text:
The Common Eider is a large sea duck, which is distributed over the northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia.
It breeds in Arctic and some northern temperate regions, but winters somewhat further south in temperate zones, when it can form large flocks on suitable coastal waters.
The nest is built close to the sea, and is lined with the celebrated eiderdown, plucked from the female's breast.
For more information about the topic Common Eider, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:
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text:
A new resolution on energy-efficiency regulation of ships was adopted at the 65th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO),...
The charted position of a wreck buoy will usually be offset from the actual geographic position so that the wreck and buoy symbols do not coincide. Only on the largest scale chart will the actual and charted positions of both wreck and buoy be the same. Where they might overlap, it is the wreck symbol which occupies the exact charted position and the buoy symbol which is offset.
Wreck buoys are required to be placed by the owner of the wreck, but they may be placed by the Coast Guard if the owner is unable to comply with this requirement. In general, privately placed aids are not as reliable as Coast Guard aids.
Sunken wrecks are sometimes moved away from their buoys by storms, currents, freshets, or other causes. Just as shoals may shift away from the buoys placed to mark them, wrecks may shift away from wreck buoys.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


text:
Snapshot 1: the graphs of the step function
and the formula using no zeta zeros
Snapshot 2: the graphs of
and the formula using 40 pairs of zeta zeros
The Moebius mu function
is defined to be 1 if
; it is
is the product of
distinct primes and 0 otherwise (i.e., if
is divisible by the square of a prime).
The Mertens function
is defined to be the sum of
for positive integers
The first three complex zeros of the zeta function are approximately
. The zeros occur in conjugate pairs, so if
is a zero, then so is
. The important Riemann hypothesis is the unproven conjecture that all these complex zeros have real part 1/2. So far, it has been verified that the first
complex zeros do, indeed, have real part 1/2 (see ).
In 1897, Mertens conjectured that for
is always between
. If the Mertens conjecture were true, then the Riemann hypothesis would be also have to be true. But in 1985, Odlyzko and te Riele proved that the Mertens conjecture is false. This does not disprove the Riemann hypothesis, which remains one of the most important unsolved problems in mathematics.
Odlyzko and te Riele did not give a specific
for which the Mertens conjecture is false. However, in 2006, Kotnik and te Riele proved that there is some
for which the Mertens conjecture is false. It is also known that the Mertens conjecture is true for all
This Demonstration uses the following formula to calculate
complex zero of the Riemann zeta function. For a proof, see.
The first sum runs over the first
complex zeros of the zeta function.
These complex zeros occur in conjugate pairs: if
is a zero, then so is
If you use the slider to choose, say, one pair of zeta zeros, then the first sum in the above formula, in effect, combines two terms corresponding to the first conjugate pair of zeta zeros
. So, when these terms are added, their imaginary parts cancel while their real parts add. The
applied to the first sum is simply an efficient way to combine the two terms for each pair of zeta zeros.
Notice that the second sum has the same form as the first, except that the second sum extends over the so-called "trivial" zeros of the zeta function, namely,
. The second sum is small when
is large. Notice that, without any zeta zeros being included (
), this formula is close to
As we include more zeta zeros in the first sum, we more closely replicate the jumps in the step function
, and we can do so for larger values of
All known zeta zeros have multiplicity 1, which is assumed in the formula. At those values of
, the formula converges to the midpoint,
approaches infinity. You can see this in the graphs.
 T. Kotnik and H. J. J. te Riele, "The Mertens Conjecture Revisited," in Lecture Notes in Computer Science 4076
, Proceedings of the 7th Algorithmic Number Theory Symposium
, Berlin, 2006 pp. 156–167.
 A. M. Odlyzko and H. J. J. te Riele, "Disproof of the Mertens Conjecture," J. reine angew. Math. 357
, 1985 pp. 138–160.
 E. C. Titchmarsh, The Theory of the Riemann Zeta-Function
, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1951 p. 318.


text:
zollingeri were observed in other areas.
Table 2: Differences in Calamus zollingeri Genet and Ramet Populations over 4 Years
Mean number ha-1 (+/- std.dev.) based on 100 m2 sample plots along 3 random transects
1996 (n = 205)
2000 (n = 150)
149 (+/- 103)
143 (+/- 118)
1431 (+/- 1402)
1595 (+/- 1437)
(> 10 m)
66 (+/- 120)
46 (+/- 84)
Calamus zollingeri occurred in both high-light (e.g., canopy gaps) and densely-shaded environments, but was absent in poorly drained or seasonally flooded sites in both this site and a previous study in North Sulawesi (Siebert, 1993). Finally, we observed no evidence of mortality or dieback to C. zollingeri genets, irrespective of the frequency or number of canes harvested. For example, on marked plants we recorded no cane harvesting-induced mortality even though approximately 33% were harvested each year and in 2000 canes were frequently cut upon reaching 10 m in length.
On marked C. zollingeri plants we found that the mean number of ramets/genet was significantly greater in 2000 than in 1996 (Table 3). However, the mean number of harvestable ramets/genet (i.e., canes > 10 m length) was significantly lower in 2000 than in 1996, as was the mean length of harvestable cane and the total amount (i.e., length) of harvestable cane. In fact, in 2000 there was less than half the amount of harvestable cane as recorded on the same plants in 1996. The impact of intensive cane harvesting is readily apparent when comparing cane length distribution classes in 1996 with 2000 (Figure 1). For example, we recorded 37 canes greater than 20 m in length on marked C. zollingeri in 1996, but only three canes greater than 20 m on the same plants four years later.
Table 3: Calamus zollingeri Ramet Production and Growth over 4 Years on Marked Plants
Marked Plants (n = 74)
Mean number ramets/genet
Mean number harvestable ramets/genet (cane > 10 m)
Mean ramet (cane) length
Mean length harvestable ramet
(canes > 10 m)
Total length harvestable Cane (all plants)
** means significantly different at P=0.005 based on paired sample t test.
* means significantly different at P=0.05 based on paired sample t test.
These data have several important implications for the management of wild rattan. First, repeated cane harvesting (i.e., cutting mature ramets at approximately 1 m height) appears to stimulate the production of new ramets. Indeed, we recorded an average of 3.5 new ramets produced per genet and 4.7 m of cane growth on marked plants one year after harvesting. The production of new ramets and rapid cane growth suggests that large numbers of canes could continue to be available in the future. Secondly, cane harvesting has significantly reduced mean cane length which, in turn, reduces returns to labour and requires collectors to travel further into the forest. Thirdly, the cutting of all mature ramets may preclude sexual reproduction. This is supported by the absence of flowering and fruiting on marked rattan during two years of bi-weekly monitoring. While C. zollingeri is clearly capable of vigorous vegetative growth, sexual reproduction is important for maintaining species vigour and diversity over the long-term.
4. Effects of Cutting Trees for Use as Floater Logs
Transporting rattan to market in the southern LLNP region entails dragging rattan to a river, cutting and bundling cane, cutting small trees for floatation, and then floating the bundles down the Lariang River for 2-14 days to a roadside access point. The use of rivers to transport rattan, timber and other forest products is common throughout Asia. In the Lariang River drainage small trees are cut and dried to float rattan and tree cutting is reported to be a serious threat to biological diversity and forest conservation in LLNP (BCN, 1996; Schweithelm et al., 1992).
Eight tree species were regularly used to float rattan (Table 4). Not surprisingly, floater trees were light-weight, fast-growing, pioneer species. Floater logs averaged 25 cm diameter and 3 m in length, and typically floated a 50-60 kg bundle of cane. Canes were cut to 4 m length before bundling with the number of canes/bundle varying with cane diameter (i.e., weight). We recorded an average of 135 tons of rattan extracted each year from the case study watershed (from October 1996 to October 1998). If one conservatively assumes that each rattan bundle weighed 50 kg, a total of 2350 logs were required to float cane down river each year from the case study watershed.
Table 4: Tree Species Used to Float Rattan
Local Uma Name
Artocarpus teysmannii Miq.
Floater logs were harvested almost exclusively from fallowed shifting cultivation fields and to a lesser extent from naturally disturbed riparian flood plains along the Lariang River. Over the four-year study period, we found no evidence of floater log cutting in primary forests within LLNP. According to rattan collectors, floater logs are rarely harvested from primary forests because suitable-sized, light woods are uncommon there and because primary forests are further from the river than fallowed swiddens (pers. com.). Thus, there is little evidence to support the claim that cutting small, early successional trees to float cane threatens primary forests or biodiversity in LLNP, at least within this case study watershed.
5. Research Limitations and Future Research and Development Needs
The monitoring methods employed in this study, while time consuming and reasonably rigorous, are not comprehensive and certainly do not assess all possible ecological impacts associated with wild rattan harvesting. For example, we gathered no information on invertebrate use of C. zollingeri or hunting by rattan collectors. It should also be emphasized that we monitored C. zollingeri for only four years. Repeated harvesting of all mature cane could, over a long period of time, adversely affect plant vigour or ramet production and growth. Thus, as conservation biologists argue, we can not prove that C. zollingeri cane harvesting is ecologically sustainable or that it is without adverse ecological effects. Nevertheless, the use of randomized and replicated sampling methods over a four year period is biometrically rigorous (Wong, 2000) and can provide the basis for assessing ecological impacts and initiating adaptive management practices.
Given the absence of effective and enforceable prohibitions against rattan harvesting, the continuing devolution of Indonesian governmental power to provincial and local authorities, and growing development pressures in Indonesia and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, one must ask - how will resident people secure their livelihoods if rattan harvesting is prohibited? In Central Sulawesi, as in much of the tropical world, domestic and international market forces encourage the cultivation of export cash crops (e.g., oil palm, cacao, coffee, etc.) in large plantation schemes (Collier et al., 1994; Sunderlin, 1999). Under these conditions, if a forest has no value, it will likely be converted to something that does. When considered in this light, the potential ecological effects associated with C. zollingeri cane harvesting appear benign.
Comparing managed harvesting of wild rattan with agricultural plantations is also relevant because agriculture is the major cause of forest conversion in Southeast Asia and because the few large-scale efforts to cultivate and manage rattan have been on plantations (e.g., SAFODA, Malaysia). While long-term growth, yield and economic return data have not been published from these efforts, there is no agronomic reason why large-diameter, furniture-quality rattans could not be grown in large plantations. The long history of cultivating small and medium-sized rattan (C. caesius and C. trachycoleus) in swidden fallows in Kalimantan (Weinstock, 1983) suggests that large canes could be grown by small farmers as well.
This paper addresses ecological aspects of wild rattan gathering, a field in which I have expertise. However, even if harvesting wild rattan appears to be ecologically viable, socio-political and institutional aspects of cane extraction will require critical consideration. In addition, given declining wild rattan supplies it may prove necessary to cultivate rattan and that raises questions as to the type of production system one pursues. Key questions that policy makers must consider include: What is the most reliable and cost-efficient way of producing large-diameter rattan cane - management of wild populations or intensive cultivation by small farmers or in large plantations? What are the ecological effects associated with these different approaches? What economic costs and benefits are associated with managing wild populations vs. cultivating rattan in plantations? And what implications do these differing approaches have on the distribution of social and economic costs and benefits? In the following section I briefly review these issues in light of analyses by social scientists who have studied rattan and my own observations from Central Sulawesi.
6. Social, Economic and Institutional Challenges to Rattan Harvesting and Cultivation
Rattan is widely recognized as an important domestic and internationally-traded commodity. Indeed

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


[SMH | Text-only index]
Day without violence leaves New Yorkers stunned
Date: December 01 2012
NEW YORK: Twenty years ago, at the height of New York City's violent past, an average of six people were murdered every day, but ''Gotham'' has come a long way since then.
On Monday, for the first time in living memory, New Yorkers passed an entire day without a single report of a person being shot, stabbed or subjected to a violent crime.
The paucity of violence for 24 hours took the New York Police Department by surprise, with a spokesman admitting that officers could not remember the last time such a thing happened. It is further evidence of a downward trajectory in New York, a city famed for mobsters and violence, where violent crime has fallen significantly in the past two decades.
In 1990, during the height of the city's problems with crime, officials recorded 2245 murders. So far this year there have been 366 murders, meaning the number is on track to fall below 400 for the first time in living memory.
Gun crime has also decreased. At this time last year, 1674 people had been shot compared with 1514 - about five a day - this year. In 1994, the year the NYPD started its computer tracking of crime, 4967 people were shot, almost 14 a day.
Put in a national context, New York, with a population of 8 million, is likely to record fewer murders than much smaller cities.
Chicago, a city of 2.7 million people, has had particularly bad gun crime problems this year, with 462 murders to date. Philadelphia, with a population of 1.5 million, has recorded 301 murders in 2012.
Tom Reppetto, a NYPD historian, told the New York Daily News the city's crime landscape had changed dramatically since the 1990s.
''There were shootings galore,'' he said. ''We lived in a town where people were afraid to come out of their houses, where babies slept in bathtubs to avoid getting shot, where nursery schools ran drills - 'When you hear the shots, drop down'. [Now] they're going to come in with the fewest number of murders since about 1960. It's an almost impossible figure, but their programs have been fabulously successful in stopping crime.''
Paul Browne, an NYPD spokesman, described the lack of shootings and stabbings on Monday as ''a nice start to the week''. But, rather than focus on that one day, he pointed towards the overall decline in murders and violent crime in the city. ''It is a remarkable decline over the years,'' he said. ''Some people thought it would never go below 600 and then it 2002 it did for the first time. Then it went below 500 and now we are on track to fall below 400.
''That would be a record for murders in New York City, certainly in modern times. You'd have to go back to the 1960s to see murders below 400 in New York City, but back then the records were not kept as reliably as they are now.''
Perhaps just as remarkable is that the falling murder rate has coincided with a decline in the number of police officers. In 2000 the NYPD had about 41,000 police officers. Now it has about 35,000.
The force attributes the success to the use of ''hot-spot policing'' - putting officers in areas known for crime.
While Monday's shooting and stabbing-free day was welcomed, the hiatus was brief. On Tuesday morning, a 27-year-old man was shot in Brooklyn.
Telegraph, London
[ SMH | Text-only index]


Moving a window from a disconnected monitor to connected monitor
Consider a laptop that runs a Windows Operating system. (We have found that this applies to Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 as well.)
Let's say, when at work, I connect a monitor via USB to the "left" of the laptop monitor. It's identified as monitor 3.
At home, I use a monitor that sits to the right of the laptop monitor. It's monitor 2.
Monitor 1 is the inbuilt laptop monitor.
Now at home I open a window, any window, on monitor 2. Then I come to work and plug in monitor 3. Anything I had open on monitor 2 is now stuck in un-retrievable land. It keeps attempting to display on a monitor that is no longer connected.
If you look closely, you'll see that you still get the icon for the app down in your task bar. If so, do the following:
 - Select the icon for the app and hit ALT+ SPACE and then M.
 - This will select Move for the Window selected.
 - Now use your keyboard arrow to move the window in the proper direction to the active monitor.
Once you have hit at least on arrow key to start the move, you can them use the mouse for the rest, which unless the resolution of the screen that isn't present is small is usually a bit quicker.
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20 October 2020
Artificial intelligence reveals hundreds of millions of trees in the Sahara
There are far more trees in the West African Sahara and Sahel than most would expect. A combination of artificial intelligence and detailed satellite imagery allowed a team from the University of Copenhagen and international collaborators to count all trees across a 1.3 million km2 area of West Africa.
Dryland landscape in Africa
Photo: Martin Brandt
If you think that the Sahara is covered only by golden dunes and scorched rocks, you aren't alone. Perhaps it's time to shelve that notion. In an area of West Africa 30 times larger than Denmark, an international team, led by University of Copenhagen and NASA researchers, has counted over 1.8 billion trees and shrubs. The 1.3 million km2 area covers the western-most portion of the Sahara Desert, the Sahel and what are known as sub-humid zones of West Africa.
"We were very surprised to see that quite a few trees actually grow in the Sahara Desert, because up until now, most people thought that virtually none existed. We counted hundreds of millions of trees in the desert alone. Doing so wouldn't have been possible without this technology. Indeed, I think it marks the beginning of a new scientific era," asserts Assistant Professor Martin Brandt of the University of Copenhagen's Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, lead author of the study's scientific article, now published in Nature.
The work was achieved through a combination of detailed satellite imagery provided by NASA, and deep learning — an advanced artificial intelligence method. Normal satellite imagery is unable to identify individual trees, they remain literally invisible. Moreover, a limited interest in counting trees outside of forested areas led to the prevailing view that there were almost no trees in this particular region. This is the first time that trees across a large dryland region have been counted.
The role of trees in the global carbon budget
New knowledge about trees in dryland areas like this is important for several reasons, according to Martin Brandt. For example, they represent an unknown factor when it comes to the global carbon budget:
"Trees outside of forested areas are usually not included in climate models, and we know very little about their carbon stocks. They are basically a white spot on maps and an unknown component in the global carbon cycle," explains Martin Brandt.
Furthermore, the new study can contribute to better understanding the importance of trees for biodiversity and ecosystems and for the people living in these areas. In particular, enhanced knowledge about trees is also important for developing programmes that promote agroforestry, which plays a major environmental and socio-economic role in arid regions.
"Thus, we are also interested in using satellites to determine tree species, as tree types are significant in relation to their value to local populations who use wood resources as part of their livelihoods. Trees and their fruit are consumed by both livestock and humans, and when preserved in the fields, trees have a positive effect on crop yields because they improve the balance of water and nutrients," explains Professor Rasmus Fensholt of the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management.
The area where the trees were mapped
The red rectangle marks the area where the trees were mapped.
Technology with a high potential
The research was conducted in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen's Department of Computer Science, where researchers developed the deep learning algorithm that made the counting of trees over such a large area possible.
The researchers show the deep learning model what a tree looks like: They do so by feeding it thousands of images of various trees. Based upon the recognition of tree shapes, the model can then automatically identify and map trees over large areas and thousands of images. The model needs only hours what would take thousands of humans several years to achieve.
"This technology has enormous potential when it comes to documenting changes on a global scale and ultimately, in contributing towards global climate goals. We are motivated to develop this type of beneficial artificial intelligence," says professor and co-author Christian Igel of the Department of Computer Science.
The next step is to expand the count to a much larger area in Africa. And in the longer term, the aim is to create a global database of all trees growing outside forest areas.


Example: Enter the names of the places FROM Tver,Russia TO Bacau,Romania then press ENTER or DISTANCE button
What if they are more cities with similar names?
Exemplu: Tver,Russia
Directions. How to change route
distance between Tver,Russia - Bacau,Romania
Calculate-distance.com - condition to use:
However, it is posible some of the information (ie. city, calculate distance, route, distances, etc.) contained in this website to not be very precise.


Begin3 Title: cdbfile Version: 1.0b Entered-date: 25MAR97 Description: CDBFile is a C++ object-oriented package for programmers who need to manipulate dBASE III files in their programs. It enables you to perform many operations on an existing DBF file: reading/writing to it, accessing its values, sorting the records, adding/deleting records, etc. It comes with full text and postscript documentation, and commented source code. A demonstration program, testdbf, shows the various possibilities of the CDBFile library, and its source file, testdbf.cpp, demonstrates how to implement CDBFile within a program. CDBFile was designed to be as portable as possible. Keywords: database, dBASE, library, C++, dbf Author: Herve Gourmelon Maintained-by: Herve Gourmelon Primary-site: /pub/Linux/devel/db 41k cdbfile.tar.gz Alternate-site: /pub/Linux/devel/db 41k cdbfile.tar.gz Copying-policy: GPL (for testdbf; Library-GPL for cdbfile.cpp and cdbfile.h) End


'Cinderella' - biaxial liquid crystal - is found at last
Cinderella is found at last
The X-ray scattering pattern on the front cover of Physical Review Letters shows that there are two different correlation lengths in the biaxial liquid crystal of goethite particles.
Recent research at the DUBBLE beamline has proved the existence of liquid crystals with two main axes. Liquid crystals with a single main axis are already used in LCDs (liquid crystal displays), but crystals with two main axes can make computer monitors and optical switches much faster, as well as opening doors to new 3D technologies.
For decades, researchers have been on a quest for the 'Cinderella' of liquid crystals, a so-called biaxial. Some years ago, the formation of such liquid crystals with two main axes by complex banana-shaped molecules was reported. However, these results were contested, as some researchers believed that the observations might have originated from the complex internal structure of the crystals, which are not necessarily biaxial.
Researchers from Utrecht University, The Netherlands, have now proved the existence of biaxial liquid crystals in a much simpler system of inorganic colloidal particles, which are able to spontaneously form biaxial liquid crystals. The proof was obtained using DUBBLE, a facility which allows Dutch and Flemish researchers to experiment using X-rays at the ESRF () in Grenoble, France.
If you press your finger onto an - which is not actually recommended - you'll see some movement around the finger. This is because of the liquid crystals (LCs), which can flow like a liquid. However, in contrast to ordinary liquids, LCs consist of elongated molecules which all face the same way along the main axis. The properties of LCs are therefore anisotropic. For instance, the for light depends on whether the light is polarised along the main axis or along the other two directions. You can adjust the direction these molecules face using electric voltage. These effects are exploited in your LCD screen to manipulate light with electric signals to produce the image.
The molecules in the liquid crystals in your LCD screen arrange themselves along a single axis. Rod-like molecules align their long side parallel to each other while they can easily rotate in the other directions. There are also LCs formed by disc-shaped molecules, which align their shortest sides parallel. In both cases, the length or width is clearly different from the other two dimensions. It was predicted as far back as forty years ago, however, that molecules with different lengths, widths and thicknesses would be able to align along both the longest and shortest axes. This theory has now been proved for the first time during experiments with the DUBBLE.
The scientists studied spontaneous formation of liquid crystals by disc-like particles of the mineral goethite. They used X-rays at the DUBBLE beamline to reveal the 3D structure of the liquid crystals. In the nematic phase the particles appeared to be able to align in all three dimensions, the length, the width and the thickness, parallel to each other. The prediction from 40 years ago was finally confirmed. The research results were published in December 2009 on the cover of the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters.
The particles of goethite with a simple disc-like shape have now provided the first clear proof for biaxial structure. However, the particles that the researchers used for their experiments are not immediately usable for new screen or super-fast optical switches just yet. These particles absorb too much light, and they are still a bit too large and therefore too slow. The principle is extremely promising, however.
DUBBLE (the Dutch Belgian Beamline) is one of the thirty measurement facilities around the synchrotron ring at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble. DUBBLE can access the that are generated by the ESRF synchrotron for research purposes. The radiation is particularly intense and covers virtually the full wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum. Using X-ray scattering, scientists can study structures between 1 and 1000 millionths of a millimetre (i.e. 1 nanometre to 1 micron) in size. Over the past four years, scientists have used this technique to investigate materials such as large proteins, liquid crystals, colloidal crystals, supercooled water, polymers and skin.
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Citation: 'Cinderella' - biaxial liquid crystal - is found at last (2010, February 12) retrieved 23 September 2021 from _URL_
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text:
Warm-Season Grasses Turn Brown in Fall
submitted by Don Janssen, Extension Educator
As we advance into fall, brown or straw-colored patches of grass often appear in lawns. In some cases, the entire lawn turns a straw color. One of the more common reasons for this is warm-season grasses.
Most grasses in Lancaster county lawns are cool-season species, which stay green for much of fall because they thrive in cool weather. Warm-season grasses turn brown with cooler weather in fall. Perennial species will go dormant and return to green very late next spring or early summer. Warm-season annuals die and must regrow from seed to appear next season.
Crabgrass, a warm-season annual, was common in lawns this year. As crabgrass turns brown in fall, it is dead, and the same plant will not return next season. Seeds on the soil surface must germinate next year for the problem to occur again. Preemergence herbicides (crabgrass preventers) can be used next season to help prevent the return of crabgrass in the lawn.
Zoysiagrass is a most common perennial warm-season grass in our area. During a hot summer zoysiagrass lawns are most likely the greenest on the block. Then with the return of cool weather in September, zoysiagrass starts turning yellow, then a straw color. Zoysiagrass is not dead, but it will not green up until significant warmth returns sometime next year.
An additional warm season grass that appears as straw-like patches in fall is nimblewill. Nimblewill will appear as patches of fine grass, usually in shade locations. These patches become very conspicuous in fall and next spring.
One control option for zoysiagrass or nimblewill is to dig it out, making sure to get all the creeping stems and roots. Another option is to apply the herbicide glyphosate (Roundup), but the grass needs to be green and growing to be killed. Probably the best time to do this would be next August, so the area can be reseeded afterwards.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension in Lancaster County is your on-line yard and garden educational resource. The information on this Web site is valid for residents of southeastern Nebraska. It may or may not apply in your area. If you live outside southeastern Nebraska, visit your local Extension office


Was Rick Perry actually drunk? A computer says it knows
by Jerry Gorin | Off-Ramp
32209 full
Researchers at Signal Analysis Interpretation Lab at USC test out their drunk speech detector. Clockwise from top: Shri Narayanan, Daniel Bone and Matt Black. Jerry Gorin/KPCC
Last October, Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry delivered a bizarre speech in New Hampshire during which he bounced on his heels, giggled, and struggled to stay on point. Many people thought that he was drunk, and the claims became so widespread that Perry had to publicly deny them. But short of going back in time and taking a blood sample, there was no way to be sure. That is, until a team of researchers from USC came along.
Professor Shri Narayanan and his team designed the winning entry in the latest challenge from the International Speech Communication Association (ISCA). The challenge asked participants to design a computer system that could identify drunk people from their speech patterns. The team's winning system could tell if someone was drunk about 70 percent of the time.
Narayanan said the topic isn't exactly what their lab is known for.
"It wasn't a core problem in our lab, that we are interested in the state of inebriation of people."
What they are interested in is speech. The researchers in Professor Narayanan's lab have developed computer programs that dissect speech patterns and then tie them to hidden states, like emotions or diseases such as autism.
"Let's consider the example of a child with autism," said Narayanan. "A prototypical way of characterizing that is to say that their intonation sounds atypical. We are interested in how to quantify this atypicality in intonation."
Many doctors currently use the way he or she talks as an indicator for autism. Narayanan thinks his computer programs will soon be able to do it better.
"[Computers] can look at micro-variations and intonations in the beginning of my sentence now and compare it with [my voice] three minutes later," he explained. "That's difficult for humans to do, or maybe even impossible, but computers can build analytic tools to try to measure these things."
Professor Narayanan's laboratory focuses mostly on debilitating speech in order to help physicians better diagnose their patients. But the drunken detection challenge was no gimmick. Since there's a reliable way to measure drunkenness (blood-alcohol content) the challenge gave researchers a concrete way to see whether their systems were any good. So his team signed up.
The data they used came from researchers in Germany, who collected sober speech recordings from recruited subjects. Then they gave them a few beers and recorded their speech again.
Narayanan said they also measured their blood alcohol content to determine which ones were legitimately drunk.
The professor's six-man team included recent Ph.D. Matt Black and third-year doctoral candidate Daniel Bone, who showed Off-Ramp the system. Black queued up an example of a sober German utterance - a banal statement where the speaker asks his car to play a CD. He then played an utterance from the same speaker, with the same prompt, but after drinking lots of beer.
It didn't sound like the first.
"He adds an extra 'gut' at the end," said Bone, laughing. "I think that means 'good'".
Black said they started with the speaking rate. They thought that it would be an intuitive thing to measure because they expected that drunk speakers would speak slower. But the computers didn't think it was such a useful measurement.
"We found that the rate features weren't very helpful," said Black, "but then we found other features that were less interpretable that ended up allowing us to win the competition."
Black said that the most important thing was to build a system that was robust and could measure thousands of different features, regardless of whether the research team could hear them.
"How these happen sometimes is beyond human interpretability," said Narayanan. "And that's what we refer to as black box. We really can't interpret the internals of these algorithms and how they choose data, how they slice them and dice them, and it's not often nicely packaged to listen to. But what we can see with certainty are outcomes."
At a computer station in the back of the laboratory, the team was eager to finally show off its new system. Black put on a headset and sat in the pilot's seat, where he began saying commands to familiarize the program with his voice.
He uttered three "sober" sentences, three "drunk" sentences and then a test sentence.
"Now it's going through and training the system," said Narayanan. "It's extracting spectral voice quality features, extracting prosodic features, intonation and so on, it's now crunching, organizing it in order of importance."
A few minutes later the results were in. The computer came up with a score of five out of seven, or about 70 percent. Narayanan said it was a pretty good score - about on par with human accuracy, in fact - and said it was time to try a clip from Rick Perry's speech.
They ran the audio and waited. The results appeared. Perry was sober.
Narayanan didn't want to speculate whether the computer got that one wrong, but he said hopefully by the time the next presidential election rolls along, they'll be absolutely sure.
More from USC News: The Computer Says He Sounds Drunk
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Take the 2-minute tour ×
I'll use an example from JavaScript to help clarify my question. Let's assume I have the following object:
sports = {
 soccer: {...},
 basketball: {...},
 baseball: {...}
If at some point in my script I have a variable, sportString, that simply holds a string, I can dynamically call one of the sports objects in the following way:
This frees me from having to use a bunch of nested if statements, testing the value of the string such as:
if(sportString ==='soccer'){
}else if(sportString === 'basketball){....
So, my question is how can I accomplish something similar to sports[sportString] in Objective-C, if sportString is an NSString object?
share|improve this question
3 Answers 3
up vote 6 down vote accepted
Use an NSDictionary as your sports object. Then you can do lookups like this:
[sports objectForKey: sportsString];
share|improve this answer
Thanks. Giving this one the answer since it's the first. – maxedison Jul 9 '11 at 11:47
The people saying you should use NSDictionary for general key/value storage are 100 % right. However, I think it's useful to know that you can call a message specified by a string:
SEL selector = NSSelectorFromString(@"foo"); // Or _USER_(foo) if you know it at compile time
id value = [object performSelector:selector];
You can also use selectors with up to two arguments, as long as they take objects:
SEL selector2 = NSSelectorFromString(@"setFoo:");
[object performSelector:selector2 withObject:value];
It's possible to invoke arbitrary methods using IMPs or casting objc_msgSend(), but now I'm getting way beyond the scope of your actual question. :-)
share|improve this answer
Thanks for posting this. Definitely useful to know about NSSelectorFromString and performSelector. I really appreciate it! – maxedison Jul 9 '11 at 16:23
Your JavaScript object sports would typically be an NSDictionary or NSMutableDictionary. Example:
NSMutableDictionary *sports = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];
[sports setObject:@"Foo" forKey:@"soccer"];
[sports setObject:@"Bar" forKey:@"basketball"];
NSString *sportString = @"soccer";
NSString *sportValue = [sports objectForKey:sportString];
NSLog(@"%@", sportValue); //logs "Foo"
share|improve this answer
Your Answer


text:
Launch of the first Dugong Status Report and Action Plan
13 February 2002 | News story
Cartagena, Colombia 13.02.02. IUCN's Director General, Achim Steiner, and Dr. Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched a joint publication, Dugong: Status Report and Action Plans for Countries and Territories, during the seventh special session of UNEP's Governing Council in Columbia yesterday.
Steiner said that the report provides a practical example of global collaboration on environmental issues as also shown by the current Global Ministerial Environmental Forum convening in Cartagena this week. The report, compiled by Helene Marsh, a member of the IUCN/SSC Sirenia Specialist Group has been several years in development and is the first ever global study of the enigmatic "sea cow". The publication presents a global overview of the status of the dugong and its management in the many countries that make up its range. It is hoped the report will help individual countries develop their own, more detailed conservation plans for the species.
"IUCN is proud to be part of this important collaboration. An enormous amount of work has gone into this publication by our Species Survival Commission and we are extremely pleased that UNEP is making the information and recommendations available to global audiences via the Internet," said Steiner during a press conference. The report will be printed in English and French.
Töpfer said that IUCN is one of the most important international environmental organisations, providing a platform for governments and NGOs to meet, and being supported by a large scientist network.
"Status Reports and Action Plans are critical in alerting the global community to the plight of our species - the challenge is to ensure that the recommendations are quickly implemented to reverse the fortunes of dugong populations," said Steiner.
The dugong, the only herbivorous mammal that is strictly marine, is long-lived and reproduces slowly. It relies on seagrasses of coastal habitats which are often under pressure from human activities. Dugongs are also impacted by pollution, disease, hunting, and incidental drowning in fishing nets. The species is listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
The full publication is available on the UNEP website at _URL_
A list of all SSC species Action Plans is available here.


text:
Green Privet Root Ball 150/175
Privet tend to be semi-evergreen plants depending on how cold the winter is. They have simple, oval leaves and bear small white flowers followed by black or purple fruits. Privets are one of the few plants that can tolerate pretty much all soils and aspects. They are perfect for small gardens as they can be pruned hard to keep them slender whilst retaining height.
Privet can grow about 30cm (1ft) per year


text:
Forecast Texas Fire Danger (TFD)
The Texas Fire Danger(TFD) map is produced by the National Fire Danger Rating System (NFDRS). Weather information is provided by remote, automated weather stations and then used as an input to the Weather Information Management System (WIMS). The NFDRS processor in WIMS produces a fire danger rating based on fuels, weather, and topography. Fire danger maps are produced daily. In addition, the Texas A&M Forest Service, along with the SSL, has developed a five day running average fire danger rating map.
Daily RAWS information is derived from an experimental project - DO NOT DISTRIBUTE


TSO Logic Application-Aware Power Management | TSO Logic
"This seems like a big idea with scalable applications and material impact. New ways of delivering decision-quality data and actionable analysis is a very useful contribution!"
--Environmental Leader Product & Project Awards judge
TSO Logic's Application-Aware Power Management software enables companies to cut their energy costs and environmental impact by providing deep-level visibility and control over power consumption in datacenters. Taking advantage of periods of low workload, power usage can be reduced as much as 50%, resulting in significant reductions in carbon emissions and operating expenses. TSO's software correlates power usage/costs and IT workload across individual servers and applications. This allows companies to identify idle or underutilized servers for precise capacity planning, attach power costs to individual applications, measure and track carbon emissions, track wasted energy usage/costs, perform capacity shifting to optimize capacity levels and provide tracking of efficiency/performance improvements to meet sustainability objectives. It operates without any impact to datacenter performance or the user's experience and requires no additional hardware, agent software, or disruptive changes to the infrastructure.
TSO Logic image reducedDatacenters consume 3% of global electricity production, yet the average datacenter wastes as much as 90% of electrical energy on idle servers, the company says. Datacenters have highly variable workloads, but to prepare for spikes in demand, servers run at full power 24/7, even when there is no revenue to justify the cost. TSO Logic says its solution is unique in its ability to intuitively power control servers to eliminate the energy and heat generated from idle servers, thereby improving efficiency. It provides visibility to measure and track data such as transaction costs per kWh, cost per application and other metrics that demonstrate how application performance can affect power costs, environmental footprint and profitability.
For example, Arc Productions, an animation and visual effects studio, was facing monthly energy bills from their datacenter surmounting $25,000. They began using TSO Logic's solution and discovered that half their servers were idle 69% of the time. By adjusting server power levels, they reduced power consumption/costs by 56%, on track to save between $463,000 and $596,000 over the next 5 years. They also identified that 20% of their total server farm was underutilized. They replaced nearly half of these servers with more efficient technology, increasing their performance by 400%, and reducing the number of servers being powered. They also associated power costs with individual projects, performed precise capacity planning, and implemented capacity shifting to defer premium power rates during peak demand periods.
As one judge said, this product offers a lot of benefit and is a solid solution with impact.


In part one of our series on metal panel roof pitch, we looked at the engineering and strength considerations that need to be taken into account when designing or specifying a building. In part two, we'll review how to make the right metal panel selection for your building end-use by looking at the building type and roof pitch to find the optimal combination of form and function.
Types of roof panels:
Different types of metal roof panels are better suited for certain roof pitches and this mostly has to do with panel rib height and how they're seamed together. For instance, the lower the pitch, the taller the rib of the roof panel needs to be in order to optimize water carrying capacity. Also, the lower the pitch, the slower water runs off the roof; combined with wind pressure, this can hold water at the eave. As an example:
 - On 2:12 and lower pitches for commercial/industrial jobs, weathertightness warranties will use a mechanically seamed panel because it creates an impenetrable lock that keep water from seeping between the panels. Seamed panels can be thought of as more hydrostatic (resistant to water), whereas non-seamed panels are hydrokinetic, i.e., water runs off of them, but they are not designed to be a water barrier.
Panel Selection for Your Building End-Use
Building Type and Use:
Whether residential, post-frame or commercial, structures follow general design criteria regarding metal roof slope, based on to the building type and use. For instance:
Gabled v. Hipped: gabled roofs provide more interior headroom while with hipped roofs, endwall sheet height can be reduced, making for easier ordering and installation as you don't have to cut/miter the sheets.
 - Residential v. Post-Frame and Commercial Use: While it can generally be assumed that thicker-gauge panels are stronger, the type of building construction, location and end-use can affect the choice in panel thickness. Residential roofs generally have steeper slopes (often due to aesthetic sensibilities), while commercial and post-frame buildings will typically have a shallower pitch to increase the strength of the building. Buildings such as pole barns, post-frame buildings, warehouses and garages can require roof panels to span longer distances between supporting trusses and purlins and therefore require thicker panels to ensure the roof is structurally sound and can aid in reducing the chance of collapse under the weight of snow and water—particularly when the roof pitch is low. For smaller buildings—like residences—with supporting trusses and purlins that are typically closer together, thinner panels can be used in conjunction with thicker trim for an economic, structurally ideal residential metal roofing system. See our blog on metal panel gauges for more.
 - Economics: When a roof has a shallower pitch, less material is needed to cover the same roof span. This can be more economical since fewer square feet of material needs to be purchased, or at least help in offsetting the cost of the thicker panels commonly used on low-slope roof—a consideration often important to companies with multiple properties. Likewise, while more material may need to be purchased for a high-sloped roof, you may be able to buy thinner, less expensive panels since high-slope roofs don't typically need to be able to support heavier loads like low-slope roofs do.
 - Aesthetics: Traditional residences typically feature a higher roof pitch while this may be less important to commercial building owners. However—from a functional standpoint—thicker panels can be more forgiving of installation errors such as over-tightened screws and aren't as likely to transfer waves and bumps in sheathing.
Solar Panels and Roof Pitch:
The geographic location of a structure will determine the angle at which the solar panels should be installed. Generally. the closer to the equator you get, the lower the slope the solar panels can tolerate as roofs closer to the equator have more consistent exposure to sunlight as compared to those farther away. If you plan to add solar panels to your metal roof, be sure to check the Solar Reflective Index (SRI) values and minimum slopes set by the ASTM and local governing codes. These standards will advise adequate slope based on your location as well as help control things such as heat island effects, etc. For more information on solar reflectance and how it is affected by the color of your metal roof panels, see our blog post on cool metal roofs.
Roof slope is a factor that affects many decisions when it comes to any metal building roofing project regardless of the building's end use. When embarking on any metal roofing project, be sure that the panels you've selected meet local building codes and are produced by a quality manufacturer with knowledge and experience designing for different applications to ensure you get exactly what you're looking for. For more information on metal panel selection for your building end-use and to learn more about recommendations on roof slope for different building types, contact your local ABC representative today.
 Additional Resources:


Re: IDs - make them case sensitive
From:
Date: Fri, 27 Jun 97 23:48:44 EDT
Message-Id: <_EMAIL_>
To: _EMAIL_
Rick Jelliffe wrote:
>> TIM BRAY: Why, historically, was the value of an ID restricted to
> Name?
> Because people use the Reference Concrete Syntax.
Er, no, you are answering the wrong question, I think.
My guess for Tim and Debbie would be this:
Recall that the writers of the SGML standard actually thought that
NAMELEN would improve implementations... SGML was written in a culture
of what now seem to be very small computers, and placing arbitrary limits
on things reduced memory requirements.
An ID attribute is a NAME, and hence can only contain NAME characters.
In other words, SGML conflates the concepts of uniqueness and data type.
One can imagine a language (to borrow terminology) in which one could write:


text:
Kybella (deoxycholic acid) is the first FDA approved medication that destroys fat cells. Is a naturally molecule that occurs in the body and aids in the breakdown and absorption of dietary fat. It is used to treat submental fat or the fat that accumulates under the chin (a.k.a. Double chin). It may soon have indications to be used in other areas of the body, studies are ongoing.
Is Kybella safe?
The short answer YES.
The importance of finding someone with experience injecting this product and knowledge of the underlying anatomy is key. If the product is injected too close to the skin tissue breakdown or necrosis can occur.
For clients who choose to treat the jowling, they can develop weakness of the marginal mandibular nerve if inflammation occurs around the nerve but this does resolve. The trade off permanent fat destruction for temporary muscle weakness.
Other areas Kybella is being used:
Upper arm fat (aka Bat wings), Bra fat, Bra Roll, Love Handles, Banana Roll, Around the navel
*Kybella does not take the place of liposuction or surgical procedures to remove skin or fat. Nor does it take the place of a healthy lifestyle.


[Numpy-discussion] ndarray.__mul__ is too gready?
Pearu Peterson _EMAIL_...
Wed Jan 23 05:11:28 CST 2008
Say, one defines a class A that does not like to have numpy
arrays in the left-hand-side of an operation, say *,
but in the rhs it is expected.
For an example, consider A as a huge customized matrix that defines
only matrix * vector where vector can be numpy array
and scalar * matrix where scalar is python float or int.
Users may accidentally hit vector * matrix and this should raise
an exception. But when vector is numpy array, then ndarray.__mul__
calls element * A for each array element and here A.__rmul__
gets only the types of array elements (that are floats, for instance)
as rhs and hence is not able to decide that it should return
NotImplemented. Instead, it computes scalar * matrix and
the final result will be
 array([element1*matrix, element2*matrix,..])
which is not desired already because of the memory usage and
should have raised an exception instead.
Here is a small example illustrating the problem:
class A:
 def __rmul__(self, other):
 if isinstance(other, ndarray):
 return NotImplemented
 if isinstance(other, (int, float)):
 return self # pretend other==1 for an example
 return NotImplemented
 def __repr__(self): return 'A()'
>>> array([1,2,3]) * A()
array([A(), A(), A()], dtype=object)
# expected TypeError
Is there any workaround to this problem?
In other situations/applications the above behavior of
ndarray.__mul__ is a feature but is there any way to
avoid this feature?
More information about the Numpy-discussion mailing list


Legal Dictionary
Legal Definition of divorce
 1. The final, legal ending of a marriage, by court order.
Definition of divorce
 From Old French divorce, from Latin dīvortium, from dīvertere ("to turn aside"), from dī- ("apart") + vertere ("to turn"); see verse.
 - IPA: /dɪˈvoʊrs/, /dɪˈvɔrs/
 - Rhymes: -ɔː(r)s
divorce (plural divorces)
 1. The legal dissolution of a marriage.
 Richard obtained a divorce from his wife some years ago, but hasn't returned to the dating scene.
 2. A separation of connected things.
 The Civil War split between Virginia and West Virginia was a divorce based along cultural and economic, as well as geographic, lines.
 - (legal dissolution of a marriage): divorcement
 - (separation of connected things): partition, separation, severance
to divorce (third-person singular simple present divorces, present participle divorcing, simple past and past participle divorced)
 1. (transitive) To legally dissolve a marriage between two people.
 A ship captain can marry couples, but cannot divorce them.
 2. (transitive) To end one's own marriage in this way.
 Lucy divorced Steve when she discovered that he had been unfaithful.
 3. (transitive) To separate something that was connected.
 The radical group voted to divorce itself from the main faction and start an independent movement.
 4. (intransitive) To obtain a legal divorce.
 Edna and Simon divorced last year; he got the house, and she retained the business.
 - (to legally dissolve a marriage): split up
 - (to separate something that was connected): disassociate, disjoint, dissociate, disunite, separate
Further reading
Divorce or dissolution of marriage is the final termination of a marriage, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between married persons. In most countries, divorce requires the sanction of a judge or other authority in a legal process.
In western countries, a divorce does not declare a marriage null and void, as in an annulment, but divorce cancels the marital status of the parties. Where monogamy is law, this allows each partner to marry another. Where polygyny is legal, divorce allows the woman to marry another.
Divorce laws vary considerably around the world. Divorce is not permitted in some countries, such as in Malta and in the Philippines, though an annulment is permitted.
The legal process for divorce may also involve issues of spousal support, child custody, child support, distribution of property and division of debt, though these matters are usually only ancillary or consequential to the dissolution of the marriage.
1. scienter
2. quorum
3. AORO
4. adjudication order
5. appellant
6. lex patriae
7. Miranda warning
8. lex causae
9. lex domicilii
10. lex situs


Golden Bamboo – Phyllostachys aurea
P. aurea is a highly invasive running bamboo native to Southeast China but is now widespread globally and especially problematic in Australia and North America. This woody, rhizomatous perennial grass rapidly forms a dense monoculture, suffocating other native plants and altering the entire ecosystem. As well as having detrimental effects on the environment this bamboo may also damage property and pose as a potential health threat from its harbouring of a fungus responsible for the Histoplasmosis disease. Invasive bamboos are among the fastest growing plants on Earth and one infestation of P. aurea can spread as far as 9.3 miles. The spread is rapid in all directions, increasing each successive year (Gucker, 2009; Rickel, 2012).
It is listed invasive in Australia and Hawaii, and has naturalized or is listed invasive in 273 counties in the USA, including the mid-Atlantic region of the USA, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Georgia. It is reported to be fully naturalized in New Zealand, with infestations forming dense stands, and some invading national parks (Edgar and Connor, 2000; USDA-APHIS, 2012). It has been recorded as High Risk in several Weed Risk Assessments (USDA-APHIS, 2012; NYPRISM, 2013; PIER, 2016) and following New York State Department of Environmental Conservation listing of the species as invasive it has banned all future sales of Paurea (New York State DEC, 2014).
Infestations occur in undisturbed habitats including along stream edges and riparian corridors (Smith and Mack, 2012). It thrives in full sun, but also tolerates shade, spreading into forests. P. aurea spreads more rapidly in moist soils (USDA-APHIS, 2012).
Continual thick leaf litter within the stand of bamboo along with the dense shade in the bamboo stand prohibits the growth of other species of plants. It is also possible that P. aurea has allelopathic effects (USDA-APHIS, 2012).
P. aurea is long lived. Documentation and field work have shown the infestation increases over time to cover acres (EDDMapS, 2016). A single clump of golden bamboo can produce up to 9.3 miles of stems in its lifetime, all interconnected as one organism (Gucker, 2009).
How does it spread?
Natural Dispersal
Cases of spread by water have been documented in Connecticut (Bugwood Presentations, 2014) and there is the potential for rhizome fragments to be washed downstream along riparian corridors (USDA-APHIS, 2012).
Although spreading by seed is unlikely as flowers and seeds are rarely produced it cannot be ruled out completely (USDA-APHIS, 2012).
Accidental Introduction
The spread of P. aurea along roadsides by plows moving rhizomes has been documented. Observation has shown loose rhizome fragments and rhizomes growing up along roadsides where plows could potentially transport the rhizome spreading the bamboo (USDA-APHIS, 2012).
Improper disposal of the rhizomes is common, causing new bamboo infestations to start. Spread can occur from improper dumping of yard waste into natural areas (USDA-APHIS, 2012).
Intentional Introduction
P. aurea has been widely introduced as an ornamental in both temperate and tropical areas of the world (Gucker, 2009). P. aurea has also been introduced for making fishing poles, walking sticks, umbrella and fan handles and pipe stems (McClure, 1957).
What does it look like?
P. aurea is a woody, rhizomatous perennial grass, which grows to form a dense bamboo forest. The main stem is called a culm. The culm is made up of jointed segments. The rings are called nodes. The sections between the nodes or rings are called internodes.
Golden bamboo has distinct swollen internodes, bunched up together at the bottom of some random canes. This unique trait is useful for certainty in the ID of golden bamboo (McClure, 1957). Most canes will have uniformly spaced sections (internodes) as the compressed internode trait only occurs on some canes. Golden bamboo has a slight cupped flare where the sections meet at the nodes (rings). In Japan, the compressed swollen internodes are referred to as deformed stems, and thought to be a reason for the cultivation of the species P. aurea, due to the curiosity of the deformed swollen internodes.
A pure planting of P. aurea can be identified with ease and certainty by the culms. Stems and branches are green when plants are young but turn golden yellow with age. Branches occur in uneven pairs with a groove called a sulcus (Arnold Arboretum, 1946; Gucker, 2009). They can grow to a maximum height of 11.8 m tall and are tolerant of colder temperatures (reportedly up to -20°C) (Arnold Arboretum, 1946; Young and Haun, 1961; Gucker, 2009; EDDMapS, 2016). The diameter of the culms can reach 15 cm but are usually 9 cm or less depending on the age of the stand. Each year the culms will emerge thicker (Gucker, 2009). The length of the rhizomes increases each successive year. In a mature stand the rhizomes may spread 4-7.6 m underground each year (Young and Haun, 1961). Spread is rapid in all directions by the interconnected dense underground rhizome system. A single golden bamboo clump can produce rhizomes spreading 9.3 miles in its lifetime (Gucker, 2009).
P. aurea is an evergreen, even though leaves change each year later in the spring. The old leaves fall off and are gradually replaced with new leaves (McClure, 1957).
Flowers and seeds are rarely produced. Although spreading by seed is unlikely, it cannot be ruled out completely (USDA-APHIS, 2012).
Herbicide recommended. Please refer to your local bush regeneration leader for more information.
 1. CABI — Invasive species compendium
 2. Department of Primary Industries – NSW WeedWise


text:
An assessment of the effects of dietary folic acid supplementation on serum folates status, conceptus development and reproductive performance in gilts and sows
MetadataShow full item record
In the first experiment (Chapter III), gilts fed a single, rapidly consumed meal, had a rapid increase in serum folates concentration during the first hour postprandial. Within eight hours after feeding, serum folates in the gilts had returned to near prefeeding levels. The results also suggest that supplementing the diet with increasing levels of folic acid over a range of 0 to 4 ppm results in more rapid postprandial uptake and elimination of folic acid from general circulation.
In the second experiment (Chapter IV), supplementing the diet of first parity and third parity breeding sows with 2 ppm folic acid had no effect on litter size at day 45 of gestation. However, several measurements associated with placental and fetal growth were increased with folic acid supplementation. Results of a fifth parity trial with four levels of supplemental folic acid were variable and inconclusive. The implications of increased placental and fetal growth up to day 45 of gestation in the first and third parity sows is discussed. In the third experiment (Chapter V), a decline in serum folate concentration in pregnant sows from mating to midto late gestation was clearly demonstrated. Supplementing the sow's diet with folic acid over a range of 0 to 4 ppm resulted in a linear increase in serum folate concentration at mating, during gestation and at weaning. However, under the conditions of this experiment, folic acid supplementation had no significant effect on sow reproductive performance.
- Doctoral Dissertations


Will, M. (2020, January 22). Preservice Teachers Are Getting Mixed Messages on How toTeach Reading. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
Everyone agrees that the early years of reading instruction are critical. But there are still vigorous debates among practitioners about how exactly to teach children to read—and new data confirm that preservice teachers are often told competing information.
Best Practices


> > >
Carrageen is an ingredient with several purposes, usually sold as a powder.
It is used commercially in desserts, jellies, and ice cream. It causes stuff to gel at room temperature with no refrigeration needed. Substances gelled with it can be firm or soft, and have a high or low melting point, according to desire.
It is also used to stabilize liquids that have "bits" in them and help the "bits" in them to stay suspended in the liquid, rather than sinking to the bottom. For instance, in chocolate milk, it stops all the chocolate from sinking to the bottom. It can also be used for the opposite purpose, to cause bits to sink to the bottom. In this way, it is used to clarify beer, vinegar and wine.
In ice cream, it helps prevent ice crystals from forming, as well as improving the feel of the ice cream in your mouth. It doesn't interact with milk proteins, so it doesn't affect the taste / texture of dairy products.
It thickens sauces and salad dressings. In already-made meat patties and in luncheon meats and other prepared meats, it can be used as a substitute for fat, and to help increase weight.
It reinforces gluten structures, allowing cheaper soft flours to be used for pasta.
The behavioural characteristics of the Carrageen are influenced by the species of seaweed used, what stage in its growth or lifespan the seaweed is at when harvested, and how it is processed.
To make Carrageen, seaweed is harvested, then inspected, then cleaned, then processed. The Carrageen can be extracted boiling, or through alcohol or various alkalis.
Carrageen used to just come from Irish Moss seaweed (L. Chondrus crispus), but now it is extracted from other seaweeds as well, even tropical ones, such as the species known as Kappaphycus alverezii and Eucheuma denticulatum.
80% of the world's supply of Carrageen is now (2006) made in the Philippines, from seaweeds called Cottonii (Eucheuma cottonii, aka Kappaphycus cottonii) and Spinosum (Eucheuma spinosum.) Spinosa is also sold in markets there as "guzo" for use partly as a salad vegetable. In the Philippines, the seaweed is cultivated on lines strung between floats. It can be harvested after 3 months. Harvesting is largely done by families and individuals.
There are three main categories of Carrageen:
Kappa Carrageen
Kappa Carrageen is produced from the seaweed known as Kappaphycus cottonii. It is used to make strong, rigid, clear gels. It is soluble in hot water, and forms a gel when cooling. It doesn't, though, stand up well to freezing and thawing.
Iota Carrageen
Iota Carrageen is produced from the seaweed known as Eucheuma spinosum. This seaweed grows at the top of the ocean, growing from the surface downwards about 7 feet (2 metres.) It is used to make soft gels. It is soluble in hot water, but needs calcium to interact with to gel. It holds water well, and stands up well to freezing and thawing.
Lambda Carrageen
Lambda Carrageen is produced from Gigartina seaweed (during its spore-producing stage), and others. It cannot form gels, it just thickens, but it thickens better than the other two mentioned above. It is soluble in hot and cold water, but needs protein to interact with. It doesn't absorb water. It is used in dairy products.
Carrageen is considered safe, though some dispute this, saying that it causes stomach aches in some people, and sometimes even cancer. The European Commission Scientific Committee studied these claims, and found no backing for them. [1]. The committee specifically rejected findings published a few years previously by Joanne Tobacman, M.D., University of Iowa, College of Medicine, that created a bit of a scare which some "food industry conspiracists" seemed to jump on.
There is evidence that a version of Carrageen, "poligeenan", which is made for industrial purposes would be unsafe in food. It is not, however, certified or used in food, particularly because it has none of the properties of carrageen (such as thickening) that would make it even remotely useful to the food industry.
Carrageen also meets requirements to be kosher (parve.)
[1]. European Commission: Health & Consumer Protection Directorate-General. Scientific Committee on Food on Carrageenan. Scientific Committee on Food SCF/CS/ADD/EMU/199 Final. 21 February 2003.
History Notes
Carrageen was first used in China around 600 BC; in Ireland, around 400 AD.
The English word comes from the Irish town of Carragheen. People there boiled Irish moss to obtain the gelling agent out of it for use in cooking.
The two earliest commercial producers of Carrageen were located in Maine and in Denmark.
Language Notes
Carrageen's E number is E407.
In Irish, the moss is called "carraigín."
Also called:
Carragheen; Chondrus Extract; E407; Irish Moss; L. Chondrus crispus (Scientific Name)
See also:
Alginic Acid; Arrowroot; Bisto Instant Gravy Granules; Bisto; Carrageen; Cassava Flour; Clearjel; Filé; Genugel; Guar Gum; Lecithin; Locust Bean Gum; Lotus Root Flour; Malanga Flour; Marshmallow Powder; Panade à la frangipane; Panade; Pectin; Thickeners; Water Chestnut Flour; Wild Mango; Xanthan Gum
You may also like:
Looking for home canning information?
Bon mots
"I can't say I'm very impressed with the food in America. It's all sort of bland. Like turkey sandwiches."
-- Anne Dudley (British composer. 7 May 1956 - )
Myth of the Day
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029 - Federalism Simplified
Transcript of 029 - Federalism Simplified
Enumerated Powers /
Expressed Powers /
Three Different Names
- Same Power
Enumerated Powers explicitly granted to the national government. These powers are written in the Constitution in Article I, Section 8.
Implied Powers are powers of the national government but not directly written in the Constitution. These national powers are located in
Article I, Section 8, Clause 18
Necessary and Proper Clause
). This power was first validated in the 1819 landmark Supreme Court cases "
McCulloch v Maryland
Reserved Powers are those powers that are not expressly written in the Constitution. These powers are reserved to the states. This is outlined in the
to the Constitution.
Concurrent Powers are power of the National government and the state government that are
Examples of Enumerated Powers:
--Create Armed Forces
--Establish National Courts
--Regulate Interstate Commerce
Examples of Implied Powers:
--Create Interstate Highways
--Tennessee Valley Authority
Examples of Reserved Powers:
--Establishing Local Gov'ts
Examples of Concurrent Powers:
is the sharing of power between a strong national government and weak state governments.


Sharjah Architecture Triennial, photo by Ieva Saudargaitė
Sharjah Architecture Triennial will seek to overturn "orientalist cliches"
A new architecture triennial launching in the United Arab Emirates next year will challenge "pernicious" western views of Asian, African and Middle Eastern architecture, according to curator Adrian Lahoud.
The Sharjah Architecture Triennial, debuting in the Emirati city in November 2019, aims to tackle stereotypes about the region and its architecture.
"There's going to be an attempt to rethink architecture beyond a Western European framework," Lahoud told Dezeen.
"You get all these orientalist cliches and you find them in all kinds of various forms of knowledge production, and they're continually repeated within the media."
Adrian Lahoud, photo by Rabee Younes
The first Sharjah Architecture Triennial will "look beyond a Western European framework" says curator Adrian Lahoud. Photo is by Rabee Younes
Lahoud, who is dean of the school of architecture at the Royal College of Art in London, revealed details of the triennial at a launch event at the Venice Architecture Biennale at the end of May.
In an exclusive interview with Dezeen ahead of the launch, he criticised the western tendency to highlight vernacular design, traditional materials and even tribal dress from non-western cultures.
"Those kinds of cliches are pernicious, virulent, and objectionable tropes, that really no major international exhibition of architecture that I've seen in decades has been exempt from," he said. "There's a lack of indigenous modernities or futures in those accounts."
Triennial will "look beyond the object"
Instead, the three-month-long triennial in port city Sharjah, which neighbours Dubai, will look "beyond a focus on the object, the focus on the form of the object, or thinking about the building envelope as where architecture ends," said Lahoud.
"It's important because our perspective of architecture is so dominated by the legacy of Western European forms of thinking," he said. "This is a part of the world that is still involved in various different struggles against colonialism."
Sharjah Architecture Triennial, photo by Ieva Saudargaitė
Taking place in port city Sharjah, which neighbours Dubai, the triennial will focus on architecture in North and East Africa, the Middle East and South Asia
Looking at architecture in North and East Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, the inaugural event is titled Rights of Future Generations.
It will examine how the recent focus on individual rights to things such as health, education and housing have diminished concern about collective entitlements such as rights to natural resources and a benign environment.
Looking at architecture from the perspective of future generations
Lahoud hopes the triennial will help move the discussion ''beyond questions of individual rights to think about collective rights, from the perspective of a future generation".
"But it's challenging, as future generations don't exist, so who speaks on behalf of them?" he said, stressing that this is the key question that architecture should be addressing.
"The reason it's becoming such a fundamental question and why it's so important to use as a kind of lens to think about architecture and think about cities is because there's no doubt in anyone's minds that we are making massive transformations to the planet at the moment," he said. "These are transformations that will have really fundamental long-term consequences on quality of life."
This involves overturning western views on architecture and urbanism, Lahoud believes.
"Shelter, for example, assumes that there is a distinction between ourselves and the environment; that the environment is a threat and we have to be protected from it," he said. "That's a core concept within architecture, but not all societies see their relationship to the environment in the same way."
Western architecture is "condescending"
Lahoud attacked the way other international architecture exhibitions presented architecture from Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
"For example, this obsession with tradition in the vernacular," he said. "This condescending appreciation of creativity under conditions of adversity. Or even the semiotics of architectural materials, bamboo and mud bricks, and so-called other traditional materials. There's always a complete absence of technological sophistication or technological experimentation."
He added: "Architects from that part of the world get admitted to international exhibitions if they're in traditional dress, and of course that standard never applies to architects from a North American or Western European context."
"The question we should be asking is why does the Western curatorial gaze, whenever it looks out to those parts of the world, basically seek works that only confirms preconceptions of what architecture from that part of the world should look like."
Sharjah Architecture Triennial, photo by Ieva Saudargaitė
The aim of the event is to overturn western views on architecture and urbanism, according to Lahoud
Lahoud, an architect, researcher and educator, was appointed dean of the RCA's school of architecture in 2015 when his predecessor Alex de Rijike resigned to focus on his architecture practice dRMM.
Specialising in post-colonial nation-building projects and climate research in the context of the global south, Lahoud's recent projects include an installation called Climate Crimes, which is currently on show at the V&A as part of the exhibition The Future Starts Here.
He promised to put voices of young people in the regions covered by the triennial at the centre of the show, although he conceded that three months would not be time enough to address the scale of issues they face.
"The thing that excites me the most is the opportunity to make a space for dialogue, to create a platform for an emerging generation of architects, of scholars, of artists, planners, urban designers, who are working in parts of the world that sometimes don't have access to really basic things like national archives, to a documentation of their own histories because of colonialism, because archives were taken back to Europe or destroyed."
Photography of Sharjah is by Ieva Saudargaitė.


text:
Easy Kumpir (Jacket Potato) Recipe
Kumpir or kompir is the name given to potatoes in my hometown. Although it is a word that is generally preferred by the elderly, it has not been used yet. It is thought that it was derived from the word "grundbirne", which means potato in German, and entered our country during the migrations over the Balkans and spread to Anatolia from there.
In different regions, it has taken the forms of "kumpir, gumpir, kumpil, gompil, hompur, humpur, kübül, guüpür" by changing it to fit the dialect of the people best. I think the word that best supports the theory that the word derives from German is the word "Alamangumpili" used by the people of Afyon.
Potatoes entered our country from different country borders at the beginning of the 19th century. For this reason, the pronunciation in the regions also reflects the pronunciation in the countries where it is taken. In Thrace and other provinces that have migrated through this road, the word is said as kumpir and its derivatives, which I have mentioned above, since the word was taken from Bulgaria.
In the Black Sea, the words kartol, kartop, karton, garduf, kardoğ, etc., which are derived from the word cartofel, are used because it was taken from Russia. In the regions that take the word from the Caucasus, patata, patalak, pitana, pata, etc., which is derived from the word patat. words are used. There is no limit to the words used other than those I have mentioned. Potato is perhaps the food with the most diverse pronunciation in our country.
The entry of kumpir in our country as we know it today coincides with a much later date, in 1991. It is stated in various sources that the potato cooked in aluminum foil in Yugoslavia is obtained by combining it with various salads and sauces and is called "krumpir".
Mr. The protagonist of the Kumpir's adventure that started in Turkey, which has made its name known to the world with the brand "Mr Kumpur", is an entrepreneur from Erzurum named Halit Kesemen.
However, Halit Bey introduced kumpir into our lives, which is produced in industrial ovens and can only be eaten in restaurants and cafes. Now, with this recipe, I intend to bring the kumpir to the houses. This recipe, which can be prepared in a very short time if your cucumber ingredients are ready, can be eaten as a snack on days when you are too lazy to cook and eat, or you can serve it to your guests as a salad.
Enjoy the recipe...
- 5 medium potatoes,
- 1 tablespoon of butter,
- 1 cup of grated gouda / cheddar / swiss cheese,
- Pepperoni / Ham / or any deli you like,
- 1/2 cup cooked (frozen) peas,
- 1/2 boiled carrots (cut into small cubes),
- 1/2 cup cooked (frozen) corn.
- Boil the potatoes,
- Drain and mash them while still hot,
- Stir in the butter, salt and cheese,
- Spread the mixture evenly on a baking dish,
- Cut your pepperoni (or whatever meat you are using) into small cubes and fry in a little oil,
- Then mix the meat with peas, carrots and corn, then spread the mixture evenly over the potato layer,
- Slice and serve.


Practical Tips To Clean Stains On The Walls Of A Minimalist Home
Not only is the condition of the floor, furniture, or yard that determines whether your house is clean or not, the condition of the walls must also receive attention. The reason is that even though your minimalist house is clean but the walls are full of stains, the house will still look dull and unattractive. A house with dirty walls also runs the risk of lowering the selling price — if one day you want to sell the house. So, to keep it looking clean and comfortable, start cleaning the walls of the house using home painting services; some stains can be cleaned easily, such as oil stains, food crumb stains, and mud stains. Cleaning usually can be done by wiping it with a tissue, sponge, or damp cloth. Meanwhile, for some types of stains that contain chemicals, such as pen or marker scribbles, oil paint is usually difficult to remove, unless you clean it as soon as the stain is exposed to the wall.
Food coloring stains, such as chocolate, sauce, or jam, can be removed simply by wiping the walls with a cloth or paper towel. Meanwhile, coconut milk food stains, gravy stains, and mud stains can be removed by wiping them with a cloth soaked in warm water to remove the oil or grease. One of the causes of dull walls is not necessarily food or soil stains, but rather dust left on. If the buildup is not impossible, it will make the walls damp and cause mold. So, at least clean the walls — especially the outer walls of the house — every two weeks with a broom or wipe them with an old cloth. Markers or pen stains should be cleaned with the help of baking soda or vinegar. The trick, add one tablespoon of baking soda or vinegar to half a small bucket of water. Then dip the sponge in the liquid and wash the sponge over the surface of the stained wall.
To clean a moss stain, it's best to open a window, as the scent of moss tends to be strong and makes it hard to breathe freely. Remove the moss stain with lemon juice. The trick, mix lemon with a glass of water then put it in a spray bottle. Spray onto the wall surface and then wipe with a cloth.


text:
Increased selenium in sheep diets can improve wool production in lambs
A lack of the nutrient selenium in sheep diets can result in lamb loss, white muscle disease, reduced growth and other health problems. Giving sheep selenium supplements during gestation is common in the sheep industry to improve lamb production and meat quality. To further understand the effects of selenium on wool production, researchers at North Dakota State University recently studied the consequences of feeding increased amounts of selenium to pregnant ewes. Their results were published in the latest issue of the Journal of Animal Science.
Similar to humans, pregnant sheep transfer ingested nutrients to their offspring.
Adding large amounts of selenium to pregnant sheep diets allowed the researchers to study whether added selenium affected lamb wool production and development of wool follicles. According to the authors article, this was the first research focused on wool production of lambs born to ewes fed increased amounts of selenium.
In an interview, co-authors Drs. Kim Vonnahme and Reid Redden, said the increase of selenium in maternal diets improves many of the qualities of the wool of six-month-old female lambs, such as fiber follicle development and staple (fiber) length upon shearing.
Typically, a longer fiber length upon shearing means reduced wool quality. However, Redden, a sheep specialist at North Dakota State University, said the greater amounts of selenium inclusion in maternal diets resulted in a longer fiber length without affecting wool quality.
"A longer staple length when shearing results in more wool sheared," Redden said.
The balance between offspring wool development and production with maternal diets is a new area of research in the sheep industry. Vonnahme and Redden said this type of information will prove valuable for both researchers and industry professionals.
Vonnahme, an NDSU associate professor also collaborated with NDSU scientist Dr. Joel Caton to study the nutrition of newborn sheep. Vonnahme said follicle development in newborn sheep still occurs during the first few weeks after birth. Because feed intake during this period influences wool growth, lambs used in the experiment were allowed to eat as much as they pleased.
"The increased comfort factor of the fiber is very much linked to nutrients ingested at birth," Vonnahme said.
And that "comfort factor" is very important for producers who want the softest wool possible.
The study was titled "Maternal nutrition during pregnancy influences offspring wool production and wool follicle development." It can be read in full at _URL_
ASAS Scientific Communications Associate
_EMAIL_ / _PHONE_


text:
We've covered a lot of Ctrl+D shortcuts previously (fill down in Excel, duplicate slide in PowerPoint, bookmark in IE and Firefox), so it's understandable if you get a little confused about what Ctrl+D does in each application.
But, if you spend a lot of time in Microsoft Word, you might want to memorize this one and practice it today: Ctrl+D brings up the Font dialog box in Word, where you can change the font face, the font size, the font color, and a few other special formatting options. (Don't forget you can press Ctrl+Tab to change the tabs in the dialog box to change character spacing and special effects.)
If you have selected text, pressing Ctrl+D will apply the font changes to whatever's selected. Otherwise, if nothing's selected, it'll affect what you type next.


text:
Food industry's green efforts may hit price wall
The European food and drinks industry is finalising plans to measure its environmental performance but increasingly price-aware consumers might derail their efforts, the European Commission cautioned.
A European round table bringing together the food industry, farmers and consumer groups has drawn up a series of 10 guiding principles to assess the environmental impact of food and drink products during their entire life cycle.
The principles, agreed on Tuesday (13 July), will guide the round table's future work on developing a uniform and scientifically reliable methodology for assessing the environmental impact of food and drink products.
It is also meant to serve as a communication tool for companies wanting to boast their green credentials.
The methodology, which is expected to be finalised by 2011, will address key sustainability challenges facing the food value chain, including climate change, resource efficiency, water use and waste reduction.
Mike Faupel from the Sustainability Consortium, an organisation of global companies seeking to improve consumer product sustainability, noted that the proliferation of eco-labels and other green claims led to confusion among consumers.
There is a need for more holistic approach and more transparency in how products are evaluated, he said.
EU principles underline that the environmental information should be provided in an easily understandable way that supports informed choice and allows consumers to compare products.


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Tactical Handcuffing
In-Service Training
Thu, Mar 18, 2021
This course will begin at 1300 hours in the JCSO classroom. The course is 4 hours and is accredited through CLEST.
This course is designed to train Officers how to handcuff suspects from a position of tactical advantage which will allow them to maintain control of the suspect should they resist.
After this course of instruction the student will be able to properly:
1. Identify the three types of subjects an officer will handcuff.
2. Identify the three tactical considerations of handcuffing.
3. Identify the three criteria used to determine if an officer can legitimately handcuff a subject without the concern of civil repercussions.
4. Identify when an officer should double-lock the handcuffs.
5. Identify two common handcuffing myths.
6. List the three considerations in selecting handcuffs.
7. Identify the two mechanical failures commonly experienced with handcuffs.
8. Demonstrate the "Terry Frisk" procedure.
9. Demonstrate the procedure for searching a handcuffed person.
10. Demonstrate the standing handcuffing technique.
11. Demonstrate the kneeling handcuffing technique.
12. Demonstrate the prone handcuffing technique.
13. Demonstrate the Iron Wrist Lock Takedown technique.
This course is offered to certified and reserve Deputies
Contact Captain John Bean at _PHONE_ extension 4106 or in order to be scheduled for the course.


Why? Because in America, your zip code is more relevant than your genetic code in predicting the length and quality of your life.
Daily challenges like food insecurity, poor housing conditions, lack of insurance, family instability, problems with education or employment, and other issues can become "health-harming legal needs" that require legal advocacy partnered with medical care to overcome.


text:
The findings are published in today's issue of Nature.
"This calcium transporter really is an important key to understanding how the heart is regulated," said Dr. Donald Hilgemann, professor of physiology and senior author of the study. "At every beat, calcium in heart cells increases. And it's calcium that is the messenger to the heart to get it to contract.
"We knew for a long time that NCX1 brings calcium into and out of heart cells by exchanging it for sodium. And in doing so it generates important electrical currents in the heart. The surprise is that this transporter dances more than just that old waltz from Vienna. It knows Salsa!"
The research reveals two new modes of operation of NCX1. First, the membrane protein can move sodium into heart cells without moving calcium out. This mode generates an electrical current independent of calcium transport that contributes to excitation of the heart. The second mode is to move calcium into heart cells without generating any electrical current. This mode, Dr. Hilgemann said, may determine the calcium that remains in heart cells after each beat and thereby determines the strength of cardiac contraction over many beats.
Using so-called "giant membrane patch" techniques together with highly sensitive ion detection techniques, both developed and implemented by Dr. Hilgemann, UT Southwestern researchers were able to determine precisely how NCX1 works as an ion exchanger, how many calcium and sodium ions move across the membrane, when they are exchanged, and, surprisingly, when they move together.
"Transporters move ions across membranes by grabbing hold of them and transferring the energy of one type of ion to another type, just one
Contact: Amy Shields
UT Southwestern Medical Center