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Design Optimization Using Lookup Table Requirements for Gain Scheduling (GUI)
This example shows how to tune parameters in a lookup table in a model that uses gain scheduling to adjust the controller's response to a plant that varies. Model tuning uses the Response Optimizer app.
Ship Steering Model
Open the Simulink® model.
This model implements the Nomoto model which is commonly used for ship steering. The dynamic characteristics of a ship vary significantly with factors such as the ship speed. Therefore the rudder controller should also vary with speed, in order to meet requirements for steering the ship.
To keep the ship on course, a control loop compares the ship's heading angle with the reference heading angle, and a PD controller sends command signals to the rudder. The Ship Plant block implements the Nomoto model, a second order system whose parameters vary with the ship's speed. The ship is initially traveling at its maximum speed of 15 m/s, but it will slow down when the reference trajectory specifies a turn in the water. This turning, along with the force of the engine, is used by the Force Dynamics block to compute the speed of the ship over time. The Kinematics block computes the trajectory of the ship.
Open the Controller block by double clicking it.
When the speed changes, the ship plant also changes. Therefore the PD controller gains need to change, and speed is used as the scheduling variable. The controller is in the form
K(1 + sTd) where
K is the overall gain and
Td is the time constant associated with the derivative term. Gain scheduling is implemented using lookup tables, and the table data are specified by
Td. These are vectors which specify different values for different speeds. The different speeds are specified in the lookup table breakpoint vectors
The reference specifies that at 200 seconds, the ship should turn 180 degrees and reverse course. One requirement is that the ship heading angle needs to match the reference heading angle within an envelope. For the safety and comfort of passengers, a second requirement is that the total acceleration of the ship needs to stay within a bound of 0.25 g's, where 1 g is the acceleration of gravity at Earth's surface, 9.8 m/s^2.
The controller parameter vectors
Td will be design variables, and will be tuned to try to meet the requirements. If it is not possible to meet both requirements, then the lookup table breakpoints
bpTd will also be used as design variables. In that case, we will need to specify an additional requirement that
bpTd must be monotonically strictly increasing, because this is required for breakpoint vectors in Simulink lookup tables.
Open the Response Optimizer
In the Apps tab, click Response Optimizer under Control Systems.
Specify Design Requirements
Specify the requirements which must be satisfied. First, the ship should follow the reference trajectory. Since the reference is essentially a step change from 0 to 180 degrees, you specify a step response envelope for the ship heading angle. In the toolstrip, click New and select Step Response Envelope. Set the initial value to 0 and the final value to pi radians. Set the step time to 200 seconds. Set the rise time as 75 seconds and the rise percent to 85%. Set the settling time to 200 seconds and the settling percent to 1%. Set the percent overshoot to 5%. To specify that this requirement applies to the ship heading, click +.
In the Simulink model click the ship heading signal, which is the output of the Ship Plant block. Select this signal in the Create Signal Set dialog, and click the arrow button to make it the designated signal, and click OK.
The second requirement is that for the safety and comfort of passengers, the total acceleration should not exceed 0.25 g's at any time. The total acceleration is composed of two components, a tangential component along the direction of the ship's motion, and a normal (horizontal) component. The requirement that total acceleration not exceed 0.25 g's corresponds to requiring that in the phase plane of tangential and normal acceleration, this ship's trajectory remain within a circle of radius 0.25*9.8.
In the toolstrip, click New and select Ellipse Region Constraint. Specify the name as
SafeAccel, and the semi-axis length for both signals as 0.25*9.8 = 2.45. To specify that the requirement applies to the tangential acceleration of the ship, click the Select button. In the Simulink model click the tangential acceleration signal, which is output from the Kinematics block. Select this signal in the Create Signal Set dialog, and click the arrow button to make it the designated signal, and click OK. Similarly, to specify that the requirement applies to the normal acceleration of the ship, in the Ellipse Region Constraint dialog click the other Select button, and use the Create Signal Set dialog to specify the normal acceleration signal.
Specify Design Variables
Specify the design variables to be tuned by the optimization in order to satisfy the requirements. In the toolstrip, click the selection box next to Design Variables Set and then click New. Select the gains of the PD controller,
Td, and click the arrow button to designate them as design variables. Use -0.1 for all entries in the value of the
K vector, and use 50 for all entries in the value of the
Td vector, and click OK. If the requirements can't all be satisfied, then later the breakpoint vectors
bpTd can also be tried as design variables.
Optimize Lookup Table Data
During optimization, the Simulink solver may generate a warning if the size of the time step becomes too small. Temporarily suppress this warning.
warnState = warning('query', 'Simulink:Engine:SolverMinStepSizeWarn'); warning('off', 'Simulink:Engine:SolverMinStepSizeWarn');
In the Response Optimizer, click Optimize. The ship heading angle does not meet the required step response envelope, as can be seen in the step response plot in the Response Optimizer app and in the Optimization Progress dialog, where the value at the last iteration is still positive, which indicates violation of the requirement. The requirement for safe acceleration is also not met, as seen in the Optimization Progress dialog, where the value at the last iteration is also positive.
Optimize Lookup Table Data and Breakpoints
To try to meet the design requirements, use the optimization result from above as the start point, and tune additional variables. Add breakpoints
bpTd as design variables. The ship's maximum speed is 15 m/s, and during turning it may slow to 60% of the maximum speed, or 9 m/s. Set the breakpoint initial values to be equally spaced between 9 and 15 m/s. Constrain the breakpoint minimum values to 9 m/s, and constrain the breakpoint maximum values to 15 m/s.
Breakpoints in the Simulink lookup table block must be strictly monotonically increasing. Add this to the design requirements.
In the Response Optimizer, click Optimize. This time the ship heading angle meets the required step response envelope, as can be seen in the step response plot in Response Optimizer app and in the Optimization Progress dialog, where the value at the last iteration is negative, which indicates the requirement is satisfied. The requirement for safe acceleration is also satisfied, as seen in the Optimization Progress dialog, where the value at the last iteration is also negative. Similarly, the lookup table breakpoints satisfy the monotonic requirements.
In this example, the ship plant varied with the ship speed, so the controller gains also needed to vary. Gain scheduling was implemented using lookup tables. By tuning the gains and breakpoint values in the controller, the ship was able to follow the reference heading angle, while also constraining total acceleration to ensure a safe and comfortable ride for passengers.
To learn how to optimize the lookup tables in the gain scheduled controller using the
sdo.optimize command, see Design Optimization Using Lookup Table Requirements for Gain Scheduling (Code).
% Close the model and restore state of warnings. bdclose('sdoShipSteering') warning(warnState); % restore state of warning


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The Brief Story of Music in Madawaska
There has existed in our region an ever-growing love of singing, dancing and instrumental music. In the nineteenth century between 1858 and 1873, girls attending Madawaska Academy, which was run by the Sisters of Charity, had the opportunity to learn the piano. The Religious Hospitallers of Saint Joseph continued the work started by their predecessors and organized many gatherings featuring music, singing and skits.
In the beginning of the twentieth century, Mr. Martin, a violinist, gave music lessons in the schools in the region. Dr. P.-H. Laporte, and his sons [sic], Dr. Paul Carmel and the photographer Sydney, also contributed their musical talent to the region by leading bands and a choir. The interest in music had a big boom in the 1930s thanks to Mr. Léo Poulin. Hired by the city of Edmundston to direct the brass bands, he became a seasoned director, leading bands for adults and youth, both boys and girls.
The girls' band, in particular, made Léo Poulin a real innovator, because at the time the population was not accustomed to seeing women blow into a wind instrument. This band prepared many for participation in the women's army orchestras (the Canadian Women's Army Corp CWAC) during the Second World War.
Mr. Léo Poulin and his musicians took part in numerous concerts in Chicoutimi, Rimouski, Rivière-du-Loup and Woodstock (NB) where in 1932 the group won the honours in an international competition. Mr. Poulin also organized "Minstrel Shows", a sort of musical vaudeville show, popular at the time. As well, he was a music teacher in city schools where he introduced music as a subject with year-end exams. Thus, music got its place and recognition as a school subject. In addition, Léo Poulin began Harmony Edmundston with Louis-Joseph Lachance and the best musicians in the region. The musical activities at that time gave Edmundston a designation as "the most musical" city in Canada. For many years this fact was used in leaflets and tourist promotional materials to promote our corner of the world.
Louis-Joseph Lachance assured Mr. Poulin's succession. In addition to giving private singing and piano lessons at his residence and at College St. Louis, he held the position of choirmaster at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Edmundston. For a time he taught music in city schools. With the assistance of members of the choir of the Immaculate Conception parish and other parish singers, Mr. Lachance produced several successful operettas. These operettas were performed in the former Collège Saint Louis Hall, the "Drill Hall", which were military barracks used by the College. It was the only major concert hall available in the late 1940s. Included among these operettas were "Royal dindon" (Royal Turkey) and "Les cloches de Comeville" (The Bells of Comeville) which had three performances.
For several years, Mr. Lachance promoted another domain, which created a taste for classical music, called the Community Concerts. These concerts sponsored by Columbia Records brought us great international artists.
Choir singing was also popular, thanks to the initiative of schools run by religious communities, both men and women. Their concerts often highlighted the most beautiful aspects of this musical art: Gregorian chant, Negro spirituals, French-Canadian folklore and classical singing. In the early 1980's, Mr. Hercules Pelletier, organist, founded a choir called "Les Balladins du dimanche" (The Sunday Balladeers) whose concerts were and still are known for their excellence.
There was even an interest in ballet in our area. Sister Larose at College Maillet founded a ballet school managed by a French woman, Miss Landon. In Edmundston, Miss Janice LeCouffe ran a private ballet school where she taught in the early 1960s.
A traditional dance school was founded in 1955 at College Maillet by Sister Henriette Raymond, director of the famous and dynamic "Troupe folklorique du Madawaska." It was followed by the group "Danseurs de la Vallée" (Dancers of the Valley) directed by Richard Therrien, a former student of Sister Raymond. Both groups are recognized as ambassadors of the Republic, in America and Europe.
There is also an attraction in Madawaska for popular dances: jazz, rock, western, mixed with traditional folklore. The latter types are very popular in Golden Age Clubs in the various parishes of the northwest.
It is worth mentioning that a few years ago, radio station C.J.E.M., had a weekly radio program highlighting local talent. The program "Au pays du Madawaska" (In the Land of Madawaska) had guest artists like Jeanne Landry - pianist and singer, Carmelle Gaudreau – mezzo-soprano; Omer Cormier - violinist; Alice Picard - trumpeter and many others.
Directed by the first Superior of College Saint-Louis, Father Simon Larouche, Eudist priest, the Edmundston Harmony was a great success. Later, Georges Guerrette, manager of radio station CJEM, and by Father Camille Albert, Eudist priest led the orchestra.
Music festivals, initiated by Audrey Coté-Saint-Onge, also had a significant impact on youth training. Our elders will remember the first festival that took place in 1948 in the barracks of College Saint Louis. After several successful years, the festival was discontinued, but was revived in the early 1960s thanks to John Vallilée. The festivals focused on piano, singing and dancing. In 1975, Roger Ouellette, an accountant, founded the Richelieu School of Music, where young people could learn other musical instruments: wood and brass.
Finally yet importantly, two violin schools were founded by Rev. Lionel Daigle, pastor in Clair but now retired. He gave free courses, first to "Les jeunes violonistes de Clair" (The Young Violinists of Clair) and then to "Les P'tits Violins de Saint-Basile" (The Little Violins of Saint Basile). In his residence at the convent in Saint Basile, Father Daigle welcomes kindergarten students as well as adults. For his generous contribution to the world of music in the region, Father Daigle received the Governor General of Canada Medal from Madame Jeanne Sauvé.
People in the Upper Saint John River Valley love music, singing and dancing and they have expressed it with zest every year, especially since 1979 during the annual Foire Brayonne. Richard Therrien described the festival as follows:
La "Brayonnerie" is the reel, the quadrille and the jig; it is a swing to the left and a swing to the right; it's violin, song, music; it's a great annual festival, the Foire Brayonne which bursts open the soul of the people, the joy of our cultural heritage. Our folklore, we eat it, transmit it, sing it, and dance it. Make room for celebrating... For a few days, the city of "Little Falls", capital of the Republic of Madawaska, is transformed into a vast playground, into a huge dance floor. Les Danseurs de la Vallée, our poets of movement, come to tell us of the soul of our homeland. They offer us a dazzling show, rich in color. "Brayonnerie" is also Mr Typique our mascot, the VIP of the festival. He lights up smiles and shares his joy and happiness with the crowd.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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To Join or Not to Join: Examining Patent Pool Participation and Rent Sharing Rules
40 Pages Posted: 19 Nov 2006 Last revised: 4 Dec 2015
Date Written: November 15, 2006
Much of the economic analysis on patent pools is theoretical, and nearly all of the models assume that participation is automatic - any firm with a relevant patent and an option to join a patent pool is assumed to do so. But allowing firms to opt out of patent pools is a far more realistic assumption, since all modern patent pools are voluntary. In this paper, we present empirical evidence on participation rates and the factors that drive the decision to join a pool. We also summarize the various profit sharing rules found in modern patent pools, and explore the consequences of the rule chosen. Understanding how these institutions form and grow is especially important since more and more standard setting efforts are leading to patent pools for licensing the intellectual property embedded in standards. We find that vertically integrated firms are more likely to join a patent pool and among those firms that do join, those with relatively symmetric patent contributions to a standard appear more likely to accept numeric patent share rules for dividing royalty earnings.
Keywords: Patent Pools, Standards Setting Organizations, Intellectual Property, Royalty Sharing
JEL Classification: L1, O3, K21, L41
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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If you think the dating world is tough for a human, consider for a moment the Nopoli rock-climbing goby of Hawaii, which scales waterfalls up to 100 feet high in order to breed. To put this feat in perspective, itâ€™s the equivalent of a man of average height scaling the 29,029 feet of Mount Everest!
The process leading to this incredible feat is, quite literally, jaw-dropping: the tiny one-inch goby propels itself up the waterfall rocks with two suckers â€" one, common to all gobies, on the belly, and a second, particular to one goby genus, that develops when the mouth migrates from the tip of its head to its chin over the course of 36 to 48 hours, before it embarks on its journey. The fish uses these dual suckers alternately to inch up the rocky substrate of waterfalls to the waters above where the goby mates and deposits eggs in streams. Upon hatching, these juvenile gobies are swept into the ocean where they develop for several months before they return to freshwater streams and pools upstream where they may live for several years. To mate, the gobies of this new generation must repeat the waterfall-climbing process themselves.


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One of the many holdovers from the days of DOS in Windows 2000 is drive lettering. Windows 2000 generally handles...
drive lettering automatically and seamlessly, but there may arise a situation where you need to change the drive letter of the boot drive to something other than its default setting.
Because there are many dependencies throughout the system on the boot drive letter, this is not a trivial operation and it can render your system unbootable if you are not careful. For that reason, before you perform this kind of surgery, you should make a full system and System State backup in case something does go wrong. Also, have a utility that can perform mass search-and-replace operations in the Registry, such as Resplendent Registrar on hand.
- Log in as Administrator and run REGEDT32.
- Open the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices.
- Select Permissions from the Security menu and make a note of the existing settings, as you will be changing them back when you are done.
- Make sure Administrators have Full Control over the selected key and click OK.
- Close REGEDT32 and open REGEDIT (not REGEDT32!)
- Go back to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices and find the drive whose letter you want to change. If you want to change C:, look for "\DosDevices\C:".
- Select the key in question and rename it to an unused drive letter, such as "\DosDevices\Z:". If Z: is in use, obviously, don't use that.
- Find the drive letter you want to swap in and edit that to match the first drive letter. For instance, if you were changing C: to D:, change "\DosDevices\D:" to "\Dos\Devices\C:\
- Rename the "Z:" or other temporary drive letter you used to the name of the 2nd drive. Again, as above, if you were swapping C: and D:, set "\DosDevices\Z:" to "\DosDevices\D:".
- Close REGEDIT, reopen REGEDT32, and reset the permissions on the key as before.
- Go to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\Winlogon\ and look for a REG_SZ subkey named Userinit. It will most likely be set to "C:\Winnt\System32\userinit.exe" if you were using C: as your boot drive before. Change it to match the new drive lettering. (Note: You can also simply replace the full pathname to the application with "userinit.exe", which will cause Windows to search for the application using the standard search order. Microsoft recommends this approach.)
- Optional: Use a global search-and-replace on the Registry to change any application paths specified in the Registry that may break because of the drive letter reassignment.
Serdar Yegulalp is the editor of the Windows 2000 Power Users Newsletter.


Side 5
 - by
Side 5 Loum was a space colony cluster located in front of the moon at Lagrangian Point L4 that belonged to the Earth Federation.
The cluster shared the Lagrangian Point with Side 2.
Side 5 was a colony cluster at Lagrangian Point L4. It witnessed the Battle of Loum that saw massive damage to the colonies, vessels and mobile suits. The resulting debris formed a shoal zone around the region.
 - Texas
 - Industrial 7
 - Watohoat
The Texas colony was privately owned by the Yashima Group, led by Shu Yashima. It was the only remaining colony after the Battle of Loum. It was designed for agricultural purposes but the reflector mirrors malfunctioned due to the battle and the colony was abandoned.
Industrial 7
Industrial 7 was a closed-type colony owned by Anaheim Electronics. Half of the two million population on the colony were Anaheim staff and their families. The factory and harbour segments faced the Earth while the colony builder unit Rokuro faced the moon.
Side 5 was one of the first places to be attacked by the Principality of Zeon at the start of the One Year War.
Operation British
After Zeon forces successfully executed Operation British by dropping Side 2 Colony 8 Island Iffish on Earth, Zeon forces attempted to seize colony Watohoat from Side 5 to drop on the Earth Federation capital Lhasa.
Federation General Revil's 1st Combined Fleet intercepted the Zeon Space Attack Force commanded by Dolze Zabi. Both sides engaged in indiscriminate use of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons to bring a quick end to the war. Watohoat was completely destroyed.
Battle of Loum
The Battle of Loum caused the deaths of 3 billion people in the first week of war from 3 January to 10 January, later known as the One Week Battle.
Debris of colonies, vessels, and mobile suits from the battle led to the formation of a shoal zone around Side 5.
In UC 0090, a battle between anti-Federation group Colorde and the Federation's Arahas force broke out in the Texas colony.
In UC 0218, the Federation collapsed and Side 5 became a member of CONSENT.


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body stops.
However, for systems containing multiple independently moving bodies, which may exert forces between themselves, and may (or may not) be rotating; this is no longer true.
This energy is called 'internal energy'.
The kinetic energy of the system at any instant in time is simply the sum of the kinetic energies of the massesincluding the kinetic energy due to the rotations.
An example would be the solar system. In the center of mass frame of the solar system, the Sun is (almost) stationary, but the planets and planetoids are in motion about it. Thus even in a stationary center of mass frame, there is still kinetic energy present. A center of momentum frame (or zero-momentum frame or COM frame of a system is any Inertial frame in which the Center of mass is at rest (has zero velocity
However, recalculating the energy from different frames would be tedious, but there is a trick. The kinetic energy of the system from a different inertial frame can be calculated simply from the sum of the kinetic energy in the center of mass frame and adding on the energy that the total mass of bodies in the center of mass frame would have if it were moving at the relative speed between the two frames.
This may be simply shown: let V be the relative speed of the frame k from the center of mass frame i :
However, let the kinetic energy in the center of mass frame, would be simply the total momentum which is by definition zero in the center of mass frame, and let the total mass:. Substituting, we get:
The kinetic energy of a system thus depends on the inertial frame of reference and it is lowest with respect to the center of mass reference frame, i. In Physics, an inertial frame of reference is a Frame of reference which belongs to a set of frames in which Physical laws hold in the same and simplest e., in a frame of reference in which the center of mass is stationary. In any other frame of reference there is an additional kinetic energy corresponding to the total mass moving at the speed of the center of mass.
If a rigid body is rotating about any line through the center of mass then it has rotational kinetic energy (Er) which is simply the sum of the kinetic energies of its moving parts, and thus it is equal to:
(In this equation the moment of inertia must be taken about an axis through the center of mass and the rotation measured by ω must be around that axis; more general equations exist for systems where the object is subject to wobble due to its eccentric shape). This article is about the moment of inertia of a rotating object.
It sometimes is convenient to split the total kinetic energy of a body into the sum of the body's center-of-mass translational kinetic energy and the energy of rotation around the center of mass rotational energy:
Thus the kinetic energy of a tennis ball in flight is the kinetic energy due to its rotation, plus the kinetic energy due to its translation. The rotational energy or angular kinetic energy is the Kinetic energy due to the rotation of an object and is part of its total kinetic energy.
In special relativity, we must change the expression for linear momentum. Special relativity (SR (also known as the special theory of relativity or STR) is the Physical theory of Measurement in Inertial Integrating by parts, we get:
Remembering that, we get:
The constant of integration is found by observing that when, so we get the usual formula:
If a body's speed is a significant fraction of the speed of light, it is necessary to use relativistic mechanics (the theory of relativity as expounded by Albert Einstein) to calculate its kinetic energy. This page is about the scientific concept of relativity for philosophical or sociological theories about relativity see Relativism. Albert Einstein ( German: ˈalbɐt ˈaɪ̯nʃtaɪ̯n; English: ˈælbɝt ˈaɪnstaɪn (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955 was a German -born theoretical
For a relativistic object the momentum p is equal to:
where m is the rest mass, v is the object's speed, and c is the speed of light in vacuum.
Thus the work expended accelerating an object from rest to a relativistic speed is:
The equation shows that the energy of an object approaches infinity as the velocity v approaches the speed of light c, thus it is impossible to accelerate an object across this boundary.
The mathematical by-product of this calculation is the mass-energy equivalence formula—the body at rest must have energy content equal to:
At a low speed (v<


Plunge (Credit: Ian Watkinson, distributed via
GD Geodynamics Emile Argand Conferences on Alpine Geological Studies
EGU logo
European Geosciences Union
Division on Geodynamics
Emile Argand Conferences on Alpine Geological Studies
Emile Argand was a Swiss geologist who specialized in tectonics and mountain building processes. Based on his studies of the Alps and global tectonics, including the Himalayas, Argand developed the concept of mobilism. Much of Argand's work has been confirmed by modern plate tectonics, though the timing and mechanism proposed by his famous contemporary, Alfred Wegener, have been shown to be invalid.
The Alpine workshop is held every two years to further interdisciplinary research on Alpine-type orogens. It promotes the discussion of new data and interpretations based on studies addressing the structural, tectonic, metamorphic and sedimentary evolution of the Alps and adjacent Mediterranean Alpine-type orogens in an informal and friendly atmosphere.
Increasingly the community became aware of the fact that it is necessary to see the Alps as part of a larger system of Circum-Mediterranean orogens that form a continuous, but highly curved and extremely mobile orogenic system.
Past meetings


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were compared, the diet of fish oil was seen to be as effective as Herceptin in slowing tumor development.
"There may be incredible implications for this," he says, "but the studies have only been done in mice, not humans."
Genetic testing is available for HER2 overexpression—meaning a person has extra copies of the gene—and women who suspect they may have it because of family history might consider genetic testing. If the test reveals that the gene is overexpressed and they have no evidence of disease, they might consider a diet rich in omega-3, including oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, and sardines, as well as walnuts and some dairy products. Omega-3 is also available as a supplement in capsule form.
Another example of diet's influence on genes came out of animal experiments by a team of Duke University researchers who studied the offspring of genetically identical yellow Agouti mice. These mice normally give birth to mostly yellow-coated litters of mice pups as well as some that have coats in varying shades of brown.
With funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Dana Dolinoy and her colleagues fed one group of female mice a normal diet before and during pregnancy. They fed the same to a second group of females, except that they added genistein, a nutritional component of soy.
At birth, the offspring of the two sets of mouse pups appeared different. The mothers that were fed a regular diet predictably gave birth to mostly yellow-colored pups. The genistein-fed female mice produced a few yellow pups, but most had brown-colored coats. Because genistein was the only variable, researchers knew it to be responsible for the shift in the coat colors.
The study revealed something more significant. Genistein apparently turned off a genetic switch that muted the bad effects of the so-called Agouti gene. The brown pups born to mothers that consumed genistein were leaner and healthier and lived nearly twice as long as the yellow pups born to mothers not fed genistein. The yellow pups also grew to be twice as heavy as their brown counterparts and were more susceptible to cancer and diabetes. The study was published in Environmental Health Perspectives in 2006.
Dana Dolinoy, the study's lead researcher, says one reason soy was selected for the experiment is that Asians who consume a high soy diet have lower incidences of many cancers, including breast and prostate.
"We wanted to see if soy's impact on the Agouti gene might be what kept these cancers in check for Asians," she says. Humans also have an Agouti gene, but Dolinoy says it doesn't act the same way it does in mice. "People should not go out and eat a lot of soy or take genistein supplements to protect themselves from getting fat or to help them live longer," she says. "We're not there yet."
Dolinoy—who is now with the University of Michigan School of Public Health—next carried out a kind of reverse experiment, again on genetically identical yellow Agouti mice. This time, she fed one group of female mice a normal diet. She fed another set of females the same diet but added a moderate amount of bisphenol A—or BPA—a chemical used in hundreds of everyday products, including the lining of canned goods and the manufacture of hard-plastic water bottles.
Recent studies at Harvard found that BPA leaches into the bottle's contents and winds up in the people who drink it. It also leaches into canned soups lined with plastic containing BPA. The chemical is suspected of causing birth defects and perhaps diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. According to a 2007 survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 93 percent of Americans over age six who were tested had evidence of BPA in their systems. There are as yet no federal regulations banning or limiting the use of BPA in food products.
When the two groups of female mice gave birth, those given BPA had many more yellow mouse pups than in normal litters, and these mice suffered more obesity and shorter lives than the mothers not fed BPA.
"The BPA had the exact opposite effect on the mice pups as genistein," she says. "With genistein, the mice went toward brown, lean, and better health, and with BPA they shifted toward yellow, fatter, and shortened lives."
In a third experiment, Duke researchers fed pregnant female mice both BPA and genistein. Because genistein was able to offset the harm from BPA, it has led to speculation that genistein might counteract potential damage from BPA exposure in human pregnancies.
"If we can identify genetic biomarkers influenced by dietary factors or environmental toxins that are involved in the fetal origins of adult disease," says Dolinoy, "then we might be able to nutritionally supplement mothers to change their child's genetic fate and prevent diseases that occur when their child reaches adulthood."
To Milner, these studies provided "proof of principle" that diet, in addition to maternal exposure to an environmental factor such as genistein or BPA, had altered how one or more genes functioned.
Research suggests that many foods have health and anti-cancer benefits. These include spinach, green and black tea, broccoli, soybeans, garlic, berries, and grains such as oats. Simopoulos of the International Society of Nutrigenetics/Nurigenomics is a believer in the protective power of omega-3 fatty acids and has written several books about it. As beneficial as omega-3 appears to be, might some people be harmed by it? Simopoulos says no, but given the genetic variability present in the population, Milner—while recognizing omega-3's benefits—considers it a possibility.
A new focus for Milner is curcumin, the main component of the spice turmeric, which is an ingredient in curry powder. He believes curcumin may possess anti-cancer properties because the substance damps down several genes known to promote inflammation linked to heart disease, some cancers, and Alzheimer's disease. There is speculation that the wide use of curcumin in Indian food might be why India appears to have one of the world's lowest incidences of some cancers and Alzheimer's. Research from UCLA published in the July 2009 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease found that curcumin in combination with vitamin D3 might combine to offer protection against Alzheimer's.
There also is evidence that tomatoes might offer cancer protection for some people. "It's more than just the lycopene in tomatoes," Milner says. "We have pre-clinical evidence that you're better off eating the tomato than taking lycopene supplements." He says that if lycopene is consumed with some fats, it's absorbed better.
"This is all very encouraging," Milner says, "but on the flip side, there may be small subgroups of people who could be placed at risk by eating some of these foods. That's why we need to arrive at a point where we can offer a personalized approach to diet to reduce disease risk.
"The human genome will allow us to do that, and it will have many implications—not only in the foods we eat but in the drugs we take. But it's going to take more research."
Just as some foods confer benefits, Simopoulos believes we already have enough information to implicate foods that jeopardize human health. She singles out soft drinks because of their contribution to obesity and diabetes. She also is concerned about the consumption of omega-6 fatty acid—or linoleic acid—which is plentiful in many commercial vegetable oils, including corn, sunflower, soybean, and safflower.
"We know from animal studies that linoleic acid increases tumor and metastatic development in breast, prostate, and colon cancers and perhaps others as well," she says. "That's why I'm strongly opposed to the recent recommendations of the American Heart Association that it's okay to consume up to 10 percent of calories in linoleic acid."
The American Heart Association says its recommendations were based on studies indicating that linoleic acid in the diet, along with omega-3, can help reduce the risk of heart disease.
Simopoulos contends that a segment of the female population has specific genetic variants that make those women more vulnerable to breast cancer when they consume the amount of linoleic acid allowed in the AHA guidelines.
"So when the AHA says we can increase our linoleic acid to 10 percent of our diet, it means women who consume 2,000 calories a day could consume 22 grams of linoleic acid a day. This is far too high and means we are putting the women with these genetic variants at increased risk of breast cancer."
Simopoulos doesn't think eating corn or sunflower seeds entails risks, only consuming the oils from them, because they're "so concentrated."
According to Simopoulos, our genes have remained the same for the past 50,000 years or so, but out diet has undergone a big change, not just over millennia but in the past few decades; vegetable oils are one example.
"We have very good evidence that if you compare the composition of foods in the 1930s to food in 1980 and beyond," she says, "one-third of the vitamins and minerals are lost because our fruits and vegetables are manipulated to be bigger or have a longer shelf life."
Some people try to overcome this nutritional shortfall by taking vitamin supplements. More than 100 million Americans spend about $10 billion annually on supplements. But just as the impact of food on our genes can differ from one person to another, so can the impact of vitamin supplements.
"We have some good examples where certain genetic variants can influence the requirement for a vitamin," says Paul Coates, director of the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. "There


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Susan C. Hascall (Duquesne U. School of Law) has posted Restorative Justice in Islam: Should Qisas be Considered a Form of Restorative Justice? The abstract follows.
The restorative justice movement challenges conventional approaches to sentencing and punishment by involving the victim, community, and perpetrator in sentencing. The movement is characterized by an emphasis on the restoration of relationships, healing and rehabilitation. Like the restorative justice movement, Islamic law embraces a conception of justice that involves healing relationships. Shari'ah, the religious law of Islam, is based on Islamic teachings on justice and divine revelation. In classical Shari'ah jurisprudence, crimes are divided into several categories, which do not easily correspond to the categories defined in modern Western law. One of these categories, the crimes of qisas, is distinctive in that it gives the victim and his/her family final decision making power in punishment for physical wounding and murder. Although the victim(s) may choose retaliation in kind, payment, or forgiveness, emphasis is placed on the latter. This paper explores whether (1) qisas is a form of restorative justice (2) whether restorative justice adherents should examine the qisas processes for inspiration or methodology.
This paper begins by discussing the ideology behind the restorative justice movement and then proceeds to describe the classical Islamic law of qisas. Subsequently, examples of modern codes incorporating the law of qisas are provided. One of these exemplars highlighted within the text, particularly demonstrative of the abovementioned amalgamation, is northern Nigeria. The article concludes by emphasizing that, irrespective of the option for retaliation in kind, enough similarities and goals in the approaches of classical qisas jurisprudence, as exemplified in the modern codes of northern Nigeria, restorative justice scholars should examine qisas. There is also a calling for further field research on the processes of qisas in modern Shari'ah-based criminal jurisprudence.


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Violence Against Women Act
March 24, 2008
The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Renewal passes the House and Senate and signed into law
New law will safely and effectively meet the needs of more victims
The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is the cornerstone of our nation's response to domestic and sexual violence. A strong bipartisan bill to reauthorize VAWA (S. 47) passed in the Senate on February 12, 2013 (78-22) and in the House of Representatives on February 28, 2013 (286-138). President Obama signed the bill into law on March 7, 2013.
YOUR calls made a difference! This is our collective victory for survivors. Want to make one more call? Visit our Legislative Action Center to find out how you can thank your Senators and Representatives for voting for VAWA.
What will this renewal of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) change?
The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) has improved our nation's response to violence. However, not all victims have been protected or reached. VAWA 2013 will close critical gaps in services and justice. VAWA 2013 reauthorized and improved upon lifesaving services for all victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking - including Native women, immigrants, LGBT victims, college students and youth, and public housing residents.
VAWA 2013 also authorized appropriate funding to provide for VAWA's vitally important programs and protections, without imposing limitations that undermine effectiveness or victim safety.
Justice and safety for Native American Women: Native American victims of domestic violence often cannot seek justice because their courts are not allowed to prosecute non-Native offenders -- even for crimes committed on Tribal land. This major gap in justice, safety, and violence prevention must be addressed. VAWA 2013 includes a solution that would give Tribal courts the authority they need to hold offenders in their communities accountable.
Justice and safety for LGBT survivors: Lesbian, gay, bisexul and transgender survivors of violence experience the same rates of violence as straight individuals. However, LGBT survivors sometimes face discrimination when seeking help and protection. VAWA 2013 prohibits such discrimination to ensure that all victims of violence have access to the same services and protection to overcome trauma and find safety.
Safe housing for survivors: Landmark VAWA housing protections that were passed in 2005 have helped prevent discrimination against and unjust evictions of survivors of domestic violence in public and assisted housing. The law, however, did not cover all federally subsidized housing programs. VAWA 2013 expands these protections to individuals in all federally subsidized housing programs, explicitly protects victims of sexual assault and creates emergency housing transfer options.
Protections for immigrant survivors: VAWA 2013 maintains important protections for immigrant survivors of abuse, while also making key improvements to existing provisions including by strengthening the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act and the provisions around self-petitions and U visas.
Justice on campuses: College students are mong thos emost vulnerable to dating violence. Provisions in VAWA 2013 add additional protections for students by requiring schools to implement a recording process for incidences of dating violence, as well as report the findings. In addition, schools would be required to create plans to prevent this violence and educate victims on their rights and resources.
Maintaining VAWA grant programs: VAWA grants are effectively meeting the needs of millions of victims across the country. VAWA 2013 includes many important improvements to these grant programs, including allowing state domestic violence coalitions to be the lead applicant on the Grants to Encourage Arrest program; ensuring that specific stakeholders, including domestic violence coalitions, play a meaningful role in developing state STOP plans; and providing a formal process for the Office on Violence Against Women to receive coalition and other key domestic violence and sexual assault community input.
The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is effective and important:
VAWA creates and supports comprehensive, cost-effective responses to the pervasive and insidious crimes of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking. Since its enactment in 1994, VAWA programs, administered by the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Health and Human Services (HHS), have dramatically improved federal, tribal, state, and local responses to these crimes.
- There has been as much as a 51% increase in reporting by women and a 37% increase in reporting by men.
- The number of individuals killed by an intimate partner has decreased by 34% for women and 57% for men, and the rate of non-fatal intimate partner violence against women has decreased by 67%.
- VAWA not only saves lives, it saves money. In its first six years alone, VAWA saved taxpayers at least $12.6 billion in net averted social costs. A recent study found that civil protection orders saved one state (Kentucky) on average $85 million in a single year.
- Find more information here.
Initially passed in 1994, VAWA created the first U.S. federal legislation acknowledging domestic violence and sexual assault as crimes, and provided federal resources to encourage community-coordinated responses to combating violence. Its reauthorization in 2000 improved the foundation established by VAWA 1994 by creating a much-needed legal assistance program for victims and by expanding the definition of crime to include dating violence and stalking. Its subsequent reauthorization in 2005 took a more holistic approach to addressing these crimes and created new programs to meet the emerging needs of communities working to prevent violence. Included in the 2005 reauthorization were new focus areas such as prevention, landmark housing protections for survivors, funding for rape crisis centers, and culturallyand linguistically-specific services. VAWA 2013 will ensure the continuation and improvement of these vital, lifesaving programs and laws.
NNEDV continues to be a leading force in efforts to reauthorize VAWA. NNEDV and its member state domestic violence coalitions also played a crucial role in the passage of VAWA in 1994 and its reauthorizations in 2000 and 2005.
NNEDV is currently working with state coalitions, national organizations, and Congress to ensure VAWA's swift reauthorization and targeted investments in VAWA grant programs through the appropriations process.
NNEDV's Role in VAWA Reauthorization
NNEDV played an integral role in efforts to reauthorize VAWA. NNEDV and its member state domestic violence coalitions also played a crucial role inthe passage of VAWA in 1994 and its reauthorization in 2000 and 2005.
- NNEDV's press statements on VAWA
- NNEDV's President Kim Gandy on MSNBC
- NNEDV's Vice President of Development & Innovation Cindy Southworth on PBS
Learn More and Take Action:
- VAWA 2013 Reauthorization Factsheet
- S. 47 - The full text of the bill to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act of 2013
- Legislative Action Center
Learn More About VAWA:
- VAWA 2005 Fact Sheet
- Section By Section Summary of VAWA 2005
- The Violence Against Women Act of 2005
The full text of the "Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005" as signed into law on Jan. 5, 2006.
VAWA 2005 Technical Corrections
These corrections amended VAWA 2005, fixing minor errors.


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Pie in the Sky?
Photo By Photo by Randall Hamasaki, courtesy of THE University of Hawaii
Blueberries are often associated with cooler growing climates, but early tests on the Big Island are proving that the crop may have a future here in Hawaii. In February 2007, Dr. Stuart T. Nakamoto, of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at UH Manoa, and his team installed two test fields, one on the wet side of Waimea, and one on the dry side. "There must be dozens of varieties of blueberries and we wanted to see which one did best."
Challenges included a plant disease and birds. "These animals have never seen blueberries, but somehow they know they are delicious," explains Nakamoto. "We have to cover the whole field with nets." On the plus side, once the plants are established, they fruit in a year. And with fuel costs rising, locals are increasingly interested in Island-grown produce.
By May, the team finished its first harvest. "It's one of the reasons we are so excited about blueberries in Hawaii—they come in during different times than the Mainland," says Nakamoto. Like coffee, the berries are picked by hand. The researchers are analyzing which varieties produced when, the yield and the quality of the fruit.
Could a pick-your-own-berries farm be in our future? "The ultimate test will be if the farmers take it up, because there are a lot of costs involved. Our goal is to start a new industry."
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It's short-sighted – dramatically changing Michigan's landscape
To meet a 25 percent renewable standard, Michigan would need at least 5,000 megawatts more of renewable energy generating capacity.
If the state relied solely on wind energy to meet the requirement, it would need as many as 3,100 wind turbines, each taller than the state Capitol, all across Michigan – and maybe even in the Great Lakes. These wind farms would require about 500,000 acres of land, nearly six times the size of Detroit or 17 times the size of Grand Rapids.
Relying primarily on solar energy would significantly raise the price tag. And erecting that many wind turbines or solar panels in such a short time period would likely require the state to override local government control to reach 25 percent by 2025.


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Who Procues for Whom in the World...
WHO PRODUCES FOR WHOM IN THE WORLD ECONOMY?
For nearly two decades, the share of trade in inputs, also called vertical trade, has dramatically increased. This paper suggests a new measure of international trade: "value-added trade". Like many existing estimates, "value-added trade" is net of double-counted vertical trade. It also reallocate trade flows to their original input-producing industries and countries and allows to answer the question "who produces for whom". In 2004, 27% of international trade were "only" vertical specialization trade. The sector repartition of value-added trade is very different from the sector repartition of standard trade. Value-added trade is less regionalized than standard trade.
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Current assets refer to commodities intended for assignment or consumption as such or after further processing. Current assets are divided into materials and supplies, work in progress, finished goods, other current assets and advance payments.
Materials and supplies refer to the commodities which have been acquired for the purpose of manufacturing current assets by a party obliged to keep books and engaged in manufacturing or service provision. These commodities include the raw materials and materials and auxiliary substances used in the production of goods or services.
Work in progress refers to commodities intended for sale or for use in service production, whose manufacturing process is not finished at the time of the closing of the accounts (semi-finished goods).
Finished goods refer to self manufactured commodities that can be assigned, sold or used in service production. Goods refer to commodities from external suppliers that are intended for sale or for use in service production as they are.
Other current assets refer to commodities bought or manufactured for the purpose of selling them as such or after further processing which are not included in the above mentioned current assets items. Other current assets may include, among others, lots or other property intended for sale which have been transferred from fixed assets to current assets.
Advance payments refer to purchase prices or parts thereof paid to the supplier of current assets commodities before receiving the commodities.
In the inventory inquiry approximate 300 enterprises are asked quarterly for the value of their inventories at the end of the quarter concerned. The values are requested by type of inventory: materials and supplies, fuels and lubricants, unfinished work, finished products and merchandise.
Statistics on trade inventories describe the current priced values of trade enterprises by industry. The statistics are compiled quarterly. The values of inventories by industry calculated from a sample are raised to correspond with the value of the inventories of the whole population (enterprise whose industry is trade) using the latest turnover data available from Statistics Finland's Register of Enterprises and Establishments. The raising is based on the assumption that the ratio between the values of turnover and inventories is constant within an industry.
Value of inventories includes all goods that according to a company's book-keeping form its current assets. According to Section 4 of the Book-keeping Act (1336/1997), current assets refer to commodities intended for assignment or consumption as such or after further processing.
Inventories also include purchases of goods abroad and binding purchase agreements where they represent the company's current assets. Inventories arising from commissioned work are reported by the commissioning company.


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Definition of magnetic :
1. A magnet.
2. Alt. of Magnetical
3. Any metal, as iron, nickel, cobalt, etc., which may receive, by any means, the properties of the loadstone, and which then, when suspended, fixes itself in the direction of a magnetic meridian.
electrical (part of speech: adjective)
attractive (part of speech: adjective)
- Campfellowship inspired all the great captains and established the magnetic current between the leader and the soldier. - "Diary from March 4, 1861, to November 12, 1862", Adam Gurowski.
- 16. If you would be magnetic in personal relations, you must splendidly believe both in yourself and in other people. - "Mastery of Self", Frank Channing Haddock.
- In R. F. becomes black and magnetic. - "The Elements of Blowpipe Analysis", Frederick Hutton Getman.


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Two weeks ago, I had the chance to present to the Young Members Group of the Structural Engineering Association of Metro Washington on the topic of Multi-Story Light-Frame Shear Wall Design. With all of the large firms in the D.C. area, it wasn't a big surprise to find out that only about one-third of the group had experience with light-frame shear wall design.
However, while researching civil/structural engineering programs in the Midwest and Northeast last week (for our Structural Engineering/Architecture Student Scholarship program), I was disappointed to find that only about a quarter of the top engineering programs offer a wood design course. So I thought it might be helpful to post a wood shear wall design example this week.
The example is fairly basic but includes an individual full-height and perforated shear wall analysis for the same condition. The design is based on wind loading and SPF framing, both common in the Midwest/Northeast, and is based on the provisions and terms listed in the 2008 Special Design Provisions for Wind and Seismic (SDPWS), available for free download here, along with the recently posted 2015 version.
Multi-Story Shear Wall Example: Wind Loads with SPF Framing
- 2012 IBC & 2008 SDPWS
- 3-Story Wood Framed Shear Wall Line
- ASD Diaphragm Shear Forces from Wind as Shown
- Wall and Opening Dimensions as Shown
- Determine total shear force in each shear wall line.
- Determine the Induced Unit Shear Force, v, for use with both shear wall types and the Maximum Induced Unit Shear Force, vmax, for the perforated shear wall collectors, shear transfer, and uniform uplift. Note the following:
- vmax requires the determination of the Shear Capacity Adjustment Factor, CO, for the perforated shear wall.
- The SDPWS provides two methods for determining CO, a tabulated value or a calculated value. This example uses the more precise calculated value.
- The perforated method requires the collectors be designed for vmax and the bottom plate to be anchored for a uniform uplift equal to vmax (as illustrated in the following figure).
- Reverse wind loading will require a mirror image of the T & C forces shown in the following figure.
- The tension forces, T, shown in the example reflect the cumulative tension forces as they are transferred down from post-to-post, as is typical with traditional holdowns. For continuous rod systems like ATS, the incremental tension forces (resulting from the unit shear, vor vmax, at that level only) must also be determined as shown in the shear wall specification table at the end of this example.
- Individual Full-Height Shear Wall:
i. v3=227 plf: Use 7/16 OSB with a 6:12 nailing pattern which has an allowable load of 336 plf
ii. v2=409 plf: Use 7/16 OSB with a 4:12 nailing pattern which has an allowable load of 490 plf
iii. v1=591 plf: Use 7/16 OSB with a 3:12 nailing pattern which has an allowable load of 630 plf
B. Perforated Shear Wall (apply CO factor to allowable shear capacity):
i. v3=227 plf: Use 7/16 OSB with a 6:12 nailing pattern which has an allowable load of 255 plf
ii. v2=409 plf: Use 7/16 OSB with a 3:12 nailing pattern which has an allowable load of 479 plf
iii. v1=591 plf: Use 7/16 OSB on both sides of the wall with a 4:12 nailing pattern which has an allowable load of 338*2=676 plf
5. Size the posts for compression. Simpson provides some useful tables in the back of the connector catalog with allowable tension and compression loads for a variety of sizes, heights, and species of posts.
6. Select holdowns for the tensions loads and verify post sizes are sufficient. For higher aspect ratio shear walls, the post size and holdown type may significantly reduce the moment arm between center of tension and center of compression, resulting in higher tension and compression forces.
The tables below show the shear wall specification for the walls in the example in a typical format. Note that they do not include some detailing that is required for items such as the uniform uplift force on the bottom plate of all perforated shear walls, or the perforated shear walls with OSB sheathing on both sides.
There are different ways to address the loads, so let us know if you would do anything differently in your designs.


Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
What is the purpose of the Driver Eligibility Certificate (DEC)?
A DEC is used to determine if a student is maintaining adequate progress toward graduation and has not been suspended for having an illegal substance on campus or assaulting a staff member.
When are grades checked to measure adequate progress?
- At the end of the first semester and at the end of the school year.
- When measuring adequate progress at the end of a school year:
Schools on a traditional schedule use the end of the year grads
Schools on a block schedule use the semester grades.
What happens to students who leave school to attend a Community College?
- When a student leaves a public school to attend a community college and is NOT making adequate progress at the point of withdrawal the public schools should revoke that student's driving privileges.
-When a student leaves a public school to attend a community college and IS making adequate progress the public school should not revoke that students driving privileges.
Who is responsible for issuing a DEC to a student who lives in North Carolina but attends a boarding school out of state?
- A student who has permanent residency in North Carolina but attends a boarding school out of state shall receive a DEC from the school they would normally attend. That school may ask for the following documentation.
 1. Proof of residency within their district
 2. Transcript/report card showing the latest semester from the school.
 3. A letter on school letterhead stating the student is currently in attendance at that school.
 4. A report card/transcript at the end of each semester until the child graduates - making sure the student understands that they will lose driving privileges if this is not presented at the end of each semester
Can Public schools share their DECs with other schools?
No. North Carolina public schools are not permitted to share Driving Eligibility Certificates with conventional non-public schools operating within North Carolina's geographical borders, home schools, community colleges or even other public schools.
Are public schools allowed to revoke private schools students' license?
No. Conventional non-public or home schools located within the State of North Carolina wishing to have a student driver's license revoked must contact the North Carolina Division of Non-Public Education.
Who can public schools issue DECs to?
Only to students who are currently enrolled in that public school. Public schools may not issue a DEC to a student who currently attends or is enrolled in a conventional non-public school within North Carolina, a home school, community college or an out-of-state correspondence or other distance learning program.
How does Dropout Prevention (DOP)/Lose Control Lose License (LCLL), affect minors who are emancipated?
- Emancipated minors are still affected by both the Dropout Prevention and the lose Control Lose Your Licenses Laws.
Is a hardship permanent?
Yes. Hardships should only be granted under extreme circumstances. Once a student has been granted a hardship, however, his/her driver's license should not be revoked again.
Can the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV), the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), or the Division of Community Colleges issue DECs or grant hardships?
No. Hardships can be granted only by the chief administrator (or his/her designee) of the North Carolina school in which the student is currently enrolled.
Who is responsible for charges incurred when a license is revoked in error?
- If a school revokes a student's license in error and the student has to have a duplicate license issue the school system is responsible for the duplication fee.
What is the earliest date a student under a LCLL suspension can be issued a DEC?
- A student who is under a Lose Control Lose Your License suspension may only be issued a DEC after at least 6 months has expired from the date the license was suspended, and the student demonstrated exemplary behavior and successfully completed a drug and alcohol counseling program (for those suspend for drugs or alcohol on campus). DMV examiners cannot accept a DEC for a LCLL suspension before the end of the 6-month waiting period.
When should the school send the names of licenses to be revoked to the DMV?
- A school should wait the determined time period to receive any hardship requests after notifying parents of the student's license revocation before sending the names to the DMV.
- It is imperative that schools revoke a student's driving privileges immediately following the 30 day grace period post withdrawal.
- It is also important that once a student drops out of school and their name is sent to the DMV that their name is removed from the list so that it is not inadvertently sent in again to the DMV.
How does summer school affect students who lose their license under DOP?
At the end of the school year (once final grades are posted), non-public schools should send DNPE their license revocation recommendations. At the conclusion of summer school, those students eligible may then receive a DEC from their North Carolina non-public school principal in order to have their license re-instated. Schools should not wait until summer school is over to turn in the names of students not making progress toward high school graduation.
When errors occur...
- If a school places a suspension in error it is important that DPI is contacted and the suspension is deleted. If suspension placed in error are not delete the student may incur increases in their insurance premiums.
-Schools should use extreme caution when entering suspension so, as not to label a student as a Lose Control suspension when it should been under Drop Out Prevention. Each suspension has different guidelines for reinstatement and special attention should be paid when entering this information.
© 2021 Asheboro City Schools. All Rights Reserved.


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Warwick's Vice Chancellor Nigel Thrift and Queen Mary's Principal Professor Simon Gaskell
Monday 17 December 2012
New research into type 2 diabetes, social media, space plasma, and cabbage genetics that could boost crop production are just some of the collaborative projects to be carried out by academics at Queen Mary, University of London and its partner university, the University of Warwick.
Queen Mary and Warwick formed a partnership in March 2012, in a move to benefit students and academics at both institutions, particularly in areas of flagship and innovative research. As part of this partnership, the two Russell Group institutions have jointly funded 13 collaborative projects of three to nine months in duration, with a maximum grant of £30,000 each, totaling £230,000.
Project highlights include Professor Richard Nichols and Professor Andrew Leach of Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences working with Warwick's Professor Jim Benyon on Combining the Needle with the Haystack: The challenge in Plant Genomics. They will use new technologies to sequence and analyse huge volumes of DNA.
"We're taking the unusual step of being unpleasant to cabbages," says Professor Nichols. "This strange experiment was suggested by evidence that stress may trigger dramatic changes in their chromosomes: some segments of the DNA will be copied and shuffled into the rest of the genome. Such changes can affect the activity of genes; most of which will harm the plant or be innocuous – but a minority may lead to valuable innovations. The study is important to both fundamental biology and to the breeding of new crops with increased yield and the ability to grow in ever more marginal land."
Professor Graham Hitman and Dr Sarah Finer of Queen Mary's Blizard Institute will be working with Dr Gyanendra Tripathi and Dr Ponnusamy Saravanan of Warwick Medical School on a study that brings together both biology and genomics and could lead to new methods of obesity and diabetes prevention.
Professor Hitman says: "This exciting project brings together complementary expertise in adipocyte biology from Warwick and genomics here at Queen Mary. The project adds to recently funded studies and creates an exciting platform to bring lab and patient-based studies together. It is hoped that data from this initiative will help us get significant external funding to support clinical translation of our findings to prevent obesity and type 2 diabetes through nutritional intervention and altering metabolic programming."
Novel nanoparticles for neural stem cell drug delivery is a project that lies at the interface between the physical and life sciences brings together three high profile female researchers with interdisciplinary backgrounds and large research groups: Queen Mary's Dr Marina Resmini, with expertise in organic chemistry, nanoparticles and drug delivery; Professor Silvia Marino (Queen Mary), an expert in neural stem cells biology and stem cell-driven tissue regeneration; and Professor Rachel O'Reilly, a polymer synthesis, self-assembly and nanostructure characterisation expert from Warwick.
Professor David Burgess from Queen Mary's School of Physics and Astronomy is collaborating with Professor Sandra Chapman (Department of Physics, Warwick) to take existing expertise in space plasma – the state of matter that makes up the universe - into the new area of nuclear fusion energy research. Their research will use high performance computing to investigate the formation of plasma structures on the edge of fusion plasmas, which play an important part in energy transport.
Professor Pat Healey from the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science at Queen Mary joins Dr Thomas Hills of Warwick's Department of Psychology and Dr Pietro Panzarasa of Queen Mary's School of Business and Management in a multi-disciplinary study of group innovation and creativity in social media. Professor Healey says: "The recent growth in new social media technologies and applications, such as Wikipedia, Zopa and Linux, place a premium on understanding how groups create and leverage social capital to foster innovation and creativity."
A full list of funded collaborative projects can be found below.
- Regulation, Innovation and Sustainability – Corporate Approaches to Managing the Abstraction, Use, and Disposal of Water Resources
Professor Stephen Brammer (Warwick Business School) and Professor Frances Bowen (School of Business and Management, QM)
- Research network investigating concepts and practices of friendship in the eighteenth century
Professor Mark Knights (History, Warwick) and Dr Tessa Whitehouse (School of English and Drama, QM)
- The Externalisation of European Union Economic Governance: The Mismatch of Economic and Social Development? A Pilot Project
Dr Ben Richardson (Politics and International Studies, Warwick) and Professor Adrian Smith (School of Geography, QM)
- Modeling the physical structure of pre-invasive breast cancer
Professor Matthew Turner (Department of Physics, Warwick) and Professor Louise Jones (Barts Cancer Institute, QM)
- Novel fullerenes for dynamic nuclear polarization and organic solar cells
Dr Gavin Morley (Department of Physics, Warwick) and Dr John Dennis (School of Physics and Astronomy, QM)
-An integrated study of altered gene regulation in a model system of adipogenesis to elucidate the role of one-carbon nutritional environment in the development of human metabolic disease.
Dr Gyanendra Tripathi, Dr Ponnusamy Saravanan (Warwick Medical School), Professor Graham Hitman, Sarah Finer (Blizard Institute, QM)
- Kinetic simulation of nonlinear structures in magnetic confinement fusion plasmas
Professor Sandra Chapman (Department of Physics, Warwick) and Professor David Burgess (School of Physics and Astronomy, QM)
- Rethinking Cosmopolitan Citizenship in an Austere Europe
Dr Gurminder Bhambra (Sociology, Warwick) and Dr Robbie Shilliam (School of Politics and International Relations, QM)
- The social and structural foundations of group innovation
Dr Thomas Hills (Psychology, Warwick) and Professor Pat Healy (School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, QM)
- Combining the Needle with the Haystack: The challenge in Plant Genomics
Professor Jim Benyon (Life Sciences, Warwick) and Professor Richard Nichols (School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, QM)
- Access to TEM to determine surface morphology of metal loaded ferroelectric catalysts
Dr Richard Beanland (Physics, Warwick) and Dr Steve Dunn (School of Engineering and Materials Science, QM)
- Novel nanoparticles for neural stem cell drug delivery
Professor Rachel O'Reilly (Warwick Business School) and Dr Marina Resmini (School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, QM)
- Nanoscale localisation of microtubule plus end binding proteins using multispectral super-resolution imaging
Dr Anne Straube (Warwick Medical School) and Dr Ann Wheeler (Blizard Institute, QM)
For media information, contact:
Public Relations Officer
Queen Mary, University of London


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IN YELLOW PRAIRIE AND HOSKINS SPRING
I N T R O D U C T I O N
The undertaking here is to provide some information on early settlers, in the Yellow Prairie and Hoskins Spring Communities focusing on those living in the first decade of the twentieth century. Exhibits present detailed information on families and the map shows where they lived. In the text that follows, the first number in parentheses refers to the Exhibit providing pertinent information and the second number shows location on the map. The village of Chriesman did not develop until after arrival of the railroad in the early 1880s. Before that time the community was called "Yellow Prairie". Its center was on the East Side of the Thompson Branch in the area adjacent to the present cemetery (Five-111). In addition to the cemetery there was a schoolhouse (Five-1) located on the branch north of the cemetery and the Methodist Church (Five 11) at the east entrance to the cemetery. The schoolhouse was moved to Chriesman around the turn of the century and the Methodist Church in 1919. Two of Yellow Prairie's earliest settlers lived nearby. Thomson (Five-A) lived north of the "center" and Johnson (Five-B) lived upstream. The farm of a later settler, Love (Five-C) was next to the shoolhouse plot. The community had another schoolhouse not far away. It was the Johnston School (Five-V). It was located on the Johnston Farm but was moved to the Hoskins Spring site about the time the Yellow Prairie School was moved to Chriesman.
EARLY YELLOW PRAIRIE SETTLERS
To the northwest of Chriesman was the Holt mansion (Two-D) buttressed by woods but facing the prairie. Across the present railroad on the north rim of the prairie is the site of the old Hill home (Two-E) occupied in my boyhood days by Bob Hill, then commissioner. Tom Johnston later lived in a new house on prairie land adjacent to the old Johnston house. Proceeding east through a strand of trees you passed the old Johnston homesite and reached open land which may be considered a part of "Greater Yellow Prairie". Nestled in the edge of the woods was the large two-story, southern style, Philip Mansion (Two-F). I used to see it when I accompanied my father on his periodic trips to tend the grave of his father (my grandfather) who at his death in 1869 was buried in the old cemetery back of the Philip home. In the late teens the house was converted to a one-story residence when it was modernized by James Philip's daughter Maude, and her husband Ollie Hill. Earlier the Sims lived in the house and worked the farm. At one time the Gizzard family lived in a nearby rent house. The Philip farm was one of the three with homes located in the edge of the woods on the northern rim of "Greater Yellow Prairie" and utilizing the prairie land for farming. Adjoining the Philip farm on the east was the Boyd home (Two-G). After the Boyds moved to Chriesman in the early 1880s others lived there until the Baumanns took over the farm in 1904 and built a new house. The old unpainted house was still I standing when I first visited the place. I remember the successive occupants of the farm (Two- H) just east of the Baumanns as the Woods (who moved to Runnels County), the Lovelady family, the Joe Richardsons who shared the place with Arthur Hill, Foster James, and Herman Wilhelm. Of these families the James stand out in my memory. Sam was a daily companion and I was impressed with Foster's accomplishments. He could cut two cords of wood in a day and crack hickory nuts with his teeth. When figs were ripe I enjoyed visiting the place regardless of who happened to live there. To the east across the road was Love's Hill, (Two-I) the sandy post oak farm where I spent my boyhood. Except for a few acres in our southwest pasture, none of the prairie extended eastward across the road to our farm. However, following the road through the woods towards the building which housed the Hoskins Spring School (Five-VII) for its last stand (and now used as a church), you come to another out-cropping of prairie clay. At the time of my first visits a part of an earlier hewn log house (Two-J) made up a portion of the residence then in use. People living there during my time included Foster James (before he moved), Jim Philip (who I believed inherited it from his mother) and the Etheridge family. I am not certain who was the first homesteader on this plot, or when he settled there. I have an idea that it was known as "the Crane place". Two considerations prompt my belief that the decision on location of the house was not made in early times. First, the house was on prairie clay, not on sandy soil. Secondly, the well was deep, bored (not dug), and required long metal buckets not available in early times. The sour water (unpotable to me) made me believe that whoever took advantage of new fangled equipment to obtain water from a prairie well instead of dipping it from a spring or drawing it from a shallow well dug in the sand, were punished for abandoning the wisdom demonstrated by the early settlers. A small portion of the Prairie spilled over to the Varner farm (Two-K) to the north. Proceeding north from the Varner farm you went through a wooded strip and crossed Hoskins Branch to reach another prairie outcropping. Off the road to the left was a prairie land farm (Two-L) that I believe was originally the Storm home. The earliest residents I remember were the Strainers followed by Jim Sullivan. The Dulin farm (Two-M) utilized the northwest portion of the prairie land. Hoskins Branch ran through the southern end of what remained of the Webb plantation (Two-N). A small rent house (Two-O) appeared on the right after crossing the stream. At one time it was occupied by Wash Johnson and then by Tom Dulin. Year's later Lee Arnold of Chriesman's Tidwell & Arnold store lived there. Son Jasper, who married Lillie Keller, was my baseball catcher in Chriesman. The road north passed the second Hoskins Spring Schoolhouse (Five-VII). Nearby the plantation displayed one of the few hay meadows in the entire area. It was once used as a place to hide Easter eggs. A plum thicket was located on Dulin land across the road from the Schoolhouse. True to prevailing practice the Webb mansion on the north end of the plantation had been built on the dividing line between prairie clay and sandy post oak land. The splendor that had been was impressed upon me when I first visited the Webb home at about age 5. The Lowrys had just moved into the two-story southern mansion and Mrs. Lawry kindly relieved my mother of the task of taking care of me while I recovered from sticking a nail in my foot. The plantation had a reincarnation when Mr. Lowry sold it to the Sullivans, who had farmed black land near Sanger, Texas. They brought their advanced farm equipment-cultivators, reapers, etc. along with their fine mules. Also, sons Jim, John, Frank and Lonnie and talented daughter Betty, (who played the piano) augmented the community's social life. Frank married Sally Downing and Jim married Annie May Holt. In describing conditions on the rims of Greater Yellow Prairie we proceeded clockwise from Chriesman northwest (to Holt), around the north rim to the northeast corner of Greater Yellow Prairie with a side excursion to the prairie and the Webb plantation farther north. We will now return to Greater Yellow Prairie to view the eastern and southern rims of the prairie. Across the road south of the Baumann and Wilhelm farms was the Dave Black farm (Two-P), where Joe Adamek later lived, Across the yard was the Malcolm Black residence, (Two-Q) and the Prairie Land farm to the south. Arthur Hill lived there at the time of my first memory later; Henry Speckman bought the place. The Ievated area on which the Dave and Malcolm Black residences stood was known as the "Mound". The road to the Geick home was labeled "rabbit lane" because of the prevalence of Jackrabbits. After the coming of the automobile a driver could expect one or more Jack rabbits to show up ahead and challenge the driver to a race. I never heard of one of the Jack rabbits being involved in a highway accident. To the east, the prairie extended across Black Haw Branch (named for the bush with black berries that were mostly seed). The Geick (Two-R) and Speckman (Two-S) homes were at the southeast corner of the Prairie land. A second house on the Geick farm (Two-T) was near the church. If was important. I was born there. Completing the circle to the south of Chriesman we reached the old Boedecker (Two-U) and Winkler (Two-V) farms. Gus Walker was a confederate veteran.
EARLY POST OAK SETTLERS
Residents now to be listed lived in the post oaks back of the prairie residents already listed. The Sewell's (Three-a) lived back of the Hill residence too far to the northwest to be included in the Hoskins Spring community. The Hoskins Spring community may be considered as starting with the homes on the north rim of the prairie, extending


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There must be a very compelling reason why a bag of chemotherapy must be handled with gloves. Continue reading Why You Should Refuse Chemotherapy
A startling study by Public Health England and Cancer Research UK has found that cancer treatment itself may be killing up to 50 percent of patients.
When anybody doing a research on the multiple attacks against the human body, be it through our drinking water, supposedly breathable air, or even within the pseudo healthcare medical industry itself, the answers would then lead us to our initial conclusion that this is only about capitalism, or economics in general, i.e.:


Program to an interface, not an implementation
The term "interface" is somewhat generic, so the first time I heard it; I was pretty clueless about what it meant. It wasn't until I got really serious about OOP and Design Patterns that I started to figure out what it was all about.
You might think that if you use the keyword Interface in C#, then you are following the principle. The problem with this is that when GoF published the Bible on Design Patterns, they didn't mean for it to be that easy, because it is a bit more conceptual than that.
So what does "Program to an interface" really mean?
This principle is really about dependency relationships which have to be carefully managed in a large app. – Erich Gamma
To put it in other words, you have to follow the OO concept of Encapsulation; the exposed part of a class is its interface. The important part here is that the interface represents "what" the class can do but not "how" it will do it, which is the actual implementation.
Let us look at an example where we are programming to an implementation.
PepperoniPizza myPizza = new PepperoniPizza();
myPizza.Eat(); // returns "mmm, pepperoni"
The problem with this is that the interface is tightly coupled with the implementation, to decouple it we would have to abstract the interface of PepperoniPizza. This can easily be done through a tool like Resharper that has refactoring support. To make an abstraction of the interface, you could either make an Interface or an abstract class.
Head First, Design Patterns
public interface IPizza
 string Eat();
public class PepperoniPizza : IPizza
 public string Eat()
 return "mmm, pepperoni";
public static void Main()
 // programming to an interface
 IPizza myPizza = new PepperoniPizza();
 myPizza.Eat(); // outputs "mmm, pepperoni"
We know it is a PepperoniPizza, but we can use the IPizza reference polymorphically, which means that we can reuse it. We could easily replace the instantiation of the PepperoniPizza with another type of pizza that implements the IPizza Interface. There are different opinions about the I-naming convention for Interfaces, I'm not religious about it, but I like the idea of using it.
The next step would of course be to replace the hard-coded instantiation of PepperoniPizza with some sort of a method.
Interface vs. Abstract class
Choosing between these two really depends on what you want to do, but luckily for us, Erich Gamma can help us a bit.
You can't go and change an Interface without having to change a lot of other things in your code, so the only way to avoid this would be to create a whole new Interface, which might not always be a good thing.
Abstract classes should primarily be used for objects that are closely related, whereas interfaces are better at providing common functionality for unrelated classes.
If you know that the subclasses will share some common implementation, then you should use an abstract class, because Interfaces doesn't have any implementation of its members.
Interface vs. API
Once you have given out your code and you no longer have access to all the clients, then you're in the API business. – Erich Gamma
The difference between an interface and API can be summed up pretty quickly with the above statement. Clients can mean a few things. It can be another group inside the company or it can be a customer. Once the API has been published, then you have to support it and make sure it doesn't break.
A Final word
When you are implementing an interface or inheriting from an abstract class then you could say that you have a contract with the object. This of course means that the object will always follow the rules of one or the other. This type of contract will for example help us when we are using Dependency Injection or want to create a Mock object.
Thank you for your help Tobias :)
Further reading
An interview with Erich Gamma
A java guy talks about Interface vs. Interface
Head First Design Patterns
9 thoughts on "Program to an interface, not an implementation
 1. zproxy wrote:
 In a way the whole BCL is an interface. Atleast for my jsc project. There you are able to code against your rather usual desktop.net API and the code will be recompiled to a language your likeing. The actual implementation for the BCL depends on the target language.
 Hence the Base Class Library is by itself an interface for my multi platform projects.
 Do you agree?
 2. Mark Jensen wrote:
 I wouldn't say that BCL is an interface; it is more of library then anything else because it consists of so many different things.
 3. Pingback: Reflective Perspective - Chris Alcock » The Morning Brew #352
 4. Dave wrote:
 Since C# does not allow multiple inheritence, Interfaces help developer add functionality to a class that conforms to a contract.
 5. Pingback: Ressources sur les principes avancés de conception objet
 6. Pingback: Méthodes avancées de dévelopement logiciel (entre autres)
 7. Nice article. It often takes developers some time to grasp the concept of interfaces. I remember I understood the concept at uni, but had a hard time seeing real beneficial usage. In my experience, projects where an IoC container is used helps the understanding and works great as an example of the power of interfaces. Interfaces helps managing dependencies as you say, and adding an IoC container helps you even more.
 8. Error454 wrote:
 Thank you for this article, it really cleared up my understanding of this famous phrase from the GoF book.
 9. Pingback: Interface in AS3 | Program to an interface, not an implementation // Shoguniphicus
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1 grains used as food either unpolished or more often polished
2 annual or perennial rhizomatous marsh grasses; seed used for food; straw used for paper
3 English lyricist who frequently worked with Andrew Lloyd Webber (born in 1944) [syn: Sir Tim Rice, Timothy Miles Bindon Rice]
4 United States playwright (_PHONE_) [syn: Elmer Rice, Elmer Leopold Rice, Elmer Reizenstein] v : sieve so that it becomes the consistency of rice; "rice the potatoes"
EtymologyOld French ris ← Italian riso ← Latin oriza ← Greek ὄρυζα (rice), from an eastern root (probably Indo-Iranian).
- Rhymes with: -aɪs
- Cereal plants (Oryza sativa) of the grass family whose seeds are used as food.
- The seeds of this plant used as food.
- Albanian: oriz
- Arabic: ('arz)
- trreq Armenian
- Basque: arroz, irris
- Bengali: ভাত
- Bosnian: riža, pirinač
- Burmese: ထမင္း (tʰə.mìn)
- Chinese: 稻 (dào)
- Croatian: riža
- Danish: ris
- Dutch: rijst
- Estonian: riis
- Finnish: riisi
- French: riz
- Georgian: ბრინჯი (brindži)
- German: Reis
- Greek: όρυζα (oríza)
- Hebrew: אורז (órez)
- Hindi: चावल (ćāval)
- Hungarian: rizs
- Indonesian: padi
- Italian: riso
- Japanese: 稲 (いね, ine)
- Khmer: (srou)
- Korean: 벼 (byeo)
- trreq Lao
- Malay: padi
- Malayalam: നെല്ല് (nellu)
- trreq Maltese
- Marathi: भात (bhāt)
- Mongolian: тутрага (tutraga)
- trreq Nepali
- Norwegian: ris
- trreq Oriya
- Polish: ryż
- Portuguese: arroz
- Punjabi: ਚਾਵਲ (ćāval), ਚੌਲ (ćaul)
- Rohingya: soil
- Russian: рис (ris)
- Sanskrit: ताणडुल
- Slovene: riž
- Spanish: arroz
- Swedish: ris
- trreq Tamil
- Telugu: వరి (vari)
- Tetum: hare
- Thai: (kâao)
- trreq Tibetan
- Urdu: (ćāval)
- Vietnamese: cơm
- West Frisian: rys
- Yiddish: רײַז (rayz) m|f
seeds used as food
- Arabic: (ar-róz)
- Basque: arroz
- Bosnian: riža, pirinač
- Catalan: arròs
- Chinese: 米 (mǐ), 饭 (fàn) (cooked), 米饭 (mǐfàn)
- Croatian: riža
- Czech: rýže
- Dutch: rijst, nasi goreng (common mistake by autochtone Dutch, they refer to any rice meal)
- Esperanto: rizo
- Estonian: riis
- Finnish: riisi
- French: riz
- Georgian: ბრინჯი (brindži)
- German: Reis
- Greek: ρύζι (rízi)
- Hebrew: אורז (órez)
- Hindi: चावल (ćāval)
- Hungarian: rizs
- Indonesian: beras (raw seed), nasi (cooked)
- Interlingua: ris
- Italian: riso
- Japanese: 米 (こめ, kome) (raw seed), ご飯 (ごはん, gohan) / 飯 (めし, meshi) (cooked)
- Khmer: (srou), (bai)
- Korean: 쌀 (ssal); 밥 (bap) (cooked)
- Kuna: oros
- Kurdish: برنج
- Lao: ເຂົ້າ
- Malay: beras (raw seed), nasi (cooked)
- Malayalam: അരി (ari) (un-cooked), ചോറ് (chOru) (cooked)
- Marathi: तांदुळ (tā.ndull), भात (bhāt) (cooked)
- Norwegian: ris
- Persian: (birinj)
- Polish: ryż
- Portuguese: arroz
- Punjabi: ਚਾਵਲ (ćāval), ਚੌਲ (ćaul)
- Russian: рис (ris)
- Scottish Gaelic: rus
- Slovene: riž
- Spanish: arroz
- Swedish: ris
- Telugu: వడ్లు (vaDlu), బియ్యం
- Tetum: foos (picked), etu (cooked)
- Thai: (kâao)
- Turkish: pirinç
- Urdu: (ćāval)
- West Frisian: rys
- Yiddish: רײַז (rayz) m|f
Translations to be checked
- arborio rice
- brown rice
- golden rice
- Indian rice
- jollof rice
- mealie rice
- Patna rice
- brewer's rice
- broken rice
- rice bowl
- rice grass
- rice leafhopper
- rice paper
- rice pudding
- rice rat
- rice weevil
- rice-paper plant
- Spanish rice
- sticky rice
- white rice
- wild rice
- California roll
- nasi goreng
- pad thai
- pilaf, pilau
EtymologyCommon Germanic *rikaz (*rīk-, *rīkja-), from Celtic *rīgiom 'kingdom', from *rīgs 'king' (compare Irish rí), from Indo-European *rēgs 'king'. Cognates include Old Saxon rīki (Dutch rijk), Old High German rīhhi (German Reich, reich), Old Norse ríki n, ríkr adj (Swedish rike n, rik adj), Gothic 𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌺𐌹 n, 𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍃 adj. The IE root is also the source of Latin rex.
Rice is a cereal foodstuff which forms an important part of the diet of a great many people worldwide.
Domesticated rice comprises two species of food crops in the Poaceae ("true grass") family, Oryza sativa and Oryza glaberrima. These plants are native to tropical and subtropical southern Asia and southeastern Africa.
The name wild rice is usually used for species of the different but related genus Zizania, both wild and domesticated, although the term may be used for primitive or uncultivated varieties of Oryza.
Rice is grown as a monocarpic annual plant, although in tropical areas it can survive as a perennial and can produce a ratoon crop and survive for up to 20 years. Rice can grow to 1–1.8 m tall, occasionally more depending on the variety and soil fertility. The grass has long, slender leaves 50–100 cm long and 2–2.5 cm broad. The small wind-pollinated flowers are produced in a branched arching to pendulous inflorescence 30–50 cm long. The edible seed is a grain (caryopsis) 5–12 mm long and 2–3 mm thick.
Rice is a staple for a large part of the world's human population, especially in tropical Latin America, and East, South and Southeast Asia, making it the second-most consumed cereal grain. Rice provides more than one fifth of the calories consumed worldwide by humans. In early 2008, some governments and retailers began rationing supplies of the grain due to fears of a global rice shortage.
Rice cultivation is well-suited to countries and regions with low labour costs and high rainfall, as it is very labour-intensive to cultivate and requires plenty of water for cultivation. Rice can be grown practically anywhere, even on a steep hill or mountain. Although its species are native to South Asia and certain parts of Africa, centuries of trade and exportation have made it commonplace in many cultures.
The traditional method for cultivating rice is flooding the fields with or after setting the young seedlings. This simple method requires sound planning and servicing of the water damming and channeling, but reduces the growth of less robust weed and pest plants that have no submerged growth state, and deters


Provide high-quality supports and protections to vulnerable Pennsylvanians
"I take our obligation to protect vulnerable populations in our commonwealth very seriously."
-Governor Tom Wolf
Why is this goal important?
Protecting Pennsylvania's most vulnerable residents and supporting them on a path toward healthy, self-sufficient lives is at the heart of the commonwealth's mission. The commonwealth is responsible for ensuring that vulnerable Pennsylvanians have access to high-quality services and supports – delivered efficiently – that enable them to live, work, and thrive in their communities.
What are we working on to reach this goal?
Governor Wolf has strengthened services for older Pennsylvanians, persons with disabilities, and individuals and families participating in the commonwealth's benefit programs. The executive order overhauling state services and systems intended to protect the most vulnerable Pennsylvanians, is yielding results with stronger compliance requirements for facilities providing services to vulnerable populations, greater awareness for identifying and supporting human trafficking victims, and progress toward a single system for child welfare case management. Shortly after entering office, Governor Wolf took action to save more than 180,000 seniors from losing their health plans. He has also signed legislation increasing income eligibility for prescription drug coverage, making the program available to an additional 17,000 older Pennsylvanians. The Community HealthChoices program continues to support older Pennsylvanians in securing high-quality health care close to home. Demonstrating his commitment to increasing home and community care options, Governor Wolf launched a Community Living Waiver to make services available to approximately 1,000 more individuals with an intellectual disability (ID) or autism. As part of his commitment to help people with disabilities find competitive jobs in the community, Governor Wolf announced the inaugural Employment First Oversight Commission annual report, outlining goals and recommendations for the commonwealth to continue prioritizing competitive integrated employment for Pennsylvanians with disabilities.
How are we doing?
Serving People in the Community
Related Measures
Protecting Vulnerable Children
Supporting Nutrition
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helps Pennsylvanians buy food. By increasing their purchasing power in grocery stores and supermarkets, SNAP provides eligible low-income households with access to a nutritious diet. In Pennsylvania, SNAP serves roughly 1.8 million people, including children, older adults, and individuals with disabilities.
Related Content


text:
by World Animal Protection
— Our thanks to World Animal Protection (formerly the World Society for the Protection of Animals) for permission to republish this article, which originally appeared on their site on August 30, 2016.
More chickens are farmed for their meat than any other animal, and the scale of their suffering is tremendous. Here's a look at the numbers and the issues industrially farmed chickens face.
Around 2,000 meat chickens, also known as broilers, are slaughtered every second. Boiled, roasted, fried, grilled, chopped, and pureed—chickens appear both obviously and invisibly in food.
The world consumes 60 billion chickens every year. Most of them, nearly 40 billion, are farmed industrially.
"I think it's the biggest animal protection problem we face today," said Jonty Whittleton, World Animal Protection's International Head of Campaigns for Humane and Sustainable Agriculture. "The number of chickens involved is just breathtaking; the challenges and suffering they face are enormous."
It's common for tens of thousands of birds to be farmed together in enormous sheds where there is no natural light and little fresh air. They live crowded together, in spaces far too close for comfort.
This is not an environment where they can behave naturally. They can't dust bathe or perch—activities chickens instinctively want and try to do, no matter where they are kept.
Their farmed life starts when they are 1-day-old chicks. The way they have been bred means they often grow up to 2 times as fast as traditional breeds.
Here are some of the staggering growth numbers:
- EU intensively reared chickens are expected reach 5.5 pounds in 42 days.
- US intensively reared chickens are expected to reach 5.7 pounds in 47 days.
- Brazilian intensively reared chickens are expected to reach 5.5 pounds in 39-41 days.
- A slower growing, less intensively reared bird could take up to 56 days to reach a similar weight.
The way meat chickens are kept and their extreme growth rate causes 3 serious welfare problems:
- Weak bones. These are caused by the chickens growing too quickly and the barren environments in industrial sheds, which discourage activity. They lead to painful lameness and skeletal disorders as the chickens' bodies get heavier and heavier.
- Overworked hearts and lungs. These are caused by the rapid weight gain and can kill the chickens suddenly.
- Wounds, sores, and burns. These are the result of too many chickens being kept in one place, when the chickens can't move around enough, and when the sheds' litter-lined floors are not cleaned and managed properly. The birds lie down in the wet, ammonia-soaked shed litter which then irritates and burns into their skin.
You can help
Your voice is key to improving the lives of chickens around the world. Together, we can influence global food companies, iconic fast-food brands, and supermarkets. As food consumers, we need to put pressure on retailers, demanding that the animals in their supply chains are given better lives.
Consumers worldwide have already shown their power by making governments, retailers, and farmers improve conditions for egg-laying hens. We know the same can be done for meat chickens too.
Tell your friends, colleagues, and families about the terrible suffering that industrially farmed chickens endure. Encourage them to read labels on chicken and chicken products carefully and not be fooled by healthy sounding words like 'farm fresh.'
Ask them to tell retailers to stock meat from chickens reared more humanely; this means environments where chickens are not forced to grow so quickly, where they have natural light and where they can move around more freely.