Sun = 'grandson' or 'descendant'.[2] There are several theories about the origin of the name.[3]
Sinologist Victor H. Mair compared "Wusun" with Sanskrit "aśvin" and Lithuanian "ašva", both meaning'mare'. The name would thus mean "the horse people." Hence he put forward the hypothesis that the Wusun used a Kentum-like language within the Indo-European languages. However, the latter hypothesis is not supported by Edwin G. Pulleyblank.[4] Christopher I. Beckwith makes a similliar analysis to Mair, reconstructing Chinese term Wusun to the Old Chinese *âswin, which he compares to the Old Indic aśvin "the horsemen", the name of the Rigvedic twin equestrian gods.[5]
Early history[edit]
The Wusun are first mentioned by Chinese sources as vassals of the Yuezhi living between the Qilian Mountains and Dunhuang (Gansu),[6][7][8][9] although different locations however have been suggested for these toponyms.[10] Beckwith suggests that the Wusun were an eastern remnant of the Indo-Aryans, who had been suddenly pushed to the extremities of the Eurasian Steppe by the Iranian peoples in the 2nd millennium BC.[11]
Migration of the Wusun
Around 210-200 BC, prince Modu Chanyu, a former hostage of the Yuezhi and prince of the Xiongnu, who were also vassals of the Yuezhi,[12] became leader of the Xiongnu and conquered the Mongolian Plain, subjugating several peoples.[13] Around 176 BC Mody Chanyu launched a fierce raid against the Yuezhi.[9] Around 173 BC, the Yuezhi subsequently attacked the Wusun,[9] at that time a small nation,[14] killing their king (Kunmi Chinese: 昆彌 or Kunmo Chinese: 昆莫) Nandoumi (Chinese: 難兜靡).[14] According to legend Nandoumi's infant son Liejiaomi was left in the wild. He was miraculously saved from hunger being suckled by a she-wolf, and fed meat by ravens.[15][16][17][18] The Wusun ancestor myth shares striking similarities with those of the Hittites, the Zhou Chinese, the Scythians, the Romans, the Koguryo, Turks, Mongols and Dzungars.[19] Based on the similarities between the ancestor myth of the Wusun and later Turkic peoples, Denis Sinor has suggested that the Wusun and/or Sogdians could represent an Indo-European Iranian influence, or even origin of the royal Ashina Türks.[20]
In 162 BC, the Yuezhi were finally defeated by the Xiongnu, after which they fled Gansu.[9] According to Zhang Qian, the Yuezhi were defeated by the rising Xiongnu empire and fled westward, driving away the Sai (Scythians) from the Ili Valley in the Zhetysu and Dzungaria area.[21] The Sai would subsequently migrate into South Asia, where they founded various Indo-Scythian kingdoms.[9] After the Yuezhi retreat the Wusun subsequently settled the modern province of Gansu, in the valley of the Ushui-he (Chinese Raven Water river), as vassals of the Xiongnu.[14] It is not clear whether the river was named after the tribe or vice versa.
Migration to the Ili Valley[edit]
The Xiongnu ruler was impressed with Liejiaomi, considering him a supernatural being, and adopted the child.[14] When the child grew up the Chanyu made him leader of the Wusun and a Xiongnu general.[14] He won many victories for the Xiongnu and the Wusun became powerful.[14] Liejiaomi constantly requested the Xiongnu ruler for permission to revenge his father, and around 133-132 BC, he successfully attacked the Yuezhi in the Ili Valley.[14][7][9] The Yuezhi then migrated to Sogdia and then Bactria, where they became unified under Kujula Kadphises and expanded into South Asia, founding the Kushan Empire, which at its peak under Kanishka stretched from Turpan in the Tarim Basin to Pataliputra on the Gangetic plain and played an important role in the development of the Silk Road and the transmission of Buddhism to China.[7]
The Wusun subsequently took over the Ili Valley, expanding over a large area and trying to keep away from the Xiongnu. According to Shiji, Wusun was a state located west of the Xiongnu.[22] When they Xiongnu ruler died, Liejiaomi refused to serve the Xiongnu.[14] The Xiongnu then sent a force to against the Wusun but were defeated, after which the Xiongnu even more than before considered Liejiaomi a supernatural being, avoiding conflict with him.[14]
Wusun and their neighbours around 200 AD.
Establishing relations with the Han[edit]
After settling in the Ili Valley the Wusun became so strong that the Han was compelled to win their friendship in alliance.[1] Chinese sources name the Scythian Sai (Saka), and the Yuezhi who are often identified as Tocharians, among the people of the Wusun state in the Zhetysu and Dzungaria area.[23] The Wusun realm probably included both Yuezhi and Saka.[1] It is clear that the majority of the population consisted of linguistically Iranian Saka tribes.[1]
In 125 BC, under the Han Emperor Wu of Han (156-87 BCE), the Chinese traveller and diplomat Zhang Qian was sent to establish an alliance with the Wusun Against the Xiongnu.[8][24] Qian estimated the Wusun to number 630,000, with 120,000 families and 188,000 men capable of bearing arms.[25] Hanshu described them as occupying land that previously belonged to the Saka (Sai).[26][27] To their north-west the Wusun bordered Kangju, located in modern Kazakhstan. To the west was Dayuan (Ferghana), and to the south were various city states.[28] The Royal Court of the Wusun, the walled city of Chigu (Chinese: 赤谷; pinyin: chìgǔ; literally: "Red Valley"), was located in a side valley leading to Issyk Kul.[1][29] Lying on one of the branches of the Silk Road Chigu was an important trading centre, but its exact location has not been established.[1]
The Wusun approved of a possible alliance and Zhang Qian was sent as ambassador in 115 BC.[1] According to the agreement the Wusun would jointly attack the Xiongnu with the Han, while they were offered a Han princess in marriage and the return of their original Gansu homeland.[1] Due to fear of the Xiongnu, the Wusun however reached second thoughts, and suggested to move send a delegation to the Han rather than moving their capital further west.[8][1]
The Wusun as Han allies[edit]
Some time after the Han-Wusun negotiations had ended, the


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[The Leaven – exploring the relationship between science and religion (cont)]
The Jewish word for leaven is chametz. This is not normally thought to be yeast but naturally fermenting grain, particularly wheat, barley, rye, spelt or oats. In this respect, wine being fermented from grapes would not be considered leavened but beer probably would, as it is likely to contain barley. Sour wine or vinegar was also likely to be considered leavened. The Hebrew for vinegar is chometz meaning sour. This is almost the same as the word chametz which is probably derived from a similar meaning. Vinegar is made by fermenting an alcoholic substance, such as wine, a second time with acetic acid bacteria to convert ethanol into acetic acid. Turning wine into vinegar can be avoided by excluding air from the process as these bacteria are predominately aerobic. It is likely that wine frequently turned to vinegar in the Biblical era as a consequence of contamination and therefore it was thought to simulate corruption in a similar way to leaven. It has been suggested that when the term chometz is used in the Bible it refers to both leaven and vinegar as they are both considered to be sour. The Hebrew word for wine was yayin derived from the word yaneh meaning to squeeze or press. Sour wine was usually referred to as chometz yayin or chometz yin.
It is believed that vinegar or sour wine was offered to Jesus before and after the crucifixion:
And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, the place of the skull, they gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. They crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, they parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down they watched him there; And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Golgotha was thought to be called the place of the skull because it was a hill that resembled a skull although it may have also been called this because it served as a place for executions. It was located at the entrance of Jerusalem. Some translations say that Jesus was offered vinegar while bearing the cross to Golgotha whereas others say it was wine containing gall. Gall was often referred to as anything that was bitter so it was more likely to be sour wine or vinegar. In his gospel, Matthew states that this was done to fulfil a prophecy. The particular prophecy that Matthew refers to is in the Old Testament. It describes the demeaning manner by which vinegar is offered to quench a thirst. The guards further demean Jesus by removing his clothing in order to share them between themselves. This is also predicted in a prophecy:
When I was hungry they gave me poison. When I was thirsty they offered me vinegar.
The gamble for my clothes and divide them among themselves.
In the Gospel according to John, Jesus drank vinegar just before he died whilst on the cross in order to fulfill the prophecy.
Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
It would seem that vinegar could be more likely to be viewed as a leavened drink than either wine or grape juice as it was synonymous with a corruptive influence in the same way as leaven.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


text:
Multicultural Studies 245
This course is designed to allow the exploration of several defining historical events affecting diverse cultural groups in South Africa: 1. Prehistory: early man, the Khoi-San, the early Bantu migrations, Shaka Zulu and the formation of the Basotho, Matebele, Xhosa, and Zulu nations. 2. Early Colonialism: Spanish, British and Dutch Colonizers, and the migrations of the Boer-Trekkers and their interactions with indigenous peoples. 3. Later Colonialism: including the importation and exploitation of Indian sugar-cane workers, and their subsequent.integration into the cultural and political fabric of South Africa. 4. The history of Apartheid, journeys and thought of Mandela and Biko and the recent moves towards reconciliation. The integration of these four areas of South African history will serve as the lens through which the 20th century efforts to overcome colonialism, Apartheid, repression, segregated homelands and townships, white fear/white flight, and the movements for freedom and towards a multicultural democracy are viewed.
General South African Resources
Student Website: South African Study Abroad Summer 2003


FAQ About Destroyers
Q: Who invented the destroyer class of ships?
A: The British inventor Robert Whitehead improved on the Austrian design of the self-propelled ocean torpedo in 1866. By the mid-1870s he was marketing it to the world's navies. All of them began to develop the torpedo boat to carry the weapon within range of capital ships. To protect against torpedo boat attacks, designers began to work on the torpedo boat destroyer. Within a decade the two distinct designs merged and the term destroyer became common.
Q: Who perfected the destroyer?
A: The Japanese became the first world navy to prove that destroyers were a viable design during the Russo-Japanese War of _PHONE_. In 1928 Japan introduced the revolutionary Fubuki class with 5-inch guns in fully enclosed, water-proof gun mounts, an event in world naval history that sobered the other nations into a destroyer arms race.
Q: How are destroyers named?
A: American destroyers are named after naval heroes. Japanese destroyers often named their ships after descriptive terms like types of clouds or waves. The British named their Tribal class after ethnic groups they had encountered around the world. The I-class ships, preceding the Tribals, were given names starting with I. The 50 American WW I destroyers given to Great Britain in 1940 were renamed after towns that existed in both the United Kingdom and United States. Germany named some of their destroyers after people and some just had numbers.
Q: How big were destroyers?
A: The early ocean-going British designs were around 200 feet long. By WW II, most nations' destroyers ranged around 370 to 390 feet long with a width of nine to 10 feet. Weight ranged from 1,500 tons to 2,100 tons for most nation's destroyers. By comparison, an American battleship was 608 feet long and weighed 29,000 tons.
Q:What was the first American destroyer?
A: USS Bainbridge (DD-1) was 245 feet long and weighed 420 tons. It was commissioned in 1902 and served through 1919. After commissioning, it served in the Pacific and Mediterranean during WW I. It never served in American waters territorial waters.
Q: How fast were destroyers?
A: The fastest destroyers could make 35knots or around 42 miles per hour if they were rushing. Most would cruise at speeds of 20 knots or less to conserve fuel. If escorting convoys, they would move forward only as fast as the slowest ships in the convoy. That meant they might roam the outskirts of the convoy at speed looking for submarines.
Q: How were destroyers armed?
A: The British armed their first destroyers in the 1880s with 6-pounder and 1-pounder cannons and torpedoes that were 18-inches in circumference. By 1905, Japan was arming its destroyers with 12-poun der guns. By 1915, the British were using 4.7 inch guns and 21-inch torpedoes. The Americans were far behind in gun development and were using 3-inch guns and 18-inch torpedo tubes in 1915.
By World War II, most nations had settled on 5-inch guns that fired a 40-pound shell about 10 miles. The Americans were still using 21-inch torpedoes while the Japanese were using the deadly 24-inch Type 93 that had a 1,000-pound warhead and an effective range of 11 miles. The Americans and British were also equipped with the hedgehog, an anti-submarine weapon that threw 24 65-pound shells ahead of the ship. The shells only exploded on contact with an enemy submarine's steel hull, making it superior to the much heavier 300-pound depth charge.
Q: How were destroyers used?
A: Their original purpose was to attack larger enemy ships with torpedoes. In WW I, their purpose changed to escort battleships and cruisers, and then merchant convoys. In WW II that escort duty remained their purpose early in the war. By mid-war, bold destroyer commanders convinced their admirals to allow divisions of destroyers to become independent attacking forces. In the Atlantic, British and American destroyers teamed with aircraft carriers to form hunter-killer teams to find and destroy U-boats.
Q: How effective were destroyers in sinking submarines?
A: Not very in World War I. A U-Boat or its periscope had to be sighted before a destroyer could drop its depth charges.
By World War II, sonar, radar, and High Frequency Directional Finding (Huff-Duff) that homed in on U-Boats' radio transmissions back to Germany made finding the U-Boats easier. Aircraft flying from hunter-killer groups of aircraft carriers escorted by destroyers also spotted the shapes of submarines under the ocean's surface. By the end of the war anti-submarine tactics used by destroyers and destroyer escorts had been so perfected that few submarines even set out on the ocean. One destroyer escort, the USS England, sank six Japanese submarines in 12 days.
Q: What were the best destroyers?
A: The United States started commissioning the Fletcher class in late 1942. In just three years 175 would be built. In 1944 the Allen M. Sumner class would come on-line,. The Sumners added one more gun than the Fletchers for six 5" guns in three gun mounts, compared to 5 guns in 5 gun mounts for the Fletchers. The Japanese would build 19 copies each of the Kagero and Yugomo classes, similar in quality to the Fletchers, but their industrial capacity could not match the Americans. The British Tribal class was considered its best class. The German Type 34 and Type 36 destroyers suffered from mechanical breakdowns of their engines. They were terrible ships and never a factor during World War II.
Q: What are destroyer escorts?
A: Destroyer escorts were developed by the United States. They were smaller versions of destroyers designed to protect convoys and attack submarines. They had lower top speeds, smaller deck guns, but were equipped with plentiful depth charges and hedgehogs as their primary target was submarines.


text:
This post was guest-authored by Crypeli and published here with permission.
As some of you may know, Ether mining's profits are falling due to several factors such as:
- Decreasing market price;
- Increased mining difficulty;
- (in some cases) increased energy prices.
In turn, mining difficulty is increasing due to more hashrate (i.e. mining capacity) being inserted into Ethereum's blockchain. Right now, Ethereum mining reward's cake is fixed at 3 ETH per block, which means the one who finds the correct nonce value for a block gets those 3 ETH. This implies the following:
Formula 1: Probability of earning the block reward given a fixed hashrate X.
Thus, if players such as Bitmain enter into the arena (as they did), retail miners will find it harder to keep up with energy costs, as their probability of earning block reward gets dilluted. This in itself would not pose a problem for Ethereum's blockchain, as it provides more hashrate to the network and thus more transaction throughput. Except it does: 51% attacks.
A 51% attack is a kind of cryptographic manouvre performed into a blockchain such as Bitcoin and Ethereum that allows such performer to double-spend the tokens of the blockchain in question; in order to perform it, it is necessary to have more than half of a blockchain's hashrate (see this for more info). Now, as more retail miners are propelled out of business, there are less and less miners, and bigger miners increase their hashrate's share, making it easier for them to potentially collude to perform the so-called 51% attack.
In order to tackle this, the ETH team plans and strive to transition from PoW (Proof-of-Work, i.e. current mining scheme) to PoS (Proof-of-Stake, i.e. nodes process transactions and need a confiscable deposit -staketo operate). The problem is, the transition is not done yet, and no hard deadline seems plausible in the short term.
Thus, they most likely need to do something in the meantime. Why? Because of the following:
Figure 1: Breakeven energy price and ETH global hashrate.
As it can be appreciated in Figure 1, hashrate has been increasing steadily, even though the baseline has not kept pace! How come can this happen? Let's analyze how the breakeven price is calculated.
Formula 2: Breakeven price per KWh.
Your hashrate and power draw (i.e. the power your mining rig(s) consume(s)) are fixed, as they are attached to your mining operation's technology and size. The total issued ETH per day is fairly constant, as it is calculated based on the block reward (currently 3 ETH) and average time between blocks (currently about 14-15 seconds), both of which are given by the structure Ethereum blockchain. The remaining variation possibilities lie on the USD-ETH exchange rate and the total ETH's blockchain hashrate. What happens when we analyze them both together?
Figure 2: ETH price and ETH global hashrate.
As ETH price is decreasing and global hashrate is increasing, and as per Formula 2, it is quite obvious that the breakeven point is getting tighter and tighter as time passes by. But, wait… why is hashrate getting higher if such an important driver such as price is against miners? The answer is PROFESSIONALIZATION.
As Vitalik Buterin (a.k.a. ETH's leader) said: "Unfortunately, most mining is now professionalized, even with GPUs, so it's not clear that mining increases decentralization of ETH holdings…" Simply put, if there's more money on the table, big actors will increase their capacity so as to absorb that money, most likely in a way that is faster than that of the retail miners (thanks to economies of scale and increased mining expertise, among other factors). This leads to big miners increasing their share and… again, we all know what happens when big actors get relatively bigger: increased likelihood of a 51% attack.
Regarding professionalization, the biggest single actor in the mining scene is Bitmain. With its ASICs expertise and fabrication capabilities, it is undoubtedly the authority in ASIC mining. Now, as per what Riccardo Spagni, Monero's lead developer said, "It takes AT LEAST 5 months to design, tape out and take delivery of ASICS…". Thus, if prices are high, it is expected that they start their ASIC inception cycle and the hashrate to significantly increase in about 5-7 months if ETH prices keep high enough. What if we find a spot when global hashrate started to spike, go 6 months before and see when it falls into? Well, the steepest hashrate spike the ETH blockain had began on mid-december 2017 (when Bitcoin had its all-time high), and the mid-may high (where ETH started to become more popular) was 6 months before that. This may suggest that some sort of actor that is able to 1) Develop mining capabilities within a 6 month period or so, 2) Ramp up mining hashrate quickly. The most likely known actor that can do this is Bitmain:
Figure 3. ETH price and ETH global hashrate (with ASIC milestones).
It is clear that some sort of big actor such as Bitmain entered into the scene. Now, as it has been mentioned before, that is a problem for ETH Blockchain's integrity, even more when the baseline is getting tighter every day. The question is: how big of a problem it is? No one really knows for dead sure, but some approximations can be done.
As of today, the proposals (Ethereum Improvement Proposals or EIP's, in ETH's jargon) for mitigating the aforementioned economic and security issues while PoS is implemented are as follows:
a) EIP-858 – Reduce block reward from 3 ETH to 1 ETH per block (a.k.a 66% less mining revenues and asymptotically decreasing to nil);
b) EIP-1227 – Delay bomb and change rewards to 5 ETH (i.e. increase mining revenues by 66%);
c) EIP-1234 – Delay bomb and change rewards to 2 ETH (this is reducing mining proceeds by 33%).
Basically, it's a question of 1) Direction and 2) Magnitude of block reward change. As for direction, we can go upwards or downwards. Right now, worldwide profitability overview looks like this (please note that the energy rates used here are most likely residential ones, i.e. what what home miners would get; most of the times, most of the times, professionalized miners get better rates. For more details: _URL_
Figure 4. Current worldwide ETH mining profitability overview.
Right now, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and some parts of America are in the red zone. Now, what would happen if we go downwards like in EIP-858? This:
Figure 5. Worldwide ETH mining profitability overview with EIP 858 on board.
As it can be seen, All of America, China, India and other large regions will add up to the red list. This suggests that reducing rewards significantly increases the odds for a 51% attack. What if we go upwards? Let's see what will happen with EIP-1227:
Figure 6. Worldwide ETH mining profitability overview with EIP 1227 on board.
Everyone will be theoretically happy, as almost all countries will be in the green zone. Nevertheless, and as it has been mentioned before, when more money is on the table, big actors begin to ramp their capabilities up faster than small ones and thus outpower them. We all know what happens when big actors/groups of interest increase their power.
Other than the Ethereum Foundation, there are 4 main groups of interest:
- Retail miners: these are non-professional, mostly amateur actors, who don't have access to economies of scale. Their main interest is to survive professionalized miners' consequences and, most of the times, try to recover their investment. They provide the highest benefit to ETH network's security, as the hashing power these provide is dilluted across a lot of entities. Their drawback is their weakness to decreasing breakeven energy prices;
- Professionalized miners: these actors have access to specialized equipment, facilities and enough financial resources to survive decreasing breakeven energy prices, with aims to maximize their profits. These provide a lot of benefit to the ETH network, as they have a lot of hashrate power, which is highly concentrated, though, and bear increased 51% attack risks;
- Investors: these are entities that tend to hold large amounts of Ether, and are worried about the value of their holdings (and about ETH's inflation as a consequence). They currently add no value to the ETH network's security, but can potentially move the market in potentially unpredictable directions;
- ETH security officers: these are the ones who have the ETH network's security in their top-of-mind.
Also, as per previously mentioned arguments, the main courses of action are the following:
1. Increase ETH rewards;
2. Decrease ETH rewards;
3. Implement an ASIC-resistant mining algorithm;
4. 3 and 2, simultaneously;
The interaction between the aforementioned actors and courses of action can be outlined in the following table:
Table 1. Benefit table (an "x" means that the corresponding group of interest will be benefited by the corresponding course of action).
- Increasing ETH rewards generates more inflation and puts more money on the table


Early-Career Coordinated Distributed Experiments: Empowerment Through Collaboration
Pastor, AdaHernández-del-Amo, ElenaGiménez-Grau, PauFillol, MireiaPereda, OlatzFlores, LoreaSanpera-Calbet, IsisBravo, Andrea G. Martín, Eduardo J.Poblador, SílviaArroita, M.Rasines-Ladero, RubénRuiz, Celiadel Campo, RubénAbril, MeritxellReyes, MartaCasas-Ruiz, Joan PereFernández, Diegode Castro-Català, NúriaTornero, IrenePalacin-Lizarbe, CarlosArce, María IsabelMora-Gómez, J.Gómez-Gener, LluísMonroy, SilviaFreixa, AnnaLupon, Anna González-Farreras, Alexia MaríaEstévez, EdurneRodríguez-Lozano, PabloSolagaistua, LibeRodríguez-Castillo, TamaraAristi, IbónMartínez, AingeruCatalán, Núria. Frontiers in Education 5 : 13 (2020) DIGITAL CSIC
Coordinated distributed experiments (CDEs) enable the study of large-scale ecological patterns in geographically dispersed areas, while simultaneously providing broad academic and personal benefits for the participants. However, the effective involvement of early-career researchers (ECRs) presents major challenges. Here, we analyze the benefits and challenges of the first CDE exclusively led and conducted by ECRs (i.e. ECR-CDE), which sets a baseline for similar CDEs, and we provide recommendations for successful CDE execution. ECR-CDEs achieve most of the outcomes identified in conventional CDEs as well as extensive benefits for the young cohort of researchers, including: (i) receiving scientific credit, (ii) peer-training in new concepts and methods, (iii) developing leadership and communication skills, (iv) promoting a peer network among ECRs, and (v) building on individual engagement and independence. We also discuss the challenges of ECR-CDEs, which are mainly derived from the lack of independence and instability of the participants, and we suggest mechanisms to address them, such as resource re-allocation and communication strategies. We conclude that ECR-CDEs can be a relevant tool to empower ECRs across disciplines by fostering their training, networking and personal well-being.


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4 reasons for unequal bequests
| Nov 27, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Unequal bequests can wreak havoc on a family when they read the will. Children typically expect that assets will get divided evenly. Three children all expect the same amount of money, for example, or they expect to share ownership of real estate.
However, parents sometimes opt to leave unequal bequests, which can lead to some serious disputes. Children feel insulted. They feel like their parents didn't love them as much as their siblings. They feel like the estate plan rips them off. They take all these frustrations to court.
So why do parents do it? Below are four potential reasons that they leave unequal amounts to their kids:
1. Lack of contact
Parents may lose touch with one child over time, while keeping in touch with others. This level of contact can make a difference. They may be willing to leave more to the children they feel closer to, while cutting the estranged child out to some degree — or removing them from the will completely. This is especially an issue if some children ignored the relationship while others actively helped care for their elderly parents in old age.
2. Favoring biological children
With blended families and stepchildren, the biological children may get favor from their parents. This may mean that the way assets get passed down depends on which parent passes away first. Either way, the stepchildren of the remaining parent could find themselves getting less than their brothers and sisters.
3. Favoring one marriage over another
Another potential issue is when parents get remarried and then have biological children with the new partner. Now they have children from an older marriage that failed or ended, and they have children from a current — or at least more recent — marriage. They could favor one set of children, depending on the way that the marriages played out, even though the children have nothing to do with that directly.
4. Providing for those who need it
One of the most common reasons for unequal bequests is when the parents feel that one child needs money more than the other. A child with massive amounts of debt and a low-paying job may end up getting more than a child with no debt and a good career.
The problem is that the child who gets less may feel like it's a punishment for a successful life, rather than a reward. Regardless of the clear need, this can lead to estate disputes.
Resolving disputes
These disputes can be long, complex and emotionally charged. It is critical that those working to resolve them know all of the legal options they have and what steps to take moving forward.
FindLaw Network


Flaws And Flaws In The United States Legal System
1391 Words 6 Pages
Sometimes in the United States legal system there are flaws that are glossed over in favor of convenience. This system has been supported by the fact that the legal system is recognized for quantity of cases that it solves rather than the quality of the cases. The average American citizen is actually the main cause for these flaws due to their lack of understanding of the legal system as a whole. Unless a case is particularly devastating the average citizen won't even hear about it, but will instead continue to praise the legal system because they feel that is working well without any first-hand knowledge of whether this information is true or not. This practice almost encourages the United States legal system to quickly spit out cases that may not be carried out well, but encourage that sense of safety, thus creating flaws in the system. …show more content…
A famous example of a flaw in the United States legal system is the situation regarding, and surrounding Kalief Browder. He was incarcerated in 2010, for three years at Rikers Island in New York without a trial. Sadly, more often than not flaws like this are undetected, because they aren't large enough to raise any red flags in the people involved in the case or even the person creating the flaw. Another prime example of the conservation of efficiency over morality is conviction of Adnan Masud Syed for the first degree murder of Hae Min Lee. While he may not be a victim of extreme circumstances such as the tampering of evidence he is still a victim of a faulty law system. The most glaring flaw in the case against Adnan is the complete and utter lack of any factual evidence. The only actual evidence that the state can supply in the case is a couple of fingerprints in Hae's car that were a byproduct of when Adnan and Hae were dating (Episode 6). Because of this fact the state decided to use other evidence which was primarily focused around Jay Wilds and cellphone records from Adnan's phone. If these were
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200 years ago, landscapes in southeastern North America looked nothing like they do now. When William Bartram traveled through the piedmont region of the south (circa 1775), the path he followed mostly stayed on the high ground because impenetrable thickets of bamboo cane (Arundinerea gigantea) grew alongside creeks and river bottoms. His party was always in sight of canebrakes as they traveled through the open woodlands on the high ground. Canebrakes covered tracts that were hundreds of square miles in extent. Today, canebrakes are nearly an extinct type of environment.
I looked for this photo on google images and couldn't find it. I did find it within a pdf document but I couldn't link the photo directly. So I scanned it from the book Forgotten Grasslands of the South by Reed Noss. Click to enlarge. It's of a man on a horseback dwarfed by a stand of 40 foot tall cane in 1906. This was probably one of the last stands of a primeval canebrake.
I found this stand of bamboo cane growing behind a Burger King in Madison, Georgia. Cane is planted as an ornamental. It's probably not even American bamboo, but rather Asian bamboo.
Canebrakes are an ancient environment, dating back to at least the Miocene (25 million-5 million years BP). It's a species of grass. Grasses began to become abundant during the Oligocene (33 million-25 million years BP). Scientists unearthed ~5 million year old fossil bamboo from the Gray Fossil Site in Tennessee along with the bones of an extinct species of red panda (Pristinailurus bristoli) that fed upon it. American bamboo likely shares an ancestry with Asian bamboo back when both continents were composed of a continous mosaic of tropical environments. ( _URL_ Scientists disagree over whether giant gane (Arundinerea gigantea) is the same species as switch cane (A. tecta). Some botanists argue a structure inside switch cane makes it a different species, but others don't think the difference is significant enough. In any case cane grew in dense stands on rich soils, either by itself in pure stands or with an occasional tree in a savannah-like landscape. Cane is shade intolerant and today seems to be restricted to wooded swamp edges.
Canebrakes require a complicated combination of forcing events to exist. Formerly, floods, flocks of passenger pigeons, windstorms, or ice storms destroyed great tracts of forest. Passenger pigeons (Ectopistes migratorius) used to roost in flocks estimated to be in the billions. Witnesses described their roosting areas as resembling tornado damage. Great limbs and even whole trees broke in half under the weight of the birds, and the pigeon dung killed the trees via overfertilization. (See also _URL_ The New Madrid earthquakes in 1811 also caused the creation of large tracts of canebrakes. Following these natural disturbances of the forest, a great amount of flammable dead wood covered the forest floor. Lightning or human set fires burned through the woody refuse, creating vast sunny areas that allowed shade-intolerant bamboo cane to colonize large tracts of land. Cane growing in small sunny patches within the forest could take advantage of these disturbances by spreading clonally from root rhizomes into the newly suitable habitat. As long as fire occurred at least once a decade, canebrakes could be maintained indefinitely. Dr. Noss suggests canebrakes were an alternate climax stage with bottomland forests near rivers and streams. Without disturbances these areas succeeded to bottomland forests, but disturbances were so common that canebrakes may have covered an equal amount of territory.
Modern studies show that fire and windstorm double the growth of cane which can grow as fast as 20 feet annually. Cane formerly reached heights of 40 feet, perhaps because they were enriched with pigeon dung. Today, the tallest cane known grows in Louisiana and reaches just 30 feet in height. It depends mostly on clonal growth and only flowers and produces seed once every 40-50 years. It prefers rich river bottomland soils where it can become dominant. Surprisingly, rich soils have less species diversity than poor soils. On poor soils no one species can become dominant due to more difficult growing conditions.
Canebrakes were undoubtedly a widespread environment during the Pleistocene before man colonized North America. There are many endemic species of animals that depend exclusively upon canebrake habitats, and it's unlikely they evolved that dependence within the last 15,000 years. However, canebrakes likely enjoyed a heyday during the 18th century when Native American populations collapsed. Indians preferred to grow their crops on rich river bottomland soils and when they abandoned their fields cane rapidly colonized the land.
Modern anthropogenic changes in land use have nearly eliminated canebrakes. Humans built levees and dams to prevent flooding. People suppress fires. People exterminated passenger pigeons. These activities ended ancient patterns of disturbances that bamboo cane requires to form vast monotypical stands. Moreover, cane grew on rich soils that farmers coveted for field crops, and the farmers let their livestock overgraze cane growing on any land left unplanted. Today, river bottomlands left undeveloped are dominated by trees that shade out cane. Canebrakes are a forlorn landscape and will be difficult to re-establish.
Canebrakes were a rich habitat utilized by many species of animals. Cane is a high quality forage that formerly provided food for grazers such as mammoths, horses, and bison. Bears and big cats liked to den inside the thickets where they could hide their cubs. Swamp rabbits (Sylvilagus aquaticus) are also known as canecutters because they feed upon cane by gnawing through the stem to fell the tall grass so they can get at the leaves. If it's not extinct, Bachman's warbler (Vermivora bachmanii) and Swainson's warbler (Limnothlypis swainsonii) depend upon canebrake habitat. Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes (Crotalus adamteus), also known as canebrake rattlesnakes, hunt swamp rabbits in the thickets. 6 species of butterfly depend entirely upon bamboo cane as part of their life history.
Swamp rabbits are also called canecutters. They're much larger than cottontails.
Bachman's warbler. This bird is probably extinct. They formerly summered in canebrakes. They built their nests in the cane thickets and foraged for insects on the ground in the fallen cane leaves. They wintered in Cuba. They became extinct (probably) because canebrakes are gone. None have been seen since 1988.
A man holding an eastern diamondback rattlesnake. They are big serpents growing to 8 feet long and weighing 35 pounds.
Southern pearly eye (Enodia portlandia). 5 other species of butterfly depend upon canebrakes for at least part of their life cycle including Creole pearly eye (E. creota), southern swamp skipper (Poanes yehl), cobweb little skipper (Amblyscertes aesolypia), cane little skipper (A.reversa), and yellow little skipper (A. carolina). These endemic species are evidence canebrakes predate anthropogenic influences on the environment.
Native Americans also used to rely on bamboo cane. They used to mix mud with strips of cane to build houses, and they covered the floors inside with mats made of cane. They made baskets and fish traps and coffins from cane. Weapons fashioned out of bamboo cane included spears, knives, body armor, and blowguns. Indians incorporated cane into the structures of their famous mounds. Cane even provided food. Bamboo shoots are a tasty vegetable, and the seeds could be ground into a flour that was reputed to be almost as good as wheat flour.
Ellsworth, J.W.; and B.C. McComb
"Potential Effects of Passenger Pigeon Flocks on the Structure and Composition of Presettlement Forests of Eastern North America"
Conservation Biology 17: _PHONE_ 2003
Gagnon, P.R.; and W.J Platt
"Multiple disturbances accelerate clonal growth in potentially monodominant bamboo"
Ecology 89: _PHONE_
Platt, W.J.; and C.J. Brantley
"Canebrakes: An Ecological and Historical Perspective"
Castanea 62: 8-21 1997


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One of Princeton's most popular faculty members of the mid-20th century was chemistry professor Hubert Newcombe Alyea '25 (1903–1996), known for his colorful and explosive chemistry demonstrations that sometimes burned his suits. Alyea taught at Princeton between 1930–1972, but gave lectures around the country and the world and worked to make teaching science by demonstration with simple means more feasible in developing nations. Walt Disney's inspiration for the film 'The Absent-Minded Professor' (1961) occurred while attending one of Alyea's lectures, and he invited Alyea to Hollywood, where actor Fred MacMurray copied his mannerisms for the film. Two of Alyea's most famous demonstration lectures are featured here.
Alyea developed his two-hour lecture, "Atomic Energy: Weapon for Peace," in 1945, when the horrors and power of the atomic bomb had just been impressed in people's minds. He presented the lecture some 2,800 times in many different countries. In it, Alyea explains the principles of the atomic bomb and atomic energy, using a variety of chemistry demonstrations, interspersed with whimsical comments and ending with his personal views about world peace. Featured here is a shortened version of the lecture for a television program that was part of the series "Princeton '55, an Exploration into Education through Television." The series was broadcast by NBC in cooperation with Princeton University.
During the last week of his class 'Chemistry 104′ Hubert Alyea applied the lessons from chemical research to a philosophy of life. He ended with a spectacular final lecture that was famous throughout his career. After his retirement in 1972, Alyea continued to present "Lucky Accidents, Great Discoveries and the Prepared Mind" as a guest lecturer across the country. He was also a popular fixture at Princeton Reunions. The film featured here was created around 1985 by the Alumni Council, using excerpts of the lecture from a recording at Louisiana State University. The lecture ends with Alyea singing "The Orange and the Black," while mixing solutions that show the colors of Yale, Harvard, and Princeton (23:13).
These films (a 16 mm film and a VHS video) are part of the University Archives' Historical Audiovisual Collection (items no. 0099 and 1296).

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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THURSDAY, July 19 (HealthDay News) -- You may think of your birthday as only being important to your age and the possible presence of candles, cards and cake, but a new study suggests a link between your month of birth and longevity.
Researchers found that those who were born between September and November from the years 1880 to 1895 were more likely to reach the 100-year mark than their siblings who were born in March. The study does not prove a cause-and-effect link, just an association.
The meaning of the findings is unclear, and a researcher who studies lifespan called them mostly irrelevant to modern times.
But, Leonid Gavrilov, from the Center on Aging at the University of Chicago, who wrote the study with his wife, Natalia Gavrilova, said the findings point to the importance of the environment in which a child is conceived and later grows.
"We believe that avoiding any potential sources of damage to developing fetus and child may have significant effects on health in later life and longevity," Gavrilov said. "Childhood living conditions may have long-lasting consequences for health in later life and longevity."
The researchers looked at 1,574 centenarians -- people who reached the age of 100 -- in the United States. They found that those people born between September and November had about a 40 percent higher chance of living to 100 than those born in March.
Of course, the chances that people born in _PHONE_ would even reach the century mark was very low to begin with. Of those born in 1900 who were still alive at 50, just a third of 1 percent of men made it to 100, and just shy of 2 percent of women accomplished the feat, Gavrilov said.
Why might month of birth -- or month of conception -- affect how long someone lives? One possibility is that seasonal diseases played a role, Gavrilov said.
S. Jay Olshansky, a professor of public health at the University of Illinois at Chicago who's familiar with the findings, said the study is not newsworthy. "The results are probably valid, but largely irrelevant in our modern world since they apply to birth months from more than a century ago."
Regardless of the month someone was born or conceived, the odds are slim that you'll live to be 100. "This prospect has been rising through the 20th century, but not dramatically," Olshansky said.
At best, he said, "this research might offer a partial and extremely small explanation for a small fraction of why some people conceived and born more than a century ago lived for 100 years."
What does all this mean for your chances of living to 100 if you were born around the fall or -- perhaps less luckily -- in March? Good question -- and one that won't be answered until people around your age start hitting the century mark.
The study appeared in the Journal of Aging Research.
For more about healthy aging, try the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
SOURCES: Leonid Gavrilov, Ph.D., research associate, Center on Aging, University of Chicago; S. Jay Olshansky, Ph.D., professor, public health, University of Illinois at Chicago; 2011 Journal of Aging Research
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The idea of this type of meeting is to get member participation but it also provides a challenge if your society wants to encourage inventiveness and interest.
- Most often societies chose one letter of the alphabet but some chose multiple letters or in some cases a number or two. Members are asked to look through their material for items that are linked to the chosen character or characters.
- The simplest outcomes include items which are from a country or countries or the subject depicted starts with one of the chosen letters (e.g the letter 'A' is depicted by items of Austria, Australia, Anguilla, etc or depict an antelope, ape, automobile, etc.).
- More adventurous outcomes can arise where multiple letters are selected. For example, a recent alphabet night at one society, which also coincided with the society's annual general meeting, chose the letters A, G and M. This led to two fascinating displays – one Advertising Greatly Misaligned (a display of New Zealand advertising stamps where the advertisements were badly off centre) and 'mAGMa' (a display on volcanoes).
- Why not consider numbers – an example could be to use the society box number. This may lead to displays of stamps bearing SG or Scott catalogue numbers, postmarks or covers with postal codes, etc.
- Members should be encouraged to talk about their display. The time available for presenting may need to be limited. It is important to ensure everyone who has made the effort to bring material has the opportunity to do so otherwise it may deter them from making the effort in future.
- You could consider awarding prizes for the best item, the most unusual, the most creative or inventive, the best talk, etc. If you run a club points system ensure points are gained for the widest possible categories of entry. Whichever options you choose make sure members are aware of the criteria and you and your members will be surprised at the inventiveness that will be shown.


Dl P.
asked • 11/13/17
What is included under 'Parentheses' in the Order of Operations?
I don't mean the types of grouping symbols.
What I don't understand is how far are parentheses the most important? I know that they go first, but is that only for actual problems inside parentheses, or does that rule also include plain single numbers inside parentheses?
there are some particular problems I've seen that confuse me:
Problem: Step 1:
-6(-2)–8 12–8
_________ = ________ =
-10+6–(-3) -10+6+(3)
Step 2: Step 3: Answer:
12+(-8) 4
______ = __ = -4
-4+3 -1
(note: the long lines are fraction bars, I couldn't get them closer to the numbers; and the shortest lines mean negative while the longershort lines mean minus)
so my question is, why for the denominator of the fraction bar, is the first step the "change subtraction to adding the opposite" step? I understand the step I just don't know why it's first. The problem "6–(-3)" or "six minus negative three" is clearly a subtraction problem, a problem partially outside of the parentheses, and the rule is if there are only adding and subtracting problems to go from left to right.
and then in the second step it doesn't do the "6+(3)" problem, it does the "-10+6" part. if parentheses are priority why aren't they taken care of in the next step seeing as they're still there? (thats exactly how they were written.)
i also put this problem into cymath and it gave the same process, except after it solved that part it didn't put the 3 into parentheses. this makes it seem as though parentheses are sometimes optional/preferential depending on the context, which states that parentheses aren't always priority.
Mark M.
You have answered your own question.
The parenthesis rule is for something like (x + 2x) become 3x
2 Answers By Expert Tutors
Dl P.
First off, thank you very much for explaining it to me.
Originally, before i came across the problem in my post, I knew and understood exactly what you said, that the parentheses rule only applies to an actual problem inside them, a single number with parentheses around it is just the same as any other.
But the way that problem was done in the book and then the cymath website also doing it that way threw me off; both were done out of order, because with division and multiplication and then addition and subtraction, you are supposed to start from the left and go right (Ex. 4-3+1 equals 3; left to right.
but if I just decided to do the opposite then I would get 1.)
I didn't realize at the time that they did it without rhyme or reason and that it actually doesn't matter because its a different type of operation.
David W.
Well, yes it does matter.
Because operations at the same precedence level (e.g., M&D or A&S) may produce different results due to truncation (limited precision of intermediate results). In computers, two's-complement notation was introduced because +0 and -0 were different numbers (depends on the order of calculations to get here). Also, I knew an experienced analyst converting a program from a 36-bit computer to a 32-bit computer who spent days to find the place where simply changing the order of operations (done automatically by the compiler to improve performance, not by the programmer) produced a different result.
Dl P.
Sorry, you're right. thanks for the explanation
David W. answered • 11/13/17
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As a developmental pathway towards autonomy and dexterity in robot in-hand manipulation, HANDLE is a Large Scale IP project coordinated by the university Pierre and Marie Curie of Paris and include a consortium formed by nine partners from six EU countries: France, UK, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, and Germany.
The TACO project aims at enhancing the abilities of service robots by improving the sensing system with real 3D foveation properties and to increase their ability to interact with their natural environment in a more natural and human-like way.
The PV-Servitor project focuses on concepts for a fully autonomous cleaning robot for ground mounted large scale photovoltaic power plants consisting of 100 kW and over.
STIFF-FLOP is researching how to take some of the new capabilities in soft robotics and apply them to the development of tools for endoscopic surgery. This project takes inspiration from octopus tentacles for the design of flexible soft robots.
DEXDEB is researching meat deboning. Taking apart an animal carcass to produce high-quality pieces of meat is a skilled but unpleasant and dangerous task. In DEXDEB we are looking at two designs of robotic hand and using them as the "left hand" that pulls at the meat, while a human operator slices the meat with a knife held in their right hand. This will provide DEXDEB with a baseline for doing more complex human-robot interaction work later.
HYFLAM is investigating the role of robotics in biosafety level 3 and 4 laboratories. Working with a UK Government lab and Hamburg University, HYFLAM is looking at a range of skilled tasks and investigating whether a robotic hand can perform them, and how well it performs them when working with software like that developed in HANDLE. This could lead to a new generation of robotic systems for hazardous lab work.


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When you try to compress a spring, it pushes back. Materials scientists call that property positive stiffness. Although it is possible to create materials with negative stiffness, they are unstable. One push and they either fly apart or collapse into something with positive stiffness. Now a researcher reports in the 26 March PRL that in theory one can dramatically increase a material's overall positive stiffness by peppering it with small bubbles of negative stiffness. In other experimental work, he has proven the concept. The surprising advance may one day be used to make more rigid airplane wings, quieter cars, and perhaps even temporary substitute tendons.
Mechanical designs are limited by stiffness. No one wants to fly in a plane equipped with wings that flap around like a wet noodle in turbulent air. One way that engineers increase the stiffness of a material is to mix it with a second material to form a composite. But once the geometry and composition are fixed, a thirty-year-old series of mathematical theorems sets a definitive upper limit on the stiffness. Increasing the upper limit requires heavier or more expensive materials; but there is a catch. "All these theorems make the tacit assumption that the stiffnesses are positive," says University of Wisconsin materials scientist Roderic Lakes.
Adding negative stiffness turns all those assumptions on their heads. Instead of exerting the usual restoring force that tries to resist deformation, materials with a negative stiffness draw on the energy stored in their unstable equilibrium state to help the deformation proceed faster. Because they are unstable, negative stiffness materials usually break down rapidly. But small bubbles of negative stiffness can be preserved in a background of positive stiffness material. In some cases, the composite would have a lower overall stiffness, but in his PRL paper, Lakes shows mathematically that the opposite can also happen.
"The two phases cooperate with each other in some geometries, and you end up with zero effect," says Lakes. "But it is not a linear addition, and sometimes the stiffnesses add inversely, giving more positive stiffness." Although his paper presents a mathematical argument for the effect, it isn't just a theoretical fantasy. In a separate article Lakes shows that when silicone rubber tubes are buckled like partially squished soda cans, they have negative stiffness. When the buckled tubes are mixed with non-buckled tubes, the composite stiffness rises by orders of magnitude, as his theory predicts. The high stiffness composite also tends to damp vibrations quickly, says Lakes, which makes the materials potentially ideal for airplane wings and cars.
"This is quite innovative and exciting," says Lawrence Katz, a biomedical engineer at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH. Katz speculates that negative stiffness materials could also be used in medical applications. "If a negative stiffness material could be placed in a tendon under tension, it would expand into a scaffold that leaves room for natural tissue to grow in," says Katz.
Mark Sincell is a freelance science writer based in Houston, TX.
- R. S. Lakes, Philos. Mag. Lett. 81, 95-100 (2001).


Russian Provisional Government
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Russian Provisional Government (Russian: Временное правительство России, tr. Vremennoye pravitel'stvo Rossii) was a provisional government of Russia created after the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II of the Russian Empire on 2 March [15 March, New Style] 1917.[1][2] The purpose of the provisional government was the creation of elections to the Russian Constituent Assembly and its convention.
The government lasted only eight months and caused a "disorganized army".[3]
References[change | change source]
 1. Manifest of abdication (in Russian)
 3. Harold Whitmore Williams (1919) The Spirit of the Russian Revolution, p. 14, 15. Russian Liberation Committee, no. 9, 173 Fleet Street. London


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Sustainable Development e-News
In Her Own Words:
A Conversation With Kathryn P. Maloney,
Director, Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry
Partnering, Cooperating, and Collaborating for Land and
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa.--Partnership. Collaboration. Cooperation. Those words resonate widely with USDA Forest Service partners, employees, and other stakeholders. At heart, they mean working together to accomplish common missions and goals, related tasks, or complementary initiatives.
For Kathryn Maloney, partnership, collaboration, and cooperation are the fulcrum for assisting states, private landowners, and other cooperators to engage in sustainable management of the Nation's lands and forests. All are particularly critical for programs of the Northeastern Area (NA) State and Private Forestry. Why? Because of the size and scope of NA: 20 states and the District of Columbia; 43% of the U.S. population; more than 170 million acres of forests (23% of the Nation's forests), almost all of which are non-federal forests; and more than 4 million private landowners. They are also critical for leveraging federal investments and for sustaining the public benefits that emanate from private forest lands.
NA promotes partnership with state foresters and state forestry agency staff, focusing on how that partnership influences the wise management, protection and sustainable use of rural to urban lands, and enhances the capacity of private forestlands to provide benefits for a growing America.
NA cooperates with state partners to develop and use tools that help us be more effective, and in some cases tools that help us evaluate our effectiveness. The identification and application of sustainability criteria and indicators (C&I) are one example of such efforts. Together, partners work across state boundaries in compiling and assessing data and in tracking common indicators over time. This exemplary work strengthens Forest Service institutional capacity for collaborative assessment, planning, and decisionmaking processes designed to address shared concerns among NA states.
Maloney holds a BS degree in mineral economics from Pennsylvania State University and an MBA (with honors) in finance and investments from George Washington University. She joined the Forest Service in 1981, and has been in her current position since 2001. Maloney has served in the National Forest System and Programs and Legislation deputy areas, and as the Director of the Strategic Planning and Resource Assessment Staff in Washington, D.C.
Kathryn P. Maloney
Q: Partnership is a fundamental element of Northeastern Area (NA) programs. Who
are your partners, broadly?
A: We have an area that comprises 20 states and the District of Columbia. We consider our first partners to be the state foresters in those 20 states and the District of Columbia. In most cases, we work with the Department of Natural Resources, in some cases for the Department of Agriculture in the states, so it's those individuals and their staff that are our first partners--and we work very closely with them. In fact, our programs for the most part are delivered through those state organizations to the private landowners in those states. In addition, we have established partnerships and cooperative agreements with many others including communities, non-government organizations, and universities.
From your perspective, how do you use C&I to help you achieve your management goals?
Let me first say that it is a work in progress. I believe C&I are useful tools to gauge progress, enable accountability, and inform decisionmaking. We're not there yet, "there" being where C&I are really an integral part of a system of management, helping to inform our next decision, our next set of choices. But we are certainly working toward that end.
In the NA, we are engaged with the state partners working to track 18 of the Montréal Process indicators. We are improving awareness and engaging people in understanding the relevance of C&I.
How does NA increase our understanding of C&I?
Over the last several years, we in NA and our partners have put together two C&I publications: Sourcebook on Criteria and Indicators of Forest Sustainability in the Northeastern Area and Sustainability Assessment Highlights for the Northern United States. These are excellent resources that increase our understanding of C&I, and their application to planning.
Our first step for the Sourcebook was to take a look at what information was available and where and from whom, because every bit of information we chose to look at cost something to have. So we looked at the information states were already collecting or had available.
We also looked at the Forest Inventory Analysis (FIA) work that has received greater attention and funding in recent years. And the FIA information is ultimately going to provide data for about two-thirds of the indicators of the Montréal Process.
In reviewing available data, we chose 18 indicators that span all seven criteria. We were interested in a comprehensive look at C&I at a low cost, rather than trying to address all 67 indicators. As time goes on and we gain experience in using this information, we may expand our initial set of indicators.
The purpose of the information--for example, in the Sourcebook--is to show both the importance of having C&I and their utility as a common language of measures among our many partners.
What is the value of both tracking and measuring outcomes?
We began by establishing a baseline of current or recent data for each of the 18 indicators. Then we began to monitor. That's going to enable us look at trends and begin to make some judgment whether the things being done on the ground are having the appropriate effects.
Please clarify, for the benefit of our readers, how sustainable development of land relates to sustainable development of forests?
They are different, I think. To me, lands have a broader context than forests. Obviously, they are related. But when we talk about sustainable development of land we have to think about more things perhaps than just about forests.
Fundamentally, sustainable forest is about having a healthy, viable forest that provides all of the benefits that we can think of in a forest, not only for this generation, but for future generations.
And so we have to think much about the seven criteria--about not only the biological and physical sustainability, but also the economic and social things that go along with that. And not just recreation opportunities and economic opportunities that come from using forest products.
It is important to be clear about what we are trying to sustain. Let's consider the example of New York City, whose current land use in Manhattan is a city and is sustainable as long as there is a willingness to make investments to keep it going. Sustaining a city requires investment in public services such as transportation, sewer, and water infrastructure. By contrast, foresters tend not to think about these things, but rather about investments in forest health, regeneration, fuel reduction, and the like to sustain the forest.
My goal is to vigorously pursue the mission of the Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry. That requires that we reach and influence the management of nearly a quarter of the Nation's forests. The benefits to the public of the sound management of these overwhelmingly (92%) private forests are significant ecologically, economically, and socially. We work across the rural to urban landscape, assisting private landowners with technical information to manage their forest lands in a sustainable manner, and helping communities (even in cities) improve natural conditions. We gain on a couple of different fronts in urban settings: trees and their effects on air quality and temperatures, as well as reducing storm water runoff and the adverse effects associated with it. While most of our work is directed to forested lands, our work in urban settings is very important.
NA is working with Chicago, where Mayor Daley has made a huge investment in Chicago GreenStreets Program, which helps the city revitalize run-down neighborhoods, enhance public open space, and use tree-planting and landscaping to reduce noise, air pollution, and summer heat. And NA is also assisting Chicago Wilderness, a coalition of about 200 organizations dedicated to protecting and restoring the natural heritage in and around Chicago.
Similarly, in New York City, NA personnel have created a mapping software program that provides information, accessible to communities and their leaders, on where green spaces are or could be in the city. Other cities are adapting the software for use in their communities.
After we were attacked on 9/11, the Forest Service engaged in a Living Memorials Project, creating living memorials (with trees) to those who lost their lives on 9/11 in New York City and elsewhere. One Forest Service project, The Legacy Groves of Somerset County, is a living memorial to those lost on Flight 93 and an appreciation of the efforts of first responders who sustained the Somerset County community.
Collaboration is the lifeblood of your sustainable development activities across all 20 states of the Northeast and Midwest, and the District of Columbia. What role, if any, have C&I played in bringing people together?
The fact is that C&I were a product of a collaborative effort in the international arena. That collaborative process sought a common language, data, and measures. The fact that C&I emerged from a very thoughtful, collaborative process has made it a high-quality product that is inherently valuable. It has made it easier for people like me and for an organization like NA to pick it up and use it to engage people and organizations with similar interests.
C&I have this inherent value and they make sense. The next steps are getting everyone's genuine involvement and commitment to using them to help us in our decisionmaking. That's a bit more of a challenge than getting the initial acceptance. But we're making progress.
I am extremely proud of the state foresters for having rallied around the 18 indicators. Some of the state foresters have said that they are not really sure where we are going with this, but they are


1. mountaineering the activity of climbing a mountain
 2. mountain spinach Asiatic plant resembling spinach often used as a potherb
 3. mountain climbing the activity of climbing a mountain
 4. mountain pine tall pine of western North America with stout blue-green needles; bark is grey-brown with rectangular plates when mature
 5. mountain chain a series of hills or mountains
 6. maintenance activity involved in keeping something in good working order
 7. mountain ebony small East Indian tree having orchid-like flowers and hard dark wood
 8. mountain skink frequents oak and pine habitats in rocky mountainous areas of United States southwest and Mexico
 9. mountain range a series of hills or mountains
 10. mountain peak the summit of a mountain
 11. mountain bike a bicycle with a sturdy frame and fat tires
 12. mountain paca rodent of mountains of western South America
 13. mountain birch birch of western United States resembling the paper birch but having brownish bark
 14. melting point the temperature at which a solid turns into a liquid
 15. mountain anemone silky-foliaged herb of the Rocky Mountains with bluish-white flowers
 16. mountain avens creeping evergreen shrub with large white flowers
 17. maintainable capable of being maintained
 18. mountain sheep any wild sheep inhabiting mountainous regions
 19. out of keeping not in keeping with what is correct or proper
 20. landscaping working as a landscape gardener
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- Posted February 10, 2013 by
This iReport is part of an assignment:
Introduce CNN Student News
Bangladeshi students of Auburn University expressed solidarity with ongoing movement in Shahbag
Bangladeshi students and expatriates all over the world are organizing events to express their solidarity with the people back home, who are in the streets demanding that the war criminals receive exemplary punishment from International War Crimes Tribunal.
Bangladesh's liberation from Pakistan in 1971 was earned at the cost of 3 million lives. This genocide was one of the worst genocides in the 20th century. To put it in perspective, the Holocaust took the lives of 6 million Jews over 6 years, around 2700 people every day. Pakistani army and their local allies killed 3 million people in 9 months, more than 10,000 people every day.
The Pakistani army was not alone. They had local helpers, who are known as the Razakars (the Helpers). These animals turned against their own people and aided the Pakistani army by leading them to the freedom fighters, aiding them in their killing and arson, supplying women to the Pakistani army for raping and torturing, etc. Around 200,000 women of all age were brutally raped by the Pakistani army and the Razakars.
This genocide went unpunished for four decades. Any and every attempt to bring the war criminals to justice was thwarted by domestic and international politics. During this time, the collaborators were systematically rehabilitated in politics to the point that they became part of the ruling coalition during 2001-2006.
But, justice was not denied. After necessary preparations, a tribunal was formed in 2010 and some of the leading war criminals were arrested. The first verdict was announced on January 21, 2013, sentencing Abul Kalam Azad ("Bachchu Razakar", "Bachchu the Traitor") to death, in absentia. The second verdict was announced on February 4, 2013, sentencing Quader Mollah ("Koshai Quader", Butcher Quader) despite finding him guilty of 344 murders during 1971.
The verdict came as a shock to the general masses, and they took to peaceful street protests at a center-city square called Shahbag. Tens of thousands have been camping there, protesting day and night, and demanding maximum punishment for the convicted collaborator. The protest started as a spontaneous gathering of some bloggers and online activists, but promptly grew manifold.
Bangladeshis living abroad are expressing their solidarity with their brothers and sisters at home, demanding that the war criminals are handed exemplary punishment, and any political foul play to delay/deny justice will not be tolerated.
Bangladeshi Students of Auburn University, supported by the local chapter of Bangladesh Student Organization (BSO), organized an event on Saturday, February 9, 2013, in front of Samford Hall. Around thirty students gathered to show their solidarity with the movement taking place in Shahbag, Dhaka. They lit candles, held posters and chanted slogans demanding the punishment of war criminals. Though staying far away from home land, they are trying to contribute in the ongoing movement asking for the long yearned justice that their country certainly deserves after such enormous sacrifices.
- CNN Student News


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Document Type : Research Paper
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Arak University, Arak, Iran
Department of Mathematics, Arak University, Arak, Iran
In this paper, by using C-sequentially sign property for bifunctions, we provide sufficient conditions that ensure the existence of solutions of some vector equilibrium problems in Hausdorff topological vector spaces which ordered by a cone. The conditions which we consider are not imposed on the whole domain of the operators involved, but just on a locally segment-dense subset of the domain.


© Kit Scates Barnhart
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Danny's DNA Discoveries – Inky Caps of the PNW
by Danny Miller
Click here for my Pictorial Key to the Inky Caps
Parasola - click to expand
These species are often extremely pleated, occasionally with tiny cap hairs sticking out, which may have more of a tendency to open up and flatten in age than other genera. There's often a bright brown eye on the disc. There is no universal veil material on the cap (nor any other pileal cystidial elements), and they don't really turn to ink, just tatter. The gills are often distinctly free. They are often found in grass and gardens. They can be very difficult to separate from Coprinellus and Tulosesus. Coprinellus is more likely to have granular veil particles on the cap. Tulosesus is even harder to differentiate, but probably doesn't have as distinct an eye on the disc. One 'Psathyrella' species that is not pleated turned out to be a new section of Parasola. It is very difficult to tell apart from Psathyrella.
Species mentioned: Parasola plicatilis, auricoma, lactea, neoplicatilis and conopilea
Coprinellus - click to expand
Usually also golden brown in youth, and also strongly pleated, also often free gills, very much like Parasola, although there is not usually as sharp an eye on the disc. These are species with a universal veil material made up of roundish cells often visible as particles on the young, fresh cap. The segregated Tulosesus is more likely to have no universal veil, but microscopic cap hairs. (as well as angular spores). The caps may turn to ink, or they just might tatter.
Species mentioned: Coprinellus micaceus, saccharinus, domesticus, radians, xanthothrix and flocculosus. Coprinus arachnoideus, bubalinus and alutaceivelatus. Coprinopsis bulalina and alutaceivelata.
Tulosesus - click to expand
This new genus is hard to characterize. Again, the usually pleated caps my deliquesce or they may just tatter. They are often golden brown, fading to grey in age except in the centre, but the eye on the disc won't usually be as distinct as in Parasola. The caps may be slightly granular, but do not usually have the mica particles or scales of the Coprinellus species above (more usually just very tiny hairs). They are not usually as finely pleated as Parasola. Segregated from Coprinellus.
Species mentioned: Tulosesus impatiens, heterosetulosus, hiascens, congregatus, ephemerus sclerocystidiatus, eurysporus
Coprinopsis - click to expand
Microscopically, the pileipellis is a cutis, which means the top layer of the cap has strings of cells laying flat. To the naked eye, they often have shaggy veil material on the cap, but not always, and so do some other genera occasionally. The caps are often greyish, and they usually completely deliquesce. The sizes can range from miniscule to very large (caps 1 mm to 10 cm).
Species mentioned: Coprinopsis atramentaria, atramentaria var. crassivelata, depressiceps, striata, pinguispora, acuminata, romagnesiana, strossmayeri, picacea, lagopus, lagopides, marcida, brunneistragulata, pachyderma, cinerea, fimetarius, friesii, nivea, stercorea, tetraspora, undulata, sylvicola, kubickae, phaeospora, psychromorbida, uliginicola, canoceps. Psathyrella longipes, fragilissima and elwahensis. Coprinus alnivorus.
Narcissea - click to expand
Microscopically, these don't quite match Coprinopsis nor Coprinellus, but they look more like Coprinopsis, so that's where they used to be placed. Genetically, they turned out to be very closely related to Coprinellus, which is interesting. That definitely qualifies them for their own genus. The pileipellis is not a cutis, there are some spherical universal veil cells on the cap but there are no pileocystidia. The spores are strongly flattened with a polygonal outline. Sorry, but that's the definition of this genus. Luckily, we don't need to worry about that since we are not known to have any species here.
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In January 2010, five months after the unmanned moon probe Chandrayaan was abruptly terminated—a year before its completion, since radio contact with the mooncraft was lost—the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) announced a manned mission to outer space. It would take off in 2016 and cost Rs 12,400 crore. Dr K Radhakrishna, additional director of the Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL) in Mysore, was then put in charge of another mission: preparing an Indian menu suitable for space.
The first items of the space menu are now ready—tiny idlis, the size of Rs 2 coins, accompanied by flaming orange sambhar powder and creamy coconut chutney dust. The idlis are cooked and dried using infrared radiation at a temperature of 700º C, and then further dried by microwaving. The moisture is zapped out of them, but not the taste, smell or nutrients. "They do, however, lose some of their colour," says Radhakrishna. "It is slightly browned if you notice, not like the jasmine-white idlis you get here." The idlis and sambhar are to be eaten after adding hot water; the coconut chutney needs only cold water. Each idli is 12 gm and swells to 25 gm when soaked in water. The desiccation makes it impossible for micro organisms like bacteria to grow and increases the idlis' shelf life to more than a year. The removal of moisture also reduces the weight of food sharply, something crucial to the needs of both Isro and the armed forces. The sambhar and chutney are also dried completely with infrared radiation, a technology that has been used in the preparation of food over the past six years or so.
The pack, as it has been designed now, has ten such idlis. It is the equivalent of three normal sized idlis. "It is the perfect snack," says Anil Dutt Semwal, senior category F scientist at DFRL, "And the cost, though I haven't calculated it precisely, is minimal: Rs 8 or 10 for a pack." He worked two months on creating the idli-sambhar-chutney pack and then sent samples to the Army. The reviews, he says, were "very good". The technology can also be used for cooking vegetables—a powdered mix of spices becomes a curry once water is added to it.
Radhakrishna has also been working on space rasgullas. They look like white naphthalene balls and are freeze-dried from cottage cheese. Freeze drying involves chilling foods to temperatures from –20º to –40º C. It lets the moisture evaporate, but not the flavours. The rasgullas are then vacuum packed. The syrup comes separately as a powder that can be dissolved in water. "Rasgullas are ideal for space. They have a beautiful texture that doesn't disintegrate easily like other sweets. It is compact. In space, it won't do to have bits of food flying around. Remember, it is zero gravity," says Radhakrishna. It took him a year-and-a-half to get the rasgullas right, and they have been ready for a while. Nonetheless, he whittles away at the formula from time to time. There is still a battery of tests to be done before they are ready for space. "Chemical analysis to see they smell right and don't disintegrate, physical analysis to ensure they look right, microbiological trials to confirm there are no micro-organisms, vibration studies to find out whether they can withstand G-forces at the time of launch," he says, "This is routine for all foods, indeed materials, that are to travel to space."
The programme's biggest accomplishment, he reckons, is its space yoghurt. This was developed using pulsed electric field technology in which short bursts of electricity are passed through a fluid food. It renders microbes inactive but the tricky part is to keep the good bacteria alive. DFRL's result, in Radhakrishna's words, is "beautiful, beautiful".
Radhakrishna is 58 now and due to retire on 31 March 2014. This space food project is his dream, and grants him a pretty good chance of an extension. Six months ago, he gave a 40-slide PowerPoint presentation to Isro on the programme. He asked for a budget of Rs 5 crore, three co-workers and a visit to Nasa's food facility in the US. "It has been accepted on principle," says Dr W Selvamurthy, chief controller of the life sciences department at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the parent body of DFRL. "As soon as the Government of India confirms the project, we will be officially a part of it."
By coincidence, this is also Radhakrishna's chance to finish what he started in his first years at DFRL. In 1983, the Government had commissioned the lab to prepare a couple of dishes for the Intercosmos Programme, the Indo-Soviet joint space flight that had aboard Rakesh Sharma, the first and only Indian astronaut to go to space. The lab was given a timeline of half a year, and pretty much the entire hundred-odd staff was roped in. Radhakrishna was a freshman at DFRL then, a 'B category scientist' who had joined after completing his PhD in meat technology at the same institute. He was perhaps the juniormost in the team and also the odd jobs man. They came up with a pineapple juice powder, biscuits that look like cream crackers, and a mango fruit bar. Of these, the Soviet space organisation approved only the mango bar, a variation of the popular Indian treat aam papad, which Rakesh Sharma says was much appreciated up in space. "There, the taste buds somehow seek sharp tastes and this fit the bill well. My Russian colleagues raved about it," says Sharma. Apart from aam papad, Sharma had a menu of over 80 dishes to choose from in his eight days aboard the spaceship. These included "pilafs, dry fruits, milk preparations, soups, honeyed breads", all of which came from the Soviet mission kitchen.
"I had this idea that astronauts consume some sort of specially potent pill which satisfies their hunger, but I realised when we worked on the Indo-Soviet mission that it is all a myth," says Radhakrishna. Food has been a part of manned space missions more or less from the start. In 1964-65, Sujoy Guha, professor at IIT Kharagpur, was invited to Nasa as a spectator to group discussions on manned space missions. He was then working on his PhD at St Louis University, and had been selected for a Nasa fellowship. "In those days, astronauts were given a virtually zero fibre content diet because the technology of hygienic defecation in zero gravity had not been worked out," says Professor Guha, "I think that the almost no passage of stools for many days led to an accumulation of toxic products, which to some extent caused the medical problems the astronauts faced: constipation; accumulation of toxins; and the possibility of peptic ulcers because in zero gravity conditions, the distribution of food and acid mass within the stomach would differ from what it would be on earth."
Before they could live down the triumph of the mango bar, DFRL was commissioned in 1985 to prepare a full menu for an Indo-US seven-day space programme titled 'Mission 61 I' slated for May-June 1986. The Indian objective of that programme was to launch satellite Insat 1C, the payload. Two Indians, NC Bhat of Isro and P Radhakrishnan of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, were selected in 1985 to travel to space as payload specialists. They also trained for a secondary assignment of sorts: performing yoga exercises in space as part of DRDO's life sciences agenda.
The lab had 14 months to work on the project and the confidence of a successful mission behind them. Sights were set higher, a comprehensive meal plan from morning tea to dinner with desserts was worked out, and meat was included on the menu. Radhakrishna, with his specialisation in meat, had a more meaningful role this time. As many as 17 dishes were prepared, including chicken pulao, peas pulao, lemon rice, chicken masala, something called peas cheese, chapatis with yeast, kheer, sooji halwa and three types of juice. Thirteen of these were approved by Nasa.
"The sooji halwa, especially, was very good. So fresh, just like my wife makes it," says NC Bhat, over the telephone from Bangalore. In comparison, the food prepared by Nasa that Bhat and P Radhakrishnan tasted on their orientation visits to the US was less memorable. "It was bland. We tasted some juice, pineapple juice I think. They also had some small biscuits. It was good, but not as tasty as the Indian food." What was more interesting was the gee-wiz packaging of the American food. "We pressed a button and a pouch of biscuits shot out. You had to open it in a certain way. Food for these missions has special packaging that has to be discarded properly. In zero gravity, you can't have empty packs and leftovers floating around."
Scientific packaging design is an important part of the programme in India too. After the DFRL works out a menu, it figures out the smartest way


can load and plot the species richness at different time-steps. Here, we will load them at the time-steps 40, 20 and 0 corresponding to 40, 20 and 0 Ma (1 time-step = 1 myr).
timesteps <- c(40, 20, 0)
par(mfrow = c(1, 3))
for (i in timesteps) {
 landscape_i <- readRDS(file.path(datapath, paste0("output/config_southamerica/landscapes/landscape_t_",
 i, ".rds")))
 species_i <- readRDS(file.path(datapath, paste0("output/config_southamerica/species/species_t_",
 i, ".rds")))
 plot_richness(species_i, landscape_i)
gen3sis also returns a summary object at the end of the simulation storing default summary statistics and important data over time. One of the default observer summaries is the species richness over time. NOTE You can also create your own observer function.
We can quickly visualize some main results using the plot_summary function. Here we stored the summary object (sgen3sis class) as sim.
There are a few visualization tools already included in the package, but you are free to explore and check the outputs with your favorite plotting functions and colors.
4. Analyze
Now that we have run the simulation, we are ready to perform some analysis to investigate the model behavior. Because we set a limit to the total abundances lower in colder and in more arid environments, we expect that the number of species that can co-exist also decreases in those environments. We will perform a few statistical analyses to investigate those patterns based on the species richness pattern that emerged at the end of the simulation. To do so, we first load the landscape and combine it with the simulated species richness.
landscapes <- readRDS(file.path(datapath, "landscape", "landscapes.rds")) _TAG_ the input landscape
landscape_t0 <- as.data.frame(cbind(landscapes$temp[, 1:2], temp = landscapes$temp[,
 3], arid = landscapes$arid[, 3], area = landscapes$area[, 3])) _TAG_ landscape at last time-step
landscape_t0 <- cbind(landscape_t0, rich = sim$summary$'richness-final'[, 3]) _TAG_ richness to the dataframe
landscape_t0 <- na.omit(landscape_t0)
Much is possible here, from looking at phylogenies to spatial correlations. For this introduction we will keep things simple and investigate the relationship between richness and environmental variables at the final time-step of the simulation. For this, we will fit two univariate models, where each explains the relationship between species richness and one of the environmental variables.
For this, we first fit a generalized linear model between richness and temperature.
glm.uni <- glm(rich ~ poly(temp, 2), data = landscape_t0, family = poisson)
cor(landscape_t0$temp, landscape_t0$rich)
#> [1] 0.588251
Second, we plot the response curve.
# prepare data with temperature and predicted richness from our model
data_plot <- data.frame(cbind(landscape_t0$temp, predict(glm.uni, type = "response")))
# sort data for plotting and ommit NA's
data_plot <- na.omit(data_plot[order(data_plot[, 1], decreasing = FALSE), ])
# get the number of observations
n <- paste0("observations (n = ", length(landscape_t0$rich), ")")
# plot model curve
plot(data_plot[, 1], data_plot[, 2], xlab = "Temperature [°C]", ylab = expression(paste(alpha,
 " richness")), frame.plot = F, type = "l", col = "red", lwd = 2, xlim = c(min(landscape_t0$temp),
 max(landscape_t0$temp)), ylim = c(min(landscape_t0$rich), max(landscape_t0$rich)))
# add observed points
points(landscape_t0$temp, landscape_t0$rich, col = rgb(0.5, 0.5, 0.5, alpha = 0.4),
 pch = 16)
# add legend
legend(-20, 30, col = c(rgb(0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 0.4), "red"), legend = c(n, "model fit"),
 pch = c(16, NA), lty = c(NA, 1), lwd = c(NA, 2), bty = "n")
By looking at the model fit of the generalized linear model we can see that the relationship between the two variables is rather hump-shaped, indicating that species richness is highest at intermediate temperature levels. First the higher richness found above 10° is consistent with the ecological rule that we imposed. At higher temperature, we have a higher energy and capacity facilitating coexist. This is consistent with our model expectations. Moreover, we can observe a large spread of the points at high temperature. This is likely because high temperature regions frequently have high aridity. Thus we will next investigate the association of aridity and species richness by fitting a generalized linear model between richness and aridity.
The number of species is negatively related to aridity. The explained deviance of this relationship is D2=0.239. This relationship emerge because we set a lower carrying capacity in sites with higher level of aridity. Hence, the models behaves as expected from the configuration function.
Finally, we fit a multivariate model for explaining species richness by taking into account the two predictors together.
richness_model <- glm(rich ~ poly(temp, 2) + poly(arid, 2), family = "quasipoisson",
 data = landscape_t0)
#> Estimate Std. Error t value Pr(>|t|)
#> (Intercept) 2._PHONE_ 0.005433575 532.858090 0.000000e+00
#> poly(temp, 2)1 7._PHONE_ 0.361808498 19.431045 1.063461e-75
#> poly(temp, 2)2 -4._PHONE_ 0.370139268 -12.126295 1.916558e-32
#> poly(arid, 2)1 -4._PHONE_ 0.281971880 -17.015494 8.032991e-60
#> poly(arid, 2)2 0._PHONE_ 0.232571058 1.957465 5.046587e-02
Above, we report the explained deviance of the glm model on richness considering temperature and aridity. The explained deviance of this relationship is D2=0.426. This explained deviance will not be total since there are other effects including dispersal limitations, that are not considered in this statistical summary. It is important to consider that we have now only been analyzing the species richness at one time-step, namely the last one (0 Ma). The emerged patterns are more likely not only to be explained by the environmental conditions of that time but also dependent on historical conditions and multiple processes interactions tackled by gen3sis.
For more details on how to create a landscape and prepare it to use in gen3sis see design_landscape vignette and create_input_landscape vignette. For more details on how to create or modify a configuration object see create_config vignette. It's now up to you to explore the "virtual" world.
 1. O. Hagen, B. Flück, F. Fopp, J.S. Cabral, F. Hartig, M. Pontarp, T.F. Rangel, L. Pellissier. (2020). GENƎSIS: the GENeral Engine for Eco-Evolutionary SImulationS on the origins of biodiversity. (in review)↩


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Empire of Dogs
Canines, Japan, and the Making of the Modern Imperial World
In 1924, Professor Ueno Eizaburo of Tokyo Imperial University adopted an Akita puppy he named Hachiko. Each evening Hachiko greeted Ueno on his return to Shibuya Station. In May 1925 Ueno died while giving a lecture. Every day for over nine years the Akita waited at Shibuya Station, eventually becoming nationally and even internationally famous for his purported loyalty. A year before his death in 1935, the city of Tokyo erected a statue of Hachiko outside the station. The story of Hachiko reveals much about the place of dogs in Japan's cultural imagination.
In the groundbreaking Empire of Dogs, Aaron Herald Skabelund examines the history and cultural significance of dogs in nineteenthand twentieth-century Japan, beginning with the arrival of Western dog breeds and new modes of dog keeping, which spread throughout the world with Western imperialism. He highlights how dogs joined with humans to create the modern imperial world and how, in turn, imperialism shaped dogs' bodies and their relationship with humans through its impact on dog-breeding and dog-keeping practices that pervade much of the world today.
In a book that is both enlightening and entertaining, Skabelund focuses on actual and metaphorical dogs in a variety of contexts: the rhetorical pairing of the Western "colonial dog" with native canines; subsequent campaigns against indigenous canines in the imperial realm; the creation, maintenance, and in some cases restoration of Japanese dog breeds, including the Shiba Inu; the mobilization of military dogs, both real and fictional; and the emergence of Japan as a "pet superpower" in the second half of the twentieth century. Through this provocative account, Skabelund demonstrates how animals generally and canines specifically have contributed to the creation of our shared history, and how certain dogs have subtly influenced how that history is told. Generously illustrated with both color and black-and-white images, Empire of Dogs shows that human-canine relations often expose how people—especially those with power and wealth—use animals to define, regulate, and enforce political and social boundaries between themselves and other humans, especially in imperial contexts.