text:
- RACE (or RACING) SIGNALS (or RACE COMMITTEE FLAGS)
- Those flags flown by a racing committee, and used to signal conditions, intentions or
instructions to race competitors (see also
international code of signal flags,
prize flag and
racing flag 1)).
Individual and General Recall - Flag X (X-Ray) and First Substitute in the ICS; Disqualified (fotw and CS)
- RACING FLAG
- 1) A flag flown from a yacht that is taking part in a race, and struck
if it withdraws or when it crosses the finish line (see also
race signals' and
2) See race signals.
I Intend to Protest and Boat Incurring Penalty (CS)
- (adj) The heraldic term for rays that expand from a central point, but
which may also be applied to other charges and to ordinaries that are
similarly arranged – rayonné or rayonnant - but see
'radiated' and the note below (also
Flag of Tibet (fotw); Flag and Arms of Zakliczyn, Poland (Jarig Bakker)
Please note that the vexillogical term for rays spreading out from a central
point is radiating – see 'radiating 1)'.
- RADIAL ORIENTATION
- A term that may be used to describe the orientation of a charge, particularly (but not
exclusively) that of a star - for example: the star and crescent on the national flag of Pakistan
are placed on a diagonal line bisecting its green panel, whilst the star on the national flag of
Turkey is orientated towards the hoist and that on the flag of Sarawak has one point along the
diagonal meridian the rotational position (see also star 1)).
National Flag of Pakistan (fotw); National Flag of
Turkey (fotw); Flag of Sarawak (fotw)
- (adj) A heraldic term used when rays are seen issuing from a charge for example the Madonna radiated
as shown below but see 'radiant' (also 'radiating' and
Arms of Glogów. Poland (Jarig Bakker); Flag of Šuto Orizari, Macedonia (fotw); Flag of Ferden, Switzerland (fotw)
- 1) (adj) Rays spreading out from a central point and widening towards the
edge of a flag as in, for example, the naval ensign of Japan, or the flag of the
US State of Arizona – but see 'beam(s) 1)'
and the note below (also 'active',
'inactive', 'radiant', 'radiated',
'sunburst', and compare with
- 2) See 'expanding stripe(s)' (also 'converging stripes').
- 3) (adj) A group of objects or charges placed in an arc (usually from one fixed point)
as in the national flags of China and Adygea.
From left: Flag of Arizona, USA (fotw); National Flag of the Seychelles (fotw); Naval Ensign of Japan
National Flag of China (fotw); National Flag of Adygea, Russia (CS)
Please note with regard to 1) that the heraldic term for rays spreading out from a central point is radiant –
- RAGGED CROSS
- A traditional symbol of Burgundy and later Spain, and a cross (more accurately saltire) composed of diagonal bars with small projections a cross raguly (See also
raguly and saltire).
Spanish Naval Flag 16-17th C (fotw); Flag of the
Ferrol Squadron _PHONE_, Spain (fotw);
Infantry Colour 1693, Spain (fotw)
- A heraldic term meaning any number of small regular projections set an angle
on both sides (or on one side only) of a bar, cross or saltire and thought to
represent a roughly trimmed branch see ragged cross (also saltire).
Flag of Riedern, Switzerland (fotw);
Flag of Gloucester, Canada (fotw); Flag of
Damara, Namibia (fotw)
- RAINBOW COLOURS (or COLORS)
- See 'dressing lines' (also
- RAINBOW FLAG
- 1) One of several flags showing the colours of the rainbow, with three prominent examples being the gay pride flag
illustrated below and those of the Italian and British peace movements illustrated under peace flag
(see also multi-stripe').
- 2) An unofficial nickname for the national flag of South Africa.
From left: The Current Gay Rights Flag; The Flag of
Cusco, Peru (fotw); National Flag of
South Africa (fotw)
- 1) The act of having displayed a flag.
- 2) See 'enhanced'
- RAISED DETAIL
- A term used for the increasingly obsolete practice of inserting a layer of padding
between the surface of a military colour (or of a flag) and its (usually but not invariably)
embroidered main charge in order to give a three dimensional effect a padded emblem or
charge (see also
padding the sleeve).
Raised Detail on a Ceremonial Flag of San Cristσbal de la Laguna, Tenerife, Spain (Klaus-Michael Schneider)
- See 'Appendix V'.
Flag of South Holland, The Netherlands (fotw)
- RANGE FLAG
- One of the signal flags used on target ranges (such a red warning flag)
used to signal safe or dangerous conditions (see also 'red flag').
- RANK FLAG
- 1) A flag which signifies the rank of a military officer as opposed to that
of a civilian functionary - but please see flag of command',
'individual flag' and
'flag officer 3)',
'in abeyance' and
- 2) An alternative term for a distinguishing flag (see
From left: Rank Flags of a Field Marshall, Full General, Lt General, Major
General and a Brigadier General, Thailand
Please note, that although these terms are sometimes
considered interchangeable, the Editors have drawn a general distinction between
the command flags used by senior naval officers, the rank flags employed by officers
from the other armed services, the distinguishing flags of civilians and with
- RANK PLATE
- In UK, US and some other usage, a rectangular panel that is displayed on the vehicle
carrying a senior officer of the armed services, and used in place of or in addition to
their relevant rank flag or flag of command – an automobile, distinguishing, star
(see also 'car flag',
'flag of command 1)',
'flag officer 3)',
'flag disc' and 'rank flag 1)').
From left: Field Marshall UK and Five Star General Army and Marine Corps US (CS)
From left: Commodore Royal Navy and Brigadier Royal Marines UK, Rear Admiral (Lower Half) USN and Brig Gen USAF (CS)
a) The number of stars range between one and five
dependent upon the rank of the officer concerned.
In US service officers of the army and the
Marine Corps have red plates, whilst those of the USN and USAF have dark blue. In UK service,
however, officers of the army have red, of the RN and Royal Marines dark blue, and of the
RAF light blue (and that there is a combined services plate whose field is of vertical
stripes in dark blue, red and light blue).
- RASTAFARIAN/RASTA COLOURS (or COLORS)
- Symbolic of the Rastafarian movement, and (like the pan-African colours and identical to them) based
upon the flag of Ethiopia – see 'pan-African colours'.
State Flag of Ethiopia 1941 – 1974 (fotw); Two Examples of Rastafarian Flags (fotw)
- See 'proportions'.
- The image of a venomous snake (usually accompanied by the motto dont tread on
me) that is depicted either coiled or stretched - it appeared on several early
American flags and may be seen on the current US naval jack see the note following
Military Colour c1776 (fotw); Current
Naval Jack, US (Graham Bartram)
- RAVEN FLAG
- The flag considered by some sources to have been carried by Viking raiding
parties up until the 11th Century, and to have been carried by the Normans at
the Battle of Hastings (1066) (see also Bayeux tapestry).
- RAYONNÉ (or RAYONNANT)
- See 'radiant'.
Flag of Tibet (fotw)
- RAYS (or RAYED)
- 1) A term sometimes (and correctly) used in place of pointed to describe the
number of such points on a sun emblem – see 'sun emblem' and
'active and inactive', and
2) See 'beam(s) 1)'.


text:
The Appalachian Mountain range is nearly 1,500 miles long stretching from the southeast corner of Canada to Alabama. The Cumberland Gap, a natural break in the range near the eastern borders of Kentucky and Tennessee, is now a paved highway known as US 25E. A section of US 25E that now passes through a tunnel underneath the mountain is called the Cumberland Gap Tunnel.
Cars and trucks have replaced Conestoga wagons, but the route, now a paved highway, still offered challenges to travelers. The steep grade and sharp turns of US 25E were the cause of many traffic accidents. So many, in fact, that the 2.3-mile stretch of highway earned the unfortunate nickname, "Massacre Mountain."
To make the route safer, a section of US 25E was relocated under the mountain by constructing a tunnel. This also helped restore the appearance of the mountain to the way it looked in the late 1700s, in the days of Daniel Boone.
The Cumberland Gap Tunnel passes through a large limestone formation within the Cumberland Mountain. Limestone, made of the mineral calcite, is slightly soluble in water. When rainwater seeps through cracks and between layers of limestone, it dissolves some of the calcite it contacts. Bit by bit, the flowing water removes calcite and the cracks grow larger, eventually forming caves. The resulting cave system is a natural conduit for underground water flow.
Where the tunnel passed through a cavern, concrete was poured to form an artificial ceiling structure. This, of course, blocked the water flow. The cavern, which runs almost perpendicular to the tunnel, was kept in a nearly natural state by allowing the water flow to continue its normal course through a conduit five feet in diameter built under the roadway. There is also a passageway constructed above the tunnel to allow for air and water movement. Thus, the cave system continues to function as a natural drainage system.
Engineers designed an additional drainage system to collect percolating groundwater that hits the impervious tunnel walls. This system includes a manmade streambed parallel to the tunnel, running beneath the roadbed from end to end.
The streambed is made of limestone gravel, and water flows between and around these gravel particles. When groundwater percolates through limestone rock layers before reaching the gravel bed, that drainage water is already saturated with calcium carbonate (the chemical name for calcite) and does not dissolve calcite from the gravel. Without loss from dissolving, loss of gravel caused by abrasion and erosion occurs at a slow and predictable rate.
However, most of Cumberland Mountain is made of rock other than limestone, such as sandstone, shale, and siltstone. This means that much of the water entering the tunnel's drainage system is not already saturated with calcium carbonate and does dissolve gravel material. Similar to the way the cave system developed long ago in the limestone formation within Cumberland Mountain, the artificial streambed is gradually washing away. During the first ten years of the tunnel's existence, enough gravel matter was removed to cause the roadway above to sag and need repair. As of 2009, a long-term solution had not yet been determined.
To learn about the construction of a different kind of tunnel, one that went underwater, check out Building the Channel Tunnel.
For more information about the movement of plates in Earth's crust, check out Mountain Maker, Earth Shaker.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


Take the 2-minute tour ×
What causes a group of disembodied neurons in a dish to fire after a silence? If there are no neurons providing a stimulus for more firing (as in a dish of disembodied rat neurons), then why don't they simply cease firing after the synchronized burst completes?
share|improve this question
Are we talking of tissue slices or dissociated cell cultures? – nico Sep 5 '12 at 15:44
The similar phenomena (spontaneous brain activity in rats after ~ 20 seconds of silence following decapitation) is studied in Zandt B-J, ten Haken B, van Dijk JG, van Putten MJAM. 2011. Neural dynamics during anoxia and the "wave of death" and is explained as a result of membrane depolarization. I don't know whether such reasoning could be applied to cell cultures though. – aland Sep 5 '12 at 23:38
_USER_: it mainly depends on the neuronal type. Not all neuron display bursting behaviour, and not all are synchronised. Certain (e.g. SCN) can be kept in vitro for days and continue with their "bursting life" with no problem. I am quite busy right now, when I have time I will try and give an answer. – nico Sep 6 '12 at 5:55
1 Answer 1
up vote 3 down vote accepted
There are a number of different wiring scenarios that could lead to this type of behavior, even in a dissociated neuronal cell culture. The two major cases are neurons that are truly isolated from each other, and collections of neurons that connect together. Since your question refers to firing and synchronized bursts, I'll restrict my discussion to the generation of spontaneous action potentials - but keep in mind that not all synaptic communication requires an action potential (the vast majority of internal connections within the retina, for example)
In the case of ensembles neurons in vitro, spontaneous activity is fairly typical. One simple way to get this activity is for a subset of cells in the network to be inherently spontaneously active. In the case of single, isolated neurons, this kind of individual cell spontaneous activity could also result in a single neuron firing spikes in a periodic fashion. So for example purposes, let's explore how a single cell could produce this kind of activity.
Since action potentials are triggered by a sufficiently strong depolarization, we need to identify potential membrane polarizing sources. When dealing with single cells, the major controllers of cell membrane voltage potential are the voltage gated ion channels. When open these channels can cause, depending on their type and cellular/extracellular conditions, either a depolarization or hyperpolarization in the cell. And, most interestingly, whether they are open or not depends on the cell membrane's polarization state.
That makes voltage gated channels excellent at feedback:
 - a depolarizing channel that is depolarization gated will further activate itself once activated, leading to yet more activation. This is a positive feedback cycle.
 - a hyperpolarizing channel that is depolarization gated will, upon depolarization of the cell open and serve to hyperpolarize the cell until the initial depolarization has been removed. In this way it would serve as a negative feedback source.
Physiologists have thoroughly characterized many of these cells, and they have many more states beyond an "open" and "closed", such as different levels of "inactivated". But we don't need to know about those to answer your question.
The last piece we do need is brownian motion which is the movement of particles due to their bombardment by other particles. This motion can with some frequency cause voltage gated channels to spontaneously open or close, which introduces noise into the system.
As you can imagine, if you have a positive feedback channel that is gated spontaneously, it will make it briefly more likely for other depolarization gated channels to be activated. Positive feedback can quickly lead to a rapid depolarization of the cell, which could be observed as a burst of spikes. If you include a set of slower reacting depolarization gated hyperpolarizing channels, then it's easy to construct a scenario where the cell would depolarize spontaneously with no apparent input, then have a quiescent period where a prolonged hyperpolarization makes it less likely to fire spontaneously.
Voila, bursting in an isolated neuron. Place a set of those neurons in a network and you can get generate a lot of spontaneous activity.
share|improve this answer
Great response, and I'm sorry it took so long to get back to you! After a month or so of reading and coding, I've finally got a respectable Hodgin-Huxley network simulation running. I'll definitely look into coding up some noise inspired by brownian motion. Thanks! – user1480431 Nov 5 '12 at 5:02
Your Answer


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text:
By Vaudine England
BBC News, Hong Kong
A study by doctors in Hong Kong has concluded that epilepsy can be induced by the Chinese tile game of mahjong.
The study said the syndrome affects more men than women
The findings, published in the Hong Kong Medical Journal, were based on 23 cases of people who suffered mahjong-induced seizures.
The report's four authors, from Hong Kong's Queen Mary Hospital, said the best prevention - and cure - was to avoid playing mahjong.
The study led the doctors to define mahjong epilepsy as a unique syndrome.
Epileptic seizures can be provoked by a wide variety of triggers, but one cause increasingly evident to researchers is the playing - or even watching - of mahjong.
This Chinese tile game, played by four people round a table, can involve gambling and quickly becomes compulsive.
The game, which is intensely social and sometimes played in crowded mahjong parlours, involves the rapid movement of tiles in marathon sessions.
The doctors conclude that the syndrome affects far more men than women; that their average age is 54; and that it can hit sufferers anywhere between one to 11 hours into a mahjong game.
They say the attacks were not just caused by sleep deprivation or gambling stress.
Mahjong is cognitively demanding, drawing on memory, fast calculations, concentration, reasoning and sequencing.
The distinctive design of mahjong tiles, and the sound of the tiles crashing onto the table, may contribute to the syndrome.
The propensity of Chinese people to play mahjong also deserves further study, the doctors say.
What is certain though, is that the only sure way to avoid mahjong epilepsy, is to avoid mahjong, which for many people is easier said than done.


text:
A large vein on the right side at the back of the thorax, draining into the superior vena cava.'A persistent left superior vena cava may be associated with the presence of two azygos veins.'
- 'Other unusual sites of drainage include the coronary sinus, inferior vena cava, azygos vein, left subclavian vein, portal vein, and left persistent superior vena cava.'
- 'The thoracic duct has also been found draining into the azygos vein and the inferior vena cava.'
- 'When this occurs the posterior intercostal veins on the left side of the thorax may drain into the azygos vein independently.'
- 'The thoracic duct is located slightly ventral and medial to the azygos vein.'
Mid 17th century azygos from Greek azugos, from a- 'without' + zugon 'yoke', the vein not being one of a pair.
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source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


Japan upgrades missile-detection system
TOKYO, July 2 (UPI) -- A new $935 million project called the Japan Aerospace Defense Ground Environment has been initiated to improve the country's automatic air warning and defense control system.
JADGE has replaced the Base Air Defense Ground Environment, said Japan's air arm, the Air Self-Defense Force.
Japan's official military policy of Self-Defense Only does not allow the nation's armed forces to have strategic bombers, so JADGE is to improve the ASDF's capabilities to counter airborne attacks, such as by airplanes.
The new air-defense network also integrates Japan's ballistic missile sensors and interception systems, and is central to protecting the country from ballistic missile attacks by improving early warning systems.
JADGE begins operating amid increasing concerns about the threat of North Korean missiles. The Japanese government approved plans at the beginning of June to develop a satellite early warning system for missile launches.
Tensions were heightened in April when North Korea launched what it said was a satellite-bearing rocket. It then conducted a nuclear test and several short-range missile launches.
JADGE goes some way to satisfying the government's critics that the country's satellite detection systems need upgrading.
The superseded Base Air Defense Ground Environment was an integrated network of radar posts and air defense installations throughout the country. BADGE was upgraded in the 1980s with E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft.
Other aircraft were replaced in the early 1990s with more sophisticated models. These included the Nike-J, a Japanese version of the Nike-Hercules surface-to-air missile from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and the Patriot PAC-2 ground-to-air missile system built by Raytheon.
The ASDF started deploying PAC-3 systems in 2007 and last September successfully tested its capability in New Mexico's White Sands Missile Range. It shot down a mock ballistic missile by firing two PAC-3 missiles in succession. The tests were to gather operational data on the system's radar, launcher and controller set-ups.
The government decided in 2003 to build a ballistic missile shield, so antiballistic missile functions were added to the concept.
JADGE is now central to the country's ballistic missile shield through search, detection, tracking and interception of ballistic missiles in a centralized and automated manner, according to the ASDF.
The new network, which was originally centralized at a base in Fuchu in the suburbs of Tokyo, is also linked to U.S. communications satellites, allowing the United States and Japan to share data.
However, a year ago the JASDF began relocating the headquarters of its Air Defense Command to the U.S. base in Yokata, home to the U.S. Air Force's 374th Airlift Wing. The wing provides airlift support to all U.S. Department of Defense agencies in the Pacific.
It also provides transport for people and equipment throughout the Kanto Plain and the greater Tokyo area. The ADC headquarters is the supreme Japanese Self-Defense Force command authority and is also headquarters for ballistic missile defense including the new JADGE.
The move is to improve coordination between the two forces and around 1,200 Japanese personnel have relocated, costing around $400 million and paid for by the Japanese government.
Japan and the United States have no formal agreement to operate their armed forces as a coalition. Efficiencies rely solely on daily and persistent coordination, according to U.S. military officials. The move of Japan's ADC to Yokata is to enhance these interactions, they said.
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text:
Soak edible leaves in salt water and boil until tender, seeds can be ground into a flour. |
Medicine: : A tea from the leaves relieved sore eyes. A charm from the powdered roots was used to prevent snakebite.
Note: Also called Englishman's-Foot; although some varieties of Plantain have been introduced by Europeans, indigenous species are recognized by Native Americans for food and medicine. Includes Common (P. major), English (P. lanceolata) and Hoary (P. media) varieties.
Return to Gathering Walk
Plant Bibliography and Books to Order On-line
Text and Graphics
© 1994 - Tara Prindle
unless otherwise cited.


text:
Museum – established in 1868 – is the oldest museum in Slovakia in continuous operation. It was founded by an initiative of the Bratislava Embellishment Association and the Mayor of Bratislava – H. Justi. In 1923, the museum, as a part of the Scientific Institutes of the City of Bratislava, came under the administration of the municipal government. Since 1953, with the exception of _PHONE_ when it was a part of the Homeland Institute of the City of Bratislava, BratislavaCityMuseum has been an independent institution.
The activities of the museum are aimed at documenting and presenting the history of the city. The collections of an exceptional artistic and historical value represent the history of the city by way of archaeological findings, heritage of rich artisanal activities and industry, viticulture, cultural and social life, as well as ethnology, the history of pharmacy and numismatics. The focus of the museum is also represented by its individual exhibitions, some of them located in highly prized venues protected as heritage buildings.
offers its visitors nine permanent displays, situated mainly in the historical old-town centre. Outside this area can be found the Natural Cultural Heritage Site, DevínCastle, and the AncientGerulataMuseum in Rusovce.


text:
A wedding bouquet is a cherished accessory that holds deep significance for a bride on her special day. The choice of flowers and their symbolism can convey the bride's emotions, personality, and the essence of the wedding celebration. Among the various options, a white tulips wedding bouquet stands out for its timeless elegance and purity. White tulips, with their graceful blooms and symbolic meanings, create a stunning and sophisticated bouquet that exudes romance and charm.
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A bridal bouquet is not just a beautiful accessory but a symbol of love, beauty, and new beginnings. As a central element of a bride's ensemble, the bridal bouquet holds immense significance and adds a touch of grace to the overall wedding ambiance. The choice of flowers, colors, and arrangement style can reflect the bride's personality, complement the wedding theme, and create a lasting impression on guests. In this article, we explore the art of bridal bouquets, their diverse styles, and the emotions they evoke, making them an essential part of a bride's special day.
The white tulip, with its pure and serene beauty, is a timeless symbol of elegance and grace. A bouquet of white tulips exudes a sense of purity and tranquility, captivating hearts and minds with its understated charm. This article celebrates the enchanting allure of the white tulips bouquet, exploring its significance, cultural symbolism, and the emotional resonance it evokes.
Rom Flower, also known as the Gypsy Rose or the Romani Rose, holds a special place in the hearts of many cultures across the globe. With its captivating beauty and rich symbolism, the Rom Flower has become an emblem of hope, resilience, and cultural heritage. This delves into the significance of the Rom Flower, its cultural importance, and the cherished place it holds in the hearts of people around the world.
Rom Flower, also known as the Romance Flower, is a beautiful blossom that carries deep symbolic meaning and is often associated with love, beauty, and romance. With its captivating fragrance, delicate petals, and vibrant colors, the Rom Flower has captured the hearts of many and has become a popular choice for various occasions. In this article, we will explore the significance of the Rom Flower and its enchanting qualities that make it a perfect choice for expressing love and romance.
One of the most cherished and beautiful elements of a wedding is the bridal flower bouquet. The bouquet serves as a symbol of love, beauty, and celebration on this special day. Choosing the perfect bridal flower bouquet requires careful consideration of various factors, including the wedding theme, color palette, personal style, and the overall ambiance of the event. In this article, we will explore the significance of the bridal flower bouquet and provide insights into selecting the best bouquet that will add a touch of elegance and romance to your wedding day.
When it comes to wedding flowers, the white tulip stands as a symbol of purity, grace, and timeless beauty. White tulip wedding bouquets have captivated brides around the world with their classic appeal and versatility. In this article, we will explore the charm and significance of white tulip wedding bouquets, their various styles and arrangements, and why they continue to be a popular choice for couples on their special day.
Bridal flowers hold a special place in wedding ceremonies, symbolizing love, beauty, and new beginnings. From the stunning bridal bouquet to the elegant floral arrangements adorning the venue, flowers play a vital role in enhancing the ambiance and creating memorable experiences. In this article, we will delve into the significance of bridal flowers and explore different ways they can elevate your wedding day.
When it comes to wedding flowers, the white tulip holds a special place in the hearts of many brides-to-be. With its timeless elegance and delicate charm, a white tulip bouquet effortlessly captures the essence of love, purity, and new beginnings. In this article, we will explore the ethereal beauty of a white tulip bouquet and discover why it is an exquisite choice for wedding celebrations.
A bridal flower bouquet is an iconic accessory that adds elegance, charm, and a touch of nature to a bride's ensemble on her special day. Choosing the perfect bridal flower bouquet requires careful consideration of the bride's style, wedding theme, and personal preferences. In this article, we will explore the enchanting world of bridal flower bouquets and highlight some of the best options available to make the bride's wedding day truly memorable.


text:
PIMS/AMI Seminar: Mathematical Modelling of Atmospheric Contaminant Dispersion
- Date: 06/22/2010
University of Alberta
Atmospheric dispersion refers to the transport of contaminants in the atmosphere under the influence of advection (due to the wind) and turbulent diffusion. When the contaminant is emitted from a stationary point source, then the governing advection-diffusion equation may be solved analytically to obtain the "Gaussian plume" solution. This plume solution has been used to great advantage by environmental engineers, who have developed a variety of fast and robust numerical algorithms to calculate contaminant concentrations given known emission rates.
The main focus of this talk is the corresponding inverse problem, in which the emission rate must be estimated given measurements of contaminant particles deposited on the ground surface. I will present a study of a large mining operation which involved estimating pollutant emission rates for several sources distributed spatially over an actual industrial site. A least squares optimization approach is employed to estimate the sources, and the ill-conditioning of the inverse approach is discussed. This approach is general and can be applied to airborne particles that arise from a wide range of sources including biological agents (seeds and insects), natural hazards (volcanic eruptions and forest fires), and terrorist attacks (radioactive fall-out and infectious microbes).
Refreshments will be served in CAB 649 at 3:00 p.m.


North Tzoumerka
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Jump to: navigation, search
North Tzoumerka
Βόρεια Τζουμέρκα
North Tzoumerka is located in Greece
North Tzoumerka
North Tzoumerka
Coordinates 39°31′N 21°6′E / 39.517°N 21.100°E / 39.517; 21.100Coordinates: 39°31′N 21°6′E / 39.517°N 21.100°E / 39.517; 21.100
Country: Greece
Administrative region: Epirus
Regional unit: Ioannina
Population statistics (as of 2011)[1]
 - Population: 5,714
 - Area: 361.5 km2 (140 sq mi)
 - Density: 16 /km2 (41 /sq mi)
Auto: ΙΝ
North Tzoumerka (Greek: Βόρεια Τζουμέρκα) is a municipality in the Ioannina regional unit, Epirus, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Pramanta.[2] The municipality is named after the Tzoumerka mountains.
The municipality North Tzoumerka was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 7 former municipalities, that became municipal units:[2]


Fabric classification and characteristics -1
The modeling characteristics of the fabric
1. Soft fabric
The soft fabric is generally relatively light and light, with a good sense of draping, smooth modeling lines and natural stretch of the garment contour. The soft fabrics mainly include knitted fabrics, silk fabrics and soft and thin linen fabrics. The soft knitted fabric often adopts linear and concise shape to reflect the graceful curve of human body. Silk, hemp yarn and other fabrics are more loose and pleated effect of the shape, the expression of the flow of fabric lines.
2. Nice fabric
Crisp fabric with clear lines and a sense of volume can form a full silhouette. Common cotton, polyester, corduroy, linen and a variety of thick wool and chemical fiber fabrics, such as this type of fabric can be used to highlight the accuracy of clothing modeling design, such as the design of suits, suits.
3. Glossy fabric
The surface of the glossy fabric is smooth and can reflect the light, which has the feeling of shining. This type of fabric includes fabrics of satin texture. Most often used in evening gowns or stage costumes to produce a strong visual effect of flamboyance. The modelling freedom of burnish fabric is very wide in the performance of formal dress, can have concise design or relatively exaggerated modelling way.
4. Heavy duty fabric
Thick and heavy fabrics, including all kinds of thick woolen fabric and quilted fabric, can produce a stable shape effect. Its fabrics has the body to expand the feeling, unfavorable excessive use pleat and accumulation, in the design with A model and H model modelling most appropriate.
5. Transparent fabric
Transparent fabric is thin and transparent, with elegant and mysterious artistic effect. Including cotton, silk, chemical fiber fabrics, such as georgette, sateen silk, chemical fiber lace, etc. In order to express the transparency of the fabric, natural lines are often used, rich in varied H and round table design.
source: _URL_


Sentence for discourage | Use discourage in a sentence
Discourage sentence examples. ESL students, professors, & those learning a new language might especially enjoy this webpage. The lines of text below use discourage in a sentence, and provide visitors a sentence for discourage.
 - Doria to interdict, or at least discourage, his visits, for the appearance of the man was that of an embodied sigh and groan. (10)
 - It is surely my duty to discourage such romantic nonsense. (4)
 - It would not discourage me. (9)
Glad you visited this page with a sentence for discourage. Perhaps also see a sentence for drugs and ways to use digression in a sentence. Now that you've seen how to use discourage in a sentence hope you might explore the rest of this educational reference site to see many other example sentences which provide word usage information.
People looking for: "discourage in sentence", "sentence of discourage", "use discourage in a sentence", visited this page.


Project SafeGuard
What is Project SafeGuard?
Project Safeguard is a project in partnership with the community and local Law Enforcement. This online program promotes communication and gives police quick access to important information about a person with a disability such as Autism, Dementia, etc. This would include any disability where the individual displays a tendency to wander or shows other similar tendencies.
This program provides information that is critical for law enforcement prior to an officer's arrival at a scene and/or prior to contacting an individual such as their name, birthday, physical description, emergency contact information, known triggers, and behaviors, etc.
What happens when a person joins Project SafeGuard?
Once the person joins the program, the information will be verified with the parent or guardian. The information will then be placed into a database in the Saratoga Springs and Bluffdale Record Management and Dispatch Systems. If you do not reside within the Saratoga Springs Police Department jurisdiction, contact your local police department to inquire if they participate in Project Safeguard or a similar program.
When possible, an officer trained in Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) will be sent to the scene.
Register Annually
How to Register
To register, an adult family member or guardian of the individual should complete the following form.
SafeGuard Form


Why T-Shaped Professionals Are Desirable
A T-shaped person has deep knowledge/skills in one area and a broad base of general supporting knowledge/skills. If you represent this depth and breadth visually, you get a "T" shape:
Source: _URL_
The exact details will vary from person to person. The T-shaped person is an improvement on the classic saying "Jack of all trades, master of none." A T-shaped person is a "Jack of many trades, master of (at least) one." When you commit to being T-shaped, you get the benefits of specialization and generalization, while avoiding the pitfalls of being only a specialist or generalist.
The Benefits of T-Shaped Profiles
 - You're better at collaborating with others.
 - You stay interested.
 - You experience the satisfaction of depth.
 - You become more creative.
 - You're more attractive to employers.
Let's discuss the benefits in little detail.
 - You're better at collaborating with others. Because you have a broad range of knowledge, you know just enough to communicate with specialists in different fields. This makes collaboration much easier. For example, if you're a history major (i.e., a history specialist) with a basic understanding of data visualization, you're going to be able to work much more effectively with the computer science student helping you model a historical trend for your final project.
 - You stay interested. When you focus on just one area, it can get monotonous. No matter how fascinating the topic, variety is key to keeping your mind engaged. As a T-shaped person, you always have other areas to dip into when you need a break from your specialty. You experience the satisfaction of depth. Even as you get to move around to different areas to avoid getting bored, you also get to experience the satisfaction that comes from diving deep in one subject area. The deeper you go, the more you realize how vast your area of knowledge is and how there's a lifetime of learning ahead.
 - You become more creative. There's a classic idea in the arts (and in business) that the greatest ideas happen at the intersection of disciplines. When you have a broad base of knowledge, you build immunity to the "paradox of expertise" where your advanced knowledge of one field clouds your ability to see new ideas. For example, Vihart's YouTube channel shows you what happens at the meeting of math, music, and visual art
 - You're more attractive to employers. This happens for two reasons:
 - The first is that you're going to have a standout resume compared to someone who only focused on their major and never branched out. Consequently, you'll be able to bring more to a job than someone who only meets the requirements the position specifies.
 - Second, being a T-shaped person just makes you more interesting. This benefits you from the moment the hiring manager sees your resume to the moment you interview. Who doesn't want to talk to interesting people? (Especially if the other job candidates regurgitate the same boring formulas in their applications).
Source: DASA DevOps Fundamentals coursebook.
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You are here: Platypus /Teach-in: Trans Liberation (Frankfurt)
Teach-in: Trans Liberation (Frankfurt)
The political and cultural Left, which have stood for increasing the scope of freedom, have historically shifted positons on issues of gender and sexuality. For instance, where once the Left challenged gender and family norms in society, there has been a turn to advocation participation in predominant institutions, for instance in legal reforms and the medical industry: there has been some conflict in LGBTQ circles over the politcs of the trans identity, whether it should be considered a subjective development or an objective condition, and further if it should be considered at all by the Left. What do such controversies tell us about the politics of sexual freedom and the history of the Left, moving forward? How are issues of sexual freedom related to issues in the greater society and not of concern merely to sexual minorities and subcultures? Is there simply a need to be recognized as present, as expressed by Queer Nation? Or might we look forward to renewed politcal disputes around issues of sexual freedom? What can history teach us about this?
Which way forward for trans liberation?
Which way forward for human emancipation?
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inspection and maintenance for purposes of eliminating foreign matter and obstructions in supply and discharge lines. Each steam trap at an assigned work station should be inspected as specified by the preventive maintenance program.
Steam Trap – Troubleshooting
It is important to inspect the operation of steam traps frequently. There are many conditions under which traps may fail to operate property. The following are some of the most common reasons for trap failures:
1. Condensate does not flow into the trap:
A. Obstruction in line to trap inlet.
B. Valves leading to trap are closed.
C. Bypass open or leaking.
D. Trap may be air bound.
E. Insufficient pressure to blow condensate through orifice.
F. Improper installation of trap.
G. Accumulation of foreign matter within the trap.
H. Trap held closed by defective mechanism.
I. Strainer may be blocked.
2. Condensate fails to drain from trap.
A. Discharge valve may be closed.
B. Trap may not be large enough to handle condensate.
C. Pressure may be too low to blow the condensate through.
D. Improper installation for draining.
E. Check valve may not be holding.
F. Obstruction in return line or the line may simply be too small.
3. Trap does not shut off.
A. Trap is too small for the condensate load.
B. Trap held open by defective mechanism,
C. Overload due to excessive boiler foaming or priming.
D. Submerged steam coils leaking.
E. Differential pressure exceeds design of trap.
F. Scale or foreign matter lodged in orifice.
4. Steam blows through trap.
A. Valve mechanism does not close due to wear or defective valve.
B. Mechanism is held open by foreign matter.
C. Trap has not been properly primed or reprimed after clean-out or blow-off.
D. Bypass is open or leaking.
E. Excessive pressure for design of trap.
What is the meaning of Horse Power?
Horse Power is a unit of measurement of the ability of a boiler to evaporate water, usually given as
the ability to evaporate 34¸ lb. (15.6 kg) of water an hour, into dry saturated steam
from and at 212¡F (100¡C).


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Gov abandoning most vulnerable to cater to farming lobby
With the Government's announcement today that the primary sector will remain outside the ETS, the rest of New Zealand – including the groups that are most vulnerable to climate change – will continue to subsidise the largest emitters who own a disproportionate share of the country's assets, according to Māori Climate Commissioner Donna Awatere Huata.
The Government announced today that it has accepted the proposal by the farming lobby to give it five years to develop its own emissions pricing scheme – with farmers paying no additional levies or charges up until 2025.
Commissioner Awatere Huata says in caving to the demands of the powerful lobby, the Government is exposing the country's poorest and most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
"New Zealand's farmers occupy some of the most precious resources we have – using our land and water for their own profit. While doing so, they account for around 40% of the country's greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the continual degradation of our forests, rivers and lakes," says Commissioner Awatere Huata.
"Rather than hold them to account for their contribution to the current climate emergency and expecting them to pay their fair share in the solution, the Government is effectively extending the powerful farming lobby a continued subsidy from the people of New Zealand."
Commissioner Awatere Huata says the primary sector regularly discusses the concept of social licence to operate.
"The fastest way to lose what social acceptance farmers do retain is by continuing to avoid any responsibility for the state of our climate, while pushing the cost of protecting our future onto our families and businesses."
"This current deal is just not good enough. The costs of climate change will be felt most acutely by Māori who typically work in jobs that are more likely to be lost to environmental damage, who generally own the poorer quality land which is harder to adapt or mitigate and who spend more, as a percentage of total expenditure, on electricity compared to other households."
Commissioner Awatere Huata said Māori expected the Government would ensure the most vulnerable with the fewest resources were protected, while ensuring they are not forced to subsidise the polluters.
"At the same time, they demand their role in creating and establishing Māori-led solutions for healing the planet, such as planting permanent regenerating forests on the often-marginal land that remains in their ownership."
"Agriculture has a history of overriding the needs of others – whether they be Māori who owned the land in the first place, families who want to drink and swim in clean water, or taxpayers who want farmers to pay their way."
"The world looks to us for a lead in agricultural emissions. This is a massive blow to unborn generations who will pay the price of the deals now being struck between politicians, Federated Farmers and agricultural lobbyists."


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Radiology, Diagnostic (Minnesota)
On the first day of the elective, students are given a tour of the department, a packet of introductory material and a conference schedule. A schedule of activities is set up for each student. The schedule generally includes assignments in each of several areas in the department, including chest radiology, G.I., G.U., musculoskeletal radiology, pediatric radiology, CT, ultrasonography, hospital radiology, neuroradiology and nuclear medicine. The student is usually paired with a specific consultant in each subspecialty area. Depending on the length of the clerkship, assignment in these areas varies from one or two days to as long as one week. The success and value of this elective largely depends on the motivation of the student. Use of learning materials in the department library is strongly encouraged.
Specific goals
 2. Understand the value and limitations of various imaging procedures.
 3. Appreciate the consultative role of the radiologist.
 4. Observe the fundamentals of radiologic diagnosis and therapy in clinical situations.
Activity outline
Students observe various areas in Mayo's Department of Diagnostic Radiology. Duties include tutorial teaching sessions with residents, attendance at departmental teaching conferences, and interaction with staff radiologists and residents in each area of the department.
Students are expected to study texts, journals and teaching file cases in the department library. The library is available for medical students' use during daytime hours on regular workdays only.
Method of evaluation
 - ART741364


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Segmental Bronchoalveolar Lavage
Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is a diagnostic and therapeutic procedure conducted by placing a small fiberoptic scope into the lung of a patient, and injecting sterile water (saline) into the lung and removing the fluid. The sterile solution removed contains secretions, cells, and protein from the lower respiratory tract. This sample can be analyzed to provide more information about possible disease processes going on in the lungs.
This protocol will be used to perform BAL, bronchial brushing, and bronchial wall biopsy in normal volunteers and patients with pulmonary disease. The samples collected during the study will be used to examine biochemical processes in the lung that may contribute to lung disease
|Official Title:||Bronchoscopy in Patients With Pulmonary Diseases and Research Volunteers|
|Study Start Date:||November 1996|
This protocol proposes to perform bronchoalveolar lavage, bronchial brushing and bronchial wall biopsy in research volunteers and in patients with pulmonary disease to evaluate the cellular components of normal and diseased lungs. This research study will help to improve our understanding of pathogenic mechanisms in the lung during progression of pulmonary disease.
|Contact: Mary Haughey, R.N.||(301) _EMAIL_|
|Contact: Joel Moss, M.D.||(301) _EMAIL_|
|United States, Maryland|
|National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike||Recruiting|
|Bethesda, Maryland, United States, 20892|
|Contact: For more information at the NIH Clinical Center contact Patient Recruitment and Public Liaison Office (PRPL) _PHONE_ ext TTY8664111010 _EMAIL_|
|Principal Investigator:||Joel Moss, M.D.||National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)|


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>> Important Exams
>> IIT JEE Main-Advanced
>> IIT JEE Advanced
>> IIT JEE 2012
>> IIT JEE 2012 Preparation
IIT JEE 2012 Preparation
When to start preparing for IIT JEE 2012 Examination?
- Candidates should ideally start preparing in the beginning of standard 11th. If a student starts preparing in standard 12th, then he/she have to work harder due to additional preparation for 12th Board examinations. This will minimize the chances of getting a high rank in IIT JEE 2012 examination.
- Candidates are advised to understand the concepts.
A Few Tips for IIT JEE 2012
Revision of standard 9th syllabus
- Candidates should begin with revising basic concepts taught in standard 9th.
Study Important Topics
- Important Topics which are scoring and form the basis for other topics should be studied first such as Algebra, Mechanics and Stoichiometry and so on.
No room for Doubts
- Students must not have any doubts regarding any topic. Students should be inquisitive and should clear their doubts in order to be mentally confident while tackling any concept.
Regular Problem solving
- Students should practice problem-solving as it strengthens the concepts and increases mental sharpness for quick responses. Students must go step-by-step. Problems of medium difficulty should be solved initially. After having mastered them, students should solve the intricate ones.
Systematic Study Plan
- Students preparing for IIT JEE 2012 must have a systematic approach to studies. They must regularly study to have a complete understanding of concepts. Problems should be solved regularly for practice.
Do not Memorize Formulas. Understand them!
Tips for Problem Solving
- Instead of memorizing formulas and lessons, students should understand the derivations of the formulas and apply it to solve problems. Students should have a clear idea of all concepts and laws.
- Be analytical. Not intuitive.
- Choose a problem and try to solve it yourself.
- Try to understand what is given and what is required.
- Try to recall what principles, laws, equations may be involved. Don't see the solution as it doesn't help you to learn. Give a second or third attempt before moving to the solutions.
Points to Remember
- Practice new questions similar to of IIT JEE Level.
- Preparing your 'Basics' well.
- Attempt a question fully. Do not jump from one question to another in hurry.
- Read the question carefully and then try to solve it. Do not start solving without realizing what is being asked.
- Time management is very important. Divide your time wisely.
- Prepare as per the given syllabus. Do not waste time on unimportant topics.
- Solve 30-40 problems for every topic or chapter. Also try solving quality and problems with new applications.
- You should have your own strategy.
- Fundamentals of concepts are top practiced, not memorized.
- Practice previous year's papers to have an idea of what types of questions are being asked in the exam.
- Try to complete the paper well before time in order to review your answers.
Best of Luck!


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Natural Resources Law
This course provides a survey introduction to federal natural resources law, with an emphasis on living resources. In a mixed lecture and seminar format, we will examine the theoretical conflicts that underlie various approaches to resource management, as well as the special qualities of natural resource problems that render management efforts so difficult. Topics will include the legal treatment of wildlife and biodiversity, living marine resources, water, forests, protected public lands, and an introduction to energy law. Throughout the course, we will probe the interplay between environmental, economic, cultural, and political factors in natural resource decision making. In lieu of a final exam, students will produce a 20-page final paper and participate in a weekly online discussion group.
Please note that the paper will not meet the WIE or Capstone requirement.
This is a survey course that focuses on the non-public land aspects of natural resources law. The course explores the field of natural resources law on a function-by-function approach, looking at how nature is divided into use rights, allocating those use rights, resolving conflicts over use rights, integrating use rights into landscapes, and adjusting and reallocating use rights over time. The class will also consider which use rights spring from land ownership, and which are severed, available for separate acquisition. The focus is mostly on state law with an examination of numerous natural resources, including water, wildlife, oil and gas, and mining, and even ice and seaweed.


Hispanic Culture
Hispanic Culture in the United States
Hispanic people are vibrant, socializing and fun loving people. Among various Hispanic culture facts, the most amazing fact is that Hispanics have a deep sense of involvement in their family traditions and cultures. Encompassing a wide range of activities, Hispanic culture facts are interesting to know and read about.
Family Bonding
General Manners
One of the Hispanic culture facts is that religion plays a significant role in the daily life of Hispanics with more than 90% of the population being Roman Catholic. Churches and spiritual activities influence family activities and families unite together to involve in prayers and sermons. More than birthday's of children, the saint's day of every community is celebrated with great vigor and enthusiasm.
Dietary Habits
Another Hispanic culture facts is that Hispanics follow a three day meal system. Generally, there is a culture of eating lunch and dinner in the presence of all family members. Students and working individuals are expected to return home after work or school to have lunch together with the family members. Light breakfast and light evening meal are necessary part of Hispanic eating habits. Coffee and snacks are popular in evening coffee time.
Hispanics celebrate international festivals with great pomp and show. Christmas Eve, New Year's Day and the Three Kings' Day are some of the most commonly celebrated festivals. While the term iesta naciona refers to national official holiday, las fiestas refer to local festivals. Festivals are government declared holidays and generally and during these times, the Hispanics enjoy a lot.


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Medical Definition of Caldwell–Luc operation
: a surgical procedure used especially for clearing a blocked or infected maxillary sinus that involves entering the sinus through the mouth by way of an incision into the canine fossa above a canine tooth, cleaning the sinus, and creating a new and enlarged opening for drainage through the nose
Biographical Note for caldwell–luc operation
George Walter (1866–1946), American surgeon. Caldwell was a pioneer in nasal surgery and is credited with devising a number of surgical procedures. In 1893 he described an operative procedure for the treatment of severe disorders of the maxillary sinus in which an auxiliary opening is provided in the anterior wall through the canine fossa. His procedure became widely used in the treatment of maxillary sinus empyema. Several of his papers described diseases of the nasal sinuses.
Henri (1855–1925), French laryngologist. Luc is credited with devising several surgical procedures involving the sinuses and with developing various surgical instruments. His description of what is now known as the Caldwell-Luc operation was published in 1889, predating Caldwell's by four years.
Variants of caldwell–luc operation
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up Caldwell–Luc operation? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).


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Canadian Forest Service Publications
Pest management of Douglas-fir tussock moth (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae): Prevention of an outbreak through early treatment with a nuclear polyhedrosis virus by ground and aerial applications. 1984. Shepherd, R.F.; Otvos, I.S.; Chorney, R.J.; Cunningham, J.C. The Canadian Entomologist 116(11): _PHONE_.
Available from: Pacific Forestry Centre
Catalog ID: 2378
Available from the Journal's Web site. †
† This site may require a fee.
Two different application methods were tested using a nuclear polyhedrosis virus as a control agent at an early stage in the outbreak cycle of Douglas-fir tussock moth, Orgyia pseudotsugata (McDunnough), in south central British Columbia in 1981. The virus, which often leads to the development of an epizootic late in the outbreak cycle, was propagated in whitemarked tussock moth, Orgyia leucostigma (J. E. Smith). A helicopter fitted with a boom and nozzle was used for treating four plots (total area 19.8 ha) at a dosage of 2.2 x 1011 polyhedral inclusion bodies (PIB) in an emitted volume of 11.3 L ha-1. Five to eight weeks after spraying, microscopic examination of live larvae showed that 77 to 100% were infected. In ground-spray applications of two other plots, a modified orchard-type sprayer was used to apply 2.4 x 1010 PIB in a volume of 4.5 L per tree. Microscopic diagnosis of live larvae at 8 weeks post-spray revealed 83 and 85% infection.
In autumn 1981, no egg masses could be found in the plots treated earlier that year and no larvae were found on the sample trees in 1982 or 1983. The treatment was effective over a range of initial mean larval densities of 41 to 206 m-2 of foliage. At the same time, populations in nearby untreated areas increased in 1982. Little foliage protection was obtained the year of application due to the lengthy virus incubation period, but the trees recovered quickly when populations disappeared due to the virus epizootic.


Jul 9, 2014
Originally published on July 10, 2014 2:35 pm
A 2008 analysis published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that cardiac events skyrocketed during World Cup matches.
Researchers looked at data from hospitals around Munich during the 2006 games held in Germany. They found that the number of cardiac emergencies more than doubled on days when Germany was playing in World Cup matches compared with days when the German team was idle and also a control period when no matches were played. About 43 cardiac events were seen on German match days compared with 18 on the non-match days and 15 daily during the control period.
The emotional stress during matches, the paper argues, increases a fan's risk of suffering a heart attack.
"Soccer is engaging, but if you're on the losing side you can feel helpless," says Dr. David Spiegel, a psychiatrist from Stanford University who specializes in stress and wasn't involved in the 2008 study. "That combination of a time limit and the difficulty of overcoming being behind makes it a stressful sport to watch."
Stress, Spiegel tells Shots, changes what's circulating in the bloodstream.
When someone watches a particularly exciting or emotional match, such as the United States' defense in the net against Belgium's onslaught, the body releases adrenaline and other hormones into the bloodstream.
This surge can be dangerous for people who already have buildups of artery-narrowing plaque, Johns Hopkins cardiologist Seth Martin says.
The plaques can rupture. The body creates blood clots to patch the damaged arteries. But the clots can block oxygen-rich blood from reaching the heart, causing a cardiac attack.
"It's not like this could happen suddenly in anybody," Martin tells Shots. There has to be underlying disease, such as high blood pressure and diabetes. Unhealthful habits, such as sitting in front of the TV or computer for too long, could exacerbate the chances of suffering a cardiac attack during a game.
"We don't know what day someone will have a heart attack," Martin tells Shots. But heart attacks are more likely to happen in people with risk factors for them.
Already in Brazil, a 69-year-old man suffered a heart attack in a bar while watching the nail-biting penalty kick duel between Brazil and Chile. The man, who had diabetes, died two hours after being brought to the hospital.
Martin said he wasn't surprised that soccer matches could trigger cardiac events in fans. He was surprised however by the magnitude of the trigger reported in the paper about the German World Cup experience.
Still, some researchers are skeptical about any connection between soccer games and cardiac events.
Epidemiologist Francesco Barone-Adesi says that any evidence of soccer-induced heart attacks disappears at the population level. He authored a 2010 meta-analysis titled, "It is just a game: lack of association between watching football matches and risk of acute cardiovascular events."
He analyzed 10 previous papers that looked at associations between heart attacks and World Cup games in people living in Belgium, France and Australia. In his analysis, which had included the German study, he found no link between World Cup matches and heart attacks.
"The German study was an outlier and inconsistent with all those other studies," he says. "It's telling a different story."
He also conducted his own study that looked at death certificates in Italians during the 2006 World Cup and found no connection between watching soccer games and heart attacks.
If the results obtained by the German study are accurate, then Barone-Adesi says that "would mean that watching a football match is the strongest cardiac event trigger found so far," he says, adding, "that's just not plausible."
But cardiologist Robert Kloner, of the University of Southern California, says that the triggers that the German study found can't be totally ignored.
"Look, there's a signal here in this study," Kloner tells Shots. "You're not going to see it in all games. It depends on the patient. If he says, 'I feel my heart racing,' then that's concerning."
In 2010, Kloner published a paper titled, "Sporting Events Affect Spectators' Cardiovascular Mortality: It Is Not Just a Game." His study looked at Super Bowl games in Los Angeles in much the same way that previous studies looked at soccer games. He found a small, but statistically significant, increase in heart attack-related deaths following the games.
After reviewing the scientific literature, Kloner says that watching sporting events, such as soccer matches and Super Bowls, may trigger heart attacks in people prone to them. But, he cautions, "These are correlations, you cannot call them causative."
Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit


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Everything you need to know about adding e-resources to your library's services
Handbook of Electronic and Digital Acquisitions steers librarians through the process of evaluating, choosing, and managing electronic resources as they expand their collection development policies to include electronic databases. This handy, how-to guide takes a practical approach to acquisitions, providing commonsense information on basic copyright laws, fair use guidelines and policies, offsite and in-house databases, virtual reference software, EDI, and vendors. The book's contributors draw on their own experiences, providing case studies and helpful evaluation checklists, worksheets, and templates.
Electronic journals, full-text databases, and electronic books are altering the traditional purpose of the library as an "archive" for publications. Handbook of Electronic and Digital Acquisitions provides usable tips on the practical aspects of implementing electronic resources, helping librarians develop the potential of digital media as they work to provide their patrons with top quality access and services in a rapidly changing environment.
Handbook of Electronic and Digital Acquisitions examines:
* evaluating databases for acquisition, retention, and withdrawal
* budgeting for electronic resources
* measuring user satisfaction
* online aggregated databases
* licensing agreements
* the TEACH (Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization) Act
* the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
* e-mail tools
* and much more!
Table of Contents
About the Editor. Contributors. Preface. Chapter 1. Acquisitions and Copyright. Doris Van Kampen Introduction. Statistics on Expenditures for Electronic Resources. Copyright 101. Fair Use. Recent Legislation. In-House Use. Off-Site Use. Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery. E-Reserves. Discussion. Conclusion. Chapter 2. Copyright and Fair Use: Electronic Reserves. Linda Neyer Introduction. Basic Copyright Law. The Discussion of Fair Use. Applying Copyright Law to Electronic Reserves. Obtaining Permission. Linking to Electronic Databases. Conclusion. Appendix: Recommended Web Sites. Chapter 3. Evaluating Databases for Acquisitions and Collection Development Audrey Powers The Evaluation Process. Phase I. Phase II. Phase III. A Case Study. Electronic Application of the Evaluation Process. Chapter 4. Collection Development Strategies for Online Aggregated Databases. Susan McMullen, Patricia B. M. Brennan, Joanna Burckhardt, and Marla Wallace A Brief History of Electronic Collection Development. Collection Development Policies for Electronic Resources. Aggregators. History of Aggregator Databases. Academic Libraries and Electronic Journals. Aggregators' Impact on Collection Development Decisions. Evaluating Database Content and Features. Methodology. Conclusion. Chapter 5. Issues on the Selection of Electronic Resources. Rickey D. Best Fitting Electronic Resources into Your Collection Profiles. How to Choose. Budgeting for Electronic Resources. Garnering University Support. Maximizing Access and Measuring User Satisfaction. Evaluating Electronic Resources. Conclusion. Chapter 6. Choosing Virtual Reference Software. Robert Slater and Denise Johnson Introduction. Service Levels. Characteristics and Features. Technical Considerations. Chapter 7. Electronic Data Interchange and Vendors: Enhancement of Library Acquisitions Services Sha Li Zhang and John H. Williams Introduction. Electronic Transfer of Bibliographic Record Data. USMARC Record Batch Loads. EDI Financial Data. Conclusion. Index. Reference Notes Included


William Kentridge and Vivienne Koorland
Conversations in letters and lines
Tamar Garb, Joseph Koerner, Briony Fer, Griselda Pollock, Ed Krčma, Fiona Bradley, 2017
William Kentridge and Vivienne Koorland: Conversations in letters and lines
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Pages: 140
ISBN: 9781908612410
Sale £ 20.00 £ 25.00
William Kentridge and Vivienne Koorland are two of South Africa's foremost visual artists. Kentridge is a successful animator, opera director, performer, and draftsman, while Koorland has enjoyed widespread critical acclaim as a painter, printmaker, and maker of objects. They first met as university students in the mid-1970s, and ever since then their friendship has been mutually enriching, inspiring and informing their artworks in myriad ways. This book pays testament to that enduring friendship, bringing together a diverse selection of works from each artist to explore the formal and thematic links between their different practices.
The authors explores a variety of facets that unite the works of Kentridge and Koorland, including the role of writing; the relationship between drawing, painting, and animation; their interest in film; their understanding of lines, alphabets, and letters; and the correlations between the iconic and the abstract and maps and mapping. Briony Fer, Joseph Leo Koerner, Ed Krčma, and Griselda Pollock provide insightful, fresh perspectives on the artists' lives and their work, followed by a conversation between the Kentridge, Koorland, and curator Tamar Garb. The book features 120 color illustrations drawn from a wide selection of artworks by each artist, including works on paper, maps, and sketchbooks that have rarely been seen by the public before.


How to contribute
The EnMAP-Box is a freely available, platform-independent software designed to process hyperspectral remote sensing data, and particularly developed to handle data from the EnMAP sensor.
The EnMAP-Box source code is hosted in a public git repository at
Approved QGIS plugin versions ("production releases") are available in the QGIS Plugin Repository
The development of the EnMAP-Box is funded within the EnMAP scientific preparation program under the DLR Space Administration (mission lead) and GFZ Potsdam (scientific lead) with resources from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.
Everyone is welcome to contribute to the EnMAP-Box
Submit a bug report or feature request
In case you experience issues with the EnMAP-Box, do not hesitate to submit a ticket to our Issue Tracker. You are also welcome to post feature requests or pull requests.
 - Verify that your issue is not being currently addressed by other issues or pull requests.
 - If you are submitting a bug report, please:
 - Report a short description how to reproduce it
 - If necessary, provide a link to the data that causes the bug
 - If not feasible to include a reproducible snippet, please be specific about what part of the EnMAP-Box (functions, widget) are involved and the shape of the data
 - Include your operating system type and version number of QGIS, Qt and the EnMAP-Box.
 - Please ensure that code snippets and error messages are formatted in appropriate code blocks.
 You can use this Markdown syntax to style your issues.
Provide source code
If your are not an EnMAP-Box core developer, the preferred way to contribute your code code is to use pull requests.
 1. Fork the EnMAP-Box repository
 2. Clone your fork
 3. Modify the source code
 4. Commit your modifications
 5. Push your modification to your fork and
 6. Create a pull request
1. Create a fork on Bitbucket
Forking the EnMAP-box repository allows you to modify the EnMAP-Box code as you like and backup your contributions in a separated Bitbucket repository. To create a fork,
 1. log in to and visit
 2. Click '+' and Fork this repository
 3. Select a name and workspace for your EnMAP-Box fork, hereafter called enmap-box-fork
Create an EnMAP-Box fork in
Please read for details how you can create your own fork of the EnMAP-Box repository.
Please note that forking in does not copy git lfs tracked files:
2. Clone the forked EnMAP-Box repository
Clone enmap-box-fork to your local disk:
git clone -n
You might see some git lfs errors. Ignore them.
Go into the repository folder and force to checkout the develop branch.
cd enmap-box-fork git checkout develop -f
You can ignore smuge errors. Add the EnMAP-Box repository as upstream repository:
git remote add upstream
Now fetch git lfs files from the upstream directory:
git lfs fetch upstream
From now on, you can synchronize your fork with the EnMAP-Box repository by:
$git fetch upstream develop
$git merge upstream/develop
to get the latest updates from the develop branch. Call:
$git push
to upload them to the remote
Now install python requirements and run the initial setup for the EnMAP-Box repository, as described in Installation
3. Modify the local repository
As you like, you can continue modifying the EnMAP-Box code in the develop branch or create a new one 'my_modifications':
$ git checkout -b my_modifications
4. Commit your changes
Save your changes by committing them to your local repository:
$ git add modified_files
$ git commit -a -m 'added x, modified y and fixed z' -s
Please use signed commits to label your individual contribution visible. Even better, use GnuPG-signed commits (-S).
5. Push changes back to your fork
A push will upload your changes to
$ git push
6. Create a pull request
Open the Bitbucket webpage of your fork and create a pull request. The pull request will inform us on the changed you made.
Before you create a pull request, please check the following:
 - make sure that every source code file provides a licence notice
 - make sure your code passes the tests and provide tests if your like to provide new functionality, like EnMAP-Box Applications
 - make sure your code is commented and documented
 - make sure your name is listed in the
 - update your feature branch to the current EnMAP-Box develop branch:
 git fetch upstream develop
 git merge upstream/develop
 - rebase your changes and push them to your forked repository:
 git push -f
 - describe your pull request with a helpful title, e.g using the following labels:
 - [feature] a new feature
 - [fix] a fix for a known issue. If possible, please refer to existing issue numbers like in #123 #124.
The EnMAP-Box documentation is based on Sphinx-build reStructured text and hosted at. The *.rst files are located in the repositories doc/source folder.
To build and text the documentation on your local system, navigate into the doc folder and run the make file:
$ cd doc
$ make html
This will start Sphinx and create the HTML documentation into folder doc/build. Open doc/build/html/index.html to visualize it in your web browser.
The software produced for the EnMAP-Box is licensed according to the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License (SPDX short identifier: GPL-3.0), or (if desired) any later version. See either or for further details of the license.
A copy of this license is part of the EnMAP-Box repository (LICENSE.txt) and delivered with each release of an EnMAP-Box plugin.
The EnMAP-Box documentation is published under the terms of the Creative Commons 1.0 Universal (CC0) License. See for further details of the license.
Each source code contribution to the central repository should include a reference to the GPL-3 license terms at the beginning of the file:
 -
 begin :
 copyright : (C)
 email :
 (at your option) any later version.
 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 GNU General Public License for more details.
 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 along with this software. If not, see <>.
An example from the source code can be found here: enmapbox/
Images and other multimedia content from the EnMAP-Box documentation, i.e files within the EnMAP-Box repositories doc/source folder, are published under the terms of the CC0 license.
The purpose of CLAs are to clearly define the terms under which intellectual property has been contributed to the EnMap-Box and thereby allow us to defend the project should there be a legal dispute regarding the software at some future time.
Individual Contributor License Agreement (ICLA)
The EnMap-Box Consortium desires that all maintainers and contributors of ideas, code, or documentation to the EnMAP-Box project complete, sign, and submit an ICLA.
A signed ICLA is required to be on file before an individual is given commit rights to the EnMap-Box repository. The ICLA form for filling and signing is available here.
The ICLA is not tied to any employer, so it is recommended to use one's personal information, e.g. for email address in the contact details, rather than an email address provided by an employer.
Corporate Contributor License Agreement (CCLA)
For a corporation that has assigned employees to work on the EnMap-Box, a CCLA is available for contributing intellectual property via the corporation, that may have been assigned as part of an employment agreement.
Note that a CCLA does not remove the need for every developer to sign their own ICLA as an individual, which covers both contributions which are owned and those that are not owned by the corporation signing the CCLA.
The CCLA legally binds the corporation, so it must be signed by a person with authority to enter into legal contracts on behalf of the corporation. The CCLA form for filling and signing is available here.
Submitting License Agreements
Documents may be submitted by email and signed by hand or by electronic signature. The files should be named icla.pdf and icla.pdf.asc for individual agreements; ccla.pdf and ccla.pdf.asc for corporate agreements. Zip files, other archives, or links to files are not accepted. The files must be attached to the mail.
When submitting by email, please fill the form with a pdf viewer, then print, sign, scan all pages into a single pdf file, and attach the pdf file to an email to If possible, send the attachment from the email address in the document. Please send only one document per email.
If you prefer to sign electronically, please fill the form, save it locally (e.g. icla.pdf), and sign the file by preparing a detached PGP signature. For example, gpg –armor –detach-sign icla.pdf
The above will create a file icla.pdf.asc. Send both the file (icla.pdf) and signature (icla.pdf.asc) as attachments in the same email


Do you know your way around polar exploring in literature? - quiz
South pole
Can you complete the challenge?... Preparing in 2007 for a modern recreation of Ernest Shackleton's expedition. Photograph: Shackleton Foundation/PA
 1. 1. What was the title of Apsley Cherry-Garrard's 1922 book about an expedition he made with Captain Scott?
 2. 2. Which character begins Mary Shelley's Frankenstein with an account of a voyage to the Arctic?
 3. 3. In his poem Antarctica, the Northern-Irish poet Derek Mahon details the last moments of Captain Oates. How many times is the quotation, "just going outside and may be some time" repeated?
 4. 4. Edgar Allan Poe's only completed novel tells the story of a doomed voyage to the south pole. What is its title?
 5. 5. What throws the hero of Ian McEwan's novel Solar into a panic in the Arctic?
 6. 6. How do the creatures known as the Elder Things survive in the Antarctic in HP Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness?
 7. 7. Beryl Bainbridge's 1995 novel The Birthday Boys is about Scott's expedition to the Antarctic. From whose point of view is the story told?
 8. 8. Which polar explorer's daughter, known as the snow baby, has written a book about the women behind the polar heroes?
 9. 9. In Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, how is the ice described as the mariner reaches the Arctic?
 10. 10. In Jules Verne's The Adventures of Captain Hatteras (1866), what is discovered in the Arctic and named after Hatteras?
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I'm comparing hourly data measurements recorded for 5 years (2007-2011) where the number of measurements in each year is as follows:
2007 = 8760 measurements;
2008 = 8784 measurements; <-- leap year
2009 = 8760 measurements;
2010 = 8760 measurements;
2011 = 8760 measurements;
What is the best method for comparing each time series? Is it better to add an additional 24 measurements (of nans) for february 29th for the non leap years? or, is it more efficient to interpolate the data onto the same time frame (where time is given in decimal day of year)?
share|improve this question
What comparison are you trying to make? The data sets don't correspond, so you probably aren't going to be comparing like with like. – walkytalky Mar 30 '12 at 9:55
1 Answer 1
up vote 2 down vote accepted
That depends entirely on the kind of data you are measuring. If it's natural-world stuff like weather data, you probably care more about matching solstice to solstice and equinox to equinox. If it's financial market data, you may want to line up calendars and possibly exclude the leap day entirely.
It's difficult to give more specific advice without more background.
share|improve this answer
The data is for water temperature. So, Im looking at how the temperature varies from one year to the other and maybe finding the correlation, which the data needs to be the same size for this. – Emma Mar 30 '12 at 10:14
If you match up seasonal markers such as solstices and equinoxes, the data will match up. The match-up simply won't correspond exactly to calendar years. – Marcelo Cantos Mar 30 '12 at 10:16
Your Answer


text:
char *sqlite3_mprintf(const char*,...); char *sqlite3_vmprintf(const char*, va_list); char *sqlite3_snprintf(int,char*,const char*,...); char *sqlite3_vsnprintf(int,char*,const char*, va_list);
These routines are work-alikes of the "printf()" family of functions from the standard C library. These routines understand most of the common K&R formatting options, plus some additional non-standard formats, detailed below. Note that some of the more obscure formatting options from recent C-library standards are omitted from this implementation.
The sqlite3_mprintf() and sqlite3_vmprintf() routines write their results into memory obtained from sqlite3_malloc(). The strings returned by these two routines should be released by sqlite3_free(). Both routines return a NULL pointer if sqlite3_malloc() is unable to allocate enough memory to hold the resulting string.
The sqlite3_snprintf() routine is similar to "snprintf()" from the standard C library. The result is written into the buffer supplied as the second parameter whose size is given by the first parameter. Note that the order of the first two parameters is reversed from snprintf(). This is an historical accident that cannot be fixed without breaking backwards compatibility. Note also that sqlite3_snprintf() returns a pointer to its buffer instead of the number of characters actually written into the buffer. We admit that the number of characters written would be a more useful return value but we cannot change the implementation of sqlite3_snprintf() now without breaking compatibility.
As long as the buffer size is greater than zero, sqlite3_snprintf() guarantees that the buffer is always zero-terminated. The first parameter "n" is the total size of the buffer, including space for the zero terminator. So the longest string that can be completely written will be n-1 characters.
The sqlite3_vsnprintf() routine is a varargs version of sqlite3_snprintf().
These routines all implement some additional formatting options that are useful for constructing SQL statements. All of the usual printf() formatting options apply. In addition, there is are "%q", "%Q", "%w" and "%z" options.
The %q option works like %s in that it substitutes a nul-terminated string from the argument list. But %q also doubles every '\'' character. %q is designed for use inside a string literal. By doubling each '\'' character it escapes that character and allows it to be inserted into the string.
For example, assume the string variable zText contains text as follows:
char *zText = "It's a happy day!";
One can use this text in an SQL statement as follows:
char *zSQL = sqlite3_mprintf("INSERT INTO table VALUES('%q')", zText); sqlite3_exec(db, zSQL, 0, 0, 0); sqlite3_free(zSQL);
Because the %q format string is used, the '\'' character in zText is escaped and the SQL generated is as follows:
INSERT INTO table1 VALUES('It''s a happy day!')
This is correct. Had we used %s instead of %q, the generated SQL would have looked like this:
INSERT INTO table1 VALUES('It's a happy day!');
This second example is an SQL syntax error. As a general rule you should always use %q instead of %s when inserting text into a string literal.
The %Q option works like %q except it also adds single quotes around the outside of the total string. Additionally, if the parameter in the argument list is a NULL pointer, %Q substitutes the text "NULL" (without single quotes). So, for example, one could say:
char *zSQL = sqlite3_mprintf("INSERT INTO table VALUES(%Q)", zText); sqlite3_exec(db, zSQL, 0, 0, 0); sqlite3_free(zSQL);
The code above will render a correct SQL statement in the zSQL variable even if the zText variable is a NULL pointer.
The "%w" formatting option is like "%q" except that it expects to be contained within double-quotes instead of single quotes, and it escapes the double-quote character instead of the single-quote character. The "%w" formatting option is intended for safely inserting table and column names into a constructed SQL statement.
The "%z" formatting option works like "%s" but with the addition that after the string has been read and copied into the result, sqlite3_free() is called on the input string.
See also lists of Objects, Constants, and Functions.


text:
Hawaii has their own unique holidays aside from remembering the United Sates holidays. The three holidays are the Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Day, Admissions Day, and King Kamehameha I day. In these events, you cannot make any transaction to the banks and other offices.
However, aside from these events, there are also other Hawaii Holidays. Like for instance, the May Day, Chinese New Year, the Boy's Day, and the Girl's day. Below are the overview of the various Hawaiian Holidays:
The First event is the Prince Kalanianaole Day and it is also called as Kuhio Day. Usually it happens even March 26th. This is in honor to the Prince. He is loved by people because he was able to get the land from the congress and distribute it to the Hawaiian families. During the event, there will be a parade on the island plus with the canoe races.
Vacations – Getting Started & Next Steps
The second one is the King Kamehameha I day which is also called Kamehameha day.
Vacations: 10 Mistakes that Most People Make
It is celebrated every year on June 11th. He is recognized for uniting the Hawaiian Islands and he was also the first ruler.
There will be parades, festival, as well as the covering of the king's statue with flowers.
There is also the Admissions Day and it is also called "Statehood Day." It happens every 3rd Friday of August because it reminds how Hawaii has become the one of the states of America.
One of the holidays in Hawaii is the May Day or also called as the Lei Day. It is held on the first week of May. It is to have fun for the creation as well as the use of the flower lei. People will wear leis and they will have the parade. Children usually love this day as they participate.
Tango no Sekku is another term for the Boy's Day. It is really a Japanese occasion which was influenced to the Hawaiians. It is held on the May 5th. Each of the families would put large koi fish on the bamboo in their houses. The number of carp that will be hanged will be based on how many the boys are in the family. The reason behind this is that the fish will symbolize strength and power. The people believe that their boys will become courageous and responsible if they will follow this ritual.
The girl's day in Hawaii is also called as Matsuri. Like the boy's day, it is also influenced by the Japanese. It is observed on March 3rd.
Hawaii also celebrated Chinese New Year. The people usually meet each other during this event.
This is event was brought by the Chinese immigrants. Usually, the people will have tea ceremonies, fireworks, parades, and dragon dances.
You will enjoy each of these holidays, so, you better check out for cheap Hawaii Holidays deal.


text:
TL;DR: There are so many addresses that it is improbable that anyone will ever generate a duplicate of another address in use – as long as random number generators work as they should.
2^160 possible addresses
Bitcoin addresses consist of an alphanumerical string with a length of up to 34 characters, excluding the capital "O", the capital "I" and the lowercase "l", as well as the number "0". This would allow for 58^34 possible combinations, however, as some of the positions are used for a checksum this is reduced to 2^160 valid addresses. The checksum on the other hand allows to detect mistyped addresses as invalid, so that it is highly unlikely to accidentally input another valid address.
Chance of 3.42*10^(-27) for a collision at one trillion addresses
Even if we generously assume that at some point there will be one trillion addresses (approx. 160 for each of this planet's population), according to the simple approximation formula for the Birthday attack given on Wikipedia, the chance is 3.42*10^(-27) that any two of those Bitcoin addresses collide. In comparison, the figure of addresses that were ever used to receive bitcoins was just over 13 million in May 2013.
Address space could be augmented
Especially as the protocol at any point could be adapted to accept even longer addresses, we can say, yes, it is theoretically possible, but unlikely enough that we can assume for our purposes that it will never happen.*
It's impractical to generate addresses for gain
To answer your other question: For each address there apparently are 2^96 different private keys whose corresponding public key will map to the same address. So to actually try to pursue Bitcoin theft, it would be much more sensible to just generate random private keys and hope to find one that has a corresponding address with money on it. In all likelihood the power for such calculations would cost more than anyone could earn with such a scheme.
*As long as certain random number generators work as well as they should... :)


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Orchids: nature's sexy sirens
It's spring and many of Australia's native orchids are unfurling their astonishing array of insect lures. Here's how to find them, and why you should join their fan club.
Fringed Mantis Orchid
Tantalising teaser: Orchids, like this Fringed Mantis variety, employ some clever tricks to get insects to visit. (Source: Babs and Bert Wells)
Admired for their beauty, orchids are real evolutionary survivors.
Promising food and even tricking insects into thinking they're a sexual partner are just some of the devious pollination strategies these complex and fascinating plants have developed since the time of the dinosaurs.
"They are like humans. They seem to have moods, attitudes and use and abuse other parts of the natural world through pollination and their use of fungi," explains Professor Kingsley Dixon, director of science at Kings Park and Botanic Garden in Perth, Western Australia.
Today, they are the largest group of flowering plants worldwide, with an estimated 30,000 species including the commercially important vanilla plant. And Australia boasts between 1200 to1400 of those, many of which are found nowhere else on Earth.
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Where to see them
Orchids can be divided into three types: epiphytes, which cling to trees and shrubs; lithophytes, which make their home on exposed rocks; and terrestrial orchids, which grow directly from the ground. Most cultivated orchids are epiphytes.
They grow in a range of habitats across the country, except the arid centre and a small patch of WA's northwest coast. They are most common in areas with higher rainfall, and along the coast and coastal tablelands.
Some of the best places to look for orchids are in areas that have been recently burnt, where they gain an extra nutrient boost from the organic-rich ground. They also thrive in swamps, grasslands and woody grassland areas.
The incredible variety among orchids is one of the biggest hooks that keep enthusiasts looking for them in the wild.
The Squat Moss Orchid (Bulbophyllum minutissimum), which has red-edged green flowers just 4mm across and grows along coastal eastern Australia, is the world's smallest orchid. The common Pink Hyacinth Orchid (Dipodium roseum) is found in eucalypt forests in most states except Western Australia, and grows over one metre tall. The rare and endangered Greenhood Orchid (Pterostylis gibbosa, which has a green, hood-shaped flower during winter, is only found in three locations in New South Wales in the Shoalhaven and Hunter valleys and Illawarra region.
Fact file:
When: Orchids flower at various times of the year depending on their locality. Most take advantage of moist conditions to flower (southern spring to summer, wet season in the northern tropics).
Where: Different species of orchids can be found everywhere in Australia except the arid centre and coastal WA between Shark Bay and Broome.
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Sexy tricks
Dwarf Hammer-orchid (Source: Babs and Bert Wells)
Orchids differ from other flowers in holding both their male and female parts in a column at the base of the flower, rather than a ring of stamen surrounding a pistil. They have three sepals and three petals, one of which, the labellum or lip, is often highly modified. The lip acts as a visual cue, landing platform, and occasionally a trap for insect pollinators.
Orchids employ several different 'lip conversions' to lure insects. These can include ornaments, such as pseudo anthers, hinting there's lots of pollen on offer; sexual lures, where the lip mimics a female insect of its pollinator species; a glossy appearance, as if the petal is dripping with nectar; and UV spectrum cues, like spots and lines, which act like runway lights to guide insects into the flower.
These modifications — which only a few other plants, such as irises and gingers have developed — lead to a great diversity in orchid species.
A number of Australian orchids have lips that have evolved to mimic female wasps. Hammer Orchids (Drakaea species) and Flying Duck Orchids (Paracaleana species) both found in southwest Australia, and Caleana (southeast Australia) encourage pollination by fooling a pollinator into landing on their modified lip. Once the wasp has landed, the flower flicks it into the column where the wasp becomes dusted with pollen. Australian Slipper Orchids (Cryptostylis species, found in temperate Australia) offer their pollinators, ichneumon wasps, an additional incentive in the form of a scent chemically identical to the pheromone signals that female wasps send out to lure their mates.
"Virgin males that have never seen an orchid before will grasp it and mate with it within seconds," says Dixon.
Once the orchid has been visited by the wasp up to eight times it mysteriously becomes less attractive to wasps. They fly off to breed with their own species, which ensures the orchids' pollinators don't die out.
Scent is another lure used by orchids such as the Greenhood orchid, which emits a musty smell that mimics a fungus gnats nest.
Inside the world of orchids
Gunn's Tree Orchid (Source: Reiner Richter)
Tree and rock orchids
Tree orchids or epiphytes lodge onto the bark of trees and rely on moisture trickling down the trunk to bring nutrients from organisms such as blue-green algae and lichen. Around one quarter of Australian orchids are epiphytes, and they grow mainly in the high rainfall forests in Victoria, New South Wales and particularly north-eastern Queensland, with two species in the Kimberley region of WA.
Of the epiphytes, the genus Sarcochilus, whose rounded petals have made them a garden favourite, is rare because of over collecting and habitat clearing but well worth seeking out in rainforest areas.
Rock Lily Orchid (Source: Kaye Placing, University of Sydney)
The common King Orchid (Dendrobium kingianum), has white to pink flower spikes and is found from NSW to Cape York in Queensland. Two epiphyte species are found in Tasmania, Gunn's Tree Orchid (Sarcochilus australis) and Dockrillia australatus.
Rock orchids or lithophytes occur on rocky areas where species such as the Rock Lily Orchid (Dendrobium speciosum) can form spectacular flowering clumps in springtime.
Donkey Orchids (Source: Babs and Bert Wells)
Ground orchids
Ground or terrestrial orchids are harder to cultivate because of their dependence on fungi to provide the nutrients they need to germinate. Orchids have the smallest seeds of all flowers, weighing as little as 1/100th of a gram. A seed pod may contain three million seeds. Dispersing like dust across the environment, seeds require not only a favourable microclimate to grow but also the particular species of fungus specific to that orchid species. As few as one in 10,000 will eventually germinate; fewer still grow to mature plants. This reliance on fungus makes conservation of orchids particularly challenging.
The breadth of terrestrial orchid species is too numerous to do justice to here but Dr Mark Clements, of the Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research at CSIRO Plant Industry, has this advice:
"Once you know the difference between an orchid and a lily, look for some of the obvious species; such as the blue and yellow Donkey Orchids, and go from there. Most pieces of bush, unless they're completely degraded, have some orchids and spring is the best time to look for them."
Common Dragon Orchid (Source: Babs and Bert Wells)
Most terrestrial orchids dwell in a band from Atherton in far north Queensland, across south-eastern and southern Australia and up the coast of Western Australia to Kalbarri, 600 km north of Perth. The southwest of WA is particularly profuse and has some of the Australia's most spectacular orchids.
Some common terrestrial species flowering in spring include the bearded Sun Orchids (Thelymitra), buttercup yellow or purple Donkey Orchids (Diuris), and a great profusion of spider orchids (Caladenia) and their relatives, including the blue Waxlip Orchid (Glossodia major).
Western Underground Orchid (Source: Babs and Bert Wells)
Underground orchids
The genus Rhizanthella has two of Australia's most unique orchid species. The eastern species, R. slateri, dwells in shallow leaf litter and has small, purple, tubular flowers that appear from October to November. It's found from south coast of New South Wales to south-eastern Queensland.
The extremely rare Western Underground Orchid, R. gardneri, looks like an albino potato. The plant is epiparasitic - being underground it does not photosynthesise, instead obtaining carbon and other nutrients from mycorrhizal fungi. The fungi in turn tap into the roots of the broom honey-myrtle (Melaleuca uncinata) for their nutrients, so the honey-myrtle feeds not one but two species.
The orchid is the only plant in the world pollinated by termites. This sort of specialisation spells certain doom in the drying wheat belt of WA where the orchid lives. Without intervention from conservationists