My watch list
Dense plasma focus
Positive characteristics
How it works
The dense plasma column (akin to the Z-pinch) rapidly "pinches" and undergoes instabilities and breaks up. The intense electromagnetic and particle bursts, collectively referred to as'multi-radiation' occur during the dense plasma and breakup phases. These critical phases last typically tens of nanoseconds for a small (kJ, 100 kA) focus to around a microsecond for a large (MJ, several MA) focus.
Design parameters
The fact that the plasma energy density is constant throughout the range of plasma focus devices, from big to small, is related to the value of a design parameter that needs to be kept at a certain value if the plasma focus is to operate efficiently. The critical'speed' design parameter is {{I \over a} \over \sqrt{p}}, or the current linear density divided by the square root of the mass density of the fill gas.
Current research
DPF for nuclear fusion power
Several groups have claimed the DPF could prove viable for fusion power, even producing temperatures high enough for p+B11 fusion and that the powerful magnetic field can reduce electron-ion collisions and thus reduce bremsstrahlung losses; in contrast, the high magnetic field is theorised to aggravate cyclotron radiation losses. Another advantage claimed is the capability of direct conversion of the energy of the fusion products into electricity, with an efficiency potentially above 70%. So far only limited experiments and computer simulations have been done to investigate the capability of DPF for fusion power. Eric Lerner's approach to nuclear fusion using the DPF, termed "Focus Fusion", was explained in 2007 at Google's Tech Talks. [1]
 - 1960: H Alfven, L Lindberg and P Mitlid, "Experiments with plasma rings" (1961) Journal of Nuclear Energy. Part C, Plasma Physics, Accelerators, Thermonuclear Research, Volume 1, Issue 3, pp. 116-120
 - 1960: Lindberg, L., E. Witalis and C. T. Jacobsen, "Experiments with plasma rings" (1960) Nature 185:452.
 - 1961: Hannes Alfvén: Plasma Ring Experiment in "On the Origin of Cosmic Magnetic Fields" (1961) Astrophysical Journal, vol. 133, p.1049
 - 1961: Lindberg, L. & Jacobsen, C., "On the Amplification of the Poloidal Magnetic Flux in a Plasma" (1961) Astrophysical Journal, vol. 133, p.1043
 - 1962: Filippov. N.V., et al, "Dense, High-Temperature Plasma in a Noncylindrical 2-pinch Compression" (1962) 'Nuclear Fusion Supplement'. Pt. 2, 577
 - 1969: Buckwald, Robert Allen, "Dense Plasma Focus Formation by Disk Symmetry" (1969) Thesis, Ohio State University.
 1. ^
Fusion power
v d e
Atomic nucleus | Nuclear fusion | Nuclear power | Nuclear reactor | Timeline of nuclear fusion | Plasma physics | Magnetohydrodynamics | Neutron flux | Fusion energy gain factor | Lawson criterion
Methods of fusing nuclei
Magnetic confinement: – Tokamak – Spheromak – Stellarator – Reversed field pinch – Field-Reversed Configuration – Levitated Dipole
Inertial confinement: –
Laser driven – Z-pinch – Bubble fusion (acoustic confinement) – Fusor (electrostatic confinement)
Other forms of fusion: –
Muon-catalyzed fusion – Pyroelectric fusion – Migma – Polywell – Dense plasma focus
List of fusion experiments
Magnetic confinement devices
ITER (International) | JET (European) | JT-60 (Japan) | Large Helical Device (Japan) | KSTAR (Korea) | EAST (China) | T-15 (Russia) | DIII-D (USA) | Tore Supra (France) | TFTR (USA) | NSTX (USA) | NCSX (USA) | UCLA ET (USA) | Alcator C-Mod (USA) | LDX (USA) | H-1NF (Australia) | MAST (UK) | START (UK) | ASDEX Upgrade (Germany) | Wendelstein 7-X (Germany) | TCV (Switzerland) | DEMO (Commercial)
Inertial confinement devices
Laser driven:NIF (USA) | OMEGA laser (USA) | Nova laser (USA) | Novette laser (USA) | Nike laser (USA) | Shiva laser (USA) | Argus laser (USA) | Cyclops laser (USA) | Janus laser (USA) | Long path laser (USA) | 4 pi laser (USA) | LMJ (France) | Luli2000 (France) | GEKKO XII (Japan) | ISKRA lasers (Russia) | Vulcan laser (UK) | Asterix IV laser (Czech Republic) | HiPER laser (European)
Non-laser driven: — Z machine (USA) |
See also: International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Dense_plasma_focus". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.


text:
New research that features in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) discovers that a compound present in green leafy vegetables helps prevent nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in mice.
Currently, there are no approved treatments for NAFLD, which can progress into more serious conditions, such as steatohepatitis, fibrosis, and cirrhosis. Healthcare professionals recommend losing weight, making healthful food choices, and doing more physical activity to reduce fat in the liver.
New research, however, may pave the way for a new treatment. Scientists at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have just published a study in which they show that inorganic nitrate — a compound that occurs naturally in green leafy vegetables — can reduce the buildup of fat in the liver.
Mattias Carlström, an associate professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at the Karolinska Institutet is one of the senior researchers and corresponding authors of the study.
Inorganic nitrate is key for liver health
Carlström and colleagues studied the effects of supplementing a high-fat, high-sugar Western diet with dietary nitrate in mice.
They divided the mice into three groups and fed each of them a different diet. The control group received a normal diet, while the high-fat diet group ate the equivalent of a Western diet, and the third group received a high-fat diet with nitrate supplementation.
As expected, the mice in the high-fat diet group gained weight and fat mass, and they had raised blood sugar levels. However, all of these markers were significantly lower in the group that also received nitrate.
Carlström reports on the findings, saying, "When we supplemented with dietary nitrate to mice fed with a high-fat and sugar Western diet, we noticed a significantly lower proportion of fat in the liver."
Previous research, the investigators explain, has shown that dietary nitrate boosts cell metabolism. It has also suggested that green leafy vegetables may protect against metabolic conditions, such as type 2 diabetes.
Scientists also know that higher consumption of fruits and vegetables has a positive effect on cardiovascular function.
"We think that these diseases are connected by similar mechanisms," Carlström hypothesizes, "where oxidative stress causes compromised nitric oxide signaling, which has a detrimental impact on cardiometabolic functions."
The researchers explain that the medical community still does not know exactly which compounds make leafy greens so healthful. "No one has yet focused on nitrate, which we think is the key," continues Carlström.
"We now want to conduct clinical studies to investigate the therapeutic value of nitrate supplementation to reduce the risk of liver steatosis. The results could lead to the development of new pharmacological and nutritional approaches."
More studies are necessary to clarify which compounds are responsible for these healthful properties and to confirm that nitrate is key for liver and metabolic health. In the meantime, the team advises people to consume more green leafy vegetables.
Those with the highest concentration of inorganic nitrate include "celery, spinach, lettuce, and rocket."
Source: Medical News Today
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- 16 Dead In Accident On Accra-Kumasi Highway - February 26, 2021
- 'Nkrumah's Overthrow Left Ghana's Economic Development In The Wilderness' - February 26, 2021

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


text: You are here: Home Politics Water Footprinting, Water Labeling and Water Stewardship Water Footprinting, Water Labeling and Water Stewardship by Scott James August 15, 2009, 6:45 am 3 Comments If you live in the U.S., your Water Footprint is about 2,480 cubic meters/ year. In China? 700 cubic meters/person/year. In the UK? 1,245. In the coming years, water scarcity will become a greater issue around the world, and a new report created by the Food Ethics Council and London-based health and food organization Sustain calls for water footprint labeling on food and other goods. Photo Credit:astrogrlThe rising tide of Water Footprint Labeling Everything we do or use has a Water Footprint, meaning the volume of water needed to produce a commodity. For instance, it took about 100 liters of water to produce the coffee you had for breakfast. And around 10,000 liters to produce the steak you'll have for dinner. The report took into account how much water is used, where it comes from, how using it affects the local environment, how else it could be used and how decisions are made about how the water is used. It is estimated that 86% of worldwide freshwater use goes to agriculture (including food, fuel, and textiles), so it follows that with use and profit comes responsibility for conservation and stewardship of that water. The Food Council report for Sustain concluded that while knowing the water footprint of a product or food is useful, educational, and promotes responsible consumer choice; just water labeling individual items may focus too much on the details and miss the bigger picture. The objective water footprint information does not take into account any of the social, ethical or political factors related to the water used to produce that item. In the end, the report suggested that a comprehensive water stewardship labeling system would best address the issue of water sustainabilitymeaning that water labels should reflect how well the company is doing at conserving water overall, rather than the limited measure of how much water it took to produce a specific item. A rise in public awareness about the hidden water used to create everyday food and products could lead to important action. Currently, companies that are conscious of water management and take action are able to do something about their own supply-chain, but single-company action does not necessarily keep others from overusing a public or shared water supply. Water labeling could serve as a catalyst for consumer understanding and create a call to action for governments and businesses on larger water stewardship programs. The only current factor is supply scarcity. Understanding through Water Footprint measurement, education through Water Labeling and action through high level, comprehensive Water Stewardship are the future of water. Far from being a limiting prospect, this has the potential to lead to more efficient and sustainable production of everything we use today and everything we create in the future. See more Previous article Red Potato Frittata Next article Green Talk Radio: The Merits of Using Less Stuff with Bob Lilienfeld 3 Comments Leave a Reply Thank you for posting this article. Finally people are just starting to think that maybe bottled water really isn't good for their environment. But the problem is so huge and the supply of water is a looming crisis that is not getting the attention it needs for us to do something before it becomes an emergency. Articles like this help to bring it to the attention of the masses. Keep up the good work! Reply can u explain what does water labelling means?? Reply Hi swetaWater Labeling means putting a label on a product showing how much water is used in the production, transport, or use of a product/food. It would be like a nutrition label that breaks down the calories, sugars and fats, but as a water label it would list something like: Production: 35 gallons Transport: 6 gallons Use: 3 gallons Total Water Footprint: 44 gallons. There are no water labels right now that I know of, so the particulars of what they would list and how they would list it are not set. Hope that helps. Reply Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment Name * Email * Website Upload a photo / attachment to this comment (PNG, JPG, GIF - 6 MB Max File Size): (Allowed file types: jpg, gif, png, maximum file size: 6MB.


Even with the widespread acceptance and adoption of new digital media channels like social media and streaming services, many firms' marketing and PR departments still depend on 'old fashioned' press releases. Some companies even submit weekly press releases as their primary source of communication. Press releases are definitely useful and have their place, but budgets can easily top tens of thousands annually, with releases sometimes thousands for a national & international releases (not to mention up-charges for word count, images, metrics, and more). This budget often goes unnoticed as it is considered simply a cost of doing business. After all, press releases are required for PR… right?
Are Press Releases REQUIRED for PR?
Yes & No. The answer isn't that simple. If you want to reach local news and TV media, press releases are still the the best way to announce newsworthy events. In the digital era, press releases get widespread attention through automated systems and putting news on the wire does ensure some 'pickups'. But most people only read a few hundred words of the release at most. Understanding how to maximize the value of individual press releases will help you magnify the results of your release and minimize cost. More importantly, understanding alternative communication strategies allows you to cultivate earned media attention and alternative channels that provide more value.
Maximizing Your Press Release
When communicating through a press release, understanding how the newswire works can help you maximize value:
 - The cost is based both on the region(s) the press release is distributed to and the length of the release in words. Typically there is a base regional rate charged but if the word count is over the prescribed maximum (typically between 300-500) extra will be billed.
 - Regional distributions only get localized distribution to traditional media sources like radio, TV and newspapers. Despite being targeted locally, digital versions of releases to a region get the benefit automatic re-publishing of releases online, meaning a wide reach.
 - Be succinct and information dense. Try to submit releases that have no excessive prose and are under the upcharge limit. The release should convey important information and context as clearly as possible.
 - Determine the best region and trade publications to target with the release, don't just assume 'national is better'. For some releases and some companies, national releases make a lot of sense, for others, they really don't.
 - Give editors "exclusive" early access to relevant releases. This can cultivate relationships for later releases.
Earned Media Delivers Instant Value
Now that you are saving tens of thousands of marketing dollars from press releases, you can look to alternative channels to reach your audience. Earned media opportunities (bylines, interviews and exclusive information releases to mainstream or trade publications) deliver high value whether your goal is to gain awareness or collect and convert leads. The way to earn editorial content is to have a compelling story and a compelling pitch for the right editor. It's always a huge bonus if your pitch has a timely/topical twist, making it a hot topic right now. Earned media can be published in print or digital channels, or both! Cost-efficiency is incredibly high with earned media because the only 'cost' is the time it takes to send pitches and write bylines.
SEO and Social Drive Ongoing Results
Beyond earned media is the vast universe of social media and organic web traffic. Online, website content ranks within search algorithms based on a complex and ever-changing keyword-based system. Consistent monitoring and tweaking of online content allows you to maximize your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and drive organic web traffic (traffic that finds you naturally, not through paid ads). Organic traffic is another highly cost-effective means to deliver marketing and PR value. SEO content lives online and, unless removed, delivers ongoing value. This content also provides an entry point to social media conversation. Sharing compelling, relevant content entices people to follow your social media accounts, simply because they enjoyed it and want to read more. Engaging in social media conversations and making your website a resource for interesting content builds a core audience who act like ambassadors, sharing articles and blogs they like.
Evolving your Communication Strategy
Working with a PR and digital marketing partner can help you plan and create compelling content that sparks conversations and allows you to engage with your audience, without spending $1,200 per 400 words. Not only is this organic content more compelling, it is more effective at communicating with an audience, creating brand awareness and driving meaningful web traffic. Having a comprehensive content and communications plan unifies your voice across channels and gives you the opportunity to have your 'followers' expand your audience for you.
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text:
He studied medicine in the University of Vienna. Some of his teachers belonged to the famous Second "Vienna School", such as Carl Freiherr von Rokitansky (1804–1878) and Josef Skoda (1805–1881) (its founders), as well as Joseph Hyrtl (1810–1894), Johann Ritter von Oppolzer (1808–1871), and the famous physiologist Carl Ludwig (1816–1895). The last two took interest in Politzer and were influential in his subsequent career.
Politzer received his M.D. in 1859 and started to work in Carl Ludwig's laboratory. His interest since that time was mainly the physics of the auditory system. There, he was the first to demonstrate physiologically that the innervation of the tensor tympani muscle was by the trigeminal nerve and that the innervation of the stapedial muscle was by the facial nerve. In another series of experiments, Politzer connected two manometers, one placed in the external auditory canal meatus and another in the pharynx, in order to study air movements through the Eustachian tube. In 1861, he published his first results on a new technique based on this knowledge, to treat internal ear diseases by insufflating the middle ear through the Eustachian tube, which obviated the need of its catheterization. This came to be known as politzerisation. In the subsequent decades, the technique was widely adopted throughout the world, bringing fame to Politzer.
In the following year, Politzer travelled to other centers and countries, seeking to increase the depth of his practical training. Thus, he worked consecutively with Anton Friedrich Freiherr von Troeltsch (1829–1890) and physiologist Heinrich Müller, in Würzburg; Hermann Helmholtz (1821–1894) in Heidelberg. He also went to Paris, France, to study with Rudolf Körni, Prosper Ménière, the "father of physiology", Claude Bernard (1813–1878) and with physicist Karl Rudolf König (1832–1901). He also studied microscopic anatomy of the labyrinth with Albert von Kölliker (1817–1905) in Würzburg, and ear surgery with Joseph Toynbee (1815–1866) in London, England.
Returning to Vienna in 1861, Adam Politzer became a professor of otology at the University of Vienna with the support of von Oppolzer. Two years later, in 1863, he opened a private otological clinic with Josef Gruber (1827–1900), which soon began to attract patients from all over the world. In 1864 Politzer was allowed by the government to treat indigent patients at the charity hospital as well as in the homes for elderly. He and Gruber received the title of professor extraordinarius in 1870 and were appointed to the rank of a joint directorship to a new clinic in the Vienna General Hospital, in the next year (the first of its kind in the world). In 1895 Politzer won a full professorship and became the sole director of the clinic in 1889, until 1907. He died 13 years later, in 1920, at the age of 85, celebrated as one of the pioneers of modern otology in the history of medicine, but unfortunately in a poor financial condition, due to the economic crisis in Austria after the country was defeated in the First World War.
Politzer was a prolific inventor of new medical devices for the diagnosis and treatment of ear diseases. He developed several surgical instruments which bear his name for the operation of the outer and the inner ear structures, such as an ear perforator, a surgical knife, a grommet for the ventilation of the inner ear after paracentesis, as well as a method to restore permeability to the Eustachian tube by using an insufflator made out of a pear-shaped rubber bag ("politzerisation" or Politzer's method). He also devised methods and apparatuses to examine the outer ear canal and tympanic membrane (Politzer's otoscope), a speculum and a qualitative test for the function of the Eustachian tube. In the field of hearing, Politzer devised an acoumeter for measuring hearing acuity and at least two early acoustical hearing aids.
Furthermore, he revolutionized the clinical diagnosis of aural diseases by the inspection of the illuminated tympanic membrane (which led to the current otoscope), and developed the first illustrated atlas of the tympanic membrane in health and disease, with color drawings made by himself. Politzer also wrote one of the most outstanding and authoritative textbooks on otology of the century, the Lehrbuch der Ohrenheilkunde, in 1878. With von Troeltsch and Hermann Schwartze, he founded Archiv für Ohrenheilkunde, the first journal dedicated to ear disorders.
A great anatomist of the auditory system, Politzer wrote and illustrated extensively on it, and left a remarkable collection of anatomic and pathological specimens in Vienna, which were donated to the Anatomy and Pathology Museum. The luminous cone of the tympanic membrane is named after him, as well as the Unna-Politzer naevus, a typical birthmark found on the nape of the neck in 25 to 50% of normal persons. In addition, in 1893 Politzer was the first to describe otosclerosis as a separate clinical entity. He also studied the pathology of cholesteatoma, serous otitis media, labyrinthitis, congenital deafness and intracranial complications of otitis media.
One of his biographers, Albert Mudry, stated that Politzer was "the greatest otologist of the 19th century and one of the greatest of all time (...) he covered all fields of otology". He influenced and trained thousands of otologists from over the world, and his most famous successor was Robert Bárány, who received the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1914.
- Die Beleuchtungsbilder des Trommelfells im gesunden und kranken Zustande. Wien, W. Braumüller, 1865. English translation, New York, 1869.
- Zehn Wandtafeln zur Anatomie des Gehörorgans. Wien, 1873.
- Lehrbuch der Ohrenheilkunde. Stuttgart, F. Enke, 1878, 1882, 1893, 1902, 1908.
- Die anatomische und histologische Zergliederung des menschlichen Gehörorgans im normalen und kranken Zustande. Wien, 1889.
- Atlas der Beleuchtungsbilder des Trommelfells. Wien, 1899.
- Geschichte der Ohrenheilkunde. 2 volumes. Stuttgart, F. Enke, 1907 and 1913.
- Atlas und Grundriss der Ohrenheilkunde. Unter Mitwirkung von A. Politzer herausgegeben von Gustav Brühl. München, 1901. Volume 24 of Lehmanns Medizinische Handatlanten.
- Adam Politzer. WhoNamedIt
- Adam Politzer. ENTLink
- Mudry, A. The Role of Adam Politzer in the History of Otology. Am. J. Otol. 21:753–763,2000
- Adam Politzer Society
- Albert Mudry: The Role of Adam Politzer (_PHONE_) in the History of Otology. 2010 Politzer Society, online


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Somewhat new to using standard SQL databases (currently working with MySQL mostly) I haven't run across many usages of this as of yet.
When and why is it useful to have negative (or rather signed) keys indexing a table?
share|improve this question
first off, whoever is downvoting without leaving feedback, you're doing a disservice. Next up, the answer to this excellent question. – jcolebrand May 23 '11 at 21:20
This subject is intriguing. I have personally never heard of this concept. This question should never have been downvoted. +1 from me for introducing this concept. – RolandoMySQLDBA May 23 '11 at 21:48
3 Answers 3
up vote 10 down vote accepted
All a primary key is is a value that we have determined is the value that is of utmost importance in a record. Whether that key is a signed int, an unsigned int, a string, a blob (actually, there are limits) or a UUID (or whatever name it takes today), the fact still stands that it is a key, and that it is the thing of utmost importance.
Since we're not constrained to use only positive oriented numbers for our keys, it makes sense to consider that a signed int will only go to ~2 billion, whereas an unsigned int will go to ~4 billion. But there's nothing wrong with using a signed int, setting the initial value to ~ -2 billion and setting an increment of one. After ~2 billion records you'll hit "zero" and then you'll continue to ~2 billion.
As to why it would be helpful to have "negative keys" in a table, that's the same question as "why is it helpful to have keys in a table". The "value" of a key has no impact on its status as a key. A key is a key is a key.
What is important is if the key is valid.
As to why it would be useful to allow keys that were negative, I can suggest some reasons:
What if you wanted to indicate returns in a sales system as negative sales order numbers, that matched the positive sales order number, thus making correlation easy (this is naive, and poorly designed, but it would work in a "spreadsheet" sense).
What if you wanted to have a users table, and indicate that the ones with negative numbers were system controlled (SO does this very thing, for chat feed users).
I could go on, but really the only reason why the number being negative is of importance is if you or I assign importance to it. Aside from that, there is no great reason for the value of a key to have any bearing on the key itself.
share|improve this answer
Edited out the 'niche occurrence' bit, as it is more than likely a misunderstanding due to inexperience. Interesting read. I was somewhat imagining there would be a situation where the negative value of the key was somehow useful in coding (i,e without deciding it means a particular thing) but this is very useful thinking when you have a strong division into two groups and don't want to use an extra bool :p – Garet Claborn May 23 '11 at 21:41
_USER_ ~ So you make a good point: "the value of the key was somehow useful in coding" and I do make use of my keys from time to time in just that manner, but that has nothing to do with the database aspect. The database is a storehouse. The application that consumes the data, on the other hand, cares about the values. But yeah, that +/- boolean is a neat trick, I've seen it used many a time for just such an effect. – jcolebrand May 23 '11 at 22:02
-1 for implying that dual purposing values like this is anything other than a bad idea. You need an int and a bool? Use an int and a bool. – Jack Douglas May 24 '11 at 6:24
_USER_ I don't recall encouraging people to do that, I strictly recall implying that the field and it's data are two different things. Thanks for at least offering constructive feedback on your downvote, but I can't say that that observation means anything in light of the concept of the "what are negative keys used for" since that is an application logic problem, not a database layer problem. I did want to highlight how those things are used in the application layer, but in the database layer they don't have any significance. – jcolebrand May 24 '11 at 6:33
"What if you wanted to have a users table, and indicate that the ones with negative numbers were system controlled" - sounded like an endorsement to me. If it wasn't meant to be perhaps you could re-word and I'll be very happy to remove the down-vote. – Jack Douglas May 24 '11 at 6:49
If we're on about identity or autonumber columns, the value itself should have no meaning. (sometimes it does, as per SO's chat users nentioned by drachenstern, which I've done before myself)
However, generally you'd lose half of your range if you're using signed integers.
See: What to do when a field in a table approaches the max signed or unsigned 32 bit integer?
Another example: In small replication scenarios, using negative values for one site and positive for another gives some implicit knowledge of the source of any given row.
share|improve this answer
and make sure you are somehow constraining the values input at each site otherwise you will end up in a horrible mess when your "implicit knowledge" turns out to be wrong. – Jack Douglas May 24 '11 at 6:26
_USER_: you'd use NOT FOR REPLICATION to avoid generating values on the wrong site – gbn May 24 '11 at 6:55
along with check constraints? Also, is there a MySQL (or other) analog of NOT FOR REPLICATION that you know? – Jack Douglas May 24 '11 at 7:06
_USER_: sorry, not sure about non SQL Server – gbn May 24 '11 at 7:45
+1 for giving a practical use of unsigned primary keys. – StanleyJohns May 25 '11 at 14:41
Not all database systems even support unsigned integer types, MSSQL being one of those that doesn't. In these cases negative values are possible in integer key fields simply because they are possible in the type (you could use rules or triggers to block them, as shown in this example, but there is probably no need add the overhead of enforcing such rules to every inters/update).
As far as the database is concerned the actual value of a primary key does not matter as long as it is unique within the table. To it -42 and 42 are just two different numbers in the same way 42 and 69 are - meaning will only be imparted on the negativeness or not of the value by your code.
Not supporting unsigned integer types is probably a design decision based on reducing complexity - i.e. not wanting two different 32 bit integer type to worry about checking ranges on when assigning values between them. It does limit the number of indexes possible in an auto increment field starting an 0 or 1 to half what would be possible in an unsigned type (~2e9 rather than ~4e9) but this is rarely a significant issue (if you are likely to need a number of key values of that magnitude you probably went for a 64-bit type anyway especially if using a 64-bit architecture where such values are processed no less efficiently then 32-bit ones) though if you might want the full range and need to stick to 32-bit for space reasons you could start the increment at -2,147,483,647.
share|improve this answer
Yup, I think we've covered that ground before ;) tehehe dba.stackexchange.com/questions/983/… – jcolebrand May 24 '11 at 14:40
tinyint is unsigned (0.. 255). I usually create a check constraint on integer columns to ensure values are nonnegative, since inevitably code will be written that implicitly assumes it and strange bugs will arise if somehow a negative value creeps in. – Ed Avis Aug 16 at 13:20
Your Answer


7. Dolmen de la Pallera
Discovery: It was discovered on 5th June 1985. It is named by the members of Geseart.
Location and environment: Located on a plateau, on the high part of la Vall creek. It is located on a dominant zone. Bush is the current vegetation. It was a vineyard cultivation zone. When the dolmen was built, it was most likely a holly oak woods and bushes zone.
Appearance: It is a passage tomb with a long trapezoid chamber and a narrow corridor. Built in gneiss. No cover has been preserved. There are some tumulus remains, which surely have been 7 m diameter.


Rampolla, Basilicata
Camerlengo, a grand name found from 1250 when the people of Rampolla fought fiercely (and successfully) on the side of the Pope against the Swabians (Germans) and were rewarded by the Camerlengo with land. Parts of Rampolla are still recognisable from that time, though the population has moved above ground, cave dwellings, like those in Matera (Sassi) are now mostly used for storage, or in the case of Camerlengo as a cantina.
The cellar is tiny, created and worked by Antonio Cascarano, a larger than life character who was once an architect whose life is now devoted only to his farm. Antonio inherited the vineyard and cellar from his grandfather, Giovanni Falaguerra, who was a famed producer of wine and oil in the 60's. The limited space is crowded with concrete fermentation tanks, botti, barrique and bottles; there is just enough space for the annual production of 18,000 bottles to be made. There is no space on the floor for a tasting room, that rocks precariously on a mezzanine over the workspace. The walls are decorated blue thanks to an active (and colourful) mould, there is a single light well, otherwise the cantina is in darkness year round at a constant temperature of between 10-15®C.
The vineyard lies on a southern slope of the dormant volcano, Vulture, at an altitude of 500 metres. Of Antonio's 10 hectare farm, just 2.5 hectares are vineyard; the balance is woodland, olive grove and fruit trees. The philosophy is to create a balanced environment, beneficial to both nature and quality wine production. Al the vineyard work is manual and organic, and biodynamic principals are followed.


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(Last Updated on : 02/05/2013)
Kota tribes of Tamil Nadu
are believed to have moved to the Nilgiris Hills
after the Toda tribe
. They had earlier been living in Karnataka
in a mountain known as Kollimalai in Mysore
after which they named the first village "Kollimalai" (near Ketti village) which they built in the Nilgiris. The Kota Village consists of a row of few thatched huts. The Kota houses called 'pai' were traditionally thatched huts, with mud and brick walls. The houses of the Kotas have a unique linear pattern with two or three localities called Keri with two or three streets which form the integral pan of the village. Each village had three exogamous clans of similar name. Each clan settled in a street called Keri. Kotagiri is the traditional home for the "Kotas". "Kota - Giri" means "Mountain of the Kotas." The name comes from Kotar-Keri, the street of the Kotas. Kota is the name derives from the word 'Ko' means the cow and it believed that their ancestor where living in cows and thus the place they survive called Kokkal, the resting place of cows.
Language of Kota Tribe
The Kota tribal language known as "Ko-v Ma-nt" is a very old and rude dialect of Kannada language
and is closely related to Toda Language. The Kota tribal population is about 2500. The origin of the name "Kota" is derived from the Dravidian root word "Ko" meaning Mountain.
The Kota village is known as Kokkal in the Kota Language. The pattern of settlement is believed to have been determined by a black cow who led the Kotas through the Nilgiris and with its hoof, indicating where to found each village. This footprint acts as a moral center of gravity, an important place for music making, dancing, and other rituals.
Dress of Kota Tribe
Kota traditional garment is known as "varad," a white bedspread cloth, is thrown around the body by men and women. Male dress consists of single piece of white coarse cloth called kir.Kadk, traditional earring ornament are used both by men and women.
Settlement of Kota Tribe
The house of Kota Tribe is divided into a living and sleeping apartments. The house consists of a front room, containing a raised platform on the left for sitting and sleeping and a hole in the floor for pounding, a kitchen, located to the right of the front room and containing a wood stove along the wall opposite the arched entrance, and a back room for bathing. Each room and parts of each room have particular names and functions. The walls have special crevices for oil lamps and wood and other objects are often stored in rafters above the kitchen.
Caste System of Kota Tribe
The Kota Tribe have no caste but are divided into Keris or streets viz "Kilker", "Naduker", "Pibberker", "Aker", "KorekerVor "Gager". People belonging to the same keri do not intermarry as they are supposed to belong to the same family. The Kotas prefer to marry within their own village. They practice both types of cross-cousin marriages, i.e., father's sister's daughter and mother's brother's daughter. The Kota tribal council, called as "Koot or "kut" maintains customary norms in the community. Kota village is led by a village headman called gotga-rn (pittakar). The "Gotgarn" from Menar was head of all the seven villages. Whenever a dispute arose, the gotga-rn will call a meeting known as a "kut" with the village elders and decide the solutions. Within a village, the gotgarn and elders decide when festivals are to be held and how to solve problems in the community. Although regular justice is handled through the Indian judicial system, local decisions of Kota cultural requirements are handled by the village "kut".
Religion of Kota Tribe
Kotas consider themselves to be Hindus. The major Kota deities are Aynor (father god) Kamatraya and Amnor (mother goddess) Kamatiswari. There are two male gods and one female goddess. It is believed that the mother goddess was married to two brother gods. The recognized place of worship of the Kotas in each village consists of a large square, walled round with loose stones three feet high and containing in its center two pent-shaped sheds. Open in front and rear and on the posts (of stone) that support them some crude circles and other figures are drawn. They don't worship images of any sort. The temples are located in a separate sacred complex adjacent to the Kota settlement.
Culture of Kota Tribe
The Kota Tribe is excellent artisans; they excel in pottery making and terracotta Craft
. The Kotas are also excellent blacksmiths, goldsmiths, silversmiths, carpenters, rope, and umbrella makers. The women do domestic duties, and also work in the fields, fetch water, collect firewood, make baskets, and earthen pots. Currently only a few families are engaged in these skills as a means of living. Majority of the Kotas are engaged in cultivation and cultivate potatoes, wheat
, samai, korali, mustard
, onions, and other vegetables.
The Kota artisans produced fine hand-carved rifle butts and double-reed instruments (kol). The Kota women make baskets called "kik" are necessary for certain ceremonial occasions. Hides from goats and oxen are necessary for the production of their musical instruments, the kol (double reed), tabatk (frame drum or tambattai in Tamil), Dobar and Kinvar (cylindrical drums) and kob (brass horn). Their long curved horns, called kob, used to be fashioned of buffalo horn. Kota Tribe usually dance to the tunes of their music during their festivals, and also while celebrating life cycle rituals. The types of their dances are Kalcoose aat, Thiriganaat, Pippaalaat, and Koinaat. The Kotas supply the band for the Toda tribal people and Badaga festivals and funerals. The Todas pay the Kota musicians flesh of buffaloes and rice
. Men always dance before women, and at the closing of larger festivals a day is devoted to women's singing and dancing.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


text:
Creator: Gust, Iris
Description: The brochure promotes urban transportation policy to increase the use of renewable energy to 100%. Seen globally, transport is one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Yet fossil fuels are becoming scarce, will become increasingly expensive and will eventually stop being viable as transport fuels. Before this happens, climate change will have begun to have a serious impact on human lives. The authors believe that it is crucial to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy as soon as possible, especially in the transport sector. Making urban transport independent of fossil fuel is a great challenge, but the authors cite growing evidence that it can be achieved.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries


text:
Making decisions about restraints
The preferred choice is to use no restraints. A physical, chemical or environmental restraint should not be used as a substitute for safe and well-designed environments or for the proper care and management of a person with dementia.
One of the most successful strategies for dealing with difficult behaviours without using restraints is to use a problem-solving approach.
- Identify the problem: Take a step back and objectively pinpoint the problem.
- Analyze the problem: Is the person trying to communicate something? What factors might be contributing to the person's reaction? What is happening and why? Could the person be reacting to something or someone in the environment?
- List possible strategies: Think of all the ways to possibly solve the problem.
- Choose a strategy: Weigh the pros and cons of each strategy. Select one.
- Take action: Put the chosen strategy into effect.
- Assess the results: Did the chosen strategy work? If not, why not? Should another strategy be tried
Sometimes the first strategy is not successful. Or it may work the first time, but not the next. Talking to other caregivers, a doctor or someone from the local Alzheimer Society may explain why the strategy was unsuccessful. They may have suggestions for other possible approaches.
When you are considering minimal restraints, carefully measure and monitor the positive and negative consequences for the person with the disease. When you do use restraints, make sure the physical and mental well-being of the person being restrained is not compromised.
Last Updated: 12/16/11


Lab: More OWL
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Lab 13: More OWL
OWL ontology programming with RDFlib.
Classes and methods
In Lab 8 you have already used these classes and methods:
 - ModelFactory (createOntologyModel),
 - Model (createList, write),
 - OntClass, Individual, DatatypeProperty, and ObjectProperty.
In this lab you may also use the following ones:
 - OntModel (createAllValuesFromRestriction, create(Min/Max)CardinalityQRestriction, create(Min/Max)CardinalityRestriction, createEnumeratedClass, createHasValueRestriction, createInverseFunctionalProperty, createSomeValuesFromRestriction, createUnionClass)
Create or Extend a previous graph into an ontology that expresses the following using concepts from OWL (and some from RDF/RDFS):
 - anyone who is a graduate has at least one degree
 - anyone who is a university graduate has at least one degree from a university
 - a grade is either an A, B, C, D, E or F
 - a straight A student is a student that has only A grades
 - a graduate has no F grades
 - a student has a unique student number
 - each student has exactly one average grade
 - a course is either a bachelor, a master or a Ph.D course
 - a bachelor student takes only bachelor courses
 - a masters student takes only master courses and at most one bachelor course
 - a Ph.D student takes only Ph.D and at most two masters courses
 - a Ph.D. student cannot take a bachelor course
Write each of the above statements as python code using RDFlib and OWL.
Code to get started
 import owlrl from rdflib import Graph, Literal, Namespace, BNode from rdflib.namespace import RDF, OWL from rdflib.collection import Collection
g = Graph() ex = Namespace("") g.bind("ex", ex) g.bind("owl", OWL)
 1. anyone who is a graduate has at least one degree
br = BNode() g.add((br, RDF.type, OWL.Restriction)) g.add((br, OWL.onProperty, g.add((br, OWL.minCaridinality, Literal(1))) bi = BNode() Collection(g, bi, [ex.Person, br]) g.add((ex.Graduate, OWL.intersectionOf, bi))
 1. Continue here with the other statements:
If You Have More Time
In earlier labs we have modeled and programmed a scenario. You will find the descriptions at the end of this text.
Scenarios from previous labs
In RDFS Plus: "Cade and Ines are two different persons. All the countries mentioned above are different. The country USA above is the same as the DBpedia resource (dbr:United_States) and the GeoNames resource (gn:_PHONE_). The person class (the RDF type the Cade and Ines resources) in your graph is the same as FOAF's,'s and AKT's person classes (they are,, and, respectively, but on paper you can use prefixes). Nothing can be any two of a person, a university, a city, and a person at the same time. The property you have used in your RDF/RDFS graph to represent that 94709 is the US zip code of Berkeley, California in US is a subproperty of VCard's postal code-property ( No two US cities can have the same postal code. The property you have used for Ines living in Valencia is the same property as FOAF's based near-property (, and it is the inverse of DBpedia's hometown property (, dbo:hometown). (This is not completely precise: but "hometown" is perhaps the inverse of a subproperty of "based near".)


text:
ANALYSIS OF NINE YEARS OF RAILROAD PERSONNEL CASUALTY DATA
This report presents an analysis of railroad personnel casualty data for the years 1966 through 1974. The analyses examined the trends of injuries, days disabled, fatalities, and the effect of changes in man hours of employment on these trends. Accident cause categories were ranked year by year based on an index which took account of both the frequency or number of casualties in each cause category and the severity of the casualties, as measured by the median days disabled for each cause category. Also, the frequency-severity index was used to rank job classifications for each year.
Chicago, IL USA 60616
- Shulman, A E
- Publication Date: 1976-11
- Features: Appendices; Figures; Tables;
- Pagination: 96 p.
- TRT Terms: Casualties; Classification; Crash data; Crashes; Data collection; Fatalities; Injuries; Personnel; Safety; Statistical analysis; Statistics
- Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors; Society;
- Accession Number: 00157700
- Record Type: Publication
- Source Agency: Association of American Railroads
- Report/Paper Numbers: R-252
- Files: TRIS
- Created Date: Aug 15 1977 12:00AM


text: Copper trimesate (Cu-BTC) MOF has been pointed out as a promising adsorbent for separating carbon dioxide from methane. However, MOF's need to be shaped prior to their use in packed bed adsorbers in order to reduce pressure drop; on the other hand, the production of mechanically resistant shaped bodies reduces their adsorption performance. In this work, Cu-BTC tablets provided by BASF are evaluated to perform CO2/CH4 separation through adsorption. The adsorption capacity of pure carbon dioxide from methane was measured in a magnetic suspension balance between temperatures of 308 and 373 K up to a pressure of 700 kPa. The evaluated material presents higher adsorption capacity than previously studied shaped samples with a carbon dioxide and methane adsorption capacity up to 3.07 and 0.63 mol/kg at 100 kPa and 308 K respectively. Moreover, the experimental data were fitted with the Langmuir model. Isosteric heats of adsorption were obtained to be 22.8 and 15.1 kJ/mol for CO2 and CH4 on Cu-BTC tablets respectively, which indicates a strong adsorption of carbon dioxide on these adsorbents. Also, single and binary breakthrough curves were measured in the same temperature range and atmospheric pressure by using Cu-BTC tablets as the adsorbent. The preferential adsorption capacity of CO2 on nanoporous copper trimesate (Cu-BTC) indicates that this material can be used for methane purification from natural gas.


Grade Level 7
Lesson 8
· CASCADE a steep, usually small, waterfall
· CAD a man who does behave like a gentleman
· SAC a pouch in an animal or plant that usually contains fluid
· CASE (n) a situation involving investigation; a form of noun, pronoun or adjective; a question or claim settled in court; an instance of injury; a container; (v) to check out a place


Scientists examine glacier retreat and climate change in Ecuador
Humans have a stronger impact on planet earth than any other species before. What does that mean for the glacier? And for the climate? Andean Summit Adventure accompanies a group of young scientists who want to find the answers.
Expedition Anthropocene
At 22. February in Ecuador an interdisciplinary team of six German scientists from the Junge Akademie started an expedition to Ecuador. There they analyse the human's impact on its environment. Glacier retreat, progressing climate change, decreasing biodiversity, acoustic ecological changes and microplastics in snow and ice are central topics of their investigation. Besides, the expedition is also a pilot project for modern scientific research.
Where does the expedition's name come from? Anthropocene is a proposed name for the current geochronological era where the human is the crucial influencing factor on the earth. "Anthropos" is Greek for "human". Climate warming and the resulting glacier retreat, plastic pollution, nuclear tests and massive exploitation of earth's resources are examples that show the immense impact of mankind on the planet. The team from Junge Akademie examines some of them.
They mainly chose Ecuador as the location for their expedition because it offers different climatic zones that are geographically pretty near to each other. That allows a wide variety of research. Apparently, the country's diversity is not only interesting for tourists but also for scientists.
When investigating the glacier and climate change in Ecuador the scientists follow in the footsteps of Alexander von Humboldt. He was a Prussian geophysicist and naturalist who came to Ecuador in 1802. There he explored the iconic peeks of Chimborazo, Cotopaxi and Tungurahua. The scientific findings of his journey contributed to botany and ecology that also lays the foundation for today's understanding of nature.
Scientists take glacier samples
© Die Junge Akademie – Expedition Team
Support by local tour guide
As a local tour guide who cares about the conservation of nature Andean Summit Adventure supports the Expedition Anthropocene. That's why we helped the group of scientists to plan their route through Ecuador and organize the expedition's logistics. Moreover, we requested the permits for scientific research in the national parks and found local partner universities. Additionally, our tour guides Jaime Vargas, Romel Sandoval and Manuel Calapiña lead the scientists through the mountains. You can see our whole team on our website. We hope that thereby we can contribute to the scientific progress that eventually helps to protect the threatened climate and glaciers.
Climbing group discussion
© Die Junge Akademie – Expedition Team
The group of scientists arrived at Quito, the perfect spot for acclimatization. With an average altitude of approximately 2.800 m (9,200 ft) it is one of the highest capital cities in the world. Consequently, it is normal to experience headache and fatigue. You can find further information on altitude sickness in this article. Due to their route to high mountains like Chimborazo, Cotopaxi and Antisana it is essential to take enough time for acclimatizing.
For further acclimatization and testing the gear the expedition continued to Pichincha. That is a volcano near Quito with two peaks. The higher one is called Wawa Pichincha and reaches up to 4.784 m (15,696 ft).
Examining the high mountains
Antisana, Cotopaxi and Chimborazo were the next destinations. At the glaciers from Antisana volcano (5.704 m (18,714 ft)) the musicologist Miriam Akkermann recorded the sounds of the environment. The biologist Christian Hof observed the animal world. Moreover, Ricarda Winkelmann and Robert Kretschmer took an ice core sample from the glacier. They will examine it for microplastics.
After that the group climbed the Cotopaxi in order to take another ice sample. The Cotopaxi is the second highest mountain in Ecuador (5.897 m (19,347 ft)). Its imperfect conical form with a beautiful icecap is impressive. Furthermore, the sandy surroundings riddled with some other volcanoes are fascinating. Unlike Chimborazo, Cotopaxi volcano is still active. You find detailed information about the Cotopaxi in this article.
At Chimborazo the scientists were able to directly observe the consequences of climate change: Since 2015 the glacier retreated over 150 m (492 ft) in height. This shocking development at the highest mountain of Ecuador (6.263 m (20,548 ft)) is the result of man-made global warming. Although Ecuador only contributes a relatively small part to global greenhouse gas emissions, it disproportionately suffers from climate change. Thus, the glaciers are endangered: Two of Ecuador's seven glaciers could completely disappear in the next few years.
© Die Junge Akademie – Expedition Team
Climate Change
Apart from the global warming's impact on the glaciers the scientists also want to know about how the local people perceive climate change. That's why medic Martin-Immanuel Bittner surveys locals in order to study their personal assumptions and experiences regarding climate warming.
What's next
After visiting some more locations like the jungle and Llanganates national park for further investigations the scientists from the Junge Akademie return to Germany with tons of information about climate change, the glaciers and other man-made impacts on the environment. Back in Germany the working process continues: The group analyses the collected data with advanced technologies. The Andean Summit Adventure team looks forward enthusiastically to seeing the results!
All Photos: © Die Junge Akademie – Expedition Team
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text:
The big picture of Nebraska's water supply is missing as the state attempts to manage water conflicts and set regulatory policies. Instead, Nebraska needs to inventory its total water supply and identify where that water goes before determining the highest-priority consumptive uses.
That's the premise behind Nebraska's newest water organization — the Nebraska Water Balance Alliance. Nebraska's rural electric utilities, irrigation interests primarily from the western part of the state, and others formed the NEWBA last fall and continue to inform Nebraskans about its objectives.
Roric Paulman, a Sutherland farmer, irrigator and adopter of many of the latest equipment and crop technologies, is the group's vice president. He believes the state lacks a long-term water planning process.
At a glance
- New group seeks to be a voice in Nebraska's water policy.
- Nebraska's total water supply should be considered, alliance says.
- Reducing low-priority consumptive uses is one goal.
"The Nebraska Department of Natural Resources and the state's natural resources districts must be focused on complying with today's legislative requirements for surface and groundwater, but the broader perspective of enhancing our water supply long-term is missing. NEWBA wants to bring everyone together to address long-term opportunities as part of a state water budgeting concept."
Frank Kwapnioski, formerly with Nebraska Public Power District and now an NEWBA consultant, says, "We can't focus on irrigation as the sole problem and the sole solution. A complete water balance system is vital to understand water use before we try to manage it."
The alliance is not an attempt to avoid regulations, the group's members say. "We fully understand the need for compliance and regulation, but we need better answers to move forward," he says.
Kwapnioski uses the following numbers to make NEWBA's case:
- About 93 million acre-feet of water, on average, comes annually in the form of precipitation, rain and snow.
- About 2 million acre-feet of water, on average, arrives annually as surface water from other states, to create an annual water supply of 95 million-acre feet.
- About 8 million to 9 million acre-feet of water leave the state as surface water outflow, leaving about 80 million to 85 million acre-feet that is consumed within Nebraska.
- Only about 16% to 17% — 8 million acres — of the total land area in Nebraska is irrigated. Supplemental irrigation consumes only 5% to 10% of the 83 million to 87 million acre-feet of consumption.
- More than 80% of the state's overall water supply is consumed through evaporation and transpiration from dryland crops, grasses, trees and invasive species, as well as streamflow out of the state, he says.
These numbers are averages, he adds, and don't consider the huge precipitation variability from year to year and geographically across the state, and this water supply variability should be managed.
For instance, Kwapnioski says that flooding is possible along the Platte River system this spring with Rocky Mountain snowpack 130% of normal, which already has necessitated early releases from an already-full Lake McConaughy.
A water balance approach, he says, rests on three legs:
- Inventory and understand the water system. "If we don't know how it works, how can we sustain it?" he asks.
- Identify the least beneficial consumptive uses and, if necessary, switch those uses to higher priorities.
- Provide conjunctive management that recognizes surface and groundwater coexist and that one can be used to supplement the other.
In the case of curtailing evaporation, no-till and reduced tillage can save roughly 2 inches per acre, which would total 1.3 acre-feet over 8 million acres of irrigated agriculture and result in additional recharge to the aquifer.
Sustaining the state and local economies is another priority for NEWBA.
"We can continue to eliminate irrigated acres [through mitigation and buyout pro-grams], but that may cause economic harm to the individual, the community and state, and likely will have little effect on streamflow," Kwapnioski says. "Changing the farmland of the Republican Basin to highly efficient dryland crops with improved water management techniques could lead to reductions in streamflow to Kansas."
Water management opportunities
The water balance alliance has not outlined specific management practices but offers some general suggestions:
- off-stream storage to capture water in times of excessive streamflows, plus use of existing surface-water systems to hold excessive streamflows
- reducing evaporation in the 1.5 billion to 2 billion acre-feet of water in Nebraska's aquifer system
- augmentation wells to pump this additional recharge water from the aquifer to supplement streams in times of need
- increased use of ag technologies, including no-till and irrigation management tools, to save irrigation water
- control of evasive species to reduce non-beneficial water consumption
For more information, go to _URL_.


Trick shot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about billiards trick shots. For the comic book character, see Trick Shot (comics). For film techniques, see Special effects.
The term "trick shot" with respect to other activities, such as archery, bowling, shooting sports, basketball, hockey, whipcracking, darts, tennis, golf, and football, is outside the scope of this article. See specific articles on those sports for more information.
World Champion professional trick shot artist Mike Massey setting up a trick shot.
A trick shot (also trickshot or trick-shot) is a shot played on a billiards table (most often a pool table, though snooker tables are also used), which seems unlikely or impossible or requires significant skill. They frequently organize the balls in ways that are unlikely or impossible to appear in normal play, such as balls being in a straight line, or use props such as extra cues or a triangle that would not be allowed on the table during a game. As an organized cue sports discipline, trick shot competition is known as artistic pool.
Competition formats[edit]
Billiards trick shots are the subject of increasing international competition, both amateur and professional. There are world championships, such as the WPA Artistic Pool World Championships and the World Snooker Trickshot Championship (which has not been held since 2006), and made-for-TV events, such as Trick Shot Magic and the World Cup of Trick Shots, often televised in both the US and the UK and providing enough prize money that some professional players specialize in the discipline.
The formats vary depending on the competition. Some, such as the World Snooker Trickshot Championship are purely exhibitions, with a panel of judges scoring subjectively to determine the winner.
Events such as Trick Shot Magic and the World Cup feature head-to-head competition where the players select shots that have strictly outlined requirements specified in a playbook. Each year, players are allowed to submit their own shot inventions, however, they are disclosed prior to the event to give all players an equal chance to practice them. Players or teams are given two attempts to complete a selected shot within the given parameters, and earn one point for each successful shot, either a first shot or follow-up shot. Each player or team gets to select a given number of shots, generally eight or ten, and a winner is declared when one side is mathematically eliminated. Trick Shot Magic, ESPN's annual artistic pool pro tournament, has been widely considered the televised version of the World Artistic Pool Championship, and it has held the highest ratings in televised cue sports competitions in the United States between 2000 and 2009.
Artistic pool similarly (see below) has a program of shots (three attempts each, in a sliding-scale point system), with precisely outlined parameters requirements.
The Ultimate Trick Shot Tour [1] features head-to-head competition between two players with no pre-defined shots. Players challenge each other with shots outlining the parameters of the shots just before shooting. Each player gets three attempts per shot, scoring one point per shot made. Each player gets to select a given number of shots, generally six to ten, and the winner is declared when one player is mathematically eliminated.
Artistic pool[edit]
Artistic pool trick shot competitions, inspired by the related discipline of artistic billiards, began in the 1970s with international pros and coordinated by world champion Paul Gerni, with the World Trick Shot Artists Association, and in 2000, in Las Vegas, formed a new group, again with an international cast.[2] They feature a program of 160 tricks to attempt, many of which were used in the previous formats by the WTSAA,[3] and include the BCA North American Championship, EPBF European Championship, and WPA World Championship, among others.[2] The tricks are now divided into eight "disciplines", including trick/fancy, prop/novelty/special arts, and disciplines for extremes in each of the core cueing techniques.[3][4] The current world governing body for this sport is the WPA Artistic Pool Division, while the current largest league and player organization is the US-based Artistic Pool & Trick Shot Association (APTSA).[2][5] The greatest contemporary champions of artistic pool include 22-time World Champion Paul Gerni, and more recently, Mike Massey, Andy Segal, and Tom Rossman.
In WTSAA and APTSA competitions, competitors would have three chances to successfully perform each trick, earning full points if they are successful on their first attempts and incrementally reduced points for subsequent attempts. Each shot has an associated difficulty rating (also the point value) with a higher rating being more difficult. A preliminary round of 40 shots is performed, and the top players (the number varies depending on the number of competitors, but usually the top 12) proceed into a head-to-head playoff format to determine the winner. Proper and official artistic pool competitions feature equipment limitations, (one cue, one stroke per trick shot, one approved universal prop per shot per diagram if necessary, all shots on the bed of the table, etc.), and shot requirements (e.g., preclusion of any off-the-table tricks, such as are popular in events like Trick Shot Magic and World Cup of Trick Shots).[6]
Objects used[edit]
As with other pool and billiards games, trick shots usually utilize a cue ball, one or more object balls, and a cue stick. However, many props can be used in trick shots including bottles, drinking glasses, baskets, coins, ball racks, cue tip chalk, and other billiardsand non-billiards-related equipment. Props are used to change the difficulty of the shot or add aesthetic value. As with artistic billiards pros, trick shot artists often have specialized cue sticks for performing particular types of shots, particularly jump shots and massés.[7]
Disciplines of trick shots[edit]
Potting three balls at once.
The APTSA trick shot disciplines are:
 1. Trick and/or fancy: Primarily deals with setup shots, multiple ball configurations, and/or a shot where cue ball travels in a "kick" pattern to make final ball(s). May also include "extreme" cut shots and special skill shots not in other disciplines.
 2. Prop/novelty and special arts: Unusual or new shots of any nature, shots with "props", such as cues, bridge(s), rack(s),coin(s), chalk, etc., and shots of a unique or "special" art form, such as wing shots, time shots, "legal" or "illegal" follow-thru shots, push shots, roller coaster technique/waterfall specialties, plus demonstrations of one-handed jack up, behind back, under leg, and more. Referred to as general amusement category.
 3. Draw: Basic to advanced with cue ball greater than 1/2" from first object ball. The cue ball contacts an object ball with draw (backspin) and pockets another.
 4. Follow: A cue ball is hit with follow (topspin) and goes forth and hits in an object ball.
 5. Bank/Kick: Bank, meaning to hit object ball(s) into cushion(s), and kicks meaning to hit cue ball into "x" number of cushions first and then to object ball(s).
 6. Stroke: Cue ball less than 1/2" from first object ball(s), for draw or follow, plus accuracy position shots, speed control shots, or unique "stroke" shots.
 7. Jump: Any shot utilizing jump shot technique, other than "prop" shots with bridge(s), and some special "stroke" shots.
 8. Massé: Half and full massé – cue elevations over 10 degrees.
Notable trick shots[edit]
 - "Machine gun" (1): A line of object balls are placed in a row about a ball width away from a cushion, and the cue ball is shot into the space between the balls and the cushion so as to reverberate between them while traveling and hit each one of the object balls in series, issuing a machine gun-like sound.
 - "Machine gun" (2): A line of object balls are placed in a row along but not against a cushion, and are then shot directly with the cue, one after another, around the table, each contacting three cushions, and into the same pocket. The trick requires carefully timing the shots, so that newly-shot balls travel between balls already in motion.[8]
 - "Machine gun" (3): A line of object balls are placed on the table. The cue ball is shot into a pocket with deadweight and the object balls are all potted into the same pocket directly one after the other with the cue, while the cue ball is still traveling. Done right, the cue ball is the first ball hit and the last ball falling.
 - "The dollar bill shot": Introduced into competition by Paul Gerni, this shot uses a banknote, typically a US$100 bill, placed on the short rail near the corner pocket as a target landing zone. The cue ball is banked off of eight or nine cushions and should land with the ball's edge over the banknote. This shot is used as a tiebreaker on Trick Shot Magic with the competitor landing closest to the bill winning the match.
 - "Up and in": Mistakenly thought to be originated by World Champion Mike Massey, this shot has much earlier origins, and was done in 1980 in Sweden by European champion Bengt Jonasson of Stockholm. He showed it to the gentleman of the American team


text:
|All photos by Matt Ball 2/29/2016|
Most flowering plants have both male and female reproductive parts in the same flower (so called "perfect" flowers); others have male flowers and female flowers on entirely separate plants (e.g., Four-winged Salt Bush). Still others, like Canyon Ragweed (Ambrosia ambrosioides) have separate male and female flowers on the same plant.
|Click photo for larger view|
The male flowers produce all that lovely yellow pollen, of course; that's what you're allergic to. The male flowers in bloom look like mini-sunflowers. (And, wouldn't you know, this plant is in the sunflower family : -) The female flowers are those lime-greenish things located below the male flowers. With a bit of a wind assist, the pollen just falls right into the waiting female flower. The fruit (only the female can produce fruit) looks like a little cocklebur.
When you get a chance, take a closer look at these fancy plants!
Retroactively, currently, and henceforth: All photos on this blog are the property and copyright of the photographer. (Thanks, Gene, for the reminder to make this clear.)


text:
Wayan Swantika of the local archaeology agency says workers digging a drainage basin last week in eastern Denpasar, Bali's capital, at first discovered a large stone about 1 meter (3 feet) underground.
Excavation teams have since uncovered a 57-meter (62-yard) structure that is believed to be the temple's foundation.
The find is still being analyzed, but given the shape and characteristics of the materials used, Swantika says he believes it was built sometime between the 13th and 15th centuries. He added that it is also thought to be the largest ancient temple ever discovered in Bali.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


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Conclusive Presumption Law and Legal Definition
Conclusive Presumption or absolute presumption or irrebuttable presumption of law refers to presumption which cannot be overcome or changed by any additional evidence or argument. It refers to rules of law and are usually mere fictions. Modern courts repudiate conclusive presumptions when they are not fictions. For example, a child below 7 years of age is incapable of committing a felony.


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Using Source Tracking to Grow Your Business
vcita's built in source tracking mechanism allows you to quickly identify the origin of a client's contact with your business. Knowing the source of new conversations is critical for accurately analyzing how effective your advertising efforts are. This insight will help you plan productive marketing activities and invest in the channels that are most lucrative.
This article explains how to view source tracking data in your account and describes some of the parameters involved:
- Viewing the Source Tracking Summary
- Viewing the Source of a Conversation
- Viewing the Source of a Booking
- Viewing Client Sources
- Understanding Conversation Sources and Parameters
Viewing the Source Tracking Summary
The Top Sources section of the Dashboard lists all conversation sources and displays the total number of conversations that originated from each source. The source that generated the most conversations is listed first.
To view your top sources, open the Dashboard menu. On the right side of the page, at the bottom of the Recently Active Clients pane, click Top sources.
Clicking a button in the Top sources pane opens a filtered view of the Inbox that displays only conversations originating from the selected source. For more information, refer to Viewing the Source of a Conversation (below).
Note: Notice that third-party sources, as well as any custom sources you create, are included in the Top Sources summary. For more information about common sources and their parameters, click here. For details about creating custom source tagging, click here.
Viewing the Source of a Conversation
You can check all your conversation sources at a glance, directly from your Inbox. The Sources folder contains a list of sources of all conversations stored in the Inbox. Clicking on a source filters the Inbox view to display only conversations that originated from the selected source.
Viewing the Source of a Booking
To see the origin of an individual booking, open the conversation and scroll to the appointment you want to find the source for. Click on the appointment.
Under More info, you will see the source origin. If the source was a website or other internet link, you will be able to click the URL from the Source details popup to view the source page. For more information about checking sources, refer to Understanding Conversation Sources and Parameters.
Clicking on the hyperlinked source opens the Source details popup, where you can see more information about the source. In the example below, we see that the source originated from the Client Portal, along with the Referring URL.
Here is another example of the different types of sources you may encounter. We see that the source message was sent via SMS (not email), and that the message type (Campaign) was a Reminder message.
To view the sources of many conversations simultaneously, you can export your client list. The export report can display information about all scheduled or requested appointments, including the source of the conversation connected with the bookings.
Viewing Client Sources
It is often useful to review the original marketing sources of your client pool. A client's marketing source is the origin of the first conversation with the client. Examples of marketing sources are automatic messages, direct links (e.g., your client portal), imports, etc.
To view the source of an individual client, go to the Clients menu and click on a client. On the 3rd section of the client's main card, click 'Show more' under Contact Information. The source is then listed on the right side of the page, under Additional Info.
To view the sources of many clients simultaneously, you can generate a Client Report. The marketing source of each client will be listed in the Source column of the report.
Possible sources of a client:
- Initiated by staff: imported or added manually by a staff member
- Client portal: Originated from your client portal
- Direct link: Accessed a direct link
- Website: A widget on your website
Understanding Sources and Parameters
The main sources are:
- Initiated by staff: Manually initiated by a staff member
- Website: An internet page from which a client was able to contact you or make a booking.
- Client Portal: A page of your vcita Client Portal. (The Portal is a site dedicated to promoting you and your business.)
- Announcement: A marketing drive that you create within your vcita account and distribute via email or SMS.
- Automatic message: A message generated by vcita to help you automate business workflows. The messages can be is sent via email or SMS.
You can see the referring URL for a website or Client Portal source in the Source details popup (refer to Viewing the Source of a Conversation, above). In the case of a website source, the popup also displays the Channel, or the type of widget that was used as the source. Some examples of website channels are buttons, calendars and contact forms.
When the source is an Announcement, the popup shows the distribution channel (Email or SMS) and the name of the Announcement. Clicking the link opens the Statistics page for the Announcement.
Other sources include third party integrations (e.g., Quickbooks, Zapier, etc.) and customized source tracking links that you have created.


OrthoGrid Systems and nView medical Partnering to Combine 3D Imaging and Guidance Technology in Musculoskeletal Procedures
| Categories: Press Releases
nView medical, a leading innovator in 3D medical imaging, and OrthoGrid Systems, Inc., a global MedTech leader offering intraoperative alignment technologies, are partnering to provide integrated solutions that increase surgical accuracy and OR efficiency and improve patient outcomes.
As the first step for implementation, the companies are executing a proof of concept for a periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) procedure, and, after completion, will expand to additional musculoskeletal procedures. PAO surgery aims to preserve the hip joint by repositioning the native acetabulum, a complex pediatric joint preservation surgery that aims to reduce or eliminate the risk of a future total hip replacement. OrthoGrid offers the first PAO-specific, imaging-based, surgical navigation application on the market.
"Many problems in orthopedic surgery are 3D problems. Currently they are solved based on 2D imaging data," says Dr. Chris Peters, Professor of Orthopaedics at the University of Utah and a renowned hip preservation specialist. "Being able to merge OrthoGrid's Hip Preservation application with nView's real-time, 3D, intraoperative imaging data would bring new and valuable information during critical surgical steps, such as the acetabular osteotomy and positioning."
Both nView and OrthoGrid technologies are AI-driven, open platforms designed to work within the surgical theater to improve accuracy, workflow efficiency, and patient outcomes. With the nView 3D imaging data, planning can be achieved intraoperatively, reducing the need for preoperative planning. Similarly, postoperative alignment verification via x-rays may be avoided, and overall radiation exposure to young patients is expected to reduce drastically.
"We are thrilled to engage in this partnership with OrthoGrid, as we truly have aligned company missions: To enhance surgeons' experience in the OR while simultaneously working to improve patient outcomes," said Cristian Atria, Founder and CEO at nView Medical. "OrthoGrid's expert knowledge of procedural steps and intraoperative problem-solving, along with their commitment to AI-driven, imaging-based automation, is an intuitive next step to further expand the opportunity behind real-time, 3D images. We look forward to seeing the immense impact combining these two innovations will have on musculoskeletal procedures in the years to come."
"This partnership combines two technological needs within intraoperative imaging: Real-time, 3D imaging, and procedural decision making into one unique solution," said Edouard Saget, Co-Founder and Co-CEO at OrthoGrid. "We seek to optimize the value equation in orthopaedics, one of OrthoGrid's long-term commitments. By integrating our applications within nView's 3D imaging system, we are consolidating the number of devices required in the operating room, thus improving operating room efficiency, staff training, and the overall value proposition to the hospital. At the end of the day, we're always working to make surgeons' experience in the OR as seamless as possible."
About OrthoGrid Systems, Inc.
OrthoGrid Systems is a global MedTech leader offering intraoperative alignment technologies via procedure-specific musculoskeletal applications. Its technology offerings, a set of AI-enabled surgical guidance applications, work within the operating theater and interface with existing hospital equipment to reveal fluoroscopic image distortion and provide surgeons with technology to assist them in their quest for surgical outcome reproducibility and improvement. OrthoGrid Systems was founded in 2012, and is based in Salt Lake City, Utah, with research facilities located in Strasbourg, France. Its technology is distributed in North America, Asia, and Europe.
About nView medical
nView medical, based in Salt Lake City, UT, is an early stage startup whose mission is to make surgery safer, faster, and consistently accurate. nView develops imaging systems, bringing breakthrough AI solutions for image creation, image processing, and image visualization to surgery. nView medical backers include the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the State Of Utah, the National Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation, MedTech Innovator, Dr. Kevin Foley, MD, and Fusion Fund (Palo Alto, CA). For more information, visit _URL_


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Is this bone a Neanderthal flute?
Cave Bear femur fragment from Slovenia, 43+kya
DOUBTS AIRED OVER NEANDERTHAL BONE 'FLUTE'
(AND REPLY BY MUSICOLOGIST BOB FINK)
Science News 153 (April 4, 1998): 215.
By B. Bower
Amid much media fanfare, a research team in 1996 trumpeted an ancient, hollowed out bear bone pierced on one side with four complete or partial holes as the earliest known musical instrument. The perforated bone, found in an Eastern European cave, represents a flute made and played by Neandertals at least 43,000 ye us ago, the scientists contended.
Now it's time to stop the music, say two archaeologists who examined the purported flute last spring. On closer inspection, the bone appears to have been punctured and gnawed by the teeth of an animal -- perhaps a wolf -- as it stripped the limb of meat and marrow report, April Nowell and Philip G. Chase, both of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. "The bone was heavily chewed by one or more carnivores, creating holes that became more rounded due to natural processes after burial," Nowell says. "It provides very weak evidence for the origins of [Stone Age] music." Nowell presented the new analysis at the annual meeting of the Paleoanthropology Society in Seattle last week.
Nowell and Chase examined the bone with the permission of its discoverer, Ivan Turk of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences in Ljubljana (S.N.: 11/23/96, p. 328). Turk knows of their conclusion but still views the specimen as a flute.
Both open ends of the thighbone contain clear signs of gnawing by carnivores, Nowell asserts. Wolves and other animals typically bite off nutrient-rich tissue at the ends of limb bones and extract available marrow. If Neandertals had hollowed out the bone and fashioned holes in it, animals would not have bothered to gnaw it, she says.
Complete and partial holes on the bone's shaft were also made by carnivores, says Nowell. Carnivores typically break open bones with their scissor like cheek teeth. Uneven bone thickness and signs of wear along the borders of the holes, products of extended burial in the soil, indicate that openings made by cheek teeth were at first less rounded and slightly smaller, the researchers hold.
Moreover, the simultaneous pressure of an upper and lower tooth produced a set of opposing holes, one partial and one complete, they maintain.
Prehistoric, carnivore-chewed bear bones in two Spanish caves display circular punctures aligned in much the same way as those on the Slovenian find. In the March Antiquity, Francesco d'Errico of the Institute of Quaternary Prehistory and Geology in Talence, France, and his colleagues describe the Spanish bones.
In a different twist, Bob Fink, an independent musicologist in Canada, has reported
on the Internet
(_URL_ that the spacing of the two complete and two partial holes on the back of the Slovenian bone conforms to musical notes on the diatonic (do, re, mi...) scale.
The bone is too short to incorporate the diatonic scale's seven notes, counter Nowell and Chase. Working with Pennsylvania musicologist Robert Judd, they estimate that the find's 5.7-inch length is less than half that needed to cover the diatonic spectrum. The recent meeting presentation is "a most convincing analysis," comments J. Desmond Clark of the University of California, Berkeley, although it's possible that Neandertals blew single notes through carnivore-chewed holes in the bone.
"We can't exclude that possibility," Nowell responds. "But it's a big leap of faith to conclude that this was an intentionally constructed flute."
TO THE EDITOR, SCIENCE NEWS (REPLY BY BOB FINK, May 1998)
(See an update of this discussion on Bob Fink's web site, November 2000)
The doubts raised by Nowell and Chase (April 4th, DOUBTS AIRED OVER NEANDERTHAL BONE 'FLUTE') saying the Neanderthal Bone is not a flute have these weaknesses:
The alignment of the holes -- all in a row, and all of equivalent diameter, appear to be contrary to most teeth marks, unless some holes were made independently by several animals. The latter case boggles the odds for the holes ending up being in line. It also would be strange that animals homed in on this one bone in a cave full of bones, where no reports of similarly chewed bones have been made.
This claim is harder to believe when it is calculated that chances for holes to
be arranged, by chance, in a pattern that matches the spacings of 4 notes of a
diatonic flute, are only one in hundreds to occur.
The analysis I made on the Internet (_URL_ regarding the bone being capable of matching 4 notes of the do, re, mi (diatonic) scale included the possibility that the bone was extended with another bone "mouthpiece" sufficiently long to make the notes sound fairly in tune. While Nowell says "it's a big leap of faith to conclude that this was an intentionally constructed flute," it's a bigger leap of faith to accept the immense coincidence that animals blindly created a hole-spacing pattern with holes all in line (in what clearly looks like so many other known bone flutes which are made to play notes in a step-wise scale) and blindly create a pattern that also could play a known acoustic scale if the bone was extended. That's too much coincidence for me to accept. It is more likely that it is an intentionally made flute, although admittedly with only the barest of clues regarding its original condition.
The 5.7 inch figure your article quoted appears erroneous, as the centimeter scale provided by its discoverer, Ivan Turk, indicates the artifact is about 4.3 inches long. However, the unbroken femur would originally have been about 8.5 inches, and the possibility of an additional hole or two exists, to complete a full scale, perhaps aided by the possible thumbhole. However, the full diatonic spectrum is not required as indicated by Nowell and Chase: It could also have been a simpler (but still diatonic) 4 or 5 note scale. Such short-scale flutes are plentiful in homo sapiens history.
Finally, a worn-out or broken flute bone can serve as a scoop for manipulation of food, explaining why animals might chew on its ends later. It is also well-known that dogs chase and maul even sticks, despite their non-nutritional nature. What appears "weak" is not the case for a flute, but the case against it by Nowell and Chase.
Letter to the Editor: Antiquity Journal:
"A Bone to Pick"
By Bob Fink
I have a bone to pick with Francesco d'Errico's viewpoint in the March issue of Antiquity (article too long to reproduce here) regarding the Neanderthal flute found in Slovenia by Ivan Turk. D'Errico argues the bone artifact is not a flute.
D'Errico omits dealing with the best evidence that this bone find is a flute.
Regarding the most important evidence, that of the holes being lined up, neither d'Errico nor Turk make mention of this.
This line-up is remarkable especially if they were made by more than one carnivore, which apparently they'd have to be, based on Turk's analysis of the center-spans of the holes precluding their being made by a single carnivore or bite (Turk,* pp.171-175). To account for this possible difficulty, some doubters do mention "one or more" carnivores (Chase & Nowell, Science News 4/4/98).
My arguments over the past year pointed out the mathematical odds of the lining up of the holes occurring by chance-chewing are too difficult to believe.
The Appendix in my essay ("Neanderthal Flute --A Musicological Analysis") proves that the number of ways a set of 4 random holes could be differently spaced (to produce an audibly different set of tones) are 680 ways. The chances a random set would match the existing fragment's spacing [which also could produce a match to four diatonic notes of the scale] are therefore only one in hundreds. If, in calculating the odds, you also allowed the holes to be out of line, or to be less than 4 holes as well, then the chance of a line-up match is only one from many tens of thousands.
And yet randomness and animal bites still are acceptable to account for holes being in line that could also play some notes of the scale? This is too much coincidence for me to believe occurred by chance.
D'Errico mentions my essay in his article and what he thought it was about, but he overstates my case into being a less believable one. My case simply was that if the bone was long enough (or a shorter bone extended by a mouthpiece insert) then the 4 holes would be consistent and in tune with the sounds of Do, Re, Mi, Fa (or flat Mi, Fa, Sol, and flat La in a minor scale).
In the 5 points I list below, extracted from Turk's monograph in support of this being a flute, d'Errico omits dealing with much of the first, and all of the


Change the Wi-Fi network of Chromecast or Chromecast Audio
Chromecast and Chromecast Audio devices can only remember one Wi-Fi network at a time. If you changed your Wi-Fi network and your device isn't currently connected to a Wi-Fi network, perform a factory reset and set up your Chromecast or Chromecast Audio on the new network.
If your Chromecast or Chromecast Audio is connected to an existing Wi-Fi network but you'd like to connect it to a new one, follow the steps below:
 1. Make sure your mobile device or tablet is connected to the same Wi-Fi as your Chromecast device.
 2. Open the Google Home app Google Home app.
 3. Tap your device.
 4. At the top right corner, tap Settings and then Wi-Fi and then Forget and then Forget network.
 5. You'll be taken back to your home screen.
 6. Follow the steps to set up your Chromecast with Google TVChromecast (3rd gen or older) or Chromecast Audio on a new network.
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ProSocial Values is a project addressing to the challenge of social inclusion and education by helping children from 5 to 15 years old learn prosocial skills, develop positive interpersonal relationships and therefore foster social coexistence and individual empowerment. The means through which this change will be achieved are an international community of schools cooperating in the promotion of activities at national and international level, a specific training for the teachers and a set of serious games to involve pupils and improve their prosocial skills. ProSocial Values aims at involving directly the schools, teachers, headmasters/ directors and pupils in the creation of a community for the spreading of prosociality in the whole local society. Thanks to the introduction of new teaching methodologies involving the use of serious games for the development of prosocial skills in the school environment, the project aims at:
- Strengthen the cooperative, altruistic and empathic behaviour within the school community
- Teach the prosocial skills,
- Develop positive interpersonal relationships
- Foster social coexistence and individual empowerment
A database of serious games on prosociality will be collected. These actions will create a solid basis for the development of the training of the teachers responsible for their local communities. As an integration to the training (available also in a specific digital platform), an online serious game about prosociality, with different levels of difficulty will be developed. Once the teachers will be trained on specific methods to teach the prosocial values, the research phase will start and the social improvements in the involved schools will be measured and analysed. Two international conferences, local seminars and workshops and three newsletter will contribute to the dissemination and exploitation of the results of the project.


What will the new migration system mean for construction firms?
What will the new migration system mean for construction firms?
Changes to UK immigration rules were published in January, spelling out a points-based system. Ostensibly, the system will be based on skills – but in practice, salary – and it could create problems for industries accustomed to low-paid migrant labour.
What will the new migration system mean for construction firms
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Industries most affected could include hospitals, agriculture, care-working and construction.
What will the new migration system mean for construction firms2
Image Credit
According to the Office for National Statistics, one in ten workers do not have British passports. In building construction, the figures vary regionally; it is only 3% in Wales but 40% in London.
What the guidelines mean
To take up a vacancy, non-Britons will need to speak English and have a well-paid job offer. Salary is used as a measure of their value to the economy.
To put the guidelines in perspective, the government revises them every few months, so nobody should believe they are written in stone.
The new criteria (salary levels) are lower than those proposed by Theresa May, and the commitment to reduce annual immigration below 100,000 has been abandoned.
The government has recognised that nursing and agriculture are dependent on low-paid workers and softened the rules for them. Construction jobs are not exempt, but any sector with a recognised labour shortage can get an exemption.
EU workers already resident here are protected from re-evaluation until 2025, so the changes have little short-term impact.
Problems ahead
The salary criteria raise many anomalies: a labourer will need a salary offer of £25,600 but a technician will only need £20,480. This could distort pay differentials, discouraging British trainees from entering the sectors where they are most needed.
The government has berated businesses for hiring cheap labour instead of investing in training and more productive machinery, but will they facilitate it? Raising salaries and labour shortages squeeze the budgets for training schemes and machinery investments.
Engineering firms like Dana SAC UK, who supplied state-of-the-art hydraulic cylinders and hydraulic winch for the Thames' latest bridge could be hit. Subsidising training courses in things like the hydraulic winch could help British workers fill higher skilled vacancies.
The conflation of merit with salary has caused offense to many underpaid workers, British and foreign alike. It probably makes administration easier, but if it encourages firms from placing migrants into well-paid jobs instead of promoting British workers, it will do little to redress hostility to immigration.
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