{"title": "Unconstrained On-line Handwriting Recognition with Recurrent Neural Networks", "book": "Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems", "page_first": 577, "page_last": 584, "abstract": "On-line handwriting recognition is unusual among sequence labelling tasks in that the underlying generator of the observed data, i.e. the movement of the pen, is recorded directly. However, the raw data can be difficult to interpret because each letter is spread over many pen locations. As a consequence, sophisticated pre-processing is required to obtain inputs suitable for conventional sequence labelling algorithms, such as HMMs. In this paper we describe a system capable of directly transcribing raw on-line handwriting data. The system consists of a recurrent neural network trained for sequence labelling, combined with a probabilistic language model. In experiments on an unconstrained on-line database, we record excellent results using either raw or pre-processed data, well outperforming a benchmark HMM in both cases.", "full_text": "Unconstrained Online Handwriting Recognition with\n\nRecurrent Neural Networks\n\nAlex Graves\nTUM, Germany\n\_EMAIL_\n\nSantiago Fern\u00b4andez\nIDSIA, Switzerland\n\_EMAIL_\n\nMarcus Liwicki\n\nUniversity of Bern, Switzerland\_EMAIL_\n\nHorst Bunke\n\nUniversity of Bern, Switzerland\n\_EMAIL_\n\nJ\u00a8urgen Schmidhuber\n\nIDSIA, Switzerland and TUM, Germany\n\_EMAIL_\n\nAbstract\n\nIn online handwriting recognition the trajectory of the pen is recorded during writ-\ning. Although the trajectory provides a compact and complete representation of\nthe written output, it is hard to transcribe directly, because each letter is spread\nover many pen locations. Most recognition systems therefore employ sophisti-\ncated preprocessing techniques to put the inputs into a more localised form. How-\never these techniques require considerable human effort, and are speci\ufb01c to par-\nticular languages and alphabets. This paper describes a system capable of directly\ntranscribing raw online handwriting data. The system consists of an advanced re-\ncurrent neural network with an output layer designed for sequence labelling, com-\nbined with a probabilistic language model. In experiments on an unconstrained\nonline database, we record excellent results using either raw or preprocessed data,\nwell outperforming a state-of-the-art HMM based system in both cases.\n\n1 Introduction\n\nHandwriting recognition is traditionally divided into of\ufb02ine and online recognition. Of\ufb02ine recogni-\ntion is performed on images of handwritten text. In online handwriting the location of the pen-tip on\na surface is recorded at regular intervals, and the task is to map from the sequence of pen positions\nto the sequence of words.\nAt \ufb01rst sight, it would seem straightforward to label raw online inputs directly. However, the fact that\neach letter or word is distributed over many pen positions poses a problem for conventional sequence\nlabelling algorithms, which have dif\ufb01culty processing data with long-range interdependencies. The\nproblem is especially acute for unconstrained handwriting, where the writing style may be cursive,\nprinted or a mix of the two, and the degree of interdependency is therefore dif\ufb01cult to determine\nin advance. The standard solution is to preprocess the data into a set of localised features. These\nfeatures typically include geometric properties of the trajectory in the vicinity of every data point,\npseudo-of\ufb02ine information from a generated image, and character level shape characteristics [6, 7].\nDelayed strokes (such as the crossing of a \u2018t\u2019 or the dot of an \u2018i\u2019) require special treatment because\nthey split up the characters and therefore interfere with localisation. HMMs [6] and hybrid systems\nincorporating time-delay neural networks and HMMs [7] are commonly trained with such features.\nThe issue of classifying preprocessed versus raw data has broad relevance to machine learning, and\nmerits further discussion. Using hand crafted features often yields superior results, and in some\ncases can render classi\ufb01cation essentially trivial. However, there are three points to consider in\nfavour of raw data. Firstly, designing an effective preprocessor requires considerable time and ex-\npertise. Secondly, hand coded features tend to be more task speci\ufb01c. For example, features designed\n\n1\n\n\ffor English handwriting could not be applied to languages with substantially different alphabets,\nsuch as Arabic or Chinese. In contrast, a system trained directly on pen movements could be ap-\nplied to any alphabet. Thirdly, using raw data allows feature extraction to be built into the classi\ufb01er,\nand the whole system to be trained together. For example, convolutional neural networks [10], in\nwhich a globally trained hierarchy of network layers is used to extract progressively higher level\nfeatures, have proved effective at classifying raw images, such as objects in cluttered scenes or iso-\nlated handwritten characters [15, 11]. (Note than convolution nets are less suitable for unconstrained\nhandwriting, because they require the text images to be presegmented into characters [10]).\nIn this paper, we apply a recurrent neural network (RNN) to online handwriting recognition. The\nRNN architecture is bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory [3], chosen for its ability to process data\nwith long time dependencies. The RNN uses the recently introduced connectionist temporal classi-\n\ufb01cation output layer [2], which was speci\ufb01cally designed for labelling unsegmented sequence data.\nAn algorithm is introduced for applying grammatical constraints to the network outputs, thereby\nproviding word level transcriptions. Experiments are carried out on the IAM online database [12]\nwhich contains forms of unconstrained English text acquired from a whiteboard. The performance\nof the RNN system using both raw and preprocessed input data is compared to that of an HMM\nbased system using preprocessed data only [13]. To the best of our knowledge, this is the \ufb01rst time\nwhole sentences of unconstrained handwriting have been directly transcribed from raw online data.\nSection 2 describes the network architecture, the output layer and the algorithm for applying gram-\nmatical constraints. Section 3 provides experimental results, and conclusions are given in Section 4.\n\n2 Method\n\n2.1 Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory\n\nOne of the key bene\ufb01ts of RNNs is their ability to make use of previous context. However, for\nstandard RNN architectures, the range of context that can in practice be accessed is limited. The\nproblem is that the in\ufb02uence of a given input on the hidden layer, and therefore on the network\noutput, either decays or blows up exponentially as it cycles around the recurrent connections. This\nis often referred to as the vanishing gradient problem [4].\nLong Short-Term Memory (LSTM; [5]) is an RNN architecture designed to address the vanishing\ngradient problem. An LSTM layer consists of multiple recurrently connected subnets, known as\nmemory blocks. Each block contains a set of internal units, known as cells, whose activation is\ncontrolled by three multiplicative \u2018gate\u2019 units. The effect of the gates is to allow the cells to store\nand access information over long periods of time.\nFor many tasks it is useful to have access to future as well past context. Bidirectional RNNs [14]\nachieve this by presenting the input data forwards and backwards to two separate hidden layers, both\nof which are connected to the same output layer. Bidirectional LSTM (BLSTM) [3] combines the\nabove architectures to provide access to long-range, bidirectional context.\n\n2.2 Connectionist Temporal Classi\ufb01cation\n\nConnectionist temporal classi\ufb01cation (CTC) [2] is an objective function designed for sequence la-\nbelling with RNNs. Unlike previous objective functions it does not require pre-segmented training\ndata, or postprocessing to transform the network outputs into labellings. Instead, it trains the network\nto map directly from input sequences to the conditional probabilities of the possible labellings.\nA CTC output layer contains one more unit than there are elements in the alphabet L of labels for\nthe task. The output activations are normalised with the softmax activation function [1]. At each\ntime step, the \ufb01rst |L| outputs are used to estimate the probabilities of observing the corresponding\nlabels. The extra output estimates the probability of observing a \u2018blank\u2019, or no label. The combined\noutput sequence estimates the joint probability of all possible alignments of the input sequence with\nall possible labellings. The probability of a particular labelling can then be estimated by summing\nover the probabilities of all the alignments that correspond to it.\nMore precisely, for an input sequence x of length T, choosing a label (or blank) at every time\nstep according to the probabilities implied by the network outputs de\ufb01nes a probability distribution\n\n


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The truth is that countries that standout social-economically are the one which have a culture of technological innovation present in all the social-organizational spheres of interaction. This culture goes deep the initiatives of teaching centers, universities, companies, private organizations and governments that have well planned guidelines, goals for knowledge sharing and focus in commercial results.
Investments in research and development (R&D) have become a synonym for progress in societies based in technological knowledge, entrepreneurship and capital venture. From this point of view, technological innovation acquires a catalyst role in long term transformation with a direct impact in the everyday life of people, organizations and governments that act under the premises of globalization, in a sophisticated economical context with a high level of competition.
Embria understands the process of Reseach and Development as a springboard to generate and spread knowledge that can be reverted to tangible and intangible wealth for the society. This way, our organizational culture practices and incentive actions to investigate new possibilities, new products, services, and new ways to obtain better results, with more efficiency, greater added value, less costs and more benefits for people and organizations.
Nowadays the areas of strategic technological knowledge being researched

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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When cleaning files from a Windows Operating System (OS), you are halted with errors relating to the filename or the file path being too long. This is due to a 255/260 character limit on Windows Operating Systems preventing the files in a directory from being removed.
Follow this article to learn how to remove all files from a directory that have a longer than allowed filenames or paths by using the Microsoft utility "Robust File Copy" (Robocopy).
- Source Path Too Long
- The source file name(s) are larger than is supported by the file system.
How to Solve the Issue
The actions performed in the below process will permanently remove all contents, such as files and folders, in your specified path.
Using Robocopy to delete files that have a path and filename that is too long:
- Notate the folder directory path that needs its contents to be deleted.
- Example: C:\FolderToBeCleaned
- From Windows File Explorer, create an empty folder anywhere on the hard drive:
- Example: C:\EmptyFolder
- Open a Windows Command Prompt as an Administrator.
- Type the following command, replacing the example paths with yours:
- Robocopy C:\EmptyFolder C:\FolderToBeCleaned /purge
- Press the Enter key.
The folder contents are now deleted:


Lava Lake Nyiragongo
The eruption of the Democratic Republic of the Congo volcano, Mount Nyiragongo in 2021 started on 22 May 2021. The eruption threatened the 2 million people populated area of Goma city, the provincial capital on the northern shore of Lake Kivu. Lava flow reached Goma International Airport.
Residence try to douse fire from lava
Lava reaches homes in Goma
Mt Nyiragongo Eruption
Other eruptions
2002 Eruption
The eruption started on 17 January 2002 and reached the outskirts of the city of Goma. Warnings had been given and 400,000 people were evacuated from the city across the Rwandan border during the eruption. Lava reached the runway at Goma International Airport. 250 people died as a result of the eruption.
1977 Eruption
On 10 January 1977, the crater walls of the volcano cracked and lava flowed down the mountainof the volcano at speeds of up to 60 km/hr (37 mph), the fastest lava flow recorded to date. Within 30 minutes, the lava lake had emptied, flowing north, south, and west of the volcano. At least 600 people died as a result of the eruption.


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Pellet Prices Remain Stable and Favourable
The cost of the raw material, sawdust, accounts for the largest portion of the pellet price.
How will the prices for pellets develop in the future? Wood pellets are significantly cheaper than oil or gas, and their price will remain stable in the long term. Unlike fossil fuels, wood pellets are made from an abundant and renewable resource. Furthermore, pellet prices are not influenced by political and global crises, i.e. pellets are not a commodity subject to economic speculation.
The price for FireStixx pellets is made up of the following costs:
- Costs for raw materials: approx. 40%
- Costs for storage, logistics and sales: approx. 30%
- Production costs, i.e. drying of the raw materials and palletisation: approx. 30%


Nullx is audio/video/subtitle transcoding server
C++ Python CMake
Nullx is a transcoding server which converts input audio/video files (with multiple tracks) into h264/aac/mov_text format and optionally uploads resulted files into elliptics storage.
Nullx spawns a pool of processes using ribosome::fpool each one transcodes media file using ffmpeg. If process crashes it will be automatically restarted.
Transcoding is asynchronous, server will reply to client after it is completed. If elliptics upload options are not specified in the request, server will send transcoded file to client in reply.
Server config options
tmp_dir - temporal directory where input and resulted files are stored during transcoding. transcoding_workers - number of transcoding processes, default value is 16.
Elliptics upload options
If request contains following headers, transcoded file will not be returned to client but instead will be written into elliptics.
X-Ell-Groups - groups in the format 1:2:3 where transcoded file should be written. X-Ell-ID - hex ID (128 bytes, if less, the rest will be filled with zeroes) of the key to upload. Alternatively you can specify X-Ell-Bucket and X-Ell-Key - bucket (namespace)/key pair of the key which will be used to upload transcoded file into elliptics.
Also you can specify additional metadata headers, which will force server to upload some metadata of the transcoded file into elliptics. X-Ell-Metadata-Groups - groups in the format 1:2:3 where metadata for transcoded file should be written. X-Ell-Metadata-ID or X-Ell-Metadata-Bucket + X-Ell-Metadata-Key - which key should be used to write transcoded file metadata.


Quick Answer: What'S This Song Called?
Can Siri identify songs?
What are female singers called?
Can you hum a song to Shazam?
Shazam is also built-in to Siri, so you could just ask Siri what a song is and she'll tell you. The downside to Shazam is that it requires the original song to identify, so you can't just hum or sing into it, and tagged songs can't be bookmarked for later reference.
How do I get Google to identify a song?
On your phone, touch and hold the Home button or say "Hey Google." Ask "What's this song?" Play a song or hum, whistle, or sing the melody of a song. Hum, whistle, or sing: Google Assistant will identify potential matches for the song.
What is that song App?
ShazamWhen you want to know "what is that song" playing at a bar, club or party, Shazam will identify it for you in a matter of seconds. What's more, you can use it on Android, iPhone, and Windows Mobile phones. The only disadvantage with Shazam is that it doesn't identify tunes by humming.
How can I find a song by humming?
Can Siri identify a song by humming?
Apple Siri and Google Voice Assistant You can activate the voice assistant by saying Siri or OK Google. Then say 'What song is this'. … If you are using a Windows Phone, Microsoft's Cortana can also perform a similar search and help you recognize songs by humming.
Can't find a song I heard?
Use Shazam or MusicID. These are popular apps that analyze sounds and identify songs from their database of recordings. If you've got Shazam on your phone and hear a song you can't identify and don't know anything about, activate the app and hold it toward the audio source and wait for a result.
What are 4 singers called?
A group of four singers or instrumentalists is called a quartet or quartette (French: quatuor, German: Quartett, Italian: quartetto, Spanish: cuarteto, Polish: kwartet). A quartet can also be a composition for four instruments or voices.
What is that song called?
SoundHound can listen to you sing the song you want to identify. SoundHound does pretty much everything Shazam does and even more. Just like Shazam, SoundHound can tell you what song is playing at the tap of a button. But let's say that song you just heard ended before you could whip out your phone and open Shazam.
How do I identify a song?
Google built song identification into the Google search app on Android. Arguably part of Google Now, identifying songs is one of the many "OK Google" voice commands you can use on Android. To identify a song, you can just say "OK Google, what is this song?"—provided you have the OK Google feature enabled.


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The microprocessor provides internal reference voltages of either 1.1V or Vcc (5V on a Uno). Providing a reference voltage through AREF is strictly optional.
The tutorial says it won't work if you don't connect the AREF. Is that because the code is expecting a 3.3v reference? I guess I'll understand how all this works a lot more when I actually get the mic and can start trying it out and seeing what it does.
The microphone can run on 2.4V - 5V, and you match AREF to the supply voltage. We recommend using the 3.3V source on the arduino because it is the 'quietest'. That is, for analog measurements, the 5V supply is not quite as stable a reference as the 3.3V.
Because "5v" can jump around a bit based on the power source, where 3.3v is more strictly controlled by the hardware? So that means I can just solder a jumper straight across from 3.3v to AREF? Some of the images I saw in the non-ada tutorial had resistors. Were those to further fine tune the reference or for safety?

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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|Table 1: Observed partial pressures and the calculated Gibbs free energy change of CO conversion by C. hydrogenoformans in batch culture.|
|Culture|| (h)||H2 (Pa)||CO (Pa)||CO2 (Pa)||Acetate (mM)||
(a) and : Gibbs free energy change (kJ/mol CO) for reaction (1) and reaction (2), respectively, at 70°C. |
(b)Underlined: detection limits that were used in calculation of free energy.


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Healthy diet means better mental health (Australia)
Australian researchers have shown that a nutritious diet has a significant, positive effect on mental health and can even aid in the prevention and treatment of depression and anxiety.
Researchers from the University of Melbourne have been studying the impact of teenage diets on depressive symptoms since 2005. Over 2000 study participants, age 11 to 18 years, were sampled from 2005 to 2006, and again in 2007 to 2008. Diet quality and mental health baselines were established at the beginning of the study and followed up throughout the project.
After adjustments for sociodemographic variables and exercise, it was found that a good quality diet predicted better mental health than any other factor. Furthermore, dietary changes matched mental health states during the investigation. In other words, improved diet was reflected in improved mental health and a poor quality diet filled with snacks and highly processed foods was associated with a deterioration in mental health.
These results corroborate the 2010 findings of the same research team wherein diet and mental health outcomes of Australian women across a wide range of ages were studied. In that investigation, researchers found that women who ate a diet of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, high quality meat and fish reduced their risk of depression, dysthymia and anxiety by more than 30 per cent. On the other hand, women eating a diet with high quantities of refined and processed foods as well as saturated fats, had a 50 per cent increased likelihood of developing depression.
To read the online study, "A Prospective Study of Diet Quality and Mental Health in Adolescents", go to _URL_.


Ψάξε όποια λέξη θες, όπως b4nny:
Sprattah (Noun): A small desert island off the coast of Scotland. No one understands why it is a desert and has a temperature of 200 degrees C when Scotland rarely has a temperature of anything higher than 2 degrees C.
Sprattah is a real island I tell you!
από Protome 25 Μάρτιος 2008
Words related to Sprattah
200c island protome scotland


gives a list of the digits in the approximate real number x, together with the number of digits that are to the left of the decimal point.
gives a list of baseb digits in x.
gives a list of len digits.
gives len digits starting with the coefficient of.
 - RealDigits gives the most significant digits first, as in standard positional notation.
 - RealDigits[x] normally returns a list of digits of length Round[Precision[x]].
 - RealDigits[x] and RealDigits[x,b] normally require that x be an approximate real number, returned for example by N. RealDigits[x,b,len] also works on exact numbers.
 - For integers and rational numbers with terminating digit expansions, RealDigits[x] returns an ordinary list of digits. For rational numbers with nonterminating digit expansions, it yields a list of the form representing the digit sequence consisting of the followed by infinite cyclic repetitions of the. »
 - If len is larger than Precision[x]/Log[10,b], then remaining digits are filled in as Indeterminate.
 - RealDigits[x,b,len,n] starts with the digit which is the coefficient of, truncating or padding with zeros as necessary. »
 - RealDigits[x,b,len,-1] starts with the digit immediately to the right of the baseb decimal point in x.
 - RealDigits[x,b,Automatic,n] gives as many digits as it can in a fixed-precision number.
 - The base b in RealDigits[x,b] need not be an integer. For any real b such that b>1, RealDigits[x,b] successively finds the largest integer multiples of powers of b that can be removed while leaving a nonnegative remainder.
 - RealDigits[x] discards the sign of x.
 - RealDigits[0.] gives {{0},-Floor[Accuracy[0.]]}.
 - FromDigits can be used as the inverse of RealDigits.
Introduced in 1991
| Updated in 2007


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Authors: M.I. Kilani, P.G. Galambos, Y. Haik and C.J. Chen
Affilation: Florida State University, United States
Pages: 210 - 213
Keywords: pump, spiral
This paper introduces a new viscous micropump produced using surface micromachining technology. The pump consists of a disk with a spiral protrusion that rotates at a close proximity over a stationary plate. Fluid contained in the spiral channel created by this geometry is subject to a net tangential viscous stress and a positive pressure gradient is established in the direction of flow. The paper describes the design and fluid modeling of the micro spiral pump.


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The following is an excerpt from the book Fuzzing: Brute Force Vulnerability Discovery. In this section of Chapter...
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21: Fuzzing Frameworks (.pdf), authors Michael Sutton, Pedram Amini, and Adam Greene describe one of the most widely used and recognized fuzzing frameworks.
SPIKE is written in C and exposes an API for quickly and efficiently developing network protocol fuzzers. SPIKE is open source and released under the flexible GNU General Public License (GPL)7. This favorable licensing has allowed for the creation of SPIKEfile, a repurposed version of the framework designed specifically for file format fuzzing (see Chapter 12, "File Format Fuzzing: Automation on UNIX"). SPIKE utilizes a novel technique for representing and thereafter fuzzing network protocols. Protocol data structures are broken down and represented as blocks, also referred to as a SPIKE, which contains both binary data and the block size. Block-based protocol representation allows for abstracted construction of various protocol layers with automatic size calculations. To better understand the block-based concept, consider the following simple example from the whitepaper "The Advantages of Block-Based Protocol Analysis for Security Testing":8
s_block_size_binary_bigendian_word("somepacketdata"); s_block_start("somepacketdata") s_binary("01020304"); s_block_end("somepacketdata");
This basic SPIKE script (SPIKE scripts are written in C) defines a block named somepacketdata, pushes the four bytes 0x01020304 into the block and prefixes the block with the block length. In this case the block length would be calculated as 4 and stored as a big endian word. Note that most of the SPIKE API is prefixed with either s_ or spike_. The s_binary() API is used to add binary data to a block and is quite liberal with its argument format, allowing it to handle a wide variety of copied and pasted inputs such as the string 4141 x41 0x41 41 00 41 00. Although simple, this example demonstrates the basics and overall approach of constructing a SPIKE. As SPIKE allows blocks to be embedded within other blocks, arbitrarily complex protocols can be easily broken down into their smallest atoms. Expanding on the previous example:
In this example, two blocks are defined, somepacketdata and innerdata. The latter block is contained within the former block and each individual block is prefixed with a size value. The newly defined innerdata block begins with a static two-byte value (0x0001), followed by a four-byte variable integer with a default value of 0x02, and finally a string variable with a default value of SELECT. The s_binary_bigendian_word_variable() and s_string_variable() APIs will loop through a predefined set of integer and string variables (attack heuristics), respectively, that have been known in the past to uncover security vulnerabilities. SPIKE will begin by looping through the possible word variable mutations and then move on to mutating the string variable. The true power of this framework is that SPIKE will automatically update the values for each of the size fields as the various mutations are made. To examine or expand the current list of fuzz variables, look at SPIKE/src/spike.c.Version 2.9 of the framework contains a list of almost 700 error-inducing heuristics.
Using the basic concepts demonstrated in the previous example, you can begin to see how arbitrarily complex protocols can be modeled in this framework. A number of additional APIs and examples exist. Refer to the SPIKE documentation for further information. Sticking to the running example, the following code excerpt is from an FTP fuzzer distributed with SPIKE. This is not the best showcase of SPIKE's capabilities, as no blocks are actually defined, but it helps to compare apples with apples.
SPIKE is sporadically documented and the distributed package contains many deprecated components that can lead to confusion. However, a number of working examples are available and serve as excellent references for familiarizing with this powerful fuzzing framework. The lack of complete documentation and disorganization of the distribution package has led some researchers to speculate that SPIKE is purposefully broken in a number of areas to prevent others from uncovering vulnerabilities privately discovered by the author. The veracity of this claim remains unverified.
Depending on your individual needs, one major pitfall of the SPIKE framework is the lack of support for Microsoft Windows, as SPIKE was designed to run in a UNIX environment, although there are mixed reports of getting SPIKE to function on the Windows platform through Cygwin.9 Another factor to consider is that even minor changes to the framework, such as the addition of new fuzz strings, require a recompilation. On a final negative note, code reuse between developed fuzzers is a manual copy-and-paste effort. New elements such as a fuzzer for e-mail addresses cannot simply be defined and later referenced globally across the framework.
Overall, SPIKE has proven to be effective and has been used by both its author and others to uncover a variety of high-profile vulnerabilities. SPIKE also includes utilities such as a proxy, allowing a researcher to monitor and fuzz communications between a browser and a Web application. SPIKE's fault-inducing capabilities have gone a long way in establishing the value of fuzzing on a whole. The block-based approach to fuzzing has gained popularity evident in that since the initial public release of SPIKE, a number of fuzzing frameworks have adopted the technique.
Learn about other specialized fuzzing utilities. Download the rest of Chapter 21: Visualization (.pdf).
Reproduced from the book Fuzzing: Brute Force Vulnerability Discovery Copyright, Addison Wesley Professional. Reproduced by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., 800 East 96th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46240.Written permission from Pearson Education, Inc. is required for all other users.


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Who wrote the first book on this planet?
The Diamond Sutra is the oldest surviving book that can be verifiably dated, but the first book published isn't known. It is probable that it hasn't survived the centuries.
Currently, the writer of the first book is not known. However, the first writings were associated with the Chinese. During this time, they used blocks of wood and rice papers for printed literature.


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First Aid Cases for the USMLE Step 2 CK – 2nd edition
This powerful casebook is packed with 344 exam-type clinical cases that teach you how to work through questions on the exam. Completedly updated based on student feedback, it includes active-recall questions and answers that reinforce key concepts.
344 high-yield cases–94 NEW!–written by students who aced the exam
Cases emphasize board-relevant diseases and concepts
Open-ended active recall questions and answers teach you to work through cases and reinformce must-know facts and concepts
Two-column format for easy self-quizzing
100+ images, diagrams, and tables complement the cases
Organized the same ways as First Aid for the USMLE Step 2 CK and First Aid Q&A for the USMLE Step 2 CK to facilitate parallel study


Marketing Processes : Internal
In this conversation, we are going to share how and what are the Internal Marketing Processes of Mail Right and what tools are they using in the process of making and generating leads.
One example this podcast covers is how tools like Mail-Right make it easy to share blog posts across all of your social media channels. The basic platforms are Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram. Or you can either send it to your Team or VA and Email them and make sure that the content is distributed. Then one best practice is for you to get notifications when the task is completed.
The tools we use for project management are discussed.BasecampTrelloHootsuiteWunderlist, and Slack.
In Project Management you should aim to have a good overall reporting system. So will tell you what those tools are, what are the best tools to use and what are the pros and cons of using Basecamp or Slack.
Another scenario that we talked about was how to generate leads and the Internal process such as using CRMs. Watch this video:
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Medai (Hyperoglyphe japonica)
Hyperoglphe japonica, the Pacific barrelfish or medai. Image Credit: Ben Young Landis/CC-BY)
"And also tonight we have bluenose."
The name caught my ear. I had never heard of such a fish. Yet here was the chef listing it as part of today's specials, to the sushi bar patron to the right of me.
Time to google. The cell signal was poor in this elegantly refitted, brick-walled building, and the photos loaded slowly.
I held up the phone. "Sensei, is this the fish?"
The Google.
The Google.
"Yeah, looks like that!"
Bluenose, the Google explained, referred to Hyperoglyphe antarctica, which is being marketed as "bluenose sea bass" (ah, sea bass, that pesky catch-all term again) or "Antarctic butterfish", while FishBase listed its United Nations records name as "bluenose warehou".
"In Japanese, we call it me-dai. We got this from Kyushu."
Kyushu is the third largest island of Japan, located to the nation's southwest, and close to the Korean Peninsula. Kyushu city names that might be familiar to American ears include Kumamoto—source of the famed oyster species—and Nagasaki—site of the second atomic attack in human history.
But the Kyushu location threw my original identification in doubt. The listed localities for "bluenose" are in the Southern Hemisphere, in the seas off of South America, southern Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
So when eating Japanese, speak as the Japanese. Another Google search—this time including the Japanese name, medai—turned up the correct identity for the sashimi now presented before me.
Hyperoglyphe japonica at the Izu Mido Sea Paradise aquarium. Image Source:
Medai is the Japanese name for Hyperoglyphe japonica, a very close relative of the bluenose—and as you can see, they are very similar in appearance. Medai, however, are only found in the seas around Japan.
The words medai is written in kanji characters as 目鯛, with "me-" (目) meaning "eye" and "-dai" (鯛) being the term in Japanese for snappers and porgies, but also as a general term for other similarly shaped fish (see previous stories on ishidai and onaga-dai).
"Eye" of course is referring to the large, round, doll-like eyes of this sleek but otherwise generic-looking fish:
The name
The name "medai" refers to the relatively large eyes of the species, Hyperoglyphe japonica. Image Source:
Taxonomically, medai and bluenose are not snappers nor porgies, but their generic-looking bodies belie some pretty strange things about the group they do belong to.
Medai and bluenose belong to the Family Centrolophidae–known as the medusafishes and barrelfishes in English. They're called this because as young fish, many species hide under drifting seaweed or floating debris like barrels—while other species live among the bells and tentacles of jellyfish (or "medusa" as they are called classically, as if jellyfish were the mythical medusa's head of deadly hair, drifting about the sea without a body).
And so these baby fish float out in the open sea, growing up in these mobile nurseries, feeding on different critters in the debris. The juveniles have cartoonishly large, snub-nosed heads, until they grow larger and stretch out into more "fishy" shapes, at which time they swim down to deeper waters to live. Medai can grow to 3 feet (90 cm) and are found around in depths of 500 feet (150m) or more.
As adults, medai do retain that snub-nosed look—a look that unites a broader group of fishes they belong to, the Stromateoidei. Ichthyologist Richard L. Haedrich, in his 1967 review of this odd taxonomic group, writes with a wink about their shared facial bone structure:
There is no mistaking the "stromateoid look"…once recognized, the stromateoid expression is not likely to be forgotten. It is a fat-nosed, wide-eyed, stuffed up look, smug and at the same time apprehensive. Some stromateoids might even be accused of a certain prissiness.
Haedrich's review (which, for you fish geeks out there, is a great piece of natural history writing) mentions the other characteristic uniting this taxonomic group: they all have a "pharyngeal sac" in the back of their throat.
Imagine if you had a little fleshy sac in the back of your throat, filled with soft teeth like a cat's tongue, which chewed up your food a little before you swallowed it. That's what all these stromatoid fishes have, to different extents: medai have less toothy sacs, while other stromateoids have more complexly toothed sacs (Doiuchi and Nakabo 2006).
What was this sac originally evolved for? This appears to still be an unanswered question, since the diet of stromateoid fishes are not well known. Ironically, jellyfish might also be the answer here. Haedrich speculates:
Shelter is not all the jellyfish provide. Many stromateoids have been observed actively feeding on their hosts…the diagnostic pharyngeal sacs of stromateoids may have been perfected partially in response to this sort of diet.
As in somehow, this pre-chewing process facilitates digestion of jellyfish tissue, as one presumes that the gelatinous and often toxin-injecting tissue of jellies might be a little hard on a stomach, unprocessed.
Speaking of chewing, I've probably fed you more science than you can digest in one sitting. I certainly learned a lot from this happenstance introduction to a new species, let alone getting into all the strange details of a whole group of fishes. Of course, I also enjoyed tasting medai sashimi for the first time—it has a delicate but firmly muscled texture like that of snapper and other tai, but has a more buttery, sweeter taste more akin to hamachi and other fishes of the jack family (in fact, medai is sometimes passed off as higher-priced species like hamachi by dishonest merchants; see Iguchi et al. 2012).
Now let's go catch some medai.
A 6kg medai caught off of Hachijō-jima. Image source:
Hyperoglyphe japonica (Döderlein, 1884)
Click for names in other languages (FishBase)
Class Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Order Perciformes (Perch-like Fishes)
Family Centrolophidae (Medusafishes and Barrelfishes)
FishBase Page:
Haedrich, RL. 1967. The stromateoid fishes: systematics and a classifcation. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College 135(2): 31-139.
Iguchi, J, Y Takashima, A Namikoshi, M Yamashita. Species identification method for marine products of Seriola and related species. Fisheries Science 78(1): 197-206. doi: 10.1007/s12562-_PHONE_-9
Doiuchi, R, T Nakabo. 2006. Molecular phylogeny of the stromateoid fishes (Teleostei: Perciformes) inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences and compared with morphology-based hypotheses. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 39(1): 111-123. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2005.10.007
— Ben Young Landis
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Finnair A350 Operates 100KM Hop Across The Gulf Of Finland
Finnair today operated an Airbus A350 flight of just 100km. The short hop saw the widebody aircraft visit Tallinn for the first time as the airline looked to move 'a belly full of cargo'.
Finnair, Airbus A350, Freight
Finnair today operated a 100km Airbus A350 freight flight. Photo: Finnair
Airlines around the world have been operating some interesting routes recently. This has all been in aid of keeping passengers and freight moving while many usual flights have stopped. Examples have seen Lufthansa in New Zealand, and Air New Zealand in Germany. Finnair has even had its fair share. However, today the Finnish national airline operated a very short hop for a widebody aircraft.
Shortest Finnair A350 flight?
Today's hop to Tallin may have been the airline's shortest A350 hop in history, carrying passengers or freight. (If you know of a shorter hop with such a purpose, please do let us know in the comments!) The flight was so short that it only lasted 20 minutes, with the taxi either end taking almost as long as the flight. Let's take a look at the numbers.
Finnair, Airbus A350, Freight
The aircraft flew a short hop across the Gulf of Finland. It reached its maximum height at the position indicated. Image:
After pushback, the flight from Helsinki to Tallinn began to taxi towards the runway at 12:14 UTC. At 12:22, the aircraft began its takeoff roll. The Airbus A350 then began to climb to a height of 13,000 feet according to data from It reached this height at 12:27.
The aircraft didn't stay at its cruising altitude for long, however. In fact, just two minutes later, and less than halfway to Tallinn, it began its descent at 12:29. After a further 13 minutes in the air, it touched down in Tallin at 12:42, before taxiing for another five minutes. In total the aircraft spent 20 minutes flying and 13 minutes taxiing.
While it's not clear what exactly the aircraft was carrying, Finnair did mention that the flight was being operated for cargo reasons. The airline also remarked that this flight was the first time one of its A350 aircraft had flown to Tallinn.
Not the only interesting flight
Finnair's flight today is not the only interesting cargo flight made by a passenger aircraft. In fact, as many passenger aircraft are going unused at the moment, they are instead being used for cargo. airBaltic used an Airbus A220 for a seven-hour cargo flight from China. Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic flew cargo from Shanghai with a Boeing 787, while Lufthansa used an Airbus A330.
Which interesting cargo flights have you seen operating recently? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!


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Amazon.com description: Product Description
: Designing Distributed Learning Environments with Intelligent Software Agents reports on the most recent advances in agent technologies for distributed learning. Chapters are devoted to the various aspects of intelligent software agents in distributed learning, including the methodological and technical issues on where and how intelligent agents can contribute to meeting distributed learning needs today and tomorrow. This book benefits the AI (artificial intelligence) and educational communities in their research and development, offering new and interesting research issues surrounding the development of distributed learning environments in the Semantic Web age. In addition, the ideas presented in the book are applicable to other domains such as Agent-Supported Web Services, distributed business process and resource integration, computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW) and e-Commerce.


10 Reasons Why Le Guin's Earthsea Books Can Still Change Your Life
Le Guin's Earthsea books consist of a trilogy, published between 1968 and 1972, and then two other novels, from 1990 and 2001, plus a short story collection. You can read just the original trilogy, and get a rich, bracing saga — but if you choose to read the two later books, you'll find Le Guin turning a lot of the themes of the original trilogy on their heads. So here's why these books, even in the midst of so much fantasy bounty nowadays, are still essential and amazing:
1) They offer three very different takes on the heroic journey
We live in a time when the "Hero's Journey" rules popular culture, in the wake of Star Wars. But years before George Lucas decided to distill Joseph Campbell into a simple space Western, Le Guin had already come up with two versions of the "rise to heroism" story, which turn a lot of your expectations on their heads. First the wizard Ged becomes a hero mainly by facing his own darkness and fixing his own awful mistakes. And then the young priestess Tenar comes into her own, reclaiming her identity with Ged's help, and they wind up rescuing each other. Later, in Tehanu, Le Guin gives us still a third heroic origin story, of a girl who turns out to have a unique connection to dragons.
2) They're about life in an Archipelago
and that's something that could be very relevant to a lot of us in the future — many futurists believe that with rising sea levels, coastal cities will become archipelagos. So the fact that the Earthsea books take place in an archipelago, made up of hundreds of islands with cities and settlements on them, is helpful to those of us coast-dwellers who want to imagine our own futures.
3) They're about facing up to the reality of death
Without giving major spoilers, as the series goes on, Le Guin deals more and more with the idea that accepting your own death is one of the keys to sanity and goodness. When one character tries to become immortal, he nearly wrecks the entire world — and later, in the final book, we learn that the afterlife itself wasn't what we thought it was, in a philosophical masterstroke.
4) Le Guin has the best dragons
As Campbell Award-nominated writer Max Gladstone (Three Parts Dead) argues over at The Ranting Dragon:
LeGuin's dragons set the gold standard. Ancient, wise, capricious, beautiful, mighty, and sometimes sad, she salts Tolkein's profoundly Western dragons—for all his majesty, Smaug the Terrible is a clear descendant of the "St. George" and the species of dragon—with elements of the Chinese demigod. LeGuin's dragons, especially in Earthsea, are selfish and terrifying in a way that Chinese dragons don't tend to be, but their power and wisdom is of a kind. Her dragons point to the wonder and the danger of her world and its magic—which is to say, the wonder and danger of the truth, beyond and beneath all transformation and evasion.
And he argues that Le Guin's influence on more recent dragons, including Temeraire, is massively underestimated.
10 Reasons Why Le Guin's Earthsea Books Can Still Change Your Life
5) It's like the anti-Narnia
Le Guin creates a fantasy world that appeals to a lot of fans of C.S. Lewis' Narnia books — it's another secondary world where there are fantasy creatures and legends that feel timeless. But in a 1982 interview, Le Guin said "the view of life and death in Earthsea is not only non-Christian but anti-Christian." Le Guin has said the spirituality in Earthsea is largely based on Daoism. So if you want an antidote to the Christian allegories in Narnia and other works, Earthsea is a great alternative.
6) It's fantasy where you can feel the interaction of cultures
And this is one reason why attempts to adapt the series, including Syfy's widely criticized miniseries, fail so badly. In Earthsea, Ged and the other wizards are dark-skinned, and we get to see a lot of their interaction with other groups, including the light-skinned Kargs, who have a very different approach to magic and their own set of gods. People pay lip-service to the idea of "multicultural fantasy" — but this is a series where cultures interact in a meaningful way, much like in Le Guin's other great anthropological novels like The Left Hand of Darkness.
7) It's one of the few series that gracefully ages its characters.
Even just in the original trilogy, Le Guin shows Ged moving past "coming of age" into confident adulthood and then into real maturity — but when she returns to the series in Tehanu and The Other Wind, she gives us older versions of Ged, Tenar and other major characters, who have aged in real time and have very different perspectives than their younger selves. But also, Le Guin manages to show us a youthful romance between Ged and Tenar, and then a romance in old age — which is one of the great pleasures of a series that allows its characters not just to grow up, but to grow old.
8) A really good system of magic.
Long before Hogwarts, Le Guin gave us a great wizard academy on Roke — and there's a terrific system of magic in Earthsea, which is based on knowing the true names of things and using them to shape the world. But also, Le Guin's fantastic worldbuilding integrates magic into every part of Earthsea, so that we see statecraft and social interactions through the lens of magic. The whole thing feels like something you could learn yourself, if you could only make the trip to Roke.
9) A fantasy series with a feminist message
When you get to the final two Earthsea novels, Le Guin revisits the patriarchal society she created in the first trilogy, and shows how a lot of the things we thought were iron-clad laws were only rules made by the men in charge. And going hand in hand with the revelations about death and the nature of magic, these books turn the whole of Earthsea into a brilliant narrative about discovering that the world is bigger, and more amazing, than any hierarchy can encompass.
10) It will teach you to become a good person
The first book, A Wizard of Earthsea, doesn't just show Ged going through a rite of passage — some scholars argue that reading this book could serve as a rite of passage for children reading it. But with the later books, especially Tehanu, write Laura B. Comoletti and Michael D.C. Drout in their essay "How They Do Things With Words":
Le Guin demonstrates that after the rite of passage is completed the child must settle into the difficult, frustrating chore of being an adult, fighting the endless tiny existential social battles — be they struggles against gender oppression, inequities of power, illegitimate domination, and the enforcement of ideology on unwilling minds, or the crises of conscience, losses of motivation, and fears of failure — that make up adult life.
In these books, growing up isn't something you do until you reach adulthood, and then stop doing — it's a process that continues for the rest of your life.
Thanks to Annalee, Liz, Michael Ann and Amber for the feedback and suggestions! Additional sources: Ranting Dragon, Tor.com, Children's Literature, Planet of the Hats


How to roleplay a Death Knight
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How to Roleplay a Death Knight
So, you want to RP the warriors of death that instill fear into the living? There are a few things you should consider.
1.Which Generation of Death Knight are you? (There are commonly 3 but a fourth is possible.)
2.Is it possible and likely that your race would become a Death Knight during that generation?
3.Why would your Death Knight wander in society?
The Generations of Death Knights
Death Knights come in different varieties. The first generation being the death knights of Gul'dan who were made from Orc souls infused in Stormwindian knights bodies. The second generation being the Death Knights corrupted by the Scourge during Arthas' rampage before he became the lich king. And the third generation is the Death Knights of Acherus, hinted in the game to be former Argent Dawn Members, but your backstory can be whatever you want, as long as it works. The possible fourth generation that was mentioned, was discovered during Eastern Plaguelands when Gidwin Goldbraids was kidnapped and almost turned into a death knight by some higher ranking remaining scourge. Aurius Rivendare fits into this category.
How the Death Knights Act
Despite popular belief, Death Knights are not cold, cruel, mindless beings. Take Thassarian for example. Death Knights are in most ways exactly how they were before they became what they are now. They search for a purpose, now that the Lich King is dead, but it's not hard to find one with the current conflicts going on between the Alliance and the Horde.
Death Knights are normally solitary in nature but might summon a minion if they prefer a pawn to use. Death Knights have varying morals, some willing to raise even the most holy of paladins from the grave as their minion.
Unique Qualities of Death Knights
The first generation's abilities are undefined as far as their necromantic powers, the second generation pretty much shares the same powers as the first generation. The Fourth generation possibly different powers.
A unique quality of generation three is that they require a Runeblade to use their magic, contrary to game mechanics a Runeblade is necessary for all their powers. And the saronite armor they don is mostly unpierceable (See Adamantine) and can absorb magics and reflect them back after awhile, this armor is exclusive only to the Undead who can resist Yogg'Saron's whispers. Death Knights have a constant addiction to slaughter and hurt others, sadism a common trait in their kind.
Generation two and four Death Knights do not require a runeblade to use their powers. Generation Three Death Knights need the Runes in their Runeblades to use their powers, although game mechanics doesn't show it. Razuvious tells you a Death Knight can't fight without his Runeblade. This is mainly because third generation Death Knights use Vrykul Rune Magic, while second generation Death Knight use Necromancy, Shadow, Blood or Frost magic.
Anyway, some generation two Death Knights (Those who got a Vampiric Runeblade) are extremely weaker without their Runeblade, as it stores their soul and power. This is the case of Arthas, but not all of generation two Death Knights use this kind of Runeblade or a runeblade at all.
Contrary to belief (Mostly due to game mechanics), Death Knights are Undead and cannot be living for long using their dark powers. Those who take up the Runeblade and use its powers eventually lose their lives to the dark magics and become Undead, as Arthas lost his soul to Frostmourne and was turned Undead. The other way a Death Knight could become a Death Knight other than to become Undead from corruption, is to be killed and raised by a powerful necromancer into a Death Knight. As Death Knights you can manipulate the life you siphon from others to make undead minions or pull your enemies to you, or just strangle them. The Death Knight being Undead is immune to effects of poison, disease, bleeding, as you need to be living in order for those things to really affect you. Death Knights also have a vulnerability to light and holy land as shown at Light's Hope Chapel where the land weakened the Death Knights of Acherus.
Death Knights usually have allegiance to the leader of their current faction. Those free from the scourge or Old Horde likely suit their own needs and crush all opposition, Death Knights when it comes to authority can range from devout to possibly traitorous and as far as personality range from irritable to cold and rational.
Death Knights of the third generation are all the humanoid races. Each one being either a member of the Argent Dawn or a former warrior of the Horde or Alliance, or any other threat to the Scourge. The 2nd Generation consists of only humans and a few high elves or Dwarfs. The first of only human (Orc soul) knights.
The Worgen Death Knights are the former minions of Arugal who fled from him only to die by the hands of the scourge and be raised into their armies, but these are a rare commodity among the Death Knights, not being as abundant as the other races to be turned. Also, Pandaren Death Knights are extremely rare, as only a few of them were traveling around the world before the Lich King (Athas) was defeated.
Death Knights typically have pallid skin and eyes of varying colours, from grey to black to blue. The first generation have red or grey or black, the second generation typically green, to black, to blue. The third generation typically has only blue eyes. Dwarf death knight would usually have blue facial and scalp hair.


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English translation of आदेश
आदेशPowered by COBUILD /adesha/
Definitions and Translations
mn/adesha, ådesha, aadesha, ådesh, adesh, aadesh/
1. command transitive verb, countable noun
If you command someone to do something, or if you give them a command to do it, you order them to do it. ⇒ 'Follow me,' he commanded. ⇒ The dog owner will then give the command 'Forward'.
2. edict countable noun
An edict is a command given by someone in authority. [formal]
3. order transitive verb, countable noun
If someone in authority orders something, orders you to do something, or gives you an order, they tell you to do something. ⇒ The President has ordered a full investigation. ⇒ He ordered his men to stop shooting. ⇒ She was fined £1,200 for disobeying orders.
4. order countable noun
An order is something that you ask to be brought or sent to you, and that you are going to pay for. ⇒ The waiter returned with their order.
5. ruling countable noun
A ruling is an official decision made by a judge or court. ⇒ We wish to challenge the ruling in a higher court.
Copyright © 2014 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
Translation of आदेश from the Collins Hindi to English Dictionary


Nature has ways of providing us with everything we need to sustain ourselves if modern society fails us. What sources of food would benefit us in the wild? We know we can eat deer, fish, or even squirrels, but can you eat a possum? Furthermore, if we can, what's the best way to prepare it and what other benefits can eating a possum offer us?
Let's find out.
Can Humans Eat Possums?
Yes, humans can eat possums as long you cook them the right way. Otherwise, you may face an issue worse than starvation due to the ailments possums might carry.
You should skin them to check for diseases these creatures might harbor. Otherwise, clean the meat, and you have yourself a decent meal in the forest when you have no other options.
People in New Zealand have eaten brushtail possums ever since their introduction to the country in 1837. These creatures became such a significant threat to the country's environment that citizens were encouraged to kill them. So, some decided that it would be efficient to eat them as well rather than wasting meat.
In the United States, we have the Virginia opossum. Many will also find this same species throughout Canada. However, humans can still eat these possums. As a matter of fact, as a child, Jimmy Carter ate a lot of them.
However, possums serve as an essential mediator in nature. These wild animals control local pests like mice in addition to insects. They also eat nearly anything from rotting fruit, to slugs, to cockroaches. Because they are immune to snake venom and scorpion stings, they are a great natural quality control for these dangers.
Because of this, I only recommend eating possums if you're in a dire situation.
What Does Possum Meat Taste Like?
While some say possums taste like a lamb, others state their taste depends on their food supply at the time.
If you have an opossum whose diet revolves around eggs, fruit, and bugs will have a more pleasant taste than eating one that has survived off of pet food or whatever's in the garbage cans.
If the possum ate garbage before you killed it, the meat's scent would be a dead giveaway. If it did eat trash, it doesn't mean it'll taste like it. The possum would likely have a greasy taste.
When you're in the wild and hunt a possum, you won't run into this problem. Wild possums generally feast on whatever they can find, including animals, plants, seeds, and insects.
Some people like to add garnishes to their possums. If you're in the woods, you likely won't have any on you. However, you can enhance the possum's flavor and transform it into a tastier meal with natural garnishes like wild thyme or rosemary.
Possum meat isn't gamey like other meat you'll find in the wild. It has a fair amount of protein and nutrients to keep you going whenever you don't have anything else to eat. Possum meat is a great source of Protein with around 241% of your daily value in one pound of meat. It also includes Niacin, Vitamin B6, Iron, Phosphorus and Selenium, and provides a high amount of Vitamin B12.
Possum meat is low in sodium, but does contain quite a bit of cholesterol.
What Diseases Can You Get From a Possum?
The primary disease to watch out for when eating possums is tuberculosis (TB). Moreover, opossums potentially carry other diseases they pick up from eating insects like ticks and other parasites, however opossums are generally resistant to many diseases.
You can determine whether a possum has TB by skinning them and observing their groin and underarm glands. If you notice them swelling into large abscesses identical to a golf ball, then the opossum isn't safe to eat.
Fortunately, possums are resistant to rabies. This is because their body temperatures are too low to host the rabies virus. It is also rare that they contract Lyme disease from tick bites. Keep in mind that even if they're drooling and hissing at you, it's just a part of their self-defense arsenal to ward off predators.
How Do You Cook Possum?
To properly cook a possum to avoid eating unclean meat, you'll want to follow these steps:
 - Skin it to see whether they have any diseases and to rid the animal of any lice or fleas.
 - Hang it from a tree, cut its throat, and let its blood drain.
 - Remove its organs and bury them underground to avoid attracting predators.
 - Rinse the opossum meat inside and out.
 - Jab your possum with a giant stick and hover it over a campfire. Hold and rotate once in a while until your opossum's crispy like chicken.
If you're backpacking and have an extra cooking pot, cooking possums can also be achieved by throwing your meat into the pot, fill it with a bit of water, and stew your opossum for about an hour.
It is essential to thoroughly cook the meat. If you eat undercooked meat, you can risk getting sick which could eventually lead to severe consequences in the wild.
When stewing, the possum's fat will mix with the water, making for a tasty possum gravy.
If you happen to have extra spices like pepper in your bag that were intended for recipes before you ran out of food, add it to the crisp or stewed possum. That way, you'll get a little more kick from your meat.
Unfortunately, you're not likely going to have your pressure cooker when in the woods for an exquisite opossum meal. So, you're going to have to eat possums like European settlers.
How Do You Kill a Possum Quickly?
The best way to kill a possum quickly is with a shotgun or pistol to end its life in the most humane way possible. Otherwise, if you don't have a gun on you, opt for trapping it instead.
If there's any intention of eating the possum, do not poison it because that almost guarantees you would ingest the same poison.
If you decide to trap it, these critters are generally unaware of their surroundings and are easy to catch. If you happen to have a cage trap on you, set bait inside the cage. Some bait the possum would go for, like fruit, marshmallows, or cat food—if you happen to have any for some reason.
If there's no cage in your bag, but there is a net, use it to catch the possum if you find it trapped.
There aren't any specific laws in the United States that state opossums are protected. Moreover, there are open seasons for trapping and hunting these animals.
However, some areas forbid you from handling possums yourself. Rangers would kill the possum by using carbon dioxide so research state and local wildlife laws before trapping and hunting possums.
Humans can eat possums under the right circumstances. Ensure you check the critter for tuberculosis before cleaning and cooking it. Otherwise, for the most part, it's safe to eat these creatures. If you decide to kill possums, either trap them or shoot them to end its life quickly.
Whether you're lost in the woods or are running out of food, possums make for an excellent protein source. One that'll also fill your belly and give you enough energy to do whatever you need.
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BACKGROUND: Breastfeeding and air pollution are both important factors for respiratory symptoms and asthma in children. Few studies have examined possible interaction between them on respiratory outcomes. METHODS: We studied 31,049 Chinese children, ages 2-14 years old, from 25 elementary schools and 50 kindergartens in the Seven Northeastern Cities during 2008-2009. Parents or guardians completed questionnaires about the children's histories of respiratory conditions, risk factors, and feeding methods. Three-year average concentrations of particles with an aerodynamic diameter ≤10 μm, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxides, and ozone were calculated from monitoring stations in 25 study districts. We used two-level logistic regressions to examine the effects of exposure, controlling for covariates. RESULTS: Association of air pollution with childhood respiratory conditions was modified by breastfeeding. Compared with children who had been breastfed, those who were not exhibited consistently stronger effects of air pollution. Among non-breastfed children, odds ratios (ORs) per 10 μg/m increase in nitrogen dioxide were 1.40 (95% confidence interval = 1.19-1.64) for cough, 1.41 (1.16-1.71) for phlegm, 1.17 (1.00-1.36) for current wheeze, and 1.25 (1.07-1.46) for doctor-diagnosed asthma. For breastfed children, the ORs were 1.25 (1.09-1.43) for cough, 1.15 (0.99-1.34) for phlegm, 0.97 (0.87-1.08) for current wheeze, and 1.17 (1.05-1.32) for doctor-diagnosed asthma. Breastfeeding was more protective among younger children. Breastfeeding was also associated with reduced effects of passive smoke exposure in children. CONCLUSION: Breastfeeding is associated with smaller associations between air pollution and respiratory conditions in children, suggesting that breastfeeding reduces susceptibility to the respiratory effects of pollutants.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes


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Six game-changing ideas for the future of UK farming policy.
On Monday 20 March, the Soil Association launched a new report, setting out six proposals for domestic agricultural policy after the UK leaves the EU. These are game-changing ideas that have the potential to transform farming and land use at the scale and pace required to meet multiple challenges - from tackling climate change and nature degradation to supporting rural livelihoods and improving public health. Every farming practice we talk about here already happens on the ground in the UK, but is currently the exception rather than the norm.
Our proposals are:
- a national agroforestry strategy
- investing in soil
- a tipping point for organic
- a good life for farm animals
- support for farmer innovation
- making the most of public procurement
There is a growing consensus on some of the key principles that should underlie new policy:
- We need to maintain high environmental and farm animal welfare standards.
- Public money should pay for public goods such as clean water, farmland wildlife, carbon storage and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
- Government should maintain the overall annual farm payment budget of around £3.2 billion.
- We need a joined up approach that looks at land in the round – farming, forestry, water, wilderness – taking account of public health, food poverty and international development.
- Policies must work for farmers and growers, and help them move towards sustainable business models.
- We need a renewed focus on supply chains to improve resilience, farmer incomes, and environmental sustainability.
- Public participation in debate and decisions on the future of farming is critical.
What we really need now are some game-changing ideas – ideas that have the potential to transform the UK's farming and land use on the scale and pace required.


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The Albigensian Crusade in Occitania (_PHONE_), which targeted the Cathar heretics as well as their orthodox compatriots, impelled an otherwise disparate set of Occitan noblemen to unite in opposition to the invasion. This newfound cohesion gave birth to an Occitan political community whose members were united by common fears, goals, and virtues. Through my analysis of the second portion of the chanson de geste, The Song of the Cathar Wars, authored by an anonymous poet sympathetic to the Occitans, I suggest the emergence of this Occitan community based upon (1) the portrayal of the French crusaders as well as the Occitan resistance fighters, (2) the way the anonymous poet framed the conflict in terms of conquest rather than crusade and (3) the characteristics and ideals attributed each side, most notably paratge. The question of whether an Occitan 'nation' or community existed during the Albigensian Crusade retains its relevance today in light of recent Occitan movements whose goals range from inspiring an Occitan cultural renaissance to attempting to create a modern Occitan nation separate from France.
Johnson, Elizabeth, "Orgolhs, Paratge, and la Gentils Toloza: Imagining Community in the Song of the Cathar Wars" (2008). Honors Projects. Paper 4.
© Copyright is owned by author of this document


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Under the terms of the revised International Standards on Auditing applicable for accounting periods commencing on or after 17 June 2016 auditors are required to explicitly note whether the accounts have been prepared on a going concern basis.
Audit reports must state whether the use of the going concern basis of accounting is appropriate when considering the period of, at least, 12 months from the date of the approval of the financial statements. This requirement applies to both trading entities and pension schemes.
Pension scheme financial statements are prepared in accordance with Financial Reporting Standard 102 ('FRS102') and the Statement of Recommended Practice, Financial Reports of Pension Schemes (2018) ('SORP'). FRS102 notes that 'an entity is a going concern unless management either intends to liquidate the entity or to cease trading, or has no realistic alternative but to do so'. The SORP in turn considers that the appropriate comparative to the liquidation of a corporate entity would be the winding up of a pension scheme.
Accordingly, the SORP appears to recommend that a pension scheme should be accounted for as a going concern, unless the trustees or employer(s) have formally agreed to wind up the scheme or have no realistic expectation that this can be avoided. This would include any cessation events as formally laid out in the respective trust deed and rules.
Where trustees are aware of events or conditions that would lead them to conclude that it was not possible to avoid the winding up of the scheme – for example if the scheme entered into a pension protection fund assessment period – then they should prepare the accounts on the cessation basis, not as a going concern, and the auditor may choose to draw attention to that via an 'emphasis of matter' paragraph in their report.
Actions trustees could undertake to ascertain whether their scheme is a 'going concern'
The following are possible trigger events which could affect the trustees' view as to the going concern basis of preparation of the scheme's accounts or material uncertainty disclosure:
trustees have decided to wind up the scheme
notice has been served by the employer to wind up the scheme
the employer has terminated contributions
the employer has experienced an insolvency event or the trustees are aware that one is planned
the employer's statutory accounts have not been prepared as a going concern or material uncertainty is disclosed in the auditor's report
the employer has failed to comply with its duties under the trust deed and rules
the regulator has ordered that the scheme be wound up.
Once the trustees have formed their opinion as to whether there are any circumstances that could affect their view as to the going concern basis of preparation of the scheme's accounts or material uncertainty disclosure, this should be recorded in the minutes of the trustee meeting, outlining the rationale for reaching that conclusion.
The scheme's auditor will need to obtain appropriate evidence to support these conclusions, which may take the form of a letter of representation from the trustees, similar to the terms of the letter of representation prepared by holding and/or parent companies to support the going concern considerations for corporate group audits.
However, we do not consider that the auditor would need to review a copy of any covenant assessment report prepared for the trustees in all circumstances, given that it is not prepared for this purpose and is often prepared under strict confidentiality agreements. The auditors will have access to trustee minutes, as usual, and be able to see the discussion and conclusions reached by the board on the strength of the covenant (regardless of whether the trustee has used an independent covenant adviser) to support the going concern assessment without the need to get into the detail of the detailed covenant assessment report prepared by the trustees' covenant adviser, unless:
the auditors consider that the conclusion reached by the trustees, based on the evidence they have reviewed, is incorrect, or
the trustees have concluded that they do not consider that the scheme could continue on a going concern basis.
The assessment of the strength of the covenant afforded to a scheme by its employers is normally undertaken for the purpose of the scheme's triennial valuation process or due to circumstances arising from specific transactions or events and may be based on information provided by the employer under the terms of a confidentiality/non-disclosure agreement.
Covenant assessments are not undertaken to assess an employer's solvency for audit purposes in the 12 month period immediately following the proposed signing of the scheme accounts and should not be considered as a proxy for other more time relevant considerations.
Obviously if the covenant assessment concludes that the on-going solvency of the employer and/or any wider group is in doubt, the trustees should take account of this when concluding as to whether the employer may be able to continue to support the scheme's funding requirements in the next 12 months. However, the trustees should be aware that the conclusion in the covenant assessment may be out of date and additional up to date information may need to be sought if circumstances have materially altered.
Proposed list of questions trustees may wish to consider
We summarise below a list of issues that we believe trustees should take account of when considering the going concern question in relation to their pension scheme:
Is the scheme in financial difficulties, such that it is reasonable to assume that it will enter a PFF assessment period in the next 12 months? For example, has the employer terminated the payment of contributions or is it significantly in arrears/late in the payment of contributions due?
Should the scheme require additional funding, is there any evidence to indicate that the employer could not afford to make additional cash contributions, or that such a requirement would jeopardise the solvency of the employer?
Are the trustees aware that the employer (or any key businesses in a wider group) has experienced an insolvency event, begun the process to negotiate a CVA, or that such an event is planned?
Have the employer's accounts been prepared under a basis other than going concern, or include a material uncertainty disclosure?
Are the trustees aware of any plans by the employer to wind up the scheme in the foreseeable future?
Have the trustees themselves reached a formal decision to start to wind up the scheme?
Has The Pensions Regulator ordered that the scheme be wound up?
Are the trustees aware of any events that could trigger a wind up of the scheme in accordance with the terms of the trust's deed and rules?
Has the employer failed to comply with its duties under the trust deed and rules?
Are the trustees aware of any material uncertainties that could impact on their assessment of the scheme's status as a 'going concern'?
Trustees will need to record in the minutes of their trustee meeting the information considered and outline the rationale underlying the decision they have reached. The evidence subsequently required by the scheme's auditor should, in turn, be both proportionate and appropriate to the conclusion reached by the trustees.
We consider that in most cases where going concern is not considered an issue, this evidence could take the form of a letter of representation, similar to the terms of the letter of representation prepared by holding and/or parent companies to support the going concern considerations for corporate group audits. Where concerns are raised as to whether a going concern conclusion is appropriate, the scheme's auditor may wish to review underlying documentation, for example the employer's forecasts or a covenant assessment report. However, this should be the exception rather than the default requirement, as it is likely to add materially to both the time needed to complete the audit and the cost.


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How to Clean Kitchen Garbage Can
When you think about holidays, the first thing that comes to mind is to clean out the trash can. However, since all cooking, gift wrapping (and packaging) and post-party cleaning are done at this time of year, you want a clean trash can.
How often should you clean the kitchen trash can?
The frequency of cleaning garbage depends on how many people are in the house and your personal kitchen habits. Naturally, one person has less trash than a family of five. However, if you eat too much or do a lot of composting and recycling, your trash can may not take many measures. This is indeed a judgment call, but the waste bin should usually be cleaned thoroughly at least once a month.
How do you clean your garbage can?
- Cleaning the trash can may never be on the top of your list of favorite pastimes. Fortunately, this is a fairly simple process and does not require any special tools or cleaning products.
- Empty the trash can.
- Wipe the outside of the dustbin with a microfiber cloth and warm soapy water. Always start from the outside, because the inside will be dirtier and you don't want to smear dirt on the surface of the trash can.
- Use the same microfiber cloth and soapy water to clean the inside of the trash can.
- Use a fresh microfiber cloth or paper towel to thoroughly dry the trash can.
- Do not put in a new bag until the inside and outside of the trash can are completely dry.
- Put a new trash can liner in it.
Steps for maintaining a clean kitchen trash can
Between monthly cleanings, several steps can be taken to keep the trash can clean.
- Always use garbage bags.
- Do not throw away liquid or runny food. If you do, please put it in a plastic food bag first. The same goes for any moldy or spoiled food.
- Wipe off spills immediately to prevent them from having time to stick. A wet microfiber cloth or paper towel is an ideal tool to solve this problem.
- When you see stains or fingerprints, wipe them off immediately. You can use a dry microfiber cloth to clean these streaks and stains.
- Make sure that the trash can lining is always close to the edge of the trash can. If it falls inside and you don't realize it, then you need to do some important garbage cleaning.
- Please move full garbage bags into outdoor containers as soon as possible instead of packing up the garbage.
If you clean your garbage bin once a week or every two weeks, sprinkle baking soda on the bottom to neutralize the smell. If you go longer between trash can cleaning, don't use baking soda as it will clump up and cause a bigger mess.
Remember, the more often you clean the garbage can, the less likely you are to encounter a smelly trash can.
Saniwise is a modern home tools brand introducing premium automatic sensor stainless steel trash can for kitchen, home, and office. Saniwise electric sensor garbage cans 13 gallon for kitchen are available on Amazon. Enjoy totally touchless and hygienic trash-throwing experience from today!


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The lives of the last great American outlaws of the 19th century, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, have achieved mythological proportions, and it is difficult to parse fact from fiction. Multiple movies and books have been based around the story of the Wild Bunch, and the fact that the demise met by Butch and Sundance remains a mystery makes their tale even more fascinating. This original A&E special delves into the true story of these daring outlaws, following their outrageous exploits robbing banks and trains and forever eluding the authorities. Butch was known for his charm and big heart, and he and his gang fancied themselves as bandits of the Robin Hood variety, giving their spoils to members of the community who the banks had mistreated. Retiring to Argentina to become sheep herders, Butch and Sundance lived in relative peace until being recognized by a Yankee sheriff passing through. The outlaws were reportedly killed eventually in a shootout with the Bolivian Army, but much evidence supports the claim that Butch returned to the U.S., living out his days under an assumed name in Spokane, Washington. These and many more legends surrounding the Wild Bunch, a great American symbol of daring and excitement, is covered in this riveting program.
Historic Figures |
History (USA) |


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For the function:
- getPhoto(String photoName, int userId, int width)
PhilosophyI've worked with dozens of rest API's and also created a few. Some conventions are very simple and easy, some are complex.
When creating an API you have three players to think about:
- The developer (probably you)
- The client developer
- The end user
The developer (you)You are your own client, and so are the developers that will inherit and maintain your code. Creating a self-explanatory API means making it easily expandable.
If you are developing a service layer or a controller layer, I suggest adding their name to the path, right after the host:
For the same reason, immediately after, put the short name of the function that handles the parameters:
The client developerIf you only had the client on your mind, using query parameters for everything would be the best choice, their order is non-abiding and they are all optional. But this will require creation of a special function for navigating to the right controller and make it imparseable to the user.
The end userIf you were only to think about the end user, you would probably use very few query parameters (e.g. id=123) and mostly path sections (e.g. photo/id/123). Path sections are cleaner looking and use one simple delimiter character ("/"), so users have an easier time navigating your API. But this is where user simplicity ends, and developers' complexity begins:
- Using a path for dynamic data like a user's id could cause some trouble:
- if the function can handle a null value
- if it includes special characters.
To sum it up:
Or in more general terms:
And here are a couple additional examples:
- Function: deAssociateUserAndPhoto(String userId, String photoId)
API: _URL_ user=123
- Function: MapService.getDistance(Point a, Point b)


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In nanostructured, textured, hard magnetic materials so-called interaction domains occur. These are different in nature to the conventional magnetic domain structures we know from coarse grained materials e.g. sintered magnets. Interaction domains arise from the magnetic coupling between grains whose sizes are about equal to or smaller than the critical single-domain particle size, dc. For Nd2Fe14B, dc ~ 200-300 nm [Sagawa1984]. Interaction domains may encompass many such nanoscale grains (Fig. 1). Hot deformation has been employed to produce nanocrystalline Nd-Fe-B magnets containing interaction domains
Figure 1: Relation between microstructure and domain structure in hot-deformed Nd-Fe-B-based magnets. Well-pronounced interaction domains encompass several grains.
Though the phenomenon of interaction domains was recognized 55 years ago in elongated single-domain iron particles embedded in a nonmagnetic matrix [Craik1960], fundamental questions are still unanswered e.g. what is the nature of the boundaries between interaction domains? The boundaries cannot be conventional domain walls (Bloch walls or Néel walls) because they tend to be located at grain boundaries (structural discontinuities) rather than within a grain. Conventional domain walls are governed by the anisotropy constant K and the exchange constant A, whereas interaction domain boundaries may have other important influences.
For magnetic domain observations two methods are used. First Kerr microscopy which is suitable in order to study a large sample area and also to visualize all magnetization directions. Due to the resolution limit of about 200-300nm, Kerr microscopy cannot reveal very small features and in cases where high resolution is needed, Magnetic Force Microscopy (MFM) is employed. In Figure 2 domain images of both techniques are compared.
Figure 2: (a) Kerr image and (b) MFM image of a hot-deformed Nd-Fe-B sample with same scale, (c) enlarged MFM image and (d) secondary electron image of a fracture surface with same scale.
The characteristic interaction domain width of the interaction domains was evaluated from Kerr images of the hot deformed Nd-Fe-B magnets using the linear intercept method. In the thermally demagnetized state, the average characteristic width of the interaction domains magnets produced here was about 1 µm, whereas the grain size was approx. 300 nm. The implication is that the interaction domains typically encompass about 2-3 grains in their width (Fig. 3). Although this is the typical width of the domains, the area covered by a single domain can be much larger (Fig. 3c).
Figure 3: (a) Kerr image of hot-deformed Nd-Fe-B sample with c-axis perpendicular to image plane, (b) binary image of domain structure from (a), (c) one yellow coloured domain in order to show the scale of interaction domains, (d) histogram of linear intercept domain size measured in 4 different directions.
With the Low-Temperature-MFM at IFW Dresden it was possible to visualize magnetization reversal processes while applying a magnetic field of up to 6T in-situ [Thielsch2012]. Since MFM is a surface sensitive technique one needs to check if a correlation between the information gained from the surface can be linked to processes within the bulk. Therefore the fractions of domains with the magnetization pointing in or out of the image plane were determined and assigned to a polarization (Fig. 4)
Figure 4: Procedure in order to determine polarization from domain fractions, (a) MFM image, (b) MFM image with domain boundaries, (c) only domain boundaries, (d) binary domain image to determine domain fractions.
In Fig. 5, the correlation of the initial magnetization curve measured with a Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) and the polarization values obtained from the procedure explained above is featured. The correlated values are in good agreement which leads to the assumption that observed domains from the surface reveal magnetization reversal processes within the bulk.
Figure 5: Correlation of initial magnetization curve from the thermally demagnetized state and polarization values obtained from MFM images.
Another type of material in which interaction domains occur is composites composed of hard and soft magnetic phases. Hot deformation was used to produce composites of Nd-Fe-B and Fe. Even though the size of the two different magnetic phases is far larger than the effective exchange length (thus precluding complete exchange coupling), the composites surprisingly show a uniform magnetization reversal along the easy axis [Thielsch2010]. The details of the magnetization reversal process were studied using Kerr microscopy (Fig. 6). The results showed that interaction domains tend to nucleate at phase boundaries. The growth of these domains was responsible for the magnetization reversal.
Figure 6: Domain evolution in Nd-Fe-B/Fe composite with c-axis of Nd-Fe-B in-plane, a magnetic field leads to domain rearrangement in soft magnetic phase and thus to a magnetic charge accumulation at the phase boundaries. This supports the subsequent nucleation of interaction domains at the phase boundaries and to the magnetization reversal [Thielsch2010].
A further example where interaction domains occur are nanostructured Nd-Fe-B thick films for MEMS applications [Woodcock2009]. Fig. 7 contains MFM images showing the magnetic domain structure of thick films deposited without heating the substrate ("cold"), with the substrate heated to 400°C and 500°C in both as-deposited and annealed states. In the as-deposited state when the substrate was cold or at 400°C, the resulting films were amorphous, resulting in the characteristic domain pattern (Fig. 7a and b). After annealing, the films crystallised and the domain pattern reflects the formation of small grains which are encompassed by interaction domains. For more details of magnetic properties and film preparation, please see [Woodcock2009].
Figure 7: MFM phase images of Nd-Fe-B-type thick films recorded using a hard magnetic tip. A greyscale key giving the phase range of each image is shown as is the deposition temperature: (a–c) in the as-deposited state (as-dep.); (d–f) following annealing (ann.) [Woodcock2009].
|[Sagawa1984]||M. Sagawa, S. Fujimura, N. Togawa, H. Yamamoto and Y. Matsuura, J. Appl. Phys. 55 (1984) 2083|
|[Craik1960]||D.J. Craik, E.D. Issac, Proc. Phys. Soc. 76 (1960) 160.|
|[Thielsch2012]||J. Thielsch, H. Stopfel, U. Wolff, V. Neu, T.G. Woodcock, K. Güth, L. Schultz and O. Gutfleisch, "In-Situ Magnetic Force Microcscope Studies of Magnetization Reversal of Interaction Domains in Hot Deformed Nd-Fe-B Magnets", J. Appl. Phys. 111 (2012) 103901|
|[Thielsch2010]||J. Thielsch, D. Hinz, L. Schultz, O. Gutfleisch, "Magnetization Reversal in NdFeB-Fe Composites Observed by Domain Imaging" J. Magn. Magn. Mat. 322 (2010) 3208.|
|[Woodcock2009]||T.G. Woodcock, K. Khlopkov, A. Walther, N.M. Dempsey, D. Givord, L. Schultz, O. Gutfleisch, "Interaction Domains in High-Performance NdFeB Thick Films" Scripta Mat. 60 (2009) 826.|


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BLAIR WALK PROJECT FEATURED IN WUSA'S "COOL SCHOOLS" SEGMENT! To see the video, CLICK HERE.
To see more about the Blair Walk Project's Spring 2012 Pedestrian Safety Education Campaign, click here.
If you are a Blair High School Student and would like to volunteer with this project, please contact Joana Conklin: _EMAIL_. You will receive SSL hours for your participation!
There is no winner in a contest between a vehicle and a pedestrian. On average, about 100 pedestrians are killed each year in Maryland. It's hard to fathom that the cost to cross the street could be one's life, but in 2011, 11 pedestrians were killed in Montgomery County. The Four Corners area, where Blair High School is located, is one of the areas in the County with the highest incidence of pedestrian crashes, and more than a third of those involve pedestrians under the age of 20.
- Pedestrian fatalities comprise about 20 percent of all traffic deaths in Maryland.
- Nearly 3,000 pedestrians are injured annually in Maryland. On average, 400 are struck by vehicles in Montgomery County.
- Pedestrians 5-15 years of age are at the greatest risk for pedestrian injuries – over 30 percent of injured pedestrians are under the age of 15.
- A pedestrian hit by a car traveling at 40 mph has an 85% chance of dying. Would you want to take that chance?
A pedestrian hit by a car traveling at 20 mph has a 95% chance of surviving. Want to see what we mean? Click here.
What Can You Do to Stay Safe?
Walk with and avoid getting a $50 ticket (FAIL!)
*ee them see you: make eye contact with drivers so you know they see you.*
*ait for the walk: never begin crossing the street on solid or flashing "Don't Walk" signals.*
*lways cross at crosswalks and intersections: don't cross mid-block.*
*o reflective, so drivers can see you! (especially at night and in bad weather)*
Here are a few other tips to remember when you're walking:
- Stop and look left, right, left and over your shoulder for turning vehicles before crossing the street. Remember, you have the right-of-way in a crosswalk, but still look out for cars as you cross!
- Use sidewalks. If there are none, walk facing traffic so you see vehicles and drivers see you.
Driving is a privilege - so once you have your license, remember these key tips for keeping pedestrians safe:
- Stop for pedestrians at crosswalks and intersections – it's the law! A pedestrian is in the crosswalk when their foot is placed on the painted roadway. If you don't stop, you could get a $500 ticket! EPIC FAIL!
- If a car driving in front of you stops for a pedestrian in a crosswalk, you need to stop as well.
- Crosswalks exist at all intersections, even if the crosswalk is unmarked.
- Slow down, pay attention and obey the posted speed limit.
- Always look out for pedestrians and cyclists, especially before turning at a green light or making a "right on red" or "left on green."
- Stay alert and slow down, particularly in residential areas, school zones and commercial areas. Young children are more vulnerable because they have not yet developed the ability to judge speed and distance, as shown in this video.
For any MCDOT service request or complaint, call 311
When dialing outside of the county, call _PHONE_ or submit via their website.
For website comments or to report website problems or broken links, please email us. This email address does not handle service requests or complaints.
Director's Office · Montgomery County Department of Transportation
101 Monroe Street, 10th Floor · Rockville, Maryland 20850 · _EMAIL_
· telephone: _PHONE_ · fax: _PHONE_ ·


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Divorce is contagious among social networks, directly affecting friends and family member's likelihood to also divorce. In addition, the breakup can lead to other divorces at least two degrees of separation from the initial couple who split. Researchers say behaviors like divorce can spread as viruses do.
CNN reports the findings from James H. Fowler, a professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego. Fowler worked with other researchers at Harvard and Brown Universities. They studied 5,000 people. Fowler says the first couple's divorce impacts other people's decision to divorce, "and can even sway your friend's friend."
Have you noticed some divorces among groups are announced in fairly quick succession? The obvious example that comes to mind among those who discuss marriage is the Gore family. One of their daughters divorced about a year ago. As everyone knows, Al and Tipper have announced their split as well after 40 years of marriage. Their eldest daughter even more recently announced her plans to divorce after 13 years and three children.
Their decisions to divorce are private, but the research says those with a divorced sibling have a 22 percent increased chance to get divorced than those who don't have divorced siblings.
While those stats sound rather high, friends who divorce have an even higher impact. "People who had a divorced friend were 147 percent more likely to be divorced than those whose friends' marriages were intact," says the study. Even your workplace has a strong impact on your marriage status. If your coworker divorces, your odds of divorce go up 55 percent compared to those who work with non-divorced workers.
Some people become carriers without getting divorced, say the researchers, just by relaying information to their friends and family. The listener may warm up the idea of divorce, says Fowler, or consider the benefits of divorce.
Some marriage therapists have anecdotally agreed that their clients have been influenced by divorced friends. When divorce permeates a social group, group norms can change. In addition, poor relationship skills can be imitated by others. I'm sure we are all aware that ineffective relationship skills can be transferred from one generation to another.
What does this research mean to us? First, we should be cautious about the one-sided information we hear about divorce from those in our social network. You may be hearing the rosy side of divorce, but know there is a dark side others may not show. For instance, I've seen the loneliness, financial ruin, heartbroken children and hurt spouses left behind in divorce. But if you run into those same people at the grocery store, they might tell you about how they go out on Friday nights because of their new freedom.
Also, remember that our culture supports the idea of divorce and makes it very easy. It also suggests a what's-in-it-for-me attitude about marriage. There's a misconception that if you just change partners, your relationship problems will disappear. You have to decide if you will have a counter-cultural marriage that lives in love and remains committed, even during difficult times.
A recent blog post at Journey to Surrender caught my attention, reminding readers who are trying to get their spouses to change that you can't push on a rope. "Some things only work in one direction. Pushing a rope only ends in frustration and you might just wind up with a tangled mess. Pulling it, however, will cause the entire rope to move smoothly in the directly you want. It can be tempting at times to push your spouse toward their appropriate roles and actions in your marriage." Scott's tips:
- Speak into that which you want to see rise up, rather than complaining about what you see as missing or wrong.
- Use appreciation and gratitude for every small step in the right direction.
- Ask yourself if there is anything you might be doing that is pushing your spouse and possibly causing an undesirable counter-reaction
- Look for unmet needs in your spouse. Most men need to feel respected, admired, trusted and desired to be "pulled" toward their position of loving leadership. For a woman, things like affection, attention/time, genuine concern and romantic engagement will draw her toward more fully offering her submission.
Have you noticed divorces that have affected friends and family or occurred in groups? Do you think this research is on target?


dB
 # $dia Reflector diameter in centimeters
 # $wave Wavelength of operating frequency in centimeters
 # $illum Illumination factor. typically 0.6
 # $freq Frequency in GHz
 # $theta 3 dB beamwidth in degrees
 $gain = (20 * (log10 ($dia / $wave))) + ((10 * (log10 $illum)) + 9.938);
 $theta = 70 / (($dia / 30.48) * $freq);
 # Distance and antenna height calculations
 # All antenna heights are measured above ground level (AGL), in meters
 # $radio_horizon Distance to radio horizon, in km
 # $distance_max Maximum space wave communications distance, in km
 # $rx_height Receiver antenna height
 # $tx_height Transmitter antenna height
 $radio_horizon = 4 * (sqrt $antenna_height);
 $antenna_height = ($radio_horizon / 4) ** 2;
 $distance_max = (4 * sqrt $tx_height) + (4 * sqrt $rx_height);
 $rx_height = (($distance_max - (4 * sqrt $tx_height)) / 4) ** 2;
 $tx_height = (($distance_max - (4 * sqrt $rx_height)) / 4) ** 2;
 # Great circle distance calculator using decimal degrees
 # $lat1 Latitude of site A
 # $lon1 Longitude of site A
 # $lat2 Latitude of site B
 # $lon2 Longitude of site B
 # $radius Radius of the earth in km (6367)
 # $distance Distance between the two points in km
 $dlon = $lon2 - $lon1;
 $dlat = $lat2 - $lat1;
 $a = ((sin(deg2rad $dlat / 2)) ** 2) + ((cos(deg2rad $lat1) * cos(deg2rad $lat2)) * ((sin(deg2rad $dlon / 2)) ** 2));
 $distance = (2 * atan2(sqrt $a, sqrt(1 - $a))) * $radius;
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