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Mr Paul Box1, Jonathan Yu2, Andrew Freebairn3, Ashley Sommers4, Peter Brenton5, Mark Stafford Smith3, Russ Wise3, Rachel Williams3
1Csiro, Sydney, Australia,
2CSIRO, Melbourne, Australia,
3CSIRO, Canberra, Australia,
4CSIRO, Brisbane, Australia,
5Atlas of Living Australia, Canberra, Australia
Governments, communities and the private sector face rising costs from natural disasters and climate change. Population growth coupled with the effects of climate change creates systemic risks affecting community health and wellbeing, the resilience of the Australian economy and government service delivery. A significant proportion of the social and financial costs of these risks flows back to the Commonwealth, in growing levels of disaster relief and as the 'insurer of last resort", but also by compromising areas of policy outcomes which undermines the public's trust in Government, and ultimately through reduced tax revenues due to declines in national economic productivity and sector competitiveness. There is a wealth of data and information available on the current and future climate, natural hazards, and on ways to adapt to climate change. Decision makers, however, have said that this information is either not accessible, discoverable, or useable for decision-making or if it is they find it difficult to know which information is authoritative and trustworthy and which information to use when. Furthermore, there is currently little guidance on how to bring climate risk into existing business processes such as cost benefit analysis for infrastructure investment.
THE CLIMATE RISK INFORMATION AND SERVICES PLATFORM
To address these challenges, CSIRO was commissioned by the Commonwealth Department of Environment and Energy (DoEE) to develop a prototype Climate Risk Information and Services Platform (CRISP). CRISP is intended to provide a trusted and sustainable mechanism to enable access to authoritative information, and guidance to facilitate planning and decision-making for a more climate-resilient Australia. By providing best available information about climate risks, coupled with leading practice assessment processes, CRISP aims to influence and support key areas of Commonwealth decision-making to improve the nation's resilience to climate risk.
A user-centered design approach applying the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) Digital Service Standard was adopted. Two main suites of functions were identified through user engagement: a spatial data discovery and exploration tool to enable discovery and exploration of available spatial information and a configurable workflow specification tool enabling risk assessors and managers to work with climate adaptation scientists to develop climate risk decision making workflows that align with and can support or improve existing business processes. The primary motivating use case for CRISP identified through user design was enabling climate risk to be incorporated into physical infrastructure investment decision-making.
The project approach was informed by previous work in the climate adaptation community (including the CSIRO's National Climate Adaptation Flagship, the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, and others) that identified the proliferation of unsupported data and process tools as creating confusion for potential user communities. Therefore, despite being an alpha prototype the project team was keen to ensure that the prototype, if possible, was built in a way that meant it could be scaled up to an operational system that could be sustained and supported long term rather than being a 'throw away' proof of concept.
ATLAS OF LIVING AUSTRALIA
The Atlas of Living Australia (ALA or Atlas) is an e-infrastructure that is funded by the Australian Government via its National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). It comprises a centralised web-based infrastructure to capture, aggregate, manage, discover and analyse biodiversity data and associated information, through a suite of tools and spatial layers for use by research, industry, government and the community. It is an open source technology stack with micro-services component architecture.
Based on identified user requirements, the Atlas of Living Australia was identified as a platform that provided much of the functionality required for CRISP and could be re-purposed for use in the CRISP project. Of particular interest was the data collection platform, BioCollect, which provides flexible and configurable project-centric forms-based capability to support user defined field data collection surveys. This tool also has a structure which can readily support extensible workflow requirements.
THE AGILE JOURNEY
An agile software development approach was used to develop the alpha prototype in the first phase of the project. An instance of BioCollect was deployed with identified subset of micro services "dockerised" for deployment.
Climate risk workflows were rapidly prototyped in power-point, tested with users and used as specifications for workflow configuration. However, the BioCollect information model underpinning the surveys, in it's present form, proved to be insufficient to meet the needs of complex climate risk decision making workflows. In addition, there was a high transaction cost ('repurposing technical debt') in customizing BioCollect user interfaces in a rapid proof of concept, alpha prototype.
Consequently it was decided that a separate User Interface (UI)I in Java and HTML and underlying workflow persistence layer using MongoDB would be developed. These would be treated as high fidelity prototypes that would be tested with users and used to inform customization and extension of the BioCollect codebase in the next phase of the project – the beta prototype.
From this process there are a number of lessons that can be learned about how to: build and maximize potential for platforms reuse and repurposing; assess platforms for reuse; estimate potential hidden transaction costs (repurposing technical debt); manage risks through rapid prototyping and identifying key decision points along the development pathway described above.
This presentation will describe this journey in more detail, articulate some key lessons learned and implications for reuse and repurposing of eResearch infrastructure to maximize return on investment.
1 Australian Government, National Climate Resilience and Adaptation Strategy 2015. 2015, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
2 Webb, R. & Beh, J., Leading adaptation practices and support strategies for Australia: An international and Australian review of products and tools, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Gold Coast, 105 pp.
Paul works for CSIRO Land and Water and leads research into the social, institutions and economic dimension of public information infrastructure (or systems of systems). He is developing an inter-disciplinary 'social architecture' approach to understanding and designing conducive environments for infrastructure development.
This approaches are being applied in the environmental and other domains to enable efficient data supply and digital transformation.
Paul has a background in geospatial informatics and has been involved in the research, design and implementation of geospatial information infrastructure at global and national scales for the past 15 years. Prior to joining CSIRO, Paul worked for nearly two decades in Asia and Africa for the UN and government, designing, implementing and managing geospatial capabilities to support sustainable development and humanitarian response.


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Tech Decks are fingerboards. They are for tricks. Each one has it's own unique design. You need to be able to pull off some tricks to impress people and have fun.
 1. 1
 The base position of finger-boarding is putting your index finger on the logo and the pointer finger on the tail, on the back bolts.
 2. 2
 Try a shove-it. Put your fingers into the starting position and spin the board with your pointer finger on the tail. You don't need to apply too much pressure.
 3. 3
 Learn the pop. Easier than the shove-it, this isn't really a trick, but you must be able to do a pop. Get your fingers onto the base position, and press down with your middle finger to launch the "nose" of the board into the air, while keeping the "tail" on the ground. This is a Pop.
 4. 4
 Try ollie-ing. The main motto for ollie-ing, is to pop up, and push forward. This isn't entirely correct but it's partly true. Put your fingers onto the position, and pop the board up - now, immediately slide your index finger to the "nose" of the board to level the board out evenly, and bring the board a few inches to the air. Land the board onto the floor. This is a trick that you need to learn.
 5. 5
 Learn grinding. Where there is a small, miniature rail, ollie the board into the air with a 90 degree turn to the side. Land the board onto the rail, and slide the board. This is a grind. To do a slide, do this without a 90 degree turn. Impressive, eh?
 6. 6
 Create your own tricks, check out _URL_ and also make up your own tricks. But don't bother registering on techdeck.com. When you do, it immediately deletes your account.
 - Practice, practice oh and practice
 - Have fun!
 - Don't break your decks.
Things You'll Need
 - Tech deck
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Español: hacer trucos en tu Tech Deck
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ACM is a "Thought Partner".
ACM functions with minimal supervision to assess, analyze, evaluate, and report:
- Project management maturity evaluation; comparing best practices and current corporate processes;
- Program Management Office development;
- Recognition of early problem areas utilizing trend analysis;
- Assessed risks and recommend solutions;
- Guidance, direction, and reporting on resolving concerning trends;
- Lessons Learned facilitation and assessments;
These services include the following:
- Development of implementation training and hand-off of project control systems and programs;
- Performance assessments;
- Management system and process analysis;
- Procedure evaluations and recommendations;
- Managed task services;
- Short-term assignments to relieve peak resource demands;
- Longer-term placement of project professionals to assist in accomplishing project goals and corporate objectives.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


Who funds the military
Who funds the military spending?
By the Department of Defense's own accounting, taxpayers spent $13.34 trillion on the U.S. military from 2000 through fiscal year 2019 in inflation-adjusted 2020 dollars. Add to that another $3.18 trillion for the Veterans Administration, and the yearly average comes to a whopping $826 billion.
Does the government own the military?
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national security and the United States Armed Forces.
Which military branch gets the most funding?
What does the US military spend the most money on?
As large as the DOD budget is, the total amount spent by the United States on national security is actually much higher. The largest chunk outside DOD is spent by the Department of Veterans Affairs, which cares for former troops injured in past conflicts and funds the pensions of military retirees.
How much of US budget goes to military?
15 percent
What percentage of US taxes go to military?
You might be interested: How old can you be and still join the military
Do civilians outrank military?
How large is US military?
one million
Is the president a military officer?
The Commander-in-Chief a Civilian Officer. The President does not enlist in, and he is not inducted or drafted into, the armed forces. Nor, is he subject to court-martial or other military discipline.
Which branch of military is easiest?
the Air Force
Is Army better than Air Force?
Why is the Air Force better than the Navy?
The Navy mainly supports operations in the sea but has a large air component as well. The Air Force is responsible for protecting the United States through air operations, cyberspace, and space.
Is military spending good for the economy?
Military spending is not considered a productive activity that can contribute positively to GDP, however It effect indirectly through decreasing the risk and provide stability, moreover since its considered a major expenditure in many countries, it could indirectly affect the economy by increasing income level as well
How many people are in the US military?
1.3 million
You might be interested: 1600 military time is what time in hours
How much does the US spend on law enforcement?
From 1977 to 2017, state and local government spending on police increased from $42 billion to $115 billion (in 2017 inflation-adjusted dollars). However, as a percentage of direct general expenditures, police spending has remained consistently at just under 4 percent for the past 40 years.


Foodservice Equipment – How a Garbage Disposal Works
How a Garbage Disposal Works
Many people think a garbage disposal works like a blender, with spinning blades chopping and breaking down the waste. In reality, garbage disposals work in a different way – and there are NO blades involved.
Instead, impellers, or lugs, mounted on a spinning plate use centrifugal force to continuously force food waste particles against a stationary grind ring.
The "grind ring" breaks down the food waste into very fine particles, virtually liquefying them. After they're ground, the running water flushes the particles through the "grind ring" and out of the disposer and into your waste water pipe.
From there, it flows to a wastewater treatment plant or your septic system.


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In 1980, Congress began passing provisions that made Medicare a secondary payer to certain primary plans in particular situations.
For example, Medicare is the secondary payer to coverage provided by Group Health Plans (GHPs) if a beneficiary is employed at a company with 20 or more employees, or if a beneficiary's spouse (of any age) is enrolled in a GHP through an employer.
Employees may reject coverage through a GHP, so Medicare will become the primary payer, but employers will not be able to offer secondary coverage for services covered by Medicare.
There are exceptions, however. For example, Medicare is the secondary payer for up to 30 months for people with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) who are covered by a GHP. The period begins when the employee becomes eligible for Medicare.
Medicare is also secondary insurance for people under 65 years old who are living with a disability and covered by a Large Group Health Plan (LGHP) (100 employees or more), or who have a family member covered by such a plan.
Medicare is secondary to workers' compensation (WC) plans, liability insurance and all forms of no-fault insurance, although it will make a conditional payment if one of the aforementioned plans will not pay or will not pay promptly.
Medicare will also make conditional payments for claims denied by an employee's GHP or LGHP, or if a beneficiary fails to file a proper claim due to mental or physical incapacity. Medicare will not make conditional payments if a claim is denied for one of the following reasons:
- GHP is alleged to be secondary to Medicare;
- GHP limits payment because a beneficiary is entitled to Medicare;
- GHP covers services for younger employees and spouses but not those over 65;
- Or the beneficiary fails to files a claim for any reason other than mental or physical incapacity.
In general, if a beneficiary has more than one primary private insurer, the costs are coordinated between the insurers. For example, if one plan is based on retirement, then Medicare is the primary payer; if the other plan is based on employment, then Medicare is the secondary payer. In this the case, the order of payment would be: GHP, Medicare, retirement plan.
What Is the Single-Payer System?
What Are Bundled Payments?
What Is the Premium Support Option, and How Is it Different From Current Medicare?

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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Headhunters from Roviana, Solomon Islands: part 1
How chiefs and warriors attained their authority
Headhunting was not unique to the Solomon Islands. It was practiced in various cultures, including pre-Columbian Central America, East Asia, prehistoric and medieval Europe and pre-colonial New Zealand.
The headhunting in the form observed in the Roviana area in the 19th century may represent around a 500 year old tradition. In the 16th century the Austronesian and non-Austronesian speaking people of this area underwent a cultural transformation and amalgamation into new economic and ritual arrangements organised around centralised coastal chiefdoms (or polities). These polities exercised their influence via the control of food production in the island's interior and extensive trading networks. Observations made after the 1830s, during the increasing presence of Europeans, shows that headhunting raids accelerated in scope, frequency and ferocity, leading some to believe that they were a largely unintended product of colonial influence. Yet the closer examination of evidence, including indigenous perspective, oral history and archaeological data supports a view that this practice was well entrenched in native tradition extending to prehistoric times.
Throughout the 19th century, villages in the western and central Solomon Islands were frequently attacked by Roviana headhunters, who 'have for many centuries been in the habit of making raids upon neighbouring islands for the purpose of taking human heads and capturing slaves' - says an anthropological study.
This habit consisted of many complex strands but in essence it 'served Roviana chiefs and warriors as a vehicle for their own political legitimacy'. Headhunting raids and accumulating skulls was a highly visible and ritualised display of their status. Roviana chiefdoms had strong kinship ties which gave them a good basis for maintaining political alliances. Although shifting and fluctuating over time, these partnerships provided them with political advantage and military strength.
Hostile expeditions were mounted either against near neighbours as a revenge in local conflicts or against distant islands for a ritualised collection of trophy heads and slaves.
Local expeditions were typically small scale attacks by hired assassins in revenge killing for murder, adultery or the transgression of customary law. Such killings rarely involved beheading, as the spirit of dead kin (boso lau) was considered extremely dangerous and would have to be appeased by ritual practices.
Large, distant raids, often including two or five canoes and 30-50 warriors, were commissioned to kill powerful rival warriors or to destroy entire hostile group. Beheading was practiced when the Roviana war party attacked non-Roviana groups, often in the islands of Chaiseul, Isabel, Russell, Malaita and western Guadalcanal. The heads were needed for the inauguration of a new communal house, to commemorate the death of a chief or release a widow from confinement. They also were needed for the inauguration (va-peza) of a Roviana war canoe – a ritual to please ancestors and to ensure the canoe's combative success in the future. It was believed that it was necessary to carry a victim's head on the maiden voyage of the canoe to prevent jinxing it (tamu garata).
There were other benefits of headhunting raids. Children were captured for work and sacrifice, including purification rituals to ensure the maintenance of natural order. Young women were captured for ritualised sex, work, adoption and eventual marriage.
Shankar Aswani. 2000. Changing identities: The ethnohistory of Roviana predatory headhunting. Journal of the Polynesian Society 109: 39-70.
Shankar Aswani and Peter Sheppard. 2003. The archaeology and ethnohistory of exchange in pre-colonial and colonial Roviana. Current Anthropology 44: 51-78.
Dr Stan Florek, Database Manager


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In law, a concurring opinion is in certain legal systems a written opinion by one or more judges of a court which agrees with the decision made by the majority of the court, but states different (or additional) reasons as the basis for his or her decision. When no absolute majority of the court can agree on the basis for deciding the case, the decision of the court may be contained in a number of concurring opinions, and the concurring opinion joined by the greatest number of judges is referred to as the plurality opinion.
As a practical matter, concurring opinions are slightly less useful to lawyers than majority opinions. Having failed to receive a majority of the court's votes, concurring opinions are not binding precedent and cannot be cited as such. But concurring opinions can sometimes be cited as a form of persuasive precedent (assuming the point of law is one on which there is no binding precedent already in effect). The conflict in views between a majority opinion and a concurring opinion can assist a lawyer in understanding the points of law articulated in the majority opinion. Occasionally, a judge will use a concurring opinion to signal that he or she is open to certain types of test cases that would facilitate the development of a new legal rule, and in turn, such a concurring opinion may become more famous than the majority opinion in the same case. A well-known example of this phenomenon is Escola v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co. (1944).
Concurring opinions may be held by courts but not expressed: in many legal systems the court "speaks with one voice" and thus any concurring or dissenting opinions are not reported.
Types of concurring opinionsEdit
There are several kinds of concurring opinion. A simple concurring opinion arises when a judge joins the decision of the court but has something to add. Concurring in judgment means that the judge agrees with the majority decision (the case's ultimate outcome in terms of who wins and who loses) but not with the reasoning of the majority opinion (why one side wins and the other loses).
Concurring opinions by regionEdit
In some courts, such as the Supreme Court of the United States, the majority opinion may be broken down into numbered or lettered parts, and then concurring justices may state that they join some parts of the majority opinion, but not others, for the reasons given in their concurring opinion. In other courts, such as the Supreme Court of California, the same justice may write a majority opinion and a separate concurring opinion to express additional reasons in support of the judgment (which are joined only by a minority).
In some jurisdictions (e.g., California), the term may be abbreviated in certain contexts to conc. opn.
Terminology at the various courtsEdit
- At the International Court of Justice, the term "separate opinion" is used and judges can also add declarations to the judgment.
- The term concurring opinion is used at the Supreme Court of the United States.
- The European Court of Human Rights uses the term concurring opinion and calls both concurring and dissenting opinions separate opinions. Judges very rarely add declarations to the judgment.
- Historically the Law Lords of the United Kingdom gave each an opinion of their own and no aggregated judgment was provided. However, the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom allows for such aggregated judgements, and it is theoretically possible for such concurring opinions to now arise.
Notable concurring opinionsEdit
- Whitney v. California (1927), Justice Louis Brandeis+1, free speech, became precedent 50 years later in Brandenburg v. Ohio.
- Escola v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co. (1944), Justice Roger Traynor, strict liability for manufacturers, became precedent 19 years later in Greenman v. Yuba Power.
- Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952), Justice Robert H. Jackson, definitive test for the limits of Presidential power.
- See, e.g., McConnell v. Federal Election Commission, 540 U.S. 93 (2003).
- See, e.g., Cheong v. Antablin, 16 Cal. 4th 1063 (1997). Justice Ming Chin's concurrence began with these words: "Obviously, I concur in the majority opinion I have authored. I write separately to state another reason to reject plaintiff's argument."
- According to Professor Frédéric Rolin, ECHR judges added declarations in only two cases: Papon v. France (25 July 2002) and Martinie v. France (12 April 2006) ("Note sous CEDH 12 avril 2006, Martinie c/ France", 18 April 2006 Archived 7 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine)


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surveyor should also record observations about the extent to which the physical remains are repositories of information, including the presence or absence of artifacts that carry information needed to answer important research questions about mining technology or community. Mining resource surveys will often require multi-disciplinary approaches to survey, using the talents of archeologists, historians of technology, landscape architects, architects, and mining engineers as well as assistance from geologists or practicing miners or individuals with first hand knowledge of the area.
Beyond field identification of individual physical remains, the greatest challenge connected with mining property inventories involves the issue of property analysis. In this case, property analysis refers to the need to link the now disparate physical remains to the former reality of working mines and related social systems. What now appears to be disconnected and geographically isolated buildings, landforms, machinery, and archeological features once worked together to accomplish ore extraction or beneficiation.
Identifying the activities and the time periods represented by the physical remains is a key problem. Abandoned mining properties, for example, typically are reoccupied and may include buildings, machinery, landforms, and archeological remains from more than one time period. The new episodes of mining cut through the physical remains of older mining activities, making it difficult to interpret the engineering and other technological systems from earlier time periods. Sorting the physical remains by time period and activity into separate technological or social systems may be helpful. The location of the Tenabo Mill in central Nevada, for example, which was built in 1886 to process gold and silver ore, includes the mostly archeological remains of two separate beneficiation technologies: the Russell process in the original mill and the cyanide process installed in 1908. Evidence of both technological systems can be seen when viewing the extant physical remains today, but the earlier Russell process technology has been largely destroyed by the later cyanide operation (Hardesty, 1988).
Identifying Property Types
Mining properties may contain a great variety of resources representing the mineral-extraction process. Evaluation of these complex properties can be organized by noting that the processing of ore into metal includes the following three basic functions: extraction of the ore from the earth; beneficiation, which upgrades the ore's value; and refining, which enhances the value of the ore/metal even further until it achieves a nearly pure state.
All three functions may occur within one mining property, such as at some Western or southern Appalachian gold mines, or may be miles apart, such as iron, copper, or lead smelters located great distances from mines. Although a universal description of mineral properties will not address all individual cases, the following provides a general guide to defining historic mining property types based on these three fundamental stages of mineral processing:
The property types associated with mine extraction sites can be generally classified into two categories reflecting the evolution of a mine: prospecting/mine exploration property types and mine development or exploitation property types. The distinction can be applied to hard rock, placer, and coal mines.
Prospecting/Mine Exploration Property Types
These property types are associated with the search for ore bodies. Hand-dug prospect pits, power-shovel trenches, bulldozer cuts, and drill holes, for example, are the physical remains associated with four different patterns of mine exploration technology. Some additional explanation will help to understand the origin of typical exploration activity.
Mining is a speculative industry. To discover metal, many test pits or prospects must be dug. According to the 1872 Mining Law, holding an unpatented claim requires a miner to do annual assessment work that might include digging another prospect hole in order to retain possessory title by demonstrating that a claim is still active. If a mining district has a producing mine, speculators employ a process sometimes known as grubstaking that involves paying prospectors to seek outcrops of ore and to excavate exploratory shafts or adits. In return, the prospector promises the speculator a percentage of any profits earned. In big speculative ventures in coal, iron, or copper areas, investors might pay crews to test lands they have optioned for purchase. In placer mines, pits as well as trenches may be found across streambeds or on benches where placer miners sought gold at bedrock, often without luck.
Given this sort of activity, holes abound in mining areas. These holes are not truly mines, but prospects. Individually, these prospects may appear to lack significance. However, prospects are often associated with the phase of a region's mining history that witnessed rampant speculation or boom and bust. Entire mining camps have arisen based not on actual metal production, but on the speculative investment in prospects. Thus, isolated holes shafts or adits may qualify as separate property types. In addition, a combination of research and field work may reveal a pattern of prospect holes on the land that offers physical evidence of the speculative phase of mining development in a given region.
These prospect holes may acquire additional significance if historical archeological evidence associated with an adjacent camp or equipment is found. If the material culture possesses sufficient integrity, it will help the archeologist in reconstructing the unwritten history of the mining property. Additionally, the prospect hole may have significance if it is associated with any of the following: the first settler of an area, a prominent miner with whom no other properties are associated, or to prehistoric or aboriginal mining.
Mine Development and Exploitation Property Types
These property types are associated with the definition and extraction of an ore body. Typically found at such locations are the physical remains of hoisting works such as headframes and hoist engines; excavations such as open pits or shafts or adits; ventilation systems such as air shafts or blowers; power systems such as steam boilers or electric generator houses; drainage systems such as Cornish pumps; water delivery systems; ore bins or tipples; transportation systems such as shortline railroads or ore cart runways; and maintenance and administrative facilities such as blacksmith shops, assay laboratories, offices, and worker's housing. These structures and systems are described in the nine-volume Mining Library published by McGraw-Hill in the 1910s. Their eight-volume Library on Coal Mining series does the same for that industry.
Hard rock mines were opened with shafts or adits (tunnels). The ore was removed from large openings called stopes. Creation of these large openings required the use of new support technologies such as square-set timbering and, later, concrete supports. A hoist and head frame over a shaft used a cable and bucket or cage to hoist ore; a horizontal adit had a level or slightly inclined rail system to tap the vein. An open pit or surface pit used earth-moving machinery to remove overburden and to extract ore. At the mine surface, waste rock was dumped and ore was stored in bins to await shipment to processing plants.
Placer gold mines, abundant in the West, required a different technology than either hard rock or coal mines. For example, a placer gold mine system might include dams, penstocks, flumes, ditches and holding ponds for water; moved gravels and rock piles; sluice boxes or long toms; hydraulic nozzles; camp buildings; support structures; and, if used, dredges and their support facilities. Placer mines can extend for miles along a streambed.
Except for coal, placer gold, or the rare cases involving placer silver, platinum, or copper, most minerals are extracted from the ground in an impure and excessively bulky state and need to be upgraded before shipment to a refinery. Beneficiation the upgrading of ore to increase its value is accomplished in a processing plant. (Beneficiation, in its strictest form, includes every phase of upgrading mineral value, from the mine face to the refinery product. However, in its common use, the meaning of beneficiation is restricted to the processing of ore in a mill or concentrator, or otherwise preparing thr ore for refining. In the Iron Range of Minnesota, concentrators were called "beneficiation plants".) Beneficiation is a broad category, which includes many metallurgical processes.
The history of metallurgy is complex and rapid changes occurred during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Thus, one must be aware of changing processes used for metal beneficiation as well as the machinery developed to crush, concentrate, and separate metal from waste rock. Fortunately, the various processes used in connection with beneficiation property types are detailed in published textbooks. For example, Charles R. Hayward's An Outline of Metallurgical Practice (1929, revised 1940) describes over fifty different processes for extracting metals.
In general, the development of concentration mills changed through time to reduce the amount of skilled labor required for each ton of ore processed. In the book Cradle to Grave, Larry Lankton discusses the evolution of technology and its impact on Lake Superior copper mining labor and strife. It is important to link the evolution of mining technology to the impact it had on management, labor, business, politics, and communities, besides the obvious role it had in the history of science and technology.
Iron, copper, lead, zinc, and other base metal ores commonly were crushed and received initial beneficiation in concentrators that were first based upon gravity and then upon flotation processes. Understanding which process was used will help the field team determine what type of crushers and/or separation machines were used. This will also help with architectural description since mills were designed around the interior machinery metallurgy not the reverse.
Smelters represent another type of beneficiation plant. A smelter may accept high-grade ore directly from a mine or receive the concentrate from a mill for further reduction by heat. The heat and fluxes of the smelting process removed further impurities and upgraded the ore into a form known as a matte. Early smelters were small scale and operated either adjacent to, or in proximity to, the actual mines. As transportation networks evolved


Matthias Koch Reginald Beardsley
Mecrisp is an implementation of forth for the TI MSP430 and various members of the ARM family. It is written in the general spirit of ANS which urges the implementor to do what makes sense for their tasks and users.
The forth language was invented by Charles H. Moore in _PHONE_ to provide a means for conveniently programming the radio telescope at Kitt Peak. From that beginning, forth has become a popular language for implementing embedded systems as well as other tasks.
Chuck once wrote that he considered 4k word system quite adequate for most tasks. This is approximately what is available on the G2553 chip.
Much more information about forth can be found at:
A set of exercises with the G2553 LaunchPad are here
A set of exercises with the STM32F4Discovery are here
The wiki uses Markdown syntax


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Ask The Teacher
Do you have a martial arts question you would like to have answered?
We can't promise we have all the answers, but FightingArts.com's staff
and contributors will try to help. Just fill in the form at the bottom
of this page.
Topic: "O Sensei"
I have heard some Japanese martial arts students address their teachers
with "O Sensei," and also "Osu Sensei." Are the two
forms of address derived from the same source?
Actually the two terms are quite different. "O'Sensei" means
a venerable teacher while "Osu Sensei" is an acknowledgment,
such as, "Yes Sensei", "I understand Sensei," "Okay
Sensei", "I get it Sensei," or "Hello Sensei."
With "O'Sensei" it is a common misconception that the character
for "O" is just the alternate pronunciation for the character
"Dai," as in "Dai Sensei," which means "big Sensei."
But this is not the case. The character for "O" (in O'Sensei)
is another pronunciation for the character meaning "Okina" which
means "old man," or "venerable." An old Japanese dictionary
(gakken kanwa daijiten) says that it is a way of giving respect to an
older man. In Japan it is used to follow a name, acting as a suffix. This
is the same with such terms "san" and "Sensei." They
follow a name.
In the west, however, most people do not say a name followed by a suffix,
but instead lead with it. Thus we hear "Sensei" followed by
a name and the use of "O'Sensei." The term, however, is rarely
used. In the west it is most often associated with the founder of aikido
Morihei Ueshiba, but Ueshiba actually copied it from his teacher (daito
ryu) Sogaku Takeda.
Osu is a somewhat universal term that is commonly associated with many
traditional dojos, especially those in karate. It is a rather course sounding
word that is somewhat curt and almost abrasive to some Japanese ears outside
the martial arts and other situations. The term is also sometimes used
in the military as well as in sports activities, but probably not be used
at home or in more formal occasions.
Tadashi Nakamura's book "Karate, Technique and Spirit" explains
that "Osu" is a contraction of the phrase "Osu shinobu"
and was used in ancient times as a greeting and salutation meaning patience.
Thus, he suggests that it is an encouragement to others to persevere.


text:
The first version of this mud brick Friday mosque, begun in 1962, took the form of a rectangular hypostyle prayer hall with the projecting mihrab as the only secondary volume. In subsequent repairs a central dome was added and four corner towers built. Each tower is an individual sculpture with banded tapering walls becoming gradually more elaborate toward its pinnacle. Crenellations of half circles decorate the parapets and rounded cones mark the corners. Mud brick structures require cyclical maintenance, alterations and repairs. For the Yaama mosque this activity was from the beginning an act of religious devotion in which the entire community participates, and so it continues to be. Everyone contributes to the caretaking of the mosque in proportion to his or her ability to do so. Some make mud bricks; others carry them to the building site. Women carry water for brick and mortar production while others cut and gather wood. The jury commended the manifest will to use traditional techniques in a creative manner, to experiment with them and to achieve results that induce a new awareness of their possibilities.
AKAA 1986 Resources
Other 1986 Cycle Recipients
© 2007 The Aga Khan Development Network. This is the only authorised Website of the Aga Khan Development Network.


text:
Jacob Davis was Born in 1834 in Riga Latvia. He came to the US and then to San Francisco in the 1850s. He moved around the West extensively trying to make a living through the 1860s. In 1870 Jacob settled in Reno tailoring fine clothing and manufacturing utilitarian items such as tents and horse blankets from "duck" (a sturdy cotton fabric) with copper rivets for added strength.
In the late 1870s a woman came to him for a pair of "cheap" pants for her "large" husband who had the habit of going through pants rather quickly. Having found that thread alone did not always adequately hold the pockets onto work pants, Jacob decided to try out rivets, which had proven their worth on horse blankets on the pockets for these pants.
By 1871 Davis was routinely using rivets on the pants he made, first on duck, soon after on denim, and was beginning to be imitated by other tailors. He contacted Levi Strauss, his fabric supplier, to help him apply for a patent. The patent was approved in 1873. Levi invited Davis to San Francisco to oversee production of the riveted pants for the Levi Strauss and Company. Davis continued to supervise the Levi Strauss factory until his death in 1908, the same year that the rivet patent went into public domain.
Click here to see the text of the letter Jacob Davis wrote to Levi Strauss in 1872.


Sunday, June 19, 2011
Blockbusters Do Not Rest Our Brains
Many people have called mindless blockbusters an opportunity to rest our brains. They say these movies are relaxing because they don't make us think too much about big ideas or because they don't require a lot of focus to follow. Yes, they don't make us think too much and they are usually somewhat easy to follow, but I most certainly do not find them restful to watch. They overstimulate the brain. They make the brain work involuntarily. Part of the reason people like over-the-top escapist action movies is that they are the opposite of rest. We are passive yet we are active. This activity is not restful. Overdone blockbusters are not a rest for the brain.
What is mental rest? To me, it is a relaxation of the brain, an almost non-use of the brain. The mind is at peace because it is contentedly clear of not only thought, but of stimulus. Your whole being becomes relaxed. To me, some sort of meditation would be the height of mental rest. Some might not first think of this as rest because this state is not found without effort, but moments like this truly are peaceful and restful, both for mind and body. Sometimes it is challenging to fall asleep at night, but we don't stay up all night and call our lack of discipline rest. A Hollywood movie is the exact opposite of this idea. Hollywood movies are built on constant action and stimulus. Although this must work some lower level of the brain (I'm no brain scientist), this stimulus overload is most certainly making the brain move and do work. Hollywood blockbusters get us amped up. This may be a feeling that someone is looking for in a given moment, but it is not rest.
Great song, but I don't understand how people can listen to it before going to bed.
I think many people like mainstream movies, whether they realize it or not, not because they give us rest, but because they give us a false sense of activity. We are passively entertained by action which gives us a vicarious sense of being active. This may be a bodily rest, but it is not a true mental rest. Movies are merely involuntary brain work. People enjoy the feeling of doing something, but without the effort of doing it or coming up with something to do. We are busy, but so are our movies. Rest makes us restless. Quietude is scary. Our constant need to be doing something and our spirit of busyness can secretly poison our leisure. A Hollywood movie is to the mind like having someone else drag your arms in the movement of a jumping jack.
Are movies a rest as a change of pace? This could be a validation of movies being a certain form of rest. For a response to this argument, see my article Overexposure and the Failure of Escapism.
What movies do I personally find restful? A slim plot is a good choice. This does not mean the movie is dumb. It merely means that it does not get bogged down with a million plot details and things happening. Black and white is usually softer on the eyes than color, so long as the video quality is decent. A soft soundtrack is also nice. Having an all around lack of boisterousness, big explosions and gunfights, etc. Characters can get a little boisterous, but the tone of the movie should not go with them. Big themes need not disturb our sense of rest because we rest in them rather than trying to solve them at that exact moment in time as things pertinent to the plot would need immediate solutions. Lastly, it can sometimes be helpful if a movie is shorter, thus not having to hold our attention for too long. These are the types of movies I can watch before going to bed.
Hollywood movies give us a false sense of rest and cause us to mistake laziness for restfulness. Mental laziness is not rest. Mainstream movies are filled to the brim with frenetic energy that sets us on edge. Lastly, as a Christian, I am reminded of the words of Saint Augustine, "Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our heart is not quiet until it rests in Thee." (He's referring to God)
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Buying a term policy is not just about scouting for the insurer that provides the lowest quote. You might have got the cheapest but not necessarily the best.
What if you signed up with an insurer that quoted the lowest premium and it ultimately folded up its operations? Or that it refused to settle the claim to your near-and-near ones? In such circumstances, the whole purpose of taking a life cover is not fulfilled.
What's a term cover?
Buying a term policy involves a bit of research. Before we delve into it, let's understand a term life cover. It is a type of life insurance that guarantees payment of a stated amount (sum assured) to the beneficiary if the insured dies during the active term of the policy. It is the cheapest among all the types of insurance policies, as it provides a pure risk cover.
One can shortlist insurance companies for buying a term cover by looking at the following factors:
1. Claim Settlement Ratio (CSR)
It is the ratio of claims (approved and) paid by an insurer during a financial year as a percentage of the total number of claims received. So, a CSR of 95 per cent means that out of 100 claims, 95 of them were paid. The rest were rejected, written back or are pending approval.
Higher the CSR, better it is for the buyer. As it indicates that the insurer is more likely to honour their commitments.
CSR gives a good glimpse into the claim assessment, survey and claim underwriting process of the company. However, its figures keep fluctuating. That's why you need to look at a five-year average to get an inkling about the insurer's consistency in settling claims.
claim settlement ratio
Additionally, check the alacrity with which the insurers settle their claims. Insurers that have a high percentage of claims pending for more than six months need to be viewed cautiously.
2. Solvency ratio
Imagine a situation where a massive earthquake or flood puts a huge death claim on the insurer. Will it be able to absorb such financial shocks?
Solvency ratio is one measure that tests the long-term survival of an insurer by checking its capital vis-a-vis the risks it has undertaken. Similar to the capital adequacy ratio of a bank, it gauges the insurer's ability to meet its financial obligations.
It is measured by checking how much the company has in assets (in excess) as against its liabilities and essentially indicates the financial buffer. Higher the solvency ratio of an insurer, lesser is the chance of bankruptcy.
As per IRDA guidelines, all insurers have to maintain a minimum solvency ratio of 1.5.
However, a high solvency ratio need not always indicate good financial health. It's likely that a player might have reported more profits or investment assets that are likely to be deployed soon. Therefore, look for a consistently high solvency ratio as it keeps changing every quarter as more policies get underwritten.
solvency ratio
3. Brand value
Is the insurance brand trustworthy in your eyes? The brand value indicates the trust put by its customers on the insurer. Building trust takes a lot of time and hard work and depends on three core competencies: service, consistency and transparency.
First of all, how has its service been? Surf and find out the opinions of its customers on the internet. Use disproportionately high levels of negative customer reviews as a filter to weed out insurers. Perhaps their service quality is actually not up to the mark.
Consistency is its ability to provide an equivalent level of service, regardless of which employee you deal with or which service you choose. Some customers get comfortable with a certain service of a brand and logically follow them for another service. For instance, a good banking relationship might lead one to subscribe to their insurance products as well.
Finally, it's about transparency. Honesty, as they say, is the best policy. Does the insurer make all the necessary disclosures about their product? Are their life advisors pushy and often paint a rosy picture? Or they insist on following procedures and making full disclosures? Investigate complaints received against the concerned insurers in the area of disputes over claims, policy cancellations and sales misrepresentations to get an inkling of the insurer's value system.
4. Cost of insurance
Once you have weeded out the bad ones, shop-around for the best premium quote among the shortlisted ones. However, compare apples with apples only.
One policy might have a higher premium but also offer more benefits. A rider in a term policy such as waiver of premium can make it costlier. Similarly, not disclosing your smoking habit can lower premiums by 30 per cent or more. However, there is a high risk of a claim getting rejected due to withholding of such vital information.
Premium also differs based on the tenure of the policy and the mode of payment.
Cheapest might not be the best. CSR is one good way to check if insurers are honouring their commitments. Solvency ratio, in turn, indicates its ability to meet short-term and long-term obligations. Use them as filters while choosing a trustworthy insurer that's lighter on your pocket.


AS3Unit is a unit testing framework. It was designed to make the testing process easier and straightforward, differently from other frameworks that require a significant amount of setting up and reconfiguring.
In order to use the framework, all tests must be placed in a convenient folder structure. Every class in folder will be run as test cases, but only methods starting with 'test' will be run. The available assert methods are like those in any other unit testing framework. ex: assert, assertFalse, assertEquals, assertSame, assertNotEquals, assertNotSame. There are fail helper methods as well: setUp, tearDown, setUpClass, tearDownClass.
import com.hoten.as3unit.TestCase;
public class TestAsserts extends TestCase {
 public function testCanary():void {
 public function thisIsNotATest():void {
 fail("Expected only methods starting with 'test' to run!");
 public function testAssertEqualsOneAndOnePasses():void {
 assertEquals(1, 1);
Testing. URL.


text:
A crowd gathered at Queen's Park on Sunday to celebrate the first B.C. Loyalist Day in British Columbia.
The four Pacific regional branches of the united Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada - Vancouver, Chilliwack, Thompson-Okanagan and Victoria - gathered to celebrate B.C. Loyalist Day. The provincial government declared July 22 as Loyalist Day in British Columbia.
The event gave the groups a chance to celebrate their Loyalist ancestors.
"Many British Columbians are direct descendants of the first Loyalists who arrived in what is now eastern Canada in 1783 after the American Revolution," said a press release about the event. "Following the French settlements in Acadia and New France in the 1600s and early 1700s, there was second major wave of immigration starting in the 1770s. The number of Loyalists varies depending on which historian you cite, but it is estimated that 50,000 to 100,000 displaced Loyalists came as the 'first boat people' to what is now Canada. These were British subjects who had originally settled in the 13 colonies but were more loyal to the British Crown following the start to the American Revolution. The patriots would go on to win the war. These new settlers were called the Loyalists and are considered Canada's first political refugees."
At the July 22 event in New Westminster, the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada read a proclamation about Loyalist Day, unfurled the Loyalist flag and enjoyed a picnic.


text:
The essential moisture control product for veneer. The key is proper drainage and ventilation.
The Glen-Gery Drainage Mat is an all-wall engineered rain screen drainage and ventilation mat for all sidewall applications including manufactured brick and stone. The Glen-Gery Drainage Mat creates a rainscreen concept without the cavity wall cost. It also helps neutralize the air pressure differences between the outer and inner wall, which greatly reduces the opportunity moisture has to infiltrate the wall system.
When there is a significant air pressure difference between the outside environment and the inner wall system, moisture is driven into a wall system via cracked sealant joints caused by the expansion and contraction of building materials over time. Diffusion and capillary action play a major roll in moisture migration as well. By building with the Glen-Gery Drainage Mat, the wall system will not only drain correctly, but ventilate as well. It has been proven that ventilation in a convective fashion will dry the wall out significantly quicker than conventional methods.
In residential construction the siding is often installed directly against the weather resistive barrier. Once moisture gets past the veneer it has nowhere to escape. This will often lead to call backs for moisture related issues, such as mold and rot, which become costly for both the homeowner and the contractors involved. Glen-Gery's Drainage Mat is the clear choice to avoid these moisture-related issues.
- Perfect for brick and stone.
- Creates a dedicated airspace behind veneer for enhanced drainage and ventilation.
- Helps to prevent moisture problems, mold growth, and premature wall assembly deterioration.
- Integrated insect screen.
- Class A Flame Spread Rating.
- 30-day UV exposure (max).
Drainage Mat 202
- Available Thickness: 6mm (.25")
- Roll Size: 39" x 61.5'
- Roll Weight: 16 lbs.
- Roll Diameter: 16"
- Heat bonded filter fabric with built in bug screen


text:
Hexagonal prism 2
The regular hexagonal prism has a surface of 140 cm2 and height of 5 cm. Calculate its volume.
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To solve this example are needed these knowledge from mathematics:
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Birds on a Cold Night: How do our feathered friends fare when it's cold?
During December, birds spend the long, cold nights in a protected place, sheltered from rain and safe from nighttime predators. Small forest birds, such as nuthatches and creepers, may spend the night huddled together in tree cavities. Birds like this male Mallard fluff up their feathers for insulation, hunker down over their legs and feet, and turn their heads around to poke their beaks under their shoulder feathers.


text:
Thirst is harder for trees to endure than hunger, because they can satisfy their hunger whenever they want. Like a baker who always has enough bread, a tree can satisfy a rumbling stomach right away using photosynthesis. But even the best baker cannot bake without water, and the same goes for a tree: Without moisture, food production stops.
A mature beech tree can send more than 130 gallons of water a day coursing through its branches and leaves, and this is what it does as long as it can draw enough water up from below. However, the moisture in the soil would soon run out if the tree were to do that every day in summer. In the warmer seasons, it doesn't rain nearly enough to replenish water levels in the desiccated soil. Therefore, the tree stockpiles water in winter.
In winter, the tree is not consuming as much water, because most plants take a break from growing at that time of year. Together with below ground accumulation of spring showers, the stockpiled water usually lasts until the onset of summer. But in many years, water then gets scarce. After a couple of weeks of high temperatures and no rain, forests usually begin to suffer. The most severely affected trees are those that grow in soils where moisture is usually particularly abundant. These trees don't know the meaning of restraint and are lavish in their water use, and it is usually the largest and most vigorous trees that pay the price for this behavior.
In the forest I manage, the stricken trees are usually spruce, which burst not at every seam but certainly along their trunks. If the ground has dried out and the needles high up in the crown are still demanding water, at some point, the tension in the drying wood simply becomes too much for the tree to bear. It crackles and pops, and a tear about 3 feet long opens in its bark. This tear penetrates deep into the tissue and severely injures the tree. Fungal spores immediately take advantage of the tear to invade the innermost parts of the tree, where they begin their destructive work. In the years to come, the spruce will try to repair the wound, but the tear doesn't always heal. From some distance away, you can see a black channel streaked with pitch that bears witness to this painful process.
And with that, we have arrived at the heart of tree school. Unfortunately, this is a place where a certain amount of physical punishment is still the order of the day, for Nature is a strict teacher. If a tree does not pay attention and do what it's told, it will suffer. Splits in its wood, in its bark, in its extremely sensitive cambium (the life-giving layer under the bark): It doesn't get any worse than this for a tree. It has to react, and it does this not only by attempting to seal the wound. From then on, it will also do a better job of rationing water instead of pumping whatever is available out of the ground as soon as spring hits without giving a second thought to waste. The tree takes the lesson to heart, and from then on it will stick with this new, thrifty behavior, even when the ground has plenty of moisture—after all, you never know!
When trees are really thirsty, they begin to scream.
It's no surprise that it is spruce growing in areas with abundant moisture that are affected in this way: They are spoiled. Barely half a mile away, on a dry, stony, south-facing slope, things look very different. At first, I had expected damage to the spruce trees here because of severe summer drought. What I observed was just the opposite. The tough trees that grow on this slope are well versed in the practices of denial and can withstand far worse conditions than their colleagues, who are spoiled for water. Even though there is much less water available here year round—because the soil retains less water and the sun burns much hotter—the spruce growing here are thriving. They grow considerably more slowly, clearly make better use of what little water there is, and survive even extreme years fairly well.
A much more obvious lesson in tree school is how trees learn to support themselves. Trees don't like to make things unnecessarily difficult. Why bother to grow a thick, sturdy trunk if you can lean comfortably against your neighbors? As long as they remain standing, not much can go wrong. In natural forests, it is the death from old age of a mighty mother tree that leaves surrounding trees without support. That's how gaps in the canopy open up, and how formerly comfortable beeches or spruce find themselves suddenly wobbling on their own two feet—or rather, on their own root systems. Trees are not known for their speed, and it takes some species many years before they stand firm once again after such disruptions.
The process of learning stability is triggered by painful micro-tears that occur when the trees bend way over in the wind, first in one direction and then in the other. Wherever it hurts, that's where the tree must strengthen its support structure. This takes a whole lot of energy, which is then unavailable for growing upward. A small consolation is the additional light that is now available for the tree's own crown, thanks to the loss of its neighbor. But, here again, it takes a number of years for the tree to take full advantage of this. So far, the tree's leaves have been adapted for low light, and so they are very tender and particularly sensitive to light. If the bright sun were to shine directly on them now, they would be scorched—ouch, that hurts! And because the buds for the coming year are formed the previous spring and summer, it takes a deciduous tree at least two growing seasons to adjust. Conifers take even longer, because their needles stay on their branches for up to 10 years. The situation remains tense until all the green leaves and needles have been replaced.
The thickness and stability of a trunk, therefore, build up as the tree responds to a series of aches and pains. In a natural forest, this little game can be repeated many times over the lifetime of a tree. Once the gap opened by the loss of another tree is overcome and everyone has extended their crowns so far out that the window of light into the forest is, once again, closed, then everyone can go back to leaning on everyone else. When that happens, more energy is put into growing trunks tall instead of wide, with predictable consequences when, decades later, the next tree breathes its last.
The trees that were being eaten gave off a warning gas that signaled to neighboring trees that a crisis was at hand.
So, let's return to the idea of school. If trees are capable of learning (and you can see they are just by observing them), then the question becomes: Where do they store what they have learned and how do they access this information? After all, they don't have brains to function as databases and manage processes. It's the same for all plants, and that's why some scientists are skeptical and why many of them banish to the realm of fantasy the idea of plants' ability to learn. But along comes the Australian scientist Monica Gagliano.
Gagliano studies mimosas, also called "sensitive plants." Mimosas are tropical creeping herbs. They make particularly good research subjects, because it is easy to get them a bit riled up and they are easier to study in the laboratory than trees are. When they are touched, they close their feathery little leaves to protect themselves. Gagliano designed an experiment where individual drops of water fell on the plants' foliage at regular intervals. At first, the anxious leaves closed immediately, but after a while, the little plants learned there was no danger of damage from the water droplets. After that, the leaves remained open despite the drops. Even more surprising for Gagliano was the fact that the mimosas could remember and apply their lesson weeks later, even without any further tests.
It's a shame you can't transport entire beeches or oaks into the laboratory to find out more about learning. But, at least as far as water is concerned, there is research in the field that reveals more than just behavioral changes: When trees are really thirsty, they begin to scream. If you're out in the forest, you won't be able to hear them, because this all takes place at ultrasonic levels. Scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, and Landscape Research recorded the sounds, and this is how they explain them: Vibrations occur in the trunk when the flow of water from the roots to the leaves is interrupted. This is a purely mechanical event and it probably doesn't mean anything.1 And yet?
We know how the sounds are produced, and if we were to look through a microscope to examine how humans produce sounds, what we would see wouldn't be that different: The passage of air down the windpipe causes our vocal chords to vibrate. When I think about the research results, in particular in conjunction with the crackling roots I mentioned earlier, it seems to me that these vibrations could indeed be much more than just vibrations—they could be cries of thirst. The trees might be screaming out a dire warning to their colleagues that water levels are running low.
Peter Wohlleben studied forestry and was a civil servant in the forestry commission for over 20 years. He holds lectures and seminars and has written books on subjects pertaining to woodlands and nature protection. His bestselling book The Hidden Life of Trees has sold to more than 20 countries.
From the book The Hidden Life of Trees, © 2016, by Peter Wohlleben. Published in 2016 by Greystone Books. Reprinted with permission of the


text:
Regional conditions vary widely. When works of art are displayed or stored in or nearby a city, pollution from car exhaust and the burning of fossil fuel endangers them. In the tropics or near-tropics, high relative humidity, sunlight and mold pose threats.
Interior pollution must be considered as well. What will be the immediate surroundings? A new building, for example, with fresh paint and new concrete can be a dangerous place to install works of art, especially photographic prints. The frame can mitigate some of these dangers, but protecting works of art exposed in the world entails monitoring conditions and, if possible, controlling the environment outside the frame as well.
Works of art are especially vulnerable to light, relative humidity, heat, pollution and biological threats. When uncontrolled these factors act in concert. Mold, a biological threat, is everywhere. But only in conditions of high heat and high humidity does mold pose a serious hazard. Oxidation is a constant threat of damage to paper, and acidity in paper has long been a major cause of its disintegration. But high temperatures, high relative humidity, and atmospheric pollution, especially in combination, hasten the deterioration.Next - Light →


text: Amon Millner is a doctoral candidate in the MIT Media Lab's Lifelong Kindergarten Group. With a broad interest in supporting invention and creative learning, he develops tools, activities, and spaces for youth to create physical interactions with computer-based objects. Millner is currently leading the efforts to connect the Scratch programming language to the physical world, serving as a principal designer of its sensor board architecture. His research projects and volunteer efforts reach a broad range of learning settings. His current work is shaping core activities in two networks of creative spaces around the world: Computer Clubhouses and Fab Labs. Millner holds degrees from USC, Georgia Tech, and MIT.


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I have been told that Feynman deduced from a path integral formulation an equation that predicts the amount of time it would take for a diamond to 'jump' out of a box:
$t > \dfrac{x \Delta{x} m}{ h} $
where $x$ is the size of the box, $\Delta x$ is the distance the diamond must travel to leave the box and $m$ the mass of the diamond.
How would it be possible for a diamond to leave the box? What are the processes that happen over the stupendous time gap to allow the diamond to do this?
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Related: physics.stackexchange.com/q/22373/2451 – Qmechanic Mar 14 '13 at 16:17
1 Answer 1
up vote 4 down vote accepted
The diamond must become quantum as a unit, and the wave function of the quantum diamond must then disperse sufficiently to extend outside the box. At that point the diamond as a whole unit has a probability of jumping outside the box.
The first criterion is by far the most difficult, because it can only be achieved by keeping the diamond in total and absolute information isolation from the rest of the universe. That is... unlikely to say the least. If even a single photon or phonon "detects" its location, then from that point forward the diamond is classical in the sense that the photon has pinpointed its location.
The second criterion is just abysmally slow. Because even a small diamond has a lot of mass, its wave function disperses very, very slowly.
Both of these criteria can be expressed in terms of path integrals, which provide a precise way to quantify the issues I only described conceptually.
Addendum 2012-06-16
_USER_ very reasonably asked for clarifications on:
(1) what does total isolation from the universe mean?, and
(2) what does it mean that the diamond must be kept quantum as a unit?
The most concrete way I can think of to quantify isolation is that the diamond can neither emit or receive particles of matter or energy.
Keeping out particles of matter is the easier part of that, since it means you "just" need the most absolute vacuum every created, including removal of all high-energy particles such as cosmic rays. Preventing energy exchanges is much, much harder. The vacuum keeps you from exchanging phonons (sound quanta), so you get two (matter and phonons) for the price of one with that one. Your suspension system would need to be phonon-free, however, at least if you do the experiment here on earth.
That leaves mostly electromagnetic radiation. Radio frequencies whose wavelengths are a lot larger than the distance you want the diamond to jump are not a big problem, although if you get enough of them you may start locating the diamond too well and thus "lose coherence" as they say these days (it's the same idea).
So, that leaves mostly the higher frequencies of very short microwaves through infrared and light. Infrared is going to be the biggest issue, so you want both the diamond and the cavity in which you do the experiment to be cold, as close to absolute zero as possible, to prevent stray space-locating infrared photons from traveling in either direction.
... and having said all that, I must also say: Hmm! That portfolio of preconditions is not quite as impossible as I had always assumed. So, someone could possibly do this for real in a high-end lab, using something like, say, a bacterium (huge!)... or much better, something a lot smaller, such as a low-end nanodiamond. The suspension system for the earthbound version would be the trickiest part. Hmm. Maybe a single embedded electron charge? No, much easier: A superconducting particle over a dish magnet. Or maybe even better: A very small piece of pyrolytic carbon similarly suspended by a magnetic field, though I don't know for sure what would happen to that materials extreme form of diamagnetism at such low temperatures.
That is a truly fascinating possibility! Does anyone here know if anyone has ever tried this?
I certainly don't know. But wow, what a fascinating possibility: A material object, albeit a very very very tiny one, quantum-jumping through a physical barrier? Now that would be a thesis paper!
On to question (2), what makes the diamond a "unit"?
That one's easy! Bonding. The covalent bonds of the diamond keep it internal components aligned strongly with each other, and so unable to deviate over time into less certain relationships. That's not to say you can't get some weird stuff going on internally, but it won't in general be capable of disrupting the diamond's internal structure.
Notice the inverse relationship here between isolation and cohesion (bonding).
That is, anything that bonds two objects together physically (phonon-mediated) or via information keeps them from "going quantum" relative to each other. Conversely, it is the lack of such bonding (isolation) that enables relative quantum behavior.
When the universe as a whole is one of those two partners, "relative quantum behavior" becomes a pretty one-sided concept, since we in the universe just stay classical.
However, for something like two very small objects isolated both from each other and from the universe, the concept of relative quantum behavior becomes a testable idea. That would be where each system sees the other as being the quantum one, whenever they finally do interact with each other.
(Fair warning: I just now made up the phrase "relative quantum behavior"; it's not standard. However, the fully quantum frameworks for studying systems such as positronium would necessarily contain an equivalent concept, since for example in positronium the electron and positron are necessarily equally "quantum" relative to each other, whereas in hydrogen it's easy to approximate the proton as being classical. But I don't know if the idea has ever been explored as a stand-alone concept, especially as it would apply to larger systems.)
Finally, and even more interesting (to me at least) is the idea that might be able to encapsulate a "hot spot" within a sufficiently large, cold piece of matter. By recording over time, this internal observer could watch itself even as the diamond as a whole "goes quantum" and starts doing things like being in two places at once.
The idea that a classical observer could nonetheless still be subject to quantum non-locality at a larger level just fascinates me, in part because it's so counter-intuitive to how we usually view quantum mechanics.
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And also how could it be kept in total isolation from the universe? – Olly Price Jun 16 '12 at 11:21
I don't really understand what's meant by "the diamond must become quantum as a unit". What does a diamond becoming quantum as a unit actually mean and how? – Olly Price Jun 16 '12 at 18:17
Terry, you should explain that the probability of the diamond tunneling through the barrier in one piece is a zillion times less than the probability of individual particles doing so one by one. – Mitchell Porter Jun 17 '12 at 1:48
Mitchell, for years I would make exactly the point you just made in any conversation about the probability of a large object jumping. I'm much more cautious now, mostly due to realizing that quantum states of larger bound units are both commonplace and fully respectful of the internal binding structure of the objects involved. Three easy examples are superfluid helium-4, alkali metal Bose condensates, and the phonon condensates responsible for the Mössbauer effect. I agree strongly that no more than a few atoms may be possible, though. – Terry Bollinger Jun 17 '12 at 2:49
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Séminaire Donnees et APprentissage Artificiel
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On Structured Output Training: Hard Cases and Efficient Alternatives
Intervenant(s) : Thomas Gärtner (Fraunhofer IAIS)State-of-the art structured-output learning algorithms have been applied in many important real world applications. However, there are also many structured-output problems in which these algorithms cannot be applied efficiently. In this talk I will give a simple example of such a problem, show why training the state-of-the-art algorithms on this problem is not feasible, and propose alternative algorithms. I will show that these algorithms can be trained efficiently under assumptions orthogonal to those made by the state-of-the-art.
Thomas.Baerecke (at) null


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You are invited to join us for our monthly bird banding program at the GCBO HQ in Lake Jackson. Licensed bird banders and GCBO Research Associates Robert and Kay Lookingbill will be banding at the sanctuary on a regular basis. Birds are captured for banding in very fine nylon nets known as "mist nets" because they are almost invisible in the environment. Captured birds are weighed and measured and their species, sex, and age are recorded. Each is fitted with an aluminum leg band with a unique number provided by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and released unharmed. If the bird is captured again, the band provides the link to retrieve this history, which then provides important information on the routes used by migrating birds, their longevity, and general physical condition.
The purpose of the project is to establish baseline data for the GCBO property on both resident and migratory bird populations. About half of the 34-acre headquarters tract is old growth Columbia Bottomland hardwood forest. The remaining acreage is partially cleared woodland with the larger trees remaining, the new constructed wetland, and the edges of Buffalo Camp Bayou. Banding will allow us to obtain information about the physical condition of migrants at this intermediate location between the coast and the bottomland forests lying well inland. Both coastal woodlots and inland bottomland forests are known to be extremely important stopover habitats for nearctic-neotropical migrants that move through the Gulf of Mexico region. Birds that are captured for banding can provide valuable information about their relative physical condition. Fat deposits, which provide the fuel necessary for the arduous undertaking of the twice annual travel of hundreds to thousands of miles, can be estimated by examining handheld birds. Recently arrived migrants generally exhibit little or no fat, as their fuel "tank" is depleted by the long flights they have just finished. The importance of stopover habitat to migrants is that it provides them with both shelter and a source of rapid replenishment of the fat reserves necessary to continue migration. In addition, bird banding is an excellent form of public outreach and education.
The public is invited to attend the regular banding sessions which are scheduled for the third Saturday in each month. Please check our website for any last minute changes in the monitoring dates. Funding for this program has been generously provided by a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Texas Coastal Program office in Clear Lake, Texas and ConocoPhillips Sweeny Refinery.


Archive - Dec 8, 2006 - Story
Evidence of Norsemen in the Roman Legions
"It is a well known fact that people from so called barbaric tribes like the German tribes up north, were recruited into the Roman legions." Now, new finds in Norway demonstrate that the northern lands had closer ties to the Roman Empire than previously believed.
Farewell to Count Sir Sarnac, of Ealdormere
Count Sir Sarnac Kir (Ba'adur), eighth King of Ealdormere, died on December 4 after a brief illness. Friends in Ealdormere, the Midrealm, and elsewhere this week must say farewell to a Knight who will be fondly remembered.


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The webcam is located at in the inland in a height of 30 m NHN. The ground is visible for a clear identification of precipitation. The Sky is clearly visible to see clouds and weather.
Sunrise: UTC 03:53 CEST 05:53
Sunset: UTC 18:39 CEST 20:39
How is the current weather near webcam? You see 10 notes about surrounding webcams:
Please be as precise as possible about what is wrong:


Catholic University Clinic of Psychology - CUP
The development of a higher education project in Psychology involves creating structures to carry activities such as practical training, teaching and scientific research, thus the Faculty of Education and Psychology has created a psychological consultation service. The CUP allows activities closer to the professional practice for students, supporting their development stage and advanced training programs in the area of psychological intervention. In addition, it contributes to the development of research lines, allowing systematic and more efficient monitoring of intervention processes. Finally, the CUP of the Catholic University in Porto embodies a strong connection to the target community, providing psychological support through cooperation protocols with entities as well as private users.
Visit the website


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French cement producers plan to increase the use of alternative fuels from 44 % of the fuel mix to 50 %, by 2025. To support this initiative, they aim, in collaboration with construction and recycling trade organisations, to double the amount of wood waste used in the energy supply of cement plants. The part of the wood demolition waste that is not recovered but simply landfilled as there is no recycling option, represents 500 ktpa. French cement producers plan to increase energy substitution by using 90 ktpa of those. In this context, a Green Deal has been signed by the French Ministry for Environment, the French Ministry for Industry, and the project stakholders.
Main activity field:
- Development of biomass use in cement industry;
- Reduction of fossil fuel consumption;
- Reduction of CO2 emissions;
- Reduction of landfilling.


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A person will be continually exposed to a low level of radiation throughout their life, this is perfectly normal and does not cause any health effects. Exposure to large amounts of radiation however can cause sterility, cataracts or even death.
Northumberland County Council may be required
to respond to a radioactive incident within the County of
Northumberland. The County Council Resilience Team has produced a
plan to ensure that robust and effective arrangements in place to
meet the requirements outlined in the Radiation Emergency
Preparedness and Public Information Regulations (REPPIR) 2001.
The Regulations place specific duties on the
County Council which include the dissemination of public advice in
conjunction with partner agencies.
REPPIR covers all of the key agencies involved
in responding to radiological emergencies, including the operators,
carriers and Local Authorities. The Regulation with most
importance to Local Authorities is Regulation 17.
The purpose of Regulation 17 is to ensure
members of the public actually affected by a radiation emergency
are informed promptly of the details and facts of the emergency,
and the measures to be taken to ensure their health and well being


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Loudoun County Public Schools science programs are designed to actively engage students in the process of science and use reasoning processes that build scientific thinking. These programs teach students to know, use, and interpret scientific explanations of the natural world; to generate and evaluate scientific evidence and explanations; to understand the nature and development of scientific knowledge; and to participate productively in scientific practices and discourse.
The middle school science program continues to provide active, inquiry-based, and student-centered science experiences for students. Science instruction in the middle schools is built around the framework of the LCPS Core Experiences scientific investigations carried out by every middle school student. The CEs are aligned to the VA SOL, emphasize building student conceptual understanding and understandings of scientific practice, develop scientific habits of mind and scientific skills, and give students experiences with authentic scientific equipment.
Stone Hill Middle School • 23415 Evergreen Ridge Drive Ashburn, VA 20148 • P:_PHONE_ • F: (571) 223 - 0585


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Let there be a cube with edge length of 9 units. Inside this cube there are 1981 points.
1. Prove that among these points there are at least 2 with the distance between them of less than 1 unit.
2. What's the biggest number of points that do not have the property stated at (1)?
2.1. How many points for the distance of 2 - 8 units?
If each point were at least a unit distance away from its nearest neighbor, then spheres of radius 1/2 could be made centered on each point without those spheres overlapping. The volume of a sphere of radius 1/2 is 4*pi*(1/2)^3 / 3 = pi/6. Multiplied by the 1981 points you've got, and the total volume is almost 1037, which is more than the cube's volume, which is 729. So even if spheres could completely fill space, there still would not be space enough in this cube.
It is almost certain that the densest packing of spheres fills pi/sqrt(18) of space, so we can start off with an approximation that in a volume of 729, there would be room for a volume of 729*pi/sqrt(18) to be taken up by the volumes of the spheres, and since each sphere has a volume of pi/6, you'd get 729*6/sqrt(18) ~= 1031 spheres.
However, since we're really only considering the points, parts of the spheres can extend outside the box so long as the central point does not. As the radii are 1/2 a better approximation would involve a cube of size 10x10x10 with volume 1000. 1000*6/sqrt(18) ~= 1414, so that is a better estimate of how many points will fit into the 9x9x9 cube. Conditions near the surface would affect the exact number, as there has to be a perfect structure to reach the optimum packing.
The above approximation, if d is taken as the distance instead of 1, is based upon (9+d)^3*pi/sqrt(18) / ((pi/6)*d^3)
pi = ATN(1) * 4
FOR d = 2 TO 8
n = (9 + d) ^ 3 * pi / SQR(18) / ((pi / 6) * d ^ 3)
PRINT d, INT(n +.5)
finds these approximations:
As the distances get larger in relation to the size of the cube, surface restrictions interfere all the more and so 14 can understandably be a poor approximation for a distance of 8.
Posted by Charlie
on 2010-01-27 14:21:01


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Fook Chua; Noise overlay on the RSVP stream reduces the AB. Journal of Vision 2009;9(8):162. doi: _URL_
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In the typical single-stream RSVP task, two target letters (T1 and T2) are embedded among other letter distractors, with each item presented for 100 ms and then replaced by the next item. Identification of T2 is poor if it lags the first (T1) by 200–500 ms. This phenomenon, the attentional blink (AB), has been attributed to processing demands of T1. In this set of experiments, we overlay the letter stream with a 8x8 noise matrix, which was irrelevant to the task. Observers were instructed to ignore it. In Experiment 1, 3 conditions were compared: (a) canonical (no noise matrix); (b) static noise matrix; and (c) changing noise matrix. There was no difference between (a) and (b), which performance was worse than (c). When the noise matrix changed as the letters changed, performance was enhanced. In the following experiments, we show that the critical loci were the frame following the targets (i.e., the T1+1 and the T2+1 frames). In Experiment 2, the focus was the frame succeeding T2 (i.e., T2+1 frame). When the noise matrices of the T2 and the T2+1 frames were identical, performance was worse. In Experiments 3 and 4, the noise matrix of the T1+1 frame was manipulated. The results showed that when the noise matrix of the T1+1 frame was different from the preceding T1 frame, performance improved. We argue that the AB is caused by a failure in rapid disengagement from the T1 stimulus. Visual cues that inform the system that the T1 episode is over facilitates disengagement and thus modulates the blink. The changing noise matrix signals the visual system that a new frame has appeared, goading the attentional system to disengage from the previous temporal locus.
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City, county and state governments are required by law to produce basic financial statements. The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report is an audited public document that provides financial information but unlike basic financial statements goes on to provide more detailed economic, demographic and statistical information. Governments are encouraged to create a Comprehensive Annual Financial Report but because of their complexity are not required by law or statute to do so. Wake County creates a Comprehensive Annual Financial Report annually, which is available from the Finance office as well as on this website.
A Comprehensive Annual Financial Report includes combined statements of revenues, expenditures and changes in financial position, somewhat similar to the financial statements of a business. In addition, it provides supporting schedules necessary to demonstrate compliance with finance-related legal and contractual provisions and must include an introductory document called a Letter of Transmittal that is free-format and allows a government to highlight its bright spots or downplay the negative ones. The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report enables taxpayers to assess proper use of public funds and is used extensively by bond rating agencies, underwriters and bondholders to assess the investment risk of a government.
To encourage governments to create Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports that are easily readable and efficiently organized, the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) asks that governments submit their Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for inspection to the GFOA. If the content and format meet the high standard of quality set out by the GFOA, it will award a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to that government. Wake County has been awarded this Certificate of Achievement for its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for each fiscal year since 1984.


TY - THES T1 - Asymmetric particles for pulmonary drug delivery A1 - Kohler,Dorothee Anna Luise Y1 - 2011/01/28 N2 - Targeted drug delivery and controlled release are current challenges in pulmonary drug delivery. The deposition pattern and clearance from deposition site are two key parameters for drug delivery carrier design. Asymmetric particles allow an increase in peripheral drug delivery compared to spherical particles and furthermore, affect particle clearance mechanisms from the lung. Therefore, the main aim of this thesis was to develop new synthesis strategies to produce well-dispersible, biocompatible, biodegradable microfibers with a variety of aspect ratios and porosities. The macrophage response to the resulting microfibers was investigated. The aerosolization properties of the resulting microfibers were examined. From the obtained results it can be concluded that: 1. A new template-assisted synthesis strategy to produce monodisperse microfibers with defined dimensions has been developed. 2. The technique has been extended to various materials and process parameters for cell testing, drug loading and aerosolization tests. 3. Microfibers were successfully taken up by macrophages, only when they were approached from the pointy end. 4. Aerosolization studies showed good dispersion properties of microfibers with relatively high fine particle fractions. In summary, this new technique may allow to produce microfibers for pulmonary drug delivery, which will lead to a better understanding of their in vivo behaviour such as mucoadhesion, macrophage interaction and deposition behaviour. KW - Mikrofaser KW - Makrophage KW - Lunge KW - Aerosolisierung CY - Saarbrücken PB - Saarländische Universitätsund Landesbibliothek AD - Postfach 151141, 66041 Saarbrücken UR - _URL_ ER -


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By María González de Asis & Barak D. Hoffman
Participatory development is a growing focus of donor development policies. Over the past decade, the World Bank alone has allocated approximately $75 billion for these types of initiatives (Mansuri and Rao 2011) and other development partners are also allocating large sums of money in this area. Interest in participatory development derives in part from understanding that poor development outcomes often result from bad governance and lack of citizen empowerment. Participatory development seeks to remedy these weaknesses by having people take an active role in community development and by creating demand for good governance (DFGG). The World Bank defines DFGG as the capacity of "citizens to hold the state accountable and make it responsive to their needs" (World Bank 2011: 3). Participatory development seeks to reduce poverty directly through engaging citizens in the design and implementation of development projects, and indirectly through encouraging improved governance at the national and local level.A large body of research exists on the outcomes of participatory development projects. Their impact is mixed. In general, programs appear more successful at developing citizen awareness and empowerment than at influencing development outcomes, either directly or indirectly. At the same time, we are gaining a better idea of what works and what does not, and how to design more effective strategies. This paper provides an overview of the theory, practice, and outcome of donor efforts to support participatory development.
Read the full paper here [PDF].


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in Rome and has remained in use in the Roman Catholic Church. Italian and, to a lesser extent, other languages are generally used for most conversations, publications, and broadcasts. Swiss German is the official language of the Swiss Guard.
The Holy See conducts an active diplomacy through the Secretariat of State, headed by the Cardinal Secretary of State. It maintains formal diplomatic relations with 174 nations, 68 of these maintain permanent resident diplomatic missions accredited to the Holy See in Rome. The rest have missions located in Italy with dual accreditation. The Holy See maintains 106 permanent diplomatic missions to nation-states. Furthermore, The Holy See has two separate permanent diplomatic missions: one to the European Union, another to the Russian Federation.
The Holy See is especially active in international organizations. The Holy See has diplomatic relations with the European Union (EU) in Brussels, it is a permanent observer of the United Nations Organization (UN), Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington, Organization of African Unity (OAU), World Tourist Organization (WToO), World Trade Organization (WTO), World Health Organization (WHO), World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS), Latin Union (LU), International Organization for Migration (IOM), International Labour Organization (ILO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The Holy See is also an observer on an informal basis of the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva (WMO), United Nations Committee of Peaceful Use of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS), International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), International Maritime Organization (IMO), African Asian Legal Consultative Committee (AALCC) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
The Holy See is a member of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), International Telecommunication Satellite Organization (ITSO), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Universal Postal Union (UPU), International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), International Grains Council (IGC), International Committee for Military Medicine (ICMM), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). [Source: 2002 Holy See official website]
In 1971, the Holy See announced the decision to adhere to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in order to "give its moral support to the principles that form the base of the treaty itself." The Holy See is also a participating state in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe: it is a guest of honour to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Main article Culture of the Vatican City
The Vatican City is itself of great cultural significance. Buildings such as St. Peter's Basilica or the Sistine Chapel are home to some of the most beautiful art in the world, which includes works by artists such as Botticelli, Bernini and Michelangelo. The Vatican Library and the collections of the Vatican Museums are of the highest historical, scientific and cultural importance.
The permanent population of the Vatican City is predominately male, although two orders of nuns live in the Vatican. A minority are senior Catholic clergy; the remainder are members of religious orders. Many workers in the Vatican City live outside its walls, including the Swiss Guard and embassy personnel.
Men, and especially women, must adhere to strict dress codes.
Transportation and communications
The City is served by an independent, modern post office and telephone system. The Vatican (which has its own country code,.va) has an official website, radio station, and satellite TV channels.
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