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Some scientific phenomena in the ocean or atmosphere, such as wind and current, are normally measured with a pair of variables. The pair can be either magnitude (speed) and direction, where magnitude measures how fast wind or water flows, and direction measures the direction of the flow. These can also be measured as U and V components, where U is the velocity toward east, and V is the velocity toward north. This blog describes the capabilities of visualizing wind and ocean current data in ArcGIS, as well as the workflow for preparing layers for visualization.
To visualize wind or water flow, it is common to use vectors to symbolize size, color to represent speed, and symbol angle to represent flow direction. So how can you visualize the two rasters, either magnitude and direction variables, or U and V components? ArcGIS has a vector field data type and special renders for this purpose.
Visualize wind data in ArcGIS Pro
The map displays wind data on top of a temperature layer for the continental United States. The layer is composed of U and V components of wind, and displayed using the wind barb symbol of the Vector Field renderer. More vector symbol types are supported; see this help topic for more information on how to work with the Vector Field renderer in ArcGIS Pro.
Visualize an imagery layer of ocean current data using Map Viewer
This imagery layer in ArcGIS Image for ArcGIS Online contains magnitude and direction variables of ocean currents. The map displays using the Vector Symbol renderer in Map Viewer, in which arrows point to the flow direction and color indicates the speed. Since the imagery layer is multidimensional, the time slider can be used to animate wind flow through time.
Visualize an imagery layer of wind using Animated Flow Renderer
How to prepare data for visualization
Wind and ocean current data is often stored in netCDF, GRIB, or HDF format, either as a single file or multiple files. There are a few ways to prepare a layer with the vector field from the data, depending on which product you use. The key is the Vector Field raster function, which composes the two variables that describe speed and direction into a two-band raster with a vector field type. The type is Vector-MagDir if the two variables represent magnitude and direction, or Vector-UV if the two variables represent U and V components. The recommended workflows of preparing data in ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Image for ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Enterprise are outlined below.
Prepare data using ArcGIS Pro
You can create a raster layer of the vector field and visualize it in ArcGIS Pro, or prepare a dataset with the vector field, and publish a vector field-ready imagery layer from it in ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Enterprise.
Workflow 1: Create a vector field layer directly from the data
You can use the following workflow if the two variables are in one multidimensional raster file, such as a netCDF, HDF, GRIB, or CRF file:
- Click the Add Data button and choose the Add Multidimensional Raster Layer tool.
- Check the check boxes for two variables that represent magnitude and direction (or U and V components).
- Choose an option for Output Configuration. In this example, it is Vector Field (Magnitude-Direction), as indicated above. Define the corresponding variable type, as shown below, and click OK to create the layer.
A layer with Vector-MagDir type will be added to the map and it will be displayed using the vector field render by default. You can also save the data to a vector field-ready Cloud Raster Format (CRF) using the Copy Raster tool.
Note: This layer is a function raster layer containing a Vector Field raster function. You can also add the two variables to the map and create a layer using the Vector Field raster function. If the two variables are stored in two files, you can also use this workflow, adding the two variables as two separate raster layers to create a layer using the Vector Field raster function.
Workflow 2: Create a dataset of vector field type from multiple files
When your data is stored in multiple files, you can use a mosaic dataset and a vector field processing template to create a vector field-ready dataset. Here, we use NetCDF files as an example to outline the workflow:
- Create a mosaic dataset using the Create Mosaic Dataset geoprocessing tool.
- Open the Add Rasters to Mosaic Dataset tool and for Raster Type, choose NetCDF. If your data is in other formats, you can choose an appropriate raster type here.
- Set the input path containing your data and click the Raster Type button (blue box). The Raster Type Properties page appears.
- On the page, click Variables in the left panel and select two variables in the right panel, then define the type for each variable; in this example, it is U and V. Next, click Processing in the left panel and choose Vector Field.
- Click OK to add data, and a mosaic dataset will be created with a Vector-UV type.
- For better display performance, you can convert the mosaic dataset to CRF format using the Copy Raster tool, and this output CRF will have a Vector-UV raster type.
Create a vector field imagery layer in ArcGIS Online
There are two ways to create a vector field imagery layer in ArcGIS Online: One is to first create an imagery layer from the source files containing the two variables, then create a vector field imagery layer by composing a function template and running raster analytics. The created imagery layer will have either a Vector-UV or Vector-MagDir type. This workflow is entirely web based and requires that you have image analysis privilege. The other method is to use ArcGIS Pro to create a vector field dataset, such as CRF, from which to create a vector field imagery layer directly in ArcGIS Online. I recommend you use this method if you have ArcGIS Pro, because it will upload only the two required variables in ArcGIS Online which saves storage, and you can publish it directly without having to run raster analytics which requires image analysis privileges.
Workflow 3: Create a vector field imagery layer from source files
You can create a vector field imagery layer directly from the source files, such as data in netCDF, HDF, GRIB, or CRF format. Before you start, make sure your account has the ArcGIS Image for ArcGIS Online user type extension license with hosted imagery publishing and image analysis privileges. Refer to this help topic for information about privileges to publish a hosted imagery layer, as well as the choice of tiled or dynamic imagery layers.
To create a multidimensional imagery layer, complete the following steps:
- Click the My Contenttab and click the New item
- Choose the Imagery layer option to open the Create Imagery Layers
- Choose the Tiled Imagery Layer Both tiled and dynamic imagery layers are supported for visualizing vector field data.
- For the layer configuration option, choose One Image if your data is stored in a single file, or choose One Mosaicked Image if your data is stored in multiple files.
- In the Select input imagery box, click Browse or drag your files or the whole CRF folder into the box.
- Click Next to define your layer name, tags, summary, and folder to save.
- Choose Create to start layer creation.
It will create a single imagery layer with all the variables available including the two variables for the Vector Field raster function in the next step.
Note: If the data is stored in two separate raster files, you can create two layers by going through the workflow steps above twice.
To create a vector field imagery layer, complete the following steps:
This will take the two variables in the imagery layer in the previous step, and create a vector field imagery layer using the Vector Field raster function. Use Map Viewer Classic if the Raster Function Editor is not yet available in the standard Map Viewer.
- Open the multidimensional imagery layer created above in Map Viewer Classic, click the Raster Function Editor button (in blue box).
2. In the Raster Function Editor, search for the Multidimensional Filter function and Vector Field function in the System category and create a function chain the same as the one in the following diagram. You can save the raster function template, or directly bring it to the Raster Analysis pane without saving. Click OK to continue and prepare for raster analysis.
Note: If U and V (or Magnitude and Direction) are created in two separate imagery layers, Match Variables option in Multidimensional Rules needs to be unchecked. Multidimensional Rules are located in Edit Properties, the first button at top-right corner of the Raster Function Editor.
3. Define the input parameters for the template.
a. In the first Multidimensional Filter function, select the first variable, for U or magnitude.
b. In the second Multidimensional Filter function, select the second variable, for V or direction.
c. Choose an option for Input Data Type from the combo box. It is either U-V or Magnitude-Direction; make sure the type matches the selected variables. And define the Output Data Type to be Magnitude-Direction.
d. Provide an output name and click Run Analysis to the create imagery layer.
The output will be a vector field-ready imagery layer.
Workflow 4: Create an imagery layer from a vector field-ready CRF
Sometimes you may have a CRF with a vector field type created in ArcGIS Pro. You can create an imagery layer from this CRF using the first portion of workflow 3 above, described in the ArcGIS Online workflow section. The layer created will be vector field ready.
Publish an imagery layer for ArcGIS Enterprise
To publish a vector field imagery layer for ArcGIS Enterprise, you can either publish from your portal or publish using ArcGIS Pro.
Workflow 5: Publish from your portal
To publish from


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MCP Plaid Phonics Bundle Level C (Grade 3)
MCP Plaid Phonics Level C blends phonics instruction with meaningful reading in curriculum-related fiction and nonfiction. By combining phonics skills with vocabulary, comprehension, and critical thinking, students will develop reading fluency. The activities help develop spelling (encoding), recognize words in context, and use phonics in word-building and personal writing.This Bundle includes Student Worktext, Teacher Resource Guide and Parent Guide. Used for homeschool or classroom. MCP Plaid phonics works parallel with Spelling Workout to reinforce key spelling and phonics skills.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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The user is able to manipulate spores, the tiniest means of reproduction part of the life cycles of many bacteria, plants, algae, fungi and some protozoa. They can cause spores to grow/increase in size and amount, move/attack, mutate spores and thus also the plants they grow into by rearranging DNA structure.
- Manipulate the properties of spores.
- Move/lift spores.
- Rearrange the genetic structure in spores.
- Plant Attacks using spores.
- Plant Enhancement
- Plant Generation of spores.
- Plant Growth
- Poison Generation by exhaling the spores.
- Floraportation using spores.
- Disease Manipulation
- Energy Absorption
- Fertility Inducement
- Flora Energy Manipulation
- Fungal Mimicry
- Fungus Manipulation
- Nature Manipulation
- Plant Manipulation
- Plant Mimicry
- Poison Manipulation
- May be unable creating spores, being limited to manipulating already existing one.
- Distance, mass, precision, etc. depend upon of the knowledge, skill, and strength of the user, and their power's natural limits.
- Most users are powerless in areas without plants or at least potential for plants to grow (infertile/barren soil).
- High levels of radiation in a concentrated area may cause defects in the ability.
- Users may be only able to control certain types of spores.
- Users may be limited on how much spores or how long they can control them.
- White Zetsu (Naruto)
- Musshuru (One Piece)
- Armil Rad Arbuscular (Gesellschaft Blume)
- David Haller/Mycolojester/Gestalt (Marvel)
- Mantis (Marvel)
- Pokemon that can use "Spore", "Cotton Spore" or "Stun Spore" (Pokemon)
- Pokemon that can use "Effect Spore" (Pokemon)
- Cosmos (Fairy Tail)
- Alien Hook (Ultraseven)
- Psycho Mezard II (Ultraman Gaia)

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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Video: See Stephen Hawking Perform With Orbital at Paralympics Opener
- 2:56 PM
Stephen Hawking appeared onstage with Orbital for a moving rendition of "Where Is It Going?" during the Paralympic Games opening ceremony Wednesday night in London.
"The Large Hadron Collider at CERN is the largest, most complex machine in the world, possibly the universe," Hawking says, as the British electronica duo's lush and poignant synthesized sounds soar behind him. "By smashing particles together at enormous energies, it re-creates conditions of the Big Bang. The recent discovery of what looks like the Higgs particle is a triumph of human endeavor and international collaboration. It will change our perception of the world, and has the potential to offer insights into a complete theory of everything."
The Olympic Stadium stage then transformed into a colorful vision of the Large Hadron Collider, with rows of people dressed as red particles rushing out of the center of the stage. (See the performance in the video above.)
Suddenly, the graceful, expansive "Where Is It Going?" morphed into the aggressive stomper "Spasticus Autisticus" by Ian Dury. The late singer, who became crippled after contracting polio at a young age, wrote the song in the early 1980s to protest what he perceived as patronizing treatment of the disabled; the song was subsequently banned by the BBC.
During the Paralympics opener Wednesday, the song came alive once again onstage. The live broadcast drew 11.2 million viewers, according to the BBC.
If the video of the performance doesn't make you shed a tear about the wonders of science and the triumphs of humankind, then, well, nothing will.


Technology and methods applied by Indonesian to overcome peatland fires
Why are forest fires always happen, so it is embarrassing to neighbouring countries, it seems there is no anticipation... even though there are already many technologies applied to deal with forest fires
First we have to know the first reason why fighting forest fires in Indonesia is more difficult than other countries, because most of the forests in Indonesia are peat forests, which are made of rotting leaves and other organic material whose depth can reach 10 meters.
When peat dries due to low water levels, the fire can spread rapidly through roots that are underground. The fire then burns down to the lower parts of the plant and bushes. So, actually never really can know the location of the fire, which can only be seen only smoke.
Although difficult, but the Indonesian people never give up, many ways and efforts are made
Advise of any technology and method used, the following are explained one by one:
1) Weather Modification Technology (TMC) is an engineering technology that can create artificial rain. In tackling forest and land fires, TMC conducted by the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) maximizes fire fighting, artificial rain can be carried out on condition that the water content in the region reaches 75 percent. When sprinkled with salt, the clouds will rain.
2) Irrigate peatlands, flooding them, so that water can enter the root pores to put out the fire.
3) Innovative technology (Korem) 044 / Garuda Dempo (Gapo), South Sumatra, namely Bios 44 and Nusantara Gapo 44. Bios 44 is a technology to prevent forest and land fires, especially on peatlands. Nusantara Gapo 44 is a foam technology for fire fighting in peat fires, "
4) Digital Fire Extinguisher To make it easier for the community to do their own extinguishing in the event of forest and land fires, the University of Tanjungpura (Untan) made a forest fire extinguisher with a digital system called Nyapar.
Nyapar is a digital device that can be controlled and is designed portable so that it makes it easier to extinguish fires. Nyapar can spray water with a range of 30 to 50 meters and the greater the driving force of the engine, the range can be even further.
5) High Pressure Water Pump / Vehicle / Car Wash Pump is very well done. Pressurized pumps can extinguish fires over a wide radius, atomized water will extinguish fires and reduce heat generated
6) Watering to the bottom is made like mush, until there is no smoke anymore. This method is quite effective.
7) Water bombing helicopters to extinguish hotspots that are hard to reach. Water bombing is Kamov URCIJ helicopter with a bombing capacity of 5,000 liters, with a total bombing of 185,000 liters and MI-8 helicopters with a bombing capacity of 4,000 liters with a total bombing of 92,000
8) Making water reservoirs, or reservoirs, in fire-prone areas making it easier to access water if needed for extinction. This reservoir is necessary because it will be difficult to find water in the dry season, especially on burning peat
Keep the spirit for the Government, TNI, POLRI and the people of Indonesia, hopefully the land fires can be resolved soon.
Reference: blackoutfires-forests-with-technology-modificationweather why did you extinguish the fires of the forest in Indonesia-so-difficult-a-story-personal-story-forest-forest 122476
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Air pollution is a growing health problem for urban populations in emerging economies. The present study examines the (cross-sectional) relation between blood pressure and particulate air pollution in schoolchildren of Lahore (Pakistan).
We recruited a sample of 8–12year-old children (mean age 9.9years; 45% girls) from two schools in Lahore situated in areas with low (n=79) and high (n=100) air pollution, respectively. During the study period (January-April 2009) particulate pollution [PM10 and PM2.5i.e. particles with aerodynamic diameters below 10μm or 2.5μm, respectively] was measured at the school sites with a laser operated device (Metone Aerocet 531). Blood pressure was measured, after 5 minutes of sitting rest, using an automated device (average of 5 consecutive measurements). Spot urine samples were also collected and concentrations of Na and K were measured.
Mean daily values of PM2.5 were 28.5μg/m3 (SD: 10.3) and 183μg/m3 (SD: 30.2), in the low and high pollution areas, respectively. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure were significantly higher in children living in the high pollution area (115.9/70.9mm Hg) than in the low pollution area (108.3/66.4mm Hg), independently of age, gender, height, weight, socio-economic status, passive smoking and the urinary concentrations of Na, K, and creatinine.
In 8–12year-old children, exposure to (traffic-related) air pollution was associated with higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure. These findings, if they persist, might have clinical relevance at older age.


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Jan 5, 2021 @ 8:28 AM
Chatbot Platforms Compared - Amazon vs. Google vs. IBM vs. Rasa: Which chatbot platform is easiest to train?
Which chatbot platform is easiest to build and train?
Depending on your experience with machine learning, programming, and chatbots, your answer will vary.
I'm here to answer this question as a Digital Marketing Specialist at Globalme by experimenting with the most popular chatbot platforms on the market.
Although we do have experts at Globalme that can configure these chatbots on a whim, this article will paint a picture of how easy (or difficult) it is to configure a chatbot with almost zero experience.
There are three key aspects that we used to compare the platforms:
1. Documentation provided
2. Configuration experience
3. User testing and interface
Download the Free Whitepaper
This article is a summary of a larger chatbot comparison experiment that compares Amazon Lex, Google Dialogflow, IBM Watson, and Rasa.
In the downloadable white paper, you'll see the full journey unfold when it comes to configuring each chatbot.
If you're a novice that is trying to decide on the simplest chatbot platform to use, then read the summaries below or follow along by downloading the full white paper.
Reading the documentation for each platform was simple enough to follow, and each one of them provided tutorials.
We spent an average of 1 hour reading the documentation and terminologies for each platform.
Rasa had the most interactive documentation out of the entire group. Rasa allowed users to play with the Python code in the Get Started guide, which followed a story-like framework.
Although Rasa had the most entertaining documentation, IBM Watson and Google Dialogflow seemed to have the more thorough yet simple resources to follow.
Reading Amazon Lex's documentation felt like the reader would need to have previous experience with chatbots and machine learning.
In my case, the Amazon Lex documentation was a bit too advanced. The image below shows how a chatbot works on Amazon Lex, but the rest of the documentation wasn't as visual.
Comparing IBM Watson's documentation and Google Dialogflow resources were closer in terms of user experience.
Both gave a great explanation of how their platforms worked, but Google Dialogflow explained difficult concepts with high-quality visual aids and videos.
These videos and the simple wording in the documentation gave us the foundation to understand all the other platforms with ease.
Documentation Winner: For someone who wants to start learning about chatbots, Google Dialogflow's documentation wins.
Comparing the configuration of each platform was more difficult.
Each one provided a different experience, and each one had its quirks.
One thing was for sure: the Rasa chatbot was more difficult to configure on the fly. It wasn't as simple as Dialogflow, Lex, or Watson, but we can appreciate that it still made configuring a chatbot with Python an easy (and fun) experience.
Amongst Amazon Lex, Google Dialogflow, and IBM Watson platforms, Amazon and IBM did a great job of providing examples that we could take and modify for our use case.
It took 2 hours to configure Amazon Lex, and just over 1.5 hours to fully configure IBM Watson.
Why did IBM Watson take only 1.5 hours?
Watson provided enough examples of user intents, entities, and natural language data for our chatbot to be fully configured to our needs.
In fact, we dedicated another half an hour to configure our IBM Watson bot a little more.
It felt so much more intuitive configuring IBM Watson versus Google Dialogflow.
Amazon Lex falls between the two in terms of the configuration experience.
Configuration Winner: The IBM Watson conversational agent takes the cake in our configuration experience.
Testing the chatbots we configured allowed us to detect the elements we needed to work on, as well as any glaring mistakes.
Let's be honest here, testing with the Rasa chatbot was not as easy as the others.
It was so much more satisfying though – there's something about the more primitive look of the chat dialog that gave us multiple "Eureka!" and "Aha!" moments.
When it came down to testing our work in real-time, Google, IBM, and Amazon's platforms were a lot more intuitive.
The three platforms had conversational agents that could be trained and tested after each change or adjustment.
All of them looked pretty in their own way, and each one would give us relevant error messages that pointed to where we misconfigured the bot.
IBM Watson had a tiny edge by labeling each response and command with intents and entities. This gave us the knowledge to understand our dialog and how the bot comprehends our commands.
Google Dialogflow and Amazon Lex had more similar experiences as both platforms used a real-time conversation box to show our bot's training progress.
The real-time conversation box reflected what the chatbot would look like using their platform, but Amazon Lex did a better job of labeling all variables in the responses.
For example, in the image below, the intent and slots were labeled to show what the chatbot "understood" out of the conversation or command.
This was great, but what if we want to share this testing experience with others?
You can test our Google Dialogflow chatbot here.
This is where Google Dialogflow had an edge.
If you are a novice chatbot-builder, you are likely to seek feedback from real-life humans that understand these chatbot platforms better.
In the case of testing your Google Dialogflow agent with others, it's entirely possible. There's an option to share a link to the chatbot or embed the chatbot so that others may use it or test it immediately.
Each platform had its unique strengths in the testing phase. There was no clear winner here because each platform may have a different appeal to individuals.
For example, the IBM interface provides a ton of information we can work with, but the interface might feel less familiar than Google Dialogflow and Amazon Lex.
The testing of each platform would depend on the user's skill level as well.
More advanced users would gravitate towards different platforms depending on their particular needs.
For beginners, all that really differed was the look of the testing environment and how the intent or entity information was presented.
Testing Winner: From a testing standpoint, it was a tie between Google Dialogflow, Amazon Lex, and IBM Watson.
Overall Winner
Which platform made it easiest to train and build a conversational agent?
It was a very close decision. Although it took more time and resources to train Google Dialogflow, we did end up with a great end result.
On the other hand, Amazon Lex provided a sample we could configure right away: a chatbot for a flower shop.
This made the configuration process simple and easy to follow along. It took only 2 hours to configure the Lex chatbot before it understood a user's requests and commands related to projector rentals.
If we were to use the chatbot in the real world, Google Dialogflow looks like it is the easiest to integrate with messaging platforms among the pack because of the number of one-click integrations that are supported.
You can roll out your Dialogflow bot with the click of a button.
Overall Winner: Because of our overall experience with building a complete and fully functional agent, we crowned Amazon Lex as our winner.
Did we factor in user error?
In the complete version of the experiment, there might have been a few user errors that you noticed.
For example, intents and entities may have been configured inefficiently.
Example utterances and prompts may have been too excessive or not thorough enough.
There are certainly areas where human error could have skewed the results, but this is all a part of the overall experience.
What did we learn about configuring a chatbot?
Truth be told, the big three chatbot platforms: Amazon, Google, and IBM were all very similar in experience.
Rasa was the only chatbot platform that was tested which required some hands-on Python coding.
Someone without any prior hands-on experience in coding, chatbots, and machine learning can still build conversational agents with a little time investment.
The chatbot in our example may not have been developed to work in real life scenarios since it only responds to a single case, but they could be built further to work in real situations and use cases.
For the theoretical business Quick n' Easy Projector Rentals, building a chatbot was surprisingly simple.
We picked Amazon Lex as it had the most user-friendly experience
Now that we've picked Amazon Lex as a winner, does that mean it is the go-to platform?
This experiment taught us that the most powerful chatbot platform is the one that successfully satisfies your unique use case with as little effort as possible.
It will depend on the user's technical capabilities, experience with the overall platform (i.e. if you do work on AWS already, Lex will probably feel the most natural), and the complexity of the needed agent.
Each chatbot platform had its own advantages and drawbacks.
What was most important to us was how these chatbots handled user intents, entities, and other variables.
What we learned was that it wasn't the chatbot platform or knowledge in coding that limited our results. It was the lack of user intents, entities, and other variables that can be fed to the platform's algorithms so that it could learn how to communicate better.
If we spent more time with each chatbot platform, then the end result for each would be a lot more fleshed out.
Download the Chatbot Comparison Whitepaper
Want to see how we configured Amazon Lex, Google Dialogflow, IBM Watson, and Rasa?
Download the full study: You can follow the entire experiment in this white paper that shows the steps we took to map out our intents, entities, and other variables.
Developing a multilingual chatbot?
Globalme's multilingual chatbot localization services will help you


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Andrea Angelini, ICB Managing Editor, Choral Conductor and Musicologist
The premise on which this research1 is based suggests that the architects and musicians who operated in Venice during the Renaissance period were much more knowledgeable about the concepts of acoustic physics than was until recently thought, and that the Counter-Reformation brought awareness of the power of music in inspiring devotion. The aim of this research is to explore the ways in which their architectural and musical creations (referring, in this article, only to St Mark's Basilica) show a genuine attempt (not always uniformly successful) to exploit acoustic effects for religious purposes.
In the year 2005 the Department of History of Art at Cambridge University founded CAMERA, the Centre for Acoustic and Musical Experiments in Renaissance Architecture. At the Centre's first conference, held at the Fondazione Cini in Venice on the 8th and 9th of September 2005, experts in the three disciplines came together to exchange ideas and compare the extent of their knowledge in their respective fields. A year later, in September 2006, the same group of experts met again, this time in Cambridge, for an informal workshop. Together they planned a series of experiments to be carried out in Spring 2007 in a number of churches in Venice. Although a number of specialists in the field of ancient music, including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, had already attempted to re-create in situ Renaissance liturgy in Venice, such systematic tests of acoustics in various churches had never been made. The climax of this research was to be a series of choral experiments carried out by the Choir of St. John's College, Cambridge, between the 8th and the 15th of April 2007. This Choir was chosen for its acknowledged excellence in the field of sacred music and for its outstanding ability in singing the most complex pieces of Renaissance polyphonic music, even at first sight. The Choir consisted of fifteen men and seventeen children and was conducted by David Hill. While in Venice they stayed at the Spedale della Pietà, the institution where Antonio Vivaldi had worked in the early eighteenth century. As well as carrying out acoustic experiments for the research project, the Choir sang at Easter Monday Vespers in St Mark's and gave two public concerts.
In order to compare the quality of the acoustic surveys carried out inside the churches with the sound actually perceived by listeners, a precise system of acoustic measurement was devised, using the technologies and information supplied by the Laboratorio di Acustica Musicale e Architettonica (Musical and Architectural Acoustics Laboratory) at the Fondazione Scuola di San Giorgio in Venezia, under the direction of Davide Bonsi.
It is interesting to note how many factors are brought into play when approaching ancient music. These include general practice in performance; workmanship and characteristics of original instruments; and the manner of music-making during the liturgy. The acoustic properties of spaces where music was performed have been little studied, and this is why live choral music was central to the project. The search for historical authenticity in performance was, obviously, not the prime concern; the researchers considered this to be an unreachable goal. They intended rather to show that successive architectural alterations to religious buildings should always be taken into consideration. Simulations of 'original' performances were compromised by a number of factors, including alterations to the decoration of the churches in question, the rebuilding of organs, the difference in numbers of the congregation, and the employment of counter-tenors instead of castrati.
In the course of the choral experiments held in St Mark's Basilica, St. John's College Choir sang – as has already been noted – at Easter Monday Vespers; they were positioned in the north organ loft, the one preferred by musicians of our time. This was a difficult position for the performance of choral music because there was no direct sightline, or line of sound, between the singers and the congregation in the nave, where the reverberation was such as to produce an effect more atmospheric than musical. The harmonies were indistinct and any counterpoint or rhythmic elaboration sounded confused. Acoustic measurements confirmed that sound originating in the organ loft and measured by a microphone placed underneath the central dome was worse – acoustically and physically speaking – than any other 'production-reception' combination measured in any other space within the basilica. Conversely, when the microphone was placed in the space occupied by the Doge's throne, much better results were obtained because of reduced reverberation, but the clarity of the sound remained somewhat poor.
In the first experiment (track 1 – _URL_ two tenors positioned in the north loft (figure 1, position A) sang Monteverdi's Salve Regina. Even with the microphone positioned in the sanctuary below, the soloists' voices seemed distant. The sound seemed to come from above, distributed uniformly, with little emphasis of direction on the left side (looking towards the high altar). The voices sound as if trapped in the sanctuary space and the singers themselves did not obtain much of a response from the natural resonance of the space. They complained that the sound was hard and dry, and attributed this to the large quantity of wood in the organ loft. To the listener in the nave, the two tenors' voices sounded far away and indistinct.
1.1. The apse and the pulpits
The alterations made to the eastern end of St Mark's in the sixteenth century had a number of significant implications for the role of music in the Doge's celebrations. These alterations were carried out under the supervision of the Florentine sculptor and architect Jacopo Sansovino (figure 2). Sansovino had come to Venice in 1527, and following his triumphant restoration of the dome of the basilica he was given the post of superintendent responsible for the buildings around St Mark's Square, known as the Procurazia di San Marco. The careers of musician Adrian Willaert and Sansovino evolved along parallel lines, both men greatly involved in their respective fields: the former occupied with the musical life of the basilica, the latter with its maintenance and decoration. One can imagine that they would sometimes find themselves working shoulder to shoulder. If we wish to understand Sansovino's alterations, we need to look at the present disposition of the church. The nave leads to a raised sanctuary with apse, reached by five steps (figure 3), beneath which is the crypt housing the relics of St Mark. This space is separated from the nave by a jubé or iconostasis, completed by stonemasons Jacobello and Pier Paolo dalle Masegne in 1394, consisting in eight marble columns supporting a series of fourteen statues. On the other side of the sanctuary are two small chapels with apses, dedicated respectively to St Peter and St Clement, reached through great arches which support the upper level of the organ lofts. The space behind the iconostasis or screen was known, in Sansovino's time, as the choro; but where the singers were actually positioned is a complicated question, much debated in recent years. The trials carried out in April 2007 were designed to test a number of possible scenarios for the production of music, bearing in mind of course that the sixteenth century was a time of constant experiments in the field of music. On the outer side of the screen two marble pulpits face the high altar: on the right the hexagonal pulpitum magnum cantorum, also called bigonzo, and on the left a two-story structure known as pulpitum novum lectionum.
These venerable pulpits in precious marble date from the early thirteenth century. Giovanni Stringa, Master of Ceremonies at St Mark's, describes them when writing about the life of St Mark the Evangelist and St Mark's church:
Let us look at the screen, flanked by two pulpits, one on the right and one on the left. The pulpit on the right (looking from the high altar) is on two levels and is surmounted by columns. On the major feast days, usually five times a year: Christmas, the Annunciation of Our Lady, Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter day, the Epistle is chanted and a sermon proffered by the city's most famous priests, in the presence of the Doge and his Court […]. The upper level is covered by a pyramid-shaped bronze canopy surmounted by a dome, and here the Gospel is chanted.
And describing the bigonzo, Stringa adds:
The other pulpit on the left (looking from the high altar) is octagonal in shape, and lower. Here the Doge is presented to his people after his election, and here the Divine Office is normally chanted, especially when the Doge and the Court are present in the church.
It is important to remember that Stringa's description was written after a number of significant alterations had been carried out by Sansovino. In about 1530 Doge Andrea Gritti, unable to mount the steps leading to the bigonzo because incapacitated by gout and obesity, and therefore unable to occupy the position usual for the Doge when celebrating church festivals, began to occupy the chair previously installed for use by the primicerio (the highest-ranking priest present) just beyond the screen. Consequently, in 1535, a new throne for the Doge, made of walnut and flanked by other chairs for dignitaries, was installed here. This made a huge difference to ceremonies taking place in the presence of the Doge, because it meant that the Doge and his Court were


How to make a voice over video in VSDC
In the era of YouTube, when online blogging and production of video tutorials on just about anything has become commonplace, it's vital for aspiring clip makers to master the skill of voice over video. Even if you are not planning to become a YouTuber, you become well aware of those cases when you see that your vacation footage was ruined by chattering crowds, wind gusts, etc. One way to resolve the problem is to replace the defective sound with a nice tune. But what if you want to bring a more personal touch and record your own voice while impressions are still fresh and lively?
Download VSDC Free Video editor that allows you to do so in two ways: an easy one and a free one. Below, we'll review both, guide you through the main steps, and explain the difference between the two.
How to do voice over video in VSDC: the easy way
VSDC has an intuitive built-in voiceover tool that allows you to quickly add audio comments to your videos without having to deal with complex settings of any kind. See it for yourself in the video guide below.
Here is what you have to do in a nutshell:
 1. Import your video to the timeline using the "Add Object" dropdown menu.
 2. Click the wrench icon to select the voiceover tool.
 3. Play-pause the video to choose the part that needs audio comments. Use the "Start Recording" button whenever a voice comment needs to be added. Use the "Stop Recording" button to end the recording. Record as many items as necessary. Note: the recording will only start when you hit the play button. When the video is paused – your voice won't be recorded.
 How to create a voiceover video in VSDC - fast and eaasy
 4. When you are done with your comments, close the voiceover tool window. A pop-up window will appear asking for confirmation to add recorded files to the timeline. Click "Yes".
 5. Your audio comments will automatically be added to the timeline exactly where you wanted them to be. No manual action needed.
 6. If you want to mute original video soundtrack, right-click your video on a timeline and go to "Audio Effects --> Amplitude --> Silence".
 7. Double-check the result by clicking the red play button right under the preview window. If everything is fine, complete the process by clicking the red "Export project" button on the same title tab.
Please note, that the voiceover tool is only available with the PRO version of VSDC editor which is offered for $19.99 per year. If you are looking for a free way to record your voice over a video, follow the instructions below.
How to create a voiceover video in VSDC: the free way
VSDC wouldn't be called a free editor unless it offered a free way to record voice over video. Here is a detailed instruction:
 1. Open VSDC Free Video Editor and click "Import Content" to import the video that you intend to give voice to.
 2. Proceed to the "Tools" tab at the top menu and select the "Voice Recorder" tool. A new window will open.
 Adding voice over video for free in VSDC Video Editor
 3. Choose the desired format of your voice recording in the "Formats" tab.
 4. Proceed to the lower sections of the menu to select the output file destination, its quality, and the device you will use for recording.
 5. Place a checkmark in the "split file" section, if you are working with a really long video. This way your output audio will be split into several recordings. It will come in handy during the matching of your recording with the video. Mistiming can't be fixed with a single audio file in place, so having multiple files will help you perfectly adjust your sound and video tracks.
 6. Select the duration of your audio chunks in the drop-down menu on the right depending on the length of your video.
 7. Press the "Start Recording" button at the top right corner of the screen. Launching your video in a separate window might be a good idea too. You want to know what you are commenting, right? Press "Stop Recording" when you are ready and close the "Voice Recorder" window.
 8. Go back to VSDC video editing window with your imported video. Right-click your video on a timeline and go to "Audio Effects --> Amplitude --> Silence". This will silence the original soundtrack of your video.
 How to silence the original audio track in VSDC
 9. Go to the "Editor" tab, select "Add Object" and choose "Audio" from the drop-down list. Now proceed to the location on your computer where you saved you recordings, import them to the timeline and use drag-and-drop motion to place them in line with the video segments they are intended for.
As you have probably noticed, both methods lead to the same result: your recorded audio files placed beside your video on a timeline in the correct sequence. The only difference is, with a free method, you have to manually record, import and position them. With an easy method, manual work is taken out of the equation, making voice over videos much faster. Which one is better? You tell us :-)


text:
- Rising Mist-Snake River
- Michael Coleman
- Depicts tipis (tepees) with mountains in background.
Note: Certain artworks from this collection feature artistic practices and/or content and subject matter that depict American Indians as stereotypes and inaccurate characterizations, which necessitate curatorial analysis and thoughtful interpretation.
- J.O. Barber Family Trust
- Credit line:
- J.O. Barber Family Trust, California Polytechnic University
The images associated with the objects on this website are protected under United States copyright laws. We are pleased to share these materials as an educational resource for the public for non-commercial, educational and personal use only, or for fair use as defined by law.
- Object Identifier (Accession #):
- No Subject Heading


Myrtle rust: why local New Zealand species are under threat
Myrtle rust: why local New Zealand species are under threat
Sadly, the discovery of more sites in New Zealand infected with myrtle rust suggests that it is here to stay. Originally from South America, myrtle rust invaded Australia in 2010 and rapidly spread. Botanist Lara Shepherd discusses what Australian scientists have discovered about myrtle rust over the last seven years.
What does myrtle rust infect?
Myrtle rust infects members of the Myrtaceae plant family. The Myrtaceae is Australia's dominant plant family with over 1,600 native species, including over 500 species of Eucalyptus.
Experiments have shown that there is a big range in the vulnerability of different Australian species to myrtle rust infection. Some species are highly susceptible (all individuals infected), other species show no signs of infection.
Resistance to myrtle rust
Resistance to myrtle rust is linked to variation at a number of genes called 'resistance genes'.
Plants which contain these 'resistance genes' are able to defend themselves against infection.
However, most Myrtaceae species show a range of infection rates – within these species there are both gene variants that protect them from myrtle rust as well as gene variants that make them susceptible.
The species that vary in their susceptibility often show differences in infection rates across the landscape with populations in one part of the range more susceptible to infection than populations elsewhere.
This finding emphasises the importance of conserving local populations of native species, even for species that are common with widespread distributions.
Myrtle rust is characterised by yellow pustules. Photograph by Scot Nelson
Myrtle rust is characterised by yellow pustules. Photograph by Scot Nelson
Conserving local populations of native species
Clearing a few hectares of kānuka (like this farmer decided to do) may seem minor, but if the population destroyed harbours the only resistance genes to myrtle rust, or another disease, then the results could be devastating to the long-term survival of the species.
Similarly, creating monocultures using a subset of a species that are selected for some desirable character, such as mānuka that produces high UMF honey, can similarly put a species at risk from new pests and diseases by reducing the overall genetic variation.
Infection trials of nine New Zealand Myrtaceae species in cultivation overseas have shown that all became infected with myrtle rust. But what we don't yet know is whether any of our species contain resistance genes somewhere within their distributions.
Pohutukawa is a striking member of the Myrtaceae family.
Pōhutukawa tree, 2016. Photograph by Skeeze via pixabay. CC0 1.0
Threat to the Bartlett's rātā
Scientists are particularly concerned about the impact that myrtle rust may have on our Bartlett's rātā – there are only 25 individuals remaining in the wild and genetic variation within the species is very limited. If one Bartlett's rātā become infected it is likely that they all will.
 1. I have two different kinds of guava tree growing at home in Auckland. Is guava more suceptible to myrtle rust than other trees? Should they be watched more closely? And removed immediately when infected? How to dispose of infected plants?
 Can photos of different infected species be published across all media, including local newspapers, to get feedback from the public on the occurrence and spread of this over time?
 What is the best way to recognise resistant populations? Repeated general surveys of absence and presence might provide baseline reference points that make it easier to recognise resistance sooner.
 1. Author
 Hi Peter,
 I'm not sure how susceptible guava is to myrtle rust – hopefully you won't find out! If you do notice something on your trees that might be myrtle rust then don't touch it – MPI says to do the following:
 Call the MPI Exotic Pest and Disease Hotline immediately on 0800 80 99 66.
 If you have a camera or phone camera, take clear photos, including the whole plant, the whole affected leaf, and a close-up of the spores/affected area of the plant.
 Don't touch it or try to collect samples as this may increase the spread of the disease.
 Of course their advice may change if myrtle rust becomes widespread. Naturewatch ( would be a great way to track the spread of myrtle rust because photos, the date and location is recorded for each sighting. As of today no one has recorded it on that platform yet.
 In order to test for resistant populations in Australian plants scientists deliberately infected plants in cultivation. This would have required an available source of cultivated plants from a range of locations. I'm not sure if this kind of research is being done in New Zealand.
 2. But what are the effects of Myrtle rust? Does it kill the plant or are the effects different per individual plant or species? What are the effects?
 PS Myrtle Rust, a great name for the main character in a novel.
 1. Author
 Hi Harm,
 According to the Australian Department of Environment and Energy website:
 'The disease can cause deformed leaves, heavy defoliation of branches, reduced fertility, dieback, stunted growth, and plant death.'
 My understanding is that the severity of the effects depends on how susceptible the particular species is. Also seedlings are more likely to die that adults because of all the new growth they have.
 I agree about Myrtle Rust being a great character name – she'd have to be the villan though!
 3. Why is it only found in Nurseries so far, does that imply they swap plants.
 Is the Government going to provide funding to find a cure for it, so far, no plants with the rust samples have been sent to the scientists at Callaghan.
 1. Author
 Not necessarily – myrtle rust likes sheltered damp, warm situations like nurseries. Also the plants are small so the leaves can be checked (not like a 20m tall rata!) and nursery workers have been looking for it. So research has been done by Scion but mostly around identifying Myrtaceae:
 4. Did I miss the media release advising of extra funding for DoC to address this profound risk?
 5. Genetic engineering would answer the question
 1. Not necessarily true, there is actual NATURAL genetic resistance and tolerance in myrtaceae plants to this fungus, as we have seen in Australia over the past 7 years. It will be mch better R&D investment to explore existing resistance genes rather than a blunt costly tool of genetic engineering
 2. Completely agree with Nick on this one Peter – GE is NOT the best response. In 2015 I presented a review of naturally-occurring resistance in forest trees to newly introduced pathogens at the Kauri Dieback symposium held in Hokianga (it's posted on YouTube). Bottom line is resistance virtually always occurs… just not often at high – or even moderate – frequency when the pathogen is a newly introduced pathogen. In fact the first resistance gene in a forest tree species to be characterised was in sugar pine – to western white pine blister rust. Also, GE is very expensive to develop and requires years of R&D to develop suitable plant delivery systems that are sufficiently robust and allow a wide range of genotypes to be transformed. Better off screening for naturally occurring resistance and propagating from those. In the case of Bartletts Rata, if all remaining individuals are susceptible then maybe a gene editing approach using resistance gene sequences from other myrtaceae would be more appropriate than transgenesis.
 6. I worry about spp found in primarily damp habitats, eg the subcanopy rata spp. Just hope that MPI/DOC collecting seed and cuttings from a wide range of habitats of all native Myrtaceae ie many thousands of samples.
 7. Thanks Lara. Very helpful. Sobering examples.
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Our carbon fiber pultruded rods and plates are an ideal option for upgrading the load-bearing capacity and flexural properties of structures such as bridges, carparks and buildings, without adding significant weight.
CST Structural Laminates are Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) unidirectional laminates, which can be utilised for the reinforcement of concrete, metal, wood and masonry structural members.
Standard, intermediate or high modulus carbon fibre grades are combined with an epoxy matrix using an advanced pultrusion process. CST Structural Laminates are ready to use when combined with a suitable high strength adhesive.
- Increasing the load bearing capacities of new and existing concrete, metal, wood and masonry structures, and structural members, including near surface mounting (NSM) of carbon composite reinforcement.
- Increasing the flexural rigidity of new and existing structural members
- Increasing the fatigue strength of new and existing structural members
- Reinforcing of marine structures
- Reinforcing members for wind turbin blades
CST Structural Laminates have the following advantages over traditional reinforcements:
- Very high ultimate tensile strength (up to 7x that of structural steel)
- Extremely high stiffness-to-weight ratios
- High modulus of elasticity values
- Excellent resistance to fatigue
- Supplied with (optional) roughened peel ply finish, giving excellent adhesion, and minimal on-site substrate preparation required
- Not susceptible to corrosion
- Lightweight and easy to apply allowing for faster construction/maintenance and reducing costs


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Open Access Publications from the University of California
UC Berkeley
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Design of a Passive Dual Joint Stance Assistance Knee Exoskeleton
 - Author(s): Pillai, Minerva Vasudevan
 - Advisor(s): Kazerooni, Homayoon
 - et al.
Lower Extremity Exoskeleton technology has been geared towards benefiting medical and augmentation fields. Functional modularity in exoskeleton design allows practitioners to prescribe exoskeletons which can be geared towards the user's needs and abilities. While most modular knee exoskeleton technology either live in the realm of medicine or augmentation, a stance assistive knee exoskeleton can benefit both able bodied individuals as well as individuals with decreased quadriceps function or knee weakness.
Fully passive systems are lower cost but have limited functionality. Powered systems have diverse functionality but are expensive and large. Microcontroller controlled resistive knees are more functionally diverse than fully passive system, but only provide system resistance to motion and can be expensive.
Passive microcontroller controlled systems can lead to a low cost and functionally versatile system. By embedding some of the required functionality into the mechanical hardware of the system, the burden on the microcontrollers and need for sensors is reduced. To determine the required functionality the characteristic behavior of the knee during level walking and stair descent were studied. Characteristics for a stance assistive knee joint exoskeleton are derived using biomechanics data.
These characteristics are
1) The joint provides resistance to flexion during stance
2) The joint does not impede extension during stance
3) The joint can enter free mode under load at any knee angle
4) The joint has very low impedance / is free while extending and flexing during swing
A dual jointed architecture with a clutch connected across one joint and a torque generator connected across the other is developed to mechanically achieve requirements 1 and 4. By requiring the clutch or torque generator to provide resistance in one direction but no impedance in the other, characteristic 2 is achieved. By controlling the locking and unlocking of the clutch, characteristic 3 is achieved. The torque generator and clutch requirements can be fulfilled by several passive mechanical components.
Several passive mechanical components were analyzed. It was determined that using a wrap spring clutch as the clutch and using a gas spring as the torque generator provides the required characteristics. This combination requires only a small actuator to lock and unlock the clutch. This combination also allows the restoration of energy during extension after it is stored during the resistance phases. This hardware combination results in a stance assistance knee exoskeleton which is relatively small, light and can further help reduce the metabolic cost associated with wearing an exoskeleton. A simplified controller was implemented to gauge system performance.
Additional applications for the hardware architecture are proposed. These applications include use of the knee exoskeleton with a modular hip. The hardware is not limited to use as a knee exoskeleton. It can be used to reduce the erector spinae muscles forces in the back, if it is installed at the user's hip. Experiments are proposed to evaluate the effect of the device on the biological joint torque and user's metabolic cost.
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Fundamentals of Liquid Crystal Devices
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Other Available Formats: E-book
This inter-disciplinary book is intended as an introductory guide to the fundamental properties of liquid crystals and their applications in display and photonic devices, providing a basic understanding of the physics, optics, electro-optics, and material aspects for state-of-the-art display and photonic devices.
Fundamentals of Liquid Crystal Devices includes:
- A comprehensive overview of LCDs including liquid crystal physics, electro-optical properties, simulation techniques and display and photonic applications.
- Numerous examples and case studies, solved problems and challenging homework conundrums starting with basic physics and gradually introducing advanced device concepts and structures.
- The principles for designing advanced specialist transmissive, reflective, and transflective liquid crystal displays.
- Chapters on emerging technologies such as tuneable liquid crystal photonic devices including laser beam steering, light switches for telecommunication and tunable-focus lenses.
Fundamentals of Liquid Crystal Devices is a valuable resource for advanced undergraduate and graduate students following display systems courses, who will benefit from its systematic approach. The introduction of advanced device concepts and structures means that display engineers, scientists, and technicians active in the field can also utilise this unique resource, as can developers of a wide range of systems and applications.
The Society for Information Display (SID) is an international society, which has the aim of encouraging the development of all aspects of the field of information display. Complementary to the aims of the society, the Wiley-SID series is intended to explain the latest developments in information display technology at a professional level. The broad scope of the series addresses all facets of information displays from technical aspects through systems and prototypes to standards and ergonomics


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Sep. 19, 2002 Eavesdropping among animals influences their behavior, Lee Dugatkin, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Louisville, has found.
Dugatkin and a colleague, Ryan Earley of Georgia State University, studied eavesdropping among male swordtail fish they placed in an experimental tank. They put two fish on one side of a partition and a lone observer male on the other. In some cases, the partitions were clear and in others, opaque.
The fish that could observe their potential adversaries fighting through the clear partition were less likely to defeat the winner of the fight.
"We were able to separate winning and losing streaks based on eavesdropping," Dugatkin says.
Psychological factors such as simply watching a fight seem to have a drastic effect on animal societies and the levels of aggression within them, he adds.
"My own studies indicate that they (psychological factors) can be used to make predictions such as whether interactions between group members will be autocratic or meritocratic … the same rules may even help explain the dynamics of human societies."
Findings of the experiment were published recently in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London.
Dugatkin's conclusion about eavesdropping and animal behavior also is included in an article appearing in the Sept. 19, 2002, issue of Nature, "Behavioural ecology: Nosy Neighbors."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University Of Louisville.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
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Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux
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Entrance of the museum
The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux is the fine arts museum of the city of Bordeaux, France. Established in 1801 by the painter Pierre Lacour,[1] it is one of the largest art galleries of France outside Paris. The museum is housed in a dependency of the Palais Rohan in central Bordeaux. Its collections regroup paintings, sculptures and drawings. The painting collection is the largest one and its strong points are works by French and Dutch painters. The museum holds several paintings that were looted by the French during the French revolution (so-called'saisies révolutionnaires') and were never returned to their lawful owners such as the Martyrdom of Saint Georges by Peter Paul Rubens.[2]
Expansion plans[edit]
In 2009, plans for a new museum building designed by David Chipperfield were launched. Originally due to open in 2018, the €55 million project was later pushed back until 2020. The expansion was necessary not least because more space is required to take up a promised donation of 663 works by Tsuguharu Foujita.[3]
Painting Collection[edit]
Here is a list of some of the painters represented in the museum collections:
External links[edit]
Coordinates: 44°50′15″N 0°34′52″W / 44.8374°N 0.5810°W / 44.8374; -0.5810


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PV POWER MAP
The PV Power Map is a report of national solar resource availability as illustrated by the monthly energy output of a nominal 1-kilowatt (kW) photovoltaic (PV) system by location. Comparing monthly maps makes it possible to see how irradiance and associated PV system power output vary over time from region to region, often with unexpected results.
For example, compare January and February solar resource availability on the eastern seaboard with the Gulf Coast. During this time, the total power output of a 1-kW system in New York City and New Orleans was virtually identical, at approximately 195 kilowatt-hours (90 + 105 kWh) and 200 kWh (115 + 85 kWh) respectively. When viewed over time, solar resource availability in northern states often exceeds expectations.
Looking at the February map in the Maine region, the northern Rockies and the northern Great Plains, a limitation common to all satellite-derived solar irradiance data sources is evident. Persistent snow cover in these regions was in some cases misinterpreted as cloud cover, leading to an underestimation of irradiance. An updated model that integrates infrared data to better estimate atmospheric conditions will reduce these effects. Currently being used for select customers and regions, the new SolarAnywhere model will provide accurate, low-cost data even in high-albedo situations for all users as it's rolled out broadly.
The PV Power Map can be used by anyone to quickly gauge the generation potential of a new PV system, or benchmark the performance of an installed system, in a given location. Go to _URL_ to reference maps throughout the year, or access free historical irradiance data at solaranywhere.com.
The PV Power Map is created with power output estimates generated by SolarAnywhere services from Clean Power Research, which include simulation capabilities and hourly satellite-derived irradiance data with spatial resolutions from 1 to 10 kilometers. The calculations are based on a PV system with a total 1-kW nameplate rating that is configured as: five 200-watt PV panels with a 1.5-kW inverter; fixed, south-facing panels with 30 degree tilt; no shading; panel PVUSA Test Conditions rating of 178 watts; and inverter efficiency of 95.5 percent. Visualization and mapping provided by GeoModel Solar.
This article appeared in the May 2012 issue of SOLAR TODAY. Subscribe today and don't miss an issue.


Wikipedia has an article on:
From French microcosme, from Latin microcosmus, from Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, small) + κόσμος (kósmos, world).
microcosm (plural microcosms)
 1. Human nature or the human body as representative of the wider universe; man considered as a miniature counterpart of divine or universal nature. [from 15th c.]
 - 1972, Rolf Soellner, Shakespeare's Patterns of Self-Knowledge, Chapter 3: Microcosm and Macrocosm: Framing The Picture of Man, page 43:
 The Christian humanists were emphatic in their demand that a man who wishes to understand himself must realize that he is a little world that reflects on a smaller scale the larger world of the universe. [] On the other hand, the whole idea of man as a microcosm was questioned by those who were not in sympathy with the Christian humanists.
 2. (obsolete) The human body; a person. [17th-19th c.]
 3. A smaller system which is seen as representative of a larger one. [from 17th c.]
 - 1999, Barry McIntyre, The Guardian, 16 Dec 1999:
 'In a sense, the problems experienced at Bristol are like a microcosm of what is happening in the NHS - experienced surgeons battling against difficult circumstances, with inadequate resources and in a culture where the finding of scapegoats appears to be put before the finding of solutions.'
 Steve Bruce's side have swung from highs to lows in what has been at best a wildly inconsistent start to the season. They experienced a microcosm of this within the opening 45 minutes at the Stadium of Light.
 4. (ecology) A small natural ecosystem; an artificial ecosystem set up as an experimental model. [from 19th c.]
 - 2009, Jerry C. Smrchek, Maurice G. Zeeman, Chapter 3: Assessing Risks to Ecological Systems from Chemicals, Peter P. Calow (editor), Handbook of Environmental Risk Assessment and Management, page 53:
 The method is relatively labour intensive (24-30 microcosms are run) and more difficult to interpret when compared with other microcosm methods (Shannon et al. 1986; Cairns & Cherry 1993).
 - (smaller system representative of a larger one): worldkin
Alternative formsEdit
Borrowing from French microcosme.
microcosm n (plural (rare) microcosmuri)
 1. microcosm


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Students and Scientists Share Extraordinary Tales on the Road to Discovery
Marco Midon is living his dream. As the lead radio frequency design engineer for the Solar Dynamic Observatory Ground System at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, he's building a 200 ft. antennae to read acoustical energy-like an ultrasound device-and paint a picture of the inside of the sun.
Midon is blind and joined part of a panel of scientists and engineers who on Friday shared their successes pursuing technical careers with high school students from the greater Washington, D.C., area. The 25th Annual Luncheon for Scientists and Students with Disabilities was held during the 2005 AAAS Annual Meeting.
The event was organized by AAAS's ENTRY POINT! Program, and hosted by IBM, a key sponsor of the program.
During the luncheon and panel discussion, there were several recurring themes: technology, internships and mentoring.
"Internships are critical for students with disabilities," said Millie DesBiens, IBM's program manager of global work force diversity. "It's an important component to build into your college plan."
Imke Durre, a physical scientist at the National Climatic Data Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), analyzes weather observations. Legally blind without light perception, she got hooked on climate conditions as a girl when her mom would read to her the variations in temperature from the Weather Channel.
Growing up in Germany, accessibility was an issue. Durre's mother would enter all the text from her schoolbooks into an old Apple IIE. Now, she simply scans text into her computer. Sometimes a student helper will edit the math for refreshable Braille display, a tactile device consisting of a row of special soft cells placed next to each other to form a Braille line. The student helpers need only know how to best represent the math so the device can read it.
"It was necessary for me to have a goal to work towards. The answers weren't always apparent from the outset and sometimes there was a lot to figure out along the way," Durre said. "But it was important to have a goal to pursue."
In 2000, Durre graduated from the University of Washington with a Ph.D. in atmospheric science. She credits mentoring, in large part, for the decision to earn an undergraduate degree in applied mathematics from Yale University.
"Sometimes getting advice from people in the field is really helpful," she said. "And the internship was valuable for establishing connections. It facilitates the process to have someone who can advocate for you with letters of recommendation and advice."
And sometimes, students need to be flexible and creative to adapt to situations. When images don't translate into Braille, vision-impaired students will often ask a colleague or an instructor to describe the picture. In many cases, the verbal description is sufficient.
Or, students studying sins in calculus might use a tactile graphics printer. The technology allows the individual to feel what the curve of the sin might look like. (In calculus, sin is the ordinate of the endpoint of an arc of a unit circle centered at the origin of a Cartesian coordinate system, the arc being of length x and measured counterclockwise from the point (1, 0) if x is positive or clockwise if x is negative.)
Mark Stern, vice president of product management at GoAmerica, focuses on accessible communication services.
"When I look back, I see the role that science and technology has had on my life. It would be hard to imagine life without it," said Stern. "Email alone made a huge difference for me, but now I have even more flexibility with wireless pagers and communication devices that are accessible to people who are deaf and hard of hearing."
Accessible communication has seen significant improvements in the 25 years since the first luncheon was held-from the introduction of personal computers to the increasing prevalence of TTY technology to assist people with hearing loss in telephone communication, and from cochlear implants to dawn of the Internet and real-time captioning. These advances have made marked improvements in the experiences of students with disabilities.
"Who knows what technology will develop in the next 25 years?" Stern asked. "The future will probably include vast improvements in voice recognition software, speech synthesis, wearable computers, no keyboards and holographic projection."
"Technology is awesome," agreed Laureen Summers, program associate for the Project on Science, Technology and Disability at AAAS.
Andy Martin is a student at the University of Washington working on human-computer interaction research projects. "It's a challenge because you use these funky tools and people wonder what's going on with you," said Martin, who has low vision.
Martin's internship at the NASA Ames Research Center in California was one of the biggest learning experiences of his life. He hated it-but still, he says, there were benefits.
"I didn't like my work at Ames. And it was in the middle of nowhere. It was really hard to get around and taught me the value of location," Martin said. "Real life experiences are so important. It's important to see what it's like to go out and work."
AAAS has long been an advocate for the rights of people with disabilities, providing full accessibility to its annual meetings since 1976. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 now requires the removal of barriers that have historically kept people with disabilities from fully integrating into society.
The EntryPoint! and ACCESS internship programs teach valuable lessons on balancing life with work. They provide a community and introduce the interns to colleagues that may assist them with their career goals.
Since 1996, ENTRY POINT! has provided internships to hundreds of students with strong academic records in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. After internships ranging from IBM, JPMorganChase and Texas Instruments to NOAA, NASA and the National Institutes for Health, many have gone on to flourish in careers that might have been closed to them in decades past.
Students from high schools in Arlington and Fairfax Counties in Virginia, Montgomery and Prince George's Counties in Maryland, and the Model Secondary School for the Deaf [link: _URL_ ] attended Friday's event.
Speaking to the students, ENTRY POINT! Director Virgina Stern said: " I hope the speakers have convinced you that in 2005, students with any kind of disability can overcome every barrier to persist in any field of science, engineering or technology."
19 February 2005


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Blue Marble Next Generation
From World Wind Wiki
The Blue Marble Next Generation is not just an 'improved version' of the old Blue Marble. Apart from better resolution (500m/px) and better colors, BMNG is 3 different views, with a different set for each month, making 36 new image sets total. All the imagery was acquired in 2004.
Blue Marble: Next Generation offers greater spatial detail of the surface and spans a longer data collection period than the original. The original Blue Marble was a composite of four months of MODIS observations with a spatial resolution (level of detail) of 1 square kilometer per pixel. Blue Marble: Next Generation offers a year's worth of monthly composites at a spatial resolution of 500 meters. These monthly images reveal seasonal changes to the land surface: the green-up and dying-back of vegetation in temperate regions such as North America and Europe; dry and wet seasons in the tropics, and advancing and retreating Northern Hemisphere snow cover.
Blue Marble: Next Generation improves the techniques for turning satellite data into digital images. Among the key improvements is greater detail in areas that usually appear very dark to the satellite (because a large amount of sunlight is being absorbed), for example in dense tropical forests. The ability to create a digital image that provides great detail in darker regions without 'washing out' brighter regions, like glaciers, snow-covered areas, and deserts is one of the great challenges of visualizing satellite data. The new version also improves image clarity, and gives highly reflective bodies of water, such as salt lakes, a more realistic appearance.
 Blue Marble layers
Blue Marble Next Generation comes in several layers - this causes it to be a much more significant and complex component of World Wind than its predecessor.
 Blue Marble Base
This is the layer which lives below all other visible layers...
 Blue Marble Shaded
A nice, topographically shaded month-to-month record of the Earth in 2004
 Blue Marble Shaded + Bathy
Same as above, but with the addition (merging) of NOAA bathymetry data
 Blue Marble in World Wind
BMNG Shaded + Bathy is enabled by default and the layer month is matched with current month. As such what you see in World Wind will be fairly similar to the way that the world looks right now.
To view the other layers, you can use the NASA Blue Marble toolbar icon or select them in Layer Manager.
 External Links
 Data Sources and Credit
- Blue Marble: Next Generation was produced by Reto Stockli, NASA Earth Observatory (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center).
- NASA's Earth Observatory.
- Data processed for NASA World Wind by Chris Maxwell at NASA Ames Research Center.


Eliminate weapons of mass destruction: Speaker
RSTV Bureau
sumitra_mahajanOn the anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing, Lok Sabha remembered the victims on Wednesday, with Speaker Sumitra Mahajan saying everyone should strive for elimination of weapons of mass destruction.
Wreaking havoc, the United States used its atomic weapon against Hiroshima in Japan on August 6, 1945. Three days later, Nagasaki was bombed.
"Let us re-affirm our resolve to relentlessly strive for the elimination of weapons of mass destruction and to ensure the propagation of peace throughout the world," Mahajan said.
The House observed silence in memory of the victims.
"Even after the passage of nearly seven decades, residents of these cities continue to suffer from the horrendous after effects of nuclear radiations," she said.


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You now have better control over the format of your customer data in Totango, thanks the List attribute type.
With the List attribute you can predefine field values and set defaults, allowing administrators to standardize inputs.
Once you've set up your first List attribute, you can do the following things:
- Restrict inputs to predefined values
- Filter Segments
- Use List values like any other attribute. For example: kick off a SuccessPlay or Campaign when the field value changes.
Creating a List attribute
To set up a List attribute, follow these steps (note - you must have the Global Admin role to create a custom attribute):
- Navigate to Global Settings
- Select Attributes and Metrics
- Choose whether you are creating the attribute at the Account or User level
- Click the green "+" button to add a new attribute
- Name the attribute and provide a description
- For the attribute type, select List.
- Define the values for this List. You can re-order values as necessary.
- Decide whether or not the field can be edited. Note: if you decide to restrict editability, no one including Global Admins will be able to edit the field value from within the Totango user interface.
- Decide whether or not the field is visible to everyone, or restricted to users who's SuccessTeam has access to these accounts.
- Select what you want to happen in case a new account is created or updated and no value is provided for this field. Your options are:
- Delete - the attribute will not be displayed on the Account or User profile. If there is an existing value in the field and a null value is upload, the existing value will be cleared and the attribute will be deleted from the Account Profile.
- Previous Value - If the attribute is updated with a null value via manual upload or through the API, Totango will retain the previous value rather than deleting it.
- Default Value - If the attribute is updated with a null value, Totango will populate the default value as defined by the Global Admin.
- Save your attribute and it's ready for use!
Using List attributes in Segments
Once created, the List attribute can be used to generate segments. When you using a List attribute in your segment criteria, you will have two options:
- Is one of - Allows you to select one or more values to search on.
- Is not one of - Allows you to filter out undesired values from your segment.
Because disabled values are not deleted, it is possible to use disabled values in your segment criteria.
- List values cannot be deleted once they are created; however, they can be disabled and renamed.
- When List values are renamed, once saved, the changes will cascade to all accounts.


Australian electricity prices and the cost of electricity in Australia per kWh
Australian electricity prices; the cost of electricity in Australia per kWh
This article will show you where you can find up-to-date wholesale electricity prices (aka the electricity spot price) for your state. It will also provide a snapshot of Australian electricity prices at June 2018, and explain how to convert the cost of electricity in Australia per kWh to MWh, and vice versa.
Just a heads up: This article is going to get deep into Australian electricity prices, but if you're more interested in saving money on energy, you may like to start on our cheap electricity page, where we explain how you can source the best deal for yourself.
Still here? Let's crack on and start with a brief explanation of the Australian energy market, which will lead into where to find Australian wholesale electricity prices.
Australian's electricity markets explained
In Australia, the National Electricity Market (NEM) includes QLD, NSW, VIC, SA, TAS and the ACT. The NEM is an environment where wholesale electricity is bought by retailers to later be on-sold to consumers.
The NEM is a spot market. This means electricity is traded for immediately delivery.
To calculate the electricity spot price, generators offer to supply the NEM with electricity at whatever price they choose. (They can revise this anytime.) From there, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) chooses which generators will produce electricity, prioritising cheapest first.
The spot price for electricity in each state changes every 5 minutes, and can vary significantly each day. To manage wild fluctuations in Australian electricity prices, retailers will generally enter into a contract with generators to fix wholesale electricity prices.
As you may have noticed, the word "National" is inaccurate. Western Australia and the Northern Territory are not connected to the NEM. (Nor are certain remote parts of Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales.) For WA and the NT, their power infrastructure is too far away from the NEM. It's thought that the cost of connecting them would outweigh the benefit.
In fact, there may not be a huge benefit to joining the NEM. WA and the NT have very competitive retail electricity prices compared to the other states and territories, as we'll see.
How are Australian electricity prices measured?
Prices quoted on the NEM are measured in $/MWh (dollars per Megawatt hour).
This unit of measurement may not be familiar to you, so here's a crash course:
One Megawatt hour equates to using one million watts of electricity continuously for an hour. To put this into perspective, one MWh would power 630 average Australian homes for one hour.
…and here's how I arrived at that figure:
1 Megawatt hours = 3.6 Giga-joules.
In 2014-15 the average Australian home used approximately 50 Giga-joules of energy.
Therefore, the average Australian household uses 50 Giga-joules ÷ 3.6 = 13.9 Megawatt hours of electricity per annum.
13.9 MWh ÷ 8,760 hours in a year = each house is using 0.00158676 MWh of electricity per hour.
Finally, 1 MWh ÷ 0.00158676 MWh = it would take 630.2 average Australian homes one hour to use 1 MWh of electricity.
Hopefully that gives you have a feel for what a Megawatt hour might be worth in terms of powering your home or business. But what's one worth? That's up next: where do we find wholesale Australian electricity prices?
Where to find the electricity spot price
For states and territories connected to the NEM, the AEMO provides a data dashboard that lists wholesale electricity prices. This is available to anyone with an internet connection, and it's free to use.
In the Northern Territory, the wholesale prices are not readily available, but they are in fact higher than the retail prices. Here's how that works, as explained by the Utilities Commission of the Northern Territory:
The maximum retail prices for customers with annual electricity consumption less than 750 MWh continue to be set by the Territory Government through an Electricity Pricing Order. The prices set by the Territory Government are below-cost reflective levels, requiring the government to make relatively large community service obligation (CSO) payments (of approximately $80 million per annum) to electricity retailers.
The above rings true, because the NT enjoys the lowest retail Australian electricity prices of any state or territory.
In Western Australia, residential customers do not have a choice of electricity suppliers – it's Synergy or nothing. However, Synergy do provide 2 options. Customers can pay a 'single rate' (where they pay the same tariff 24/7) or opt for 'flexible pricing' (where the rate varies between peak and off-peak times).
Synergy do not disclose wholesale prices, only retail prices.
Wholesale electricity prices at June 2018
Here's a snapshot of wholesale electricity prices as at June 2018:
State or territoryWholesale price $/MWh
South Australia$114.16/MWh
New South Wales$88.06/MWh
Northern TerritoryNot disclosed; subsidised
Western AustraliaNot disclosed
While the NT and WA's wholesale electricity prices are not readily available, we can assume they are likely similar to Victoria. (Keep in mind NT consumers receive the benefit of subsidies.) I'll justify this statement when we look at retail prices, in a moment.
Please note that these figures refer to the average RRP (recommended retail price, or average spot price) for the month of June 2018.
These are the wholesale prices. But for us consumers, the real point of interest is the retail cost of electricity in Australia per kWh. Just wait until you see the markups!
The retail cost of electricity in Australia per kWh
Here's where to find retail Australian electricity prices…
For states and territories connected to the NEM, these are "contested markets". In other words, it's up to each electricity retailer to set their own price, whatever they believe will be competitive.
As a handy point of reference, Cannstar Blue provide tables detailing the average cost of electricity in Australia per kWh for the NEM states (excluding Tasmania). If you clicked through to the tables, you may have noticed that retailers quote prices in cents per kWh (kiloWatt hour). This is a different measure to the wholesale prices quoted above, which are in dollars per MWh (Megawatt hour).
For ease of comparison with the wholesale prices, we'll quote both measures for you here. Keeping in mind:
1 MWh = 1,000 kWh.
But don't forget, there are 100 cents in a dollar! (So the calculation is x 0.01 to get from cents to dollars and then x 1,000 to get from kWh to MWh. Or, the figure in cents/kWh x 10 = dollars/MWh).
In Tasmania, you can click through for indicative retail prices with Aurora Energy.
For the Northern Territory, you can click through for current retail prices.
In Western Australia, you can click through for current retail prices.
Here are the current indicative retail prices, including my guess with respect to retailer markups:
State or territoryWholesale price $/MWhRetail price $/kWhRetail price $/MWhEstimated markup
South Australia$114.16/MWh43.67c/kWh$436.7/MWh383%
New South Wales$88.06/MWh33.33c/kWh$333.3/MWh378%
Northern TerritoryNot disclosed; subsidised25.67c/kWh$256.7/MWhLikely similar to VIC
Western AustraliaNot disclosed28.33c/kWh$283.3/MWhLikely similar to VIC
As you can see, when you compare wholesale electricity prices with retail, there are some significant markups. Let's round out this article with a quick exploration of why that might be.
What does your retailer do for their markup?
Companies like AGL Energy, Alinta Energy, BlueNRG and Click Energy buy energy wholesale. Then they combine it with transmission and distribution services, before selling the final product to their customers. Of course, they also need to allow for all the other expenses associated with running their businesses.
AGL is Australia's largest energy retailer, and therefore a good target for further analysis. As a public company, all their data is in the public domain. Let's take a look at their numbers:
In the six months to 31 December 2017, AGL Energy Ltd revenues were A$6.45 billion (+7%).
Net income was A$622 million (+91%).
AGL is an interesting case, because they are both a generator of electricity, as well as a retailer. They generate and sell electricity wholesale on the NEM. But they also buy it wholesale and on-sell it to consumers as a retailer.
Upon closer inspection, AGL's wholesale revenue was up 25%, but their retail revenue was up just 4%. As a generator and wholesaler of electricity, AGL have benefitted from rising spot prices on the NEM. Prices hit all time highs in 2017.
But as a retailer, they're not doing anywhere near as well. And overall, their net profit margin for the trailing 12-months to 31 December 2017 was 6.43%. This is a number most people would consider fair and reasonable, and not a sign of price gouging of their consumers.
Markups don't necessarily correlate to profits
So it's important to realise that markup does


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The Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans (SWBNO) aims to reduce energy consumption and enhance operational efficiency. The FUSE Executive Fellow will analyze energy usage, identify energy reduction opportunities, and lead energy efficiency projects, ultimately transforming SWBNO into a more sustainable and cost-effective agency that better serves the community.
Fellowship Dates: October 23, 2023 – October 21, 2024
Salary: Executive Fellows are FUSE employees and receive an annual base salary of $80,000. Fellows can also access various health, dental, and vision insurance benefits. Compensation for this year of public service is not intended to represent market-rate compensation for the experienced professionals in our program.
ABOUT THE FUSE EXECUTIVE FELLOWSHIP
FUSE is a national nonprofit working to expand social and economic opportunities, particularly for communities that have been limited by a history of systemic and institutionalized racism. FUSE partners with local governments and communities to more effectively address pressing challenges by placing experienced professionals within city and county agencies. These FUSE Executive Fellows lead strategic projects designed to advance racial equity and accelerate systems change. Since 2012, FUSE has led over 250 projects in 40 governments across 20 states, impacting the lives of 25 million people.
When designing each fellowship project, FUSE works closely with government partners and local stakeholders to define a scope of work that will achieve substantive progress toward regional priorities. FUSE then conducts an individualized search for each project to ensure that the selected candidate has at least 15 years of professional experience, the required competencies for the role, and deep connections to the communities being served. They are data-driven and results-oriented and can effectively manage complex projects by developing actionable roadmaps and monitoring progress to completion.
Executive Fellows are hired as FUSE employees and embedded in government agencies for at least one year of full-time work. They receive training, coaching, and professional support from FUSE throughout their fellowships to help achieve their project goals. FUSE Executive Fellows bring diverse perspectives and new approaches to their projects. They build strong relationships with diverse arrays of stakeholders, foster alignment within and across various layers of government, and build partnerships between governments and communities.
The Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans (SWBNO) is a vital local government utility responsible for providing safe drinking water, treating wastewater, and managing stormwater runoff to prevent extensive flooding. To fulfill these crucial functions, SWBNO operates six major campuses and 122 pumping stations across the city, employing hundreds of workers and maintaining a fleet of vehicles.
Given its scale, SWBNO's facilities consume substantial electrical power. While the agency has made efforts to enhance energy efficiency, such as installing energy-efficient lighting, larger opportunities for energy savings remain untapped. Smart building management systems, major building system overhauls, and on-site solar energy generation have not been fully explored due to limited capacity within the agency. SWBNO's leadership is committed to reducing the organization's overall energy consumption. Fortunately, funds are available from Entergy, the local electric utility, to support or heavily subsidize various energy efficiency projects. Furthermore, emerging federal programs may provide funding for solar panel installations.
By reducing energy consumption, SWBNO can serve the community more cost-effectively and make significant progress toward operating in an environmentally sustainable manner. The agency is also concerned about creating better working conditions for its employees. Energy efficiency initiatives hold the potential to improve work environments by providing enhanced lighting and climate control, thereby enhancing the quality of work life.
To analyze energy consumption and implement projects that reduce energy use, SWBNO will collaborate with FUSE. The appointed FUSE Executive Fellow will engage with agency stakeholders, gather and analyze energy usage data, and develop a prioritized list of opportunities for energy reduction. Subsequently, the Executive Fellow will initiate the implementation of these improvements. A successful Executive Fellow will play a pivotal role in reducing the energy footprint of this significant public utility, resulting in a more efficient agency that better serves the community.
PROJECT SUMMARY & POTENTIAL DELIVERABLES
The following provides a general overview of the proposed fellowship project. This project summary and the potential deliverables will be collaboratively revisited by the host agency, the fellow, and FUSE staff during the first few months of the fellowship.
Beginning in October 2023, the Executive Fellow will engage with agency stakeholders, gather and analyze energy usage data, and develop a prioritized list of opportunities for energy reduction. They will then lead the initial implementation of these improvements, working towards reducing the energy footprint of SWBNO and enhancing its overall efficiency.
To ensure the sustainability and long-term impact of the fellowship work, the Executive Fellow will employ several strategies. They will actively engage with SWBNO staff, looking to identify training and resource opportunities to empower employees in understanding and maintaining energy efficiency measures. This knowledge will enable SWBNO to continue managing and improving energy consumption beyond the fellowship. The Fellow will also build relationships among stakeholders, including agency leadership, staff, and external partners, fostering collaboration and ensuring ongoing support for energy efficiency efforts. Regular meetings, updates, and engagement activities will promote a sustainable culture within SWBNO. Additionally, the Fellow will establish monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to track project performance, collect data, measure energy reduction, and assess cost savings and environmental benefits. Sharing these findings with SWBNO leadership will help to demonstrate the value of the initiatives and inform future decision-making.
By October 2024, the Executive Fellow will have overseen the following:
- Comprehensive Energy Consumption Analysis: The Executive Fellow will thoroughly analyze SWBNO's energy consumption, gathering data from various sources and engaging with agency stakeholders. This analysis will provide a comprehensive understanding of the current energy usage patterns, identifying areas of inefficiency and opportunities for improvement. By evaluating the energy consumption across SWBNO's facilities, including major campuses, pumping stations, and buildings, the Fellow can develop a holistic approach to energy reduction.
- Prioritized List of Energy Reduction Opportunities: Based on the findings from the energy consumption analysis, the Executive Fellow will develop a prioritized list of opportunities for energy reduction. This list will identify specific projects and initiatives with the highest energy savings and operational efficiency potential. The Fellow will consider financial feasibility, environmental impact, and scalability factors to ensure that the recommended opportunities align with SWBNO's goals and resources. The prioritized list will serve as a roadmap for the implementation phase.
- Implementation of Energy Efficiency Projects: The Executive Fellow will play a pivotal role in implementing the identified energy efficiency projects. They will work closely with SWBNO staff, external partners, and contractors to being to execute the recommended initiatives effectively. This may involve overseeing the installation of energy-efficient systems, coordinating the integration of smart building management systems, exploring the use of solar energy for on-site power generation, and facilitating upgrades to major building systems. The Fellow will ensure that the projects are executed efficiently, within budget, and in line with the sustainability goals of SWBNO.
- Executive Sponsor – Ghassan Korban, Executive Director; Sewerage & Water Board
- Project Supervisor – Stephen Nelson, Deputy General Superintendent of Engineering and Services; Sewerage & Water Board
In addition to the qualifications listed below, a facility or property management background is strongly preferred for this project. Knowledge of public procurement or energy efficiency would be a plus, but is not required.
- Synthesizes complex information into clear and concise recommendations and action-oriented implementation plans.
- Develops and effectively implements both strategic and operational project management plans.
- Generates innovative, data-driven, and result-oriented solutions to difficult challenges.
- Responds quickly to changing ideas, responsibilities, expectations, trends, strategies and other processes.
- Communicates effectively both verbally and in writing, and excels in both active listening and conversing.
- Fosters collaboration across multiple constituencies in order to support more effective decision making.
- Establishes and maintains strong relationships with a diverse array of stakeholders, both inside and outside of government, and particularly including community-based relationships.
- Embraces differing viewpoints and implements strategies to find common ground.
- Demonstrates confidence and professional diplomacy, while effectively interacting with individuals at all levels of various organizations.
FUSE is an equal opportunity employer with core values of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply for this position.