text:
When Gunnar Ovstebo and Andrew Ensoll landed in El Paso on August 1, they traded in 60-degree highs in Scotland for a chance to search the scorching Chihuahuan Desert for plants most people would walk right past. The horticulturists from Scotland's Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, were on a mission to find ferns that included remnants of those dominating the Earth hundreds of millions of years ago, before mammals, birds – and even dinosaurs – existed.
With the guidance of Wildflower Center Plant Conservationist Michael Eason, they hit pay dirt over a three-week span, making 35 collections of these flowerless plants in four counties.
The sites they visited ranged from stark, open scrubland outside Presidio, Texas, the lush "sky island" of Mount Livermore in the Davis Mountains and the northern lip of the Rio Grande River, a melting 106-degrees F during their visit. Ensoll glimpsed a mountain lion off in the distance at Big Bend National Park and they both marveled at the tenacity of a drought-damaged fern found on their first collection excursion behind Sul Ross State University in Alpine.
"It felt very sacred, these places we've seen through Michael's contacts. They're really gems of nature," Ovstebo said. "And seeing desert ferns in the wild will help us while trying to cultivate them back in Scotland."
The Norwegian oversees glass houses at the Edinburgh botanic garden where desert and other plants from arid regions are kept to brave Scotland's cold climate. Among the offerings available to visitors is a glass house with a Southwestern U.S. exhibit where creosote, desert willow and Chihuahuan Desert cacti are already on display. To the Southwestern exhibit, they will begin adding more than 30 different species of ferns found in August.
"Most people don't expect to find ferns in the desert," Ovstebo said, noting that "we're trying to challenge the public to think beyond the expected."
A river fern or a Boston fern with delicate, saw-toothed fronds is likely what many people envision when they think fern. But more than half of Texas' ferns and related species (pteridophytes) exist in its arid Western half, where water-conserving needs rule all things.
Clambering inside limestone canyons, along granite outcrops and elsewhere, the horticulturists came across a range of ferns, from the snowflake-shaped leaves of star cloak ferns, whose fronds resemble hands when closed up, to the stubby, flat fronds of wavy scaly cloak fern, to spike moss with its scale-like leaves clustered in spikes.
As alien as some of the plants looked, the biggest surprise came from their habitat, which differed from the shady, cooler crevices some ferns favor. "You have an image of where things should be growing," said Ensoll, a Brit who oversees the propagation of ferns at the Edinburgh garden. "But you couldn't actually touch some of the rocks the ferns were growing on without burning your hand."
Eason was equally impressed with the horticulturists' skill at recognizing ferns. "I've learned so much from them about the identification of ferns and their terminology," he said. "It's just something I never focused on while collecting seeds in Texas." Not that the identifications always came easily. Many of the ferns had to be baptized in water before becoming lifelike enough to recognize, and in some cases, months of work will occur back in Scotland to grow them up and confirm identifications. "On a lot of the ferns, the pinnae (frond segments) had shriveled up and curled around, and they'd have just snapped if you'd touched them," Ensoll said, immediately adding that "as soon as it rains, they'll expand and within 24 hours, they start coming alive."
Spores, unlike seeds, are single-celled, making it easier for ferns to produce thousands of the lightweight reproductive packets on the back of their fronds. With ferns in water-rich areas, the spore germinates and develops into a sexual stage that undergoes a fertilization step involving sperm swimming to an egg to produce a new plant. However desert ferns have evolved a quicker life cycle that bypasses the fertilization step to form another, spore-producing fern.
The horticulturists look forward to showcasing for the public diverse attributes of desert ferns such as their reproductive strategy – after growing up the Texas plants from spores over the next year. "We'll plant them out in the glass houses, which have lots of space for the ferns to run around the cacti and the rocks," Ensoll noted, recalling their sun-baked homeland. "But we definitely need to add more rocks first."
All photos courtesy of Andrew Ensoll, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh.


.0 146.4
This question is essentially asking if the following reaction is spontaneous at room temperature.
\[NH_4NO_{3(s)} \overset{H_2O} \longrightarrow NH_{4(aq)}^+ + NO_{3(aq)}^-\]
This would normally only require calculating \(\Delta{G^o}\) and evaluating its sign. However, the \(\Delta{G^o}\) values are not tabulated, so they must be calculated manually from calculated \(\Delta{H^o}\) and \(\Delta{S^o}\) values for the reaction.
 - Calculate \(\Delta{H^o}\):
\[ \Delta H^o = \sum n\Delta H^o_{f_{products}} - \sum m\Delta H^o_{f_{reactants}} \]
\[ \Delta H^o= \left[ \left( 1\; mol\; NH_3\right)\left(-132.51\;\dfrac{kJ}{mol} \right) + \left( 1\; mol\; NO_3^- \right) \left(-205.0\;\dfrac{kJ}{mol}\right) \right] \]
\[- \left[ \left(1\; mol\; NH_4NO_3 \right)\left(-365.56 \;\dfrac{kJ}{mol}\right) \right]\]
\[ \Delta H^o = -337.51 \;kJ + 365.56 \; kJ= 28.05 \;kJ\]
 - Calculate \(\Delta{S^o}\):
\[ \Delta S^o = \sum n\Delta S^o_{f_{products}} - \sum S\Delta H^o_{f_{reactants}} \]
\[ \Delta S^o= \left[ \left( 1\; mol\; NH_3\right)\left(113.4 \;\dfrac{J}{mol\;K} \right) + \left( 1\; mol\; NO_3^- \right) \left(146.6\;\dfrac{J}{mol\;K}\right) \right] \]
\[- \left[ \left(1\; mol\; NH_4NO_3 \right)\left(151.08 \;\dfrac{J}{mol\;K}\right) \right]\]
\[ \Delta S^o = 259.8 \;J/K - 151.08 \; J/K= 108.7 \;J/K\]
 - Calculate \(\Delta{G^o}\):
These values can be substituted into the free energy equation
\[T_K = 25\;^oC + 273.15K = 298.15\;K\]
\[\Delta{S^o} = 108.7\; \cancel{J}/K \left(\dfrac{1\; kJ}{1000\;\cancel{J}} \right) = 0.1087 \; kJ/K\]
\[\Delta{H^o} = 28.05\;kJ\]
Plug in \(\Delta H^o\), \(\Delta S^o\) and \(T\) into Equation 1.7
\[\Delta G^o = \Delta H^o + T \Delta S^o\]
\[\Delta G^o = 28.05\;kJ - (298.15\; \cancel{K})(0.1087\;kJ/ \cancel{K})\]
\[\Delta G^o= 28.05\;kJ - 32.41\; kJ\]
\[\Delta G^o = -4.4 \;kJ\]
This reaction is spontaneous at room temperature since \(\Delta G^o\) is negative. Therefore \(NH_4NO_{3(s)}\) will dissolve in water at room temperature.
Example 1.3
Calculate \(\Delta{G}\) for the following reaction at \(25\; ^oC\). Will the reaction occur spontaneously?
\[NH_{3(g)} + HCl_{(g)} \rightarrow NH_4Cl_{(s)}\]
given for the reaction
 - \(\Delta{H} = -176.0 \;kJ\)
 - \(\Delta{S} = -284.8\;J/K\)
calculate \(\Delta{G}\) from the formula
but first we need to convert the units for \(\Delta{S}\) into kJ/K (or convert \(\Delta{H}\) into J) and temperature into Kelvin
 - \(\Delta{S} = -284.8 \cancel{J}/K \left( \dfrac{1\, kJ}{1000\; \cancel{J}}\right) = -0.284.8\; kJ/K\)
 - \(T=273.15\; K + 25\; ^oC = 298\;K\)
The definition of Gibbs energy can then be used directly
\[\Delta{G} = -176.0 \;kJ - (298 \cancel{K}) (-0.284.8\; kJ/\cancel{K}) \]
\[\Delta{G} = -176.0 \;kJ - (-84.9\; kJ) \]
\[\Delta{G} = -91.1 \;kJ \]
Yes, this reaction is spontaneous at room temperature since \(\Delta{G}\) is negative.
Gibbs Energy in Equilibria
Let's consider the following reversible reaction:
\[ A + B \leftrightharpoons C + D \tag{1.9}\]
The following equation relates the standard-state free energy of reaction with the free energy at any point in a given reaction (not necessarily at standard-state conditions):
\[ \Delta G = \Delta G^o + RT \ln Q \tag{1.10}\]
 - \(\Delta G\) = free energy at any moment
 - \(\Delta G^o\) = standard-state free energy
 - R is the ideal gas constant = 8.314 J/mol-K
 - T is the absolute temperature (Kelvin)
 - \(\ln Q\) is natural logarithm of the reaction quotient
At equilibrium, ΔG = 0 and Q=K. Thus the equation can be arranged into:
\[\Delta{G} = \Delta{G}^o + RT \ln \dfrac{[C][D]}{[A][B]} \tag{1.11}\]
 - \(\Delta{G}^o\) = standard free energy change
 - \(R\) = gas constant = 1.98 * 10-3 kcal mol-1 deg-10
 - \(T\) = is usually room temperature = 298 K
 - \(K = \dfrac{[C][D]}{[A][B]}\)
The Gibbs free energy \(\Delta{G}\) depends primarily on the reactants' nature and concentrations (expressed in the \(\Delta{G}^o\) term and the logarithmic term of Equation 1.11, respectively).
At equilibrium, \(\Delta{G} = 0\): no driving force remains
\[0 = \Delta{G}^{o'} + RT \ln \dfrac{[C][D]}{[A][B]} \tag{1.12}\]
\[\Delta{G}^{o} = -RT \ln\dfrac{[C][D]}{[A][B]} \tag{1.13}\]
The equilibrium constant is defined as
\[K_{eq} = \dfrac{[C][D]}{[A][B]} \tag{1.14}\]
When \(K_{eq}\) is large, almost all reactants are converted to products. Substituting \(K_{eq}\) into Equation 1.14, we have:
\[\Delta{G}^{o} = -RT \ln K_{eq} \tag{1.15}\]
\[\Delta{G}^{o} = -2.303RT log_{10} K_{eq} \tag{1.16}\]
\[K_{eq} = 10^{-\Delta{G}^{o}/(2.303RT)} \tag{1.17}\]
This equation is particularly interesting as it relates the free energy difference under standard conditions to the properties of a system at equilibrium (which is rarely at standard conditions).
Table 1.1: Converting \(K_{ea}\) to \(\Delta{G}\)
\(K_{eq}\) \(\Delta{G_o}\; (kcal/mole)\)
\(10^{-5}\) 6.82
\(10^{-4}\) 5.46
\(10^{-3}\) 4.09
\(10^{-2}\) 2.73
\(10^{-1}\) 1.36
1 0
\(10^{1}\) -1.36
\(10^{2}\) -2.73
\(10^{3}\) -4.09
\(10^{4}\) -5.46


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Concordance Results
The selected word "airy" appears twice in the following 2 texts (sorted by results):
 1. Ode on the Spring (1 result)
 39 Or chilled by age, their airy dance
 2. Stanzas to Mr Bentley (1 result)
 7 Each dream, in fancy's airy colouring wrought,
2 Texts (2 results)


theta is always negative for long calls and long put
Discussion in 'P1.T3. Financial Markets & Products (30%)' started by qin841121, May 9, 2012.
 1. qin841121
 qin841121 Member
 This is a statement by schweser and also investopedia. How can it be true?
 For long put, the longer the option, the cheaper it may get as the expected price of stock will be higher due to interest and because of this the put will decrease in value?
 What is wrong with my logic?
 2. Theta for a long call is always negative. True.
 However, Theta of a long put always exceeds the theta of a call by a fixed amount. Hence for out-of-money puts, the theta may be positive also.
 Another concept to be aware of, theta is measured in terms of "time remaining to maturity (T-t)" in contrast to "time passed (t)" - thinking in terms of "time passed" may be akin to reversing the sign of theta.
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text:
CATIA Systems Engineering integrates complex product behaviour into the product definition, enabling a lifelike experience which predicts real world performance.
With CATIA Systems Engineering, system architects, product engineers, designers and technical experts define both technical and business aspects. The RFLP approach (Requirements, Functional, Logical and Physical Design) upholds a full traceability during product development and product introduction. This helps shortening the gap between requirements analysis and the choice of the right solution.
CATIA Systems DBM Binary Export
Generate a standalone executable from your systems model for verification and validation on a MS-Windows platform.
The integration of complex embedded systems requires a seamless collaboration across multiple disciplines. To validate the numerous components driving the controls logic in everything from vehicles, aircrafts, specialized machine tools to nuclear power plants, companies need to rely on a solid and open process for overall systems integration and simulation.
To simulate and validate the different parts of the model, CATIA Systems Dynamic Behavior Model (DBM) Binary Export enables users to export their code for use in external test environments. Systems architects or engineers can automatically generate reliable binary code from DBM model components and can then leverage this code to check its behavior in various simulation contexts, as often as necessary and with minimum cost.
- Automatically generate reliable and traceable binary code
Generation of standalone executable Dynamic Link Libraries (DLL's) modules from a DBM model.DLL's that can be used either as a standalone executable that can be used with other tools, or integrated within a Simulink simulation environment. (Note: co-requisite on Simulink interface).

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


Take the 2-minute tour ×
I'm trying to get the progress of an Apache HTTP Client Execute method. Is it possible to either
 1. Get the mount of input stream that has been read by the execute method or
 2. Monitor the execute process using some internal method either by percent or amount of data sent?
The code below sends an input stream to the server (in this case an image) which is then stored appropriately. Problem is with high resolution cameras and slow mobile operators its hard to tell if an upload is actually taking place. The code does work, but feedback is desired.
public List writeBinary(String script, InputStream lInputStream) {
 Log.d(Global.TAG,"-->writing to server...");
 HttpParams httpParameters = new BasicHttpParams();
 HttpConnectionParams.setConnectionTimeout(httpParameters, 5*1000);
 HttpConnectionParams.setSoTimeout(httpParameters, 60*1000);
 HttpClient httpclient = new DefaultHttpClient(httpParameters);
 HttpPost httppost = new HttpPost("_URL_" + script);
 String responseText = null;
 List responseArray = new ArrayList();
 try {
 httppost.setEntity(new InputStreamEntity(lInputStream, -1));
 HttpResponse response = httpclient.execute(httppost);
 if (response.getStatusLine().getStatusCode() == 200){
 InputStream lInputStreamResponse = response.getEntity().getContent();
 DataInputStream lDataInputStream = new DataInputStream(lInputStreamResponse);
 BufferedReader lBufferReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(lDataInputStream));
 while ((responseText = lBufferReader.readLine())!= null){
 } catch (ClientProtocolException e) {
 } catch (IOException e) {
 return responseArray;
share|improve this question
1 Answer 1
I prefer to "decorate" the stream/reader/writer object a little bit, add the desired progress feature into it. In decorated stream/reader/writer, you can keep a counter to indicate the progress, you can even put a indicator callback into it. ;-)
Something like this:
public Class CountableOutputStream implements OutputStream {
 private int counter;
 private OutputStream origStream;
Actually, the whole Java IO package demonstrate this design pattern fairly well.
share|improve this answer
Your Answer


text:
What is meant by "Constant Amortized Time" when talking about time complexity of an algorithm?
Amortised time explained in simple terms:
If you do an operation say a million times, you don't really care about the worst-case or the best-case of that operation - what you care about is how much time is taken in total when you repeat the operation a million times.
So it doesn't matter if the operation is very slow once in a while, as long as "once in a while" is rare enough for the slowness to be diluted away. Essentially amortised time means "average time taken per operation, if you do many operations". Amortised time doesn't have to be constant; you can have linear and logarithmic amortised time or whatever else.
Let's take mats' example of a dynamic array, to which you repeatedly add new items. Normally adding an item takes constant time (that is,
So each time you enlarge, you take about twice as much time as the last enlarge. But you've also waited twice as long before doing it! The cost of each enlargement can thus be "spread out" among the insertions. This means that in the long term, the total time taken for adding m items to the array is
It means that over time, the worst case scenario will default to O(1), or constant time. A common example is the dynamic array. If we have already allocated memory for a new entry, adding it will be O(1). If we haven't allocated it we will do so by allocating, say, twice the current amount. This particular insertion will not be O(1), but rather something else.
What is important is that the algorithm guarantees that after a sequence of operations the expensive operations will be amortised and thereby rendering the entire operation O(1).
Or in more strict terms,
It basically means that in the worst case scenario the algorithm runs in constant time, averaged over a large number of operations. Which is nice.
The explanations above apply to Aggregate Analysis, the idea of taking "an average" over multiple operations. I am not sure how they apply to Bankers-method or the Physicists Methods of Amortized analysis.
Now. I am not exactly sure of the correct answer. But it would have to do with the principle condition of the both Physicists+Banker's methods:
(Sum of amortized-cost of operations) >= (Sum of actual-cost of operations).
The chief difficulty that I face is that given that Amortized-asymptotic costs of operations differ from the normal-asymptotic-cost, I am not sure how to rate the significance of amortized-costs.
That is when somebody gives my an amortized-cost, I know its not the same as normal-asymptotic cost What conclusions am I to draw from the amortized-cost then?
Since we have the case of some operations being overcharged while other operations are undercharged, one hypothesis could be that quoting amortized-costs of individual operations would be meaningless.
For eg: For a fibonacci heap, quoting amortized cost of just Decreasing-Key to be O(1) is meaningless since costs are reduced by "work done by earlier operations in increasing potential of the heap."
We could have another hypothesis that reasons about the amortized-costs as follows:
Thus amortized-cost analysis + amortized-cost-bounds are now applicable to only the expensive operations. The cheap operations have the same asymptotic-amortized-cost as their normal-asymptotic-cost.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


text:
A 1975 report identified the areas of geology and anthropology as being the two most likely to develop collections in Australian Universities. Since then Australia has seen a relative decline of the traditional resource-based economy and a lessening demand for geology graduates. Over the last decade, but particularly since 1996, the restructuring of the tertiary education sector has mean that university based collections in areas that do not attract a significant student load, such as geology, are in danger because of a lack of adequate resources for their effective management. Staff levels are an indicator of resources available for management of collections. The 1998 Transforming Cinderella Collections report showed some eight staff Australia-wide responsible for just over 1 million specimens. A mere four years from that time and these staff numbers are now much reduced. Many large collections have no staff and are essentially inaccessible. Whilst the large number specimens required for undergraduate teaching do not require advanced information management systems, those that result from basic research do. Without adequate management systems and strategies, the knowledge base of the earth sciences in Australia is at risk.
|Number of pages||8|
|Journal||Museologia : an international journal of museology|
|Publication status||Published - 2003|


Canadian Member of Parliament Wendy Bill Urges Canadian Government to Condemn China's Extensive Human Rights Violations
March 14, 2003
The Right Hon. Jean Chretien
Prime Minister of Canada
Room 3009-S, Centre Block
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
The Hon. Bill Graham
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Room 418-N, Centre Block
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Dear Messrs Chretien and Graham,
I want to join with the thousands of other concerned citizens to urge Canada to initiate a resolution and take proactive actions at the upcoming Geneva meeting of the UN Commission on Human Rights to ensure that the People's Republic of China faces international scrutiny and condemnation for it's extensive human rights violations, including the severe and inhumane persecution of Falun Gong.
ABC in Australia reported that half of all people in Chinese labour camps are Falun Gong practitioners - people being held simply for their beliefs. The number of practitioners detained in labour camps and prisons without trial is well in excess of 100,000 and includes terms up to 20 years.
572 death cases of Falun Gong practitioners have been confirmed as of February 8, 2002. Over 60 deaths were reported within the last three months alone.
The UN Human Rights Commission reported that, "the methods of torture used against women [Falun Gong Practitioners, by the People's Republic of China] have included: stripping them naked; severe beatings with fist or a variety of instruments, such as wooden batons, on shinbones, thighs, shoulders and other parts of the body...the insertion of pepper, chili powder or other substances into the mouth, nose or genital organs; the use of injections which cause victims to become mentally unbalanced or to lose the ability to speak coherently."
The People's Republic of China has repeatedly violated at least 30 articles of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and 9 articles of the Chinese constitution.
Many International Organisations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Internet etc have documented the mass arbitrary detentions, unfair trials and other human rights violations resulting from the crackdown on the Falun Gong.
The above noted facts are of a serious nature, and constitute a grave concern to Canadians.
I have had the honour of meeting many courageous members of Falun Gong who have travelled to the Parliament Hill to draw attention to their plight. I have had the privilege of speaking out on their behalf along with colleagues from all sides of the House asking for action from our government.
I strongly urge the Canadian government to table a resolution regarding China's human rights abuses with specific mention of Falun Gong. Additionally, the Foreign Minister, in his speech at the United Nations, must address human rights in China with specific mention to Falun Gong.
Wendy Lill, MP (Dartmouth)
* * *


DC Survival Actions
Survival actions are initiated much like any other civil claim. The initial investigation should determine who is at fault or, at a minimum, who else was involved in the incident. The investigation should also include some information regarding whether an estate needs to be opened, a determination as to who will serve as the administrator of the estate, and what other issues need to be resolved preliminary before the claim can progress. For assistance with these steps or for guidance through the legal process, call and schedule a consultation with a DC wrongful death lawyer today.
Difference Between Survival Action and Wrongful Death Action
Survival action occurs while the person is still alive. It occurs on the death of the accident. The person who died accrued a cause of action before they died and that is a survival action. The death itself is on behalf of the legal representative of the estate. If someone gets in a car accident and they survive for three days in the hospital and then they die, they have a claim for survival for the conscious pain and suffering. If somebody is asleep and for whatever reason die instantly, there would be no claim for conscious pain and suffering and it would be strictly a wrongful death action, not a survival wrongful death action.
The representative of the estate is typically fixed by the statute. It is usually the spouse. If there is no spouse, it will be the parents. If there are no parents and no spouse, then it would be the children as their majority. If they are not of age, then it would go to the siblings. If there are no siblings, then the court would appoint a guardian for the minors. If there are no children, no siblings, no spouse, and no parents, then it would typically go a public administrator.
Establishing Liability in a Survival Action Claim
In cases where the person involved in the incident is deceased, an experienced attorney will utilize other evidence to establish liability. The facts of each case are completely different, and the facts of the case usually drive the nature of the investigation that produces the evidence necessary to establish liability.
For example, in a case where there is a surviving witness. It is incumbent upon the attorney to secure the witness and preserve the evidence that can be used to establish liability. Likewise, when there is no witness, the attorney may have to rely upon expert witnesses, such as an accident re-constructionist, to investigate the accident and opine as to who was at fault for the collision. Other times, the attorney may have to rely on different experts, such as a toxicologist or other law enforcement, in order to present the evidence necessary to establish liability.
Elements That Need to be Proven
Typically, survival actions are claims brought on behalf of the decedent by the personal representative of the estate. At the base of the claim is a negligence claim, which means that the personal representative must prove the elements of a negligence claim. The only additional issues are procedural in nature regarding the establishment of the estate and the personal representatives standing to bring the claim.
Establishing Duty
Duty is established really on a case by case basis. In some circumstances, there is a readily identifiable duty that is not required to be established through expert testimony. An example of a readily cognizable duty is the operation of a motor vehicle. It is commonly known that each driver owes another a duty of care to operate his/her motor vehicle in a safe and prudent manner.
Conversely, in medical malpractice claims, the court requires the injured person to present expert testimony regarding the appropriate standard of care. This means that the duty owed by the physician to the patient must be explained by expert testimony. Thus, establishing the duty owed really depends on the nature of the claim.
After Liability is Established
Once liability is established or accepted by the responsible party, then the focus of the claim turns to damages. At that point, it is imperative that all the necessary steps are taken to properly and adequately consider all of the affected parties and the elements of damages of a survival case in DC so that both the attorney and his client can fully appreciate the issues that need to be resolved and present them in an effective way.
When Does a Case Go To Court?
There are a lot of factors that go into deciding whether a case is resolved through a trial or through a private mediation. The ultimate decision really depends upon the wishes of the parties involved. Some people may want to resolve the claim quickly, in a cost-efficient manner. Therefore, a private mediation may seem like an attractive option. Others may be skeptical of a private mediation setting and prefer to have their claim resolved through a court where public record is created. Likewise, the person can have their day in court.
Generally speaking, any number of factors can go into evaluating and deciding whether to resolve a claim through a private mediation versus through court.
Time of a Survival Action Case
Survival claims are typically handled hand in hand with wrongful death claims. They are brought typically together through the same pleading and typically take the same amount of time to resolve because they are typically handled at the same time.
Factors That Determine How Long a Survival Action Will Take
Typically speaking, the complexity of the claim will determine the length of time it takes to resolve the survival action. For example, a decedent that has incurred significant medical bills may take longer to process the claim simply because it will take time to collect the records.
Likewise, if an expert witness is required to investigate the incident to determine whether there was any conscious pain and suffering by the decedent, then that claim may take longer to complete. No two claims are ever the same, and the nature of the incident will likely determine the length of time it takes to complete.
Summary of DC Survival Action Process
In the survival action process, a person gets an attorney. The attorney conducts an investigation and then they will attempt to settle the case pre-suit. If they cannot settle pre-suit, they will go to court. If they go to court, they file the lawsuit and the lawsuit goes to court. The defendants will answer afterward and once the case gets answered, they have to engage in paper discovery then there are depositions. Afterwards, there is a pre-trial conference. After the pre-trial conference, the case proceeds to trial and that process usually takes 18 to 24 months.


text:
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text:
Some yoga postures stress the joints of the body to stimulate their strength and flexibility. There are two fundamentally different types of stress: tension and compression. Yogis need to know the difference between the two.
Tension is the familiar sensation of tissues being stretched. Compression is the sensation of tissues being pressed or pushed together. Both of these stresses are beneficial if done in moderation.
When a yogi is stretching a joint, he is stretching a ligament, a tendon, or both. When a yogi is compressing a joint, he is compressing bones. We can make these distinctions clearer with some simple hand exercises. The lessons we learn with our hands apply to all the other joints of our body.
Practical Hand Study
The forearm houses the muscles most responsible for clenching the fist or extending the fingers. If you palpate (touch) and squeeze the muscles of the forearm starting near the elbow and work toward the wrist, you should notice that the muscles are soft and malleable nearer the elbow but become smaller, harder and more string-like nearer the wrist. These string-like structures are actually tendons. They are extensions of the forearm muscles, and they connect the muscles with the finger joints. The tendons on the back of the hand extend and spread the fingers to open the palm. The tendons on the palm side of the hand close the fingers into a clenched fist. Muscles shorten and become hard when contracted. They lengthen and become soft when relaxed. The tendons feel tough and fibrous whether the muscles are tensed or relaxed.
To experience this phenomenon, palpate the muscles of your forearm near the elbow while alternately extending your fingers and clenching your fist. You should be able to feel the muscles tense and relax. But if you palpate your wrist while extending and clenching your hand, it should feel very different. The tendons near your wrist don't tense and relax the way muscles do; they are simply pulled and released by the muscles of the forearm.
When muscles contract, the tendons pull on the bones and the joints are compressed. This limits their range of motion but makes the joints more stable. A simple example should make this clear.
First, use your left hand to wiggle and bend the fingers of your right hand while it is relaxed. The joints of your right hand fingers are easy to bend and straighten. Take hold of the middle finger of your right hand and gently pull on it. You should be able to feel the joint of the first knuckle gently stretching as you pull and release your middle finger. This is only possible because your muscles are relaxed.
Now extend the fingers of your right hand as hard as you can and stretch the palm open. If you maintain this tension it is very difficult to pull and stretch the knuckle of the middle finger as before. This is because the tendons are pulling on the bones and compressing them together. This makes the joint more stable but less mobile.
Muscular Tension in Action
Muscular tension compresses the joints and thereby limits their range of motion. Sometimes this is desirable, and sometimes it isn't. If you wish to prevent a joint from reaching its full range of motion, muscular tension is favorable. But if you are attempting to stretch the joint to its full range of motion, muscular tension is not a good idea.
Try this exercise and remember that we apply these same principles to the other joints of the body as well: Extend the fingers of your right hand. Try to extend them so that your first knuckles are extended or bent back toward the back of your wrist. For many people this movement is very subtle.
Now, keep the fingers extended and also use your left hand to push them back further. Using the leverage of the left hand, you can bend the knuckles farther back.
But to bend the fingers back as far as possible, we need to relax the muscles of the right hand completely. With the right hand relaxed, use your left hand to push the fingers back as far as you can. This is usually a much greater range of motion than when the muscles are tensed.
Muscular passivity not only allows the greatest range of motion, it is also the least compressive to the joint tissues. This is why a chiropractor or osteopath often prefers to make sure the muscles surrounding a joint are relaxed before attempting a therapeutic manipulation.
Balancing Yin and Yang
We can use this simple experience to compare the benefits of yin yoga, yang yoga, and such regular yang exercises as weight training. In our simple experiment, we would classify the attempt to bend the fingers back using only muscle as regular yang exercise. Using the leverage of the left hand while the muscles are tense is a yang form of yoga. Using the leverage of the left hand while the muscles are relaxed is a yin form of yoga.
Yang exercise is always accompanied by compression of the joints. Compression is good for joints and stimulates the bones to healthy growth. This is one reason why vigorous yang exercise is prescribed to prevent osteoporosis. But yang exercise doesn't allow the full range of motion. Yang exercise develops strong muscles and bones but can leave the joints contracted and stiff. This is common among athletes.
Bending the fingers using leverage and muscle tension is a yang form of yoga. It develops strength and increases the range of motion. This is why yang yoga leaves a practitioner feeling more stretched and relaxed than yang exercises such as weight training.
Bending the fingers using leverage while the muscles are relaxed is a yin form of yoga. Yin yoga safelyeven pleasantlydevelops the full range of motion of a joint. This type of practice leaves the practitioner feeling relaxed, light, and free.
Yin yoga by itself won't develop the strength and stability a joint needs. Yang yoga by itself will not exercise the full range of motion. This is why different forms of yoga can and should be practiced as supplements to each other.
In conclusion, while joint stress is useful, it is not always desirable to stress a joint to its full range of motion. It is possibly dangerous to stretch a joint to its full range of motion when standing or moving. While yogis can explore the full range of motion of a joint, it should be done very slowly, patiently and with only moderate force.
Paul Grilley has been studying and teaching yoga since 1979. His special interest is in anatomy. He teaches regular workshops on physical and energetic anatomy. Paul lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife Suzee.


Monday, 14 September 2015
Should sail-shades, be treated as cable-nets and tension membranes?
Builders of sail-shades hold standard calculations for sail-shades. These calculations are trivial, basically one page: as far as the ones I've seen. Assume elevation of cable, determine horizontal component of wind loading, apply to post and determine moment in post. Job Done!
Treated as a cable-net suggests the pretension would snap the posts. Since this doesn't happen in practice, pretensions are not high. Which then suggests that the sail-shade is not tensioned, and that also not able to support load of kids climbing onto the shade. Also one verandah builder told me story, that he had seen failed sail-shade with the cables and shackles whipping up and down damaging several very expensive cars.
So seems more rigorous assessment is required. But councils appear to grant approval for the simple approach on regular basis. Checking as cable-net/tension membrane takes considerable longer.


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Over deze norm
1.1 This test method covers the procedure for determining the chemical-resistant properties of fiberglass pipe in a deflected condition for diameters 4 in. (102 mm) and larger. Both glass–fiber–reinforced thermosetting resin pipe (RTRP) and glass–fiber–reinforced polymer mortar pipe (RPMP) are fiberglass pipes.
1.2 Inch-pound units are to be regarded as the standard. The values given in parentheses are for information only.
1.3 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use. Specific precautionary statements are given in 9.5.
|Nederlandse titel||Standard Test Method for Chemical Resistance of "Fiberglass" (Glass–Fiber–Reinforced Thermosetting-Resin) Pipe in a Deflected Condition|
|Engelse titel||Standard Test Method for Chemical Resistance of "Fiberglass" (Glass–Fiber–Reinforced Thermosetting-Resin) Pipe in a Deflected Condition|


Home>News>Nation>Solon urges use of gov't air assets for vaccine distribution
Solon urges use of gov't air assets for vaccine distribution
IN preparation for the arrival of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines, Quezon City Rep. Alfred Vargas is calling on the government to conduct immediate inventory of air assets owned or leased by civilian government agencies, and government ownedand controlledcorporations (GOCCs).
With the target of at least 60 million Filipinos, it is expected that vaccine distribution could reach far-flung areas in the country, Vargas said.
And the distribution would be faster using planes and helicopters of civilian government agencies and GOCCs since they are smaller in size compared to C-130s used by the military, which means they can land on short runways, the solon added.
"While our Air Force has its work already cut out for them, the government would need more logistical support to roll out the COVID-19 immunization program immediately. We need to have as much of our people vaccinated as fast as we can," he stressed.
Vargas noted that some GOCCs, like the Philippine National Oil Company, own helicopters for their aerial surveys or transport of personnel.
Some civilian agencies or GOCCs also maintain aircraft on fractional corporate lease or "timeshares," where they are allotted a certain time to use the aircraft for a month or a certain period.
This means, Vargas said, that an aircraft on lease can still be used for transporting vaccines using the time allotted for the lessee concerned if the plane or helicopter is available for deployment.
"To ensure the efficient use of aircraft owned by GOCCs and civilian agencies, they must temporarily be placed under the military's flight operations or control for the specific purpose of vaccine distribution," Vargas added.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director General Eric Domingo said a COVID-19 vaccine could be rolled out in the Philippines in March 2021 if the agency issues emergency use authorization (EUA) by January next year.
President Rodrigo Duterte recently signed an executive order allowing the FDA to issue EUA for COVID-19 vaccines and drugs. The EUA would speed up the processing time for approval of a vaccine, from the usual six-month review period to only one month.
Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the country's vaccine czar and chief implementer of the National Task Force against COVID-19, said the government targets to vaccinate at least 75 percent to 80 percent of the population to achieve herd immunity.
Publication Source : People's Journal


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Smart Phones Are Changing Real World Privacy Settings Thursday, May 10, 2012
TAU research finds that smart phone users develop new concepts of privacy in public spaces
With endless applications, high-speed wireless Internet access, and free messaging services, smart phones have revolutionized the way we communicate. But at what cost? According to researchers at Tel Aviv University, the smart phone is challenging traditional conceptions of privacy, especially in the public sphere.
Dr. Tali Hatuka of TAU's Department of Geography and Dr. Eran Toch of TAU's Department of Industrial Engineering have teamed to measure the impact of the smart phone phenomenon on privacy, behavioral codes, and the use of public space. Their early results indicate that although spaces such as city squares, parks, or transportation were once seen as public meeting points, smart phone users are more and more caught up in their technology-based communications devices than their immediate surroundings.
Smart phone users are 70 percent more likely than regular cellphone users to believe that their phones afford them a great deal of privacy, says Dr. Toch, who specializes in privacy and information systems. These users are more willing to reveal private issues in public spaces. They are also less concerned about bothering individuals who share those spaces, he says.
Inside a private bubble
Dr. Hatuka says that smart phones create the illusion of "private bubbles" around their users in public spaces. She also believes that the design of public spaces may need to change in response to this technology, not unlike the ways in which some public areas have been designated as "smoking" and "non-smoking." Dr. Toch also notes that smartphones and personal computing devices are becoming more "context-aware," adjusting themselves in terms of brightness and volume to the user's location and activity.
To examine how smart phones have impacted human interactions in public and private spaces, the researchers designed an in-depth survey. Nearly 150 participants, half smart phone users and half regular phone users, were questioned about how telephone use applied to their homes, public spaces, learning spaces, and transportation spaces.
While regular phone users continued to adhere to established social protocol in terms of phone use — postponing private conversations for private spaces and considering the appropriateness of cell phone use in public spaces — smart phone users adapted different social behaviors for public spaces. They were 50 percent less likely to be bothered by others using their phones in public spaces, and 20 percent less likely than regular phone users to believe that their private phone conversations were irritating to those around them, the researchers found.
Feeling lost without a phone
According to the researchers, smart phone users were also more closely "attached" to their mobile devices. When asked how they felt when they were without their phones, the majority of smart phone owners chose negative descriptors such as "lost," "tense," or "not updated." Regular phone users were far more likely to have positive associations to being without their phones, such as feeling free or quiet.
The next phase of the study will be a more in-depth analysis of how smart phone users incorporate this technology into their daily lives. It requires users to install an application that the researchers developed called Smart Spaces. The application is designed to track where the participants go over a three-week period and how they use their phones while there. This will give researchers a better idea of how smart phone users interact in both public and private spaces during the course of a typical day.
Dr. Hatuka and Dr. Toch believe that their complete findings can reveal clues about the future of public space and how it will be designed in order to meet the needs of those it serves. "We are entering a new phase of public and private spaces," says Dr. Hatuka, suggesting that physical spaces need to be redesigned as arenas which could enhance personal interaction.
For more technology news from Tel Aviv University, click here.


Are Cats Color Blind? – Can Cats See Color?
A cats eye is an exceptional thing of beauty. But are cats color blind? Find out more below
It's become common knowledge that cats and dogs see color differently to humans. In fact, some humans don't see colors the same as others. So what about a cat's vision, are cats color blind and are they able to see color?
The short answer would be, yes, kind of. Cat's don't see colors as vibrantly as we do and they are unable to see black or white.
They're able to perceive different colors to a degree, and a good way to explain it is that they see color similar to a human who is diagnosed as color blind.
What Colors Do Cats See?
Similar to a human who is color blind, cats can see shades of blue and green. However, reds and pinks can confuse them, these colors may appear green and purples can look like blue.
To understand what colors cats can see, we must first understand what rods and cones are. Rods and cones are found inside the eye's retina, this is for both humans and animals.
The "rods" detect light and motion while the "cones" give the ability to determine different colors.
Cats have more rods than a human which is why we think they have night vision. It's a fact that cats can see exceptionally well in the dark compared to us. Humans have more cones than cats which gives us the ability to see a larger color spectrum.
Are dogs colorblind? No, dogs have the ability to see more than black, white and grey. However, their color range and vibrancy is not the same as humans. The canine color filed mostly consists of yellows, blues and violet colors.
So What Colors Do Cats See?
Well, we know that they don't see everything in greyscale and can actually see a large range of colors.
A cat won't see the same richness or saturation of colors as humans can but they do have color vision.
Want to take a look for yourself what a cat's ability to see is like? Here is an article that business insider wrote about it.
Are Cats Color Blind? – How Do They Know Cats Are Color Blind?
Science of course!
Believe it or not, scientists use sophisticated tests involving food and color panels. They tested dogs color blindness to see if they can sense different colors.
For example, if a dog could distinguish a light color panel they would get a treat. They repeated this over and over until they had their answer to are dogs color blind. They concluded that both dogs and cats are indeed color blind to a certain extent.
Scientists now believe that dogs and cats have the ability to see blues and greens, which means they have the ability to tell the difference between yellow and blue but not red and green.
What Do Cats See When They Look At Humans?
Are you sitting down? According to research from the University of Texas at Dallas, when shown a picture of their owners face and a strangers face their cats only recognized the owners face about 50% of the time.
In the above study, the same cats were shown images of a familiar cat and a strange cat. They selected the familiar cats face 90.7% of the time. The cats also choose an image of a familiar outdoor setting over an unfamiliar setting 85.8% of the time.
So human facial recognition isn't their strong point. Instead of recognizing our face cats use their other senses to recognize us. They pick up our individual scent, the sound of our voice and even the way we feel to identify us.
Cats Field of Vision
A cats filed of vision is slightly different from that of humans. Firstly their eyes are set further apart than ours meaning they instead of 180 degrees of vision we get, a cat will have 200 degrees. That means their peripheral vision is greater than ours.
The downs side to this for cats is the distance they are able to see.
How Far Can Cats See?
A cat's vision is 20/100 to 20/200, which means that a cat would have to be 20 feet from an object to see what a human can see from 100 feet or 200 feet away.
Things we see clearly from those distances would be blurry or dull for a cat. While this may seem like a liability to us humans, for a cat it's perfect for hunting.
Do Cats Have Night Vision?
As mentioned cats have more rod cells in their eyes than we do, making it easier to see in low light or the dark than we can. This gives them the ability to detect motion in these situations and increases their ability to hunt at night.
Cats are naturally most active at dusk and dawn and if you haven't noticed sleep most of the day. Over the thousands of years of their evolution, they have developed and inherited their visual acuity.
Ever seen a picture of a cat with those glowing eyes? Well, that's actually a reflection of the light caused by something called a tapetum lucidum. In simple terms, it's basically a mirror that reflects the light when its dark outside. That's what allows your cat to have great vision in the dark.
Lastly, they have a unique ability to open their Iris widely to let more light in, you might have seen that dramatic change in the shape of your cat's eyes. You'll typically see this when playing or your cats favorite cat toy.
Can Cats See in Total Darkness?
No, cats will still need some light to see. Compared to us they need exactly 1/6th of the amount of light we do to see. Their vision is really something special and what makes them incredible hunters.
When in total darkness, cats will call on their other incredible senses such as their hearing, smell and feel to navigate their way around.
What Colors Do Cats Like?
It's hard to say if a cat is attracted to one color more than another. If your cat has a preference in toys, it's probably due to the fact of the way it feels or smells rather than the color.
They are more attracted to movement and light, which explains why they go crazy when chasing a laser. Just don't let the laser shine in their eyes or yours.
Conclusion On Are Cats Color Blind
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Studies suggest that only 31% of Europe is thought to have a water supply that is either plentiful or sufficient to meet demands until 2015, and water stress indexes show a number of countries with traditionally wet climates such as Belgium and Bulgaria, under significant water stress. Therefore, there is both a desire and a need to reduce the consumption of water over much of Europe. For industry, often economics determine the viability of water recycling, which does not necessarily fall under the standards currently being set for the major water reuse schemes. While the additional annual recycling capacity in Western Europe is set to increase by 10%, much of the Global market is focussed on major reuse facilities based on the municipal sector. Within the industrial sector there are opportunities to achieve major changes in the water cycle which can have a significant impact on total water consumption. The impact on regional water consumption by industries efforts can be massive, as industry accounts for 50% of the water consumption in Western Europe. When benchmarked data across industry sectors is analysed, we find that industries ranging from paper mills, dairy, beverage, ceramic and electronics have opportunities to reduce their water consumption by around 50%. But what are the mechanisms that drive actions in the industry water cycle, and how great can the impact be? This paper explores industrial water costs across Europe, and the drivers leading to reduced water consumption. As operators of water and wastewater facilities for many industrial customers across Europe, Ondeo Industrial Solutions examine the raw water costs and the viability of recycle schemes. Economics is not the only driver towards the reduction in water consumption on industrial sites. There are political and legislative drivers that can often override the economics such as the European PPC (Pollution Prevention and Control) directive that can often lead to a programme of water consumption reductions.
Water Science and Technology: Water Supply is published as an adjunct to Water Science and Technology, in 6 issues per year, covering new developments in water supply. Papers are selected by a rigorous peer review procedure and the journal publi » Read more


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As unpredictable weather conditions continue to become the norm, this adaptive survival clothing project by Jacqueline Nanne could become a practical solution to dressing for the unexpected. Using temperature-sensitive memory wire, she has developed a knitted fabric with pores that open and close according to changes in temperature.
Using the great temperature and moisture regulation properties of wool and our own body as inspiration, fabrics were desiged that adapt to the temperature of the human body and the environment. The focus lies on the context of survival, as clothing plays a big role in staying alive in the wilderness. When on survival, one often adds or removes layers of clothing to keep a comfortable temperature. This design is intended to decrease the number of
times one has to stop to change clothing, and keep comfortable when for instance taking a break or when ascending a mountain.
[via Prothetic Knowledge]


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The B2B Lead Capture Application provides data which can be used to streamline the sales process. Information such as credit limit and rating, estimated number of employees and SIC code, enables key prospects to be targeted at the point of capture.
The application allows access to over 35 fields of information on a company, for example:
- Contact details,
- Trading address,
- Financial information,
- Business size,
All that's needed is the business' email address or company registration number entered in the lead generation form. With this minimal information, the in-depth business profile is created and automatically stored in CRM, providing the business with easy access to valuable information.
How does it benefit?
- Key data provides the ability to segment and create targeted marketing campaigns.
- Accurate communication saves time but also increases revenue.
- The increased amount of information in CRM also allows for detailed reporting, providing marketers with greater insight upon which they can make more strategic decisions.
- Streamlined sales process.
- This data enables the quick and effective prioritisation of leads and allows for poor quality leads to be discarded at point of capture.


an owner to keep your Dragons eyes healthy.
Diet is probably an obvious one but you need to supply your Bearded Dragons with a balanced diet that contains protein from insects and vitamin from vegetation to aid in overall health including the eyes.
The number of insects and vegetation you need to feed them will vary depending on their age.
Below is a chart that shows the % of protein and vegetation both baby and adult Bearded Dragons need in their diet as a rule of thumb.
You also need to provide your Dragon with the correct calcium, vitamin D3 and vitamin supplements. Here's a guide that shares the recommended supplements for a Bearded Dragons to keep them healthy.
Lighting is so important for Bearded Dragons. Without the correct basking temperatures, they won't be able to digest their food and therefore won't be able to use any of the nutrients they've consumed through their food or supplementation.
UVB lighting is also essential as they need this for many reasons including the absorption of vitamin D3.
Without both a balanced diet and high-quality lighting then they will struggle with their health and their eyes and likely to suffer as a result.
If you're not sure how to set up the lighting in your Bearded Dragons tank then take a look at this complete lighting guide.
What Other Senses Do Bearded Dragons Use?
One of the most overlooked senses that a Bearded Dragons uses to keep safe among other things is its tongue.
Bearded Dragons lick just about everything in order to understand more about their surroundings.
They use this licking behaviour to test the temperature of objects and check the scent of their owners as well as realising their position in the social hierarchy or the group.
Here's a post that details exactly why Bearded Dragons lick and why it's vital to their safety.
How many eyes do Bearded Dragons have? Bearded Dragons actually have 3 eyes. They have 2 eyes that are located at the sides of the skull and they also have a third eye called the 'parietal eye' that is located at the top of the skull and is in the form of a grey spot covered by a thin layer of skin.
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Longines Wittnauer A7 Aircraft Clock
Written by AnubisTTP on 2017-03-05
World War 2 and the buildup immediately preceeding it saw the manufacture of numerous different types of aircraft clocks, and this Longines Wittnauer A7 clock is one such example. A7 model clocks differ from the much more common A6 model in that they have a 'pendant wind' winding stem which exits the bottom of the case instead of extending vertically below the 6-o-clock position. A metal plug has been pressed into the winding stem hole that would have been used in an A6 model clock. This clock makes use of a Jaeger LeCoultre 201M caliber movement, a relatively high end time-only movement with a 7 jewel lever escapement. This model of clock was also manufactured with a less common and more expensive 14 jewel movement.
Longines Wittnauer A7 aircraft clock, at rest.
This model of clock uses a Jaeger LeCoultre 201M movement.
Backside of A7 clock. Like most aircraft clocks, this model has two threaded plugs to allow access to the winding gears and regulator.
 Return to Clocks and Timers


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Date of this Version
Soyprotein–jute fiber composites developed using water without any chemicals as the plasticizer show much better flexural and tensile properties than polypropylene–jute composites. Co-products of soybean processing such as soy oil, soyprotein concentrate and soy protein isolates are inexpensive, abundantly available and are renewable resources that have been extensively studied as potential matrix materials to develop biodegradable composites. However, previous attempts on developing soy-based composites have either chemically modified the co-products or used plasticizers such as glycerol. Chemical modifications make the composites expensive and less environmentally friendly and plasticizers decrease the properties of the composites. In this research, soyprotein composites reinforced with jute fibers have been developed using water without any chemicals as plasticizer. The effects of water on the thermal behavior of soyproteins and composite fabrication conditions on the flexural, tensile and acoustic properties of the composites have been studied. Soyprotein composites developed in this research have excellent flexural strength, tensile strength and tensile modulus, much higher than polypropylene (PP)–jute fiber composites. The soyprotein composites have better properties than the PP composites even at high relative humidity (90%).


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Even with all the advantages joining an established...
We often work with emerging franchisors and one question that comes up repeatedly is "How do we ensure our franchisees pay us our royalties?". This question can be divided into two different tasks. First: how do we ensure that the franchisees declare the correct amounts? And secondly: how to ensure the royalties are paid on time? This article focuses on the first point.
Each franchisor does their best to select honest franchisees. However, human nature makes it likely that some franchisees will eventually behave dishonestly and franchisors must prepare for this. The majority of franchisors charge royalties based on sales and dishonest franchisees will use different tactics to reduce the declared sales amount. Obviously, these franchisees are exceptions, but franchisors need to be aware of some of the tactics which could be employed.
Tactic 1 : Simply declare a false amount
When no centralized software system is in place within a franchise, franchisees can simply declare false amounts to the franchisor. This tactic can easily be countered by a system that automatically declares sales to the franchisor rather than waiting for statements from the franchisee.
Tactic 2 : Cancelled or refunded transactions
When a software system is in place, clever franchisees quickly realize they will not have to pay royalties on a transaction when it is refunded or cancelled. Therefore, some malicious franchisees simply refund transactions after the customer leaves. Moreover, if the client does not request a receipt, they can leave the transaction pending and simply cancel it after receiving a cash payment. These strategies are more difficult to detect, but a good software system will evaluate cancellation and refund rates and compare these rates between different franchisees. It then becomes easy to find franchisees who behave abnormally.
Tactic 3 : Purchasing from suppliers who aren't on the approved list
Some franchisees sell items from unauthorized suppliers and do not report these sales to the franchisor. Not only does the franchisee not pay their fair share of royalties, this behavior also affects the consistency of the brand throughout the franchise system. Unexpected periodic visits to the franchisee can easily reveal this tactic.
Tactic 4 : Parallel System
Because a centralized software system assists franchisors in detecting fraud, some franchisees opt to install a parallel point of sale system. By performing a certain percentage of their transactions on this second system, the franchisee reduces their reported sales. An experienced franchisor can detect this situation by using two complementary strategies.
First, the franchisor should obtain copies of orders sent to suppliers. With that data in hand, the franchisor can make a correlation between sales and purchases. Sales on a parallel system therefore become more obvious and anomalies can be automatically discovered by good franchise management software. Additionally, these tools also help identify inventory management issues (inventory stolen by an employee or customers & perishable inventory to be discarded due to poor planning controls).
Second, many franchisors may preemptively prevent the use of a parallel system by providing something special to customers only if the transaction is carried out on the authorized software system. For example, a training franchise could issue diplomas / certificates centrally at the franchisor level. Without making a sale in the system, the customer would not get legitimate proof of their training. As each franchise is unique, one must be creative to find elements which allow the franchisor to keep control of their franchise. The solution is often tied to loyalty programs or integration with the franchisor's website (online orders, bookings, etc.).
Generally, the franchisor can detect and prevent fraud in their franchise through good franchise management software. Franchisors with more aggregated information at their fingertips are less vulnerable. Although this article focuses on negative aspects which can be avoided with careful monitoring, it is important to remember that these benefits are not the main objective of a good franchise management system but a consequence.
Indeed, honest franchisees also benefit from a management system. For example, these tools help franchisees properly manage their inventory, thus increasing their profitability. It is also important to remember that an involved franchisor remains one of the keys of franchisee growth and that centralized access to information opens the door to this collaboration.


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 Behavior to avoid to get big ideas off the ground
 By Les McKeown | Yahoo Small Business
 Feel like nothing ever gets done? Here's how you can figure out what's slowing you down.
 Stop and think for a moment.
 How many great decisions have you made this year that never got off the ground? Do you feel that you and your team are coming up with smart, competition-beating ideas, but you've lost the ability to execute on those ideas?
 If you're missing the sense of achievement that comes from translating ideas into results-delivering reality, then chances are, it's because of one or more of these four reasons:
 1. You have no idea how decisions are really made. Whether you manage a business, division, department, project, or team, you have to understand the path of information. How does information arrive into the group, how is it processed, and how is it turned into action? Understanding this process is the single most crucial determinant of your ability to execute.
 Once you understand the process, ask yourself: Does the information flow get snarled? Does a decision have to be run by three different people before being approved? Or does your accounting software fail to give you high-quality data in a timely fashion? These examples are gaps in the process--gaps that will come between the ability of your group to make a decision.
 You may want to really map out this process. Trace the path of the last two or three decisions your team made that weren't effectively and efficiently executed. Map where the necessary information came from, the main communication lines and key decision points.
 When you're done, if you can easily make sense of what you see, all is good. If it looks like a rat's nest of intertwined, overlapping, dead-end-reaching lines, then you need to simplify your group's decision-making process.
 2. You're a micromanager (Yes, you!). The ability of a group to execute effectively can be crushed by just one micromanager.
 You know the type: The person that insists everything is 'run by them' and then becomes so overwhelmed by the volume of stuff being 'run by them' that they can barely come up for air.
 Look around. Can you see the micromanager in your group? They're easy to spot. Find them and make them stop.
 But if you can't find one, here's the thing: It's probably you. Micromanaging is so easy to see in others, but is much harder to see in ourselves.
 Here's a full-proof test: Pick out the single most productive person in your group. Watch closely at how they get things done. If it includes finding multiple innovative ways to bypass you, then you're the problem.
 3. You're rushing the decision. Remember when your business was small and life was simple? When a board meeting was a ride up in the elevator? When you could make three great decisions before breakfast and have them implemented by lunch? When communicating a decision was as simple as saying it out loud, because everyone was within hearing distance?
 Now, life isn't that simple. Your business has grown and now has many more moving parts. And, chances are that the growth in complexity happened iteratively, over time, and like the proverbial frog in slowly heated water, you haven't noticed the effect on your decision-making.
 Here's the difference: In the smaller, simpler business, you can make a decision fast, and implement it quickly. Now you have a larger, more complex business, making decisions fast actually slows down the implementation process--sometimes crippling it entirely.
 Why? Because you made the decision so fast you didn't take into account all the variables (people, customers, systems) involved in your now more complex business.
 Once a business has grown beyond infancy, speedy and effective implementation depends on slower decision-making. Not slow--you don't need to descend into to paralysis by analysis--just slower. Take a little longer to make the initial decision, and watch the rate of implementation rise.
 4. You've worn everyone out. You're a passionate, engaged leader. You're intellectually curious, innovative, and not afraid of risk. You're full of great ideas and keen to implement them. Your people respect and admire you... and they're exhausted.
 Do your team members avoid you on Monday mornings? Do they look apprehensive when you return from a two-week vacation?
 If so, it's because they know weekends and holidays are dangerous times because that's when you come back to the office with five brilliant, must-do projects--even though they haven't finished implementing last month's brilliant, must-do projects.
 If you suspect this might be you, then do yourself and your team a favor. Keep a list of all current projects. When you have a blinding flash of creativity which produces a new project, instead of simply adding it to the list, make a conscious, explicit decision about which existing project to drop off the list in return.
 You'll find that compared with your existing priorities, many of those 'brilliant must-do's' just aren't that important, and those that do make the list will stand much more chance of actually being implemented.
 More from Inc.com:
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Silence removes a minion's card text and eliminates any other effects present on the card. However, the minion can still have effects applied to it after.
- If a minions is silenced, you can still buff it, including buffs that come from other minions, such as, whose +1 attack to adjacent minions will renew immediately following a neighboring minion being silenced.
- You can also place spell buffs on a minion after it has been silenced.
- Silence will not reverse effects of ownership, such as a minion being returned to its original owner.
- It does not reverse effects of card identity either, for example a when silenced will not revert to its 3/3 form.
- Silence will remove other spell effects cast by you or by your opponent, including freeze.
- When a minion is silenced it returns to its original health if its current health is above its original health; however, if its current health is below its original health, its health will not change.
- A card with the Silence ability removes all buffs and all effects (even those written on the card) from the target while the target remains in play.
- The only way to reverse a silence is to put the card back into your hand and play it again via cards like or.
Below is a list of all cards with the silence mechanic.
- Note: For the purposes of this list, only collectible cards are listed.


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Let a number n $ \in\mathbb Z,$ be expressible as the sum of its digits each raised to p $ \in\mathbb N$. How to prove or disprove that there are infinite such numbers for a particular p?
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For each $p$ there is a finite set of integers equal to the sum of its digits. Consider for $p=1,$ if $19\leq n\leq 99$ then $n$ has $2$ digits, whose sum can be at most $9+9=18 < n.$ If $100 \leq n \leq 999$ then $n$ has maximal digit sum $27 < n.$ It is easy to see this pattern is repeated and we never have an integer equal to its digit sum for $n\geq 19.$
If $p=2$ then for all $ 244 \leq n \leq 999$ the sum of the squares of the digits of $n$ is at most $9^2 + 9^2 +9^2 = 243 < n.$ For $1000\leq n \leq 9999$ then sum of the squares of the digits is at most $4 \cdot 9^2 = 324 < n.$ Clearly, for all $n> 243,$ $n$ is not the sum of the squares of its digits.
I leave it as an exercise to extend this idea for general $p.$
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If n is m digit, then the sum is at most $m9^p$, so there is no n>$m9^p$, for which the situation is possible. OK? – Swapnanil Saha Aug 17 '12 at 14:37
For more on this, see _URL_ and references there.
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Stacte, like Onycha, is another mysterious ingredient mentioned in the bible, Exodus 30:34:
The reference doesn't give us any indication as to what Stacte is so like Onycha, we begin again with the name itself, which is an English translation of the Hebrew word "nataph," later revised to "ha'tzori", both of which mean "to drip" or "in drops," and still later evolved to "balm" or "balsam." From here we can dig further...
Around the world Stacte is thought to be one of the following ingredients:
Storax Balsam - a viscous liquid balsam from the Turkish Storax tree, liquidambar orientalis.
Mecca Balsam - a viscous liquid balsam from a balsam tree found growing in the Palestine area.
Myrrh Balsam or Myrrh Oil - the liquid result of pressing fresh myrrh resin, or a more complex process of extracting the oils from fresh myrrh resin. These appear the more likely candidates as the true Stacte. Let us refer to some ancient writings to justify this:
Theophrastus, an ancient Greek botanist, describes Stacte as:
"From the myrrh, when it is bruised flows an oil; it is in fact called "stakte" because it comes in drops slowly."
In Nigel Groom's book, "Frankincense and Myrrh: A Study of the Ancient Arabian Incense Trade", the author's research suggests that others, such as the Greek physician Dioscorides, declare the manufacture of Stacte as follows:
"having bruised the myrrh and dissolved it in oil of balanos over a gentle fire, they pour hot water on it; and the myrrh and oil sink to the bottom like a deposit; and as soon as this has occurred, they strain off the water and squeeze the sediment in a press."
The Gerrhaean tribute to Antiochus III in 205 BC included one thousand talents of frankincense and two hundred of "stacte" myrrh.
The ancient Roman historian Pliny in his famous work "A Natural History," describes stakte as, "the liquid which exuded naturally from the myrrh tree before the gum was collected from man-made incisions." Though it's noted he may have thought so because this resin would be richer in oil and therefore better suited to an extraction process.
In summary, research shows no ancient writings of Stacte being Storax balsam or the elusive Mecca balsam, but much points toward Stacte being either the natural exudate from the Commiphora tree prior to any manmade harvesting, or the liquid result of pressing fresh myrrh resin, or the liquid result of an extraction process such as Dioscorides describes.
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Foreign Currency Mortgages What Are They And What Are The Risks?
Foreign Currency Mortgages What Are They And What Are The Risks?
99.9% of mortgage borrowers raise the money they need to buy their home in pounds sterling and pay the prevailing UK based interest rate. But it does not have to be that way..
Whilst by its' own historical standards, the UK's domestic interest rates are low, they are still significantly higher than in the Eurozone, America, Switzerland and indeed, Japan. Therefore, you can currently borrow the money you need in Euros, $ dollars, Swiss Francs or Yen, secure the debt against your house in the UK and pay a much lower rate of interest.
Foreign Currency Mortgages What Are They And What Are The Risks?
The following 3 month money market interest rates illustrate the extent to which UK interest rates are ahead of other parts of the world:
Sterling 4.64%
US $ 4.48%
Eurozone 2.46%
Switzerland 1.03%
Japanese Yen 0.12%
(Source: 3 month Money Market Rates, Financial Times, 9/12/05)
But don't expect to borrow money for your mortgage at these 3 month Money market rates. You will have to pay a premium for borrowing in an overseas currency. Nevertheless, if interest rates remained as they are now, there will still be significant interest rate savings to be made.
So why are less than 1% of UK domestic mortgages taken out in overseas currencies? The answer: there are extra risks.
Interest rates could buck historical trends and narrow the gap between sterling based rates and the rates for the currency in which the mortgage has been borrowed. This would reduce the interest rate saving and indeed, at some stage, could make the interest rate more expensive than for a standard sterling mortgage.
But by far the biggest risk lies' in changes in exchange rates. If you have borrowed in say, Yen, you eventually have to repay the loan in Yen. That would be fine if the Yen/Sterling exchange rates were frozen together but they aren't.
If sterling strengthened against the Yen, then you would have to convert less sterling back into yen to repay the loan than the sterling value of the money you initially borrowed. That would be great, an interest rate saving and pay back less than you borrowed. But if sterling fell against the Yen the reverse happens you end up paying back more capital than you borrowed.
So in this context, an overseas mortgage becomes a currency bet that sterling will not fall against the currency you borrowed. In other words you have converted your mortgage and what is probably your biggest personal liability, into a currency speculation. And secured your home against it! You could win but it's not for the faint at heart!
Another point to be aware of is that you'll need a deposit of at least 20% for your house purchase in order to qualify for a foreign currency mortgage.
Incidentally, there is now a second option. You can take out a mortgage in sterling and have the interest rate you pay linked to a foreign interest rate. Whilst you avoid the currency exposure risk, you are still taking gamble that the overseas interest rate plus the interest rate premium you'll have to pay, will remain lower than the UK's domestic interest rates. These types of mortgage typically have a 5 year tie in clause.
Therefore, you'll have a hefty penalty to pay if you want to pay it off early, although the mortgage can usually be moved to another property. For some that represents an acceptable risk, especially if the mortgage is linked to the Swiss Franc interest rate which has been astonishingly low and stable over past years. For example, the interest rates in Switzerland have not moved above 1% in the last 4 years and the Eurozone interest rate has not changed in 5 years.
Nevertheless, part of the wording for a regulated investment warning comes to mind.. past performance should not be construed as a guarantee of future performance


Emotional letters: Artist Barbara Bash shows how forms of writing evolved
Barbara Bash demomstrates typefaces and their emotional connections. (photo by Violet Snow)
"In ancient times, a way to connect to the power of the world was to draw it. In the act of drawing, an exchange of energy happens, and you receive some of that power." Artist, illustrator, and calligraphic performer Barbara Bash is speaking in front of an expanse of white paper taped to the wall of the "black-box" room in the Dorsky Museum at SUNY New Paltz. In conjunction with a group art show entitled "Dear Mother Nature," on display at the Dorsky through November 4, she is lecturing on the development of alphabetic forms, which began as drawings of nature.
While Chinese pictograms are explicit in their resemblance to natural forms, Bash says, "In the West, the pictures are deeper inside our letters."
She starts with Sumeria in 5000 BCE. She draws a tilted semicircle with horns and an ear, a character representing an ox. The ox's head becomes more stylized, and four versions later, we've reached 1000 BCE and the Phoenicians, who created a letter that looks like a triangular flag on a pole. Rotate the figure slightly, add a leg, and you've got the letter "A".
"The Phoenicians were traders, dealing with a lot of cultures, so they wanted a common alphabet to help them do business," explains Bash. "We think of our syllabic alphabet as so efficient — someone in China, to be considered literate, had to know 40,000 characters. But when the letters represent only sounds, we forget their connection to the natural world."
However, she says, the portal to nature is still there within our letters. Furthermore, by studying the development of calligraphic forms, we can trace the changes in Western culture, the expansions and contractions of human nature.
The early Greeks, for instance, wrote in a form called "boustrophedon," meaning "as the ox plows," starting from left to right and reversing direction at the end of each line. The Romans, with their passion for order, switched to the consistently left-to-right orientation, carving the letters in stone in a form that was highly legible, formal, and precise.
"But society needs other letter forms to express other parts of the psyche," observes Bash. With a pastel crayon she draws large Roman capitals with their elegant serifs, then demonstrates how the letters were compressed in the Rustic style to save space when writing on costly vellum. "The eye loves the clarity of Roman capitals," she points out, "but the hand is struggling. It needs some ease and speed, so scribes invented a really loose Roman cursive for writing on wax tablets. And then Rome collapsed."
Culture went underground in the early Middle Ages, and monks copied out texts, keeping the life of the mind alive. "The hand was literally carrying the culture," declares Bash, as she demonstrates the rounded lettering of the Uncial style of 400-500 AD, with its subtle descenders, ascenders, and embellishments.


Chemical analysis and classification of black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) based on their country of origin using mass spectrometric methods and chemometrics
Journal: 2021/March - Food Research International
The current study applied gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), and thermal desorption direct analysis in real-time mass spectrometry (TD-DART-MS) methods to the analysis of black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) samples from different countries. The black pepper powder samples were analyzed directly by TD-DART-MS without any extraction, but for GC-MS and LC-MS methods, a methanol extraction procedure was employed before the analysis. Various compounds, such as piperamides and terpenes, were detected. Partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was used to classify black pepper samples based on their origins. Total ion mass spectrum (TMS) data profiles from GC-MS, LC-MS, and TD-DART-MS methods were constructed and evaluated for the performance of classification. A cubic-root data transformation was tested in the data preprocessing and found to be effective for improving the classification rates. The average classification rates of PLS-DA models with GC-MS-cubic-root-TMS, LC-MS-cubic-root-TMS, and DART-MS-cubic-root-TMS data representations were 94.1 ± 0.6%, 87.7 ± 0.6%, and 97.0 ± 0.3% respectively, for 100-time bootstrapped-Latin-partition cross-validation. This study presents for the first time the analysis of plant-based food materials by using TD-DART-MS, and it has been demonstrated as a simple and high-throughput method for classification studies.
Keywords: Black pepper; Chemometrics; Classification; DART-MS; GC–MS; LC-MS.
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Auburn University researchers have built a rechargeable microscope illumination system for NASA scientists who are using it during Antarctic expeditions.
Professor Vitaly Vodyanoy and research assistant Oleg Pustovyy of the AU Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology built the patent-pending Ilumna 120 to help NASA scientists observe microscopic life in areas where there is no electricity. NASA used it on a preliminary, 11-day trip in February and will take it in November for three months during the Tawani Foundation International 2008 Schirmacher Oasis Antarctica Expedition.
The device, which contains a battery pack, condenser and bulb with a built-in collimator, attaches to standard research microscopes, producing high-resolution images. It measures 3 inches high, 2 inches wide and 2.25 inches deep. For the NASA scientists, it is attached to a microscope that previously used sunlight and a mirror when electricity was not available.
'This one is brighter and does not depend on the weather,' Vodyanoy said. 'The condenser produces annular (ring-shaped) illumination, so they can see smaller objects better. They can see small bacteria now.'
The Ilumna 120 can be powered by either a 110- or 220-volt outlet in normal laboratory conditions; by the internal, rechargeable nine-volt, lithium ion battery pack during field trips; or by recharging the battery pack through a solar element for environments away from electricity. It also can operate on three standard three-volt batteries.
'The internal parts are not really new,' Vodyanoy said. 'We used a commercial condenser and bulb that has a built-in collimation lens. There were other devices on the market, but they did not fit the microscope very well and are not designed to work with high resolution microscopes.'
NASA scientists used the Ilumna 120 on a reconnaissance expedition to the Schirmacher Oasis, Antarctica, in February to study microbial life forms, called extremophiles, that survive and sometime thrive in some of the most hostile conditions on the planet. The trip allowed them to assess requirements for the main, upcoming expedition to the Schirmacher Oasis and Lake Untersee in November.
'The extremely cold, dry and windy conditions of the great white desert of Antarctica provide the best terrestrial analogue for conditions that may exist on Mars and other frozen worlds of our solar system,' said Richard Hoover, astrobiology group leader at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Centre and National Space Science and Technology Centre in Huntsville.
'Although penguins, a few other bird species and fur seals can thrive at the margins of the Antarctica continent, microbial extremophiles are the only kinds of life found in the interior,' Hoover said.
Hoover and his team are working on the isolation, characterisation and scientific description of several exotic and novel microbial extremophiles found in samples of guano of African penguins and from an ice cave and several lakes. They also are using the Ilumna 120 system to explore the characteristics of a new extremophile species and a new genus of bacteria from samples of Magellanic penguin guano that Hoover collected with astronaut James Lovell during the Antarctica 2000 Expedition.
'The Ilumna 120 system coupled to my Leitz microscope and Sony video camera was found to be ideally suited for high resolution studies of the detailed morphology and locomotion of the extremely small polar microorganisms discovered during the Schirmacher Oasis Expedition,' Hoover said.
Vodyanoy says the Ilumna 120 has other potential research and medical applications, such as in pathogenic disease detection, geology studies, military uses in the battlefield and during outbreaks and disasters when electricity is not available. It would be useful, he says, in underdeveloped countries and in isolated agricultural areas.
'Samples may die on the way to the lab, so the Ilumna 120 could help medical researchers have more capabilities in remote areas,' Vodyanoy said.
His research assistant, Pustovyy, built the device in December, working 'day and night' during the holiday break to complete the project. 'NASA needed it in a hurry, so we were able to put it together quickly so they could get familiar with it before their trip,' Pustovyy said.
Vodyanoy said, 'His [Pustovyy's] role was crucial in getting it completed in time for the expedition. NASA needed it by the end of December so they would have time to test it.'


Collective Intelligence and Social and Health Technology Laboratories to combat the isolation and loneliness of the elderly
Collective Intelligence and Social and Health Technology Laboratories to combat isolation and loneliness among the elderly
MOAI LABS emerges as a priority for the Community of Regions PROCURA and represents a coordinated and unprecedented action at social, health and community level. Its objective is to promote business investment in innovative solutions to combat loneliness, stimulated by a future innovative public purchase of early betting, and through the action of the First European Transnational Life Laboratory Specializing in Loneliness and Open Innovation, capable of supporting this investment.
Due to the integration of "Experts by Experience" (the need), "Early Demand Groups" (the offer), the potential buyers (the demand) and the local environment (the community), the MOAI LABS project will guarantee the adoption of solutions for reducing the loneliness of the elderly, increase their community bonds and their empowerment.
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Implement a gamified monitoring context in order to trigger situational-awareness events in the face of risk situations. Develop a proof-of-concept so that, using a gamification platform, it's possible to proceed to the creation of a gamified context capable of operating thematic communities. It is intended to operate a positive monitoring, where the members (senior adults +60 years old) are encouraged to perform tasks with an active participation. Support in the analysis of the customer journey to automate situational-awareness mechanisms, promoting mutual assistance and synergies resulting from integration in the community.
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LOST DUTCHMAN STATE PARK, AZ (ARIZONA HIGHWAYS TV) - Standing more than 1300-feet high and surrounded by cactus and desert, the Superstition Mountains are both magical and mysterious.
Some of the stories are mind-twisting. Flying saucers. Hollow mountains. Top of mountains opening up at night to make way for extraterrestrials.
[VIDEO: Lost Dutchman Mine: One of the most famous missing treasure in the world]
The mountain itself dates back some 18 million years. Inside a collapsed volcano it was forced upward creating something what is called a resurgent dome.
The peaks, at one time covered in ash, are now bronzed and breathtaking. The mountain itself changes all the time and one can never tire of looking at the mountain sunrise to sunset.
Visitors come from all over the world to see Mother Nature's creation - and maybe, just maybe stumble across the most famous missing treasure in the world, the Lost Dutchman Mine.
"I'm absolutely convinced that it does exist, and that it lies hidden today right where he said it was: somewhere deep in the heart of the Superstition Mountain," said historian Clay Wurst.
Wurst has spent more than 60 years searching for the mine. As legend has it, the Lost Dutchman told two men where the mine was before he died. At the time, all he was able to do was describe what the country looked like as he traveled. And in one of the roughest pieces of wilderness terrain on the north American Continent, it simply wasn't good enough. No one has ever found the mine.
Every year, the legend of the Lost Dutchman mine seems to grow. But only a few people hold the secrets passed on by the Dutchman. Wurst is one of the keepers.
"He held his hands up about 18 inches apart, he said it's a vein about that wide, and he said 'Dick, there's enough in sight to make millionaires out of 20 men.'"
For years, treasure hunters combed the mountain, searching for the buried treasure. Many man were shot on the mountain as the battle to find the mine became territorial and dangerous.
Many historical artifacts are on display at the Lost Dutchman Museum, like a telescope used on the first hunt for the mine or an old wooden calendar board with 31 holes.
Several of the treasure maps used back in the day are also on display.
Whether you're a treasure hunter, or an outdoor enthusiast, the Lost Dutchman State Park at the base of the superstition mountains is worth the visit.
[APP USERS: Click here for photos]
And if you happen to see Wurst, say hello, and ask him about the mine, the mountain and why he he hopes someone finds the treasure before he dies.
These mountains are indeed the keepers of countless memories, fascinating stories, and unbelievable theories. And maybe, just maybe, a treasure that is worth millions and millions of dollars.
Arizona's Highways TV with Robin Sewell airs Saturdays on 3TV at 8:30 pm and Sundays on CBS 5 at 4:30 pm.
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During the Gold Rush boom, in San Francisco's early years, the city suffered six major fires. Because these fires destroyed 25 to 50% of the town, they were called Great Fires. As San Francisco quickly rebuilt herself rising from the ashes of those fires, the Phoenix became the symbol of the city.
On April 18, 1906, because the Richter magnitude of the earthquake was over 8.0, it is classified as a Great earthquake. In 1906, when half the city was lost, the earthquake caused 20% of the damage and the fire caused the other 80%.