text:
Economics Doctoral Students Secure National Science Foundation Funding
Economics doctoral students Brendan Livingston
and Carl Kitchens have received NSF Doctoral
Dissertation Research Improvement Grants.
By Liz Warren-Pederson
Doctoral students in economics at the Eller College have a long history of attracting grant funding for dissertation projects — Carl Kitchens and Brendan Livingston are the latest. Each was awarded a $10,000, one-year Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant from the National Science Foundation Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences.
"I'm trying to figure out what happened to private charities during the Great Depression," said Livingston. "Researchers are unsure why current poverty relief is provided by the government rather than by churches and charities."
One theory, he noted, is that New Deal legislation forced people to donate to the poor, reducing voluntary contributions to private charities. "Previous data about this time period is inconclusive because we don't have data on donations to charities," he explained. "The NSF grant allows me to create a data set where I observe both donations and spending by charities before and during the Great Depression. This allows me to tell a story about what happened to private charities during the Great Depression."
Kitchens, meanwhile, is working on a paper that explores eminent domain, or the power of the state to seize a citizen's private property, such as land, with compensation but without consent. The paper uses data from the Tennessee Valley Authority, one of the biggest eminent domain cases in the country's history. Some of Kitchens' data indicates that the project may have lowered electricity costs less than projected.
Other recent recipients of dissertation grants from the NSF include:
Jonathan Fox: "Public Health Movements, Local Poor Relief, and Child Mortality in the United States: _PHONE_."
Jedidiah Brewer: "The Effect of Hypermart Entry on Traditional Gasoline Retailers: Evidence from a Natural Experiment."
Samuel Allen: "Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Political Economy of Worker's Compensation Benefits: 1940 -2000."
Ryan Johnson: "Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Economic Progress of American Black
Workers in Periods of Crisis and Change, _PHONE_."
Melissa Thomasson: "Examining the Impact of Government Tax Policies on the Development of the
Market for Health Insurance."
Learn more about doctoral studies in the Department of Economics.


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by Gennady Albert, Antonina W. Bouis and Mikhail Baryshnikov
This book presents in detail three of Pushkin's classes: a Senior Class from the late 1930s-early 1940s; a Graduating Class from 1967; and an Artists' Class from the 1960s. The classes reveal the inventiveness of his combinations and the logic of his class progressions. Pushkin always refused to write a ballet textbook because he did not want his method, which was flexible and adapted to the individual needs of his students, to turn into a rigid lesson plan. However, he was generous in sharing his ideas on teaching with all who came to observe his classes. His openness is reflected in this biography by a former student, which makes available for the first time in English the techniques of one of the greatest and most influential of all modern ballet teachers.
Hardcover, illustrated with black and white photographs, 200 pages.
Item Number: _PHONE_

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


text:
Development of Carbon-Nanotube/Polymer Composites
- Thursday, 28 December 2006
The chemical modification is effected in a process in which discrete functional groups are covalently attached to the nanotube surfaces. The functionalization process was proposed by the company and demonstrated in practice for the first time during this development effort. The covalently attached functional groups are capable of reacting with the epoxy or other matrix resin to form covalent bonds. Furthermore, the company uses this process to chemically modify the nanotube surfaces, affording "tunable" adhesion to polymers and solubility in select solvents. Flat-sheet composites containing functionalized nanotubes demonstrate significantly improved mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties.
This work was done by Thomas A. Reynolds of ReyTech Corp. for Johnson Space Center. For further information, contact the Johnson Innovative Partnerships Office at _PHONE_.


𝓘𝓷𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓰𝓻𝓪𝓶 𝓕𝓸𝓷𝓽
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The site runs by creating a type of different styles using a range of different Unicode characters. Generating Instagram-compatible Unocode glyphs. Read more information about Unicode below.
Computers save all data in binary format. It means that it includes zezos and ones. Therefore, all of letters you are reading now are stored on my serves as a series of zeros and ones. The way from our server to your browsers run exactly when the browsers can understand what zeros and ones are refering to. Since 1980s with the formation of Unicode, Unicode is known as international standards body. Before Unicode system, people used other way to store and render text. That's the reason why programmers need to build "translator" for different programs. Then, they could understand which codes reffered to which textual characters.
In beginning, people don't like to change their system to follow this new sec. Meet the need of customers, Unicode has releaseda bunch of different symbol supporting legacy system. Emojis are also text symbol, and so the new emojis are coming out of the Unicode group. So that's how we ended up with large and fun arrays of symbols. We've put together a bunch of fonts for instagram which is interesting and coool for your bio. I'm sure that you will love "mix and match" certain parts from different fonts.
Text font for text symbols
ACSII characters are the first 128 symbols of Unicode, and they are the thing you reading right now. However, there are far more than 128 symbols in Unicode, and the fact that there are quite a few symbols that loook a bit like regular alphabets (e.g that looks like English take), "pseudo alphabet" is created which resemble normal ACSII text, but which have certain differences including bing bolder, italic, or even upside down!
The alphabet are not perfect – they're basically "Unicode hacks" which take benefits of various symbols from different set of all throughout the 100k+ symbols in standard.
The term "font" actually refers to a set of graphics that correspond to some on all of the Unicode glyphs. You probably heard of "Comic Sans" and "Arial" – these are fonts. What you are copying and pasting above are actually symbols that exists in every font. So the cursive text and other fancy letters that you notice above are sperate characters, just like "a" and "b" are separate characters.
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You can see that you can't use some fonts on insta. The reason is that insta filters out some of the fancy letters and symbols to stop people to abus certain Unicodes stuff like the excessive diacritics used in the "glitch text" font that you'll see in the list.


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Cutting off power during periods of high fire danger would lead to more deaths and higher costs to communities
On 2 January 2012, during a period of extremely hot weather, a South Australian electricity distributor deliberately cut power to several thousand homes because it was concerned that its electricity assets might cause a bushfire. Its action raises an important question: when does the risk of electricity assets causing a bushfire outweigh the benefits of having a power supply?
The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission heard that about 1%–4% of all bushfires are caused by electrical faults and that this proportion rises on days when catastrophic fires have occurred.1 Switching off the power supply will, therefore, prevent a small proportion of fires. On the other hand, a functioning power supply has many health and safety benefits that may be particularly important on days of high fire danger.
In 2009, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) rejected an application by the San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E) to shut off power during periods of high fire danger.2 The CPUC stated that the SDG&E had "not met its burden to demonstrate that the benefits of shutting off power outweigh the significant costs, burdens, and risks that would be imposed on customers and communities in the areas where power is shut off". The commission was presented with a range of public safety issues that might arise from loss of power during periods of high fire danger. These included:
failure of telephone, radio and television communications, vital not only in the early detection of fires, but also as a means of providing people with essential information during emergencies and evacuations;
failure of electric garage doors, potentially trapping people in their homes;
failure of traffic signals, increasing the risk of road accidents and potentially diverting police from more important duties;
disruption to water distribution systems, potentially hampering fire fighting efforts and interfering with drinking water supplies; and
the need to evacuate people reliant on home life support systems or with other disabilities.
Further, cutting power may create many new ignition sources as affected customers turn to alternative means of lighting and cooking, such as candles, barbecues and camping stoves. It should be noted that the CPUC's determination took into account an offer by the SDG&E to undertake a range of costly measures to mitigate the risks associated with a power shutdown.
The issue of cutting power to prevent bushfires has also been considered by the Powerline Bushfire Safety Taskforce (PBST),3 a taskforce established in response to the findings of the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission. The PBST concluded that:
Under most circumstances, the potential impact on the community that may result from the deliberate turning off of powerlines on a temporary basis outweighs the risk of leaving them in service. There will only be limited circumstances where deliberate turning off of powerlines on a temporary basis is warranted on a "lowest overall risk" basis. However, this precaution may be "reasonable and practicable" in those limited circumstances.
In coming to this conclusion, the taskforce estimated that leaving customers without power for 8 hours would have incurred a cost of $360 million. It is not clear whether this figure accounted for health and public safety costs, so it may be a substantial underestimate of the true cost of power failure.
A recent assessment of the health consequences of a power outage in New York found a 122% increase in the risk of death from accidents, and significant increases in other risks of death, independent of ambient temperature.4 This evidence supports the substantial health risk directly attributable to power outages.
An important omission from the health and safety arguments presented by the CPUC and the PBST is a discussion of the role of air conditioning in preventing heat-related illness. Days of high fire danger are generally very hot and therefore likely to be associated with high rates of heat-related morbidity and mortality. For example, the Victorian government estimated that the 7-day heatwave preceding the February 2009 bushfires caused 374 deaths, a 62% increase above the baseline mortality rate.5
According to 2011 figures, 73% of Australian households use either a refrigerated air conditioner or an evaporative cooler, with the highest proportion (91%) in South Australia.6 These active forms of cooling are a highly effective means of preventing heat-related illness. A meta-analysis of six case–control studies found that the odds of dying during a heatwave are around 77% lower among people with a working air conditioner at home (odds ratio [OR], 0.23; 95% CI, 0.1–0.6).7 Given the prevalence of household air conditioning in Australia, cutting power would increase the risk of dying from heat-related illness by about 50%. Those without air conditioning at home are also at increased risk during power cuts because visiting an air-conditioned place is highly protective (OR, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.2–0.5), and having a working fan offers some protection, although this is not statistically significant (OR, 0.6; 95% CI, 0.4–1.1).7 Neither of these options is available to people living in a community without power, so our estimate of a 50% increase in risk is conservative. Home air conditioning is likely to be particularly important for the elderly and people living in remote and rural communities, whose ability to access other air-conditioned spaces may be limited.
The estimate of the protective effect of home air conditioning may be applied to the 2009 Victorian heatwave. If we assume that power was cut for the full 7 days, accounting for the fact that many residents were without power because of load shedding for up to 2 hours on 29–30 January 2009,8 there would have been an additional 192 heat-related deaths. While this is an extreme example, it serves to illustrate the point that cutting power during a heatwave can have enormous consequences. If, as is more likely, power was cut for just a single day, there would have been an additional 28 deaths. Similarly alarming figures are found when examining a heatwave that affected Sydney in 2011. Again, as an extreme example, if power was unavailable for the duration of the heatwave, the deaths attributable to the hot weather would have increased by 50, from 96 deaths9 to 146.
Deaths from heat outweigh direct deaths from catastrophic bushfires, with Australia's most catastrophic bushfire tolls (Black Saturday in 2009 and Ash Wednesday in 1983) resulting in 173 and 75 deaths, respectively. So from a public health perspective, power cuts are more likely to lead to adverse health outcomes than maintaining power on potentially catastrophic bushfire days. A crude method of assessing the excess potential cost is estimating the economic cost of deaths. If we assume that the average number of life-years lost for each death resulting from heatwaves is only 15 (as many of the attributable deaths are among older people), this would have resulted in a cost of about $356 million for the potential excess loss of life if no power had been available during the Victorian heatwave. Note that this figure does not include any other associated costs from power cuts, such as those of evacuating residents who are reliant on medical equipment at home, the costs to business and productivity, or those from transport cuts — it only considers the direct costs from mortality. This figure is calculated using the Office of Best Practice Regulation 2007 value of a statistical life-year,10 discounted by 3% per year to account for years of life lost in the future. These costs will be incurred every time power is cut during heatwave conditions, but the probability of a catastrophic bushfire on any given heatwave day being attributable to electrical faults is very low. Hence, even if considered using a pure economic metric, a decision to voluntarily cut power supply appears highly unlikely to be justified.
Clearly this additional risk from loss of air-conditioning protection during power cuts should be added to the other public safety arguments presented by the CPUC, and supported by the recent analysis of blackouts in New York.4 When this is done, it is our view that power should never be deliberately cut off, except to an area that has already been evacuated. Certainly, the range of issues and risks involved in cutting power mean that the decision should never be taken by the electricity company alone. Systems should be in place for all relevant stakeholders, including health departments, to have input. These issues should be considered as part of the preparation phase of the emergency management cycle, as it is unlikely that there will be sufficient time to adequately calculate the health and other consequences during an emergency event.
Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.


text:
|Syntactic Confectionery Delight|
Re: Counter - number of tags per intervalby LanX (Chancellor)
|on May 04, 2013 at 22:08 UTC||Need Help??|
Just another idea based on tuning your current algorithm which is quite clever! (Well after being understood - you know my opinion about clear naming ;-)
After analyzing the numbers you provided, I suppose that intersections of different ranges are comparatively rare and if they appear they stretch over long distances.
So it doesn't really make sense to go into the count loop for each individual point, just go on counting the "1" till you reach the next "boundary" and add them collectively to your counter instead incrementing them one by one with++.
The boundaries are nothing else as the sorted list of range starts-1 and stops. In your example for ID "b"
this means [9,11,15].
and results in the following flow
As you see, you can also stop counting between ranges and even try to jump forward in the file with seek.
3e6 Intervals/50 IDs *2 Borders = 120000 Borders
6e9 Points / ID
=> in average 6e9/12e4=50000 points between two adjacent borders, where you can avoid the whole count loop.
This should lead to a considerable boost!
( addicted to the Perl Programming Language)


This organization shall be known as the Environmental Law Society as established by these Bylaws.
The Environmental Law Society shall promote awareness and participation in environmental issues and activities on campus and in the community to influence the law, public policy, legislation, and justice; to improve the environmental policies of Willamette University College of Law; to promote environmental careers, practices, and scholarship; to provide opportunities for advocacy of environmental issues.
Environmental Law Society membership shall be open to all Willamette Law students and shall not be restricted on the basis of gender, race, religion, color, sex, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, or age. Attendance at more than one general meeting or event shall constitute active membership.
Officers; Duties.
The officers for the Society shall be a Chair or Co-Chairs, hereinafter Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer. The offices of Chair and Treasurer shall be filled at the first meeting in April of each year. The offices of Vice Chair and Secretary shall be filled at the first meeting in April of each year provided there is sufficient membership. All officers shall remain in good standing with the Society by remaining a full-time law student and regularly attending meetings.
Section 1. Chair.
The Chair shall be responsible for the efficient administration and operation of the Society, act as the chief spokesperson for the Society, serve as the chairperson of the Executive Board; and preside over the official meetings of the Society and the Executive Board.
Section 2. Vice Chair.
The Vice Chair shall serve in the Co-Director's stead as necessary, assist the Chair in performing other duties, and assist in general operations of the Society.
Section 3. Secretary.
The Secretary shall take the minutes of the Executive Board and official Society meetings, post notices of forthcoming meetings, agendas, and the events of the Society, maintain a current roster of membership, and maintain the organizations files.
Section 4. Treasurer.
The Treasurer shall present the proposed ELS budget to the Student Body Association, hereinafter SBA, by the deadline designated by the SBA. In addition, the Treasurer shall maintain the Society's financial records and accounts, disburse funds in accordance with the determinations of the Executive Board, prepare all financial forms, and make an audit at the end of year disclosing available funds for the following year.
Election Procedures.
A majority of the Executive Board shall comprise a quorum for the conduct of business, and the concurrence of a majority of the Society members present shall be required to elect the officers and decide any matter. The Chair may not initiate a motion to nominate, but may second said motion. The Chair shall vote on each nomination after the question is called. However, in the event the Chair's vote shall create a tie, the Chair shall refrain from voting.
Term of Office; Vacancy.
Section 1. Term of Office.
The term of office for each position shall be for one year beginning in April at the Election Meeting.
Section 2. Vacancy.
If the Chair or Treasurer position becomes vacant a meeting shall be called to elect a successor to finish out the remainder of the term. If the Vice Chair or Secretary position becomes vacant a meeting shall be called to fill the position at the discretion of the Executive Board.
Officers shall regularly attend meetings of the Society and any meetings of the subcommittees to which they are a member. Any officer failing to attend two consecutive Society meetings without notifying the Executive Board members is presumed to be in nonperformance of duty and the position shall be deemed resigned and vacant.
Executive Board.
Section 1. Composition.
The officers of the Society shall make up the Executive Board.
Section 2. Purpose.
The Executive Board is the legal entity charged with the management and responsibility of the Society. The Board shall establish the objectives of the organization and determine the policy for the development of such objectives. The Board shall have authority to adopt rules for appointment of officers and the frequency and conduct of its meetings.
The Executive Board shall have the power to create subcommittees with such responsibilities as the Board directs. The Chair shall appoint a chair of the subcommittee and charge each subcommittee with its responsibilities. The subcommittee chair shall be responsible for scheduling meetings, assigning specific tasks within the mandate of the subcommittee, and reporting to the Executive Board concerning the work of the subcommittee.
Section 1. Regular Meetings.
The Society shall hold a general membership meeting at least three times per school year. The time and day for each meeting shall be chosen to minimize conflicts with regularly scheduled classes. Notice of the meetings shall be given by email or posting on the law school board a minimum of five days prior to the scheduled meeting. A majority of the Executive Board shall comprise a quorum for the conduct of business, and the concurrence of a majority of the Society members present shall be required to decide any matter.
Section 2. Special Meetings.
Special meetings may be called by the Chair or by the Executive Board by giving Society members written or verbal notice at least 24 hours before the scheduled meeting.
Section 3. Executive Board.
Meetings of the Executive Board may be convened electronically. The regular business of the Executive Board may be accomplished via meetings where a physical majority of Executive Board members are not present as long as a quorum exists. A quorum is met as long as a majority of Executive Board members are able to see or hear the deliberations and register their vote.
Rules of Order.
The rules contained in Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised shall generally govern the Society if they are not inconsistent with these bylaws or Willamette College of Law policies.
These bylaws may be amended at any regular meeting of the Society by a majority of the Society members present, provided that the amendment has been submitted in writing to the Executive Board, and advertised as an agenda item for which a vote will take place at the next scheduled meeting. These by-laws may be amended by the Executive Board upon its own motion. Prior to an amendment, the Executive Board may request a recommendation from Society Members.


text:
You are here
River of No Return
The Salmon River is often called the River of No Return, made famous by Native American tales that those who go down the river never come back. The rapids were so wild, and the cliffs so steep that those who ventured through were never seen again.
These tales, the deep canyon walls, and the awesome whitewater of Pine Creek rapids caused the Lewis and Clark Expedition to turn back and abandon the Salmon River as a route to the sea. Now, with the advent of the inflatable raft, these River of No Return rapids are great fun for recreation. What was perilous and deadly to wooden canoes is now a thrilling family adventure vacation!
The Salmon River was also made famous in the 1950's with the Marilyn Monroe movie of the same name: River of No Return.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


Lighting Regulations
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Lighting regulations for pedal cycles
Lighting regulations for pedal cycles
The current version of the RVLR was published in 1989, then amended in 1994, 1996, 2001, 2005, again in 2005 and most recently in 2009. So it can be a bit of a puzzle to work out exactly what applies here and now!
It has to be said that the fine details of RVLR are seldom enforced, and provided you show some kind of white light in front and red behind, you are unlikely to be challenged. If you are involved in a night-time accident however, any slight illegality with respect to your lights or reflectors may be regarded as contributory negligence.
The main points of RVLR are as follows:
 - Lights (and reflectors) are required on a pedal cycle only between sunset and sunrise.
 - Lights (and reflectors) are not required when the cycle is stationary or being pushed along the roadside.
 - When they are required, the lights and reflectors listed below must be clean and working properly.
The following items are the minimum required, on a bicycle or tricycle, in order to ride it legally at night:
Front Lamp
One is required, showing a white light, positioned centrally or offside, up to 1500mm from the ground, aligned towards and visible from the front. If capable of emitting a steady light, it must be marked as conforming to BS6102/3 or an equivalent EC standard.
If capable of emitting only a flashing light, it must emit at least 4 candela.
Rear Lamp
One is required, to show a red light, positioned centrally or offside, between 350mm and 1500mm from the ground, at or near the rear, aligned towards and visible from behind. If capable of emitting a steady light it must be marked as conforming to BS3648, or BS6102/3, or an equivalent EC standard.
Rear Reflector
One is required, coloured red, marked BS6102/2 (or equivalent), positioned centrally or offside, between 250mm and 900mm from the ground, at or near the rear, aligned towards and visible from behind.
Pedal Reflectors
Four are required, coloured amber and marked BS6102/2 (or equivalent), positioned so that one is plainly visible to the front and another to the rear of each pedal.
Exceptions and explanations
Age brings privileges. To name but two: cycles manufactured before October 1990 can have any kind of white front lamp that is visible from a reasonable distance, and pre-October 1985 cycles don't need pedal reflectors.
Cycle trailers need a rear lamp as above and a triangular rear reflector with an ECE mark III or IIIA. (Trailer manufacturers appear blissfully unaware of this however, and generally fit cycle-type reflectors whilst making no provision for a rear lamp.)
In the absence of any more specific requirement, a cycle-type rear reflector can be presumed okay on a sidecar, which also needs its own front and rear lamps.
Seriously reduced visibility
Unlike other vehicles, pedal cycles are not required to light up when conditions of seriously reduced visibility occur in daytime. That's because this clause applies only to lights that are required to be fitted, and lights are not required to be fitted to a pedal cycle between sunrise and sunset. So even if the cycle has lights fitted and is ridden into a bank of fog for example, they do not have to be switched on. It would nevertheless be wise to do so!
'Lighting-up time' and the 'Hours of Darkness'
These commonplace phrases have meant many different things in the past and continue to cause confusion. Remember: for a cyclist the only thing that matters is the sun, the moment it dips below the horizon, our lights must go on, even though there may be plenty of light to see by for another half hour or so on a clear evening.
Sunset to sunrise: that's lighting-up time, when drivers must also switch on their sidelights at least. They can leave off the headlights for another 30 minutes, until - you guessed it - the 'Hours of Darkness', which nowadays endure from half an hour after sunset until half an hour before sunrise.
Prior to 1989, cyclists could also wait until then before switching on their lights, and if you go back further, the 'hours of darkness' were 60 minutes shorter, starting a whole hour after sunset and ending an hour before sunrise. Go back further still, to before the roads were nationalised, and some counties didn't require lights at all during full moon! It wasn't any lighter back then, but when things moved more slowly I guess we didn't need to see them coming so far off.
Beware that some publishers of 'lighting-up times' are a bit careless and give the 'hours of darkness' instead. Don't trust any such data unless it clearly states the times of sunset and sunrise.
The Euro-friendly clause
Thanks to a European Directive of a few years ago, wherever a British Standard (BS) is referred to, equivalent standards from other EC countries must now also be recognised - but only if they provide an equivalent level of safety. It's not exactly clear which do. However Germany has arguably the strictest cycle lighting laws in Europe so we consider it safe to use equipment that is marked accordingly, with a "K~number".
It should also be noted that wherever a British Standard is referred to, that reference applies to a specific edition. In the case of BS6102/3, that is the 1986 edition, as amended on 15th April 1995 and again on 1st September 2003. These amendments (in conjunction with the 1994 amendment of RVLR) removed the filament bulb design restrictions, so that lamps may now get their light from LEDs, HIDs – or whatever comes next!
Dynamo powered lights are legal even though they go out when you stop. That's allowed so long as you stop on the left. Usually it's much safer to stay where you are (e.g. in a stationary queue with left-turning traffic filtering up your inside), since most cars do stop for red traffic lights and those that don't are unlikely to pay more heed to a bike lamp!
Nevertheless, dynamos and lamps are now available with reliable back-up (standlight) features that either keep them on or light up a diode instead of the bulb.
Additional lamps and reflectors
Some cyclists like to fit extra lamps and reflectors, in addition to the approved ones specified above. This is perfectly legal provided they are the correct colour and in an appropriate position.
These optional lamps and reflectors do not have to comply with any standards, but it's illegal to use some designs of lamp or reflector that have specific other uses. You must not, for instance, show a red light at the front, or a white light to the rear, or fit triangular-shaped rear reflectors on anything other than trailer.
The suggestion that any lamp on a bicycle might cause undue dazzle or discomfort to other users of the road would have been laughable a few years ago, but not any more. It is not only illegal but doesn't actually improve your safety, should the person driving a heavy motor vehicle towards you be temporarily blinded by your headlamp! So please don't let it do that.
The Pedal Cycles (Safety) Regulations (PCSR) ensure that every new bicycle is sold with several extra reflectors, not required by RVLR, but (strangely) does nothing at all to facilitate the fitment of front and rear lamps.
These additional reflectors are found on the sides of the wheels, clear white or coloured yellow, and there's also a "white" reflector on the front of the bike. You are at liberty to remove the front and side reflectors, but beware that there are some situations (albeit most unusual) where a front reflector might improve your safety, and be sure to fit the necessary front and rear lamps.
Thanks to the 2005 RVLR amendment on 23 October of that year it finally became legal to have a flashing light on a pedal cycle, provided it flashes between 60 and 240 times per minute (1 – 4Hz).
Even better: it became possible for a flashing light to be approved, meaning no other light would be needed in that position. And since BS6102/3 does not cater for flashing, approval is granted simply on the basis of brightness (as specified above).
Because DfT very much prefer things to be evaluated against a proper technical standard wherever possible: any flashing lamp that is also capable of emitting a steady light is approved only if it conforms with BS6102/3 when switched to steady mode. Since most flashing lights do also have a steady mode, they're legal but not approved, so you'll probably need another lamp that is.
Unfortunately Britain is not the force it once was in the world cycle market, with the result that very few manufacturers can nowadays be bothered to test and mark their products to our standards. So it can be really hard nowadays, to find any approved lamp for sale these days, flashing or not!
Fortunately our Police seem hardly more concerned by legal niceties than lamp manufacturers. Since it became theoretically legal to ride a bike with just flashing lights on it, they're nowadays no more likely to quibble its legal status than one equipped with steady lights – unless they're rather dim (the lights that is) or involved in an accident. Then it's


text: Canyon wrens inhabit cliffs at all elevations. The population trend of these nongame birds is unknown. Nests are cups of twigs or moss built in rock crevices or buildings. Canyon wrens nest from April through July. The female incubates the eggs for 12 days. Fledging occurs after an additional 13 days. Nests will be reused each year. These birds are insectivorous.


text:
A full moon can leave adults and children alike feeling a bit out of sorts. While research varies, there are studies that confirm the effects of this phase of the lunar cycle. It can take longer to fall asleep, you may be sleeping less, and you may not be at your best during the day as a result. Being a mom of two young boys, I don't necessarily need a study to confirm the effects of a full moon. I see it in my children — and myself. They can a bit crankier and tend to push back in ways they normally don't, and I may feel tired.
In 2013, Swiss researchers published a report in Current Biology that suggests we get less sleep during a full moon. The study drew its conclusions from an experiment in which 33 men and women slept in a sleep lab where brain patterns, eye movements and hormones were studied for one week.
Researchers found that study participants took an average of five minutes longer to fall asleep and got about 20 minutes less sleep than usual, and they reported being more tired than was typical. The lab did not have windows, so moonlight itself was not a factor. This led to the speculation that humans have a biological clock that follows a 28-day lunar cycle.
Another study found that children may sleep less when there is a full moon. Researchers from the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute in Canada analyzed information from over 5,800 children, ages 9 to 11, from 12 countries — India, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Finland, Kenya, Portugal, South Africa, the U.K. and the U.S.
The children wore accelerometers that recorded body movement and monitored sleep 24 hours a day for seven days.
Researchers found that children's sleep time was about 5 minutes shorter on nights with a full moon, compared with nights with a new moon, Live Science reported. The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Pediatrics.
While reports vary about the effects of a full moon, if you see changes in your child's mood or you experience lower quality or less sleep, it may not matter what researchers say. The changes in your family are real.
So, what can you do to limit the effects of a full moon? Maintain a healthy diet. Don't reach for sugary or fatty foods if energy is low. Establish a sleep routine, and stick with it, even on the weekends. Start with having blackout shades in all bedrooms, in case it is the brightness of a full moon that is disrupting your sleep. And keep bedrooms cool and comfortable — the best temperature for sleep is between 68 and 72 degrees.
Here are some simple, proven strategies for a sleep routine for infants:
Modify the sleep routine according to your child's age.
For adults, a sleep routine is similar to that for a child:
Be aware that a full moon may affect your and your children's sleep and mood. Knowing this can help you understand if your child acts out during the corresponding daytime. Sticking with healthy sleep and nutrition routines can help minimize the effects of the lunar cycle.
What are the effects of a full moon on your family? Please share in the comments section.


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Have you ever imagined, what can be as precious as gold; but as light as air? Well, I don't know about the past, but in today's time, its gold only! Yes, you read it right. Few scientists from ETH Zurich were able to convert gold in the form of a foam, which can be easily molded by hands. With this discovery, gold foam has become the lightest metal on earth, ever discovered.
Gold foam? How does it look like?
Researchers say that though gold foam is as light as air, it's difficult to tell the difference between solid gold and gold foam by naked eye. It so happens because of the aerogel that boasts the metallic luster. This amazing discovery has made the gold foam so soft that it can be molded by hand. That's possible because the gold foam consists of 98% air and only 2% of solid gold metal. Of this solid metal, over four-fifths are gold, and less than one-fifth is milk protein fibrils. This corresponds to around 20 carat gold, according to the researchers at ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology). All in all, gold foam consists of a three-dimensional mesh of gold of mostly pores.
That's why the lead of this research, Raffaele Mezzenga who is a professor of Food and Soft Materials calls the gold foam as a material that is "lighter than water and almost as light as air".
How the gold foam was created?
The scientists created this the gold foam by heating milk proteins to produce nanometer-fine protein fibers, that are also called as amyloid fibrils. These fibrils were later placed in a solution of gold salt. The protein fibers interlaced to form a basic structure, along which the gold simultaneously crystallized into tiny particles. This resulted in a gel-like gold fiber network.
Gustav Nyström, the first author of the corresponding study in the journal Advanced Materials mentions,
"One of the big challenges was how to dry this fine network without destroying it,"
Where can we use the gold foam?
Scientists mention that the material holds unique properties. It is a metal, but due to its porous structure, it is also light. As a result, it can be successfully used in jewelry and watches. Besides, it can be used as a revolutionary catalyst since it has huge surface, with very little quantity. It can be used in chemical labs across the world to carry out several chemical tests on this precious metal.
Gold is not the first metal to be converted into a foam. Scientists have successfully converted copper also into a foam earlier. The copper foam is used in various researches and tests in chemical labs.


text:
Congenital Cystic Adenomatoid Malformation of
the Lung (CCAM)
What is it?
CCAM is a disorder affecting the foetus involving a cyst of abnormal lung tissue. This tissue has increased cell proliferation and decreased apoptosis. This means that the CCAM cells can reproduce quickly and the nuclei of the cells do not effectively instigate cell death as signalled by the condition of the cells. This cystic tissue cannot function as lung tissue, and CCAM commonly develops during the seventh gestational week. CCAM cells can be large enough to resemble bronchioles or can exist on a microscopic scale.
This is an ultrasound of a CCAM lung.
The cyst is visible in the upper right lung.
Initial symptoms of CCAM are evident exteriorly from the pregnant mother. She appears too large for her stage in the pregnancy, and this is caused by the foetus' inability to swallow the amniotic fluid being produced. These initial signs can be verified through an ultrasound examination in which bright mass will appear in the foetus' lungs. Secondary indicators also include a dislodged heart and flattened diaphragm. Often, the CCAM ceases its growth after the twenty seventh week while the lungs continue to develop and exceed the size of the CCAM. In these situations the CCAM become less threatening and can be handled after birth. However, certain CCAM cases result in pulmonary hypoplasia as the lungs do not have room to grow. In these severe cases the CCAM can apply pressure to the trachea, thereby blocking the amniotic fluid from being swallowed, and the CCAM also applies pressure to the heart, stressing the circulatory system of the foetus (hydrops).
A CT scan provides a detailed view of
In severe cases requiring inutero surgery, the cyst must be removed to save the foetus. The procedure involves the opening of the womb as would be done in a caesarean section. The amniotic fluid is collected and is reinserted following the removal of the CCAM. After the foetus is exposed the heart rate is monitored by a pulse oximetre. An incision is made under the armpit of the foetus, exposing the lung cavity. The CCAM is then removed from the lungs. The amniotic fluid is then replaced and the womb is stitched closed. The trauma induced to the foetus through this procedure often results in preterm labour. For this reason, mothers are ordered to bed rest to avoid any further labour stimulus and they must also take anti-contraction medications.
The CCAM is accessed via an incision below A recovery time of approximately six weeks
the armpit. is required for the lungs to recover and expand
propery into their cavity.
CCAM occurs in approximately one in every thirty thousand foetuses. Only ten percent of these cases require inutero surgery, and CCAM usually becomes evident for diagnoses after twenty-two weeks. There do not appear to be any genetic causes of CCAM. The Fetal Treatment Center in San Francisco remains to be the only centre performing the foetal surgeries required to save foetuses diagnosed with severe CCAM.
The Anatomy and Development of the Foetus
Medical Conditions Affecting the Foetus from initial diagnosis to treatment:
Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH)
Congenital Cystic Adenomatoid Malformation of the Lung (CCAM)
Sacrococcygeal Teratoma (SCT)
Urinary Tract Obstruction
Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA)
*note: Clicking on an above topic will take you directly it's location within this site.


text:
Until 31st May you can collect cards to scratch which offer various gifts and prizes.
You can win cards in the following ways:
- The first time you log in each day
- When your horse wins competitions (2 per day)
- Buying them in the Flash Sales (you can buy a maximum of 1 card in each type of sale every 3 days)
- Exchanging duplicate cards (costs 5 diamonds and you can only exchange 1 per day. However you are guaranteed not to get another duplicate)
Apparently there may be more ways to get cards (possible involving HoPs!) later on in the contest.
The first set of cards are called the Collector Cards. These cards give you prizes as soon as you scratch them - for example equus, BM items, saddlery or even the Divine horse Mars.
The second set of cards are called the Puzzle Cards. There are 7 puzzles to complete and you have to collect all 5 cards from each puzzle before you get your gift. The puzzles are as follows:
- The Desert Puzzle. Prize: Philosopher's Stone
- The Forest Puzzle. Prize: 20,000e
- The Jungle Puzzle. Prize: Morpheus' Arms
- The Meadow Puzzle. Prize: 5 x diamonds
- The Savanna Puzzle. Prize: a Knabstupper (a new breed of horse)
- The Mountain Puzzle. Prize: 5th element
- The Hiking Puzzle. Prize: Poseidon's Pack
If you complete all the puzzles you win a Treasure Chest containing a new wild horse - the Camargue.
You get to your cards by clicking on 'The Cards' link at the top of any page. From that page there is then a link to the Flash Sales.
PLEASE NOTE. To scratch a card you rub your mouse over it. If you are having trouble seeing or scratching your cards it may be that you don't have flash on your computer. For example if you are playing on an iPad or iPhone you will not be able to scratch your cards.


Extract and launch Network Directory File(s)
Be able to use a Page or Form to enable end users to automatically launch any file types from network directory.
Very useful when the design element does not have attachments to launch, rather looks for Network files to launch. The script will extract files to local temporary directory and launch them, thereby avoiding the netwwork files to be edited. The script will clean up all temp files on completion. I borrowed a function from searchDomino - Extract and start all attachments by Alexander Kogan, and tweaked slightly. (thanks and hope you don't mind).
This script essentially provides the ability to create a page with a series of hotspots pointing to files on the network. For example, I collated this process to enable persons to automatically launch Budget models in excel, policy documents in WordPro, etc. Each file location is stored in a keyword type document which is referenced by the Click routine.
Create a form, which may contain any number of hotspots designed to display files from the network. Do not want these files to be edited, rather view a copy of the document, leaving the Network directory file "as it was found".
1. Create a SaveOptions field, and set it to "0".
2. Do up your page, with tables, and Hotspots which state the files to view
3. Create a Rich Text Field called "Body"
4. Create a Computed, Multivalue value field: separated by (, ;) and display NewLine, called filePath. Value = filePath.
5. Create a Keyword Form - The form only needs FileName and FileLocation fields. - Name the Form "Document Location"
6. Create a view - File Locations - First sorted column (FileName), Second Column (FileLocation)
7. Create your Keyword documents - for FileLocation type in the full file path. Since script is being used, no need for (\) double backslashes
8. all this prevents hard coding of filepaths, etc...
9. Follow table instructions, to past Function and Declarations in the Globas of the Form
10. For each hotspot, Copy the Click command at the table. This will locate your filePath, attach the file to body field of your Form, then it will extract it to C:temp, then
the Function (kindly borrowed - slightly tweaked - from searchDomino - Extract and start all attachments by Alexander Kogan ) will launch the File.
May launch as many files as you wish. Each filePath will be appended to the filePath field.
11. The queryclose event, will trigger the Simple Agent to delete document.
12. Need to run another agent to clean up c:temp. This agent will loop through each string entry in filepath to delete all instances of the extracted files.
1. In the Global of the form - Option = Option Public
2. In Global of the Form - Declarations =
Declare Function SleepEx Lib "kernel32" Alias "SleepEx" (Byval dwMilliseconds
As Long, Byval bAlertable As Long) As Long
hwnd As Long, Byval lpOperation As String, _
String, Byval nShowCmd As Long) As Long
3. In the Options of the Form, paste this:
Function ExtractAndView(Doc As NotesDocument)
On Error Goto ErrorExtractAndStartAttchments
Dim item As notesitem
If Doc.HASEMBEDDED = True Then
Forall eItem In Doc.ITEMS
If (eItem.Type = Clng(RICHTEXT)) Then
If Not (Isempty(eItem.EMBEDDEDOBJECTS)) Then
Forall fItem In eItem.EMBEDDEDOBJECTS
Call fItem.EXTRACTFILE( "C:Temp" & fItem.Name)
'store this value to kill the file later "Inserted to create a string array in
'fielPath field"
Set item = doc.GetFirstItem("filePath")
Call item.AppendToTextList(fItem.Name)
ret = ShellExecute(handle&, "open", "C:Temp" & fItem.Name, "", "", 1&)
xx = SleepEx (4000,0)
'Exit Forall'Only First attachment
End If
End Forall
End If
End If
End Forall
End If
Exit Function
Msgbox ("in ExtractAndView: " + Error$(Err))
Resume ExitExtractAndStartAttchments
End Function
In the Query Close of the Form
_USER_([ToolsRunMacro];"delete uidoc");
Create an agent - "delete uidoc"
Simple Action - Delete Document
Manually from the actions menu
Selected Documents
Create another agent "kill"
Manually from the actions menu
Selected Documents
Sub Initialize
Dim session As NotesSession
Set session = New NotesSession
Dim doc As NotesDocument
Set doc = session.DocumentContext
Dim path As Variant
Dim DelFiles As Variant
delFiles = doc.GetItemValue("filePath")
Forall files In delFiles
 path = "C:Temp" & files
 Msgbox path
 Kill path
End Forall
End Sub
For each hotspot:
Sub Click(Source As Button)
Dim ws As New notesuiworkspace
Dim uidoc As notesuidocument
Set uidoc = ws.currentdocument
Dim doc As notesdocument
Set doc = uidoc.document
Dim filePath As String
Dim view As notesview
Dim lup As notesdocument
Dim s As New notessession
Dim db As notesdatabase
Set db = s.currentdatabase
Set view = db.getview("File Locations")
Set lup = view.getdocumentbykey("Corporate Financial Guidelines")
filePath = lup.FileLocationScript(0)
Dim rtitem As Variant
Dim file As notesrichtextitem
Dim object As NotesEmbeddedObject
'insert the attachment before launching
Set file = New NotesRichTextItem( doc, "Body" )
Set object = file.EmbedObject _
( EMBED_ATTACHMENT, "", filePath)
Call doc.save (True,True)
'bring the attachment to screen
Call ExtractAndView(Doc)
Call uidoc.Save
End Sub
This was first published in November 2001
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 - iSeries tutorials
 - V6R1 upgrade planning checklist
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text:
Oxford Classical Texts
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Oxford Classical Texts (OCTs), or Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis, is a series of books published by Oxford University Press. It contains texts of ancient Greek and Latin literature, such as Homer's Odyssey and Virgil's Aeneid, in the original language with a critical apparatus. Works of science and mathematics, such as Euclid's Elements, are generally not represented. Since the books are meant primarily for serious students of the classics, the prefaces and notes have traditionally been in Latin (so that the books are written in the classical languages from the title page to the index), and no translations or explanatory notes are included. Several recent volumes, beginning with Lloyd-Jones and Wilson's 1990 edition of Sophocles, have broken with tradition and feature introductions written in English (though the critical apparatus is still in Latin).
Oxoniensis is an abbreviation used to denote mainly a single volume of the series (fully: editio Oxoniensis), rarely the whole collection; correspondingly, Teubneriana is used with reference to the Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana, a series with the same aim as the OCTs. Those who want some help in reading the classics may prefer the Loeb Classical Library, which includes English translations, or the Collection Budé, which includes French translations.


text: In 1987 and 1988, Dr. Diana Russell journeyed from the United States to the land of her birth to learn about the special role of women in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. The fruit of her research is this extraordinary book: the first hand accounts, in their own words, of 24 courageous risk-taking women activists (portraits included). These are not only world-famous leaders like Winnie Mandela and Albertina Sisulu (although their stories are included in the book) but ordinary women who were trade unionists, members of radical organizations, student activists-black and white, African, Indian and Coloured, young and old.Lives of Courage: Women for a New South Africa compellingly dramatizes the little-known role of women who fought apartheid and its cruel apparatus-banning, banishment, house arrest, imprisonment, and torture-even as they strove to keep together their beleaguered families. With rare candor, they speak of the price they and families paid for their activism, of the difficulties of being a woman in a racist and sexist society, of the terrors they had endured, and of the dreams they nourished of a new South Africa. The fighting spirit of these women, their courage and conviction in the face of a modern state's vindictiveness, shines from every page of this inspiring book.


text: Constraints on entropies are considered to be the laws of information theory. Even though the pursuit of their discovery has been a central theme of research in information theory, the algorithmic aspects of constraints on entropies remain largely unexplored. Here, we initiate an investigation of decision problems about constraints on entropies by placing several different such problems into levels of the arithmetical hierarchy. We establish the following results on checking the validity over all almost-entropic functions: first, validity of a Boolean information constraint arising from a monotone Boolean formula is co-recursively enumerable; second, validity of "tight" conditional information constraints is in Π03. Furthermore, under some restrictions, validity of conditional information constraints "with slack" is in Σ02, and validity of information inequality constraints involving max is Turing equivalent to validity of information inequality constraints (with no max involved). We also prove that the classical implication problem for conditional independence statements is co-recursively enumerable.


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University of Wisconsin Madison College of Engineering
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NSF funds research of computational materials data and design tools
A multi-university team led by Materials Science and Engineering Associate Professor Dane Morgan has received an NSF Software Infrastructure for Sustained Innovation award to develop tools for high-throughput generation of materials data for materials design. The five-year, $1.05 million grant will fund new tools to enable users to quickly determine diffusion and defect properties in existing and new materials. The research will enable rapid development of critical materials data underlying technologies from lithium-ion batteries to nuclear reactions to computer chips.
Renee Meiller


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UWC Educational Model and Principles
Kurt Hahn, Founder of UWC
What makes UWC different?
We believe that education should help young people discover that change is possible, and that they can make it happen.
As a UWC student, you'll learn how you can inspire change through courageous action, selfless leadership, and careful listening. You'll take part in experiences and community activities, so that you're prepared to build with confidence and lead with compassion in later life.
So how do we achieve this?
We've built our educational model on a set of principles that aim to help you reach your potential - academically, morally, socially and emotionally. Our schools each have their own distinct identity, but they're united by these common values:
 3. Physical fitness and a healthy lifestyle are integral to developing a balanced person and to expanding our potential. Unhealthy lifestyles limit human potential.
 4. Community interaction is at the heart of school life. This requires the full and active participation of all members of the school or college.
We've built our approach and curriculum on these principles, and have inspired thousands to find the skills and confidence to spark change.
After UWC, you'll be able to progress to your chosen university, or to the calling that suits you.
You'll leave here with a strong academic foundation. But also a stronger understanding of yourself, the world around you, and the power to help others.
It's an education, built differently.


(5 Minutes)
FMV vs OLV vs FLV when selling Mass Spec, Chromatography or Lab Gas Generators
Featured Image
While the automotive industry can quickly point to Parkers Guide for current and depreciated values, unfortunately, putting a firm value figure on used Mass Spec, Chromatography, or Lab Gas Generator equipment has no similar benchmark for reference.
Moore's Law (the observation that the number of transistors in a dense, integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years), combined with rapidly developing software, and seemingly endless development of models and manufacturers are just a few of the factors keeping the Parkers Guide level of ease out of reach.
Of course, anyone thinking of selling asks, "What is my analytical system worth?" and would love to have an immediate answer with as many zeros on end as possible. However, the points raised above, combined with the circumstances of your decision to sell, means that, unfortunately, the complete response to this question requires even more questions to be asked.
Below we break down the key questions to help you understand what to expect as you bring your used Mass Spec, Chromatography or Lab Gas Generator equipment to market.
Fair Market Value vs Orderly Liquidation Value vs Forced Liquidation Value
If this is your first trip to the land of equipment valuation, there are a couple of terms you'll need to know:
 - Fair Market Value (FMV)
 - Orderly Liquidation Value (OLV)
 - Forced Liquidation Value (FLV)
Here are quick definitions of these three terms for you:
Fair Market Value
FMV is an estimated market value of an instrument, based on what an end-user buyer (knowledgeable, willing, and unpressured) would likely pay for it to a seller (knowledgeable, willing, and unpressured) in the market. In FMV sales, negotiating the logistical costs is either part of the final price or a discount off the top of the final price. In short, a deal with no time or location restraints. Advertising of the system(s) and collection of money would be down to the seller. In addition, the buyer and seller would negotiate Decommissioning, Crating, Transportation, Warranty costs etc. Generally, these are the responsibility of the buyer.
Orderly Liquidation Value:
This is the value of your equipment if it sold today; as-is, where-is to someone likely to sell it on. It may not be the highest value you could achieve. However, it gets sale done and over quickly and generally puts the onus for decommissioning and transportation squarely on the purchaser. This type of sale is a transaction with a single seller given a reasonable amount of time to find one or more purchasers of a liquidation sale and should be somewhere between an FLV and FMV.
Forced Liquidation Value
This is the amount of money that a company will receive if it sold its assets in an auction immediately. It is based on the assumption that the business will sell its assets in the quickest time possible, which will usually lead to a low price. These types of sales often go to auction sites as they purchase an entire laboratory.
As mentioned - there's no official guide for analytical equipment, but KRSS is about as close as you can get. With 100's years of combined employees experience and offices in both the UK and Mainland Europe, our knowledge is broad and global, and our understanding of FMV vs OLV vs FLV runs deep.
Key Valuation Questions
The following are some questions you'll likely get when seeking equipment valuation. Your answers will help determine whether you'll be best served by an FMV, OLV, FLV or something in between, such as KRSS selling on your behalf.
What's the age/condition of the system?
These basic details are essential for anyone hoping to give an accurate and fair valuation; date of manufacture, age of critical components (if they've ever been replaced), level of volume/usage, etc. Additionally, many systems can be upgraded over time. Knowing if the equipment or its software has received upgrades/revisions could significantly affect market value. Is the system under warranty? Is it still in use?
What's your time frame?
If the circumstances of your sale demand a quick turnaround, you may be better served by offering it at, or around, OLV. It's not top value, but when time is of the essence, a concession on price can speed things along.
How much time do you have? Selling to an independent such as KRSS will undoubtedly result in a quicker sale than trying to find someone yourself to purchase it. However, if time is no object, then FMV is the way to go.
Do you intend to replace what you're selling?
While replacement is a typical endgame for equipment sales, various other circumstances bring used systems to the market. One thing we are reasonably sure of is that the OEM will offer you less on trade-in than an independent company such as KRSS would offer. The manufacturer will often provide you with a trade-in value against the new system if you purchase replacement instruments. Still, the reality is they will scrap the trade-in, and you would get the same discount anyway.
Will your valuation results be presented to a bank? Or are they solely for liquidation purposes?
Some customers only need an e-mail valuation for a given exercise. In contrast, others require a more formal document with pictures, equipment specifications, etc., to present to a bank or board meeting. KRSS is willing to support your FMV / OLV /FLV needs.
The Sound Bite
KRSS can provide Fair Market Values (FMVs), Orderly Liquidation Values (OLVs), Forced Liquidation Values (FLVs) depending on your needs.
Some of our clients seek assistance with values to sell their equipment to another site. Others reach out for valuations for insurance or asset values. Other clients need a complete valuation analysis to decide how to sell their instruments.
While these are a few examples of standard requests, KRSS stands ready to customize an equipment valuation to meet your specific needs.
If you have an instrument that you are looking to sell, please speak to KRSS using the link below, and we will assist you however we can. We offer several routes to sell your instrument: Cash Purchase (OLV), Sell on your behalf (somewhere between FMV and OLV), trade-in against a newer or other technology or trade-in against consumables with our sister company Chromatography Direct (FMV).


text:
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Wildlife Reports by Regional Wildlife Biologists
By Phillip deMaynadier and Beth Swartz
The Wildlife Division of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife is responsible for the conservation of the full diversity of Maine's wildlife. Maine is home to 18 species of frogs, toads and salamanders (amphibians), 16 species of turtles and snakes (reptiles), and over 15,000 species of terrestrial and freshwater invertebrates, from beetles and butterflies to mayflies and mussels, to name just a few. Coordinating survey, research and conservation priorities for such a diverse suite of organisms is a challenge! One of the Division's highest priorities is to address the protection and recovery needs of the large number of reptiles and invertebrates currently represented on the state's official list of Endangered and Threatened species (21 of 45 species). Some state endangered invertebrates, such as the Katahdin Arctic Butterfly, are endemics – found nowhere else in the world but Maine.
Insects in the order Odonata, damselflies and dragonflies, are a significant and conspicuous component of Maine's wildlife diversity. Presently, 158 species have been documented in the state, comprising nearly 36% of the total North American fauna. Several of Maine's odonate species are of national and global conservation concern. In 1997, at MDIFW's request, the Legislature designated the ringed boghaunter dragonfly (Williamsonia lintneri) as Endangered, and the pygmy snaketail dragonfly (Ophiogomphus howei) as Threatened. MDIFW currently lists an additional 25 odonates as species of Special Concern. While several odonates are highly sensitive to freshwater habitat degradation and experiencing declines nationwide, baseline information for the group has been lacking in Maine, until recently.
In 1998, MDIFW received a grant from the Outdoor Heritage Fund to initiate the Maine Damselfly and Dragonfly Survey (MDDS). MDDS is a multi-year, citizen scientist atlasing initiative designed to improve our knowledge of the distribution, status, and habitat relationships of damselflies and dragonflies statewide. In addition to engaging over 200 of Maine's non-game wildlife constituents and raising public awareness of invertebrate conservation, the MDDS has helped the Department more accurately assess the status of rare, threatened, and endangered odonates. To our knowledge, the MDDS is among the first completely state-sponsored dragonfly atlasing projects of its kind in North America and has received considerable notoriety (see web site below). Having recently completed its sixth and final field season, the survey's results have far exceeded expectations and are best summarized by the following:
With the volunteer atlasing component of the MDDS project coming to closure, MDIFW has recently contracted Paul M. Brunelle, an accomplished odonate expert and graphic design artist from Nova Scotia, to assist with authoring and designing the project's capstone product: An Atlas and Conservation Assessment of Acadia's Damselfly and Dragonfly Fauna. Populated largely with data contributed by MDDS volunteers, this atlas will serve as the first authoritative publication on the distribution and natural history of odonates from Maine and the Canadian Maritime Provinces. Funding for this work comes from Loon Conservation Plate, Chickadee Check-off funds, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund.
Hessel's Hairstreak, Clayton's Copper, Purple Lesser Fritillary, and Crowberry Blue are just some of the state's rarest butterflies that are both colorful in name and on the wing, if you are fortunate enough to see one. In an effort to improve our knowledge of the status and habitat preferences of these and other rare butterflies MDIFW is actively studying the group during statewide regional surveys. Attractive, conspicuous, and ecologically important, butterflies have garnered increasing attention from scientists and the general public. By documenting the distribution and status of the state's butterfly fauna MDIFW hopes to improve its understanding of the group and prioritize conservation efforts towards those species most vulnerable to state extinction.
Further supporting this goal, MDIFW received a grant from the Outdoor Heritage Fund in 2002 to contract a professional lepidopterist, Dr. Reginald Webster from New Brunswick, to help assemble a comprehensive assessment of the state's butterfly fauna. Drawing from published literature and specimen records located in museums and amateur collections throughout the Northeast, Reggie assembled the first baseline atlas and database of Maine's butterfly fauna – an essential step toward conservation and management of the group by MDIFW and cooperators. The baseline atlas project compiled nearly 9,000 records and added 11 previously undocumented butterflies to the state list, which now stands at 115 species. Of special note is the relatively high proportion (~20%) of Maine butterflies and skippers that are extirpated (5 species) or state-listed as Endangered, Threatened, or Special Concern (18 species), a pattern consistent with global trends elsewhere for the group. Unfortunately, additional endangered and threatened butterfly listings are imminent as a result of the state's recent assessment efforts. Contact MDIFW to receive an updated checklist of the butterflies of Maine (_EMAIL_) or visit _URL_ to download a pdf copy of Maine's first baseline butterfly atlas.
Finally, a statewide butterfly survey is currently on-going. Sponsored by MDIFW, in partnership with the University of Maine at Farmington (Dr. Ron Butler), Colby College (Dr. Herb Wilson), and Dr. Reginald Webster of New Brunswick, the Maine Butterfly Survey (MBS) is a 5-year, statewide, volunteer survey effort. Following in the tradition of previously successful state-sponsored wildlife atlasing projects, including most recently the Maine Damselfly and Dragonfly Survey, data generated from the MBS will come primarily from citizen scientists. The survey will help fill information gaps identified during the baseline assessment (above) on butterfly distribution, flight seasons, and habitat relationships for one of the state's most popular insect groups. Training workshops for new MBS volunteers are currently being scheduled; check the MBS web site for further details or contact the volunteer coordinator, Dr. Herb Wilson, at _EMAIL_ _PHONE_).
Funding for this work comes from Loon Conservation Plate, Chickadee Check-off funds, The Nature Conservancy, Maine Dept. of Conservation, the Maine State Museum, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund.
Clayton's Copper Butterfly
The Clayton's copper (Lycaena dorcas claytoni) is a small, orange-brown butterfly known only from a handful of sites in Maine and western New Brunswick. In Maine, most of our occurrences are centered in a ten square mile area around Lee and Springfield in northeastern Penobscot County. Three sites in northern Piscataquis County and two in Aroostook County have also been documented. Only one site, Dwinal Pond flowage in Lee and Winn, is known to support a large population (thousands) of Clayton's copper. This butterfly is believed to be an isolated subspecies of the more widely distributed Dorcas copper (Lycaena dorcas), which is found across much of northern and western North America.
Clayton's copper is found only in association with its single larval host plant, the shrubby cinquefoil (Pentaphylloides floribunda). This uncommon shrub requires limestone soils and has a scattered distribution throughout Maine. Although not considered rare, it occurs in few stands large enough to support viable Clayton's copper populations. In Maine, shrubby cinquefoil typically occurs along the edge of calcareous wetlands (i.e. rich in calcium carbonate or limestone), which are also uncommon in Maine. It can also be found in old fields, but these stands are typically short-lived as a result of forest succession. All of the currently known occurrences for Clayton's copper are circumneutral fens and bogs, or streamside shrublands and meadows.
Clayton's copper butterflies take one year to complete their life cycle. In late July and August, when shrubby cinquefoil is blooming, females lay their eggs singly on the underside of cinquefoil leaves. Leaves and eggs drop to the ground in autumn, and the eggs overwinter. The pale green larvae hatch in spring and crawl back up the plant to feed on its leaves. After the larvae molt and pupate in early summer, adult butterflies emerge during July and August to start the cycle over again. Throughout the flight period, Clayton's copper remains local to its cinquefoil stands, where the abundant yellow flowers provide its primary nectar source.
Clayton's copper is listed as "endangered" in Maine because of the extremely limited number, size, and distribution of its populations; the limited availability of its habitat, and its near-endemic status in Maine. Forest succession, impoundments, and dewatering of wetlands for irrigation are currently the most serious threats to this butterfly and its habitat. In addition, the longterm viability of such small, isolated populations is uncertain. In 2006, several grants were awarded MDIFW and the University of Maine to investigate two key questions about this rare butterfly. Beginning in 2007, Emily Knurek – a graduate student at UMO – developed and is implementing a survey protocol to estimate the size of Maine's Clayton's copper populations. Having a baseline population estimate is critical


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Man, volcanoes and the Sun have influenced Europe's climate over recent centuries
19 January 2011
An International research team has discovered that seasonal temperatures in Europe, above all in winter, have been affected over the past 500 years by natural factors such as volcanic eruptions and solar activity, and by human activities such as the emission of greenhouse gases. The study could help us to better understand the dynamics of climate change.
Up until now, it was thought that Europe's climate prior to 1900 was barely affected by external factors, but now a group of scientists has shown that natural phenomena such as volcanic eruptions or solar radiation, as well as human emissions of aerosols and greenhouse gases, have had an impact on the evolution of Europe's climate over the past five centuries.
"The influence of the increase in levels of greenhouse gases, in particular, can be clearly seen since the end of the 17th Century", Jesús Fidel González Rouco, a physicist at the Complutense University of Madrid and co-author of the study, which has recently been published online in the journal Nature Geoscience, tells SINC.
The researchers studied how natural and human factors affected temperatures across Europe throughout the seasons in the years from 1500 to 2000. The results show that winter is the season in which changes in levels of greenhouse gases and aerosols from manmade sources can be seen to have the clearest influence.
As reliable temperature records do not go back any further than 150 years, the team carried out simulations using three climate models and reconstructed past climate scenarios based on old instrumental observations, information recorded in historical documents and by studying tree rings.
Lessons for climate change
"For the first time we are able to attribute causes to how the climate has evolved over several centuries, working at continental and seasonal scale", says González Rouco. "And the relevance of this approach is based on the fact that the impact of any possible climate change can be greater for societies and ecosystems within the range of these spatial and time-based scales".
Scientists say that Europe's climate "has in the past been sensitive to variations in radiative forcing from natural and human sources (changes in the energy received from the Sun, in volcanic activity, or in levels of greenhouse gases), so it is to be expected that the intense current and future variations in these forcings will play a significant role in the future evolution of Europe's climate".
This study was led by the University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom) with the participation of the Complutense University, the Justus-Liebig University (Giessen, Germany) and the University of Berne (Switzerland).


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How and why to use aria-live
Yesterday, we talked about screen readers (and why you should use one).
What happens if you have a piece of content that changes dynamically on your page? How do screen readers let the user know that content has changed?
For example, imagine you had an input for users to type their name. Below it, you have an element that displays "Hello {user's name}!" in real time as they type. How does a screen reader user know about the message in the _TAG_ element?
Here's a demo.
Generally speaking, screen readers will not notice or announce those changes unless you tell them that they need to.
The aria-live attribute let's screen readers know that content in a particular element is going to change dynamically, and that they should pay attention to it and announce those changes.
It's value can be set to off (the same as not using it at all), assertive (in which screen readers interrupt user actions to announce changes), and polite (which tells the screen reader to wait until the user is done to announce updates).
Generally speaking, we should always use polite.
If we update our HTML to look like this, now screen readers will announce changes to the _TAG_ element's content.
Here's an updated demo.


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Definition of Genus Enterolobium
1. Noun. Small genus of tropical American timber trees closely allied to genus Albizia.
Generic synonyms: Rosid Dicot Genus
Group relationships: Mimosoideae, Subfamily Mimosoideae
Member holonyms: Conacaste, Elephant's Ear, Enterolobium Cyclocarpa
Genus Enterolobium Pictures
Click the following link to bring up a new window with an automated collection of images related to the term: Genus Enterolobium Images
Lexicographical Neighbors of Genus Enterolobium
Literary usage of Genus Enterolobium
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. The Geology of the Corocoro Copper District of Bolivia by Joseph Theophilus Singewald, Edward Wilber Berry (1922)
"... zone of the eastern slopes, but so far as I know none occur in or west of the Cordillera Real or eastern Andes. genus Enterolobium..."
Other Resources Relating to: Genus Enterolobium


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- active driver
A device driver that implements advanced power management tasks, such as determining device idleness and performing pre-shutdown tasks. See also passive driver
- base class
In C++, the class from which another class (a subclass) inherits. It can also be used to specify a class from which all classes in a hierarchy ultimately derive (also known as a root class).
Berkeley Software Distribution. Formerly known as the Berkeley version of UNIX, BSD is now simply called the BSD operating system. The BSD portion of Darwin is based on 4.4BSD Lite 2 and FreeBSD, a flavor of 4.4BSD.
A directory in the file system that typically stores executable code and the software resources related to that code. (A bundle can store only resources.) Applications, plug-ins, frameworks, and kernel extensions are types of bundles. Except for frameworks, bundles are file packages, presented by the Finder as a single file instead of a folder. See also kernel extension
A transmission path on which signals can be dropped off or picked up by devices attached to it. Only devices addressed by the signals pay attention to them; the others discard the signals. Buses both exist within the CPU and connect it to physical memory and peripheral devices. Examples of I/O buses on Darwin are PCI, SCSI, USB, and FireWire.
- bus master
A program, usually in a separate I/O controller, that directs traffic on the computer bus or input/output paths. The bus master actually controls the bus paths on which the address and control signals flow. DMA is a simple form of bus mastering where the bus master controls I/O transfers between a device and system memory and then signals to the CPU when it has done so. See also DMA
A driver object that consumes services of some kind supplied by its provider. In a driver stack, the client in a provider/client relationship is farther away from the Platform Expert. See also provider
- command gate
A mechanism that controls access to the lock of a work loop, thereby serializing access to the data involved in I/O requests. A command gate does not require a thread context switch to ensure single-threaded access. IOCommandGate event-source objects represent command gates in the I/O Kit.
Another name for the OS X core operating system, or kernel environment. The Darwin kernel environment is equivalent to the OS X kernel plus the BSD libraries and commands essential to the BSD Commands environment. Darwin is Open Source technology.
(Direct Memory Access) A capability of some bus architectures that enables a bus controller to transfer data directly between a device (such as a disk drive) and a device with physically addressable memory, such as that on a computer's motherboard. The microprocessor is freed from involvement with the data transfer, thus speeding up overall computer operation. See also bus master
Computer hardware, typically excluding the CPU and system memory, which can be controlled and can send and receive data. Examples of devices include monitors, disk drives, buses, and keyboards.
- device driver
A component of an operating system that deals with getting data to and from a device, as well as the control of that device. A driver written with the I/O Kit is an object that implements the appropriate I/O Kit abstractions for controlling hardware.
- device file
In BSD, a device file is a special file located in
/devthat represents a block or character device such as a terminal, disk drive, or printer. If a program knows the name of a device file, it can use POSIX functions to access and control the associated device. The program can obtain the device name (which is not persistent across reboots or device removal) from the I/O Kit.
- device interface
In the I/O Kit, a mechanism that uses a plug-in architecture to allow a program in user space to communicate with a nub in the kernel that is appropriate to the type of device the program wishes to control. Through the nub the program gains access to I/O Kit services and to the device itself. From the perspective of the kernel, the device interface appears as a driver object called a user client.
- device matching
In the I/O Kit, a process by which an application finds an appropriate device interface to load. The application calls a special I/O Kit function that uses a "matching dictionary" to search the I/O Registry. The function returns one or more matching driver objects that the application can then use to load an appropriate device interface. Also referred to as device discovery.
See device driver
- driver matching
In the I/O Kit, a process in which a nub, after discovering a specific hardware device, searches for the driver or drivers most suited to drive that device. Matching requires that a driver have one or more personalities that specify whether it is a candidate for a particular device. Driver matching is a subtractive process involving three phases: class matching, passive matching, and active matching. See also personality
- driver stack
In an I/O connection, the series of driver objects (drivers and nubs) in client/provider relationships with each other. A driver stack often refers to the entire collection of software between a device and its client application (or applications).
- event source
An I/O object that corresponds to a type of event that a device driver can be expected to handle; there are currently event sources for hardware interrupts, timer events, and I/O commands. The I/O Kit defines a class for each of these event types, respectively IOInterruptEventSource, IOTimerEventSource, and IOCommandGate.
A collection of software abstractions that are common to all devices of a particular category. Families provide functionality and services to drivers. Examples of families include protocol families (such as SCSI, USB, and Firewire), storage families (disk drives), network families, and families that describe human interface devices (mouse and keyboard).
In the virtual-memory system, faults are the mechanism for initiating page-in activity. They are interrupts that occur when code tries to access data at a virtual address that is not mapped to physical memory. See also page; virtual memory
A type of bundle that packages a dynamic shared library with the resources that the library requires, including header files and reference documentation.
Note that the Kernel framework (which contains the I/O Kit headers) contains no dynamic shared library. All library-type linking for the Kernel framework is done using the
mach_kernelfile itself and kernel extensions. This linking is actually static (with vtable patch-ups) in implementation
- idle sleep
A sleep state that occurs when there has been no device or system activity for the period of time the user specifies in the Energy Saver pane of System Preferences. See also system sleep
- information property list
A property list that contains essential configuration information for bundles such as kernel extensions. A file named
Info.plist(or a platform-specific variant of that filename) contains the information property list and is packaged inside the bundle.
An asynchronous event that suspends the currently scheduled process and temporarily diverts the flow of control through an interrupt handler routine. Interrupts can be caused by both hardware (I/O, timer, machine check) and software (supervisor, system call, or trap instruction).
- interrupt handler
A routine executed when an interrupt occurs. Interrupt handlers typically deal with low-level events in the hardware of a computer system, such as a character arriving at a serial port or a tick of a real-time clock.
- I/O Catalog
A dynamic database that maintains entries for all available drivers on a Darwin system. Driver matching searches the I/O Catalog to produce an initial list of candidate drivers.
- I/O Kit
A kernel-resident, object-oriented environment in Darwin that provides a model of system hardware. Each type of service or device is represented by one or more C++ classes in a family; each available service or device is represented by an instance (object) of that class.
- I/O Kit framework
The framework that includes IOKitLib and makes the I/O Registry, user client plug-ins, and other I/O Kit services available from user space. It lets applications and other user processes access common I/O Kit object types and services. See also framework
- I/O Registry
A dynamic database that describes a collection of driver objects, each of which represents an I/O Kit entity. As hardware is added to or removed from the system, the I/O Registry changes to accommodate the addition or removal.
The complete OS X core operating-system environment, which includes Mach, BSD, the I/O Kit, drivers, file systems, and networking components. The kernel resides in its own protected memory partition. The kernel includes all code executed in the kernel task, which consists of the file
mach_kernel(at file-system root) and all loaded kernel extensions. Also called the kernel environment.
- kernel extension
(KEXT) A dynamically loaded bundle that extends the functionality of the kernel. A KEXT can contain zero or one kernel modules as well as other (sub) KEXTs, each of which can contain zero or one kernel modules. The I/O Kit, file system, and networking components of Darwin can be extended by KEXTs. See also kernel module
- kernel module
(KMOD) A binary in Mach-O format that is packaged in a kernel extension. A KMOD is the minimum unit of code that can be loaded into the kernel. See also kernel extension
A data structure used to synchronize access to a shared resource. The most common use for a lock is in multithreaded programs where multiple threads need access to global data. Only one thread can hold the lock at a time; by convention, this thread is the only one that can modify the data during this period. See also mutex
A central component of the kernel that provides such basic services and abstractions as threads, tasks, ports, interprocess communication (IPC), scheduling, physical and virtual address space


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Geologists draw dozens of types of geologic maps. They want to show the earth as it is deep underground.
A Structure Map
The map below is a hand-drawn structure map. It is drawn on the top of an oil zone that is about 8000 feet deep. The map is about two miles across. It is similar to a contour or topographic map drawn on the surface of the earth. But, this map shows contours of a structure that is more than a mile underground.
The petroleum geologist picks the top of the oil zone in every well that is drilled. She knows the elevation of the ground at the drilling site. For example, if the elevation of the ground is 1000 feet above sea level, and the top of the oil zone is found at 7700 feet, she subtracts 7700 feet from 1000 feet to get a subsea elevation of -6700 feet. The well is spotted on the map and the subsea value is posted bedside it. Then contour lines are drawn on the map to create her visualization of the underground structure. It takes a lot of practice to draw contour maps and make them look nice.
In the above case, the structure is shaped like a broad dome…or hill….with the top of the hill at -6550 feet below sea level, and the base of the hill at -6800 feet below sea level. So, the top of the hill is about 250 feet higher than the base!
An Isopach Map
Here is a different type of map called an isopach map, which was constructed over a small gas field. The squares (or sections) are one mile in length on each side. In this map, the petroleum geologist has contoured the thickness of an individual sandstone. This sandstone is about 45 feet thick in the middle, and thins to 20 feet or less around the edges of the gas field.
Another Isopach Map
Below is another colorful isopach map. It is contoured on one of the Springer (Pennsylvanian) sands in Oklahoma. This particular sandstone was deposited in the ocean, as a type of sand bar. That gave it a lot of
porosity, and now it is a pretty nice gas field. The PG made this map by looking at the porosity of the sandstone in the electric logs of all the wells. Then the PG determined how many feet of the sandstone was producible, or pay in each well. That pay amount was posted in blue alongside the wells. Note that some wells have only a couple feet of pay, while wells toward the center have up to 28 feet of pay. This is why your neighbor may have an oil or gas well, and you do not! The squares shown are "sections," each a mile square, so the length of this sand body or "field" is about six miles. However, it is only a mile or so wide.
A Production Map
One more map. This one shows an ancient stream or river channel. The sandstone is about 30 feet thick in the middle of the channel. Production charts have been placed on the map. These show graphically how much oil
and gas were produced from each well over the years. The large red numbers show the amount of produced gas. For example, the Soar 1-18 (top middle) has made 3,267,524 thousand cubic feet of gas, or 3.2 billion cubic feet. That's a good well!
Amount of Gas Abbbreviation used in the Oil Industry
1000 cubic feet of gas = 1 MCF
1 million cubic feet of gas = 1 MMCF or 1000 MCF
1 billion cubic feet of gas = 1 BCF or 1,000,000 MCF
A typical house might use only about 4 MCF of gas per month for heating. Assuming 6 months of heating per year, that's 24 MCF used per year. That means the Soar has produced enough gas in it's lifetime to heat 136,000 houses for one year!


Organisation - November 13, 2014
Out of the straightjacket
Albert Sikkema
Louise Fresco has written a new book about science and culture: Kruisbestuiving (Cross-pollination). In it, she makes a plea for 'knowledge for the joy of knowledge'. So what advice does author Fresco have for the Wageningen executive board? An interview about the book.
Learning how to learn and how to keep an open mind is the crucial task in an academic education,' says Louise Fresco. And that is the reason why she devotes a chapter of her news book Kruisbestuiving to what she calls Lernen. 'Lernen, lifelong learning, is an attitude. It means going on learning and asking questions, and discussing them continuously. Knowledge for the sheer joy of knowledge, not measured against its instrumental value or usefulness to society, not funded by government or business, and not primarily for the purpose of addressing social issues, let alone constrained by the demands of innovation plans, platforms and core business,' writes Fresco.
This raises the question: how is Fresco the executive going to make this a reality in Wageningen?
'To me it's about a campus culture in which we are open to other knowledge and to students from various different cultures, because that enriches our lives. We do have a multicultural campus here, but is there enough contact between all the cultures? I hear that some chair groups address this through shared meals. We need more of those kinds of initiatives. Another nice example is the Nexus Institute in Tilburg, which hosts lectures on seemingly quite esoteric subjects such as: what is time, what is culture, and what is the importance of Beethoven? Much to my amazement, a lot of young people attend these lectures, even at nine o'clock on a Sunday morning! People do want to learn about things that are not of immediate practical use as well.'
Do you want to do something along those lines in the Wageningen curriculum?
'Lifelong learning is partly about how you teach, and whether you get your students to look beyond their subject and the qualifications they need. The teachers who are chosen as Teacher of the Year already do that, I think. They do a bit extra.'
You write: 'The idea of untrammelled erudition and the joy of amassing knowledge took me back to my student days at Wageningen in the 1970s, when you could still take the most diverse range of courses with inspiring teachers (…) No course was ruled out for someone who was curious about everything.' You also write that there is a great temptation to idealize that period because 'from the 1970s on, the universities quickly fell prey to the suffocating dogma of immediate usefulness and the iron grip of the market.'
'During my studies I took the strangest courses, but not everybody did so. I am not saying all will be well if you just offer a wide variety of courses; it's more of a question of attitude. What helps in Wageningen is the small-scale nature of the university and the freedom of choice within the degree programmes. There is a reason why Wageningen has been coming top for years in the Dutch higher education guide De Keuzegids. It is because we know the importance of intensive knowledge transfer. I hope that we can continue to provide this with the current funding.'
You express that a bit more forcefully in your book. There you say: 'Lifelong learning is a lodestar. (…) In a world which is more dependent than ever on the increasingly instant application of knowledge, and which is therefore changing radically and irreversible, idiosyncrasy, openness, critical capacities and integrity are indispensable qualities.'
'We now have an accountability culture, imposed on us by society, and we think in terms of students and projects which we deliver as products. Of course that has its usefulness. But there is more to a university than that. I encourage seeking out ideas and people that we know very little about. Get out of the straightjacket! But at the same time, you do need a solid knowledge of your field, because a critical dabbler is no use to anyone. You've got to understand statistics and have some grasp of food chains and the environment. And we know that in 20 years' time you will need a lot of different knowledge and skills. And your academic training will help you then.'
But is there really space for all this in the current degree programme? How do you facilitate this space to explore?
'I think the upscaling and globalization in education and research will go on. Partly due to the internet, more than 10 million academic articles are now published every year. The trend is: higher production. We try to counter that with small-scale education and sufficient contact hours. I foresee education with a combination of large-scale internet classes such as MOOCs, and small-scale teaching on the Wageningen campus. And then we won't be aiming solely at applicability and payoff, but also at an open and inquisitive culture.'
Illustration: Kito


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Annual Academic Testing
Each year, Shelton's Testing Department conducts annual academic testing throughout Shelton's Lower School (LS) Division. The purpose of annual testing is to:
- provide a standardized snapshot of each student's academic ability in specific foundational areas.
- provide a way for parents and teachers to see progress from year-to-year; and
- serve as an additional piece of data that divisional administration and teachers use to assist with designing and informing interventions.
Lower School students are tested in perceptual, visual-motor, pre-reading, reading, spelling, math, and letterand number-writing skills. Annual Testing Report, showing current and previous test scores, is sent to each student's parent(s) in May. Additionally, a meeting is held, where tests and scores are explained, and questions are answered.
Academic planning decisions are made by administrators, department chairpersons, and teachers within your student's division. If you have questions, you should contact the following:
If have a question about your student's identified learning difference and/or test scores, please contact any one of the following:


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'Les Cours de Récré' has developed a specific program for non French-speaking children to learn French with songs and games, which will later evolve to reading, writing and grammar.
Like in our other groups, we want the children to have fun while discovering and learning a foreign language: it will help them to gain confidence, become aware of different ways of thinking, and it will develop their academic skills during their scholarship and for the future:
- spontaneous knowledge of how a language works
- better attention and memory
- transfer of knowledge from one language to another
- increased receptiveness to cultural differences
Knowing French will be a great advantage for your children and we want to make it enjoyable and entertaining.
Please get in touch with us directly through our contact page.