At the Forge - Cassandra
Exploring Your Keyspace
Restart Cassandra, and reconnect via the CLI. Then, type:
cassandra> show keyspaces
Your new keyspace, "People", now should appear in the list:
cassandra> show keyspaces
You can ask for a description of your keyspace:
cassandra> describe keyspace People
Column Family Type: Standard
Columns Sorted By: org.apache.cassandra.db.marshal.BytesType@1b22920
Column Family Type: Standard
Column Sorted By: org.apache.cassandra.db.marshal.BytesType
flush period: null minutes
You now can see that your People keyspace contains a single "Users" column family. With this in place, you can start to set and retrieve data:
cassandra> get People.Users['1']
Returned 0 results.
cassandra> set People.Users['1']['email'] = ''
cassandra> set People.Users['1']['first_name'] = 'Reuven'
cassandra> set People.Users['1']['last_name'] = 'Lerner'
In Cassandra-ese, you would say that you now have set three column values ('email', 'first_name' and 'last_name'), for one key ('1') under a single column family ("Users"), within a single Keyspace ("People"). If you're used to working with a language like Ruby or Python, you might feel a bit underwhelmed—after all, it looks like you just set a multilevel hash. But that makes sense, given that Cassandra is a super-version of a key-value store, right?
Now, let's try to retrieve the data. You can do that with the key:
cassandra> get People.Users['1']
=> (column=6c6173745f6e616d65, value=Lerner,
=> (column=66697273745f6e616d65, value=Reuven,
=> (column=656d61696c,,
Returned 3 results.
Notice how each column has its own unique ID and that the data was stored with a timestamp. Such timestamps are crucial when you are running multiple Cassandra nodes, and they update one another without your knowledge to achieve complete consistency.
You can add additional information too:
cassandra> set People.Users['2']['first_name'] = 'Atara'
cassandra> set People.Users['2']['last_name'] = 'Lerner-Friedman'
cassandra> set People.Users['2']['school'] = 'Yachad'
cassandra> set People.Users['3']['first_name'] = 'Shikma'
cassandra> set People.Users['3']['last_name'] = 'Lerner-Friedman'
cassandra> set People.Users['3']['school'] = 'Yachad'
Now you have information about three users, and as you can see, the columns that you used within the "Users" column family were not determined by the configuration file and can be added on the spot. Moreover, there is no rule saying that you must set a value for the "email" column; such enforcement doesn't exist in Cassandra. But what is perhaps most amazing to relational database veterans is that there isn't any way to retrieve all the values that have a last_name of 'Lerner-Friedman' or a school named 'Yachad'. Everything is based on the key (which I have set to an integer in this case); you can drill down, but not across, as it were.
You can ask Cassandra how many columns were set for a given key, but you won't know what columns those were:
cassandra> count People.Users['1']
3 columns
cassandra> count People.Users['2']
3 columns
However, if you're trying to store information about many users, and those users are going to be updating their information on a regular basis, Cassandra can be quite helpful.
Now that you've got the hang of columns, I'll mention a particularly interesting part of the Cassandra data model. Instead of defining columns, you instead can define "super columns". Each super column is just like a regular column, except it can contain multiple columns within it (rather than a name-value pair). In order to define a super column, set the ColumnType attribute in the storage-conf.xml file to "Super". For example:
Note that if you restart Cassandra with this changed definition, and then try to retrieve People.Users['1'], you'll probably get an error. That's because you effectively have changed the schema without changing the data, which always is a bad idea. Now you can store and retrieve finer-grained information:
cassandra> set People.Users['1']['address']['city'] = 'Modiin'
cassandra> get People.Users['1']['address']['city']
=> (column=63697479, value=Modiin, timestamp=1279026442675000)
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text:
The Nigerian Military high command recently acquired some old Soviet era 36D6 NATO code name [Tin Shield] mobile Air Defence Radar for its Air Force. The air defense Radar was purchased under a heavy cloak of secrecy. The Nigerian Military has been known to buy equipment and weapons platforms randomly and without clear guidelines or policies.
However, The 36D6 Tin Shield air defense Radar was designed to detect air targets and perform basic low-level Interrogation Friend or Foe (IFF). The Radar can also provide Targeting, Range and Bearing of Active jamming.
It is more effective if employed to work in tandem with other Radar, integration of Command and control [C2] of Anti-aircraft guided missiles a capability the Nigerian military doesn't have.
The 36D6 is capable of detecting low, medium and high altitude aerial targets with Radar Cross-Section [RCS] of as low as 0.1m. The Tin Shield can be integrated into the overall Air Defence structure, as part of an anti-aircraft defence force [C-300PMU], or independently as a land based observation,surveillance and air detection command post. Although, not much is known if it can be integrated with the Nigerian owned Roland air defense missile system.
The 36D6 is a highly mobile radar system due to fast changeover from travel position to fire position and vice versa. Additionally, the station is equipped with a gyro-compass to provide self-orientation during transit. The radar system itself and the power station (version without tower) are mounted on 2 trucks.
The radar system can operate effectively under heavy active and passive jamming conditions.
The purchase of this type of Radar system is a commendable move by the Nigerian Government, but ironically the real issue remain how many units was procured and in what condition? Does the deal include support from the manufacturer [such as Training, Maintenance and Spares e.t.c]? The Nigerian defense acquisition process is fraught with corruption and unnecessary secrecy.
The 36D6 air defense radar is a capable system but its a far cry from current 21st century modern Air Defence such as Active Phased Array Radar, RASIT or the Chinese JLP-40 Surveilance Radar type of Radars. However, If procured in sufficient numbers could boost the country's Almost non-existent Air Defence posture.
Table of contents
36D6 (Tin Shield) Radar Specifications
Target detection range of the area. reflections of 0.1 m2:
night, at the height. 100m : 42 km
night, at the height. _PHONE_ m not less than 80 km
night, at the height. 2000-18000 m : not less than 147 km
at the height of 60 m. not less than 20 km
night, at the height. 100-300 m : not less than 30 km
Maximum height of detection : 20 km
The accuracy of location :
Distance : 250 m
Azimuth : 20 '
height: 400 m

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


Take the 2-minute tour ×
I'm trying to integrate a complex valued function over the extended real domain $[0,+\infty]$, for which I'm attempting to use the residue calculus. My function has a number of poles above the real axis, so I'm computing the residues for some of these to see what I get. All residues work out to nice values, except for one at $z=2\pi i$ which I was surprised to see has a value of $\infty$. My question is this: is it possible for a residue at a pole to take on an infinite value?
As example, say I try to compute the residues of $$f(z)=\frac{\arctan(z/(2\pi))}{e^z-1}.$$
If my understanding is correct I can compute the residue using $$\text{Res}(f;2\pi i)=\lim_{z\rightarrow 2\pi i}\frac{\arctan(z/(2\pi))}{e^z}=i\infty,$$
where I have just differentiated the denominator.
share|improve this question
If it is possible, I'd expect the value to be simply $\infty$ rather than $+\infty$. I.e. in this context, there's only one infinity rather than the $\pm\infty$ sometimes considered in real analysis, and you approach $\infty$ by going in any direction whatsoever in $\mathbb C$, not just in one of the two "real" directions. – Michael Hardy Oct 3 '12 at 16:42
What is residue value at point $z=\infty$? Sum of all residue values including residue at infinity is equal $0$. – M. Strochyk Oct 3 '12 at 16:51
1 Answer 1
I think the problem is that the numerator in the example is not analytic in a neighbourhood of $z=2\pi i$. Hence, any contour I use should in fact avoid this point.
share|improve this answer
Under "numerator in the example is not analytic at $z=2\pi{i}$" you mean "numerator in the example is not analytic in the punctured neighbourhood $z=2\pi{i}"$? – M. Strochyk Oct 3 '12 at 17:06
yes, $\arctan$ around $z=i$ is a lot like $\log$ around $z=0$, which is trouble. Eliminating the trouble means pulling back by doing a change of variable like $z = 2 \pi \tan u$, though now you will see that you're not really integrating on a contour anymore. – mercio Oct 3 '12 at 18:08
Your Answer


Adiyaman Then and Now - A Brief History
Adiyaman (or "Hisn-i Mansur", as it was then known) was originally founded in the 7th century A.D. The Omayyads of Damascus, Abbasids of Baghdat, Selcuks, Mongols, Memluks, and Ottoman Turks had behomed Adiyaman. The bold and beautiful names of Harun ar-Rashid and Alexander the great, grace the city. "Hisn-i Mansur", renamed Adiyaman in 1926, flaunts its Roman, Byzantine and Turkish connection. The Adiyaman Museum exhibits artifacts obtained from the excavations during the Lower Euphrates project.
The present day Adiyaman is a center of agricultural hubbub, its cereals, tobacco, cotton, pistachio nuts and grapes have made a name for themselves. A large number of inhabitants are Kurds. Folk songs and dances are a part of social life while different kinds of meatballs such as "cig kofte, icli kofte, mercimekli kofte and hitap (stuffed hot pie)" rule the dining tables.
Air, rail and land - Adiyaman is totally clued in. Gölbasi district is the primary junction, on the main highway to Malatya, Kahramanmaras and Gaziantep. Rail connections are also made in Gölbasi, through which Malatya - Adana railroad passes. The oil boom, besides hotels, has opened up an airport at Adiyaman.
The Zeus Hotel Kahta Adiyaman, the Eupherate Hotel Mt. Nemrut Adiyaman, the Hans Bardakci Hotel Kahta Adiyaman or the Hans Bardakci Hotel Kahta Adiyaman - exploit the lush greenery of Adiyaman to the hilt. The proximity of the city center and all the modern amenities that you are used to-each and every hotel is a home away from home.
Adiyaman | Adiyaman Then and Now - A Brief History | Main Attractions in Adiyaman


text:
At first glance, the Norman Monastery in Yangon's Mingalar Taung Nyunt Township is a sight to behold. Supported by more than a hundred teak pillars and made almost entirely of the coveted, carefully oil-treated lumber, the 124-year-old structure sprawls along a plot of land nearly 200 feet (61 meters) long and 100 feet wide. Its facade is partly embellished with a traditional Myanmar motif of entwined tendrils, while its tiered roof is decorated with pinnacles and its gables are adorned with exquisite wooden carvings.
Step inside, however, and this first impression of dignified solidity quickly vanishes. When it rains, the roof leaks. The floors creak under the slightest pressure, and through a louver window with a missing hinge, you can see a pinnacle dangling like a fractured lance. The early evening light penetrates broken panes of stained glass, painting abstract patterns on the rust-colored robes of the monks who move through the gloom inside.
Called the Norman Monastery after a school that originally occupied the land where it now stands, this stilted building became a pongyi kyaung, or place of learning for Buddhist monks, in 1888, two years after Britain established colonial rule over the whole of Myanmar. Although it remains a proud reminder of the enduring devotion of the people of this overwhelmingly Buddhist nation to their native faith, it also attests to the Buddha's teaching of anicca, or impermanence.
While there has been a growing movement in Yangon to preserve the unique architectural legacy of the colonial era, so far precious little has been done to protect the monasteries that for centuries have served as repositories of traditional craftsmanship. All over the former capital, age-old monasteries housing hundreds of monks are left to face the elements and the depredations of time, defended only by the efforts of their inhabitants and the generosity of donors.
This is not to say, however, that the need to do something for these noble structures has gone entirely unnoticed.
"Old monasteries are also on our protection list, and we are currently making an inventory of them," said Daw Moe Moe Lwin, an acting director from Yangon Heritage Trust, a newly founded NGO trying to preserve the best architectural remnants of Myanmar's past.
But monasteries are not a top priority for the group—ironically, because they are already entrusted to the care of the communities that have long supported them.
"Generally, religious buildings have trustees to take care of their maintenance, so they are somewhat safe from serious deterioration or demolition, unlike some other ancient buildings," said Daw Moe Moe Lwin.
Those who must manage the upkeep of monasteries know, however, that there are limits to what can be done with the resources their supporters provide.
"We've been struggling on our own to maintain the monastery little by little," said U Tezita, the caretaker monk of the Norman Monastery. "Given to the huge size of the building, we don't dare to think about an overall restoration. It would be a Herculean task!"
For years, the 60-year-old monk and U Vicittasara, the abbot of the monastery, have managed to preserve their building with tiny cash donations from well-wishers.
"We can only do it once a year because we don't have many donors to pay for repairs," said the 84-year-old abbot. Every year, they have to make a list of priorities. "We have to decide what to repair and what to neglect, depending on the amount of money we receive," he said.
"If our budget is only enough to replace a sheet of corrugated tin, that's what we do," the monk explained.
Yangon's exceptionally wet climate makes the the job of maintenance much more difficult. The city receives on average of 103 inches (261.6 cm) of rain a year—far more than the roughly 40 inches (101.6 cm) that fall on more arid parts of the country.
"Rain is a big problem for this building as the roof is now very ramshackle," said U Tezita. "The water streams down from the ridge pole, causing rafters and other parts of the building to fall into decay over time."
Maha Mingalar Bon Kyaw Monastery, located near the famous reclining Buddha of the Chauk Htet Gyi Pagoda in Bahan Township, is another fine example of traditional monastery architecture, but sadly, it is also much diminished compared to its former glory. Still popularly known as the "Hundred Pillar Monastery," the 124-year-old structure no longer lives up to that name.
"I had no choice. I had to get government permission to have some of the pillars removed. The only alternative was to pull down the whole building," said U Ottara, the abbot of the monastery, explaining why its southern wing and dozens of supporting pillars were removed for safety reasons. Last year, the annex, which had begun to lean dangerously, was declared unfit for human habitation.
In 1998, Myanmar's then ruling junta issued the Protection and Preservation of Cultural Heritage Regions Law, which makes it a serious crime—punishable by up to five years in prison—to structurally alter ancient monuments and other historically and culturally important edifices. So far, however, the government has done little in the way of actively preserving old monasteries.
"We have been entirely donor-reliant for ages," said the 76-year-old U Ottara, echoing a refrain heard at monasteries around the city.
Technically, at least, monasteries that are 100 or more years old are entitled to the same status and protection as other heritage sites. In practice, however, they are not usually given the recognition they deserve.
"Yes, they should be listed, and as a matter of fact, we are collecting data on old monasteries. But even if we do recognize them, we're not sure if we will be able to support the preservation of all of them, because we just don't have the funds," said a senior official from the Archeology Department in Yangon.
"The best we can do is educate people living nearby about the cultural value of these sites, and ask them to cooperate with conservation efforts," he added.
While the situation in Yangon is particularly severe, it is far from unique. Most of the country's monasteries built in the late 19th or early 20th century are falling into disrepair, often resulting in a decision to tear down old buildings and replace them with cheaper, easier to maintain structures.
"The abbots and donors say it's just too expensive to pay for the upkeep of older monasteries. That's why they feel it's better to just build new ones," says Hsu Nget, a well-known writer who has called on Myanmar's media to highlight the need to reverse this growing trend.
As a native of Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city and home to some of the handful of old monasteries that have been carefully preserved for posterity, Hsu Nget believes that much more can be done to ensure that these unique examples of traditional Myanmar architecture aren't lost forever.
"We need to let people know that these monasteries are in urgent need of conservation. We could learn a lot from countries like Cambodia about how to preserve our national heritage."
In the end, Myanmar Buddhists' reverence for their religion and traditions will not be enough to save their places of worship. Indeed, in some ways, Buddhist customs could even hasten the decline of monasteries from a bygone era.
According to U Silacara, a 33-year-old monk from the Norman Monastery, many donors are reluctant to give money to maintain monasteries built by an earlier generation of merit-makers. "Most would rather build a new one that they can put their names on. It's no wonder that our monastery is in a sorry state."
But even monks who feel duty-bound to do everything possible to spare their monasteries from preventable deterioration feel that it's best not to cling too much to vestiges of the past.
"I would feel bad if something happened to the monastery," said U Vicittasara, the Norman Monastery abbot. "But at the same, if it deteriorates beyond repair, I know I will have to let it go, because all things are impermanent."
This story first appeared in the December 2012 print issue of The Irrawaddy magazine.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


text:
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Koelreuteria paniculata
COMMON NAME: panicled golden-rain tree, goldenraintree, varnish tree
FLOWERS: Big, yellow panicle (1' long) flowers in late May to early June.
LEAVES: Odd pinnately compound leaves with the coarsely serrated leaflet having a small wing near the petiole. Usually 7 to 15 leaflets/leaf.
FRUIT: Bladder-like to 2" long in summer. Seed nestled inside. At first purplish and then brown.
GROWTH HABIT: Grows 15' to 30' tall. Can be single or multi-trunked (severe renewal prune when young).
OTHER: A tough plant that can withstand heat and wind. Prefers full sun. Is a good tree for a small area, specimen tree, etc. Hardy from zones 5 to 9. Has a very lightweight, but strong wood. A member of the Sapindaceae family.


text:
After completion of this topic, you should be able to:
Explain the concept of multiple regression
Justify the need to take into consideration the assumptions of multiple regression
Understanf how multiple regression is used in making predictions
Compute and justify the use of the multiple regression
Interpret the SPSS output for multiple regression
Selection of the DV and the set of IVs
You should from the onset take extra care in selecting the DV and the IVs. Since multiple regression is "dependence technique' you must specify which which is the DV and which are the IVs [sounds like commonsense but unfortunately beginning researchers do get confused!]. As mentioned earlier, selection of both the DV and IVs should be based on a sound theoretical or conceptual framework. Obviously, the selection of variables will be determined by the research questions or research problem.
The Dependent Variable (DV) should be a metric or continuous variable which means it should be have score such as 1, 20, 30 or 99 (such as scores in a mathematics test, or GPA and so forth). If your Dependent Variable is categorical such 1 = low, 2 = average and 3 = high, then a different regression method called Logistic Regression should be used for categorical variable [which is not discussed here].
The size of the sample when using multiple regression is an important consideration which you should give serious thought before you begin your study. The sample size determines whether there is a significant relationship between the DV and the set of IVs and the generalisability of the findings.
Graduate students often ask the question: How many subjects is enough? The safest way to answer this question is to refer to the guidelines provided by J. Cohen and P. Cohen (see Table below).
First you have to understand the meaning of "power" in multiple regression. Power is the probability or likelihood of obtaining a statistical significant R-square (R²) for a specified sample size. Cohen and Cohen (1983) used a power of.80 and calculated the minimum R² that the specified sample size will detect as statistically significant at alpha of.05. The Table below is the result which gives you an indication what you sample size should be.
How do you interpret the Table? Say for example, in your study you have Two IVs (i.e. motivation & self-esteem) and you DV is academic achievement. According to the Table, at a significant level of.05, if you select 20 subjects, you will detect R² values of 39% and above. What does this mean? Relationships lower than 39% will not be deemed statistically significant.
You will notice that if you increase your sample size to 100, the R² value if 10% and if you increase it to 250 the R² value is 4%. So the larger the sample size, the greater is you likelihood of obtaining a significant relationship (at.05) between the DV and the two IVs.
If you have five IVs in your study and your sample size is only 20, the R² value has to be 48% and above to be significant (at.05) and if it is lower, it will not be significant. However, if you increase the sample size to 250, the R² value is 5% which means that any relationship of 5% and above will be significant.
b) What is multicollinearity important when using multiple regression?
c) How large should your sample be when using multiple regression?
What is Multiple Regression Used For?
Multiple Regression is oftentimes used to objectively assess the degree and character of the relationship between the DV and the set of IVs. For example, you want to know the relationship between Academic Performance (DV) and IQ (IV1), Motivation (IV2) and Self-Esteem (IV3). See diagram below. To repeat, when using Multiple Regression, researchers use the term "Independent Variables (IV)" to identify those variables that they think will influence some other "Dependent Variable (DV)".
Having more than one Independent Variable (or predictor variable) is useful when predicting human behaviour (which we do in education). Our actions, thoughts and emotions are all likely to be influenced by some combination of several factors. Using multiple regression we can test theories (or models) about precisely which set of variables is influencing our behaviour; and in this case it is 'academic performance'. You should keep in mind, that selection of the set of IVs should be based on a theory that explains the relationship. For example, you certainly would not want to include "head size" as an IV to predict academic performance because there is no theoretical basis for such a relationshipl even if there is, it does not make much sense studying it!.
What is Multiple Regression?
In Topic 11, we discussed about Linear Regression which is used when you want to predict the value of one variable (y) based on the information you have about another variable (x). For example, using linear regression you are able to predict performance in mathematics based on information you have about attitudes towards mathematics. Here you are predicting the Dependent Variable (Mathematics Scores) based on a one IV (Attitudes Towards Mathemetics).
Multiple Regression is a multivariate statistical technique used to analyse the relationship between a SINGLE DEPENDENT VARIABLE (DV) and SEVERAL INDEPENDENT VARIABLES (IV). The single DV is also called the Criterion Variablewhile the several IVs are called Predictor Variables. Multiple Regression is used to study the relationship between a single dependent variable (DV) and several independent variable (IV).
What Does Multiple Regression Tell You?
Multiple Regression tells you the following characteristics about the relationship between the DV and the set of IVs:
Direction of the Relationship - Whether the relationship between the DV and the set of IVs is positve (+) or negative (-).
Magnitude of the Relationship - The size of the correlation coefficient between the DV and the set of IVs which indicates the relative importance of each predictor or IV.
Nature of the Relationship - Whether the relationship between the DV and the set of IVs is linear or other types relationship such curvilinear.
Indicate Reduncancy - The relationship between the DV and the set of IVs may make some IVs redundant in their predctive effort and are not needed to produce the optimal prediction. Individually, a particular IV may be correlated to the DV but together with other IVs (i.e. in a multivariate context), the variable may not be needed as other variables are explaining the variance.
Significance Level alpha = 0.05
Number of Independent Variables
Sample Size 2 5 10 20
20 39 48 64 NA
50 19 23 29 42
100 10 12 15 21
250 4 5 6 8
500 3 4 5 9
1000 1 1 2 2
To what extent are the Independent Variables and the Dependent Variable correlated? Generally, you want the Dependent Variable to be correlated with each Independent Variable. For example, you surely do not want to correlate head size with academic performance!
On the other hand, each Independent Variable (self-esteem) should not be strongly correlated with other independent variables (such as motivation, IQ). However, when dealing with human behaviour it is common for the Independent Variables to be correlated.
What do you think will happen when there is a high correlation between the different Independent Variables? Such high correlations cause problems when trying to draw inferences about the relative contribution of each independent variable to the dependent variable. Is it attitude or motivation that contributed to academic performance? [Fortunately, SPSS provides a method for checking for multicollinearity]..
Table Showing Sample Required for Use of Multiple Regression
[source: J. Cohen & P. Cohen (1983). Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis for the Behavioural Sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum]


Foie Gras:
Decades of cruelty exposed
Foie gras, or fattened liver, is made by force feeding ducks until their livers are 12-14 times their normal size.
The Animal Protection and Rescue League was instrumental in shutting down California's only foie gras producer and banning the sale of this cruel product in the state no matter where it is produced. Our undercover investigations have been featured in the New York Times.
Browse the links above for useful information on opposing and exposing this cruel dish.
Foie gras - French for "fatty liver" - is the diseased and enlarged liver of a duck or goose, produced through force feeding.
California Ban
California banned the "force feed[ing of] a bird for the purpose of enlarging the bird's liver beyond normal size."
industry lies
Claims made by Hudson Valley Foie Gras to constitute false advertising. The few other farms that produce foie gras are no better.
The facts
What is Foie Gras?
Foie gras - French for "fatty liver" - is the diseased and enlarged liver of a duck or goose, produced through force feeding. A duck's liver naturally weighs around 50 grams. However, to qualify as foie gras, the industry's own regulations require ducks' livers to weigh an absolute minimum of 300 grams.
According to the ASPCA, "The birds' livers become so enlarged…that according to documentation by veterinarians, the animals must experience unspeakable pain and suffering. Birds have literally exploded from these forced feedings. The results of necropsies on dead birds that have been force-fed reveal ruptured livers, throat damage, esophageal trauma, and food spilling from the dead animals' throats and out of their nostrils."
On the left: a foie gras liver. On the right: a normal liver.
(Photo courtesy PETA)
A Look Inside Foie Gras Farms
The Animal Protection & Rescue League has investigated all three US foie gras farms and several in France and found rampant cruelty to be the norm.
Compassion Over Killing sent an investigator to the largest US farm, Hudson Valley Foie Gras, on a guided tour with a hidden camera and also witnessed the standard cruelty that is required for foie gras production.
New York City Takes a Gander at Banning Foie Gras
Farmers and animal-rights supporters square off on bill punishing violators with a fine of up to $1,000.
California's foie gras ban will go back into effect
Law had been on hold while the issue was winding its way through the courts.
A demand for haute cusine is no excuse to condone animal cruelty
Sonoma Foie Gras made claims to the media that the ducks are "not force fed" and that they are "free range."
What the Experts Say
"The only recommendation the Committee can properly make is that force-feeding of ducks and geese should stop and this could be best achieved by the prohibition of the production, importation, distribution and sale of foie gras."
- Dr. D.J. Alexander
European Union Expert Committee
"The liver steatosis caused by 'gavage' is a pathological process that shows itself first by a fatty degeneration of the hepatic cells and then by necrosis. The fatty liver cannot be seen as normal. It is a categorical sign of a state of illness with clinical symptoms."
Dr. Marianne Heimann
Veterinary Pathologist
"The production of fatty liver for foie gras… raises serious animal welfare issues and it is not a practice that is condoned by FAO."
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
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Lixus (ancient city)
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Lixus in Morocco.jpg
The ruins of Lixus
Lixus (ancient city) is located in Morocco
Lixus (ancient city)
Shown within Morocco
Location Larache, Larache Province, Tangier-Tetouan, Morocco
Coordinates 35°12′00″N 06°06′40″W / 35.20000°N 6.11111°W / 35.20000; -6.11111Coordinates: 35°12′00″N 06°06′40″W / 35.20000°N 6.11111°W / 35.20000; -6.11111
Type Settlement
Founded 7th century BC
Lixus is the site of an ancient Roman city located in Morocco just north of the modern seaport of Larache on the bank of the Loukkos River. The location was one of the main cities of the Roman province of Mauretania Tingitana.[1]
Ancient Lixus is located on Tchemmich Hill on the right bank of the Loukkos River (other names: Oued Loukous; Locus River), just to the north of the modern seaport of Larache.[2] The site lies within the urban perimeter of Larache, and about three kilometres inland from the mouth of the river and the Atlantic ocean. From its 80 metres above the plain the site dominates the marshes through which the river flows. To the north, Lixus is surrounded by hills which themselves are bordered to the north and east by a forest of cork oaks.
Among the ruins there are Roman baths, temples, 4th century walls, a mosaic floor, a Christian church and the intricate and confusing remains of the Capitol Hill.[3]
Lixus was first settled by the Phoenicians in the 7th century BC and was later annexed by Carthage. Lixus was part of a chain of Phoenician/Carthaginian settlements along the Atlantic coast of modern Morocco; other major settlements further to the south are Chellah (called Sala Colonia by the Romans)[4] and Mogador. When Carthage fell to Ancient Rome, Lixus, Chellah and Mogador became imperial outposts of the Roman province Mauretania Tingitana.
The ancient sources agree to make of Lixus a counter Phoenician, which is confirmed by the archaeological discovery of material dating from 8th century BC. It gradually grew in importance, later coming under Carthaginian domination. After the destruction of Carthage, Lixus fell to Roman control and was made an imperial colony, reaching its zenith during the reign of the emperor Claudius I (AD 41-54).
Some ancient Greek writers located at Lixus the mythological garden of the Hesperides, the keepers of the golden apples. The name of the city which was often mentioned by writers from Hanno the Navigator to the Geographer of Ravenna and confirmed by the legend on its coins and by an inscription. The ancients believed this to be the site of the Garden of the Hesperides and of a sanctuary of Hercules, where Hercules gathered gold apples, more ancient than the one at Cadiz, Spain. However, there are no grounds for the claim that Lixus was founded at the end of the second millennium BC.
Lixus flourished during the Roman Empire, mainly when Claudius established a Roman Colonia with full rights for the citizens. Lixus was one of the few Roman cities in Berber Africa that enjoyed an amphitheater: the amphitheater at Lixus. In the third century Lixus become nearly fully Christian and there are even now the ruins of a paleochristian church overlooking the archeological area.[5] The Arab invasions destroyed the Roman city. Some berber life was maintained there nevertheless until one century after the Islamic conquest of North Africa by the presence of a mosque and a house with patio with the covered walls of painted stuccos.
Archaeological works[edit]
The site was excavated continuously from 1948 to 1969.[6] In the 1960s, Lixus was restored and consolidated. In 1989, following an international conference which brought together many scientists, specialists, historians and archaeologists of the Mediterranean around the history and archaeology of Lixus, the site was partly enclosed. Work was undertaken to study the Roman mosaics of the site, which constitute a very rich unit. In addition to the vestiges interesting to discover the such mosaics whose one of sixty meters representing Poseidon.[clarification needed] Lixus was on a surface of approximately 75 hectares (190 acres). The excavated zones constitute approximately 20% of the total surface of the site.
World Heritage Status[edit]
See also[edit]
Line notes[edit]
 1. ^ Roman Lixus
 2. ^ Prehistoria de España: Trabajos dedicados al IV Congreso Internacional, Santiago Alcobé y Noguer
 3. ^ Lixus (in French)
 4. ^ C. Michael Hogan, Chellah, The Megalithic Portal, ed. Andy Burnham
 5. ^ Lixus (with photos)
 6. ^ The Phoenicians, by Sabatino Moscati
External links[edit]


text:
Microsoft Montage is a web-based application that takes your search terms and transforms them into a magazine-style page.
1. You can design your Montage around any topic you can imagine by adding content that pulls information from a variety of sources, including RSS feeds, Twitter, Bing News, and YouTube.
2. The service allows you to create a digital scrapbook page, curating a particular topic, as illustrated by this YouTube video by Montage.
3. Your Montage is presented in a widgetized and highly customizable grid layout. It's easy, intuitive and fun to get started. You can choose from several pre-defined layouts or modify the existing one by deleting items, moving items via drag & drop, and changing the content of each item.
4. Montages can be easily shared via Facebook and Twitter, letting you share your content with friends, family, or anybody with similar interests.
5. Your imagination is the only limit to what topic you use to create a Montage—anything from movies to sports to robots. Montage gives you insight into any topic you choose that can take you as deep as you want to go.
Steps to Use:
1. First you need to enter a keyword or topic, and Montage will scour the web and pluck out news articles, images, videos, Twitter feeds and so on, based on the topic.
2. The content is then arranged on the page in a grid format — you get to choose the exact layout.
3. Once content has been sourced, users can edit the 'magazine' by adding or removing sections, changing keywords for individual panels, and so on.
4. When the editing part is done, we are able to tag our visual scrapbook, share it with our Facebook and Twitter networks and then publish it to a unique web page.
Other similar Apps: Flipboard for iPad, PostPost and Paper.li
Share your thought on this in the comment box.


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Integrated cloud-based solutions for clinical laboratories
Sample Page
The page below is a sample from the MediaLab course, Bone Marrow Aspiration Part I: Normal Hematopoiesis and Basic Interpretive Procedures.
Calculating and Reporting the Myeloid:Erythroid (M:E) Ratio
Once the bone marrow cell count is completed and recorded, the M: E ratio should be assessed. This is performed by calculating the total myeloid precursors in proportion to the total erythroid precursors.
Remember that this does not use the total white blood cell tally; the myeloid cells alone are counted, excluding lymphocytes, monocytes, macrophages, plasma cells, megakaryocytes, osteoclasts, osteoblasts, and other non-myeloid cells. In most circumstances, it is quite simple to divide the myeloid total by the erythroid total to find the ratio. This is always reported as a whole number ratio, and is normally around 3:1 (reference range= 2:1 to 4:1). In some situations where the erythroid portion is increased, or the myeloid series is decreased, the M:E ratio is reversed. This would still be expressed as a whole number ratio (example: 1:2). A simple way to perform the calculation is to always divide the larger value by the smaller. Which side of the colon, the 1 is placed on, is dependent on which cell type was larger. The 1 always belongs on the side of the cell type found in lower numbers.
For example:
Myeloid total 120 : Erythroid total 40
M:E ratio = 120 ÷ 40 = 3 or 3:1
So, the M:E ratio is 3:1
Another example:
Myeloid total 30 : Erythroid total 150
Divide the larger number by the smaller (notice that the placement is reversed).
150 ÷ 30 = 5
So, the M:E ratio is 1:5


text:
Abstract: We extend the classification of irreducible finite dimensional representations of almost simple algebraic groups over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero to certain non-connected groups $G$ where the component group is cyclic. We also extend some of Steinberg's results on the adjoint quotient $G\rightarrow T/W$ to these non-connected groups. These results are used to describe the geometry of $\theta$-conjugacy classes of $G^o$, where $\theta$ is an automorphism of the connected group $G^o$. As an application, we show that there is a "functorial" correspondence between virtual (finite dimensional) characters of $\theta$-invariant representations of $G$ and virtual characters of an endoscopic group $H$ of $G$.
Full text of the article:


text: The dismantling of disused industrial facilities such as nuclear power plants or refineries is an enormous challenge for the planning and control of the logistic processes. Existing control models do not meet the requirements for a proper dismantling of industrial plants. Therefore, the paper presents an approach for the control of dismantling and post-processing processes (e.g. decontamination) in plant decommissioning. In contrast to existing approaches, the dismantling sequence and depth are selected depending on the capacity utilization of required post-processing processes by also considering individual characteristics of respective dismantling tasks (e.g. decontamination success rate, uncertainties regarding the process times). The results can be used in the dismantling of industrial plants (e.g. nuclear power plants) to reduce dismantling time and costs by avoiding bottlenecks such as capacity constraints.


text:
. Halon is considered to be better for use around expensive electrical equipment because, unlike carbon dioxide, it does not cause condensation or otherwise damage electrical components.
- Foam - Class A, B
- These contain a lightweight chemical foam which coats the surface of the burning material, removing the fuel from the fire. These are particularly effective against Class B fires.


text:
Zhang, Kapur and Krishnamoorthy introduced a cover set method for designing induction schemes for automating proofs by induction from specifications expressed as equations and conditional equations. This method has been implemented in the theorem prover Rewrite Rule Laboratory ( RRL) and a proof management system Tecton built on top of RRL, and it has been used to prove many nontrivial theorems and reason about sequential as well as parallel programs. The cover set method is based on the assumption that a function symbol is defined using a finite set of terminating (conditional or unconditional) rewrite rules. The termination ordering employed in orienting the rules is used to perform proofs by well-founded induction. The left side of the rules are used to design different cases of an induction scheme, and recursive calls to the function made in the right side can be used to design appropriate instantiations for generating induction hypotheses. A weakness of this method is that it relies on syntactic unification for generating an induction scheme for a conjecture. This paper goes a step further by proposing semantic analysis for generating an induction scheme for a conjecture from a cover set. We discuss the use of a decision procedure for Presburger arithmetic (quantifier-free theory of numbers with the addition operation and relational predicates >, <, not =, >=, <=) for performing semantic analysis about numbers. The decision procedure is used to generate appropriate induction schemes for a conjecture using cover sets of function taking numbers as arguments. This extension of the cover set method automates proofs of many theorems which otherwise, require human guidance and hints. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated using some examples which commonly arise in reasoning about specifications and programs. It is also shown how semantic analysis using a Presburger arithmetic decision procedure can be used for checking the completeness of a cover set of a function defined using operations such as + and - on numbers. Using this check, many function definitions used in a proof of the prime factorization theorem stating that every number can be factored uniquely into prime factors, which had to be checked manually, can now be checked automatically in RRL. The use of the decision procedure for guiding generalization for generating conjectures and merging induction schemes is also illustrated.
To view the entire paper click here


text:
Are Britons becoming nature nitwits? One in five don't know oak trees come from acorns
It's the national tree of England and a symbol of Britain's seafaring power for hundreds of years.
Yet according to a new survey, one in five adults have no idea that oak trees spring from tiny acorns.
Instead, millions of 'nature ninnies' believe acorns fall from sycamore, elm or birch trees.
Scroll down for video
Worrying: Millions of 'nature ninnies' believe acorns fall from sycamore, elm or birch trees
The survey also found that 15 per cent of adults think cows' milk comes from male cattle, while a similar number are unaware that tadpoles turn into frogs.
The shocking state of ignorance about nature is highlighted by an opinion poll of 2,000 adults carried out in the run up to Open Farm Sunday, when hundreds of farmers will open their gates to the public.
Fewer than half the adults surveyed said correctly that bees make honey from nectar, with 59 per cent wrongly believing that honey comes from pollen.
Only half knew that robins live in Britain all year round, while two thirds did not realise that sparrows – one of the most common UK birds – also live here all year.
And although the call of the cuckoo is one of the great symbolic heralds of the spring, one in ten people said the birds live in the British Isles all through the winter. Farmer and TV presenter Adam Henson admitted he was disappointed by the level of public ignorance revealed in the poll, commissioned by the farming and environment charity Leaf.
'As a farmer I am passionate about the great British countryside and like most farmers I spend a considerable amount of my time looking after it – along with all the wildlife that lives there too,' he said.
'I'm disappointed to see that so many people seem to be confused about the countryside and the role that farmers like me play in nurturing wildlife and tending the land.'
Three out of ten people questioned could not identify the red triangular road sign for frogs or toads crossing – with one in six believing it means 'beware of frogs'.
Women and men got a similar number of answers wrong.
However, women were more likely to know that oak trees come from acorns – and that milking cows are female.
All ages were unaware of the role of farmers in looking after the countryside, Leaf said.
Around 95 per cent did not know that they manage over three quarters of the UK's land, and fewer than one in four knew that farmers look after most of the hedgerows, walls and fences in the countryside.


Changes: Arcturis
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m (adding ID to infobox, replaced: {{Stub/Mob}} {{npcbox |image =Arcturis.jpg | name = Arcturis | gender = Male | race = Spirit beast | creature = Beast | level = 74 | type = Rare Elite | health = 15423 | aggro = {{aggro|0|0}} | repfaction = | facti...)
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|image =Arcturis.jpg
|image =Arcturis.jpg
| name = Arcturis
| name = Arcturis|id=38453
| gender = Male
| gender = Male
| race = Spirit beast
| race = Spirit beast
Latest revision as of 19:34, August 13, 2012
CombatMobEliteRare 32Arcturis
Gender Male
Race Spirit beast (Beast)
Level 74 Rare Elite
Health 15423
Reaction Alliance Horde
Location Grizzly Hills
See Icon-3D-48x48
Pet information
Family Spirit beast
Arcturis is a level 74 spirit beast found in Grizzly Hills. He's one of the four Spirit Beasts known, and is the first Spirit Beast to have the look of a bear.
Trivia Edit
 - The name Arcturis is likely inspired by the name Arcturus, the name of the brightest star in the constellation Boötes, which in turn is derived from the Greek word άρκτος, meaning "bear".
 - Arcturus is also the name of a villain from Starcraft, Arcturus Mengsk
Notes Edit
 - Despite being a rare creature, Arcturis is not on the list of creatures needed for the Achievement zone stormpeaks 03 [Northern Exposure] or the Achievement zone dragonblight 09 [Frostbitten] achievements. He was solely added as a hunter pet.
 - Arcturis is rumored to be on a 21 hour spawn timer that begins from time of kill/tame. This timer DOES reset with server downs and maintenance days.
 - Although, spawn times have been reported from as short of a time as 6 hours, to longer times, upwards of 72 hours.
External links Edit
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text:
For most Kansans, the name Erasmus T. Carr probably doesn't have a familiar ring.
But talk about the buildings he constructed and his place in state history becomes evident: Anderson Hall at Kansas State University in Manhattan; the Kansas State Capitol Building in Topeka, and the Kansas State Penitentiary, which later became the Lansing Correctional Facility.
He was born in Greenville, N.Y., on Oct. 28, 1824. He started out as a bricklayer, mason and carpenter and, in time, became an architect. He moved to Kansas in 1855. He had been offered the position of superintendent of buildings at Fort Leavenworth, constructing the Arsenal and Ordnance Depot.
He then opened an architectural office in Leavenworth and began work on designing the state penitentiary building in 1863. In 1876, Carr designed the Kansas exhibit building for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.
His work on Anderson Hall at K-State was done in pieces, according to the building's application form for the National Register of Historic Places. The Victorian Gothic building design was completed in 1878. It was built in stages based on each year's appropriations from the state legislature. At the time it was completed in 1884, it was one of the largest school buildings in the state.
As his reputation grew, Carr designed buildings for the State Normal School in Emporia, the Insane Asylum at Topeka, the Institute for the Blind in Wyandotte and courthouses for Leavenworth, Wyandotte, Brown, Nemaha, Dickinson and Morris counties. He also designed other school buildings throughout the state.
Carr served as the state architect for Kansas from 1879 through 1885. He was one of three architects to design the Capitol Building in Topeka.
He and his family left the state in 1902 and moved to Montana where he continued his work as an architect. It is unknown when he died.


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The AWR Design Environment comes with over 400 examples projects. These are to help users see what is possible and how to do specific types of simulations. The AWR knowledgebase has one page per example provided to preview the example before you open it. Each page will have a description of the example and images that help explain what is in the example. Some sample images below for a power amplifier design.
Each page will also have a button to either download or open the project. You can click the button to easily get that project open in the AWR Design Environment if you are on maintenance. Make sure to have the software open before clicking on the buttons. As an example, the button below will open the project for the images above
The sections below have the example pages organized by topic, most viewed, and recently updated. The side bar on this KB has the examples organized by major product line to allow browsing of the various examples. You can can search the entire knowledgebase and filter the results to on be from these examples.
Finding Examples in the AWR Design Environment
When you are in the AWR Design Environment, use the Help > Examples menu to find examples from the software. The dialog that opens will filter based on the text that you type and there are many different keywords used for each example.
Browse by topic
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text:
|Arch → Equipment|
|Introduced in version|
|Arch 3 views|
The Equipment tool offers you a simple and convenient way to insert non-structural, standalone elements such as pieces of furniture, hidro-sanitary equipments or electrical appliances to your projects. Equipments are based on Part shapes, which allow them to benefit from the solidity and possibilities of BRep geometry, and generate nice views when rendered to plan and section views.
As of version 0.17, equipment objects also have a DataHiRes property where a Mesh object can be attached. Equipment objects can then be made to display that mesh in the 3D view instead of their shape, which allows to use any high-resolution mesh objects such as detailed pieces of furniture commonly found on websites.
Furniture objects enclosed in an Arch Equipment object, with a high resolution mesh attached
When using the Arch OBJ exporter, all equipment objects that are in mesh display mode will be exported as their mesh instead of their shape.
- Equipments share the common properties and behaviours of all Arch Components
- DataModel: A description of the model of this equipment.
- DataUrl: An URL of the product page where more information about this equipment can be found.
- DataMesh: A Mesh representation to use for this equipment. When set, the Mesh display mode becomes available.
Equipment = makeEquipment(baseobj=None, placement=None, name="Equipment")
- Creates an
Equipmentobject from the given
baseobj, which can be a
- If a
placementis given, it is used.
- It returns
Noneif the operation fails.
import FreeCAD, Arch Box = FreeCAD.ActiveDocument.addObject("Part::Box", "Box") Box.Length = 500 Box.Width = 2000 Box.Height = 600 Equip = Arch.makeEquipment(Box) FreeCAD.ActiveDocument.recompute()


text:
- Alfalfa has high nutrient removal rates
- Annual fertilization may be necessary
- Preparation for winter is critical
Alfalfa is a crop with high nutrient removal rates, with average values of 10 to 12 pounds of phosphate (P2O5) and 60 pounds of potash (K2O) per ton of alfalfa. Annual fertilizer application of phosphorus and potassium is often needed to maintain good stand vigor and longevity of an alfalfa field, said Dorivar Ruiz Diaz, Kansas State University Research and Extension nutrient management specialist.
Alfalfa also responds to some secondary and micronutrients and in Kansas, sulfur and boron can often limit yield potential and should be monitored periodically, he said.
"First of all, for new seedings, it is important to build up soil test phosphorus and potassium to the optimum range before seeding, because this is the only opportunity (for the life of the stand) to mix the nutrients through the topsoil. At seeding, small amounts of phosphorus and potassium can be banded below the seed, making sure to allow adequate separation between the seed and the fertilizer band," Ruiz Diaz said.
On established stands, dryland alfalfa can be topdressed with phosphorus or potassium fertilizers in either the fall, early spring, or even after the first cutting.
Irrigated stands can also be fertilized at those times or after any cutting because moisture can be supplied to make the topdressed fertilizer available to plants.
Phosphorus is a relatively immobile nutrient in the soil, but it can still be effective if it is broadcast on the soil surface in an established alfalfa stand, he said. "Broadcasting phosphorus has proven effective on soils low in phosphorus because alfalfa has roots near the soil surface," he said.
Although phosphorus and potassium fertilizer can be beneficial to alfalfa if applied in the early spring or after the first cutting, if soil tests show the nutrients are needed, producers also should remember the importance of early fall applications, Ruiz Diaz added.
"For established stands, the critical time when alfalfa needs the most phosphorus and potassium is usually in preparation for winter. To boost the winter hardiness of the crop, a good supply of phosphorus and potassium needs to be added before the critical fall growth period. Early fall fertilization when there is still some plant growth (four to six weeks before dormancy) is usually more effective in increasing winter survival, because nutrients are supplied in time for adequate uptake," he said.
When high nutrient application rates are needed to boost soil fertility, splitting the total required amount into two or more applications is recommended in order to avoid salt injury and luxury consumption beyond the alfalfa nutritional requirement.
Lime is also important for alfalfa, but should be applied before seeding and during land preparation for planting, Ruiz Diaz said. Alfalfa grows best in a soil pH range of 6.5 to 7.5 and when needed, lime should be applied to reach a pH of 6.8.
It is neither necessary nor desirable to apply nitrogen to established stands of alfalfa. "Nitrogen fertilizer applied to well-nodulated alfalfa will only stimulate grassy and broadleaf weeds, and may reduce stand longevity," he said.
For more information, visit a local K-State Research and Extension office or see K-State publication C-683, Alfalfa Production Handbook, at: _URL_


text:
How to get rid of earwigs
Information, facts and resources to help you deal with an infestation of earwigs and, if the worst happens, how to destroy the earwigs and prevent this household pests return.
What does an earwig look like?
- Earwigs are typically reddish brown to black in colour.
- Earwigs are approxiamately 9 - 15 mm in length.
- Earwigs have short wings which do not cover the body.
- Earwigs have pincers at the rear of their bodies - they look dangerous but earwigs can do no harm to humans with these.
Where do earwigs live?
- Earwigs are found in damp places, in lawns, in crevices and amongst litter. Earwigs are mosty found outside but occasionally inside. Earwigs are found in plants, trees and buildings. Earwigs hibernate under paper, cardboard, wooden boards, bark, and also stones outside.
What are the signs of an earwig infestation?
- Earwigs are seen when moving items such as litter or damp clothes or damp cardboard that has been left undisturbed for a while.
What do earwigs eat?
- Earwigs eat and thrive on organic matter. Earwigs eat lichens, pollen, flowers, vegetables, plant matter and fruit.
- Earwigs also eat most household pantry items such as flour, biscuits, bread, and pastries.
Why must earwigs be controlled?
- Earwigs are a significant pest to gardeners.
- Earwigs (during an infestation) can be found in laundry, clothes, furniture, bread, the pantry or larder, and bedding. Earwigs are an unpleasant rather than dangerous household pest.
How can I get rid of earwigs?
- Good hygiene and the clearance of litter, clippings, organic materials is essential for the extermination of these pests.
How can I prevent earwigs from returning?
- Keep work areas in the kitchen and garden dry and free from litter to help control earwigs.
- Remove decaying vegetable matter from garden areas and around the house.
- Avoid leaving piles of piles of leaves or grass clippings lying around, or ANY pile of wet, damp organic matter which may encourage and feed earwigs.
- Repair downpipes and gutters that may contribute to the damp environment that earwigs need to thrive.
Earwig Poisons and Earwig Pesticides
- Proprietary earwig poisons and pesticides are vailable from hardware stores.
- Chemicals for the effective control of earwigs include: deltamethrin, cyfluthrin, lambda-cyhalothrin, cypermethrin, sumithrin and tralomethrin.
The "Green Option" - Environmentally friendly control of Earwigs
- Earwigs can be baited and sweet sticky substance will attract and hold them.
- Earwigs can be controlled with grooved board traps which are set in places earwigs are known to frequent. The earwig traps are checked regularly and any caught earwigs are disposed of.
- Place wet burlap bags or wet carpet, boards, newspapers or other cover material around the garden near the house. Collect the earwigs that congregate under the damp materials and dispose of the earwigs.
- Try poisoned bran sweetened with molasses to control earwigs.
Earwigs : Household Pests
Extermine common household pests; control and eradication information - online eradication of household pests!
(Press Ctrl and D - to bookmark)


text:
Lafayette Escadrille (läˌfēĕtˈ, lăfˌēĕtˈ ĕskədrĭlˈ) [key], small group of American volunteer aviators in World War I, created (Apr., 1916) as Escadrille Américaine in the French air service. It was renamed the Lafayette Escadrille in December of the same year in honor of the French hero's service in the American Revolution, and the outfit saw much frontline action and suffered heavy casualties. In Jan., 1918, the Lafayette Escadrille was reorganized in the U.S. army as the 103d Pursuit Squadron.
See E. C. Parson's The Great Adventure (1937, repr. 1972 under the title I Flew with the Lafayette Escadrille); study by H. M. Mason (1964).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.


text:
- An endless chain with links that engage with toothed wheels in order to transmit power from one shaft to another in an engine or machine tool.More example sentences
- A hybrid car uses a gasoline engine in conjunction with an electric motor for its drive chain.
- There's an engine, drive chain and brakes - and a controller called the driver.
- Despite having to adapt to an unfamiliar bike, Palmer finished a creditable ninth in the first race, but a snapped drive chain led to his retirement in the second race when in seventh place.
More definitions of drive chainDefinition of drive chain in:
- The US English dictionary


text:
Endogenous Financial Openness: Efficiency and Political Economy Considerations
This paper studies the endogenous determination of financial openness. We outline a framework where financial openness is endogenously determined by the authority's choice of financial repression as a taxation device, and where the private sector determines endogenously the magnitude of capital flight. The optimal financial repression is shown to depend on the openness of the economy to international trade, the efficiency of the tax system (which in turn may be affected by political economy considerations), and on political polarization and the degree of opportunism. Similar predictions are obtained in a model where authorities pursue an opportunistic policy representing the interest of a narrow pressure group that engages in capital flight due to political uncertainty. We confirm the predictions of the models, showing that de-facto financial openness [measured by (gross private capital inflows + outflows)/GDP] depends positively on lagged trade openness, and GDP/Capita. For developing countries, we find that a one standard deviation increase in commercial openness is associated with a 9.5 percent increase in de-facto financial openness (% of GDP), a one standard deviation increase in the democratization index reduces financial openness by 3.5%, and a one standard deviation increase in corruption is associated with a 3% reduction of financial openness. Similar negative dependence applies for measures of political competition. The impact of a budget surplus on financial openness is negative for developing countries, but positive for the OECD. The theoretical and empirical analysis leads us to conclude that a more openly competitive, free and inclusive political system will lead to lower levels of de-facto financial openness after controlling for incomes, macroeconomic policy (inflation and budget surpluses), interest rates and commercial openness.
Document Object Identifier (DOI): 10.3386/w10144
Published: Joshua Aizenman & Ilan Noy, 2009. "Endogenous Financial and Trade Openness," Review of Development Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 13(2), pages 175-189, 05.This paper is a revision of the earlier NBER working paper w10496, Endogenous Financial and Trade Openness, Joshua Aizenman, Ilan Noy
Users who downloaded this paper also downloaded* these:


text:
The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 lay down particular requirements for most aspects of the working environment. Regulation 7 deals specifically with the temperature in indoor workplaces and states that:
'During working hours, the temperature in all workplaces inside buildings shall be reasonable.'
A reasonable temperature for a workplace depends on work activity and the environmental conditions of the workplace. The temperature in workrooms should normally be at least:
- 16°C or
- 13°C if much of the work involves rigorous physical effort.
Providing adequate workplace heating through the use of portable heaters may be necessary. Any heating system must not give off dangerous or offensive levels of fume into the workplace.
Outdoor working in cold weather
The HSE does not have specific guidance for working in temperatures below 13°C however you can help ensure thermal comfort when working in the cold by:
- reducing cold exposure by designing processes that minimise exposure to cold areas and cold products where possible.
- reducing draughts.
- providing insulating floor coverings or special footwear when employees have to stand for long periods on cold floors.
- providing appropriate protective clothing for cold environments.
- introducing formal systems of work to limit exposure, eg flexible working patterns, job rotation.
- providing sufficient breaks to enable employees to get hot drinks or to warm up in heated areas.


text:
Click on image to open
full size in new window.
Title / Description: The "Painted Stoa" of old AgoraCommentary: The so-called Painted Stoa is located in the northeastern part of the Athenian agora, and dates to the first half of the 5th century BCE. Its name is derived from the panel paintings that were once located within the stoa. The stoa itself is roughly 12 by 36 meters in size and made out of limestone. The stoa was punctuated by Doric exterior columns and Ionic interior columns.
Provenance: Athens, Greece
Object Type: image - architecture
Date: 460-410 B.C.E.
The Oxford Classical Dictionary
Author of Commentary: Adam Mendelson
Source: Sumney, Jerry L. Jerry L. Sumney Slide Collection


text:
On August 3, 2016, seven kilometers above Alaska's Aleutian Islands, a research plane captured something mysterious: an atmospheric aerosol particle enriched with the kind of uranium used in nuclear fuel and bombs.
It's the first time scientists have detected such a particle just floating along in the atmosphere in 20 years of plane-based observations.
Uranium is the heaviest element to occur naturally on Earth's surface in an appreciable amount. Normally it occurs as the slightly radioactive isotope uranium-238, but some amount of uranium-235, the kind humans make bombs and fuel out of, occurs in nature. Uranium-238 is already rare to find floating above the Earth in the atmosphere. But scientists have never before spotted enriched uranium, a sample uranium containing uranium-235, in millions of research plane-captured atmospheric particles.
"One of the main motivations of this paper is to see if someobody who knows more about uranium than any of us would understand the source of the particle," scientist Dan Murphy from NOAA told me. After all, "aerosol particles containing uranium enriched in uranium-235 are definitely not from a natural source," he writes in the paper, published recently in the Journal of Environmental Radioactivity.
Murphy has led flights around the world sampling the atmosphere for aerosols. These tiny particles can come from polution, dust, fires, and other sources, and can influence things like cloud formation and the weather. The researchers spotted the mystery particle on a flight over Alaska using their "Particle Analysis by Laser Mass Spectrometry" instrument. They considered that perhaps the signature came from something weird, but evidence seems to point directly at enriched uranium.
They were not intending to look for radioactive elements. "The purpose of the field campaign was to obtain some of the first global cross-sections of the concentration of trace gases and of dust, smoke, and other particles in the remote troposphere over the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans," according to the paper.
But where the particle came from is a mystery. It's pretty clear it came from recently made reactor-grade uranium, the authors write (aka, not from Fukushima or Chernobyl). Perhaps from burnt fuel contaminated with uranium, they thought. They tried to trace it to a source using the direction of the wind—but their best estimate pointed vaguely to Asia. Higher probability areas include some parts of China, including its border with North Korea, and parts of Japan.
You don't need to worry about atmospheric radiation from just one particle, though. "It's not a significant amount of radioactive debris by itself," Murphy said. "But it's the implication that there's some very small source of uranium that we don't understand."
One author, Thomas Ryerson from NOAA, told me that he needs other scientists' help. "We're hoping that someone in a field that's not intimately associated with atmospheric chemistry can say 'a-ha!' and give us a call."
Correction: The image previously used was a WB-57, but the plane actually used to find the particle was a DC-8. Sorry!


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Tool and mould making
Lasers not only produce tools with utmost precision, they also make them durable and enable efficient repairs.
In the tool and mould making industry, TRUMPF enjoys an excellent reputation and is known as a driver of technologies of the future. As a result, more and more manufacturers are relying on the versatility of lasers to offer their customers sharper, more durable and more cost-effective products.
2D and 3D laser cutting machines are an ideal investment in the future when producing blades for industrial applications and for garden or domestic use, as the machines can cut different sheet thicknesses productively and dynamically. As a result, they offer flexibility for mass production and can prove worthwhile for job shops too. Generative laser metal deposition can be used to coat blades and for 3D generation tasks. Material ablation using lasers is also often used in tool and mould making. In injection moulding tools, for example, short or ultrashort pulse lasers generate highly detailed three-dimensional depressions. These shapes are then adopted by the plastic part later on during the injection moulding phase.
Laser metal deposition (LMD) is used in the industry wherever material has been removed through wear or damage. For example, LMD is used when repairing injection moulding tools. LMD can also be used to modify the design of a tool, by adding material to the surface. In this way, the modified tool can be used to produce components with a new geometry. This method enables significant cost savings compared with buying new tools and moulds.
Tools need to withstand ever-increasing loads. During plasma-assisted coating work, TRUMPF Hüttinger's DC generators ensure that the correct gas mixture is provided and that the processes are stable. Laser metal deposition can also be used to produce functional layers with improved mechanical properties. This enables the industry to use less expensive materials for the tools and moulds. Powder deposition welding sets new standards in the production of cutters, as it welds metal powder onto the future cutting edge. This produces an extremely durable blade that remains sharp for the long term.


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According to the list of "Top-notch Students in Basic Subjects Cultivation Program 2.0 Bases (2020)" released by the Ministry of Education, four bases of ECNU were selected. They are, the top-notch bases for mathematics, for physics, for geoscience and for psychology of "Yaoxiang Class".
The national top-notch bases will establish and improve its systems and mechanisms to cultivate cutting-edge students majoring in basic subjects of different fields, guide outstanding students into basic scientific research, and create a favorable atmosphere for the development of top-notch talents in basic subjects. The purpose is to reform and innovate educational concepts and models, as well as teaching content and methods. Moreover, these bases will explore in this field and accumulate experience and excellent cases that can be popularized, so as to form a world-level top-notch talent cultivation system for basic disciplines with Chinese characteristics. They are expected to cultivate a number of outstanding talents who can scale the height of scientific research and promote scientific and cultural development.
Source: Academic Affairs Office
Copy editor: Philip Nash
Editor: Yuan Yiwei


An Embroidered Lenten Chasuble from Vilnius, Lithuania
We have shown quite a number of vestments from the 18th century, but today I wished to show one that is a bit unique compared to others from the period. The example in question comes from The Embroidered Heaven which is focused on historical vestments from the Vilnius archdiocese in Lithuania and specifically comes from the Church of St. Michael the Archangel in Tabariškės. Here is what they have to say about the period in general:
The spirit of Rococo is particularly well reflected in eighteenth-century patterned silk fabrics from the weaving mills of France, above all Lyon, whose ornaments and colours were adopted by acupictors. The distinctive features of this style are light pastel colours, swirling flower garlands and diagonally meandering "rivers". In the third quarter of the 18th century, the taste in decorative arts inclined towards classics with a predilection for clear architectural lines and a renewed interest in motifs of classical antiquity.
As far as this specific example is concerned, the colours are indeed of the beautiful pastel variety so indicative of the period in question -- which always sets these examples apart from later one's. However, what is rather unique in this particular example are the galloons that are used. The chasuble itself relies on a simple pastel fabric of purple with embroideries depicting the crucifixion and the instruments of the Passion -- thus making it likely for use specific use during Septuagesima and especially Lent.
Here are a few closer details of the embroidered work:
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Direkt zum Inhalt
 - Aufgabe 1
 Dauer: 5 Minuten 5 Punkte
 Decide which indirect speech corresponds to the given direct speech.
 1. My penfriend, "School in Britain usually starts at 9 o'clock." - My penfriend told me that...
 1. school in Britain usually starts at 9'clock.
 2. school in Britain usually started at 9 o'clock.
 2. Tom, "How did you like New York last spring?" - Tom asked his friend...
 1. how had he liked New York the previous spring.
 2. how he had liked New York the previous spring.
 3. Jack, "I was ill two weeks ago." - Jack says that...
 1. he was ill two weeks ago.
 2. he was ill two weeks before.
 4. Tina, "John, help me! The milk is boiling over." - Tina wanted...
 1. John to help her because the milk was boiling over.
 2. John that he has to help her because the milk is boiling over.
 5. Mr Edwards, "Do you like dancing?" - Mr Edwards asked the lady...
 1. if she likes dancing.
 2. if she liked dancing.
 - Aufgabe 2
 Dauer: 5 Minuten 7 Punkte
 Use the verbs in the correct tense.
 1. John told me that Fiona _____ (already / to go) by nine.
 2. Dave asks me if I _____ (to think) that it _____ (to rain) tomorrow.
 3. The guests complained that the coffee _____ (to be cold) the day before.
 4. Mum tells me that Sue _____ (to phone) two hours ago and she _____ (to phone) again.
 5. The man said that a lot of children _____ (to wait) in front of the gate then.
 - Aufgabe 3
 Dauer: 10 Minuten 10 Punkte
 Convert the following sentences back to direct speech.
 1. Henry told his friend that he had met the most beautiful woman the previous night.
 2. Mum told me to get up and not to be late for breakfast.
 3. Robert asks if I prefer strawberry ice cream to cherry ice cream.
 4. Our teacher complained that we had been too late for lessons twice so far.
 5. The tourist said he had seen the most interesting things there that day.
 - Aufgabe 4
 Dauer: 15 Minuten 16 Punkte
 Translate this dialogue into German.
 Chemist, "Hello, may I help you?"
 Customer, "Yes, please. My little daughter has a terrible cough. I've got a prescription."
 Chemist, "Let me see. You're lucky, I've got the medicine here. Let me get it for you."
 Customer, "Thank you very much. Can you tell me how often she has to take it?"
 Chemist, "Yes, how old is your daughter?"
 Customer, "She's three years old."
 Chemist, "Okay, then you have to give her the medicine three times a day: in the morning after breakfast, in the afternoon and before you put her to bed in the evening. It's a juice, so give her one spoonful. She shouldn't drink anything afterwards."
 Customer, "Thank you very much for all your help."
 Chemist, "You're welcome. Good bye. And get well soon, little girl."
 - Aufgabe 5
 Dauer: 10 Minuten 8 Punkte
 Translate the following sentences.
 1. Jill sagte ihren Eltern, dass sie die Polizei anrufen sollten.
 2. Jeff erzählte seiner Mutter, dass er seine Englischlehrerin gestern getroffen hätte.
 3. Unser Lehrer wollte wissen, ob wir jemals Musik heruntergeladen hätten.
 4. Sandras Mutter bat ihre Tochter, das Handy nicht zu vergessen.


text:
12-hour Clinical Supervisor Training (Initial Training)
Friday, Dec 15, 2017 – Saturday, Dec 16, 2017
8:30am – 4:30pm
Join Robert Rhoton Psy D., LPC, D.A.A.E.T.S. in exploring and developing enhanced general and clinical supervision skills for those independently licensed professionals that currently provide clinical supervision or intend to deliver clinical supervision in compliance with the Arizona Revised Statutes and ADHS requirements. This training utilizes case studies and a collaborative participant discussion format to assure that all points are covered and adequately understood.
Who should attend? Those supervising associate level mental health professionals on their journey to independent licensure.
Arizona Trauma Institute is approved by the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) to grant Continuing education credit for live workshops. ACEP number is 6677. 12 CEU's are awarded for this training.
Rules regarding the need for this 12 hour supervision.
- A licensee who maintains more than one license may apply the same continuing education hours for renewal of each license if the content of the continuing education relates to the scope of practice of each license.
- For each license period, a licensee may report a maximum of:
- Ten clock hours of continuing education for first-time presentations by the licensee that deal with current developments, skills, procedures, or treatments related to the practice of behavioral health. The licensee may claim one clock hour for each hour spent preparing, writing, and presenting information;
- Six clock hours of continuing education for attendance at a Board meeting where the licensee is not:
- A member of the Board,
- The subject of any matter on the agenda, or
- The complainant in any matter that is on the agenda; and
- Ten clock hours of continuing education for service as a Board or ARC member.
- For each license period, a licensee shall report:
- A minimum of three clock hours of continuing education sponsored, approved, or offered by an entity listed in subsection (D) in:
- Behavioral health ethics or mental health law, and
- Cultural competency and diversity; and
- Beginning January 1, 2018, complete a Board-approved tutorial on Board statutes and rules.
- A licensee shall participate in continuing education that relates to the scope of practice of the license held and to maintaining or improving the skill and competency of the licensee. Toe Board has determined that in addition to the continuing education listed in subsections (B) and (C), the following continuing education meets this standard:
The Board has determined that a substance abuse technician, associate substance abuse counselor, or an independent substance abuse counselor shall ensure that at least 20 of the 30 clock hours of continuing education required under R4-6-80l(B) are in the following categories:
- Pharmacology and psychopharmacology,
- Addiction processes,
- Models of substance use disorder and addiction treatment,
- Relapse prevention,
- Interdisciplinary approaches and teams in substance use disorder and addiction treatment,
- Substance use disorder and addiction assessment and diagnostic criteria,
- Appropriate use of substance use disorder and addiction treatment modalities,
- Substance use disorder and addiction as it related to diverse populations,
- Substance use disorder and addiction treatment and prevention,
- Clinical application of current substance use disorder and addiction research, or
- Co-occurring disorders.
Event LocationArizona Trauma Institute, 49 S. Sycamore St. Suite 2
Mesa, AZ, 85202


text:
Ways curator Anne R. Pasternak, the exhibit is an installation commemorating the 20th anniversary of the "Manifeste de 343," a French public declaration in 1971 stating all the signatories had had abortions, the most celebrated of whom included Simone de Beauvoir, Catherine Deneuve, Marguerite Duras, Gisèle Halimi, Bernadette Lafont, Françoise Sagan, Agnès Varda, Jeanne Moreau, Brigitte Bardot, and scores of other prominent women in the arts. That manifesto opens with the lines, "One million women in France have an abortion every year. Condemned to secrecy, they have them in dangerous conditions when this procedure, performed under medical supervision, is one of the simplest. These women are veiled in silence. I declare that I am one of them. I have had an abortion. Just as we demand free access to birth control, we demand the freedom to have an abortion.
"The Abortion Project doubled the Manifeste's number, collecting 686 signatures of women in the arts, which was enlarged and painted in red directly on the gallery walls. The second part of the exhibit consists of artworks by 40 women artists who have long been involved with issues of gender and women's rights that had been shown at Simon Watson Gallery, in New York. They included Barbara Kruger, Adrian Piper, Lorna Simpson, Kiki Smith and Nancy Spero. The third part of the show featured "The Abortion Project Anthology," a publication featuring the work of women poets, artists and writers, including Laura Cottingham, Eileen Miles, Jill Rappaport, Kaye Rosen, Christine Sanders and Lynne Tillman. Besides Artists Space and Real Artways, the Abortion Project was also installed at New Langton Arts, San Francisco, CA, and at Hallwalls, Buffalo, NY, where it stirred considerable controversy with the city's conservative press and the religious right.
1991: The collective of queer women artists known as Fierce Pussy is formed to bring lesbian identity and visibility into AIDS activism and street demonstrations throughout the 1990s. Although composed of successive waves of lesbian activists, Nancy Brooks Brody, Joy Episalla, Zoe Leonard, and Carrie Yamaoka have made up the core membership.
_PHONE_: Felix Gonzalez-Torres, the conceptual sculptor who in January 1996 died of AIDS at age 38, combined his personal experiences with public conceptual art installations. In one exhibit, he piled wrapped candy in a corner and invited viewers to take one, replenished from an "endless supply," an idyllic sentiment exemplary of a desire for heaven on earth. Yet his art is anything but sentimental. His billboard installations of the early 1990s displaying the photographic images of his empty bed are simple facts of loss as much as they are tributes to his lover lost to AIDS in a public gesture that directs his grief into the collective that receives all private life events as political motivations and ends. In some of Gonzalez-Torres' minimalist candy installations the weight of the candy is to equal his lover's weight, other's his own weight, and still others the weight of both men combined. In the above installation, the candy is to be maintained at 1200 pounds.
_PHONE_: General Idea, the trio of artists whose queer art has been internationally exhibited since the early 1970s, would become decimated by the HIV virus, with two of its members, Jorge Zontel and Felix Partz, dying only months apart from each other in 1995. Surviving member, AA Bronson, has since gone on to make an art of post-science shamanism geared for a generation seeking a healing that science has so far shown itself incapable of supplying. (See more about General Idea and their iconic AIDS art in Part 4, When the Personal Is Made Political: Left Political Art Timeline, _PHONE_.)
1992: Artist and writer David Wojnarowicz died of AIDS-related causes. Although feminists in the 1970s had widely disseminated the notion of the person being political, as late as the mid 1980s, few male artists, gay or straight, made his personal life the center of his work as acutely and ultimately as tragically as had David Wojnarowicz. Then, too, it appears that Wojnarowicz's work from the very beginning emerged directly from his personal experience. He claimed that he didn't study art history, didn't go to college, and he was begrudged for not being an art world networker. And so he made his art about the things he knew: his boyhood; his sexuality; life on the street; and witnessing his body as it progressively fell victim to the HIV virus. A prolific and impassioned writer, the text of his art work, When I Put My Hands On Your Body, overlain the image of excavated graves, speaks as freshly these years after his death as when he wrote them.
"When I put my hands on your body on your flesh I feel the history of that body. Not just the beginning of its forming in that distant lake but all the way beyond its ending. I feel the warmth and texture and simultaneously I see the flesh unwrap from the layers of fat and disappear. I see the fat disappear from the muscle. I see the muscle disappearing from around the organs and detaching itself from the bones. I see the organs gradually fade into transparency leaving a gloaming skeleton gleaming like ivory that slowly revolves until it becomes dust. I am consumed in the sense of your weight the way your flesh occupies momentary space the fullness of it beneath my palms. I am amazed at how perfectly your body fits to the curves of my hands. If I could attach our blood vessels so we could become each other I would. If I could attach our blood vessels in order to anchor you to the earth to this present time to me I would. If I could open up your body and slip inside your skin and look out your eyes and forever have my lips fused with yours I would. It makes me weep to feel the history of your flesh beneath my hands in a time of so much loss. It makes me weep to feel the movement of your flesh beneath my palms as you twist and turn over to one side to create a series of gestures to reach up around my neck to draw me nearer. All these memories will be lost in time like tears in the rain."
_PHONE_: After being diagnosed with lymphoma, Hanah Wilke took to documenting her treatment of the disease and ultimately her death. Called the INTRA-VENUS series, Wilke created a monument that speaks for more than the feminism she for twenty years had represented with her art. Each successive photo and video makes it increasingly obvious that Wilke defied the societal convention of dying silently and away from view. She ignored the pity, disgust, and sentimentalism that so many people attach to death and dying, just as she refused misery and bitterness to overwhelm her life's work's. All this is the Personal is Political taken to its culmination. As did Camus in his writing, Wilke took a stand on death by imposing on it her choice of making death part of her art. This is a political act as much as it is for many a spiritual act, or just a living act. Wilke died on January 28, 1993. During the later stages of her illness, she collaborated with her husband, Donald Goddard, on a series of photographs documenting the realities of her physical and mental transformation.
Consensus has it that the artist Wolfgang Staehle was the first net host to sponsor an artsite online when he founded The Thing in 1991 in New York. Although it's capacity was limited to that of a bulletin board system (BBS), Staehle had a vision that the net would become something of a production, conferencing, and distribution platform for artists and art cognoscenti--in essence a net art world for the conceptual artist. He went on to establish The Thing Cologne in 1992, and The Thing Vienna in 1993. From there, other artists and curators entered the art net frey as the net became increasingly capacious. äda'web, curated by Benjamin Weil, went online in 1994, as did Plexus under Stephen Pusey's administration, Antonio Muntadas' comprehensive online archive of censorship cases known as The File Room and net.art, which under Vuk Ćosić became a hub for European artists, also appeared in 1994.
New technologies invariably renew utopian yearnings. Politically, the artist versed in institutional critique saw in the net the capacity to outmaneuver the gallery system, to eliminate the middle man---the curator and gallery dealer. Access was the dream that suddenly seemed attainable. As with any new technology, expectations ran high. With artists' entry to the internet and later the world wide web, art wouldn't only reach its democratic apogee in terms of production and distribution. Art would become nomadically composed and predisposed with the aid of a technology of unlimited data retrieval and sharing that reflects the human neurological system and its cognitive functions. Allowing us to randomly roam from conceptual model to conceptual model--say between the visual and the textual, the personal and the public, the rational and the poetic. As a result we adapt more quickly to diversity and change, become expert at identifying, even understanding interpretations not initially our own, and look forward to their surprises rather than react defensively to differences. All of which is to say that artists saw the net as affording a world of models--concepts and imagery--


Calpine opens energy center next to Shell DP, earns EPA recognition
Calpine's DPEC will produce enough electricity to power more than 1,000,000 Texas homes. Steam generated at the facility will also be sold under a long-term agreement to Shell Chemical Company. DPEC consists of four combustion turbines, one steam turbine generator and four heat recovery steam generators.
Combined-cycle power generation uses natural gas to produce two forms of energy - steam and electricity. Burning natural gas drives a turbine generator that produces electricity. Hot exhaust gasses from the turbine are then routed to a heat recovery steam generator. Heat from the heat recovery steam generator is absorbed by circulating water, producing steam to serve Shell Chemical's needs and to power a steam turbine generator that produces additional electricity.The steam is then condensed back into water and recirculated through the heat recovery steam generator, where the process begins again.
Also at the recent dedication ceremony of Calpine's new DPEC, the EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy recognized the first phase of the Calpine Corporation Deer Park Energy Center for "leadership in energy supply" with a Energy Star Combined Heat and Power Award.
The award "demonstrates Calpine's commitment to providing power in one of the most efficient and environmentally responsible ways possible." Thirty-three of Calpine's 69 natural gas facilities are CHP, representing nearly 9,700 megawatts of power and serving an aggregate steam load of up to 18 million pounds per hour. According to company material, "this makes Calpine the leading cogeneration company in the United States."
Ron Walter, Executive Vice President, Business Development, and one of Calpine's founders 20 years ago was on hand at the DPEC dedication ceremony, along with Calpine's Peter Hansen, Vice President, Business Development, who provided an overview of the project, Kellie Byerly, Vice President, Regional Power Executive, Andrew Siegelstein, Senior Project Manager, and William Chenette, Plant Manager.
Calpine's Deer Park Energy Center's first combustion turbine began operation in 2003, producing 178 megawatts of baseload power and up to 1.1 million pounds per hour of steam. Now that the facility is completed, it consists of four combustion turbines, one steam turbine generator and four heat recovery steam generators that can produce up to 1,007 megawatts of power. Steam is utilized by the joint Shell Deer Park Oil Refining Company and Shell Chemical LP manufacturing facility adjacent to Calpine's site. Calpine sells the electricity to its other industrial and residential customers in the deregulated Texas market, which provides competitive access for energy procurement.
A Calpine press release states that the new DPEC project "helps the Houston/Galveston area in its efforts to achieve Federal Clean Air Act Compliance. For instance, compared to the average fossil fueled power plants in the United States, Calpine's fleet emits, on a megawatt-hour basis, 96 percent less nitrogen oxide, a major cause of smog, nearly 100 percent less sulfur dioxide, a major cause of acid rain, 53.4 percent less carbon dioxide and almost 84 percent less particulate matter, a contributor to respiratory problems. Also, unlike coal-fired plants, Calpine's power plants have no mercury emissions, a major health hazard."
Calpine is a member of the EPA/CHP Partnership, which seeks to reduce the environmental impact of power generation by fostering the use of CHP. The EnergyStar CHP award recognizes projects that use at least 5 percent less fuel than state-of-the-art separate power-and-heat generation. By significantly improving efficiency, award-winning projects save money while reducing greenhouse gases, such as C02, and other air pollutants, including NOx, S02, and particulate matter.
Calpine is the largest independent power producer in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas with 11 power plants capable of generating more than 6,700 megawatts of electricity. Calpine describes their facilities as "the cleanest, most fuel-efficient natural gas-fired facilities that provide power under both shortand long-term contracts to wholesale and industrial power customers."
Calpine marks its 20th year in operation this year. Calpine is one of the nation's leading independent power producers and the largest in Texas. Headquartered in San Jose, California, Calpine builds and operates power plants fueled by natural gas and renewable geothermal steam. DPEC will consume "40 percent less fuel per megawatt hour produced than older fossil-fueled plants while also reducing emissions." According to Calpine literature, "gas-fired power plants such as DPEC represent the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. power industry.


if there were more than four or five instances of container loss in the whole Western Hemisphere in any given year.
Containers vary in size, shape and integrity. Gary North of Matson puts the value of a dry box at $4,000 to $5,000, while refrigerated containers could cost as much as $30,000. A typical container might carry material valued at $50,000 to $1 million or even more, depending on type of cargo. While most containers are airtight, some have vent holes or similar openings.
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