[Bioperl-l] Bio::LocatableSeq end checking inconsistency
Jun Yin jun.yin at ucd.ie
Fri Aug 13 09:36:34 EDT 2010
Hi, all,
I am the google summer of code student working on Bio::Align subsystem
refactoring. The code (Bio::SimpleAlign) I re-implemented now has passed
nearly all the test, except a few tests on seq/start-end testing. But here
comes a problem. This may be an old issue, that the Bio::LocatableSeq end
assignment and checking are inconsistent.
The current end checking method is based on:
However, this checking may not fit the real world case.
The inconsistency usually happens when a few columns of the sequence are
For example:
my $a = Bio::LocatableSeq->new(
 -id => 'a',
 -strand => 1,
 -seq => '-tcgatc-atcgatcg',
 -start => 30,
 -end => 43
If we remove the 1st, 8th and the last columns
$a->seq() will be 'tcgatcatcgatc'
Actually, in the real world, the first residue will still be 30 (the old
$seq->start), and the last residue is the residue before the 43 (the old
$seq->end), thus 42.
But if you call a validation, the calculation is
So the reassignment of the $seq->end will not pass the validation.
So unless you save the information to a new sequence object, the original
position information will be lost anyway. But in some cases, we have to
change the sequence in its original sequence object..
What is your suggestion on this issue?
A. pass the test and lose the information _TAG_ in coding but the
start-end annotation is not right any more
B. keep the information and forget the test _TAG_ object will still
remember where the last residue was in the original sequence. But is it
really meaningful at all? Because all the other residues may come from
C. Neither of above _TAG_ other suggestions?
Jun Yin
Ph.D. student in U.C.D.
Bioinformatics Laboratory
Conway Institute
University College Dublin
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HTML Improvements report
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Start Drawing: 3 Fun, Freeing Exercises to Spark Your Creativity | Carly Kuhn | Skillshare
Start Drawing: 3 Fun, Freeing Exercises to Spark Your Creativity
Carly Kuhn, Artist & Designer, The Cartorialist
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9 Lessons (43m)
 - 1. Introduction
 - 2. Getting Started
 - 3. Mindset and Materials
 - 4. Exercise One: Switching Hands
 - 5. Exercise Two: Continuous Line
 - 6. Exercise Three: Blind Contour
 - 7. The Art of the Aesthetic
 - 8. Final Thoughts
 - 9. Sneak Peek: Carly's Next Class
829 students are watching this class
About This Class
Often the hardest part of being creative is getting started. Overcome that hurdle and let loose in this fun, accessible class from artist Carly Kuhn!
Before gaining Instagram acclaim for her elegant and whimsical line drawings, Carly was an office worker doodling at her desk. While she didn't think of herself as an artist, she felt compelled to create, often returning to simple line drawing exercises that gave her the freedom to play and experiment without judgement. Today, Carly uses these same exercises whenever she needs an infusion of inspiration or an excuse to start drawing—and you can do the same!
Take 45 minutes to turn off your inner critic and unleash your most creative self, as Carly guides you through easy exercises to create a one-of-a-kind art piece for your home.
Using just a pen and paper, you'll explore:
 - Drawing with your non-dominant hand and without looking at your paper
 - Trusting yourself, embracing flaws, and letting go of judgement
 - Mixing and matching exercises to develop your own style
To finish, Carly shares simple steps to incorporate your illustrations into your space, revealing the styling tips and tricks she uses to make her own home more conducive to creativity.
Whether you're looking to bust block, explore a new style, or just have some fun, by the end you'll have a renewed appreciation for your own creative imagination, plus a meaningful daily reminder displayed in your home. Join in and get drawing!
Looking for more? Build on these exercises in Carly's next class, where you'll combine illustration, text, and found material to create a one-of-a-kind greeting card for a loved one!
1. Introduction: I think the word creative or artist is such a loaded word. Anything that you create can become art. Hi, my name is Carly Kuhn, also known as The Cartorialist and I'm an artist, designer living in Los Angeles, California. In today's class we are going to be doing three of my favorite line drawing exercises. These exercises helped me and continue to help me because we're not trying to create some perfect portrait, we're creating without judgment. We are going to put pen to paper with some obstacles that give you free range to mess up and intentionally not have something look like a face. Then we will finish by styling one of your drawings in your home so that every day you could be reminded of the artist within you. I did not think that I would grow up to become an artist. If you are someone who wants to be an artist, if maybe you doubled in art back in the day and you're looking to spark that creativity again, or if you're just someone who works a regular 9-5 job and you need a little bit of you time. I want to communicate that anyone can be creative and these exercises are a great place to start. So let's get started. 2. Getting Started: Welcome to the class. I'm very happy that you're here, and I'm excited that I get to teach this class because I wish I had this when I was starting out. I think it's very intimidating sometimes when you have this idea of wanting to be an artist and you maybe look to other examples or you came from school and there were things that you were taught that you should do something one way. If you didn't do it that one way, you felt like, "You know what? This isn't for me," and that's how things started out for me. I have a very early memory of being in my first drawing and painting class and not being able to look at a bowl of fruit and draw the bowl of fruit the way the fruit looked. I think when you're younger and you're in some type of school, you feel like you need to do certain things a certain way. But as you dig a little deeper and start to understand that there really isn't one right way to create or to become an artist. I went to school for something completely different. I grew up in New York City. I went to school in Syracuse and I was a television film major, and I graduated and I moved to Los Angeles and I actually worked in television comedy. I was always searching for something else, but I didn't necessarily know what that looked like. I think the way that I found what I'm doing now was just by experimenting and trying new things. At one point, I tried Groundlings, which is an improv school in Los Angeles. Through improv, I actually built some confidence in going for it without rules. I mean, in improv, you are up on a stage, given a scenario, and told to just go. I feel like that really translated later into my style of art. When Instagram came along, a friend recommended, "Start an Instagram and put your art on there." When I started, it started out just like these little characters that I drew and I put it out there. But at the time, when I was drawing, Instagram was mainly just fashion photography, fashion bloggers, editorial. so the subject matter of what I was drawing was what I was seeing on Instagram. I, by accident, fell into this fashion illustration world, and I'd shifted from maybe me just drawing little characters to drawing things that caught my eye and inspired me from Instagram. I did that for a little bit and slowly this person would repost me and that person would repost me, and the powers of Instagram turned it into something greater. I was drawing the fashion world and it became what I was known for. But at the same time, it felt a little paralyzing because I was doing it so much and felt like I had to keep going, and at a certain point, I just felt like my creativity was stifled and it was feeling very forced. I, by accident, found this style. I was like, "What if I just draw without picking up my pen, just like mindless doodling?" This new style came about, which is what we are going to be exploring today, this continuous line contour drawing. It was a really good way to get to be creative without a pressure of it having to end up a certain way. What's interesting and what I hope will happen for you in this class is this simple exercise. You'll do it again and again. You'll discover new things about what you like, what you don't like, and there will be exercises, but it could also birth a new style of art that you discover. I was doing these continuous line drawings and it ended up becoming today what a lot of people know me for, which are these faces, these continuous line drawings, these abstract things which some people today, that's the only thing they know about me. They don't even know why I did the fashion illustration. But what you want to take away from that is taking all of any expectation or goal of what something might be in a finished product, throwing that out the window and just you, pen to paper, having fun, not overthinking it, can lend itself to something that might actually become your style later on. 3. Mindset and Materials: For today's class, all you need is any pen. I like this uni-ball Vision Elite. I discovered it from when I was working at an office. Office pen, but also like sometimes to use a Sharpie. Then, you need some paper, any kind of paper that you have around the house. When you do these exercises, as you'll do them over and over again, you'll probably get a sense of a kind of pen you like. The pen will go differently on the piece of paper, but then depending on what paper you use, it will bleed differently on the page or it will feel a little sleeker and crisper. Right here, for example, this is more of a matte, thicker paper, and when I use a Sharpie on it, versus this pen, and then versus on here, it just has a different feel. It's hard maybe to see, but the more you do the exercises and the more you start to draw and experiment, you'll find your own style, you'll find the pen that feels most comfortable to you, you'll find the paper that you like the most. Those are the materials that you need for the actual drawing. Then, we'll need a subject matter to draw. I have here, a lovely, I think, signed photo of Ann-Margret from Bye Bye Birdie. The subject matter is whatever you feel comfortable using or drawing. If it's a vase of flowers that you want to look at instead, that's fine. I just like to start with faces because I think a face can feel intimidating because you have this idea of drawing a face, it has to look a certain way, there's maybe a connection to


CA Set to Ban Salary History Questions
California recruiters, take note: with a bill just passed by both the senate and assembly, the Golden State is poised become the latest jurisdiction to ban salary history questions.
Last week, Assembly Bill No. 168 was passed by the state senate after a 27-10 vote. The bill amends existing California labor laws by making it unlawful for government or private employers to request job applicants' pay history. If a candidate voluntarily provides that information without being asked, the employer may consider it in making a compensation decision.
While similar to other salary history bans, this bill does carry one unique provision: if asked, employers must provide applicants with their potential role's pay range.
The measure now awaits Governor Jerry Brown's signature. At press time, it was not immediately clear if the Democratic governor would sign the measure—though a vocal advocate for equal pay reform, he has shown some hesitation on employment issues in the past. In 2015, Brown vetoed a measure that would have expanded the state's existing paid leave program, citing concerns it would burden businesses.
A New Approach to Equal Pay
Though the Equal Pay Act of 1963 made it illegal for employers to compensate women less than men for performing the same job, significant disparities remain. On average, U.S. women earn only 80 cents for every dollar men earn. That gulf widens substantially when Hispanic and African American women are singled out, each earning only 54 cents and 63 cents to the dollar, respectively.
Finding "equal pay for equal work" too limiting, states have passed their own laws to combat the pay gap. In 2016, California notably broadened its focus to "substantially similar work," meaning men and women with comparable responsibilities, but with different roles, can now challenge wage disparities.
Then came Massachusetts, with an entirely different approach: banning salary history questions during job interviews. Lawmakers in that state hope that excluding past pay disparities from compensation decisions moving forward could "reset" the U.S. pay gap.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, lawmakers in Boston must be blushing. Since last year, Delaware, Oregon, and Puerto Rico have all enacted similar bans. At the local level, New York City and San Francisco passed their own versions as well. While it remains to be seen if other jurisdictions will follow, California is often seen as a trendsetter for employment legislation—meaning Governor Brown's signature could set off a chain of events that redefine the equal pay movement.
The Namely team will continue monitoring the progress of salary history bans nationwide.
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James Stewart was the first Hollywood star to enlist in the military when he was inducted into the Army in March 1942. Due to having a commercial pilots license, he was accepted into the Army Air Corps (the US Air Force did not yet exist). As a bomber squadron commander, he flew numerous combat missions over Germany and was promoted to colonel by the war's end in 1945. For his bravery and the success of his missions, he received the Distinguished Flying Cross and from the French Government the Croix de Guerre with Palm.
After taking some time off, he returned to Hollywood to make It's a Wonderful Life in 1946.


Bates numbering
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Bates Automatic Numbering-Machine, circa 1906, with a number printed by the machine.
Bates numbering (also known as Bates stamping, Bates branding, Bates coding or Bates labeling) is used in the legal, medical, and business fields to place identifying numbers and/or date/time-marks on images and documents as they are scanned or processed, for example, during the discovery stage of preparations for trial or identifying business receipts. Bates stamping can be used to mark and identify images with copyrights by putting a company name, logo and/or legal copyright on them. This process provides identification, protection, and automatic consecutive numbering of the images.
The Bates Automatic Numbering-Machine or Bates stamper is named after the late 19th century inventor Edwin G. Bates of New York City. He obtained several United States patents for the device from 1891 to 1901 and the patents were assigned to the Bates Manufacturing Company.[1][2][3] The earliest patent claimed a "new and useful improvement in Consecutive-Numbering Machines", indicating that Bates was not the originator of the idea. Bates' objective was "generally to increase the effectiveness, simplicity and compactness of machines of this general character". Each time the machine was pressed down onto a sheet of paper, a rotating wheel was moved incrementally. The original machine described by Bates allowed numbering with a four-digit sequence, ranging from 0000 to 9999. For example, page 852 in a document set would be 0852. Courts and law firms quickly adopted this system.
General Binding Corporation (GBC) acquired Bates Manufacturing Company in 1993. As of 2011, Bates numbering machines are sold by Advantus Corporation of Jacksonville, Florida, which acquired the product line from GBC.
Bates numbering is commonly used as an organizational method to label and identify legal documents. Nearly all American law firms use Bates stamps, though the use of manual hand-stamping is becoming increasingly rare due to the rise in electronic numbering — mostly in Portable Document Format (PDF) files, rather than printed, material. During the discovery phase of litigation, a large number of documents might require the use of unique identifiers for each page of each document for reference and retrieval. Bates numbering, named for the Bates Automatic Numbering-Machine, assigns an arbitrary unique identifier to each page. Such identification may be solely numeric or may contain a combination of letters and numbers (alphanumeric). There is no standard method for numbering documents, nor is there a standard type face used for such numbers.
Manual Bates stampers use a self-inking mechanism with four to seven numbered wheels. Some stampers allow for consecutive, repeat, duplicate and triplicate numbering.
Self-adhesive labels printed with Bates numbers are common today, as is electronic document discovery (EDD) software that can electronically "stamp" documents stored as computer files by superimposing numbers onto them. The Bates Automatic Numbering-Machine is being increasingly replaced by such software, except in cases where electronic versions of the documents are not available or are not practical to produce.
 1. ^ U.S. Patent 484,389 — Consecutive-Numbering Machine (October 18, 1892)
 2. ^ U.S. Patent 676,082 — Automatic Numbering-Machine (June 11, 1901)
 3. ^ U.S. Patent 676,084 — Automatic Numbering-Machine (June 11, 1901)
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Immunity from arrest means legislatures are privileged from arrest while Congress is "in session" with respect to offenses punishable...
Immunity from arrest means legislatures are privileged from arrest while Congress is "in session" with respect to offenses punishable by up to 6 years of imprisonment.
The purpose of parliamentary immunities is not for the benefit of the officials; rather, it is to protect and support the rights of the people by ensuring that their representatives are doing their jobs according to the dictates of their conscience. It is indispensable no matter how powerful the offended party is.
Thus, congressman who committed an offense punishable for not more than 6 years, but is not attending session, cannot be arrested so long as he is an incumbent congressman, and so long as Congress is in session, whether or not he is attending it, he shall be immune from arrest. (People of the Philippines v. Jalosjos, G.R. Nos. 132875‐76, February 3, 2000).
Moreover, a senator‐lawyer cannot be disbarred or disciplined by the Supreme Court for statements made during a privilege speech. The senator‐lawyer's privilege speech is not actionable criminally or in a disciplinary proceeding under the Rules of Court. The Court, however, would be remiss in its duty if it let the Senator's offensive and disrespectful language that definitely tended to denigrate the institution pass by. It is imperative on the Court's part to re‐instill in Senator/Atty. Santiago her duty to respect courts of justice, especially this Tribunal, and remind her anew that parliamentary non‐accountability thus granted to members of Congress is not to protect them against prosecutions for their own benefit, but to enable them, as the people's representatives, to perform the functions of their office without fear of being made responsible before the courts or other forums outside the congressional hall. It is intended to protect members of congress against government pressure and intimidation aimed at influencing the decision‐making prerogatives of Congress and its members. (Pobre v. Sen. Defensor‐Santiago, A.C. No. 7399, Aug. 25, 2009)
Congress is not considered in session during a recess. During a recess, a congressman who has committed an offense punishable by not more than 6 years imprisonment may be arrested.
The Constitution provides only a privilege from arrest in order to ensure the attendance of Congressmen. It does not provide immunity from searches
Legislative privilege provides that no member shall be questioned or held liable in any forum other than his/her respective Congressional body for any debate or speech in Congress or in any committee thereof. (Sec. 11, Article VI; Pobre v. Sen. Santiago, A.C. No, 7399, August 25, 2009
 However, legislative privilege is subject to the following limitations
1. Protection is only against forum other than Congress itself. Thus, for defamatory remarks, which are otherwise privileged, a member may be sanctioned by either the Senate or the House as the case may be.
2. The "speech or debate" must be made in performance of their duties as members of Congress.
In Paredes, Jr. v. Sandiganbayan, where Sandiganbayan order the preventive suspension of a Member of the HoR being prosecuted criminally for the violation of the Anti‐Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, the Court held that the accused cannot validly argue that only his peers in the House of Representatives can suspend him because the court‐ordered suspension is a preventive measure that is different and distinct from the suspension ordered by his peers for disorderly behavior which is a penalty. (Paredes, Jr. v. Sandiganbayan, GR 118354, August 8, 1995)
To avail the Privilege of Speech and Debate, the following requirements must be observed:
1. That the remarks must be made while the legislature or the legislative committee is functioning, that is in session
2. That they must be made in connection with the discharge of official duties.
To invoke the privilege of speech, the matter must be oral and must be proven to be indeed privileged.
Speech or debate includes a vote or passage of a resolution, all the utterances made by Congressmen in the performance of their functions such as speeches delivered, statements made, or votes casts in the halls of Congress. It also includes bills introduced in Congress (whether or not it is in session) and all the other utterances (made outside or inside the premises of Congress) provided they are made in accordance with a legislative function. (Jimenez, v. Cabangbang, G.R. No. L‐15905, August 3, 1966)
Publication does not at all times fall under the scope of speech. The same shall be made while Congress is in session and not during its recess. However, if publication is made when Congress is not in session, it is not privileged because Congressman is said to be not acting as congressman. (Jimenez, v. Cabangbang, G.R. No. L‐15905, August 3, 1966)
It must be noted that the purpose of the privilege is to insure the effective discharge of functions of Congress. The privilege may be abused but it is said that such is not so damaging or detrimental as compared to the denial or withdrawal of such privilege. photo source:
DISCLAIMER: The author is not lawyer nor an authority on this topic. It is a product of humble research and study of law. The information provided is not a legal advice and it should not be used as a substitute for a competent legal advice from a licensed lawyer.
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EES 225: Earth Materials
Samantha Tramontano, Earth & Environmental Science, working with Guilherme Gualda, Associate Professor and
Lily Claiborne, Sr. Lecturer of Earth & Environmental Science
Visual and spatial reasoning and understanding are important skills for many disciplines within the Earth Sciences, and developing those skills is one of the major challenges students face when they are first learning how to use microscopy as a tool for understanding optical mineralogy. Students struggle with building basic microscopy skills that are essential for their progression as Earth scientists.
In this project, we incorporated a visual aid component for the optical mineralogy portion of the Earth Materials class here at Vanderbilt. Specifically, we developed videos to show students what they should be looking for when examining minerals and to highlight the observation protocols and spatial skills they will need to use while doing so. The videos were accompanied by low-stakes quizzes that allowed students to assess their own understanding. We hypothesized that these videos enabled students to be more self-sufficient in lab and enhanced their confidence and engagement.
My project asked: Will exposing undergraduate geology students to optical microscopy figures in videos prior to lab assist in the acquisitions of skills required to describe and distinguish Earth materials?
Our overall goal was for the students to be able to implement new microscope skills in describing and distinguishing minerals in thin section. More specifically, our learning objectives were for students to be able to:
- Identify the parts of the petrographic microscope and how to manipulate it for different tasks
- Determine optical properties of any mineral
- Characterize a mineral in plane-polarized light and cross-polarized light
- Self-assess and explain confidence in their characterization and naming of minerals
Four units were hosted on a WordPress website: _URL_ and included accompanying exercises hosted on Google Forms.
The units and topics covered include:
- Plane Polarized Light: color, pleochroism, relief, transparent vs. opaque
- Cross Polarized Light: Interference colors, extinction angles, birefringence, isotropy vs. anisotropy, fast & slow ray
- Uniaxial Minerals: Interference figures, optic sign, flash figure, characterizing along epsilon and omega
- Biaxial Minerals: Interference figures, optic sign, 2V angle, flash figure, characterizing along alpha, gamma, & beta
Pre-Lab Videos & Questions
For the purpose of this study, the videos and questions were emailed prior to a weekly lab with the intent of familiarizing the student with the types of images and information he/she should obtain with the microscope. The learning objectives of these videos support the merging of theoretical goals and practical goals. Using these videos with a lab where theory is taught will optimize the success of the student. Two example videos are shown below.
We assigned one video per week for the first half of the fall semester. Short formative assessments accompanied the videos in a Google Forms-hosted assignment (example, below). This assignment will be given credit based on completion and is intended to aid in student self-awareness, or metacognition.
Summative assessments include weekly homeworks and a lab final. The combination of the pre and post lab assignments is expected to help students understand how much extra time is needed to hone and fully understand the basic optical microscopy skill-set.
Assessing the Effectiveness of the Online Quizzes and Videos
The effectiveness of the videos were assessed by comparing the homework and lab final grades of the students this year with those of the students last year. The homework assignments and lab final were part of the original course framework and remained consistent between the two years. We expected the students to perform better and with more confidence. The students were also asked to fill out the questionnaire below. The answers after each week were compiled and compared for the fall 2015 Earth Materials course in the Earth and Environmental Sciences department (EES 225).
How did they feel about it? Vanderbilt students were surveyed each week to determine response to pre-lab assignments. Larger square symbols indicate the mean response; small circles indicate individual student responses; each week is shown in a different color. The students generally found that the pre-lab assignments were helpful for lab exercises, and they reported higher self-confidence inside and outside of lab.
How did they watch it? Data from YouTube was analyzed for students using the exercises at Vanderbilt University and at Illinois State University. While Vanderbilt students visited the videos most frequently, Illinois State students watched a larger percentage of each video.
No significant difference in homework and lab final grades between 2014 and 2015 Vanderbilt students.
You can see more results and learn more about the project by viewing the project poster.
Tramontano, S; Gualda, GAR; Claiborne, L; Brame, C. 2015, Developing and incorporating instructional videos and quizzes as a blended and online learning component in an undergraduate optical microscopy curriculum., Abstract ED53A-0848 presented at 2015 Fall Meeting, AGU, San Francisco, Calif., 14-18 Dec.


text:
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913 + 1828)
result(s) from the 1913
De*scribe" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Described (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Describing.] [L. describere, descriptum; de- + scribere to write: cf. OE. descriven, OF. descrivre, F. décrire. See Scribe, and cf. Descry.]
1. To represent by drawing; to draw a plan of; to delineate; to trace or mark out; as, to describe a circle by the compasses; a torch waved about the head in such a way as to describe a circle.
2. To represent by words written or spoken; to give an account of; to make known to others by words or signs; as, the geographer describes countries and cities.
3. To distribute into parts, groups, or classes; to mark off; to class. [Obs.]
Passed through the land, and described it by cities into seven parts in a book.
Josh. xviii. 9.
Syn. -- To set forth; represent; delineate; relate; recount; narrate; express; explain; depict; portray; chracterize.
De*scribe", v. i. To use the faculty of describing; to give a description; as, Milton describes with uncommon force and beauty.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


text:
- App Store Info
DescriptionAmharic is the official language of Ethiopia, spoken by a large part of the country's population. It is the second most widely spoken Semitic language in the world.
Amharic App makes learning the language so much easy and fun. It allows you to get familiar with the various parts of this intriguing language at your own pace. And if you are already fluent in Amharic, you will find this App to be an excellent reference of this interesting language.
You can learn the basics starting with the letters of the Alphabet and then work your way through the numeric symbols and punctuation marks. You may then go on to build your Amharic word power by navigating through categories or by searching for their English equivalents in the vocabulary section.
Also in the Vocabulary section, you can learn how to communicate with common phrases such as 'Thank You', 'Hello', 'Goodbye' and much more.
In the likely case that you are interested in the sounds of the words and characters of the Amharic language, you may tap on any letter, number, word, or phrase to listen to the recordings as spoken by a native speaker.
Using the Amharic iOS App, you can
- Learn the symbols and sounds of the letters in the Amharic alphabet.
- Play a fun game of Amharic Letter Puzzle. You drag to move the letters around to get them in syllable order and win the game.
- Learn about the number symbols used in the Amharic language and hear how they sound.
- Convert numbers to Amharic numeric symbols
- Get to know the punctuation marks used in Amharic text
- Browse through and amass a searchable vocabulary of an ever growing number of words and phrases in the Amharic language.
- Enhance your Amharic learning with Vocabulary Flash Cards. Test yourself by switching from English to Amharic and vice-versa. Tap on the Amharic letter to learn the pronunciation.
- Lots more words and phrases to enjoy in the vocabulary section.
- Additional features and enhancements suggested by users.


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The boycott Israel movement and anti-Semitism during the COVID-19 crisis
By May 12, 2020October 13th, 2020Article
At a time when the world needs to put political differences aside, BDS activists prefer to sow division and corrode civility.
The pandemic has brought with it a wave of anti-Semitism that stretches the globe. Dubbed "coronasemitism," anti-Semitic incidents related to the virus have been reported in the United States, the United KingdomAustraliaFrance and throughout the Middle East. These incidents reinforced the systemic anti-Semitism found in countries such as Iran and Turkey, and evidences the broader history of Jews being scapegoated in times of trouble, whether it was plagues and epidemicsfinancial crises or tragic events like 9/11.
While the BDS campaign brands itself as a peaceful social-justice movement, it's really a political movement whose members often peddle in anti-Semitism. Recent social-media posts from BDS supporters during the coronavirus crisis are virtually indistinguishable from those of white supremacists and others who subscribe to Jewish conspiracy theories. Merely replace the word "Jew" for "Zionist" or "Israel," and it becomes evident that the BDS movement traffics in classic anti-Semitic tropes, whether modern-day blood libels, ritual murder accusations or happy merchant characterizations. We see BDS supporters depicting Jewish Israelis as viruses and diseases, and pushing conspiracy theories of Israel and Jews profiting from the crisis, while rejoicing in Jewish Israeli deaths.
In the same spirit of Hitler's 1920 Salzburg speech, which spoke of "Jewish contamination" and Jews "poisoning the nation," Abbas Hamideh, co-founder of the BDS organization Al-Awda, released a series of tweets characterizing Israel as a "zionavirus" citing "Jewish complicity in the coronavirus pandemic," and celebrating the closure of The Jewish Chronicle, the oldest Jewish newspaper in the world that recently went into liquidation—before it was saved by a donor—due to the pandemic.
Another proponent of BDS absurdly accused Israel of "faking cases," claiming that "the Zionists are behind spreading covid19."
When white-supremacist leader David Duke tweeted, "Does President Donald Trump have coronavirus? Are Israeli and the Global Zionist elite up to their old tricks?" a BDS supporter responded, "Israel itself is more dangerous for human species than corona virus."
This same user posited, in a reply to a tweet by conspiracy-theorist and Holocaust-denier David Icke that Israel is spreading the virus. The BDS supporter stated, "Isn't it interesting that Israel is the only place they haven't found even one single case of this virus," despite the thousands of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country and hundreds of deaths.
Singling out the Israel, the world's only Jewish state, for condemnation, Ariel Gold, national co-director of leading BDS organization CodePink tweeted: "Israel is culpable for every coronavirus death in Gaza," deliberately ignoring the border that Gaza shares with Egypt and the restrictions Egypt imposes on the enclave as well.
Maria Cristina Gutierrez, another supporter of the boycott movement, posted on Facebook that in addition to being behind 9/11, "zionista and the united states […] created this coronavirus in a lab."
"There is a coronavirus killing babies in Palestine, the virus is called the Zionist state of Israel," she added.
BDS activist Ratiba "Tibou" Abdessemed similarly labeled Israel a "lethal" virus and accused Israel of facilitating the spread of COVID-19.
Resurrecting the medieval Jewish blood libel, Ratiba has referred to Jews as "bloodsuckers," questioned the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust, retweeted an article from a notorious anti-Semite and Holocaust-denier blaming Orthodox Jews for the spread of the virus, and claimed that "world Jewry was the boss" of Washington, D.C.
Finally, Ratiba charged Israel with creating genetically modifying viruses designed to attack non-Jews.
On Facebook, BDS supporter Sabrina Porras blamed the "United Zionist snakes" for COVID-19. Ms. Porras had previously employed the classic conspiracy theory about the Rothchilds (i.e., "Jews") controlling the world, claiming in 2016 that they rigged the American presidential elections.
BDS supporter and English teacher Ramez Alashqar called Israeli soldiers the "worst virus in the world."
And even though Israel's synagogues have closed its doors in light of the pandemic, proud BDS activist Saskia Whitfield—a member of a Facebook group called "Did the Holocaust Really Happen?"—peddled the falsehood that "the entire west is banned from meeting with more than 5-10 people, UK is only two! Yet I read yesterday that the synagogues in Zitrael are exempt from this rule … could speed things up there."
Just as we have seen white supremacists rejoice in the number of Israeli cases and deaths in response to news of the first Israeli death due to COVID-19—that of 88-year-old Holocaust survivor Aryeh Even—BDS supporters took to twitter to either celebrate or express their indifference.
"Finally good news," wrote one BDS advocate.
The boycott movement's nefarious attempt to hide their true motives by merely replacing the word "Jew" with "Zionist" in some of these instances is not only troubling, but also a form of gas-lighting, when 95 percent of American Jews support Israel and thus Zionism.
Members of the BDS movement have a long documented history of anti-Semitism, which is why the German Parliament, the French National Assembly, the American Congress and a U.N. Special Rapporteur have all condemned the movement. Yet boycott activists continue to spread their vitriol during this global crisis. At a time when the world needs to join together and put political differences aside, they prefer to sow division and corrode civility.
Earlier this month, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Ahmed Shaheed, admirably declared that "we must collectively reject anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance and discrimination now." Now, more than ever, we need to hold those to account who do not heed his call.
Ari Ingel is the director of Creative Community for Peace, a nonprofit entertainment industry organization that represents a cross-section of the creative world dedicated to promoting the arts as a means to peace. Karys R. Oschin is the organization's manager of strategic research and writing.
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Turnips and red kidney beans
Terrific Turnip Recipe
Turnips can be eaten raw, boiled, fried or cooked with other vegetables. Here is a terrific recipe for turnips and kidney beans, which makes a delicious, unique side dish.
History of turnips
The turnip originated in Hellenistic and Roman times, becoming a well-established crop during this period in history. Wild forms of turnips can be found throughout Asia and Europe. Turnips are root vegetables, like carrots, and they grow most easily in temperate climates. Because of the ease in growing turnips, they are popular throughout the world and are prepared in a great variety of ways.
They are a good crop to grow because of the many nutrients that they contain for the soil. As a staple food, they grow in great abundance and can be used to feed both humans and livestock, increasing their versatility.
Turnips nutrition
Turnips are only high in Vitamin C but turnip greens are a good source of vitamin A, vitamin K, folate and calcium. The greens are also high in lutein. Turnips are edible cooked or uncooked and they are often found in salads. In order to eat turnips, you must first trim off any hairy roots and then peel them. Then, you can chop them or slice them depending on what you plan to do with them.
Turnips preparation
Younger turnips can be sliced and eaten raw, for example in a salad or as a dipping vegetable. You can also shred them as part of coleslaw, and they make great parts of vegetable medleys. Older turnips often have a milder flavor, and if you overcook turnips, they lose their flavor and become unpleasant. If you plan to boil your turnips, only cook them until they become tender, which takes about 20 to 30 minutes. You can also microwave, steam and roast your turnips, using your imagination to give character to this versatile, tasty plant. Here is a recipe for kidney beans and turnips that makes a delicious side dish.
Turnips and red kidney beans
 - 1 1/2 cups red kidney beans (soaked)
 - 4 large turnips
 - 1 large onion
 - 1/4 tsp ground ginger
 - 1 tsp salt
 - 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
 - 4 Tbsp vegetable oil
 - 3 garlic cloves (chopped)
1. Place kidney beans in a large pot of water and bring to a boil. Boil vigorously for 15 minutes. Reduce heat and simmer, partial covered for 90 minutes.
2. Peel turnips and slice into wedges. Chop onion in half and then slice. Combine spices with 1 tablespoon of water in a small bowl.
3. Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the turnip wedges in the oil until golden brown, then remove. Fry the onions for 2-3 minutes, reduce heat and add garlic and spice paste. Stir for a few seconds and then turn off heat.
4. After the beans have cooked halfway through (45 minutes), add turnip and onion mixture to the pot and stir. Allow beans to finish cooking.
5. Serve hot with rice.
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Sewage sludge (SS) has been connected to a variety of global environmental problems. Assessing the risk of various disposal techniques can be quite useful in recommending appropriate management. The preparation of sewage sludge biochar (SSB) and its impacts on soil characteristics, plant health, nutrient leaching, and greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) are critically reviewed in this study. Comparing the features of SSB obtained at various pyrolysis temperatures revealed changes in its elemental content. Lower hydrogen/carbon ratios in SSB generated at higher pyrolysis temperatures point to the existence of more aromatic carbon molecules. Additionally, the preparation of SSB has an increased ash content, a lower yield, and a higher surface area as a result of the rise in pyrolysis temperature. The worldwide potential of SS output and CO2-equivalent emissions in 2050 were predicted as factors of global population and common disposal management in order to create a futuristic strategy and cope with the quantity of abundant global SS. According to estimations, the worldwide SS output and associated CO2-eq emissions were around 115 million tons dry solid (Mt DS) and 14,139 teragrams (Tg), respectively, in 2020. This quantity will rise to about 138 Mt DS sewage sludge and 16985 Tg CO2-eq emissions in 2050, a 20% increase. In this regard, developing and populous countries may support economic growth by utilizing low-cost methods for producing biochar and employing it in local agriculture. To completely comprehend the benefits and drawbacks of SSB as a soil supplement, further study on long-term field applications of SSB is required.
|International journal of environmental research and public health
|Published - 2022 10月
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes


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Archaeologists have recovered six cannons from the ships of Welsh privateer Henry Morgan, the first artifacts found in Panama to be linked to the man who remains a legend there, the team said Monday.
In the late 1600s, Morgan sent three ships and a crew of 470 men to capture the Castillo de San Lorenzo el Real de Chagres, a fort that guarded the approach to Panama City, the capital. Morgan and his men were sailing up the Chagres River to join them when his flagship, the Satisfaction, and at least three other vessels crashed on Lajas Reef, sinking in shallow water.
Members of Morgan's force paddled upriver and traveled overland to reach Panama City, which they successfully sacked. But their wrecked ships were abandoned and left to amateur archaeologists and looters.
"Every school kid learns about Morgan's activities, but we have never seen any of his materials," said archaeologist Tomas Mendizibal, a research associate at Patronato Panama Viejo, a government agency that is overseeing excavation of the original site of Panama City. "If these are indeed his cannons, it would be a first." Mendizibal was not involved in the discovery.
Morgan is generally thought of as a pirate, but he was commissioned as a privateer by the English crown to attack enemy vessels and protect the British colonies of Barbados and Jamaica because the Royal Navy was unable to do so. He became the scourge of the Spanish in the Caribbean and was eventually knighted and made governor of Jamaica.
An American-Panamanian team has been exploring the mouth of the Chagres River since 2008, documenting its rich history. Christopher Columbus came across it in 1502 on his fourth voyage to the New World and it became the gateway to Panama City, Spain's main port in the Pacific.
After the decline of the Spanish Empire in the late 18th century, the city became a backwater port and an entree for smuggling and illicit trade. With the California Gold Rush, the Chagres River again saw a flurry of activity, but the construction of the Panama railroad shifted transit traffic to the port of Colon and by 1855 the river was again a backwater.
At the edge of the Lajas Reef, the team found what appeared to be a field of six cannons, all covered with layers of sedimentary rock that had built up over the centuries, said archaeologist James P. Delgado, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Maritime Heritage Program in Silver Spring, Md., and a co-leader of the team. The cannons seem to be from the 17th century and five are probably French.
Morgan's flagship "was a captured French vessel, and the mix [of cannons] is the type of thing one would expect for a privateer," Delgado said. "These guys grabbed whatever they could get a hold of."
At least two more guns are buried in the sand, along with an anchor, ceramics, bottles and other artifacts, he said. Magnetometers indicate that other metal objects are buried more deeply.
"The only wrecks that we know of that happened on that reef are his," said Delgado, who worked with colleagues from Texas State University-San Marcos, the Waitt Institute in La Jolla and Panama's National Institute of Culture. Moreover, an old map found in local archives indicates the site of the wreck is the location where the team found the cannons.
The archaeologists had not intended to bring the cannons to the surface, but treasure hunters have apparently been working at the site. "There is evidence of explosions, heavy gouging and digging and massive scooped-out areas," Delgado said. "The reef has really been hit hard," forcing their hand.


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Introductionacting, the representation of a usually fictional character on stage or in films. At its highest levels of accomplishment acting involves the employment of technique and/or an imaginative identification with the character on the part of the actor. In this way the full emotional weight of situations on stage be communicated to the audience. The actor must be a sharp observer of life and thoroughly trained in voice projection and enunciation and in body movement.
Sections in this article:
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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The woven hammock was the first New World craft tradition recognized and accepted by Europeans. On October 17, 1492, Christopher Columbus noted in his diary the curious "hanging beds" of the Taíno people on the island of Boriquén, now Puerto Rico. These jamacas protected them from soggy terrain, snakes, and forest animals. European sailors put them to use immediately, and the renowned sixteenth century Spanish chronicler, Friar Bartolomé de las Casas, highly recommended them to Spanish travelers. The hammock, still woven today in the Puerto Rican towns of San Sebastián and Las Piedras, is an icon of Puerto Rican traditional crafts and of Native American contributions to Puerto Rican identity.
José "Compay Ché" González was born in 1918 into a family of hammock weavers in San Sebastián's Barrio Robles neighborhood. He began weaving hammocks when he was seven years old, his mother teaching him to extract and prepare fibers (cabuya) from the maguey plant in the fashion of the Taínos encountered by Columbus, and his father teaching him to weave. In 1943, he married Doña Juana Pérez, the daughter of a well-known hammock weaver, and in the late 1940s, he and his father-in-law became the first modern weavers to make hammocks from cotton (cordoncillo). While the convenience and increased productivity afforded by cotton soon replaced maguey fibers as the preferred material, González's respect for the ancient method led him to continue the practice alongside his cotton hammock weaving. The process of scraping the pulp from the maguey fibers, washing and drying them, and coloring them with natural dyes is a tedious process, an art in itself. He has taught the ancient craft to anyone who asked, sharing his knowledge freely and taking on several long-term apprentices. Puerto Rico's veteran crafts promoter Walter Murray Chiesa writes: "... Don José González remains a true living monument, a great artist and a gentleman. His dignity, his friendliness, his generosity, and his loyalty to the art of hammock weaving have been so great, that I do not know any other living person so worthy of representing the greatness and nobility of our master, consecrated craftsmen." These qualities also have earned him the title "El Hamaquero Mayor" (The Great Hammock Weaver) among the hundreds of fellow weavers on the island.
José González has woven hammocks, "the poor man's bed," for 75 years, and is determined to continue his craft. "I will never stop weaving hammocks," he says. He creates various sizes, colors, and styles of hammock, as well as "hammock chairs" and miniature, doll hammocks. In the 1980s and 1990s, numerous craft festivals were dedicated to him. In 1996, he received an honorary doctoral degree from Puerto Rico's Universidad Sagrado Corazón, and in 1997, both the Puerto Rican House of Representatives and Senate officially recognized his work.
National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency


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- Enter a word for the dictionary definition.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Nectarine \Nec'tar*ine"\ (n[e^]k't[~e]r*[=e]n"), n. [Cf. F. nectarine. See Nectar.] (Bot.) A smooth-skinned variety of peach. [1913 Webster] Spanish nectarine, the plumlike fruit of the West Indian tree Chrysobalanus Icaco; -- also called cocoa plum. It is made into a sweet conserve which is largely exported from Cuba. [1913 Webster]


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The Occupational Safety and Health Technology Program (OSHT) is available completely online. OSH online courses and some required general education courses are offered via TSJC Online, while the remaining general education courses required for the degree are available through the Colorado Community Colleges Online (_URL_) consortium. Students may register for both TSJC Online and CCCOnline courses through Trinidad State, so only a single college application to Trinidad State is required.
The mission of the Occupational Safety and Health Technology Program is to provide a high quality education that develops students in preparation for entering the career field, enhancing technical and leadership skills, and/or providing a foundation for students to pursue advanced degrees in the career field.
The Associate of Applied Science degree in Occupational Safety and Health Technology is accredited by the Applied Science Accreditation Commission of ABET, _URL_.
The OSHT program goals address the specific performance outcomes necessary for success of the entry-level safety technician with an Associate of Applied Science degree in Occupational Safety and Health Technology. Upon graduation, the TSJC Occupational Safety and Health technician will be able to:
- Perform basic occupational safety and health functions
- Apply mathematics, the sciences, and related disciplines to conduct experiments and to analyze and interpret data to solve safety and health related issues
- Identify, formulate, and solve applied science problems, using the techniques, skills, and modern tools necessary for professional practice
- Apply the principles of industrial hygiene and toxicology, and use fundamental exposure measurement techniques
- Exhibit teamwork
- Demonstrate effective communication skills
- Recognize the need for and an ability to engage in lifelong learning
- Evaluate the relevance of contemporary issues in occupational safety and health
- Identify principles of professional and ethical responsibility for safety and health professionals
- Apply principles of safety and health through mentored supervised learning experiences
The OSHT program educational objectives state that within two years following graduation from the AAS degree program, graduates should be able to:
- Anticipate, recognize, and evaluate hazardous conditions and practices affecting people, property, and the environment.
- Apply appropriate strategies designed to mitigate risk.
- Use the techniques, skills, and modern scientific and technical tools necessary for professional practice.
- Occupational Safety & Health AAS
- Occupational Safety & Health Certificate
Effective Summer Semester 2017 - [ CLICK HERE TO REVIEW ]
In order to improve the OSH course descriptions, competencies, and credit hours, as well as overall curriculum requirements for the OSHT program, there are several changes that will be coming to the program beginning with the Summer 2017 semester. A crosswalk of old and new course numbers, titles, and credit hours is noted below, with new items in bold.
- Smart Path Required Courses
- Advising Sheet
- Annual Student Enrollment and Graduation Data:
- Program Enrollment and Degree Data - Trinidad State Occupational Safety and Health Technology
- Gainful Employment Information:
- Occupational Safety & Health Gedt
- Occupational Safety and Health Job Postings/Resources:
- Click here for the latest job offerings and timely resources


Communication, Policy, Research
134 – Why is it hard for research to influence policy?
Some research, probably a minority, is conducted with the serious intent of supporting or influencing policy. Within that subset of research, only a minority succeeds in its policy intent. Why is that?
I spend a fair bit of time talking to people involved in government policy at different levels, trying to encourage the use of approaches to decision making that will address questions such as: Will this policy really achieve the desired outcomes? Will the desired behaviour change really occur in response to the planned policy mechanisms? Of the things that money could be spent on in a particular program, which will give the most worthwhile results for the dollars spent?
They seem like common-sense questions that should be of interest to anybody involved, but it often seems extremely difficult to have them taken seriously. Why is that?
There is actually a fair bit of commentary in the research literature about the difficulties that researchers have in influencing policy. A broad range of reasons for poor uptake of research results by policy makers have been identified, including the following.
Non-scientific considerations matter. Sometimes scientific information may be known to policy makers, but the decision reached may still appear to be inconsistent with the science. This may or may not be a concern. It may simply reflect that policy makers and managers consider additional factors, such as legal mandates, societal desires, economic benefits and costs, rights, distributional equity and procedural fairness.
Hidden agendas. There may be political or bureaucratic objectives unrelated to the public interest, so that research that seeks to advance the public interest is not wanted.
Policy fashions and crises. Policy attention tends to be directed to certain issues with high currency, often issues where there is a perceived crisis (e.g. see PD#123), and this may leave little scope for research (or any other input) to influence policy in a policy area that is not currently high on the agenda. We observed this occurring in Australia around 2000 with land and water degradation due to salinity. Now salinity is no longer perceived as a crisis, and policy attention has shifted to another area of perceived crisis: climate change. The fall of salinity as a policy issue is remarkable. At one point it dominated all discussions about the environment in Australia, and now it seems to be hardly mentioned outside Western Australia. Even when an issue is perceived to be in crisis, it doesn't necessarily follow that research results will be noticed and acted on. For example, research that challenges preconceptions will tend to be dismissed, especially when there is a lot of momentum behind a particular view of the issue.
Timing issues. "Information must be timely to be useful" (Jacobs, 2002, p.9). "Policy generally moves faster than science, and the capacity of science to provide information may require more time than policy makers are willing to accept, especially for politically hot issues" (Clark et al., 1998, p.9).
Difficulty getting access. Policy makers often rely primarily on locally based and trusted experts with whom they are familiar. This is understandable, given the flood of information that policy makers can face on some issues, but it does not ensure that the most appropriate information is used, and it can make it very hard for new researchers or outside researchers to be heard.
Distrust. There may be suspicion about motivations of scientists, so that they are treated as just another interest or lobby group. The growth of public advocacy by some high-profile scientists feeds these suspicions. Even without overt advocacy, some environmental scientists tend to intertwine facts and values, and this affects the perceived independence of their scientific advice.
Incentives facing researchers. It may be that scientists are not conducting research that is relevant to policy, or not making efforts to make their science known to policy makers. "University reward systems rarely recognize inter-disciplinary work, outreach efforts, and publications outside of academic journals, which limits the incentives for academics to participate in real-world problem solving and collaborative efforts" (Jacobs, 2002, p.14). This probably helps to explain the observed lack of so-called "boundary spanners", these being individuals who can link the worlds of science and management and translate the concerns of one to members of the other (Clark et al., 1998).
Communication problems. Research findings may be communicated in ways that policy makers cannot understand, using jargon, technical language, or mathematics. Conversely, policy makers also have a comprehensive set of jargon, and may have trouble expressing their information needs in ways that researchers can respond to.
Lack of expertise. In some situations there is rapid turnover or movement of staff in government policy agencies, leading to lack of expertise by responsible staff and lack of knowledge of relevant science and scientists. A culture may develop in government agencies that detailed subject knowledge is not necessary.
I believe that understanding of the adoption of new policy ideas by policy makers can be enhanced by a knowledge of the research literature on adoption of innovations (e.g. Pannell et al. 2006). Here are some generalisations from that literature that are relevant to the policy sphere:
 1. Most potential adopters considering an innovation are sensibly cautious. They do not rush in, but seek information to improve their eventual decision about the innovation.
 2. Where decision makers do not have personal experience with an innovation, they rely to some extent on external sources of information. As decision makers gain personal experience, this tends to have a dominant influence on their perceptions and their actual behaviour.
 3. External sources of information are given more or less weight depending on factors such the expertise and credibility of the information source, the relevance of the external information to the decision maker's circumstances, and the number of external sources reinforcing the message with similar information.
 4. Apparently misguided decisions to adopt or not adopt an innovation can often be easily understood and seen as reasonable if one makes the effort to learn about the objectives and perceptions of the individual decision makers involved.
 5. Many factors influence the speed of adoption of an innovation. Key ones include: the extent to which adopting the innovation is superior to maintaining existing practice; the ease with which the innovation can be observed and evaluated; the number of other potential adopters who have already adopted it; and the intensity and quality of efforts to promote the innovation.
David Pannell, The University of Western Australia
Further Reading
Pannell, D.J. and Roberts, A.M. (2008). Conducting and delivering integrated research to influence land-use policy: an Australian case study, INFFER Working Paper 0803, University of Western Australia, Perth (submitted to Environmental Science and Policy). Full paper (70K).
Clark, R.N.; Meidinger, E.E., Miller, G., Rayner, J., Layseca, M., Monreal, S., Fernandez, J., and Shannon, M.A., 1998. Integrating science and policy in natural resource management: lessons and opportunities from North America. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-441. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 22 p. Here.
Jacobs, K (2002). Connecting science, policy and decision-making: a handbook for researchers and science agencies. NOAA Office of Global Programs, Boulder, Colorado. Here.
Acknowledgement: The article draws on various published papers, particularly those by Sue Briggs, Michael Carolan, Lonnie King and those by Clark et al. and Jacobs cited above. See the paper by Pannell and Roberts (2008) for full details.


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Even heard in modern synthesizer arrangements, the melody of the carol "Good King Wenceslas" brings the words and images of the story into my head: "Good King Wenceslas looked out / on the Feast of Stephen / When the snow lay 'round about / deep and crisp and even.
Wenceslas was a real person: the Duke of Bohemia, a 10th-century Christian prince in a land where many practiced a more ancient religion. In one version of his legend, Wenceslas was murdered in a plot by his brother, who was under the sway of their so-called pagan mother.
Following his death, Wenceslas became a saint and martyr revered especially for his kindness to the poor. Meanwhile, the catchy tune to "Good King Wenceslas" was around when people celebrated spring, but the Wenceslas legend hadn't yet met up with the melody. For centuries, it had been sung in Latin as "Tempus adest floridum" — a springtime song celebrating nature's powers of rebirth. It had verses in various languages, some of them adventurous in their descriptions of these celebrations.
Almost a thousand years after Wenceslas lived, a 19th-century Englishman by the name of John Mason Neale wrote the now-famous English lyric for the ancient melody.
The history of this Christmas carol is a rich accumulation of music, image and legend that speaks beyond any one religious tradition. Its most basic message is summed up in its final lines: "Ye who now will bless the poor / shall yourselves find blessing."


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Definition of ametropia
n. - Any abnormal condition of the refracting powers of the eye. 2
The word "ametropia" uses 9 letters: A A E I M O P R T.
No direct anagrams for ametropia found in this word list.
Words formed by adding one letter before or after ametropia (in bold), or to aaeimoprt in any order:
s - ametropias
All words formed from ametropia by changing one letter
Browse words starting with ametropia by next letter


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FAQ What is a plug-in fragment?
Sometimes it is useful to make part of a plug-in optional, allowing it to be installed, uninstalled, or updated independently from the rest of the plug-in. For example, a plug-in may have a library that is specific to a particular operating system or windowing system or a language pack that adds translations for the plug-in's messages. In these situations, you can create a fragment that is associated with a particular host plug-in. On disk, a fragment looks almost exactly the same as a plug-in, except for a few cosmetic differences.
 - The manifest is stored in a file called fragment.xml instead of plugin.xml.
 - The top-level element in the manifest is called fragment and has two extra attributes—plugin-id and
plugin-version—for specifying the ID and version number of the host plug-in.
 - The fragment manifest does not need its own requires element. The fragment will automatically inherit the requires element of its host plug-in. It can add requires elements if it needs access to plug-ins that are not required by the host plug-in.
Apart from these differences, a fragment appears much the same as a normal plug-in. A fragment can specify libraries, extensions, and other files. When it is loaded by the platform loader, a fragment is logically, but not physically, merged into the host plug-in. The end result is exactly the same as if the fragment's manifest were copied into the plug-in manifest, and all the files in the fragment directory appear as if they were located in the plug-in's install directory. Thus, a runtime library supplied by a fragment appears on the classpath of its host plug-in. In fact, a Java class in a fragment can be in the same package as a class in the host and will even have access to package-visible methods on the host's classes. The methods find and openStream on Plugin, which take as a parameter a path relative to the plug-in's install directory, can be used to locate and read resources stored in the fragment install directory.
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Category: Potential
gamification in the workplace
What is Gamification and How Can It Improve Organizational Effectiveness?
Playing games or going to work, which is more fun? Okay, that was an easy one, but what if we could make work seem a little like a game? That would probably make work a little more fun, right? This process is called gamification, and researchers are discovering more about how we can use it to motivate employees to feel enthusiastic about going to work.
Sense of Calling Can Affect Career Decisions
How a Sense of Calling Can Affect Career Decisions
New research reveals that having a strong sense of "calling" early on in life may help later in navigating the tension between choosing the career you want versus choosing one for financial stability and job security. When a sense of calling is stronger earlier in life, perceived ability plays a greater role than actual ability when it comes to actually pursuing a challenging career.
Further predictors of academic performance
In this meta-analysis, the authors examined the construct validity and predictive validity of 10 study-skill constructs for college students. Study habit, skill, and attitude inventories and constructs were found to rival standardized tests and previous grades as predictors of academic performance, yielding substantial incremental validity in predicting academic performance.
Personality characteristics that make the grade
Conscientiousness, which refers to being goal-oriented and self-disciplined, and openness, which refers to being creative and curious, predict academic performance, according to University of California at Davis psychologists Erik E. Noftle & Richard W. Robins. Across four different samples that utilized four different measures of personality, openness was the strongest
Thinking about Building the Box: Practical Intelligence & Entrepreneurs
Topic: Job Performance, Potential, Talent Management
Publication: Personnel Psychology (SUMMER 2011)
Article: The Practical Intelligence of Entrepreneurs: Antecedents and a Link With New Venture Growth
Authors: Baum, J. R., Bird, B. J., & Singh, S.
Reviewed By: Thaddeus Rada
Trading Voice for Service: The Impact of Perceived Voice on Organizational Commitment During Periods of Change
Topic: Change Management, Organizational Commitment, Potential, Trust
Publication: Human Resource Management (JAN 2011)
Article: The influence of perceived employee voice on organizational commitment: An exchange perspective
Authors: E. Farndale, J. Van Ruiten, C. Kelliher, and V. Hope-Hailey
Reviewed By: Allison B. Siminovsky
The Waning Voices of Senior Employees: Does Tenure Reduce Impact Levels?
Topic: Potential, Staffing, Training, Turnover
Publication: Human Resource Management (JAN 2011)
Article: Does voice go flat? How tenure diminishes the impact of voice
Authors: D. Avery, P. McKay, D. Wilson, S. Volpone, and E. Killham
Reviewed By: Allison B. Siminovsky
Perspectives on Potential
Topic: Potential, Talent Management Publication: Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice (DEC 2009) Article: The Pearls and Perils of Identifying Potential Authors: R. Silzer and A. Church Selected Commentary Authors: Robinson, Fetters, Riester, & Bracco; Dalal & Nolan Reviewed By: Samantha Paustian-Underdahl Identifying and developing talented employees


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US 20050138081 A1
The present invention involves a method of reducing information latency in a business enterprise having a computer system. The method includes the steps of accessing a data source and obtaining transaction information relating to changes in the data source. The data source contains data instances and meta data. A change in either a data instance or a meta data may activate an event within the computer system. The method includes determining whether a response is necessary to an event initiated by a change in the data source. The method also includes determining if the change in the data source was the result of access within or external to an application.
1. A method of reducing information latency in a business enterprise having a computer system, the computer system including a data source, with a change in the data source possibly initiating an event within the computer system, said method comprising the steps of:
accessing the data source and obtaining transaction information relating to changes in the data source; and
determining based on the transaction information if a response to an initiated event is necessary.
2. The method of
3. The method of
4. The method of
5. The method of
6. The method of
7. The method of
8. The method of
9. The method of
10. The method of
11. The method of
12. The method of
13. The method of
14. The method of
15. The method of
16. A computer system utilizing a communications network comprising:
a plurality of data sources coupled to the communications network;
at least one server coupled to the communications network, said at least one server in communication with said plurality of data sources, at least one of said plurality of data sources storing data in a meta data different than at least one of the other ones of said plurality of data sources, and said at least one server providing access to said plurality of data sources; and
a computer coupled to said at least one server and including a query system for enabling a query to said server relating to data stored in any of said plurality of data sources.
17. The computer system of
18. The computer system of
19. The computer system of
20. The computer system of
21. The computer system of
22. The computer system of
23. A machine-readable program storage device for encoding instructions for a method of reducing information latency in a business enterprise having a computer system, the computer system including a data source, with a change in the data source possibly initiating an event within the computer system, said method comprising the steps of:
accessing the data source and obtaining transaction information relating to changes in the data source; and
determining based on the transaction information if a response to an initiated event is necessary.
24. The machine-readable program storage device of
25. The machine-readable program storage device of
26. The machine-readable program storage device of
27. The machine-readable program storage device of
28. The machine-readable program storage device of
29. The machine-readable program storage device of
30. The machine-readable program storage device of
31. A collector for a computer system utilizing a communications network comprising:
at least one server coupled to the communications network, said at least one server in communication with a plurality of data sources, and said at least one server providing access to messages being transmitted into the plurality of data sources; and
a computer coupled to said at least one server and including a monitoring system for observing the messages being transmitted into in any of said plurality of data sources, said computer including detection logic for identifying unauthorized transactions included in the messages.
32. The collector of
33. The collector of
34. The collector of
35. A method of archiving data comprising the steps of:
maintaining at least one data set in a data storage having a plurality of data records;
determining the existence of change in any of the plurality of data records; and
updating only the data records determined to have a change.
36. The method of
37. The method of
38. The method of
39. The collector of
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to event-driven systems. Specifically, the field of the invention is the real-time detection of and response to changes in a business environment through the detection of changes in a database, file, or stream of data through a communication system in order to reduce information latency in a business enterprise.
2. Description of the Related Art
Business Networks evolve continuously, involving methods, transports, and Systems used by participants within and between Value Networks. A "Value Network" is a loosely or tightly coupled group of entities involved in producing and/or providing a product or service. Business Networks, in addition to the relevant business conditions of the time, establish the means, objectives and requirements of interaction within and between enterprises. "Systems" are any tool utilized to conduct business including processes, data, information flow, or technological devices. Today's business environment requires moving beyond the boundaries of the enterprise, in order to actively drive and influence activities across the entire value chain.
In the 1970s, enterprises began computing in a centralized model. Taking manual processes and turning them into automated processes achieved major benefits. While achieving significant benefits through automation, processes were usually executed in batch mode, and days would often pass before reports could be distributed to decision makers. In addition, programmers were required not only to develop new reports, but often to run the reports once they had been programmed. This resulted in significant latency in Business Networks, as there was a large time lag between information availability and the Business Events themselves. "Business Events" are a condition or set of conditions within or between Business Networks which may or may not require a response. The requirement for integration was minimal as the applications themselves were typically on a single platform and comparatively simplistic in their design.
With the advent of the personal computer, the 1980s brought distributed computing. Information could now be downloaded from the centralized systems and processed locally. Spreadsheets and local databases allowed individuals to process their own information, which was both a huge advantage and disadvantage. This resulted in information islands within the enterprise where information was not distributed to all needed stakeholders-everyone had their own spreadsheet and synchronizing them was next to impossible.
Network applications developed in the 1990s, with the emphasis on sharing data within shared applications. These applications created information silos for specific types of information. Client Server based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems provided financial information. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems maintained customer data. These information silos allowed users to access information locally, yet provided centralized processing, which reduced the problem of desktop information islands.
Enterprises adopted multiple business application architectures; each designed to bring efficiency and effectiveness to specific areas of the business (i.e. supply chain management, customer relationship management, employee relationship management). These applications within an enterprise came from different vendors and required different platforms (and more capital investment) to operate and maintain. For a business to operate effectively, these systems then had to be linked to enterprise-wide processes to function. Furthermore, these applications also needed to interact with partners and customer systems in order to execute inter-enterprise business processes. Information silos were integrated within their own application, but restrictive in terms of inter-application, business unit and process flexibility.
Initially, bridges between business applications were 'hard coded'—a tedious and expensive task. Further, this single use code further reduced flexibility within the local business environment and many business leaders resisted this approach fearing a loss of autonomy and flexibility. This static architecture was at odds with the growing realization that while enterprises must synchronize their processes, businesses must also retain their flexibility.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) solutions became available to integrate these application silos. They were expensive to implement—requiring all parties involved with the integration to once again agree on a series of technical standards—which within some organizations was not realistic either inside or outside of the firewall.
Further, once implemented, EIA solutions impeded rather than enhanced process flexibility and business adaptability. Data warehousing tools were also implemented to glean insight into future trends or paradigms of the past, both across and between these data silos. However, the very nature of these tools necessitated moving huge amounts of data and re-sorting this data in a predetermined fashion and in batch mode, because there was no way to determine exactly what "pieces" of data should be updated. As a result, every piece of data is updated, regardless of whether it changed since the last update or not—a very time consuming process and one that requires significant computer and network resources. Often businesses discovered that by the time they had the answer, the question had already changed.
In order to increase value across and between trading partners, organizations have made connections with other entities in their Value Networks. Additionally, there are an increased number of individuals with the technical skill and know-how required to access these systems. This has significantly increased the potential and sometimes the requirement for information to be modified outside of an application. Security of information is almost always controlled by the application. In those instances where information is also "secured" outside of the application, individuals performing routine tasks are often required to have access to this information. Detecting the individual source or user of data changes within an application is more controlled than the detection of the individual source or user of data changes outside of the application, thus exposing the organization to unknown threats related to data tampering. For this reason, data tampering Business Events often go undetected by an organization until the adverse affects are already in motion.
To achieve a real-time low latency business environment without an event-driven system would require either an army of clerks poring over reports or delving into systems using random spot-checks. Both of these approaches result in some


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Defending gender equality during the pandemic
8 March, 2021The health and economic crisis brought on by Covid-19 risks exacerbating gender inequalities, and narrow gains made risk being lost. Trade unions need to take action.
ILO studies show that during previous crises, when women lose their jobs, their engagement in unpaid care work increases. When jobs are scarce, women are often denied job opportunities available to men. The bigger their losses in employment during the lockdown phase and the greater the scarcity of jobs in the aftermath of the Covid-19 crisis, the harder it will be for women's employment to recover.
Globally, women have been harder hit by unemployment than men. In 2020, the loss of employment for women stands at five per cent, versus 3.9 per cent for men. Almost 40 per cent of all employed women, work in hard-hit sectors, including the garment sector.
The unequal distribution of increased care demands during the crisis has disproportionately affected women, who normally provide around three quarters of all unpaid care work. The pandemic has brought closures of childcare and schools, which, coupled with older relatives unable to provide support, has exacerbated care demands.
Governments need to tailor policy responses to the current crisis to ensure that women will not be left behind, as general support will not automatically reach them. Trade unions have an important role to play to ensure that women are supported to get decent work, and do not suffer long-term "scarring effects".
Gender-responsive responses to the crisis
A gender sensitive monitoring of unemployment, access to social protection, reduction of working time and gender pay gap, is key for the design and implementation of inclusive responses to the crisis. Access to gender disaggregated data on the impact of the Covid outbreak on all these issues is fundamental.
Unions need to ensure that company responses to Covid-19 do not place an unequal burden on women, as well as looking at whether if measures taken to mitigate the economic impact of Covid-19 and protect workers' health have not instead contributed to increased gender discrimination. Have women workers been penalized as they have had to deal with an increased unpaid burden at home, or because the employer has adopted less family-friendly working times to avoid rush hours?
UNITE UK have put together a guide on how to the assess the impact on gender equality and a checklist for trade union action.
Maternity protection and Covid-19
Trade unions need to ensure that maternity rights are protected while the women are on leave, that their pay rights are not undermined through the impact of Covid-19, and that their right to return to work remains.
Gender-responsive occupational health and safety measures
In order to make sure that the workplace is safe for all workers, trade unions need to ensure that women are involved in evaluating the risks involved with Covid-19 and in developing health and safety policies.
When executing, updating and implementing risk assessments, employers and health and safety officers should consider the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on specific groups, including employees living with/caring for the vulnerable, pregnant workers, as well as workers suffering from domestic abuse and put measures mitigating the risks in place.
Trade unions should ensure that women workers get suitable PPE, not designed to fit only to tall men.
Domestic violence has increased during the pandemic, exacerbated by lockdowns and economic pressure. Trade unions need to take action to address the impacts of domestic violence, and support worker victims/survivors.
"The unions response must be rooted in the fight against gender discrimination. Unions must continue to challenge gender stereotypes and social norms that limit women's access to labour markets and quality jobs and contribute to gender segregation."
This crisis has shown the urgent need to end the gender pay gap, to re-evaluate female-dominated occupations or sectors and establish a gender-responsive social protection for all workers,"
says Jenny Holdcroft, IndustriALL assistant general secretary.


text:
Constructing pipelines can be difficult and expensive, but once built, they provide one of the safest and most economical means of transporting oil and gas and the subsequent refined petroleum products.
Pipelines, which are made from steel or plastic, often are found about 3 ft underground, but can also be constructed on the sea floor. Oil and natural gas flows from drill sites to refineries and from refineries to terminals through a vast network of pipelines with the help of pump stations.
At the terminal, natural gas is transported to homes and businesses using small feeder lines. However, gasoline is transported to service stations by tankers.
Vladimir Shukhov, a Russian engineer, developed pipeline transport in the 19th century as a more economical solution to rail transport. The first US crude oil pipeline was open for business in Pennsylvania in 1865 and transported crude through a 5 cm diameter, 9 km long wrought iron pipe.
There are several kinds of pipelines. These include:
- Flowlines - Transport production from well to storage tank on land. Offshore, they transport crude or natural gas from wells to platform.
- Lease lines - Transport production from a single lease to a storage tank.
- Gathering lines - Collect oil and gas from more than one location and deliver to central collection site.
- Feeder lines - Collect production from more than one location and brings it to a trunkline.
- Crude trunk lines - Transport natural gas and crude from production point to refineries and from refineries to terminals.
- Petroleum product trunk line - Transport liquid petroleum products from refineries to terminals, bulk plants, or other storage facilities.


text:
yth Petroglyph include astronomical representations of stars, the constellation Draco, the Pleiades asterism or constellation Scorpius, a comet, and meteors or comet fragments.
Two Georgia pottery traditions, Weeden Island and Swift Creek, have designs similar to those that appear on the Forsyth Petroglyph and have been interpreted as astronomical symbols. David Allison has argued that astronomical phenomena are portrayed on "sacred" Weeden Island pottery including "constellations, the Milky Way, the annual movements of the sun and moon, solar equinoxes and solstices, and the paths of the planets Venus and Mercury as 'morning stars.'"[xi]
Frankie Snow has argued that some of the motifs found on Swift Creek pottery are astronomical in nature. He suggests that concentric circles and circles with a central dot (nucleated circles) are motifs that represent the sun.[xii]
Both the Weeden Island and Swift Creek pottery traditions coexisted in Georgia between 20 BC and 805 AD.[xiii] Since similar motifs are found on the Forsyth Petroglyph, it likely dates from the same time period although no tests have been done to prove this. Other researchers have suggested it is "roughly contemporary to… dated ceramics [from] AD 700 to 1400 (i.e., Late Woodland Swift Creek and Middle Mississippian Savannah.)"[xiv]
Analysis and Interpretation of the Forsyth Petroglyph
The most numerous features on the Forsyth Petroglyph are a series of concentric circles and nucleated circles (circles with central circles/dots) known in petroglyph studies as cup-and-ring[xv] designs and elsewhere as circumpuncts or circled dots[xvi]. Most of the circles on the Forsyth Petroglyph are nucleated although a few of the smaller circles are not.
|Figure 2: Side by side comparison of a detail from the line drawing with photo of same section on the actual rock||Note: The circles on the actual petroglyph are closer together than the drawing conveys. Also, line drawing doesn't accurately reflect thickness of circles.|
David Allison found two sets of concentric circles on C.B. Moore's Vessel No. 17 from the "Mound Near The Warrior River, Taylor County. Mound B." and proposed they were solar symbols. On the same vessel Allison also found circles with central dots and proposed a solar interpretation for them as well.
Frankie Snow found concentric circles with central dots on several Swift Creek pots. He interpreted these as solar symbols based on known historic accounts of Native Americans using similar symbols to represent the sun.
So far we have established that concentric circles and nucleated circles (circumpuncts) may have astronomical associations as symbols for our day star, the sun. Is it possible that Native Americans also used concentric circles to represent night stars? Due to the multiple instances of concentric circles and their scattered arrangement on the Forsyth Petroglyph it is doubtful that each and every one of them represents the sun. I propose that in this particular case, based on their quantity, arrangement and context (i.e., the other design elements that surround them), they represent stars in the night sky. Evidence below will further support this contention. (For further proof that ancients used concentric circles with central dot as a symbol for stars, see the ancient Sumerian image "Kudurru of King Melishipak.")[xvii] [Continues...]


Wednesday, October 17, 2007
The Grim Reaper
"Our earliest records of the Reaper date back to Greek civilization. Gaia and Uranus were Kronos' parents. Uranus, fearful of all his children including Kronos kept them constrained inside Gaia. Gaia wished to free her children and decided to give Kronos a sickle. With this sickle Kronos eventually castrated his father and bled him to death. Knowing how he had killed his father, once Kronos had children of his own, he feared his fate would be the same. As each child was born he swallowed them one by one.
From ancient folklore and other anthropological sources it is believed that Kronos was a harvest god worshipped by a culture before the Greeks. It is understood that his sickle was used in harvesting grain. Harvest was also associated with death because it signaled the end of the growing season and the beginning of Winter. Time devouring all things was represented poetically by Kronos eating his own children. It was the Greeks very dramatic way of saying nothing lasts forever.
The Grim Reaper wielding a sickle and, at times, an hourglass is directly derived from Kronos. One must understand how important grain was to these ancient civilizations. How horrible the thought of some mystic creature with the power to swipe away their whole harvest with a single swing of the mighty sickle. Not to mention the flock of famished crows, which would accompany such a terrible figure. It undoubtedly symbolized death in an extremely effective way. Though the Grim Reaper poses no real threat to our life, his legacy, which has been handed down from generation to generation, has instilled in us all the fear we need to ensure the desired effect."
There are, of course, different opinions as to where the idea of the Grim Reaper came from, I particularly like the one above, because the historian reminds us that we need perspective when dealing with the subjects level of impact. Today, still, seeing the skeleton holding a sickle is scary. (And cool as a drawing, but if you were actually see the Grim Reaper, I don't think you would grab an air guitar and rock out.) That sickle can be plunged into my head. But to have the resonance of the ability of the sickle to wipe out all grain, all nourishment, doesn't only affect my own perile, but that of my family's and my community's. Perspective. Often when I think about perspective it brings me back to the trip I took to Germany to study castles. One particular castle had extremely tall outer walls, fortifications and parapets, and machicolations for pouring out hot tar onto offending armies. I said to my friend, "Wow they must have been holding gold, diamonds or some important Dignitary." And she said, "No, something more important than that, Salt!" Salt? I immediately pictured a swarm of angry housewives with mixing bowls and Chefs with large wooden spoons pounding on the outer walls of the castle, demanding salt for their souffle. At the time, I knew about, but did not realize the importance of salting the meats, to keep them from spoiling. It wasn't just for seasoning it WAS the preserver of food, the preserver of life itself!
Tanya said...
In reading this, I am most struck by the image of swallowing - such as the common image of a snake swallowing its own tail - only I am prompted to think of the reverse, of people vomiting up people. Such as vomiting up a mouthful of those tiny plastic toy soldiers. This has a political undertone that is accidental on my part - really I was just thinking of human figures that are tiny enough to fit in one's mouth. And there's an irony in childhood toys being an image of death.
pbsebastian said...
I had always assumed that the grim reaper carried a sickle because autumn is a season which is accompanied by death. Harvest time occurs in the autumn and sickles are associated with harvest time. That is to say:
Death = Autumn
Autumn = Harvest
Harvest = Sickle
Therefore; Death = Sickle.
I am enjoying discovering the changing morphology of death personified. Within the old and new testament Death is conceived as both a servant of God and of Satan. I think it is interesting that pretty much the same "character" can be conceived as both good and evil. Perhaps this exemplifies an ambiguity between the 'fear of death' and the concept of 'resting in peace'.
Islam has a personification of death named Azrael. A servant of God who is consistently writing and erasing names into and out of a great book. The writing of a name coincides with that person's birth, the erasing of that name coincides with that person's death. I like this imagery. However, Azrael's portrayal is as grotesque as the grim reaper is bad ass. He is portrayed as "having four faces and four thousand wings, and his whole body consists of eyes and tongues, the number of which corresponds to the number of people inhabiting the earth."
On another note. All this grim reaper talk reminds me of a summer I spent indoors trying to beat the game Castlevania. I managed to get to the second highest level. The grim reaper was the boss of this level and it always kicked my ass. I could not beat death. I even tried having my neighbor Billy Plank (who had beaten the game) to show me how to beat the level. Nothing helped. It was very frustrating. Eventually I gave up. Never to save the kingdom from Dracula and release it into light or peace or whatever happens when you win that game.
Even In Blackouts said...
Peter that is great! I often find myself writing passages about appearing and disappearing text and names. I was so obsessed by it that I wrote a full length play that dealt with death called Rock Paper Sister. One of the mane characters jobs was to type great literary works into files for online consumption. but the more he wrote the less he wrote himself. His own identity was diminishing like being erased. This text appearing and disapearing is a great image that could be used in the eventual production.


Real Estate Odor Problems
If it smells, it won't sell.
Having difficulty selling a home due to an odor? Did the previous owner have pets or smoke? We have the perfect solution for your problem! We offer a new process of removing odors that has been 100% successful. Even better, the process can usually be done within 24 hours.
 - The process starts with a thorough cleaning of the ventilation system and ducts. Using special tools, the ducts are cleaned with a rotating brush that vacuums any debris preventing any possible spreading of the issue.
 - Next is the application of a special formulation that destroys any odor causing bacteria and mold while not leaving behind any harmful residue. This application covers the entire house to eliminate odors at their source and is particularly useful for pet and smoke problems which have a tendency to blanket an entire home.
 - Finally, a mold inhibitor is applied to the duct-work and any problematic areas to prevent future issues and ensure a lasting clean.
The special formulation eliminates bacteria, fungi, and viruses. It is about 7 times more effective than regular chlorine such as in bleach, and microorganisms cannot build up a resistance. After treatment, it freely breaks down into salt and water and does not produce carcinogenic by-products such as when using chlorine.
Some animals have a tendency of marking air vents, especially floor units. This can lead to unsanitary and very smelly results that can build up for years, and any new animals will want to re-mark the same air vents. Smoke tends to travel everywhere inside a house and can stick to the walls, ceiling, ventilation, and any other nooks and crannies. Both of these can effect the smell of a home and can aggravate allergies and asthma making a home almost impossible to sell. If a potential buyer walks into a home and notices a smell or begins sneezing, chances are they will not want to spend much time at the home let alone buy it, that's why if there is any issue with odors or if the previous owners had pets or were smokers it is strongly advised to have the ventilation cleaned and the home removed of any odor causing bacteria and mold.
Homes wih somokers can be hard to sell
Homes with urine and pet smells are also difficult to sell