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3 phase power symbol
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Answers:The triangle is a 'Delta' style winding. Each line of the triangle represents a transformer winding between 2 phases of the 3-phase power lines. There is no 'ground' connection..
Question:Question... If I have 5 single phase 120VAC, 20Amp circuits coming to a piece of equipment for power and I want to change that to bringing in 3 phase nuetral and ground to a power box and distributing the power in the power box and make my single phase circuits from there (putting the 20 circuit breakers in there for the 20 amp circuits). What 3 phase power requirement do I have is it simply 100 amps three phase or do I have to figure in the 1.73 (square root of three factor) x the 100Amps. Thanks ahead The wiring is not or does not exist I am just looking at how to do it. I think bringing 3-phase 5 wire (3-phases, neutral, ground) 208VAC at whatever amperage is a better way to do it. Instead of 5 separate 120VAC/20Amp circuits and 5 breakers in the main breaker panel. So if I have 100 amps of single phase load. 100A x 120V = 12000W so 12000W / 208V = 58A 58A / 1.73 = 33.5A per phase? What you do is add up the total Wattage or KVA with the voltage you know/have. divide by 1.73, divide by the new 3 phase voltage and voila you have the new 3 phase current... so 12000W (120V x 20A) / 1.732 = 6928.4 / 208V (3 ph V) = 33.3 Amps _USER_, 3 phase current.
Answers:Ken, power is power, so 5 times 20 A single phase 120v is 12kW. 3 phase power will be 230V, so you will need 35A (33A actually, but I'm rounding.) per phase to equal the same power. You may however have problems distributing the power per phase and you can't combine two of the phases if you don't have enough current available on a given phase for a given circuit, so you might have to bump the service up to 40A or more in order to distribute the power without having a circuit that needs more power than any of the three phases can supply by itself.
Question:Answers to my previous question implied that I should use 3-phase power in the (large) house. I know that you can power 120V outlets on one of the 3 phases connected to neutral/ground. That'll work for most of the house. However, what do I do about 240V appliances? Joining 2 phases only gives 208 volts. That's not going to power an electric range and water heater properly, is it?
Answers:Regarding resistance-heating devices such as an electric water heater or a range, the power they produce drops to approximately 75%, found by squaring the voltage ratio: (208V/240V)^2 = 0.751 = 75.1% In the case of the water heater, it will run 33% longer to make up the difference. So will the range top, unless the elements are thermostatically controlled, in which case they will duty-cycle on longer so that the heat output is the same (up to 75.1% maximum). The other thing to consider is whether you have any motors that you want to run. On a 240V system, a motor nameplate rating of 230V is proper (or 460/230V, or 460/230-208V). On a 208V system, the proper motor nameplate rating is 200V, not 208V. A triple-rated motor (460/230-208) will run on 208V, but not down to a 90% voltage rating at full torque, horsepower and efficiency as required by NEMA. Or in other words, you can do it, but if the utility's voltage sags (to the extent it is allowed), your motor will run less well than expected. So, if you have any say in the motors that you purchase, select ones rated at 200V. To revisit your previous question, you stated that you needed a 400A single-phase panel because 200A isn't large enough. The local utility around here considers that to be a class 320 panel (320 amps continuous, 400 amps maximum), as you can only load a breaker to 80% maximum with continuous loads, with continuous loads being defined as ones that last 3 hours or longer. The local utility has no problem supplying power to that size of panel. If your load is over 400A, they can require you (at their option) to go with 3-phase power (e.g., 208V 200A) which some people don't want because they'd rather have 240V for the reasons discussed above. So if you want 120/240V single phase, ask your utility, I'm sure you can have it. You asked whether to have one 400A panel or two 200A panels. The utility will provide power only to one device (called the service entrance equipment). At minimum it is a meter base (the socket) with either a disconnect switch or a main circuit breaker. You can buy a combination "meter-main" which is the meter socket and a main breaker, or you can buy a combination meter-main-panelboard that includes branch breakers. Where I am going with this is that you can't have the utility connect to two 200A panels, but you could have a main breaker with two 200A feeder breakers that serve feeders to two 200A panels that are located wherever you desire. One other point. Are you familiar with doing load calculations per the National Electrical Code? If not, consider having an electrician or engineer or someone experienced run through the calculations for your house. There are various ways of computing the total load, and it may well be less than 200A if done per procedure.
Question:Hi guys, In a data centre, a rack current reading shows 60 amp. Voltage is 235 V How is the calculation done? Calculation 1 - current x voltage x 3 phase = watts / 1000 = kva x power factor = kw 60 x 235 x 1.732 = 24421 watts / 1000 = 24.42 kva x 0.8 = 19.53 kw And Calculation 2 - VLN x 1.732 = VPP 235 x 1.732 = 407 Given 28 amp per phase (stated in server manual) current x voltage x 3 phase / 1000 = kw 28 x 407 x 1.732 / 1000 = 19.73 kw Calculation 1 is what i learnt but supplier is proposing calculation 2. Which of the above calculation is correct? And for calculation 2, (VLN x 1.732 = VPP) 3 phase power already multiplied but why multiply by 1.732 again? Thanks in advance guys!
Answers:You may notice that there is a discrepancy between your measured 60A and the 28A in the manual. It would help to know a little more about the load, are there three separate single phase loads delta connected to a three phase service? Calculation 2 is weird. If it is a calculation for a single phase load, the 1.732 factor is not needed, but. if there are three single phase loads delta connected to the three phase supply, then since 1.732 x 1.732 = 3; 28 x 235 = 6.58kVA per load 6.58 x 3 = 19.74kVA total once one delta connects the three loads the supply current will be 28 x 1.732 = 48.5A per phase since two loads are on each supply conductor, while that is less than your measured 60A it is closer than the 28A from the manual 48.5A x 235V x 1.725 = 19.74kVA
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3 Phase Power :This is a diagram of how 3 Phase Power works
Phase 3 - PART 2 *Religious Symbols* ORIGINAL :All 20 Parts Excluding The Three Trailers.. -- I, Achernahr, hereby give my approval and support for RezaKhalilZada to upload The Arrivals and all other WUP material onto his account for the purpose of spreading the information many have found to be crucial and relevant. -- All these uploads are purely for educational purpose, not for advertising or using the Audio claiming it's my own. Therefore I'm not breaking any law.


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Writing a Jetty Handler
The org.mortbay.jetty.Handler interface provides Jetty's core of content generation or manipulation. Classes that implement this interface are used to coordinate requests, filter requests and generate content.
The core API of the Handler interface is
The target of a handler is an identifier for the resource that should handle the passed request. This is normally the URI that is parsed from a HTTP Request. However, in two key circumstances the target may differ from the URI of the passed request:
- If the request has been dispatched to a named resource, such as a named servlet, then the target is the name of that resource.
- If the request is being made by a call to RequestDispatcher.include(...)
then the target is the URI of the included resource and will be different to the URI of the actual request.
The Request and Response
The request and response objects used in the signature of the handle method are HttpServletRequest and HttpServletResponse. These are the standard APIs and are moderately restricted in what can be done to the request and response. More often than not, access to the jetty implementations of these classes is required: Request and Response. However, as the request and response may be wrapped by handlers, filters and servlets, it is not possible to pass the implementation directly. The following mantra will retrieve the core implementation objects from under any wrappers:
Handlers are usually arranged in a list and a request presented to each handler in turn until (or at most) one indicates that the request has been handled. In this situation, this will allow handlers to:
- Ignore requests that are not applicable
- Handle requests by populating the response and/or generating content
- Modify the request but allow it to pass onto the next handler(s). Headers and attributes may be modified or an InputStream filter added
- Modify the response but allow the request to pass onto the next handler(s). Headers may be modified or OutputStream filters added
These are the handlers that implement the org.mortbay.jetty.Handler interface package:
There are some examples of implementing custom handlers in the Embedded Examples.
See also Newbie Guide to Jetty.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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The congruence of cattle breeds with inferred clusters is remarkable. K=47 frappe analysis is probably testing the limits of human visual perception...
PLoS ONE 5(9): e13038. doi:10.1371/journal.pone._PHONE_
Insights into the Genetic History of French Cattle from Dense SNP Data on 47 Worldwide Breeds
Mathieu Gautier et al.
Modern cattle originate from populations of the wild extinct aurochs through a few domestication events which occurred about 8,000 years ago. Newly domesticated populations subsequently spread worldwide following breeder migration routes. The resulting complex historical origins associated with both natural and artificial selection have led to the differentiation of numerous different cattle breeds displaying a broad phenotypic variety over a short period of time.
This study gives a detailed assessment of cattle genetic diversity based on 1,121 individuals sampled in 47 populations from different parts of the world (with a special focus on French cattle) genotyped for 44,706 autosomal SNPs. The analyzed data set consisted of new genotypes for 296 individuals representing 14 French cattle breeds which were combined to those available from three previously published studies. After characterizing SNP polymorphism in the different populations, we performed a detailed analysis of genetic structure at both the individual and population levels. We further searched for spatial patterns of genetic diversity among 23 European populations, most of them being of French origin, under the recently developed spatial Principal Component analysis framework.
Overall, such high throughput genotyping data confirmed a clear partitioning of the cattle genetic diversity into distinct breeds. In addition, patterns of differentiation among the three main groups of populations—the African taurine, the European taurine and zebus—may provide some additional support for three distinct domestication centres. Finally, among the European cattle breeds investigated, spatial patterns of genetic diversity were found in good agreement with the two main migration routes towards France, initially postulated based on archeological evidence.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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Storey, Moorfield, 1845–1929, American lawyer, b. Roxbury, Mass., grad. Harvard, 1866. He attended Harvard law school and was admitted (1869) to the bar. He was (1867–69) secretary to Charles Sumner and thereafter practiced law in Boston. Noted for his reform leanings, he fought political corruption, opposed American colonial expansion, and sought the advancement of African Americans and Native Americans in the United States. He was president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People from 1910 until his death.
See biography by M. A. De Wolfe Howe (1932); study by W. B. Hixson (1972).
More on Moorfield Storey from Fact Monster:
See more Encyclopedia articles on: U.S. History: Biographies


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Many developers I have worked with think they are doing a good job as long as they fix many bugs and complete many features. As time passes and aforesaid developers have partaken in both failed and successful projects they realise that they should look at the impact they make to understand if they are doing a good job or not.
While this might sound obvious for developers, what should agile coaches do to know if they're doing a good job? Can you measure if an agile coach is doing a good job? Yes of course! And incidentally this is something I might ask you in an interview.
"How do you know if you're doing a good job as an Agile coach?"
This question helps me understand:
- the candidates
- perception or and familiarity with the role
- tendency to followup improvements
- familiarity with measuring her/his contribution
- familiarity with conducting experimentation
- if the candidate
- is metric driven
- follows-up on work
- relies on frameworks, and if so which one/s
- is data/fact driven or intuitive
- has understood the potential and value of measuring lead and cycle time
- how the candidate suggests change to the team
- the extent a candidate thinks through change
- how much coaching the candidate will need if they were to join
The most common answer is "I know I'm doing a good job if the team meet their commitments." to which I reply "So what if they're delivering the wrong things?" which usually make most candidates who answers that think a little.
Another common answer is "I look at happiness, the dynamics of the team, balance in discussions, and what happens during stand-ups e.g. is the team updating the board, is one person dominating discussions, does the energy in the team feel good".
Some candidates answer "I interview the team and the stakeholders and compare the results from before I joined and 6 months after".
The only way you know is by combining different metrics
While there is no "one correct" answer to this question, answers following the examples above tell me that the candidate evaluates their efforts narrowly. Trends are really important and there are several metrics that an agile coach can measure, and questions they can ask themselves, to understand if they are doing a good job. Here are a few examples:
- What's the cycle time trend?
- What's the trend in value delivered?
- How satisfied is the team and the stakeholders?
- How do you rate the teams ability to understand and solve problems, and what do you base that on?
- How do the members treat each other, and what do you base that on?
- How does the team handle failure or delays?
- What is the teams autonomy like? What happens if one person leaves the team, are the rest able to pick up the work and does that work by itself?
- What feedback am I getting from my team and from my manager?
Why is it important to know how to measure your contribution?
A few common consequences I see with agile coaches who do not measure their contributions are that they:
- doubt themselves
- solve the wrong problems
- come halfway
- induce change fatigue
- split the team / create conflict
Without the ability to measure yourself self-management becomes difficult and we rely on agile coaches being self-managing.
We strive for measuring things
The engineers at Spotify appreciate working with data. It allows them to objectively evaluate their process and how things are going.
In order to be successful at Spotify you need to like data-driven improvement or at least follow-up on improvements you are a part of. We want people to PDCA, and that starts with you!
Thanks for reading, and if you're scheduled for an interview with us – Good luck! :)


Experimental feature in GraalVM
Frequently Asked Questions
What is TruffleRuby? #
TruffleRuby is a high-performance implementation of the Ruby programming language built on GraalVM using the Truffle language implementation framework and the GraalVM compiler. TruffleRuby is one part of GraalVM, a platform for high-performance polyglot programming.
What is Truffle? #
The Truffle language implementation framework is a Java framework for writing AST interpreters. To implement a language using Truffle, you write an AST for your language and add methods to interpret – perform the action of – each node.
Truffle also incorporates the concept of specialization. In most AST interpreters the nodes are megamorphic – they handle all possible types and other possible conditions. In the Truffle framework you write several different nodes for the same semantic action, but for different types and conditions. As runtime conditions change, you switch which nodes you are using. After the program has warmed up you should end up with an AST that is precisely tailored for the types and conditions that you are actually using. If these conditions change, you can just switch nodes again.
What is the GraalVM compiler? #
The GraalVM compiler is a new implementation of a just-in-time compiler (JIT compiler, or we'd normally say dynamic compiler) in the OpenJDK Java Virtual Machine. Unlike the current compilers, Graal is written in Java, and exposes a Java API to the running program. This means that instead of emitting bytecode, a JVM language can directly control the compiler. However this is complicated, so normally the Truffle framework uses the GraalVM compiler on your behalf to partially evaluate your AST interpreter into machine code.
What is GraalVM? #
GraalVM is the platform on which TruffleRuby runs. It is a system for high-performance polyglot programming.
More concretely, GraalVM is a modified version of the OracleJDK that includes the Truffle framework, the GraalVM compiler, TruffleRuby, and other languages supported by GraalVM including JavaScript, Python, and R.
See how to install GraalVM and TruffleRuby.
How do I get TruffleRuby? #
There are three ways to get TruffleRuby. Please see Getting Started.
Why is TruffleRuby slow on a standard JVM? #
The expected way to run TruffleRuby is using the GraalVM compiler. TruffleRuby isn't designed to be efficient on a JVM without this.
Why is TruffleRuby faster on the GraalVM? #
When running with the GraalVM compiler, the Truffle framework can use the API exposed by the GraalVM compiler. The Truffle framework gets the bytecode representation of all of the AST interpreter methods involved in running your Ruby method, combines them into something like a single Java method, optimizes them together, and emits a single machine code function. The Truffle framework also provides wrappers for JVM functionality not normally available to Java applications, such as code deoptimization. TruffleRuby uses this to provide a dramatically simpler and faster implementation of Ruby.
Where did this code come from? #
Chris Seaton wrote an implementation of Ruby on Truffle and Graal as part of an internship at Oracle Labs in the first half of 2013. The code was merged into JRuby in early 2014. Benoit Daloze and Kevin Menard joined as researchers in the second half of 2014, then Petr Chalupa in 2015, Brandon Fish in 2016, and Duncan MacGregor in 2017. Since then we have also accepted contributions from people outside Oracle Labs. In 2017 the code was forked back out of JRuby after it had matured.
Who do I ask about TruffleRuby? #
See the Contact section of this README page.
How do I know if I'm using TruffleRuby? #
RUBY_ENGINE will be 'truffleruby'.
How do I know if I'm using a VM that has the GraalVM compiler? #
ruby --version will report GraalVM CE or EE.
Also, TruffleRuby.jit? will tell you if you are running with the GraalVM compiler.
How do I know that I'm using the Community Edition of GraalVM? #
ruby --version will report GraalVM CE.
How do I know that I'm using the Enterprise Edition of GraalVM? #
ruby --version will report GraalVM EE.
How do I know that I'm using the native version of TruffleRuby? #
ruby --version will report Native.
TruffleRuby.native? will return true.
How can I see the GraalVM compiler is working? #
Put this program into test.rb:
loop do
 14 + 2
We'll use the --engine.TraceCompilation to ask the Truffle framework to tell us when it compiles something using the GraalVM compiler.
ruby --engine.TraceCompilation test.rb
[truffle] opt done block in test.rb:1 |ASTSize 8/ 8 |Time 103( 99+4 )ms |DirectCallNodes I 0/D 0 |GraalNodes 24/ 3 |CodeSize 69 |CodeAddress 0x11245cf50 |Source ../test.rb:1
Here you can see that Truffle has decided to use the GraalVM compiler to compile the block of 127 - the loop to machine code - just 69 bytes of machine code in all.
Why doesn't TruffleRuby perform well for my benchmark? #
Benchmarks that we haven't looked at yet may require new code paths to be specialized. Currently we've added specialization for the code paths in the benchmarks and applications that we've been using. Adding them is generally not complicated and over time we will have specializations to cover a broad range of applications.
Make sure that you are using the Enterprise Edition of GraalVM, and have rebuilt the executable images for the best performance.
TruffleRuby doesn't use invokedynamic, as it doesn't emit bytecode. However it does have an optimizing method dispatch mechanism that achieves a similar result.
Why doesn't JRuby switch to Truffle as well? #
JRuby is taking a different approach to optimizing and adding new functionality to Ruby. Both JRuby and TruffleRuby are important projects.
Why did you fork from JRuby? #
We merged into JRuby in order to be able to use large parts of their Java implementation code. We forked back out of JRuby when we had reached the point where the code that we were using needed to be modified for our purposes and we no longer had any dependency on the core part of JRuby. Forking also allowed us to simplify our code base.


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Honey bees like it sweet – they forage nectar and produce honey. But salt? It may seem strange at the first sight, but they like it salty, too. Putting it in other words: they need minerals. Beekeepers may experience a strong smell from time to time opening their colonies. This is due to this need of minerals: foraging honey bees prefer "dirty" over pure water. That makes them collect it also on places that are far away from flowers like puddles with rotting leaves or even dung piles. In a recent study, a team of researchers from Tufts University examined the preferences of honey bee foragers for different minerals.
Honey bee nutrition is a much discussed topic and important also considering bee health. However, knowledge about nutritional demands concentrates mainly on macronutrients (i.e. proteins, carbohydrates and lipids) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) are often neglected. But as for most other organisms, these substances are important for honey bees, too. Their social organisation also adds a level of complexity in comparison to solitary insects: foragers provide nutrients not only for themselves, but for the whole colony. For minerals, pollen is the main source, but it may not always contain enough.
The team around Rachael Bonoan wanted to know if the preference for dirty water was adaptive. They asked if foraging workers compensate low availability of essential minerals in flowers by collecting dirty water. Another aspect was if these preferences changed over the season.
Salt preferences in summer and autumn
The researchers offered different minerals in a feeding experiment and compared if foragers preferred their solutions to deionised water. They studied this for several minerals (sodium, calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus and nitrogen). For the effect of the season, they did the experiments in summer (July/August) and autumn (September/October). Interestingly, the water volume the bees collected did not depend on the season. Honey bees use water also for thermoregulation; therefore, requiring more water in the warmest months would have seemed reasonable. However, the preferrences for certain minerals did depend on the season.
Honey bee foragers preferred sodium (offered as NaCl, table salt) over deionised water independent of the season. The authors of the study explain this by the fact that above-ground parts of plants (i. e. also pollen) have very low contents. Therefore, the workers have to collect this micronutrients from other sources. This was the first confirmation for adaptive foraging, but it became even more interesting.
For potassium, magnesium and calcium Bonoan and her colleagues found different preferences in summer and autumn. In September and October, honey bee foragers clearly preferred the potassium solution compared to deionised water. For calcium and magnesium there was at least a tendency. On the other hand, in summer there was no preference for potassium and the bees even avoided the calcium and magnesium solutions. Pollen contains these minerals in higher amounts, so this behaviour may be explained simply by sufficient supply by floral nutrition in summer. In autumn, floral diversity and abundance decreases, and, therefore, the colonies need other sources.
Problems due to the hunger for minerals
You may have wondered about the photo above this post. This publication remembered me a time water collecting honey bees occupied my mind first: several years ago, guttation droplets contaminated with neonicotinoids were discussed as a cause for colony losses in spring. The drop of water you can see in the picture is no dew or rain – it is a guttation drop on a potatoe leaf. Plants actively exudate water with low temperatures and high air humidity to maintain the water flow through them. Bees use these droplets as a water source. Only little is known about the minerals in these droplets, but an old publication (Goatley et al. 1966) lists phosphorus, potassium, sodium, calcium and magnesium as the most prominent. Therefore, this could be the reason honey bees forage on these droplets.
The problem emerged by seed treatments with neonicotinoids, mainly for maize, but also for cereals and oilseed rape. These treatments are systemic, this means that they spread throughout the plant. Therefore, they can be found also in guttation droplets. These substances are highly toxic for bees, so these nearly unknown phenomenon of guttation got a lot of importance for beekeepers. And, in consequence, was an important element of the discussions about the risk from neonicotinoids for honey bees. Many studies have been performed, also for the accumulation in water puddles and other water sources for honey bees. Thus, honey bee hunger for minerals can also create problems in the already conflictive area of agriculture and beekeeping.
Many questions and a small criticism
Coming back to the nutritional aspects and the recent paper, there are still several things that intrigue me. The researchers wondered also about the effect of preferences for certain minerals at the colony level. This was not answered by the study, the data were inconclusive in this aspect. Consequently, more studies are necessary to study the needs of minerals (and vitamins) of honey bee colonies. And of course other bee species, this may bring answers for the mentioned additional level of complexity for nutrition and bee health of social compared to solitary species. But also remaining with honey bees, what and how much minerals does the brood need during their development? Do nurse bees have other needs for salt than foragers? And what about the biggest transition in honey bee physiology: from summer to winter bees? This paper for me opened a big black box in honey bee nutrition.
I have a small criticism, though. It may be very picky, but the authors say that they are the second in examining honey bee preferences for minerals and the first for the seasonal differences. I do not know for the latter, but for the first this is not completely true. Kiechle (1961, in German) examined water foraging mainly to study the decision making in the colony between nectar and water foraging. But he already stated the preference for urine (sic!) before pure water because of the contained minerals. And apparently, Preuss already in 1900 stated the preference for water enriched with table salt (i. e. sodium) compared to pure water. I do not have this last publication, but Kiechle cited him. Therefore, be careful in stating you are the first or second to examine something. You may just not know the publications because they are old or in another language.
References cited but not linked:
Goatley, J.L., Lewis, R.W. (1966) Composition of guttation fluid from rye, wheat and barley seedlings, Plant Physiology 41: 373-375
Kiechle, H. (1961) Die soziale Regulation der Wassersammeltätigkeit im Bienenstaat und deren physiologische Grundlage. Zeitschrift für vergleichende Physiologie 45: 154-192


Our Charity | Banana Crumble
Join Us
Giving back is in our DNA, helping to bring a smile to our charity partner
Here at Banana Crumble we pledge to donate our profits plus any unclaimed prizes to our chosen charity, which is currently The Cystic Fibrosis Trust. In 2018 we raised £5000 for this good cause. We are aiming to raise even more money for them in 2019.
 What is Cystic Fibrosis?
Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a devastating condition that affects over 10,800 people in the UK. It's caused by a faulty gene (which comes in a number of different genotypes) that affects how salt and water move in and out of cells. This means the lungs and digestive system fill with thick mucus, making it hard to breathe or digest food properly.
There is no cure, but there are treatments, which carry a heavy burden – hours of physiotherapy each day to loosen the mucus, and handfuls of tablets and inhaled treatments to help keep the lungs clear of infection and give the digestive system a much-needed boost. The median predicted survival age of people living with CF today is 47, and that number is going up with each year and each new medical breakthrough.
Sadly, this often isn't enough and the average age at death is just 28 years old. Lung infections cause frequent hospitalisation and complications can mean that the bones, liver, reproductive system and many other parts of the body are affected, and a double-lung transplant is often required.
What are we doing about it?
That means investing in cutting-edge research to find new medicines and treatments, promoting great care and well being, advocating for our community to turn up the volume on issues like access to medicines and transplants, and providing information and support to people who have to overcome so many additional challenges each day as a result of cystic fibrosis.
We are part of a fantastic community that is dedicated to making a difference. By supporting Banana Crumble you become an essential part of that community, bringing us closer to beating CF for good.
Sophie's Story
Sophie Grace Holmes, 26 from Essex
Sophie is a dedicated fitness fanatic, health and nutrition enthusiast, blogger, personal trainer, fitness model, Public Speaker and sports massage therapist. Sophie decided to make her health a priority aged 19 when her lung function plummeted to just 60 per cent because of infection. It was the first time since her diagnosis at four months old that her family thought they were going to lose her. After two weeks in hospital Sophie returned home and trained as a PT. Sophie now runs her own successful business as a personal trainer and trains with celebrities including ex-TOWIE star Lucy Mecklenburgh for her Results with Lucy (RWL) fitness program. She said "I have lost friends to cystic fibrosis and I am lucky enough to still be here – they drive me forward."
Clicking on the logo below will take you to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust web page and this contains lots of further important details on the condition and further ways in which you can help.
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text: Plant traits - the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants and their organs - determine how primary producers respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, influence ecosystem processes and services and provide a link from species richness to ecosystem functional diversity. Trait data thus represent the raw material for a wide range of research from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology to biogeography. Here we present the global database initiative named TRY, which has united a wide range of the plant trait research community worldwide and gained an unprecedented buy-in of trait data: so far 93 trait databases have been contributed. The data repository currently contains almost three million trait entries for 69000 out of the world's 300000 plant species, with a focus on 52 groups of traits characterizing the vegetative and regeneration stages of the plant life cycle, including growth, dispersal, establishment and persistence. A first data analysis shows that most plant traits are approximately log-normally distributed, with widely differing ranges of variation across traits. Most trait variation is between species (interspecific), but significant intraspecific variation is also documented, up to 40% of the overall variation. Plant functional types (PFTs), as commonly used in vegetation models, capture a substantial fraction of the observed variation - but for several traits most variation occurs within PFTs, up to 75% of the overall variation. In the context of vegetation models these traits would better be represented by state variables rather than fixed parameter values. The improved availability of plant trait data in the unified global database is expected to support a paradigm shift from species to trait-based ecology, offer new opportunities for synthetic plant trait research and enable a more realistic and empirically grounded representation of terrestrial vegetation in Earth system models.


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Irish philosopher George Bishop Berkeley was one of the greatest philosophers of the early modern period. Along with David Hume and John Locke he is considered one of the fathers of British Empiricism. Berkeley is a clear, concise, and sympathetic introduction to George Berkeley's philosophy, and a thorough review of his most important texts. Daniel E. Flage explores his works on vision, metaphysics, morality, and economics in an attempt to develop a philosophically plausible interpretation of Berkeley's oeuvre as whole.
Many scholars blur the rejection of material substance (immaterialism) with the claim that only minds and things dependent upon minds exist (idealism). However Flage shows how, by distinguishing idealism from immaterialism and arguing that Berkeley's account of what there is (metaphysics) is dependent upon what is known (epistemology), a careful and plausible philosophy emerges.
The author sets out the implications of this valuable insight for Berkeley's moral and economic works, showing how they are a natural outgrowth of his metaphysics, casting new light on the appreciation of these and other lesser-known areas of Berkeley's thought.
Daniel E. Flage's Berkeley presents the student and general reader with a clear and eminently readable introduction to Berkeley's works which also challenges standard interpretations of Berkeley's philosophy.


Irfan Engineer and Neha Dabhade
(Secular Perspective February 16-28, 2021)
In part one of this report, the authors observed that based on media reportage monitored by Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS), though physical violence has declined in the forms of communal riots and mob lynching, communal violence on the whole has risen in 2020. In this part of the report, the authors will focus on the trends in mob lynching in 2020. Mob lynching since the infamous Mohammad Akhlaq lynching in Dadri has become an alarmingly ubiquitous phenomenon dotting the political landscape in India. A gruesome reminder of the racial violence in US, mob lynching in India has reflected a breakdown of law and order or any moral or legal restraint in attacking innocent victims on mere suspicion of wrong doing for any sundry reason. The images of desperate helpless injured victims on the verge of death like seen in the cases of Tabrez Ansari have shaken the moral conscience of the society, yet the lynching continues.
In 2020, India witnessed 23 incidents of mob lynching as against 107 incidents in 2019 as per the reportage in the media. These 23 incidents claimed 22 lives. Out of these reported 23 incidents, 10 can be attributed directly to the Hindu nationalist ideology which manifest itself in issues like cow slaughter, inter-faith marriages and overall hatred owing to the ideology of communalism. These ten incidents claimed six livesthree Muslims, one Christian and two Hindus. Seven cases in 2020 were related to suspicions of cow slaughter alone. In comparison to 2019, incidents of mob lynching reported in media in 2020 have declined by 78%. Large part of this decline in number of cases can be attributed to Corona virus pandemic and consequently prolonged lockdowns. However, communal violence in the forms of structural violence i.e. laws and policies are achieving similar objective as mob lynching that is to reinforce the status of Muslims as second class citizens who are easy preys. Given the anticow slaughter law passed in Karnataka recently and other states following suit, one can only predict that cases in the subsequent years will only rise.
As mentioned earlier, CSSS has been monitoring mob lynching through the media reportage in five leading newspapersMumbai editions of Indian Express, Times of India, The Hindu and Urdu newspapers – Sahafat and Inquilab. It is to be noted that in reality there must be many more cases of mob lynching that have taken place in India in 2020, however since CSSS is monitoring only the cases reported in these five newspapers, the numbers in this report is less. The National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) too is not giving out data which can give a comprehensive picture.
The reported cases of mob lynching are segregated according to the triggers of the lynching. Accordingly, the categories are: cow vigilantism, child lifting, theft and others. The previous years also included the category of inter-faith relationships. However this year no case was found reported under this category. It is to be noted that different states have brought anti-conversion laws targeting inter-faith marriages and subsequently Muslim men and Hindu women are being targeted. The propaganda of "love jihad" and the blatant vigilantism associated with it has acquired legitimacy through such legislations.
In 2020, out of 23 reported cases, seven were on allegation of cow vigilantism, three under the category the broad category of communalism, three under child lifting, five under theft and five under others. For the purpose of this report, the authors will focus on the cases related to cow vigilantism and communalism- 10 in number.
 1. Mapping the cases of mob lynchinggeography and ruling party:
Like mentioned above, the report will focus on the reported incidents of mob lynching related to communalismcow vigilantism and mob lynching related to communalism overall. In these 10 cases, five incidents took place in the northern zonethree in the state of Uttar Pradesh, one in the state of Haryana and one in Jammu and Kashmir. Other four incidents of mob lynching took place in the Eastern zonetwo in the state of Odisha, one in Jharkhand and one in Bihar. One incident took place in the western regionstate of Maharashtra.
Not surprisingly, six of these ten incidents took place in states where BJP is the ruling party. Two incidents took place in the Congress ruled states and two in BJD ruled Odisha. This indicates towards the atmosphere of impunity given by the ruling BJP to the vigilante groups to freely target the vulnerable.
 2. Cases of cow vigilantism
On January 31, a few residents of Chimbipada village in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra caught Nafees Qureshi, Aamir Khan and Aakib Aalam allegedly trying to load a buffalo into their vehicle. The angry mob thrashed them and damaged their vehicle. The police reached the spot and got them admitted to hospital, where Qureshi died during treatment. Initially, the Bhiwandi taluka police had booked the trio acting on a complaint of the buffalo owner, Prakash Dombare. But after Qureshi died, the police filed a murder case against six to seven unidentified people.
On March 2, Umar and Rahil Gazi were thrashed by a group of at least seven persons in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr district for alleged cow slaughter. In a video that has gone viral, the youths, one of them bare-chested, are seen being punched, kicked and hit with a stick by some men. In another video, a youth, identifying himself as Umar, says a group intercepted their two-wheeler and pulled them over while they were going to a cold storage. They used communal slurs and referred to the violence in Delhi while abusing and threatening them with dire consequences. A case had been registered under charges of attempt to murder, rioting, criminal intimidation and kidnapping for murder against five persons and another unidentified person. The FIR identifies the five accused as Shivam, Satyaveer, Sachin, Badal and Dinesh Pandit. In a police complaint, Umar's brother Mehervan says the two youths were going to get carrots from a cold storage in their four-wheeler when the assaulters intercepted them. They were kidnapped at gunpoint, taken to a forest and beaten up with rods and sticks with the intent to kill, alleges Mehervan. SSP Bulandshahr Santosh Kumar Singh, however, said it was "a brawl between two groups" near Hamidpur village, adding that a police case was registered instantly.
 On 13 March, police rescued three men from being lynched by a mob in Ratepur village under Saandh police station and took them into custody. The mob assaulted them suspecting them to be cattle thieves. According to villagers, the men were trying to escape with three buffaloes belonging to Buddhi Lal Yadav and his neighbour. The police identified the three men as Niyamat, his two sons, Salim and Riyaz. According to police, the three men, residents of Machariya area of Naubasta, had allegedly come on two-wheelers and a loader to steal buffaloes. Medical aid was provided to them for injuries caused to them during the attack.
 On 11th May, Suman Ansari (26) of Dwarpahadi village and Dulal Mirdha (22) of neighbouring Dhaka village were assaulted by the villagers while trying to slaughter the goat on the banks of Brahmani River and tying them to a tree. According to police, they were soon rescued by patrolling team that rushed to the spot after receiving the information. While Ansari succumbed to his injuries, another accused was battling for life at hospital. Police said two persons, including the owner of the goat, were already arrested and two separate FIRs were lodged one for lynching and the other for theft of the goat.
 On July 29, two persons were lynched for allegedly stealing a pair of oxen belonging to Bajo Rai at Rai Tola in Jamui district. Police said the incident took place around 1.00 am when some villagers were patrolling at night due to rise in cattle theft cases. They saw the two persons fleeing with a pair of stolen oxen. They chased, caught and mercilessly thrashed the two, leading to their death. The deceased were identified as Nageshwar Paswan (45) and Lalmohan Paswan (40) of Mansinghdih village under Chandradih police station in Jamui district.
 On July 31, Lukman, a 25-year-old pick-up truck driver from Nuh was allegedly beaten up with sticks by a group of men while he was transporting buffalo meat to Gurgaon. According to the victim's complaint he was on his way to Jama Masjid in Gurgaon, the men surrounded his vehicle near the truck market, broke the glass of his truck, and beat him with sticks. They then dumped him in his own vehicle and took him back towards Sohna, where they again stopped the vehicle and beat him up. The violence stopped only after a police team arrived at the spot and rescued the victim. Police said a 28-year-old Pradeep Yadav, who hails from Dadri involved in the incident has been arrested. An FIR had been registered against him and a Maruti Baleno that was used in the crime has also been seized by police.
On August 16, a group of cow vigilantes attacked and injured a 48-year-old shepherd in a remote


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Gentoo PaX Utilities
1.What is this guide about?
The security of a system goes beyond setting up a decent firewall and good service configurations. The binaries you run, the libraries you load, might also be vulnerable against attacks. Although the exact vulnerabilities are not known until they are discovered, there are ways to prevent them from happening.
One possible attack vector is to make advantage of writable and executable segments in a program or library, allowing malicious users to run their own code using the vulnerable application or library.
This guide will inform you how to use the pax-utils package to find and identify problematic binaries. We will also cover the use of pspax (a tool to view PaX-specific capabilities) and dumpelf (a tool that prints out a C structure containing a workable copy of a given object).
But before we start with that, some information on objects is in place. Users familiar with segments and dynamic linking will not learn anything from this and can immediately continue with Extracting ELF Information from Binaries.
ELF objects
Every executable binary on your system is structured in a specific way, allowing the Linux kernel to load and execute the file. Actually, this goes beyond plain executable binaries: this also holds for shared objects; more about those later.
The structure of such a binary is defined in the ELF standard. ELF stands for Executable and Linkable Format. If you are really interested in the gory details, check out the Generic ELF spec or the elf(5) man page.
An executable ELF file has the following parts:
 - The ELF header contains information on the type of file (is it an executable, a shared library,...), the target architecture, the location of the Program Header, Section Header and String Header in the file and the location of the first executable instruction
 - The Program Header informs the system how to create a process from the binary file. It is actually a table consisting of entries for each segment in the program. Each entry contains the type, addresses (physical and virtual), size, access rights,...
 - The Section Header is a table consisting of entries for each section in the program. Each entry contains the name, type, size,... and what information the section holds.
 - Data, containing the sections and segments mentioned previously.
A section is a small unit consisting of specific data: instructions, variable data, symbol table, relocation information, and so on. A segment is a collection of sections; segments are the units that are actually transferred to memory.
Shared Objects
Way back when, every application binary contained everything it needed to operate correctly. Such binaries are called statically linked binaries. They are, however, space consuming since different applications use the same functions over and over again.
A shared object contains the definition and instructions for such functions. Every application that wants can dynamically link against such a shared object so that it can benefit from the already existing functionality.
An application that is dynamically linked to a shared object contains symbols, references for the real functionality. When such an application is loaded in memory, it will first ask the runtime linker to resolve each and every symbol it has. The runtime linker will load the appropriate shared objects in memory and resolve the symbolic references between them.
Segments and Sections
How the ELF file is looked upon depends on the view we have: when we are dealing with a binary file in Execution View, the ELF file contains segments. When the file is seen in Linking View, the ELF file contains sections. One segment spans just one or more (continuous) sections.
2.Extracting ELF Information from Binaries
The scanelf Application
The scanelf application is part of the app-misc/pax-utils package. With this application you can print out information specific to the ELF structure of a binary. The following table sums up the various options.
Option Long Option Description
-p --path Scan all directories in PATH environment
-l --ldpath Scan all directories in /etc/
-R --recursive Scan directories recursively
-m --mount Don't recursively cross mount points
-y --symlink Don't scan symlinks
-A --archives Scan archives (.a files)
-L --ldcache Utilize information (use with -r/-n)
-X --fix Try and 'fix' bad things (use with -r/-e)
-z [arg] --setpax [arg] Sets EI_PAX/PT_PAX_FLAGS to [arg] (use with -Xx)
Option Long Option Description
-x --pax Print PaX markings
-e --header Print GNU_STACK/PT_LOAD markings
-t --textrel Print TEXTREL information
-r --rpath Print RPATH information
-n --needed Print NEEDED information
-i --interp Print INTERP information
-b --bind Print BIND information
-S --soname Print SONAME information
-s [arg] --symbol [arg] Find a specified symbol
-k [arg] --section [arg] Find a specified section
-N [arg] --lib [arg] Find a specified library
-g --gmatch Use strncmp to match libraries. (use with -N)
-T --textrels Locate cause of TEXTREL
-E [arg] --etype [arg] Print only ELF files matching etype ET_DYN,ET_EXEC...
-M [arg] --bits [arg] Print only ELF files matching numeric bits
-a --all Print all scanned info (-x -e -t -r -b)
Option Long Option Description
-q --quiet Only output 'bad' things
-v --verbose Be verbose (can be specified more than once)
-F [arg] --format [arg] Use specified format for output
-f [arg] --from [arg] Read input stream from a filename
-o [arg] --file [arg] Write output stream to a filename
-B --nobanner Don't display the header
-h --help Print this help and exit
-V --version Print version and exit
The format specifiers for the -F option are given in the following table. Prefix each specifier with % (verbose) or # (silent) accordingly.
Specifier Full Name Specifier Full Name
F Filename x PaX Flags
s Symbol N Library
o Type p File name
f Base file name k Section
Using scanelf for Text Relocations
As an example, we will use scanelf to find binaries containing text relocations.
A relocation is an operation that rewrites an address in a loaded segment. Such an address rewrite can happen when a segment has references to a shared object and that shared object is loaded in memory. In this case, the references are substituted with the real address values. Similar events can occur inside the shared object itself.
A text relocation is a relocation in the text segment. Since text segments contain executable code, system administrators might prefer not to have these segments writable. This is perfectly possible, but since text relocations actually write in the text segment, it is not always feasible.
If you want to eliminate text relocations, you will need to make sure that the application and shared object is built with Position Independent Code (PIC), making references obsolete. This not only increases security, but also increases the performance in case of shared objects (allowing writes in the text segment requires a swap space reservation and a private copy of the shared object for each application that uses it).
The following example will search your library paths recursively, without leaving the mounted file system and ignoring symbolic links, for any ELF binary containing a text relocation:
Code listing 2.1: Scanning the system for text relocation binaries
# scanelf -lqtmyR
If you want to scan your entire system for any file containing text relocations:
Code listing 2.2: Scanning the entire system for text relocation files
# scanelf -qtmyR /
Using scanelf for Specific Header
The scanelf util can be used to quickly identify files that contain a given section header using the -k.section option.
In this example we are looking for all files in /usr/lib/debug recursively using a format modifier with quiet mode enable that have been stripped. A stripped elf will lack a.symtab entry, so we use the '!' to invert the matching logic.
Code listing 2.3: Scanning for stripped or non stripped executables
# scanelf -k \!.symtab /usr/lib/debug -Rq -F%F#k
Using scanelf for Specific Segment Markings
Each segment has specific flags assigned to it in the Program Header of the binary. One of those flags is the type of the segment. Interesting values are PT_LOAD (the segment must be loaded in memory from file), PT_DYNAMIC (the segment contains dynamic linking information), PT_INTERP (the segment contains the name of the program interpreter), PT_GNU_STACK (a GNU extension for the ELF format, used by some stack protection mechanisms), and PT_PAX_FLAGS (a PaX extension for the ELF format, used by the security-minded PaX Project.
If we want to scan all executables in the current working directory, PATH environment and library paths and report those who have a writable and executable PT_LOAD or PT_GNU_STACK marking, you could use the following command:
Code listing 2.4: Scanning for Write/eXecute flags for PT_LOAD and PT_GNU_STACK
# scanelf -lpqe.
Using scanelf's Format Modifier Handler
A useful feature of the scanelf utility is the format modifier handler. With this option you can control the output of scanelf, thereby simplifying parsing the output with scripts.
As an example, we will use scanelf to print the file names that contain text relocations:
Code listing 2.5: Example of the scanelf format modifier handler
# scanelf -l -p -R -q -F "%F _TAG_


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Parenthood is good for your health.
That's one way of looking at the data in a new study that compares death rates among couples with and without children. After examining data on more than 21,276 Danish couples who tried to get pregnant, researchers calculated that women who gave birth to a child were four times more likely to be alive at the end of the study period compared with women who remained childless. The benefit to men was smaller but still significant — those who fathered children were twice as likely to be alive compared with men who remained childless.
The couples in the study all sought treatment for infertility; some of those who didn't get pregnant using in vitro fertilization went on to adopt children. These parents also seemed to get a health boost — the mothers in this group were 33% less likely to die compared with women who never had children, and the adoptive fathers were 45% less likely to die.
Previous studies have found a correlation between parenthood and mortality, with the lowest risk of premature death going to couples with two kids. (Of course, everyone has a 100% risk of death in the long run.) But none of this data prove that raising kids is responsible for a longer life.
The authors of the new study, published Wednesday in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, also noted that these data offer a better look at the link between parenthood and health because all of the parents in the study wanted to become parents — that's why they tried fertility treatments. In other studies, it was possible that childless couples were fundamentally different from parents in ways that influenced their health.
The study also examined the link between parenthood and mental health. It found that couples with their own biological children had the same rates of psychiatric illnesses as childless couples. But mothers and fathers of adopted children saw their risk drop by about half.
Return to the Booster Shots blog.
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Researchers Name New Extinct Giant Turtle Found near World's Largest Snake
University of Florida researchers have described a new extinct giant turtle species from the same Colombian mine where they discovered Titanoboa - and one of the only animals the world's largest snake could not have eaten.
Working with scientists from North Carolina State University and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, researchers at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus name the species in a study published online today in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. The study's findings could be useful for understanding the impacts of a warmer climate in the future.
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The description of one of the largest known freshwater turtles is based on a nearly complete skull and shell. Brought to life as a critical part of the ecosystem in the recent Smithsonian Channel documentary "Titanoboa: Monster Snake," the 60-million-year-old reptile is the largest turtle from the Paleocene Epoch, reaching about 8 feet in length.
"At that size, I would imagine that it was swimming around without too much fear," said co-author Jonathan Bloch, Florida Museum associate curator of vertebrate paleontology. "The only animals it probably would've had to worry about were the dyrosaurids (ancient crocodile relatives) - we have turtle shells from the same place with bite marks on them."
Lead author Edwin Cadena, now a doctoral candidate at North Carolina State University, conducted the research while working with Bloch and earning his master's at UF.
"The tropics are a very biodiverse region on the planet today, so we're very interested in terms of conservation and our own survival," Bloch said. "Tropical ecosystems are very important, and if you want to understand the region, you have to understand its history, especially in terms of climate change."
Named Carbonemys cofrinii for the coal mine in which it was discovered and Dr. David Cofrin, whose contributions made the paleontological excavations possible, the species is a primitive relative of modern turtles living in the tropics. Specimens, including an exceptionally well-preserved three-dimensional skull, were prepared at the Florida Museum. Using phylogenetic analyses of morphological and molecular data, researchers determined the species belongs in the order Pleurodira, which bend their necks sideways into their shells, rather than Cryptodira, which pull their heads straight back into their shells.
"In tropical South America today you find many pleurodires on the banks and in the water of the rivers, so they are still a critical part of the ecosystem," Bloch said.
Two additional distinct turtle species are discussed in the study but remain unnamed without identifiable skulls. Other animals found in the Paleocene environment in South America include several species of crocodiles, snakes and large fish.
"This discovery is showing us that after the extinction of the dinosaurs, the tropics were a place where animals can actually succeed and get really big," Cadena said. "They had a lot of space and a lot of food sources so they didn't have to worry about competition with other big animals. We're seeing that the tropics 60 million years ago had so much diversity and it keeps that diversity for a long, long time."
Phylogenetic analysis shows the newly described turtle is most closely related to living species in Venezuela and Madagascar, supporting the theory the continents were once connected in northern South America, rather than southern South America through Antarctica. The wet conditions in the tropics make fossil evidence of ancient flora and fauna rare, so much of the study's value is the in the animals' Colombian origin, said Walter Joyce, a researcher at the University of Tubingen.
"We don't know much about the tropics at all," Joyce said. "So everything the Florida group has been getting the last 10 years has been pretty interesting because it's basically new - it's a new part of the world we know nothing about."
Home to the oldest known rainforest ecosystem, the potential for fossils from the tropics to offer insights about animal biogeography and responses to climate change should not be underestimated, Cadena said. Yet, human impacts make the area's future prosperity uncertain.
"Some of the modern living species in the tropics related to these fossils that we found in the mine are in danger of extinction now," Cadena said. "Changes that occurred over millions of years in the past are happening in just a few thousand years - it's kind of sad to see."


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Date of this Version
Rwanda is a landlocked country located in Africa's Central-East Great Lakes region. It has a population of 7.5 million which occupies 26,338 km'. Its population density (285/km') is one of the highest in the world and has prompted fear of a rapid degradation of the ecosystem. There are no central sewer systems in Rwanda. The use of pit latrines and septic tanks is common in urban and rural areas. People still defecate in the fields (World Bank, 1989). Less than half of the urban population is served by a central water supply. The majority of people get their water untreated from rivers that have been polluted by chemicals and human excreta. In and around the capital city of Kigali, there is a concentration of people, farms, and industries which discharge wastewater into the Nyabarongo River and its tributaries. The Nyabarongo River, a tributary of the Nile, empties into the Akagera River which flows into Lake Victoria. Nyabarongo River water is used for drinking water, cooking, bathing, and agriculture in the Kigali area. There has been very little monitoring of the water quality of the Nyabarongo River and of industrial outfalls located on tributaries of the Nyabarongo River. As a first step in understanding the water quality of the Nyabarongo River, wastewater samples were collected in 1993 from industrial outfalls located on tributaries of the Nyabarongo River. Most of the facilities sampled had no wastewater treatment. The impact of these discharges on the water quality of the Nyabarongo River was evaluated.
Gasana, Janvier, "Industrial Discharges of Metals in Kigali, Rwanda, and the Impact on Drinking Water Quality" (1997). Environmental & Occupational Health. Paper 2.


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Research model suggests moons of some planets developed from ringsNovember 30th, 2012 in Space & Earth / Astronomy
This is an image of the planet Uranus taken by the spacecraft Voyager 2 in 1986. Image: NASA
(Phys.org)—French researchers Sébastien Charnoz and Aurélien Crida have proposed in a paper published in the journal Science that moons that orbit some of the planets in our solar system came about due to accretion from material in rings that used to surround the planets, rather than as entities that took shape while their host planets were forming.
Space researchers have long proposed that moons circulating planets generally came to exist in one of three ways: as entities that formed on their own as their host was developing, as clumps that coalesced from material shed from a planet struck by some other body, or by being captured as they passed by. In this new research, Charnoz and Crida propose a fourth possibility – that the moons were formed from material in rings that surrounded their host planet.
In attempting to explain how moons orbiting planets such as Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, came about, the researchers created mathematical models that could predict moon formation from material surrounding a planet. Their models suggest that when material in a ring reaches a certain critical point at some distance from the host, called the Roche radius, the gravity from the host planet is offset by the gravitational pull that each piece exerts on others in the ring. Because of this, material in the ring begins to coalesce with some pieces eventually accreting enough material to form a moon. They add that the speed at which material in the ring orbits the host may account for the number of moons that form. Slow moving material might result in the formation of several small moons, while fast moving material may result in just one, as might have been the case with Earth and its single moon. Their model explains, they suggest, why all of the moons orbiting planets (except for Jupiter) in our solar system grow in size as they orbit farther from the host planet. Jupiter they say, is an exception, with its moons likely originating in tandem with the planet birth itself.
The researchers concede that their models can't explain how the rings themselves came to exist, but suggest it's possible that they came about due to collisions with other bodies moving through space.
More information: Formation of Regular Satellites from Ancient Massive Rings in the Solar System, Science, 30 November 2012: Vol. 338 no. 6111 pp. _PHONE_
When a planetary tidal disk—like Saturn's rings—spreads beyond the Roche radius (inside which planetary tides prevent aggregation), satellites form and migrate away. Here, we show that most regular satellites in the solar system probably formed in this way. According to our analytical model, when the spreading is slow, a retinue of satellites appear with masses increasing with distance to the Roche radius, in excellent agreement with Saturn's, Uranus', and Neptune's satellite systems. This suggests that Uranus and Neptune used to have massive rings that disappeared to give birth to most of their regular satellites. When the spreading is fast, only one large satellite forms, as was the case for Pluto and Earth. This conceptually bridges the gap between terrestrial and giant planet systems.
© 2012 Phys.org
"Research model suggests moons of some planets developed from rings." November 30th, 2012. _URL_


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Argulus foliaceus is a freshwater fish ectoparasite that has been reported throughout temperate regions of Europe, Central Asia, and North America. It has been well studied in Europe, especially the British Isles, where is has had major impacts on UK sport fisheries through fish stress and mortality. (Harrison, et al., 2006; Oktener, et al., 2007; Pasternak, et al., 2004)
Argulus foliaceus is found in warm, eutrophic, still lakes of both fresh and brackish water. Eggs are laid in shady areas, rather than in direct sunlight. Typically considered a shallow water species, this louse is often observed laying eggs within the top 1 m of the water column (although it will lay eggs in deeper water at the end of the reproductive season). Argulus foliaceus is an obligate parasite, requiring host availability. This louse has a low host specificity, so it can infect a variety of fish within its habitat. (Harrison, et al., 2006; Pasternak, et al., 2000; Taylor, et al., 2006)
On average, Argulus foliaceus measures a total length of 3-7 mm and a width of 2.5-5 mm. Argulid females are generally larger than males, and the growth of the parasite may be influenced by the size of the host. A distinguishing characteristic of A. foliaceus is the urosome, consisting of rounded lobes that are covered marginally with small spines. The posterior incisures of the urosome do not reach to the center. Another characteristic is the anterior portion of the cephalothorax that forms a broad protrusion with shallow grooves. Adults use suction discs for host attachment, whereas larvae utilize larval hooks. (Moller, et al., 2008; Oktener, et al., 2007; Pasternak, et al., 2004)
Argulus foliaceus larvae are free-swimming. The length of the larval phase is highly variable, most likely influenced by temperature. In general, larvae are typically first observed in the late spring and morph into adults in the fall. Argulus foliaceus is exceedingly rare in the winter. Larval development is divided into two distinct morphological phases: stage I as a metanauplius and stage two as a juvenile. While morphological adaptations do appear in stage I larvae, there is currently no conclusive evidence that the stage I larvae are either parasitic or pelagic, so they are typically considered "semi-pelagic." (Moller, et al., 2007; Pasternak, et al., 2000)
A female A. foliaceus leaves the host fish to lay its eggs, but as an obligate parasite, it must return to a host fish occasionally throughout the process. There is variability in the frequency and length of time that the female leaves and returns to the host. Because females are dependent on the host fish while laying eggs, the individual vulnerability and population density of fish can influence this louse's reproductive success and survivorship. While A. foliaceus is commonly believed to be a shallow water species because it is most often observed to lay eggs in the top 1 m of the water column, some studies have indicated that, if available, they prefer deeper water (8.5 m) at the end of the egg-laying season. The suggestion that they lay eggs in shallow water may be a bias due to study sites. Temperature and dissolved oxygen content may influence egg laying depths, but there is currently no conclusive evidence for these trends. Eggs are laid in strings or clutches that contain an average of 100-150 eggs, but there can be as few as four or as many as 250 eggs. The female lays her eggs in the winter, but there is a wide variability in hatching time, possibly due to fish availability. (Harrison, et al., 2006; Pasternak, et al., 2000)
There is no information about parental investment in Argulus foliaceus reported in the literature.
Argulus foliaceus is rare in the winter and has been described as having a short lifespan. There is no information reported in the literature, however, on the actual length of its lifespan. (Dzika, 2002; Pasternak, et al., 2000)
Argulus foliaceus most commonly attaches to the host on the skin epithelium of the body and fins, but has been observed to also attach to the gills. This louse feeds by piercing the host skin, injecting a toxin, and drawing blood. Infection of A. foliaceus often results in host tissue damage and sometimes mortality. Argulus foliaceus infects irrespective of the health of the host. The length of residence time on the host between attachment to detachment is quite variable. In general, ectoparasites aggregate on the host so that few individuals within the host population are actually infected. The aggregation is likely due to host behavior; when stressed, the host's movement is reduced, allowing more parasites to attach. (Bandilla, et al., 2005; Nolan, et al., 2000; Oktener, et al., 2006; Pasternak, et al., 2004)
There is no information on the home range of Argulus foliaceus reported in the literature.
Adult argulids can respond to some chemical cues. They have higher sensory abilities, swimming abilities, and metabolism than juveniles, so the adults are less dependent on host attachment, allowing them to leave one host in search for another of higher preference. At the individual level, the searching abilities of Argulus foliaceus are limited, so changes at the population level, such as host preference and aggregation, are necessary to increase reproductive success and survivorship, in light of unpredictable host availability. (Bandilla, et al., 2005; Pasternak, et al., 2000)
Argulus foliaceus is an obligate bloodsucker, and it cannot survive more than few days without a host. Having little specificity for hosts, it infects a wide range of species. (Pasternak, et al., 2000)
Argulus foliaceus is often noted for its role in ecosystems as an ectoparasite. With a low host specificity, it has been found on almost every type of freshwater fish within its natural habitat, yet some fish are more susceptible than others. Argulus foliaceus has been reported on fish in the families Cyprinidae, Salmonidae, Gobiidae, Gasterosteidae, and Acipenseridae, as well as amphibians, including frogs and toads (Anura). In fish farms of Central Finland, it was found to coexist with Argulus coregoni, a closely related ectoparasite. In addition to its function in ecosystems as a parasite, A. foliaceus can also be a vector for bacteria and flagellates, and it serves as an intermediate host of nematodes in the family Skrjabillanidae. (Oktener, et al., 2006; Pasternak, et al., 2004; Walker, et al., 2007)
There are no known positive effects of Argulus foliaceus on humans.
While Argulus foliaceus is frequently found in small numbers with little damage to the hosts, epizootics may occur. When infected by A. foliaceus, host fish display an increase in jumping behavior and a decrease in feeding, followed by secondary bacterial and fungal infections, shoaling behavior, and finally, possible large-scale mortality. Argulus foliaceus infections have been reported to wipe out trout stock populations and cause problems in carp farming. In sport fisheries, a common issue is not mortality but rather reduced catch and lowered aesthetic appeal, resulting in economic losses. (Cross and Stott, 1974; Nolan, et al., 2000; Taylor, et al., 2006)
Argulus foliaceus is a mechanical vector of the spring viraemia of carp (SVC), an acute viral disease in Cyprinus carpio, transferring the virus from infected to non-infected individuals. (Ahne, 1985)
Jessica Kafer (author), The College of New Jersey, Keith Pecor (editor), The College of New Jersey, Renee Mulcrone (editor), Special Projects.
living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northern part of the New World. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the North American as far south as the highlands of central Mexico.
living in the northern part of the Old World. In otherwords, Europe and Asia and northern Africa.
having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.
areas with salty water, usually in coastal marshes and estuaries.
an animal that mainly eats meat
uses smells or other chemicals to communicate
animals which must use heat acquired from the environment and behavioral adaptations to regulate body temperature
mainly lives in water that is not salty.
having a body temperature that fluctuates with that of the immediate environment; having no mechanism or a poorly developed mechanism for regulating internal body temperature.
A large change in the shape or structure of an animal that happens as the animal grows. In insects, "in


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A Spiritual Successor is a type of sequel that is not part of the same world or story as its predecessor, but is nonetheless considered to be a successor because it's made by the same creators, shares common themes, styles, or elements; or, most likely, both. In other words, it's a sequel "in spirit".
A Spiritual Predecessor, on the other hand, is when a previous body of work has, somehow, paved the way for future, similar work, that is, again, not part of the same world, or universe, but shares a common connection in creators, themes, styles, or elements. In short, if it wasn't for the predecessor, other works might not have seen the light of day.
Examples are as follows
- Similar to the above mentioned, Bewitched itself also paved the way for other works to rethink its imaging of witches, thus, basically establishing the Cute Witch and Hot Witch tropes.
- Hanna-Barbera's The Banana Splits featured costumes and settings that were brought to life by Sid and Marty Krofft, and as such, impressed network executives, which opened doors for the Krofft brothers to venture into their own brand of Saturday Morning television.
- The Ed Sullivan Show helped garner Jim Henson national recognition, and a number of the skits, sketches, pantomimes, etc. that Henson and his team performed during their years appearing on the program were later established for the kind of humor and entertainment that became the focus of Henson's The Muppet Show.
- M*A*S*H set the bar for a many ensuing programs, whether for its medical accuracy and realism (ER, Grey's Anatomy), its balance of both comedy and drama (Desperate Housewives, Glee), utilizing multiple subplots per half-hour (Seinfeld), or its occasion forgoing of the laugh track (many of today's contemporary sitcoms omit laughter altogether, live or simulated).
- Both the original U.K., and the U.S. adapted versions of The Office established a new trend and tool for primetime television, with it's mockumentary-style story telling, paving way for other sitcoms, such as Parks and Recreation, Modern Family, The Middle, and others to do the same.
- Sesame Street is a big example of this, as it was the first of its kind in create a television series for young children that would both entertain, and educate them. The success of Sesame Street opened the door for a number of other such series, such as Barney & Friends, Teletubbies, Blues Clues, Dora the Explorer, and others (most of which, the creators have said they used Sesame Street as a model''.


BASF Agricultural Solutions UK
What are the implications of crop lodging?
According to John Nix's guide, the gross margin on a crop of feed wheat is £656/ha. Early lodging at ear emergence can result in up to 75% yield loss. In financial terms, this is a cost of almost £500/ha. We want to help you to reduce your lodging risk and maximise your profitability.
So how can I reduce my lodging risk?
Crop Variety
Varieties have different resistance to lodging scores as each variety demonstrates differences in terms of growth habit (height, tillering capacity, stem strength and speed of establishment). Varieties with a score of 7 or less on the Recommended Lists should be considered at risk of lodging. Be sure to check the Recommended Lists on the HGCA website.
Drilling Date
Earlier drilled crops can produce heavier ears which have a higher yield potential. These heavy ears put weight on the stem, meaning a crop with higher yield potential is more likely to lodge. It has been estimated that each tonne per hectare above 9 t/ha reduces the resistance to lodging score by 0.5 points. As a result, delaying drilling can be a useful cultural control to help reduce lodging risk.
Nitrogen Applications
The AHDB Nutrient Management Guide is a great place to start to understand your nitrogen (N)requirements [link:]. Residual nitrogen in the soil from previous crops can significantly affect lodging risk by creating thick, dense canopies that are more prone to stem lodging. Delayed and reduced applications of nitrogen can help to manage canopy size and reduce lodging risk.
Plant Population
A high seed rate can increase the risk of root lodging, where the plant's rooting structure is insufficient to hold it upright against the leverage of the rest of the plant. Reducing the seed rate can help to reduce lodging risk, as well as disease risk.
Spring Rolling
Weather permitting, spring rolling can help to consolidate soils, creating a better structure for plant roots to anchor into. Spring rolling should occur before GS30 to avoid crop damage.
PGR applications
A good plant growth regulator, such as Canopy or Medax Max will reduce plant height, improve rooting and increase straw strength. All of these agronomic benefits help to reduce lodging risk. What's more, with two active ingredients, BASF PGRs are fast acting and reliable at a range of growth stages and temperatures.


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In order to manage and protect groundwater, it is necessary to: evaluate the quality and quantity of groundwater that is available in the province's aquifers; allocate the available groundwater amongst the various users; protect the quality of groundwater by minimizing contamination from human activities; and, monitor groundwater to track long-term trends in its quality and quantity and to assess the effectiveness of our groundwater management programs.
Some of the department's key groundwater management initiatives used to meet these objectives include (details below):
- groundwater resource evaluation
- sustainable groundwater development
- groundwater protection
- groundwater monitoring
Groundwater Resource Evaluation
The goal of groundwater resource evaluation is to provide an inventory of groundwater resources. This includes assessing both the quality and quantity of groundwater in the province's aquifers. The information gathered during groundwater resource evaluations is used to answer questions such as "How much groundwater is available?" and "What is the quality of the groundwater?". Groundwater resource evaluation is a key step in groundwater management because groundwater resources are not unlimited and, therefore, knowing how much groundwater is available helps to prevent over-exploitation and promotes sustainable development.
Groundwater resource evaluation studies began in Nova Scotia in the 1960's and reports have been completed for approximately half of the province. View the list of available groundwater resource reports and maps.
Recently, the Earth Science Sector of Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), in partnership with Nova Scotia Environment and Labour, has carried out groundwater resource evaluations in two areas of Nova Scotia: Cumberland County and the Annapolis Cornwallis Valley. The first project, which was called the Maritimes Groundwater Initiative (MGWI) project, covered areas in Cumberland County, NS, as well as areas in New Brunswick and PEI. The MGWI reports are available for download at the NRCan publications page. The second project, which is called the Annapolis Cornwallis Valley Aquifer Study (ACVAS), is currently in progress. View the preliminary results from the ACVAS project.
Sustainable Groundwater Development
The goal of sustainable groundwater development is to ensure that groundwater use does not exceed the sustainable yield of the province's aquifers. The sustainable yield of an aquifer is defined as the total groundwater withdrawals that can be maintained indefinitely without causing unacceptable environmental, economic or social consequences. The sustainable aquifer yield is assumed to be no greater than 50% of the annual aquifer recharge, unless it can be demonstrated that additional withdrawals will not cause unacceptable effects. The 50% unallocated portion is retained to maintain base flow for surface water bodies.
Sustainable groundwater development is promoted in the province by requiring groundwater withdrawal approvals if a groundwater withdrawal exceeds 23,000 litres per day (5,000 gallons per day), and through the Water Resources Protection Act which controls large scale removals of water from the province.
Groundwater withdrawal approvals allow the department to assess the potential effects of each proposed groundwater withdrawal on a case-by-case basis and track how much groundwater has been allocated in the province. For each groundwater withdrawal approval application, a hydrogeological study must be completed to evaluate the potential effects of the proposed withdrawal on existing groundwater users and the environment. The evaluation includes an assessment of the following: sustainable yield of the aquifer, well interference effects, water quality effects, the potential for sea water intrusion and groundwater-surface water interaction.
The department uses the following guiding principles to allocate groundwater withdrawals:
- Withdrawals from the aquifer must be sustainable (i.e., can be maintained indefinitely without causing unacceptable environmental, economic or social consequences);
- New groundwater withdrawals should not cause any significant adverse effects to existing groundwater users or the environment;
- Groundwater allocations are based on a "first-come, first-served basis" with priority given to drinking water applications; and
- Groundwater allocations are based on the applicant's current water needs and the applicant cannot typically reserve water for future use beyond the expiry date of the approval (i.e., 10 years).
Visit our page on water withdrawal approvals for information on how to apply for a groundwater withdrawal approval.
The goal of groundwater protection is to protect the quality of groundwater by minimizing contamination from human activities. Groundwater quantity is also protected, however, these initiatives are described above in the "Sustainable Groundwater Development" section. The department promotes the protection of groundwater quality in several ways, including: requiring wells to be properly constructed; requiring old abandoned wells to be properly sealed so they cannot act as pathways for contamination; and, by requiring approvals for activities or facilities that have the potential to contaminate groundwater, such as septic systems and landfills.
The department is also working with municipalities and stakeholders to protect municipal drinking water supplies, including both surface water and groundwater supplies. The five step process used to develop a source water protection plan in Nova Scotia is similar for groundwater and surface water supplies. The main difference occurs during Step 2 (PDF: 2.2mb) of the process, which involves delineating the wellhead protection area.
Wellhead Protection Areas in Nova Scotia
To protect a groundwater supply, you must delineate the area that contributes water to the well so that potential sources of contamination can be identified and managed. The source water protection area surrounding the well or well field is called the Wellhead Protection Area (WHPA).
The Wellhead Protection Area (WHPA) includes all or part of the of the area that contributes groundwater to the well field and is typically divided into several smaller zones that are used to manage different types of contaminants. The different zones in the WHPA are based on the time it takes groundwater to travel to the well. Zones that are closer to the well require a higher level of protection because there is a shorter distance to travel before groundwater reaches the well. In Nova Scotia, a minimum of three WHPA zones are recommended, as follows:
- Zone 1 - (0 to 2 year travel time). This zone is used to protect against microbial contaminants (e.g., bacteria and viruses) and all chemical contaminants.
- Zone 2 - (2 to 5 year travel time). This zone is used to protect against all chemical contaminants, including persistent chemical contaminants (e.g., chlorinated solvents, nitrates, road salt, etc.) and non-persistent chemical contaminants (e.g., petroleum hydrocarbons).
- Zone 3 - (5 to 25 year travel time). This zone is used to protect against persistent chemical contaminants (e.g., chlorinated solvents, nitrates, road salt, etc.).
In addition to the zones defined above, it is also recommended that a "well site control zone" be established to protect the area immediately surrounding the well. This area, which is considered to be the wellhead itself, is used to protect against the day-to-day activities of the water utility and any other potential sources of contamination, including vandalism. The well site control zone can be determined based on a simple fixed radius, which should be a minimum of 30 m.
For wells that have been classified as Groundwater Under the Direct Influence of surface water (PDF: 141k) (GUDI), there is potential for contaminants within the watershed to be rapidly carried to the well field by surface water, even if the contaminant sources are outside the 2-, 5-, or 25-year groundwater travel times. Therefore, for GUDI wells, the land area within the watershed boundaries should also be included within the WHPA. This approach ensures that the potential risk of contaminants migrating in surface water adjacent to a well field will be considered in the source water protection plan. Because groundwater outside the watershed may also contribute water to the well field, the WHPA zones should still be delineated for GUDI wells.
Methods to Delineate the Wellhead Protection Area
There are several methods available to delineate the WHPA. The preferred method in Nova Scotia is numerical modelling using a computer model. When properly set up and calibrated with adequate field data, computed models provide the best method to accurately delineate the WHPA.
The department's groundwater monitoring programs are used to track long-term trends in groundwater quality and quantity and to assess the effectiveness of groundwater management programs. Monitoring programs are an essential tool for checking on the status of the province's groundwater, assessing the impact of human activities on groundwater, and evaluating long-term groundwater trends associated with issues such as climate change.
Two of the department's key groundwater monitoring programs are: the Nova Scotia Groundwater Observation Well Network, which tracks groundwater levels and groundwater chemistry through a network of wells across the province; and, the Well Water Nitrate Monitoring Program, which monitors nitrate levels in approximately 150 private wells in Kings County.


Linux kernel (OS) powered DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class Destroyer built by US Navy
Now what is linux, it is just an Operating System which is used worldwide. Linux for a common man would mean something used in different devices basically for research purposes in NASA, in particle accelerators, also used by Scientists for their studies eg Antartic. Linux is also a vital tool in automobile industry as in car manufacture and also being used by Engineers to build humanoid robots, by security researcher or hackers. Linux is preferred due to its basic properties of being flexible, reliable system and safe. US Navy is now using the Linux Kernel to built their most powerful DDG-1000 Zumawat Class Destroyer.
Certain features of Zumwalt : It has an unique structure which matches with the Space ship and due to this shape it would appear as a small fishing vessel on the enemy radar which gives it the stealth capability; however the actual size of this destroyer is equivalent to 3 USS Constitutions. It also has an Integrated Power system which means it can provide electricity to the weapons basically, which might be used for railguns and the free electron lasers. It would hold the capacity of 58 MW of reserve power as per average battle condition. It has total ship computing environment. Easy access to data, this will give an upper hand to sailors as data will be accessible to sailors at any time and anywhere. It also has an adaptable launcher which would take care of any threat and any missile. Zumwalt carries 16 pre assembled IBM blade servers.
As of now 3 types of these destroyers has been ordered by US Navy and this seems to be the most expensive project for US Navy this year.
US Navy has actually shown the most innovative way of combining technology with naval security by using an operating system like Linux to create its most expensive and out of the world Naval destroyer DDG-1000 Zumwalt.


Fundamentals of taxes for passive investors
Investing involves accumulating financial assets which may require you to pay additional taxes. You need to comprehend your taxes so you can be aware of your (tax) obligations and avoid paying unnecessary fines. Additionally, an understanding of taxes allows you to reduce them and as a result increase your returns.
The tax laws are different in every country – there isn't any common European law on taxes – therefore I can't write a general guide to taxes to every single country. This article aims to give you an overview of the fundamentals which may be common in some countries so you can have a starting point. It does not exclude the need to for you to get to know the specifics around your local taxes. There might be more taxes and aspects to consider (than the ones mentioned here) as you invest.
Dividend taxes
You may receive dividends from your index funds. A dividend tax is a tax imposed on the amount of dividends you received.
For example, if you received 20 EUR in dividends and the dividend tax rate is 25%, you would have to pay 5 EUR in taxes.
Avoiding dividend taxes is one of the primary motivations for buying accumulating funds.
Capital gains taxes
Capital gains taxes are taxes on the profits made from selling your index fund shares.
For example, if you buy one share of a fund for 100 EUR and you sell it for 300 EUR. Your profit was 200 EUR. If the capital gains tax rate is 25%, you would have to pay 50 EUR in taxes.
Usually, you don't tend to pay capital gains taxes when you sell your shares at a loss (e.g. bought for 100 EUR and sold for 50 EUR). Some countries allow investors to use losses to deduct their taxes across different fiscal years in order to reduce their taxable income.
Different taxes depending on the fund
Different fund types might be taxed at a different capital gains and dividends taxes. An example is Belgium which taxes accumulating equity funds and accumulating bond funds differently.
Tax withholding
Tax withholding happens when the payer of the income (e.g. a broker, a fund) retains the taxes you owe and pays them directly to the government.
In Germany, local brokers do tax withholding. Therefore, you don't have to pay the taxes to the government since the broker will do that.
In some countries brokers don't withhold taxes. Therefore, you would have to pay the taxes to the government at the end of the fiscal year.
Fiscal year
Fiscal year is the period used by governments for tax purposes. Different countries may use different periods. In some countries you submit a tax form with your income details at the end of the fiscal year.
Belgium's fiscal year matches the calendar – from 1st January to 31st December. This means that for the fiscal year of 2017, the government would use all your transactions incurred from 1st January 2017 to 31st December 2017, to calculate your tax liabilities.
The UK's fiscal year is from 6th of April until 5th of April. Therefore the period to calculate the tax liabilities is different from Belgium's.
Tax allowance
A tax allowance is a threshold below which you don't have to pay tax (e.g. dividends or capital gains). For example, if you have received 50 EUR worth of dividends in a fiscal year and the tax free allowance is 900 EUR then you don't need to pay any tax.
The UK has a capital gains tax allowance.
Tax shelter
A tax shelter is an investment wrapper which allows investors to contribute to funds without being subject to capital gains/dividend taxes. These vary significantly between countries. The UK's ISA is an example of a tax shelter.
Tax form
A tax form (electronically or in paper) is where the taxes are actually reported to the government. A tax form will have many sections, some of which dedicated to filling investment related information. These sections is where you fill information related to dividends/capital gains you obtained during the fiscal year.
Tax deductions
A tax deduction is a way through which you use expenses made on certain items to reduce your taxable income. Some retirement investment wrappers allow you to deduct contributions made to them from your taxable income. Example: You earned 70k EUR in a fiscal year and contributed 20k EUR to your retirement pension scheme. Instead of income taxes on being applied on the full 70k EUR, a tax deduction would allow income taxes to be applied only on the 50k EUR (70k – 20k).
Notional income tax
Notional income tax is a tax on income that you could have possibly earned but haven't received.
An example where this is applied is how the UK treats taxation of accumulating funds. You pay dividends tax on the accumulated dividends even if you didn't actually directly receive them.
For the purposes of index investing, a notional income tax will dictate if the tax treatment of accumulating and distributing funds is similar.
Fund tax reporting status
Tax reporting is the set of processes funds undertake to optimize the taxes of their investors. A few countries (notably the UK and Germany) have special legislation which makes "non reporting" funds taxed at a higher rate. There is a "tax status" section in justETF and you should pay attention to it if you live in the UK, Austria, Switzerland and Germany.
Inheritance taxes
Inheritance or estate taxes are taxes paid by the person who inherits money/property/assets from somebody that has died. One of the reasons why investing in US domiciled funds is not recommended for many European investors is US's estate tax for non resident aliens.
Tax law changes
Tax law changes all the time. Tax rates, deduction limits, tax calculation methods may change from one fiscal year to the other. You need to not only understand taxes but be wary of any potential changes every year.
For example, at the start of 2018 Germany did a significant overhaul of the way it taxes ETFs.
This also means that any claims about a specific country's tax peculiarities in this article is only really valid at the time of writing.


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Co-inspiration between social and conventional enterprises
to promote equal access to decision making positions
One of the most important activities of the project consists of carrying out national qualitative studies that aims at establishing the state of arts of the participation and access of women to decision-making positions in conventional enterprises and enterprises in the social economy in each partner country. The research will also take into consideration cultural, historical and political factors that came into play in each country and shaped the evolution of equal participation of women and men to economic decision-making.
The studies will gather:
It aims at reaching one expected result of the project, which is having an improved knowledge among key stakeholders on the access of women to decision – making positions in the sector of conventional and social enterprises in the six partner countries.


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Portals, Video, 3:55, 2016
My video installation project Portals revolves around the moments when social media platforms accidentally record someone's death. Social media apps are now recording our every waking moment, including sometimes the accidental capture of the recorder's own death. Their lives are put on display using apps like Periscope, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook. These videos are recorded from a first person perspective, from the eyes of the victim. What interests me is not the actual moment of death, but what the device captures after all movement has stopped. Typically these videos are shaky and chaotic, but then once the device reaches its final resting point, there is this eerie stillness about the video. What is captured is usually a crisp blue sky, with clouds passing by. Is the victim still conscious at this moment and viewing the sky with us? Is this the last thing they saw before they died? Can this sky be viewed as a portal in a sense to the next place for this body? By making the viewer aware of these moments in between life and death, we can cope with our understanding of the physical process of death.
My intention is to investigate these questions further by projecting these video portals onto various doors or vertical shaped areas. These videos feature social media clips transformed into portals that the viewer becomes immersed in. The idea is to have the three videos scattered in various, so that visitors can encounter them while they wander. All of these videos are surreal in nature, and put into question those moments between when we are living and when we have passed on.