text:
Kenya's coffee history dates back more than 100 years. Coffee was first planted in Kenya's coast province in 1885. The coffee plants were brought by French missionaries from the Indian Ocean island of Reunion. Around the same time, the scramble for Africa was taking shape through the Berlin Conference of 1885. Africa was divided into territories of influence by the European powers. The British Government founded the East African Protectorate in 1895 and soon after, opened Kenya's fertile highlands to British colonial settlers. Early coffee production was a preserve of colonial settler community. The high demand for coffee in European markets made it Kenya's main export crop by the 1920's.
The right of African farmers to grow coffee would however have to wait until the 1950's. The agitation for self-determination and economic freedom led to the Land and Freedom uprising in 1952. As a response to the uprising, the colonial government initiated a land tenure reform plan that offered the African a system of farming whose production would provide economic incentives. This land reform is usually referred to as the Swynnerton Plan. In 1956, African farmers were allowed to grow coffee but they were restricted to a maximum of 100 coffee trees.
In the 1960's, the restrictions were removed and Africans could plant unlimited number of coffee trees. This marked the explosion of Kenya's small-scale and medium scale coffee producer as more Africans got into coffee production or increased their production. The small-scale farmers formed co-operatives to take advantage of economies of scale and solidify collective bargaining power. Today there are over 600,000 smallholder producers organized into about 550 co-operatives. The smallholder farmers account for 75% of the land growing coffee and over half of production.


text: Book Description: In these inspiring essays about why we read, Proust explores all the pleasures and trials that we take from books, as well as explaining the beauty of Ruskin and his work, and the joys of losing yourself in literature as a child. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves � and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives � and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


text:
Why is our town called Nederland?
Our area has undergone many changes in the 150 years as a settlement and town. First in the area were Native American groups who hunted and traveled through here for generations. In the mid-19th century the first white homesteaders who settled here gave it a variety of names. First known as Dayton, then Brownsville, and in 1871, when the first post office was located here, it was called Middle Boulder. That was the same year Abel Breed bought the silver-rich Caribou Mine and decided to bring his ore from Caribou Hill to the ¬warmer' climate of Middle Boulder for milling. It was also the same year the Boulder Canyon Road was completed, though it would be nearly forty years before the first automobile (a Stanley Steamer) would make the difficult trip up from Boulder in 1910.
In 1873, Breed sold the Caribou Mine to the Mining Company Nederland from Holland. Breed's Caribou Mill in Middle Boulder became known among the miners as ¿the Netherlands,î meaning ¿low landsî (which it is compared to the town of Caribou at 10,000' elevation). In 1874 when the town incorporated, the people chose Nederland as the new name.
The mines at Caribou soon declined, however, and the Dutch company pulled out just a few years later. By 1890, there was little ore to be milled and Nederland became another mountain ghost town, with only a handful of families living here year round.
A second mining boom began just after the turn of the century. Sam Conger, who had discovered the Caribou silver mine, found tungsten in areas to the north and east of Nederland, and he knew its value in making steel. The old silver mill in Nederland was converted to process tungsten. By 1916, Nederland had a population of nearly 3,000, about twice its present number. In addition, the town of Lakewood grew north of Nederland and the town of Tungsten sprung up at the foot of Barker Dam. An unnaturally flat area on the south side of the canyon road just below the dam is scant evidence of the town that still appears on some area maps.
Though there were short-lived revivals of tungsten mining during World War II and in the early 1950s, the area's mining fortunes gradually faded since World War I and Nederland evolved into a refuge from the heat of the plains and from the angst of city life. Good folks from all over the country have come to settle here and take part in recreating new lives in one of the most beautiful spots on earth. The history of Nederland is documented in the Nederland Area Historical Society's Mining Museum, complete with working mining machinery.
You'll be glad you chose to visit and we know you'll come back.


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Feb 26, 2016 / Haseeb Jamal -
5 Travel Myths You Need to Stop Believing Right Now
Feb 26, 2016 / Haseeb Jamal -
Canal Comes Alive with Lighted Boat Parade.
Calculation, Effects & Applications of Hydraulic Jump
By: Haseeb Jamal / On: Feb 14, 2017 / Definition, Fluid Mechanics
In order to describe the super critical flow and sub critical flow, there is need to define the Froude number. Froude number can be defined as the velocity divided by the square root of gravitational constant multiplied by the depth. It is dimensionless quantity.
F = V/ vG x D
Where V is velocity of water, D is depth of flow of water and G is gravitational constant. Froude number is an indicator of resistance of object moving in the water. If the Froude number is less than 1, then the flow of water is said to be as the sub critical flow. While if the Froude number is greater than 1, then the flow of water is said to be as the super critical flow. If it is equal to 1, then flow is said to be as the critical flow. As sub critical flow of water is reflection of slow moving deep water. On the other hand super critical flow is indicator of fast moving shallow water. Super critical flow is unstable form of flow whiles the sub critical is stable one
Now move toward the hydraulic jump, it can be defined as rise in the level of water when the water transforms its super critical form into the sub critical one i.e. from unstable state to the stable one. This phenomenon can be observed on spillways of the dam. As it's the nature of water to gain its stability after it is being unstable. The place where hydraulic jump occurs, a lot of energy is dissipated in the form of heat energy. We can say that hydraulic jump is dissipator of extra energy of water. This phenomenon is usually used in spillways of the dam to reduce the erosive power of super critical flow. Otherwise it will affect the dam structure.
Calculation of hydraulic jump:
Height of hydraulic jump can be calculated by the formula:
Y2 - Y1
Hydraulic Jump
Where Y1 is depth of flow on the sub critical side, while Y2 is depth of flow after the hydraulic jump. It can be illustrated with the help of diagram.
We can say that Y1 is depth at the state of stable sub critical while on the other hand Y2 is the height of the flow after the hydraulic jump.Y1 can be calculated easily. While Y2 can be calculated by the formula:
Y1/2 + vY12/4 + 2Y1 x V12/g
Effect of Hydraulic Jump
It is very common in the field of hydraulics to use hydraulic jump. It is used to perform different functions. Some of the effects of the hydraulic jump are as under:
 - Actually the hydraulic jump usually acts as the energy dissipator. It clears the surplus energy of water.
 - Due to the hydraulic jump, many noticeable able disturbances are created in the flowing water like eddies, reverse flow.
 - Usually when the hydraulic jump takes place, the considerable amount of air is trapped in the water. That air can be helpful in removing the wastes in the streams that are causing pollution.
 - Hydraulic jump also make the work of different hydraulic structures, effective like weirs, notches and flumes etc.
Applications of Hydraulic Jump:
 1. Usually hydraulic jump reverses the flow of water. This phenomenon can be used to mix chemicals for water purification.
 2. Hydraulic jump usually maintains the high water level on the down stream side. This high water level can be used for irrigation purposes.
 3. Hydraulic jump can be used to remove the air from water supply and sewage lines to prevent the air locking.
 4. It prevents the scouring action on the down stream side of the dam structure.
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text:
What is the towing capacity
Towing capacity is a measure describing the upper limit to the weight of a trailer a vehicle can tow. In the United States, towing capacity is expressed in pounds, while other countries express the limit in kilograms. Some countries demand that trucks and buses have the maximum trailer weight and eventually maximum trailer length signed close to the coupling device, while this is rare with smaller cars or pickup trucks.
In most european countries new vehicles have it printed on a plate on the vehicles towbar in Kg. If an older vehicle is fitted with a towbar the manufacturer of the towbar is required to calculate the towing capacity of the vehicle and put a plate on it. The calculation for towing capacity can not be covered in this forum as it is a long complex calculation with over 15 different parameters. Refer to an expert - Don' know don't tow.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


Benchmarking signal acquisition on the RPi
The Raspberry Pi (RPi) is undoubtedly a revolutionary affordable single board computer, with multiple applications and a must have accessory for every hardware hacker and maker. Gradually though, it is increasingly getting traction and is being used on main stream commercial applications.
We have experimented with it a lot and used it in a few of our IoT projects and the compelling argument for its use is that it is rather easy to develop on it more complex IoT applications, that require the deployment of services such us a web server, a complex GUI running on a connected monitor or connection to external web servers.
On the other hand, its great strength is at the same time its greatest weakness, when it comes to signal acquisition. As the RPi is a single board computer running a fully fledged operating system, it has to dedicate resources to OS processes, while at the same time reading the input signals, something that could have a negative effect when working with high frequency inputs. Hence a key question arises.
"What are the Raspberry Pi's capabilities with regard to high frequency synchronous signal acquisition?"
We have put the RPi to the test and benchmarked two of the most popular python libraries, RPi.GPIO and PIGPIO, with regard to their performance in accurately reading interdependent high frequency input signals (i.e 1 MHz to 5MHz). In this post we are sharing our findings.
Scope of benchmark testing#
One of the fundamental electronic components is the serial-in, parallel-out (SIPO) shift register. In (SIPO) shift registers, the data is stored into the register serially, while it is retrieved from it in parallel fashion. At each clock tick the data within the register moves to a higher order position by a single bit, while a new bit of the input phrase enters into the register.
In a slightly more complected design, a D Flip-Flop, synchronized separately, can be added to the parallel output of the SIPO shift register in order to store the data.
In this experiment, we converted the Raspberry Pi into an 8-bit SIPO shift register, connected to an 8 bit D Flip-Flop. The aim was to feed the raspberry with a known 8-bit "phrase" and measure the amount of times per minute this phrase was read accurately, for different frequencies.
Equipment & Software#
For this test we used a Raspberry Pi 3B running Raspberry Pi OS Lite (Kernel version: 5.4). In order to generate the signals we used a Lattice MachXO2-4000 FPGA, integrated on a third party development board equipped with a 100 MHz MEMS oscillator.
alt "Raspberry Pi 3B and Lattice MachXO2-4000 FPGA"
In case you are interested in replicating the experiment, lets go through every step of the set up required for this test. The required code for this test is available on github.
Step 1 – Creating the input signals#
The following single bit input signals are required:
 - DATA, carrying the serial data
 - CLK, the clock. On the falling edge of CLK the value of Data is loaded into the SIPO shift register
 - a LOAD signal. On the falling edge of LOAD, the parallel output of the SIPO shift register is to be read and compared to the known phrase "01010011"
The timing diagram for the above signals is shown in the following image:
alt "8 bit sipo register driver signals timing diagram"
In the following VHDL component can be used in order to program the above behavior into the FPGA:
library ieee;
use ieee.std_logic_1164.all;
use ieee.std_logic_unsigned.all;
entity counter_input is
clk: in std_logic;
DATA, LOAD, CLK_OUTPUT: out std_logic
end counter_input;
architecture behavioral of counter_input is
signal temp_LOAD: std_logic;
process (clk)
variable count: integer:= 1;
if falling_edge(clk) then
if count=1 then
DATA <= '0';
temp_LOAD <= '0';
elsif count=3 or count=5 or count=6 then
DATA <= '0';
elsif count=2 or count=4 or count=7 or count=8 then
DATA <= '1';
elsif count=9 then
temp_LOAD <= '1';
end if;
end if;
end process;
CLK_OUTPUT <= clk and NOT temp_LOAD;
end process;
LOAD <= temp_LOAD;
end behavioral;
In addition, as the onboard oscillator runs at 100 MHz, a frequency divider was used, creating the required frequencies for the experiment. You can find the complete VHDL script for programming the FPGA here.
The FPGA is programmed to transition the signals on the falling edge of the clock
Step 2 – Programming the Raspberry Pi#
To preserve system resources we used the Raspberry Pi OS Lite. On a fresh image, we installed only the minimum required packages.
In order to accurately measure the read accuracy of the Raspberry Pi's GPIO pins at different frequencies, we wrote a simple script, for each of the tested python libraries, that uses three of GPIO pins as inputs, each corresponding to the DATA, CLK and LOAD signals. The script samples the DATA pin on the rising edge of the CLK signal and appends this value to the input phrase. On te rising edge of the LOAD signal, it compares the received phrase with the expected one ("01010011").
This process is executed for 60 seconds and at the end of this period it calculates the read accuracy for the respective frequency as:
accuracy = correct count / total count
The calculation is repeated for different input frequencies in order to get an Accuracy - Frequency curve.
The RPi is programmed to detect rising edge transitions of the two control signals (CLK and LOAD) in contrast with the FPGA
Our code for testing the RPi.GPIO library is as follows:
import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
import time
def onRising(gpio):
global DATA_LEVEL, phrase, count, correct_count, init
if gpio == CLK_pin:
phrase += str(DATA_LEVEL)
elif gpio == LOAD_pin:
if not init:
init = True
count += 1
if phrase == '01010011':
correct_count += 1
def onBoth(gpio):
if __name__ == '__main__':
init = False
count = 0
correct_count = 0
GPIO.setup(CLK_pin, GPIO.IN)
GPIO.setup(LOAD_pin, GPIO.IN)
GPIO.setup(DATA_pin, GPIO.IN)
GPIO.add_event_detect(LOAD_pin, GPIO.RISING, callback=onRising)
GPIO.add_event_detect(CLK_pin, GPIO.RISING, callback=onRising)
GPIO.add_event_detect(DATA_pin, GPIO.BOTH, callback=onBoth)
print("Starting benchmark")
print('Frequency XX:',count,'-',correct_count)
Our code for testing the PIGPIO library is as follows:
import pigpio, time
def onChange(gpio,level,tick):
global data_level
global phrase, init
global count, correct_count
if gpio == DATA_pin:
data_level = level
elif gpio == LOAD_pin:
if not init:
init = True
count += 1
if phrase == "01010011":
correct_count += 1
phrase = ''
else: # clock pin
phrase = phrase + str(data_level)
if __name__ == '__main__':
data_level = 0
count = 0
correct_count = 0
init = False
pi = pigpio.pi()
pi.set_mode(CLK_pin, pigpio.INPUT)
pi.set_mode(DATA_pin, pigpio.INPUT)
pi.set_mode(LOAD_pin, pigpio.INPUT)
cb1 = pi.callback(DATA_pin, pigpio.EITHER_EDGE, onChange)
cb2 = pi.callback(CLK_pin, pigpio.RISING_EDGE, onChange)
cb3 = pi.callback(LOAD_pin, pigpio.RISING_EDGE, onChange)
print('Start Benchmark')
Step 3 – Connecting#
Before powering up the system we connected the three input signals, pin by pin and also wired a common ground to both of the boards.
Both libraries perform well for frequencies of up to 5 KHz with an accuracy above 99%. The accuracy of the Rpi.GPIO library deteriorates over 5 KHz and at 50 KHz it is incapable of performing this task.
The PIGPIO library performs comparably better, with its accuracy being above 99% for frequencies up to 20 KHz. Above that frequency, its performance gradually deteriorates and at 110 KHz it cannot read correctly any phrase at all.
The complete results of the benchmark test are presented on the following chart.
alt "Raspberry Pi 3b Signal Acquisition Accuracy vs Frequency Chart"
The Raspberry Pi 3B performs well as a device for data acquisition at low frequencies and can be a rather good choice. On the contrary, for tasks involving high frequency signal acquisition it is out performed.
We are planning to benchmark more communication protocols (SPI, I2C), libraries and devices, including the Raspberry Pi 4. If you are interested in this topic, you can subscribe to our mailing list and receive notifications about new posts, when we publish them.
If you have a suggestion for a new topic, please drop us an email at


An ellipsis is an omission of words from a clause, or the punctuation mark "..."
Ellipsis (plural ellipses; from the Ancient Greek: ἔλλειψις, élleipsis, "omission" or "falling short") is a series of dots that usually indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning.1 Depending on their context and placement in a sentence, ellipses can also indicate an unfinished thought, a slight pause, and nervous or awkward silence. -From Wikipedia.
An omission using these dots is also known as ellipsis. But this is different from the term ellipsis in linguistics, which refers to elliptical construction.
history | excerpt history


In terms of freshwater 'rockfish' targets, it doesn't get any cooler than the charismatic Ruffe. The Eurasian Ruffe (gymnocephalus cernua) is also known as pope, daddy ruffe, tommy ruffe or stone perch. Ruffe have a flamboyant dorsal fin and often, amazing pink eyes. Being a close relative of the Perch, Ruffe are every bit a predator fish species and can be targeted with scaled-down, ultralight lure presentations. In my opinion, they are the spikey jewel of our UK waterways and always raise a smile when I encounter one. Hopefully the following information will help you catch Ruffe too.


text:
of Caribbean Hurricanes
Tropical systems passing within 60nm (= 69mi.) of the island. Used latitude/longitude coordinates (18.50N,77.92W) might not be the center of the island. Often the location of the island weather station was used, which is normally at the airport.
Please note that not only hurricanes (h1-h5) are included but also tropical storms (ts). Wind/category reported is maximum measured while the system moved through region (box). Each category storm has its own color (see color bar below; ts=tropical storm; h1=category 1 hurricane; etc., see the guide for definitions). Different projections can be selected, the island projections are most zoomed in (select if you want to see how close the systems passed by the island [not available for regions]), while the world projection most zoomed out (select when you want to see the complete path of the storm). Winds are in miles per hour. It is also calculated how close the center of the storm came to the island, the so-called closest point of approach (cpoa, in miles).
Below you can see all stormtracks since 1851 for Montego Bay (for more details about individual storms skip to another page where storms are separated per decade). In the climatology section there is also a weekly analysis of the data which shows when the real peak of hurricane season is for Montego Bay and a five-year analysis to find out if more storms have passed close by Montego Bay recently.
Projection: Island | Caribbean | Atlantic | World |
|1851 - 2010|
Montego Bay, Jamaica: all dec peak 5yr rank
Copyright © 2011 Caribbean Hurricane Network. All Rights Reserved
|Back to top|


text:
The Google Publisher Tag (GPT) library supports the following browsers and environments:
All of the browsers that GPT supports release regularly and update automatically. Due to this, we don't maintain a comprehensive list of supported browser versions. Instead, we validate GPT against the latest version of each browser, and commit to providing support for all versions that are officially supported by the respective browser vendors.
The GPT library makes a best-effort attempt to serve ads to any browser that loads it. This means that GPT works on most browsers built to modern Web standards. However, browsers not expressly listed in the preceding section are considered unsupported.
GPT hasn't been validated against unsupported browsers, and they may lack features GPT needs to operate. In general, GPT doesn't try to detect unsupported browsers or alter its behavior to support them. If you use GPT with unsupported browsers, you may encounter unexpected behavior like the following:
- Console errors originating from the GPT library.
- Functions registered with the GPT CommandArray not executing.
- Ads not appearing or rendering incorrectly.
- Impressions and clicks not being counted.


text:
Implementing a New Credit Score in Lender Strategies (UPDATED STUDY)
UPDATED for 2020
At first, the process of converting strategies to use newscores can seem overwhelmingly complex. Generic riskscores have become deeply embedded within strategiesand often strategy design is contingent upon the scoreperformance. In reality, there is just one central question that must beanswered for successfully converting a strategy to use anew credit score:
What is the value of the new score (NewScore) that represents the same default rate orpopulation volume designated by the previous score(OldScore)?
All conversion processes revolve around answering this question and essentially follow the same steps. The analytic and resource requirement for each step in the conversionprocess is determined by the complexity and magnitude ofthe specific strategy. Furthermore, the process must befollowed when converting from one version of a score to anew version or converting from one brand of score toanother brand.


Honda-e parked next to a building
Honda-e parked next to a building
To some drivers, the latest electric cars may seem like a mobile laboratory, crammed with technology and offering a dazzling glimpse of motoring's bright future. Yet in some ways, electric cars are remarkably straightforward, featuring battery technology which is simpler than cars with petrol or diesel engines.
How big is an electric car's battery?
Like the variety of cars they power, the batteries in electric vehicles vary in size. They're often packed away under the floor, taking up all the area beneath where everyone sits. Some will be rectangular shaped, others may resemble a 'T' section when viewed from overhead. And the larger they are, the heavier they will be.
In the new Honda e, the battery is beneath the middle of the car's floor and it powers an electric motor that is located under the boot floor.
Front three-quarter view showing electric car battery size
How does an electric car's battery work?
The modern battery in an electric car is lithium-ion. Inside the cell, positively charged lithium ions are carried by a liquid electrolyte from the anode to the cathode through a separator. This movement results in the discharge of an electrical current. And that electricity is used to power the motor or motors that drive either two or all four wheels.
Top front three-quarter view electric car battery size
Maintaining the battery
The greatest potential convenience about an electric car is that it can be charged whenever and wherever it is parked. This saves drivers from going out of their way to find a charging station. The power will be drawn from the grid. That means the sustainability will vary according to the energy provider. At home, the battery is best charged using a dedicated 'wallbox'. The wallbox typically delivers a charging rate of 6.6kW, which means a car like the Honda e, which has a 35.5kWh battery, would be charged from low warning to 100 per cent in around 4.1 hours. Using a more powerful 50kW rapid charger at a public location, the Honda e's battery would go to 80 per cent charge in just 31 minutes.*
*Charge times are measured from the low battery warning indicator.
Front three-quarter view hond e charging in garage
The Honda e's battery
Designed from the ground up, the Honda e is the first Honda to be built on a purpose-designed platform for electric vehicles. The stylish electric car features a water-cooled 35.5kWh lithium-ion battery that can be charged using either Type 2 AC connection or a CCS2 DC rapid charge.
The Honda e will be capable of travelling up to 137 miles before drivers will need to recharge the battery. To ensure the Honda e has a responsive feel on the road, engineers have centred the battery low in the platform, giving the compact car perfect 50:50 weight distribution and an excellent centre of gravity.
Rear top three-quarter view honda-e in studio


text:
An atomic fountain is a cloud of atoms that is tossed upwards by lasers in the Earth's gravitational field. If it were visible, it would resemble the water in a fountain. While weightless in the toss, the atoms are measured to set the frequency of an atomic clock.
The primary motivation behind the development of the atomic fountain derives from the Ramsey method of measuring the frequency of atomic transitions. In broad strokes, the Ramsey method involves exposing a cloud of atoms to a brief radiofrequency (rf) electromagnetic field; waiting a time T; briefly exposing the cloud to the rf field again; and then measuring what fraction of the atoms in the cloud have transitioned. If the frequency of the rf field is identical to the atomic transition frequency, 100% of the atoms will have transitioned; if the frequency of the field differs slightly from the transition frequency, some of the atoms will not have transitioned. By repeatedly sending clouds of atoms through such an apparatus, the frequency of the field can be adjusted to match the atomic transition frequency.
The precision of the Ramsey method can be increased by increasing the wait time T of the cloud. The use of an atomic fountain with a cooled atomic cloud allows for wait times on the order of one second, which is vastly greater than what can be achieved by performing the Ramsey method on a hot atomic beam. This is one reason why NIST-F1, a cesium fountain clock, can keep time more precisely than NIST-7, a cesium beam clock.
The idea of the atomic fountain was first proposed in the 1950s by Jerrold Zacharias. Zacharias attempted to implement an atomic fountain using a thermal beam of atoms, under the assumption that the atoms at the low-velocity end of the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution would be of sufficiently low energy to execute a reasonably sized parabolic trajectory. However, the attempt was not successful because fast atoms in a thermal beam strike the low-velocity atoms and scatter them. The first successful realization of an atomic fountain clock, using a thermal beam of cesium atoms, was achieved in 1959 by Louis Essen and J V L Parry at the National Physical Laboratory, England.
- _URL_ How the NIST-F1 Cesium Fountain Clock Works
- C. J. Foot (2005). Atomic Physics. p. 212.
- M. A. Kasevich et al. (1989). "Atomic fountains and clocks". Optics News 15 (12): 31–32.
- S. Chu (1998). "The manipulation of neutral particles" (PDF). Rev. Mod. Phys. 70: 685–706. Bibcode:1998RvMP...70..685C. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.70.685.
- L. Essen (1959). "An improved cesium frequency and time standard". Nature 184: 1791–1792. Bibcode:1959Natur.184.1791O. doi:10.1038/1841791b0.
|This physics-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.|


The tech trends we'll see in 2020 and beyond
Dwayne Bragonier, CPA (Canada), CITP, pays close attention to the technology trends affecting consumers and organizations. In a podcast episode recorded at AICPA ENGAGE in June, he explains how technology advances such as 5G will quickly change our world and why those trends matter for accountants.
What you'll learn from this episode:
 - The technology advances affecting the accounting profession.
 - Why 5G technology will be "a game-changer."
 - Insight into a major language-related technology breakthrough.
 - Bragonier's opinion on the limitations of the internet of things.
 - How professionals can manage the information overload that new technology often brings.
 Full Article
Source: Journal of Accountancy
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text:
adcc: Seamlessly connect your program to ADC¶
This documentation page is still under construction.
ADC-connect – or adcc in short – is a Python-based framework to connect to arbitrary programs and perform calculations based on the algebraic-diagrammatic construction approach (ADC) on top of their existing self-consistent field (SCF) procedures. Four SCF codes can be used with adcc out of the box, namely molsturm, psi4, PySCF, and veloxchem.
The range of supported algebraic-diagrammatic construction (ADC) methods includes the ADC(n) family up to level 3, including variants such as spin-flip and core-valence separation. For all methods transition and excited state properties are available. See the Performing calculations with adcc for more details. Recently we submitted a paper about adcc, see [HSF+19].
Getting a first taste¶
The next code snippet should give you an idea, how adcc works in practice. It shows how an ADC(3) calculation for 3 singlet excited states of water can be performed on top of a restricted Hartree-Fock reference computed using PySCF.
from matplotlib import pyplot as plt from pyscf import gto, scf import adcc # Run SCF in pyscf mol = gto.M( atom='O 0 0 0;' 'H 0 0 1.795239827225189;' 'H 1.693194615993441 0 -0.599043184453037', basis='cc-pvtz', unit="Bohr" ) scfres = scf.RHF(mol) scfres.conv_tol = 1e-13 scfres.kernel() # Run an ADC(3) calculation, solving for 3 singlets state = adcc.adc3(scfres, n_singlets=3) # Broaden the peaks and plot the resulting spectrum state.plot_spectrum(broadening='lorentzian') plt.show()
- Performing calculations with adcc
- Overview of supported features
- General ADC(n) calculations
- Calculation parameters
- Parallelisation in adcc
- Plotting spectra
- Reusing intermediate data
- Programmatic access to computed data
- Spin-flip calculations
- Core-valence-separated calculations
- Restricting active orbitals: Frozen core and frozen virtuals
- Further examples and details
- Theoretical review of ADC methods
- adcc reference
- Connecting host programs to adcc
- Developer's notes
- adccore: C++ core library
- libadcc: Python bindings for adccore


Filename Extensions
Details of extension.ql
Below, you can find answers to the following questions:
 - What is the.ql file?
 - Which program can create the.ql file?
 - Where can you find a description of the.ql format?
 - What can convert.ql files to a different format?
 - Which MIME-type is associated with the.ql extension?
QEdit Data.ql file icon
QEdit Data
Detailed description not available
Category: Data files
Application: QEdit
Program name: -
Mime-type: application/octet-stream
Magic bytes (HEX): -
Magic string (ASCII): -
Related extensions:
Other types of files may also use the.ql file extension. If you have helpful information about.ql extension, write to us!
Is it possible that the filename extension is misspelled?
We found the following similar extensions in our database:
WinAMP Equalizer Presets
Rsyslog Queue Info
Qt Compiled Translation Source
x265 Quantization Parameters Data
The.ql filename extension is often given incorrectly!
qm (1), q1 (1), qp (1), qi (1)
Can't open a.ql file?
If you want to open a.ql file on your computer, you just need to have the appropriate program installed. If the.ql association isn't set correctly, you may receive the following error message:
Windows can't open this file:
File: example.ql
To change file associations:
Supported operating systems


of playing Urza's Saga?
The biggest drawback of the card is the space it takes in your list. It is good in multiples and good early, so playing just one is ok but probably not optimal. So then you have to think about how many colorless lands you can really play, and what you'll have to cut. Different answers have been given to that question – see the decklist section for more discussion.
The other drawbacks are that (1) it sends itself to the graveyard; (2) it is an enchantment; and (3) it is somewhat mana intensive. Sending itself to the graveyard means that it puts you down a land when it dies. You can often find Mox Diamond with it so that you don't lose mana, but that's not always an option and you don't always have Loam to get it back. As an enchantment, it is a prime target for opposing Force of Vigors, which can be a bit back-breaking when they tag your Mox and your Saga. It also enables your opponents to turn things like Disenchant into land destruction (though does anyone play Disenchant anymore?).
The card is also quite mana-hungry. To get the full two constructs, you need to spend effectively 6 mana over two turns. Six mana over two turns for a pair of constructs and a 1 mana artifact isn't a bad deal, but it can be clunky when you want to cast other spells and have to choose between constructs or Sylvan Library, for example. In the early turns when you want to drop lock pieces or be porting your opponent, your mana can be somewhat strained.
These drawbacks are far from making the card unplayable, but they're things to keep in mind.
How does Urza's Saga interact with Thespian's Stage?
When Saga was spoiled, I was blowing up my judge friend's phone with questions. Every interaction was more confusing than the last, but to answer the main question – yes, you can end up with a land that can create constructs forever and will not die to being a saga.
To explain how this works, imagine Thespian's Stage as a troupe of actors, and the play they're learning is the story of Urza's Saga.
When Stage first copies Saga, the actors have just started learning and can't actually do anything except be actors. In real magic terms, this means that you will have an Urza's Saga with 0 chapters and thus with no abilities (except the Thespian's Stage ability). At this point, the actors can't even figure out how to tap for mana. Note that this is true no matter how many chapters are on the Saga you're copying. Stage copies only the text printed on the card, not any abilities the card may have gained. Thus it will always be a blank saga to start out with – your actors don't have any clifnotes.
Then, when you hit the first main phase of your turn, the actors learn the first chapter of the Saga. At this point, your land will gain a lore counter and, in the process, gain the ability to tap for mana. Good job, actors!
In the next first main phase, your actors are really getting into it and now they can build constructs just like Urza used to! Like the original Saga, the Stage-Saga will gain another lore counter at the start of the main phase and thus gain the ability to make constructs just like a normal Saga could.
But now here comes the tricky part. When your Stage-Saga hits your first main phase for the third time, your actors are so engrossed in the Saga that they are willing to die to stay true to the story. In the game, this means that if you don't copy a new land, the Stage-Saga will get its third counter and go the graveyard just like a normal Saga would.
But you don't have to do this. Instead, while the third chapter trigger is on the stack (or at any point before it resolves), you can use Stage's copy ability to copy another land that is not a saga. If you do this, you will now have a land that has (1) all the abilities of the land you copy; (2) the usual Stage ability to copy other lands; and (3) the abilities Stage gained while it was a Saga. Because of how layers work, Stage will have 'gained' abilities, not just copied them, and thus it will keep those abilities as it turns into other lands. Your actors are now a traveling troupe, playing Urza's Saga at different locations. If you choose to copy a fresh land with the third chapter trigger on the stack, you will even get to search up an artifact for your troubles, all without sacrificing your Stage (since it will not be a saga when the third chapter ability resolves). The result is that you could well have a basic forest that can make constructs. Kinda neat!
Does Urza's Saga replace Field of the Dead?
Urza's Saga could replace Field of the Dead if you want it to. Because of the interaction with Stage, Saga can be used to create a creature every turn and thus provide the same kind of threatening inevitability that Field does, all while being available a lot earlier and asking much less in the way of setup. Plus Saga's creatures are just bigger – 4/4s and 5/5s vs 2/2s. For more arguments in favor of cutting Field for Saga, watch Jarvis Yu's stream.
That said, I'm not personally 100% sold on the idea of cutting Field. Unlike Saga, Field can create multiple creatures in a single turn, which can often be the difference in bailing you out of a bad board position. Field also has the potential to make zombies the turn you draw it, requires no mana investment, and does not ask you to have a free Stage for it to be effective. Copying Saga with Stage and then copying a fresh land means taking several turns and a minimum of 6 mana to get a permanent source of constructs; that's a lot of mana in the early game and a lot of time in the late game where every top-deck can matter. So while I would probably play 3 Sagas before the first Field, I think the potential upside of one Field is worth not playing the 4th Saga.
How does Urza's Saga interact with Blood Moon?
Urza's Saga has an odd interaction with Blood Moon, Spreading Seas, and other effects that turn a land into a completely different land. When these effects hit Saga, it turns into an Enchantment Land – Saga Mountain (or Island, or what have you). But it also loses all its other relevant saga abilities. This means that its max chapter is no longer determined by the text of the card, but instead defaults to zero. Then, since its number of lore counters is greater than or equal to the max chapter number, it goes to the graveyard as a state-based effect.
The details may be a bit tricky, but the bottom line is – Blood Moon destroys Urza's Saga upon resolution.
What does a list with Urza's Saga look like?
Ok, so maybe you're sold on the card, maybe you're not, but at the very least you've heard enough to need some actual lists. The crucial question for these lists is: what do we cut for Saga? To this there are more or less 2 different answers. You can cut Rishadan Port, since it is another colorless land. Or you can cut nonland threats like Sylvan Library/Valakut Exploration since Urza's Saga increases your threat density and thus makes those kinds of threats less necessary. Below are a series of decklists to give you a sense of what people are trying (apologies for the differing formats, but people like to post their lists in different places). If necessary, open the images in a new tab to make them bigger.
Here are some examples of the first school of thought, where we shave a few Valakut Exploration but ultimately still play a decent suite of value enchantments alongside Sagas:
from the 5-0 deck dump, vod here
thanks to Neoshinji for this list
thanks to alli for this list
The common theme in these lists is that you don't really get to play Port. Some are playing a single extra Ghost Quarter instead, which is an interesting alternative.
Next we also have the Library-less lists like the semi-experimental one Jarvis Yu played on his stream:
thanks to Jarvis Yu for this decklist
And this other option from Monroe on the Lands discord:
thanks to heymonroe of Turn Zero Games for this decklist
These lists are going harder on Saga (playing the full set) and leaning on it together with the traditional Lands package to carry them. They don't have value enchantment engines, but the thinking is that with Saga, you don't need them.
I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention another super cool piece of technology due to alli – BUG Saga Lands, a list that leans heavily on artifact synergies and Academy Ruins along with Urza's Saga!
thanks to alli for this list
The interaction between Academy Ruins and Baleful Strix is pretty great, and Saga can find Nihil Spellbomb here for what is likely the best 1cmc graveyard-hate artifact there is.
Wrapping up – where does Urza's Saga fit?
Of course, none of these lists are definitive or set in stone. What is clear is that Urza's Saga is a powerful effect and one that Lands is uniquely suited to take advantage of. That said, I've played maybe 30 or so matches with the card, so I can hardly claim to


UNlisted's Andre Fraser: How does sound relate to color, heat?
(Associated Press )
The Republican Lifestyle Desk By The Republican Lifestyle Desk The Republican
on September 23, 2013 at 5:24 AM, updated September 23, 2013 at 5:26 AM
The hotter a flame is, the farther along the color spectrum it is.
Springfield High School of Science and Technology
You are watching "MinutePhysics" of Vsauce on the YouTube app on your phone at 11 p.m., unable to go to sleep. You click on a rather long video of the sound of an astrological body in the universe, lowered by x^10 octaves. You close your eyes, and you find that you can see a white-blue light. You wrap yourself tighter in your sheets. Despite it being 95 degrees, you feel cold.
So what does it mean? What does the sound of heat look like?
andrefraser.jpgAndre Fraser
According to that physics teacher we all had in school, everything functions at specific wavelengths. Hitting a standard fork tuned to A will provide a note at 440 Hz, or A4. Boiling water in a pot will cause the molecules to speed up. Colors of light vibrate at a frequency with the infrared-ultraviolet spectrum.
Is it possible for sound, heat, and color to be related in any way?
If you take a cube of ice 10 cubic centimeters, and put it in a pot over a flame, it melts. It melts because the bond keeping the molecules of the ice together isn't strong enough for the energies provided by the molecules, and the molecules that were once vibrating slowly next to each other are able to vibrate at a faster speed.
Although, why are we still calling it speed. Things vibrate at frequencies. Continue heating the water even more, the molecules are loose enough to become gaseous and evaporate into the air.
So then why is orange considered a warmer color than blue? Is it because orange reminds us of warm days full of sunshine, and blue reminds us of the cool water we drink during that day?
Perhaps, but colors react quite the opposite to heat. If you strike a match and touch the red flame, you would feel it sting for a while, but not for too long.
Meanwhile, if you lit a Bunsen burner and touched the blue flame, you would certainly feel pain for a much longer time than the match inflicted.
Why? Blue flames are hotter than red flames, obviously. The hotter a flame is, the farther along the color spectrum it is, starting from red and advancing to blue, and eventually white.
But what does that mean about hearing colors or seeing sounds? Is it possible that hearing sounds, with lower frequencies, can also lead to seeing colors of proportionally lower frequencies?
Does our brain amplify sounds by about 10 trillion, and prospectively force us to perceive the sight of a relative color in the void of vision? Does it work the other way? Is the ringing in our ear our brain slowing down the frequency of the blue on the wall we have been staring intently at for the past hour? Is that what musicians refer to when they describe the music rather colorfully?
Can science ever find a relationship between sound, heat, and visible light/colors? Perhaps one day. For today, though, all we can do is just wonder. Perhaps one of you young scientists reading this will be inspired to find an answer.


Famous Abstract Art Thai Zodiac
Color: Red
Category: Abstract, Animals
Code: 051
Weight: 5kg
Origin: Made in Thailand
Free fast shipping within Thailand
World safely delivery to all countries
Available on backorder
SKU: 051 Categories:, Tag:
About the Famous Abstract Art Thai Zodiac
In this Famous Abstract Art, our artist features the wholeness of everything in the universe in the center of the artwork. The One Universe symbol shows the subject of unity across the earth, ocean, and sky. The important element in the composition of the One number is Sam Kasat. In Thai words, it means the Three Kings. It is a combination of the three very valuable elements including gold, silver, and copper.
The Three Great Kings of Thailand are King Ramkhamhaeng (the creator of the Thai Alphabet), King Naresuan (Father of Thai Army), and King Taksin (King of Thonburi). Those are the greatest Kings who had made Thailand a better Kingdom. They had a significant role while the Siam Kingdom went through touch times.
Surrounding the One Universe symbol, the artist depicts the Twelve Thai Zodiac-Animals circle. In traditional Thai culture, each animal symbol represents a year cycle in a repeating twelve-year period. The zodiac reflects a person's nature's personality of cycles.
Weight6000 g
Dimensions100 × 100 cm


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The most serious crime on the statute books of Chicago is murder, although international terrorism is also getting right up there in terms of seriousness. Quite often, the case hinges on three major components:
- The actual commission of the crime
- The motives behind the crime
- Any aggravating or mitigating features
Recently, a brutal murder in Chicago brought all these constituent elements to the fore. The case had it all – illicit sexual activity, self-harm, and fantasies that culminated in the loss of a life. The brutality of the crime and the depraved nature of the motivations were considered to be aggravating features. This is precisely why defense lawyers spend considerable effort trying to present the motives of a crime in the most benign way possible.
A case in point is the distinction between a crime of passion and a crime of greed. The latter may attract a severe sentence, but it will not face the same penalties under Chicago law as a murder for hire or murder for gain. Both the prosecutors and the defending legal team have to unpack the case to its minutest details so as to work out motivations.
An Example of Motive as an Aggravating Feature
The case under scrutiny in this article involves Wyndham Lathem, a Northwestern University professor. The defendant rented a car and left a bloody scene in which his then-boyfriend Trenton James Cornell-Duranleau had been stabbed 70 times. Later, the sheer brutality of the crime was considered an aggravating feature. The precedents in Chicago courts often give credence to the way in which the victim has been treated. If they have been violated or the body disposed of in a dehumanizing manner, that is considered to be an aggravating feature.
The personal characteristics of the defendant may be an aggravating or mitigating feature, depending on the circumstances. For example, a sophisticated criminal is always considered to be much more dangerous and culpable than one who has a limited mental age. In this case, the professor was well-respected and intelligent. The fact that he had donated some substantial amounts of money to LGBT charities in the victim's name was not really a mitigating feature since a life had been lost. Defending attorneys always have to be selective about the kind of evidence they present as mitigation because it can bite back under the wrong interpretations. Chicago takes this crime very seriously, not least because of the increasing murder rates within the city. The punishments are often used as deterrents for would-be offenders.
The Gulf Between the Public and the Private
This case also raised issues of public and private actions. Normally, the courts would have no jurisdiction over private sexuality. However, in this case, a person had been brutally killed. The subsequent investigation revealed a web of plots and fantasies that were weaved in the relative anonymity of internet chat rooms. The defendant and his accomplices had engaged in fantasies of murder and suicide.
Although it could be argued that suicide is a crime against the personal body, the fact that it is inspired by someone else means that there is criminal culpability. Moreover, just because someone agrees to be killed for sexual gratification does not mean that the person that killed can use that as a defense in court. Indeed, the prosecutors in this case deemed it to be first-degree murder. For further information on defense strategies for those accused of murder, contact David Freidberg Attorney at Law at telephone number _PHONE_.
(image courtesy of Tim Graf)


Skip to definition.
Adjective: polemic pu'le-mik
 1. Of or involving dispute or controversy
 "Preaching and exegetical literature might also have a polemic purpose";
 - polemical
Noun: polemic pu'le-mik
 1. A writer who argues in opposition to others (especially in theology)
 - polemicist, polemist
 2. A controversy (especially over a belief or dogma)
Derived forms: polemics
See also: controversial
Type of: arguing, argument, author, contention, contestation, controversy, disceptation, disputation, tilt, writer
Encyclopedia: Polemic


High and Low of Positions and Honorific Speech in Japanese
 - 996
 - 13
 - 2
 - English
Jul 9, 2011 14:47
Though I don't know other societies very much, the consciousness of positions is often regarded as important in Japan. Exaggeratedly speaking, we, the Japanese, cannot sit down in a business meeting, cannot go out from an elevator and cannot sometimes ride a taxi with other people without thinking of high and low positions.
I guess that the consciousness of high and low of positions may be strengthened by use of honorific speech in Japanese (敬語, keigo). When we decide whether to use honorific speech or not to another person, we must make sure whether his/her position is higher than that of us. The large amount of such experiences will reinforce the consciousness (and the unconsciousness) of positions, though this is just a hypothesis.
Contrary to it, the strong concept of positions will promote the complicated and detailed system of honorific speech. If you have learned Japanese, you may have been embarrassed by its complicated honorific system. That's similar to Japanese people. I am often not certain of an exact honorific expression and, probably, have made lots of mistakes. Such complexity of honorific speech in Japanese has been formed by the strong and detailed concept of positions in Japan, I guess.
So the relationship between the concept of positions and honorific speech in Japanese resembles that between the chicken or the egg, though the concept of positions cannot be fried and honorific speech cannot be thrown to the football players who lost an important game.


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UTAFITI SERA (Policy Research Community) 1st Forum on Wage Employment Creation in Agriculture and Agro-processing in the Context of Inclusive Growth
"Despite high levels of economic growth in many African countries, the continent's wage employment figures remain low. This pattern of jobless growth makes a dent on the dictum 'Africa rising' as growth has not been inclusive. Growth is inclusive if it provides high levels of employment and rising wages to the citizens, and further enables them to have a say on the orientation of the growth process. In the midst of jobless growth, many researchers have examined the constraints to wage employment creation in different sectors but it remains unknown how much of this has informed and influenced existing employment policies and programmes in African countries. The objective of the initiative is to establish and sustain a vibrant policy research and advocacy community of practice that will effectively engage key policy makers and practitioners in policy debates and workshops so as to catalyze generation of new research evidence and; synthesize existing relevant research evidence including studies supported by diverse institutions on employment creation and inclusive growth and make them available to policy makers and practitioners through policy briefs, newspaper articles, short and precise reports, among other forms of communication."


text:
- owe (v.)
- Old English agan (past tense ahte) "to have, own," from Proto-Germanic *aiganan "to possess" (cf. Old Frisian aga, Old Norse eiga, Old High German eigan, Gothic aigan "to possess, have"), from PIE *aik- "to be master of, possess" (cf. Sanskrit ise "he owns," isah "owner, lord, ruler;" Avestan is- "riches," isvan- "well-off, rich").
Sense of "to have to repay" began in late Old English with the phrase agan to geldanne literally "to own to yield," which was used to translate Latin debere (earlier in Old English this would have been sceal "shall"); by late 12c. the phrase had been shortened to simply agan, and own (v.) took over this word's original sense.
An original Germanic preterite-present verb (cf. can, dare, may, etc.). New past tense form owed arose 15c. to replace oughte, which developed into ought (v.).


text:
Child Honouring is a philosophy—a vision, an organizing principle, and a way of life—the children-first way of sustainability.
It starts with three givens:
The primacy of early years—early childhood is the gateway to humane being.
We face planetary degradation that is unprecedented in scope and scale—a state of emergency that most endangers the very young, and that requires a remedy of equal scale.
This crisis calls for a systemic response in detoxifying the environments that make up the world of the child.
Child Honouring is a children-first approach to healing communities and restoring ecosystems. It views how we regard and treat our young as the key to building a humane and sustainable world. It is a novel idea—organizing society around the priority needs of its youngest members.
The essence of the vision is expressed in A Covenant for Honouring Children and its underlying principles.
Its spirit is invitational—a call to imagine and create a diversity of child-friendly cultures. A child-honouring society would show love for its children, and thus for all of us, in every facet of its design and organization.


Mark Dold, front, and Mike Donovan in the Barrington Stage Company production of Hugh Whitemore's 'Breaking the Code,' at Boyd-Quinson
Mark Dold, front, and Mike Donovan in the Barrington Stage Company production of Hugh Whitemore's 'Breaking the Code,' at Boyd-Quinson Mainstage through Aug. 2. (Photo courtesy Kevin Sprague / Barrington Stage Company)
PITTSFIELD -- One of the more revealing moments in director Joe Calarco's haunting production of British playwright Hugh Whitemore's "Breaking the Code" at Barrington Stage Company comes early in the first act.
Christopher Morcom (Mike Donovan), a school chum of the play's central character, Alan Turing (an absolutely stunning Mark Dold), is standing above and behind Turing, his hands resting gently on Turing's shoulders, describing having witnessed a satellite of Jupiter coming out from an eclipse. As Christopher speaks, Turing's hands, almost imperceptibly, reach up along his sleeves, stopping well short of Christopher's fingertips before retreating. The unexpressed want, need, is palpable.
In that moment, it becomes clear that Whitemore's title is not simply a reference to the Germans' Enigma Code, which Turing and his colleagues at top secret Bletchley Park were desperately trying to break at the height of the Second World War. It is about breaking codes of conduct, behavior, expectation. It implicitly refers to the high cost of living a closeted life -- personally as a gay man in a country in which homosexuality is against the law; professionally by doing work that can never be discussed with anyone -- and the even higher cost of what it means to challenge those strictures.
"Breaking the Code" moves back and forth in time over a decade and a half -- before, during and well after World War II -- from Turing's school days to the aftermath of his trial for gross indecency.
While it loses some momentum midway through the second act before recovering, this production moves with inventive theatricality and a keen understanding of the shifting, complex dynamics within Turing and between Turing and the people around him.
This is all played out on a large square platform center stage, flanked by translucent panels on either side and more translucent chalkboards that descend and ascend over the players. When actors are not directly involved in a scene, they are seated, like spectral observers, on either side of the platform. Turing is never far removed from the people who haunt his life.
Either by design or sheer naivete -- perhaps a little of both -- Dold's Turing is his own worst enemy, ignoring the authoritatively delivered advice of his boss and mentor, Dillwyn Knox (a commanding Philip Kerr) and inviting disaster by openly acknowledging his homosexuality.
Turing is a walking catalog of tics -- nail biting, brushing hair out of his face, tracing measured steps around the perimeter of the platform, a pronounced stutter -- that betray a certain timidity and insecurity. He is at his most secure and passionate when he is talking about mathematics, about developing a machine that can think for humans and make perfect the imperfect process of thought.
Dold's flawless, riveting performance may stand at the center of this production but the members of first-rate cast who share the Boyd-Quinson Mainstage with him -- Kerr; Morcom; Deborah Hedwall as Turing's loving and perplexed mother; Anne Meisels as a colleague who misreads Turing's friendship as love; Kyle Fabel as a police inspector; John Leonard Thompson as shadowy government agent; and Jefferson Farber as a sleazy, opportunistic 19-year-old pickup -- deliver performances that are every bit as detailed, full and memorable.


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John Ruskin Biography, Life, Interesting Facts
Died On :
Also Known For :
Birth Place :
John Ruskin was born on February 8th, 1819. He was a famous English artist that was highly respected during the Victorian Era. He was also a talented drawer, watercolourist, philanthropist and a famed social thinker. Some of the subjects that he wrote on include literature, botany, architecture, political economy, and ornithology. His most remarkable writings include The Stones of Venice and The Seven Lamps of Architecture. In 1869, Ruskin was appointed as the Oxford's first professor of fine art. He, however, resigned after a decade.
John Ruskin was born on February 8th, in 1819. His birthplace was in London in England. He was the only child of John James Ruskin and Margaret Cox. Ruskin's father was also interested in art and majored in art collection as his business. He, therefore, had a significant influence on Ruskin's art career. He was the one who introduced him to Romanticism works of art. Cox, his mother, had a huge impact on the religious upbringing of John Ruskin. She taught him how to read the bible.
Ruskin obtained his early education from home. Private teachers also tutored him. In 1834, he went to school in Peckham. He enrolled for classes that were managed by Thomas Dale, a famous evangelist. Later, in 1836, Ruskin was among Dale students at the King's College in London. During this period, Dale was regarded as the first literature professor at the institution.
During the mid-1830s, John Ruskin had begun publishing short pieces either in verses or prose form in several magazines. Shortly after, he made a publication that would later be identified as the debut volume of his most remarkable works, i.e., Modern Painters – 1843. Through this publication, he talked more about the fact that modern landscape painters were superior over Old Masters that were present in the post-Renaissance period.
Four more volumes of the Modern Painters were released over the subsequent years. His second volume featured symbolism in the art that was expressed via nature. His interest in architecture was also demonstrated through his 1849 publication titled The Seven Lamps of Architecture.
In this work, John Ruskin documented the seven fundamental moral categories in architecture which included sacrifice, power, truth, life, obedience, beauty, and memory. According to Ruskin, these moral categories were merely inseparable from architecture. The King of the Golden River – 1851, was the only fairy tale he wrote and published throughout his writing career.
After this, John Ruskin began working on The Stones of Venice in 1851. This work lasted for two years, and he completed its three volumes in 1853. The first volume was The Foundations followed by The Sea–Stories and The Fall as the third volume.
As a teacher, Ruskin's fame grew more so during the 1850s. He mainly taught his students architecture and art related subjects. In 1857, while in Manchester, he lectured at the Art Treasures Exhibition. His lesson was collected and documented as The Political Economy of Art.
In 1847, John Ruskin got engaged to Effie Gray. This relationship influenced him to write on The King of the Golden River in 1841. During this time, Gray was only twelve years old. The following year in 1848, Ruskin wedded Gray. Unfortunately, their relationship was not consummated, and the two went separate ways after a short period.
John Ruskin later fell deeply in love with Rose La Touche, a ten-year-old girl. When La Touche turned 18, Ruskin proposed to her but she requested him to be patient until she was aged 21. Ultimately, she rejected him.
John Ruskin passed away on January 20th, in 1900. He had been suffering from influenza which led to his death at the age of 80.


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Public Bathrooms and Children
One of the subjects that is coming up more and more is that of accompanying children in public bathrooms. When a mother accompanies her daughter, or when a father accompanies his son it's pretty straightforward, but when it's mother/son or father/daughter things becomes a little more complicated. The main rule when taking your opposite-gendered child to the bathroom is this:
You go to your bathroom, no theirs. Fathers take daughters to the men's bathroom, mother's take sons to the women's bathroom.
The tricky question is how old does a child need to be for this practice to become inappropriate? Though honestly that's not the real question, the real question is how old does a child need to be before they can safely be allowed to go to a public bathroom alone? Because as a parent myself I can assure you that safety will win out over impropriety every time.
That's a question that I don't intend to answer right now, and is going to vary from child to child, parent to parent and situation to situation (not all public bathrooms are created equally). What I will say is that I'm a big fan of family bathrooms and one person bathrooms which eliminate these problems and concerns.
Now alert reader Roger recently asked a related and very important question:
What is the proper thing to do when you enter a public restroom, a man is at the wash basins with a young daughter, and the urinals are close by. Do you step up to the urinal or wait until they leave? This has happened to me several times.
That's a tricky one. When the man and his daughter entered the bathroom, there could have been men at the urinal. When they exited the stall (presumably the father and/or daughter went pee in a stall in this case) there could have been men at the urinal. So while possibly a little uncomfortable, there is certainly precedence for men to use the urinals while the daughter is present. But should you start to use the urinals while the daughter is at the sink, especially if the sink is close by?
In general the answer is no. There are obvious exceptions, like the urinals and sinks being in virtually separate rooms, but as a general rule if there is a female child using the sinks in the men's room, and the urinals are close by, you should wait. The time spent at the sinks is almost always very short, so in this case it's best just to play it safe and bide your time until the father and daughter have finished up and left.
1 James { 07.12.13 at 5:57 pm }
Don;t make a big thing about it. Go about your business like nobody is there. It works.
2 Grandma { 07.28.13 at 5:34 pm }
My twin (boy/girl) just turned 5 in June, are now allowed to use a public bathroom by themselves while in a restaurant. I'm upset over this and has discussed it with my son and his wife. But, I lost out. They think ediquette rules that their children can use a public bathroom by themselves. Not just the type with only one toilet, but the type that has a few stalls or urinals in the wall. What is considered the best way to handle this? Am I too old fashion?
3 msykes { 08.01.13 at 8:28 am }
This is not an etiquette issue, this is a safety issue. If the parents don't feel it is safe for the kids to go to the bathroom alone, then the kids should not go to the bathroom alone.
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text:
The definition of 'a unit of alcohol' differs depending on which country is being talked about. For example:
One unit of alcohol is defined as containing 10ml or 8g of pure alcohol; the amount of alcohol the average adult can process within an hour. This equates to:
- 1 unit per percentage point abv in one litre of drink
- Approximately a half (imperial) pint (284ml) of 3.5% abv drink (0.994 units)
- 83.¯3ml of 12% abv wine (175ml=2.1 units, 250ml=3 units)
- 25ml measure of 40% abv spirit
A standard drink is defined as containing 0.6 fluid ounce (17.05ml) or 14.0g of pure alcohol. This equates to
- 12-ounces of 5% abv beer.
- 8-ounces of 7.5% abv malt
- 5-ounces of 12% abv wine.
- 1.5-ounces (44.3ml) or a "shot" of 40% abv distilled spirits or liquor.
A standard drink is defined as containing 12.5ml or 10g of pure alcohol. This equates to
- 375 ml bottle or can of 3.¯3% abv lager/beer.
- 104 ml of 12% abv wine (100ml~=1 unit, 1.50ml ~= 1.44 units)
- ~30ml measure of 40% abv spirit (0.96 units)
A standard drink is defined as containing 16.875ml or 13.6g of pure alcohol. This equates to
- 341ml/12oz of 5% abv lager/beer.
- 5 oz 12% abv wine
- ~40ml measure of 40% abv spirit (1.06 units)
Based on data from Sensible Drinking the amount of alcohol is stated in the table in both grams and millilitres. The number of standard drinks contained in 500ml of beer of 5% ABV (a typical large drink of beer) is stated for comparison, along with daily and weekly limits, where data is available. Blank cells indicate either no guidelines given, or no data available.
|Country||g/Std Drink||ml (based on 12.67g/ml)||500ml@5%||g/day Male||g/day Female||g/week Male||g/week Female|
|Malta||3 drinks||2 drinks|
|WHO||3 drinks on average||2 drinks on average|
Controversially, however, Richard Smith, former editor of the British Medical Journal and a member of the Royal College of Physicians, which came up with the UK report from a committee of doctors in 1987, which set out weekly limits of 21 units(168g) for men, and 14(98) units for women, has admitted that the weekly limits were essentially "plucked out of thin air.":
And from Richard's own blog
More recently, Oxford University have produced a report recommending that the daily limit be reduced to 1/2 a (UK) unit a day (about 1/2 pint beer):


Lightning Fast Reflexes: A Study
based on 10 ratings
Author: Janice VanCleave
A basketball rolls across the street in front of a moving car. The driver must make split-second decisions about what to do. The driver's reaction time, how long it takes for the person to respond, involves special sensory and motor nerve cells that send and receive messages to and from the brain.
In this project, you will compare reaction times to a visual stimulus and reaction times to an auditory stimulus. You will also explore whether other factors, such as distraction, gender, and age, affect reaction time.
Getting Started
Purpose: To determine your reaction time to a visual stimulus.
 - table and chair
 - helper
 - yardstick (meterstick)
 1. Sit with your forearm on the surface of the table with your writing hand extending over the edge.
 2. Have your helper position the yardstick (meterstick) with the zero end between, but not touching, your thumb and fingers (see Figire30.1).
 3. Instruct your helper to release the stick without warning.
 4. As soon as the stick is released, try to catch it as quickly as possible between your thumb and fingers.
 5. Record the distance the stick falls and use the following equation to determine your reaction time. See Appendix 5 for a sample calculation.
 6. Record the distance and time calculated for the one trial.
 Effect of Stimuli on Reaction Times
The reaction time varies with each individual.
Your eye is the stimulus receptor that sees the stick as it starts to fall. It detects the movement of the stick and initiates a signal, a nerve impulse, in the nerve cell to which it is attached. The message is then sent along sensory neurons (special nerve cells that transmit impulses from the stimulus receptor) to the spinal cord. The spinal cord telegraphs the message to the brain, where it is processed. A message is transmitted from the brain down the spinal cord to motor neurons, which cause the muscles in your hand to contract so that your fingers clamp around the falling stick. The time for these impulses to make the complete trip from the stimulus receptor to the motor neurons is called the reaction time.
Try New Approaches
 1. Does practice affect reaction time? Repeat the experiment 10 times. Calculate your reaction time for each trial and plot the data on a graph. Study the graph to determine whether the trend of repeated trials is toward faster or slower reaction times. Explain what accounts for the results.
 2. Does using your writing hand affect reaction time? Use your other hand and repeat the procedure in the original experiment 10 times. Graph the data and compare the results for both hands.
 3. Is reaction time affected if you are distracted? Have a second helper ask you simple math problems as you repeat the procedure in the original experiment 10 times.
 4. How does using an auditory stimulus receptor affect reaction time? Repeat the procedure in the original experiment, but this time close your eyes. Have your helper say "Go" when he or she releases the stick. Try to react to the auditory stimulus as quickly as possible by catching the stick. Calculate your reaction times for 10 trials and graph them (see Figure 30.2). The time delay between the helper's releasing his or her fingers and saying "Go" is very slight, but you might want to design an experiment that eliminates this delay. One idea would be to have the stick support a lever attached to a bell. When the stick is released the bell rings, notifying you that the stick is falling.
 5. Does age affect reaction time? Repeat the procedure in the original experiment using a test group of people in good health and of the same gender but of different ages. Test each person 10 times and average the results. Plot the averages on a graph.
 6. Does gender affect reaction time? Repeat the procedure in the previous experiment using an equal number of males and females, all of whom are in good health and of the same age. Test each person ten times and average the results. Plot the averages on a graph.
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Impact of a corporate culture of sustainability
Harvard proves positive correlation between High Sustainability companies and performance.Recently, HBS tested the performance of a sample of 90 companies that had adopted sustainability policies since the early 1990s when CSR was still at nascent stage, against a control peer group of 90 companies that only adopted sustainability more recently. Next, they used selected SAM/Dow Jones Sustainability Index data and found several interesting correlations.
The key finding of the research was that in the 18-year period studied, the High Sustainability firms* dramatically outperformed the Low Sustainability ones in terms of both stock market and accounting measures. More specifically, the observation was that High Sustainability firms:
Other key findings of the research were:
(a) High Sustainability companies have a better governance structure to manage sustainability
Here, HBS primarily looked at whether the Board has formal responsibility for the company's sustainability strategy and whether top management incentives were linked to some environment / social performance metrics. Overall, the results suggest that firms included in the High Sustainability group are characterized by a distinct governance structure: responsibility over sustainability is more likely to be directly assigned to the board of directors and also top management compensation is more likely to be a function of a set of performance metrics that critically includes sustainability metrics.
(b) High Sustainability companies are better at engaging constructively with their stakeholders
Based on the SAM stakeholder engagement data, HBS found that High Sustainability corporations are characterized by a distinct corporate governance model that focuses on a wider range of stakeholders as part of their corporate strategy and business model. These firms are also more likely to adopt a greater range of stakeholder engagement practices and initiate more productive, long-term dialogue. High Sustainability corporations are more likely to adopt practices of stakeholder engagement for all three phases of the process (prior, during and after) compared to Low Sustainability ones.
(c) Companies in the "high sustainability" group have long-term time horizons and a more long-term oriented investor base
HBS looked at quarterly calls between Investor Relations and Analysts to estimate the time horizon discussed in communications to capital markets and calculated the difference between the percentages of shares held by dedicated investors vs. transient investors to identify companies with a long-term oriented investor base. The research shows that firms with a corporate culture of sustainability are more likely to have conversations with analysts and conference call discussions whose content is relatively more long-term focused as opposed to short-term. In sum, the findings suggest that High Sustainability firms are effective communicators of their culture, their strategies, and their long-term approach: not only do they speak in those terms but, in fact, they are convincing long-term investors to invest in their equity.
(d) High Sustainability companies integrate environmental and social information in their financial reporting
Reporting on performance measures, which are often nonfinancial regarding sustainability topics, is an essential element of corporate governance. Quality, comparability and credibility of information, and whether a company has adhered to a set of measurement or behavioral standards is enhanced by internal and external audit procedures which verify the accuracy of this information. External reporting of performance is how the company communicates to shareholders and other stakeholders how productively it is using the capital and other resources they have provided to the corporation. HBS found that 25.7% of the High Sustainability firms integrate social information and 32.4% integrate environmental information. In contrast, 5.4% of the Low Sustainability firms integrate social information and 10.8% integrate environmental information.
Read the full working paper "The Impact of a Corporate Culture of Sustainability on Corporate Behavior and Performance".
For more information on DJSI and other shareholder focused benchmarks, please contact Jan van der Kaaij, managing partner, at _EMAIL_ or call +31 76 5222 817.
Robert G. Eccles, Ioannis Ioannou, George Serafeim*In this article companies were classified as High Sustainability firms because they adopted long ago policies regarding solid commitments to environmental and social performance while another 90 were classified as Low Sustainability firms because they had not. The Low Sustainability firms correspond to the traditional model of corporate profit maximization in which social and environmental issues are predominantly regarded as externalities created by firm actions.


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2. POSITIONING TOWARDS CUSTOMER AND SUPPLIER
2.1. Traditional commerce vs E-commerce
Multiple media vs a single one
towards traditional commerce or e-commerce affects directly its processes and strategy. The main difference between exercising traditional commerce and e-commerce is that in the former
(like magazines, letters, mail, fax, etc) are used while in the latter
everything is digital.
Traditional commerce means
(ordering, paying) with customer and supplier using different applications in
many time-consuming different steps
E-commerce means processing of information using
one digital application
(EDI or Internet) and only
a few quick steps
Positioning is a plan showing the
of the company towards other actors of the market.
Interactivity characterises a system when it is in a
steady dynamic process of data interchange between many equal and free access system users at the same time.


text: Eastern Spicy-wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) is an evergreen subshrub of the forest floor. The plant's leathery leaves grow clustered on short upright stems. The red, pea-sized fruit dangles from the center in bunches or singly, as is the case above. The fruit is edible, if a bit mealy, with a minty flavor. The leaves, when chopped up and steeped as a tea, or simply nibbled, release a similarly pleasant flavor. Other common names for Gaultheria procumbens include Checkerberry, Teaberry, and Spiceberry. This subshrub can be distinguished from Partridge-berry in that the latter features smaller, oppositely-arranged leaves and fruit with a distinct pair of "eyes".


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A dizzying peak north of Anchorage has a greater rise in elevation than Mount Everest.
IF YOU'RE GOING...
View places to see, stay, and eat
Named in 1896 by a gold prospector in honor of presidential candidate (and gold-standard proponent) William McKinley, Mount McKinley dominates the rugged landscape of central Alaska, casting a spell over grizzly bears and caribou, backpackers and bird-watchers alike. The reward for those who heed the siren call and brave the storm-battered slopes of North America's highest peak? A view one early mountaineer described as "looking out the windows of Heaven."
BACK TO BASICS Alaska calls the peak by its Athabascan name, Denali, or "the High One." Politicians from Ohio, McKinley's home state, have blocked efforts to change the name at the national level.
A LEG UP Mount Everest boasts the world's highest summit at 29,035 feet, but McKinley has a greater rise, soaring 18,000 feet from its base to its 20,320-foot peak. In comparison, Everest climbs 12,000 feet from the Himalayan plateau.
HIGH-ALTITUDE HOAX In 1906, Dr. Frederick Cook declared himself the first to ascend McKinley. Nearly a century later, his victory photo was found to have been taken less than a quarter of the way up, on "Fake Peak."
DEEP FREEZE In 1967, the first men to summit McKinley in winter estimated that the windchill temperature dropped as low as 148 degrees below zero.
Photography courtesy of Nic McPhee/Wikimedia Commons
This article was first published in May 2011. Some facts may have aged gracelessly. Please call ahead to verify information.
Mount McKinley is located in Denali National Park, about 150 miles north of Anchorage. _PHONE_, _URL_.


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On Tuesday, Dr. Ken Nimrick, retired WIU professor and cattleman, shared his secret to being profitable in the cow/calf business at the IL Forage Institute. His secret is simple..."By land for $200/acre." Of course, those of us in the audience all laughed. For good reason too, as most tillable farm ground has been setting records and all land prices have escalated. It is not uncommon to see good tillable ground selling for $12,000 - $15,000/acre and even some pasture acres for over $4,500/acre.
Dr. Nimrick pointed out that to be profitable, you must first know how to figure profit (Profit= Income – Expenses). Simple equation, but at times producers lose sight of this simple math. He stressed managing for profit, not production. He commented that reducing costs is vital in the current industry dynamic. There are two kinds of costs, fixed and variable. The only way to reduce fixed costs is to eliminate them or use them more efficiently by increasing numbers. Too many fixed costs can eat away at profit quickly. Examples of fixed costs would be tractors, trailers, barns, land, taxes, insurance, etc.
University of Illinois conducted a SPA report in 2005 that showed nearly 60% of the variation in profit for cow calf producers is due to feed costs. This is a variable cost. Reducing variable costs, especially feed, will have a large impact on profit.
The quickest way to reduce feed costs is to graze longer. Spend less time, money, and labor bringing feed to the cattle. Keeping cattle grazing longer requires one of two things, more land or more management. With land prices high, more management is the most economical.
Implementing a managed grazing system can increase grazing days and improve the financial efficiency of converting sunshine to beef. This requires planning, fencing, water, and some cost. So how much can you pay to implement a managed grazing system? If you invest $100/acre in developing a managed grazing system and improve carrying capacity by 50% (which are very realistic expectations), then you have bought land for $200/ acre.
Dr. Nimrick was not in fact joking when he talked about buying land at $200/acre. If you can manage your pastures for increased carrying capacity, you are in essence buying some very cheap land.
March 26, 2013
I was able to attend the Midwest section of ASAS animal science meetings in Des Moines, IA earlier this month. I had the opportunity to view numerous research projects presented and a vast amount of good science being applied to the beef industry. It is always a thought provoking event, but this year I left the meeting with some big questions.
The biggest question I feel is "Are beef producers ready to take on the challenges we are about to face?" As I reflect on the majority of our local, state, and regional meetings... I realize that we have been focusing largely on just making it. Just making it to spring of 2013 and out of a drought.
The drought threw a curve ball to producers this past year. Illinois cattlemen had to focus on where to get feed and water... two things we take for granted. At this juncture, I took to answering drought related questions seemingly full time and still am answering them yet this month. It's important to realize much of the plains are still experiencing a drought and if the drought extends we could be right back in the hole. I am not expecting to see a huge decline in drought related questions.
So, I ask myself "Are beef producers ready to take on the challenges we are about to face?" With the focus still on drought in much of the US and many producers stretching feeds right now... I would say the focus is not as much on the future, but maintaining the present. This is not bad. It should be priority to stay in the business. However, I would encourage producers and decision makers to take a bit of time to look down the road.
Feeding an exponentially growing population is going to be a challenge. I believe we can overcome this challenge with sound science and good management. However, we as producers need to be aware of these technologies and maximize their contribution.
We also must realize we are going to battle policy and law written and voted on by the wealthy. Can the wealthy impose their preference of food and food production on the poor? We have to justify our production practices already. What happens if we can improve cattle with genetic technology to get sick less, produce more nutritious meat, eat less while producing the same, etc.? Can this technology even be used or will it be deemed unacceptable by society? I think these are questions that are without answer in my head... I have my opinion, but certainly not the answer.
I am excited as to the future of beef production. I feel like we have the opportunity as cattlemen to produce a product that helps feed the world. I think we have the opportunity to improve genetic selection, improve forages for feed, improve management and handling of cattle, improve reproductive efficiency, and subsequently improve the way of life for those to follow. Are you ready to face these challenges and move the production of food animals forward?
March 25, 2013
Wow! The difference a year makes. This time last year we were planting corn in many parts of central and southern Illinois. Not so for this year, many are clearing more than a foot of snow that fell hard and fast yesterday. It makes you start to wonder if we can fire Punxsutawney Phil.
From a cattle producer's standpoint, this late winter weather has shackled the chances of getting to grass soon and certainly got many stretching limited supplies of winter feed. The last blog post gives some insight on how to stretch feeds.
Looking forward, when green grass does get here... and it will, it is key to apply management. Pastures will need to recover from abuse this fall and have the opportunity to develop and maintain root mass. This root mass will be extremely important to productivity of the plant. Managing pastures to avoid overgrazing will be extremely important. Fight the urge to run out to the first sign of green and let the grasses establish themselves.
If you must get out onto pasture early, then rotation will be important. Make sure you can give the grass a rest period to recover. Quick rotations always fit best with lush spring growth. Then slow your rotation as grass growth moderates in the late spring and summer months. The rule of thumb is "take half, leave half."
As for now, we welcome the moisture, but would like to see it accommodated with warmer temperatures so that we can grow some grass.
March 6, 2013
Winter weather's strong presence in late February and March has some producers in Illinois scrambling to stretch already limited feed supplies.
The best way to stretch feeds is to reduce waste. All feeding strategies have some waste involved. Waste can occur in feed preparation, feed storage, and of course at feeding. By now, improvement must come by decreasing waste at feeding.
Feeding hay is the most popular way of wintering cows in the Midwest. Unfortunately, feeding hay is associated with high amounts of waste. Feeding hay without a feeder can result in up to 40% waste. The most popular feeder in the Midwest is the ring feeder. Improved ring hay feeder designs have shown to limit hay waste and save you hay. Utilizing these feeders can help you stretch your hay supplies.
If your main forage is corn silage, then limit-feeding may be a strategy to stretch it. If cows are lactating, limit-feeding corn silage will need to be supplemented with a few pounds of grain or co-products. It is also important to point out cows will not feel full and are more likely to pressure fences. Some producers that have poor quality forages like straw or cornstalks can include those feedstuffs in a balanced ration to add filler.
If you are in a position where you need to purchase additional feeds, look into corn co-products like DDGS and CGF. Soyhulls are also an option. These "by-product" feeds will be cheaper than feeding corn and other grains. Some producers have asked about buying protein tubs. I recommend that protein tubs not be used as a substitute for lack of feed. Protein tubs are best used to increase forage utilization, not replace the lack of forage. Protein tubs cannot supply enough protein and energy. They are designed for low intake. If forage/feed is limited, producers need to get more nutrition down cows than a tub alone can provide.
Consult with your nutritionist to ensure cow requirements are being met. A little feed or management of feed can pay large dividends when breeding season approaches. By the way if you are breeding for Jan. 1 calves... Cows will be need to be bred the end of the month... only a few weeks away! Cows that are in thin condition and cows that are losing weight have poorer conception rates. Mother Nature is testing us with some cold, snowy, wet, winter weather. It is important to monitor and maintain adequate nutrition, because it has a huge impact on reproduction.


Sara's Story
22 December 2017
"Fostering teenagers is not all drugs, alcohol, sexual activity, bad language, and Police as the television might have you believe.
We have had several teenager placements from different nationalities, and mixed heritage all of which have been positive.
Yes, the young persons had their own individual issues, who doesn't? More importantly each had their own individual personalities and behaviours.
Communication has been the key for us, together with being non-judgemental and offering the young person choices and explaining the consequences of each choice.
We have seen the young person develop and improve their skill sets with this strategy and this has been immensely rewarding for us and has made a positive impact on the young person's life.
Importantly, the matching process played by Nexus Fostering goes a long way to ensure that the placement will be beneficial and rewarding for both the carer(s) and the young person.
We have fostered both younger children and teenagers, and we would say that each placement has its own individual challenges and rewards.
Don't knock it until you try it!"
Sara Mangera, Foster Carer
return to blog...


For a geneticist who works on analyzing the genome of a tumor, the graphic representation of data is crucial. In order not to get lost in the maze of genetic changes, a clever graph was created; a graph that depicts the genome as a circle, on which chromosomal rearrangements are represnted by different-colored, long lines, changes in the number of copies of DNA fragments with short lines and small variants with dots.
Being able to visualize such data and read it is not easy, but it must be said that circos plots have a charm to them.
The infographic here presents a brief instruction on how to read such beautiful graphs.


Don't let ag become an afterthought in Modesto
April 29, 2013
The Modesto Irrigation District was built as a publicly owned utility by farmers for farmers in 1887. The district delivered irrigation water in 1904. Power generation electrical service started in 1923. The electricity is sold as a byproduct to subsidize the overall cost of the total operation. Until recently the electric rates have been among the lowest in the country. Modesto city water is also sold at the same rate as agricultural water.
To see the errors of the direction we are heading, look to the failings of the Salt River Project in Arizona. The result is one of the largest urban megalopolises in the United States, which is plundering the Colorado watershed and any other source of water in the Southwestern states. It is golf courses and retirement communities. Agriculture is barely surviving or near dead.
Question for the MID: How does the Oakdale Irrigation District deliver much more water to its farmers for many less dollars?
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Keywords: immunostimulants, action mechanisms, acute respiratory tract infections, ARTIs, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, COPD, clinical trials, immunomodulation, prophylactic modality, therapeutic modality, respiratory infections, bacterial lysates
Immunostimulants in the prevention of respiratory infections
Immunomodulation promises to be an effective prophylactic and therapeutic modality for chronic and recurrent respiratory infections. As opposed to vaccines, the term Immunostimulant (IS) refers to a compound that produces a state of non-specific immunity. Most IS are oral formulations of bacterial lysates that have been used in clinical practice for decades. One of the main obstacles in the development of immunostimulants is the poor understanding of the mechanism of action. Except for some compounds the mechanism of action of bacterial products is not well understood. Some appear to act through activation of monocytic cells and macrophages and enhancement of polyclonal proliferation of B cells. In general, the use of IS results in beneficial clinical outcome but the quality of some clinical trials for preventing Acute Respiratory Tract Infections (ARTIs) must be improved. In pediatric population the use of IS for the prevention of ARTIs needs to be limited to children with high susceptibility to ARTIs or overexposed children, while in adults it must be indicated for patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD) at high risk of exacerbation.


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Emerging economies and India's mining industry
The mining industry had borne the brunt of the global recession.
However, higher economic growth, good quality resources and growing domestic demand has induced the shifting of mining activity to emerging economies. Our report provides an insight into India's mining industry and how our professionals can address a wide spectrum of issues, such as:
- Regulatory and tax policy
- Risk management
- Mergers and acquisitions
- Process improvement
- Human capital
- Financial modelling
- Capital raising
India currently produces around 89 minerals under different groups, with fuel minerals, metallic minerals, non-metallic minerals, atomic minerals and minor minerals.
Global mining overview
The rapid pace of growth that the mining industry had been enjoying for over a decade was arrested in 2008–09, with the advent of global recession. World economic growth decelerated quickly, adversely affecting both developed and emerging economies.
Some of the significant factors governing the global mining industry during this period include:
- Volatile and uncertain scenario
- Financial institutions and markets losing credibility
- Diminishing confidence of counterparties
- Effective stagnation of the interbank market
- Heavy economic slowdown
- Cost inflation
- Capital raising and investments
Emerging economies: the future growth engine
Emerging markets have played a significant role in the global mining and metals sector, particularly since the last decade. Emerging countries have stepped in to incrementally meet the growing global demand for minerals and in the process gained increasing market share in global minerals trade.
- Exploration trends: Emerging economies' share of exploration expenditure has increased from around 40% at the beginning of the decade to around 60% in recent years.
- Major mining markets:
- In 2012, Latin America was the most popular global exploration spending destination, accounting for a 25% share, mostly targeted toward gold exploration.
- Africa's share of global exploration spending rose to 17%, making it the second-most preferred destination for exploration in 2012.
- Among other emerging market economies, China and Russia, along with Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Finland and Turkey, accounted for the fourth-largest budget share.
- M&A trends: Emerging markets have accounted for a significant portion of inbound M&A deals in mining and metals targeting assets in emerging economies rising during 2007–2012.
- Significant mineral reserves: Emerging economies hold almost all of the minerals reserves of platinum group metals (PGMs) (98%) and tin (95%).
Why the shift of mining activity to emerging economies?
Various factors have contributed to the growth of the mining sector in emerging markets, such as:
- Commodity demand and price boom
- Liberalization of mineral policies
- Technological advancement
- Mining reforms
- Increased privatization
Mining in India
India currently produces around 89 minerals under different groups, with fuel minerals, metallic minerals, non-metallic minerals, atomic minerals and minor minerals. The country has immense potential for mining resources and reserves and is currently among the top 10 global producers of many minerals.
India's global position in mineral production
Source: Annual report FY13, Ministry of mines, Government of India
After growing at more than 8% for many years, the Indian economy registered a GDP growth of 5% in FY13, the lowest in almost a decade. The on-going slowdown has had an impact on demand for metals across all of the major consuming sectors. In line with the overall trend, the index of mineral production for FY13 is estimated to be 121.91 as compared to 128.45 for FY12, registering a negative growth.
Impact of currency depreciation
- The Rupee's depreciation is on balance and is positive for the Indian mining sector. Most of the mining companies in India are net exporters and would experience a positive impact on bottom lines.
- The ban on iron-ore mining in Karnataka and Goa resulted in a current account deficit, making it imperative for the government to curb imports and promote exports.
- Hikes in export duty, and restriction on mining and blanket bans have prevented the government from earning forex revenue on exports.
Challenges in India's mining sector
Social license to operate
Sharing the benefits
Margin protection and productivity improvement
Capital project execution
Competition for land usage
Fraud & Corruption
Future of the mining industry in India
- Despite the slowdown, India is still the second-fastest growing economy, after China.
- Demand for minerals, as well as for mining services, is robust in the country.
- Mining in India is becoming more structured, and companies have started outsourcing part of the project to mining service companies.
- The largest mining company in India, i.e., Coal India Limited (CIL), plans to invest around INR254 billion during the Twelfth FYP (2012–17).
- Contract mining could prove to be a solution to the on-going current coal deficit in country.
- As the industry focuses on adapting international levels of technology, there exists untapped potential in the Indian mining equipment sector.