text:
ACVM, which is developed by our Partner universities, is new type of PVC processing aid or acrylic processing aid.
ACVM is manufactured from acryl ate copolymer while introducing vinyl monomers, improving the compatibility with PVC with special polymer processing technology.
ACVM is widely used in chloride polyethylene (CPVC) or polyethylene (PVC) sheet, pipe, transparent products, wire and cable materials, and shoe materials application, etc.
Picture 1 shows transparent particles morphology by microsecope
- ACVM could be easily handled and compatible with PVC resin, readily dispersing in PVC resin.
- ACVM offer excellent plasticity, solving the surface migration of plasticizer; therefore ACVM could reduce dosage of plasticizer in the shoe materials, wire and cable, and flexible transparent articles applications.
- ACVM could enhance low temperature toughness and impact strength in the PVC processing applications.
- ACVM offers excellent thermal stability and weather resistance.
- ACVM could reduce the melt viscosity and plasticizing time, therefore it could increase productivity
- ACVM enables to reduce dosage of lubricant and dosage of filler, therefore it reduce the manufacturing costs.
Superiority over traditional PVC processing aid
- ACVM is better than traditional PVC processing aid in terms of PVC plasticity.
- ACVM could enhance the compression strength and resilience in the application of PVC flame-retardant and insulation products, solving the flaccid problem of products with PVC as processing aid during summer.
- ACVM uses less dosage than traditional PVC processing aid but are brighter than traditional PVC processing aid dose; therefore there is less possibility of spots occurred in ACVM than traditional PVC processing aid dose.
- ACVM offers better liquidity but less power consumption than traditional PVC processing aid or acrylic processing aid when extruding products, thus ACVM could enhance productivity.
- ACVM consumes less lubricant dosage than traditional PVC processing aid or acrylic processing aid when being applicable in extruding PVC pipes.
To Download ACVM Technical Data Sheet
ACVM is widely used in chloride polyethylene (CPVC) or polyethylene (PVC) sheet, pipe, transparent products, wire and cable materials, and shoe materials process aid application, etc.
ACVM enables reduce dosage of CPE when combining with CPE applications.
To Download ACVM Data Sheet


0000>;
 l18 {
 regulator-min-microvolt = <_PHONE_>;
 regulator-max-microvolt = <_PHONE_>;
You should paste this at the end of your device tree and then go through all the voltages and compare them what you see in your downstream reference kernel. Here are some tips and tricks:
 - Downstream regulators look a bit different, but they are usually defined in msm8916-regulators.dtsi. Note that some device trees may override the regulator voltages in a device-specific.dts(i).
 - s1 (smpa1 and l3 (ldoa3) are missing in the voltage constraints because they are managed separately as power domains. Simply put, these two regulators are used by many components in the SoC. Instead of picking an exact voltage, we vote for a particular performance state. On downstream this is called voltage corner. There is a special Resource Power Manager (RPM) co-processor that collects all the votes and then decides for a particular voltage to use.
 - There is no need to set up voltage constraints for these because there is no way to set an dangerous voltage through the corner interface.
 - s2 (spm-regulator) is special (used to control the voltage for the CPU cores) and is not touched by mainline at the moment. Just ignore it.
 - Also ignore the -ao and -so regulators (usually just on l7)
 - regulator-system-load on l11 in the snippet above is for stability of the SD card[1]. This is declared in a different place on downstream, but most likely you can just keep it as-is.
 - vdd_l1_l2_l3-supply etc does not exist on downstream, but you can also keep it as-is. It is extremely unlikely that this is different for a particular device. Most important is validating the voltages.
Note: Usually most of the voltage ranges should stay as-is. If you are unsure, better be safe and ask for feedback in the chat!
Theoretically, enabling USB would be as simple as adding:
&usb {
 status = "okay";
However, due to an implementation detail USB only works if the USB controller is notified when you actually insert an USB cable. On mainline, these notifications come from the extcon (external connector) subsystem. Unfortunately, how we can detect that an USB cable was inserted differs quite significantly between devices. Sometimes (mainly on Samsung devices), there is some kind of Micro-USB Interface Controller that sits between USB and the SoC, which can detect various different cable types (connected to PC, connected to charger adapter, USB-OTG,...). In most other cases, this notification comes from the charger driver, which is usually quite hard to get working (see _TAG_/Charging).
How to handle some of the common variants is described here. Feel free to ask in the chat for further help.
ID pin
This is the easiest solution if you have some kind of USB ID GPIO defined downstream. Usually it's called qcom,usbid-gpio under the &usb_otg node but the name varies a bit sometimes. The USB ID pin is used to differentiate between:
 - Gadget mode (where you connect the device to a PC)
 - Host mode (where you use a special USB-OTG adapter to connect other USB devices, e.g. an USB keyboard)
It can only detect these two cases, so it does not allow us to detect that an USB cable is actually inserted. However, as a start we can pretend that an USB cable is inserted whenever we are not in host mode (i.e. whenever there is no USB-OTG adapter inserted). This means that the USB controller will stay active all the time. This is not much of a problem for getting started, right? :)
For this example, there was qcom,usbid-gpio = <&msm_gpio 110 0>; defined downstream, so the USB ID pin is connected to GPIO 110. Now we declare a new device tree node, which sets up an extcon device using the USB ID GPIO. We put this under the root node (/) because it is an entirely new node (previously we were mainly re-configuring existing device nodes):
_TAG_
/ {
 /*... */
 usb_id: usb-id {
 compatible = "linux,extcon-usb-gpio";
 id-gpios = <&msmgpio 110 GPIO_ACTIVE_HIGH>;
 pinctrl-names = "default";
 pinctrl-0 = <&usb_id_default>;
Something we have not seen before in this guide is pinctrl (or Pin Control): As mentioned earlier, MSM8916 has 122 GPIO pins that can be configured with different functions. The idea is that there are only so many physical pins you can afford to have on an SoC, but you want to expose a lot of features. Thankfully, most of the time you won't need to use all of the features in the same device, which is why SoC manufatcturers get away with multiplexing multiple functions behind one physical pin. The most common use of a pin is as a GPIO (basically a digital input/output line that can be either set high or low, respectively can be sensed to determine the level it was set to by something outside the SoC). But it's also possible to configure other functions (e.g. UART or I²C) for some of the pins. Additionally, pins can be configured with pull-up/pull-down resistors or with a particular drive strength. In the Linux kernel, the Pin Control Subsystem (pinctrl) handles that configuration.
In most cases you don't need to figure out yourself if you need pull-down/pull-up or a particular drive strength. We can check on downstream how the pins were configured and translate that to a similar configuration on mainline. While downstream may contain errors (like enabling an internal pull-up on a line with external one), it's proven to work reliably. When in doubt, a datasheet is of immense help. In our example here we find the following line downstream: pinctrl-0 = <&usbid_default>;. We can then search for usbid_default: in the related device tree files (if it exists multiple times, check which includes are actually used for your device). In this case, we find it in msm8916-pinctrl.dtsi and it looks like:
usb-id-pin {
 qcom,pins = <&gp 110>;
 qcom,num-grp-pins = <1>;
 qcom,pin-func = <0>;
 label = "usb-id-pin";
 usbid_default: default {
 drive-strength = <8>;
The pin is configured as GPIO (qcom,pin-func = <0>) with pull-up and a drive-strength of 8mA.
We can easily define a similar configuration on mainline: To do that, we define a new pin configuration as part of the &msmgpio node, and then reference it with pinctrl-names/pinctrl-0 as seen above. The above example translates to the following:
&msmgpio {
 usb_id_default: usb-id-default {
 pins = "gpio110";
 function = "gpio";
 drive-strength = <8>;
Finally, we assign our new extcon device to both &usb and &usb_hs_phy, and then USB should be working. :)
&usb {
 status = "okay";
 extcon = <&usb_id>, <&usb_id>;
&usb_hs_phy {
 extcon = <&usb_id>;
Note: In the &usb node, the first extcon should point to the one that detects USB gadget mode, while the second one should detect USB host mode. In our case, our extcon device forces USB gadget mode as long as you don't connect an USB-OTG adapter. Later these would potentially be separate extcon devices. For &usb_hs_phy only the one for USB gadget mode should be specified.
Especially Samsung devices do not have the USB ID pin connected to a GPIO like explained in the previous section. Instead, there is an additional chip that sits between the USB connector and the USB controller: a Micro-USB Interface Controller (or: MUIC). The MUIC handles all USB cable related detection and therefore pretty much represents an extcon device as we have set up manually using the USB ID GPIO in the last section.
The disadvantage is that we now need a special driver for the MUIC. Many different chips exist so often a driver is not available immediately, since you usually don't want to write an entire new driver before you know if mainline is booting on your device at all. Anyway, if there is a driver for it already, the approach to make it work would be the following:
 1. Identify the MUIC chip. Usually you can find it by searching for muic in the downstream device tree. In this example we will use SM5502, which has the extcon-sm5502.c driver in mainline.
 2. Identify the I²C bus it is connected to. (it will probably be an I²C bus, but in theory it might be e.g SPI.) Samsung tends to use i2c-gpio, which emulates the I²C protocol on GPIO pins using bit banging. Note that sometimes they use i2c-gpio even when there is a hardware I²C bus available on the same pins. Not sure why they do that. They also sometimes add i2c-gpio-specific dts properties to hw I²C nodes. You can


text:
Reporting Student Progress
EKES Philosophy of Reporting on Student Progress*
A critical element of any student's learning experience is the need for informed and meaningful feedback to those invested in the student's progress. Reporting on student progress must have a well-defined purpose for it to be meaningful. It must clearly identify the information needing to be communicated, the audience it is intended for and how that information will be used to improve future or related learning.
Our School has identified three primary purposes for reporting student progress:
- To communicate student growth to parents and the broader community.
- To provide feedback to students for self-evaluation.
- To document student progress and the effectiveness of instructional programs.
Because reporting student progress serves a variety of purposes, we believe no one method of reporting is capable of serving all purposes well. A multi-faceted comprehensive reporting system is essential. Multiple means of reporting progress is divided into two subsets, individual and whole school reports. Within these subsets, the means for reporting may include but are not limited to:
Individual Subset - report cards, progress reports, standardized testing, evaluated projects and assignments, portfolios and exhibitions of student work, homework, individual web pages, parent-teacher conferences, student-teacher conferences, and student led conferences.
Whole School SubsetStandardized testing, open houses, classroom and school-wide newsletters, portfolios and exhibitions of student work, and school wide web pages.
Each means of reporting on student progress will include a statement of purpose. The statement of purpose may vary according to the specific type of reporting taking place and the audience it is directed toward.
Sample statement of purpose:
"This document is part of the EKES comprehensive system for reporting on student progress."
EKES Philosophy of Grading*
The philosophy of grading at East Kingston Elementary School is based on three underlying principles of learning. The first is our commitment to shared district and SAU standards of learning. The adoption of shared standards requires clear and common performance indicators at each grade level. The second principle that guides learning at our school is a strong commitment to and belief in supporting the individual learner. It is critical that each child has a means to recognize and pursue individual interests, unique abilities, and to have his or her personal learning style honored. Finally, the third principle that guides learning at our school is the importance of communicating individual student progress to those with a stake in the learner's growth and performance. These principles serve as the basis of learning in our school, and define the fundamental importance and structure for reporting and grading individual student progress.
To fully support our school's principles of learning, we believe we need to report on student growth in three ways:
Student progress or the performance of each learner is measured in relationship to the shared standards that have been established at both the SAU and district level, irrespective of peer progress toward these same standards. Progress is recorded to show student growth over time. The fundamental questions that underlie teacher interpretation of the standards are: What should students learn, and what criteria do they need to meet to be considered working at grade level, as characterized by the typical learner?
A product of student work is best characterized as what a student knows and can do at a particular point in time. The work a student produces is most typically demonstrated through the completion of ongoing assessments, assignments, presentations and projects. While teachers will use the quality of a student's product to assess progress toward meeting the standards, developmentally appropriate criteria and grading will be used to support students in the completion of the work they produce.
The process each learner uses to enhance his/her achievement is measured by the student's attitude toward learning, effort, work habits and utilization of developing learning strategies.
Our school recognizes that students, parents and teachers alike must work together to support student learning. Effective, meaningful and regular communication of student progress allows for open and constructive dialogue with parents and others; supports student self-evaluation and goal setting; and, provides important documentation for program evaluation and improvement. Ultimately, our means of grading student progress will support and accentuate a desire for life long learning.
*The development of our school's Philosophy of Reporting on Student Progress and Philosophy of Grading were most influenced by the writings of Dr. Thomas Guskey, professor of Educational Policy Study at the University of Kentucky.
Below are copies of EKES standards based report cards and curriculum guides:
- Kindergarten Report Card
- Grade 1-3 Report Card
- Grade 4-5 Report Card
- Kindergarten Curriculum Guide
- Grade 1 Curriculum Guide
- Grade 2 Curriculum Guide
- Grade 3 Curriculum Guide
- Grade 4 Curriculum Guide
- Grade 5 Curriculum Guide

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


EBITDAR - Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation, Amortization, and Restructuring or Rent Costs
Written By:
Paul Tracy
Updated September 30, 2020
What is EBITDAR?
EBITDAR, which stands for earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and either restructuring or rent costs (depending on what you're measuring) measures a company's profitability without taking into account its capital structure, tax rate, or primary non-cash items such as depreciation or amortization. It also backs out restructuring or rent costs, so that a company or analyst can approximate the cash available before either of these costs are paid for.
EBITDAR Formula - How to Calculate EBITDAR
EBITDAR is calculated using a company's income statement. It does not appear as a line item, but it can easily be calculated using other line items that do appear on the income statement.
The formula for EBITDAR is:
EBITDAR = EBIT + Depreciation + Amortization + Restructuring Costs (or Rent, depending on what version of EBITDAR you're calculating)
In this example, we calculate EBITDAR by finding the line item for EBIT ($200,000), depreciation ($100,000), amortization (N/A) and restructuring costs ($100,000), and then we use the formula:
EBITDAR = $200,000 + $100,000 + 0 + $100,000 = $400,000
EBITDAR is $400,000 vs. net income of $100,000.
Why the Meaning of EBITDAR is Important
EBITDAR provides investment analysts with information for evaluating a company's operating performance without regard to other factors unrelated to operations such as interest expenses, tax rates, major non-cash items, or nonrecurring items such as restructuring costs.
EBITDAR helps minimize variables that are unique from company to company, in order to focus the analysis on operating profitability as a singular measure of performance. Such analysis is particularly important when comparing similar companies across a single industry.
EBITDAR is similar to other measures of profitability such as EBIT and EBITDA, but is used for certain types of companies such as casinos and restaurants that have unique rent costs, or for any company that has incurred non-recurring restructuring costs over the past fiscal year. Removing these costs allow analysts to compare these companies to others in their industry that do not share the same costs.


text: This Teaching set explains how the events in Genesis and Exodus foreshadow the course of Biblical and modern history. The events associated with Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham and Isaac foreshadows the exile of the nation of Israrel into the nations and their redemption through the Messiah. The conflict between Jacob and Esau foreshadows the events of the tribulation or Jacob's trouble. Joseph's separation from his brothers foreshadow the split of the house of Jacob into Northern Kingdom and Southern Kingdom and there eventual reunification.The judgments upon Egypt foreshadows the judgment upon the nations during the tribulation period. The two signs of Moses foreshadow the death and resurrection of the Messiah The events of the historical Egyptian exodus foreshadows the tribulation, judgment of the nations, and the redemption of Ephraim and Judah.


Galerie des Modes, 13e Cahier, 3e Figure
Young Lady coiffed à la Dauphine, dressed in a taffeta Robe à la Reine, trimmed au Nouveau Désiré. This Dress was invented by Signore SARRAZIN, costumer to their Royal Highnesses the Princes. (1778)
Robe à la Reine: this gown has the double advantage of being able to be worn trailing or pulled up, at the will of the people who are wearing it and at the moment they choose; two drawstrings, placed on two sides, indicated by two bows, and trimmed with two tassels, create this effect; in pulling one tassel, the gown lifts, as it is in the Drawing; in pulling the other, it descends and becomes hanging; this change is made in an instant.
The trim, called au nouveau désiré* because it was devised during the pregnancy of a majestic Princess, consists of two bands of spotted ermine, crossing in a mosaic form. One can, in the summer, replace the ermine with bands of gauze, also spotted, or streaked taffeta.
The first sleeves are open in the back like dalmatics; they hang over the second sleeves, cut en canon and trimmed with a sable band for winter, or ruched gauze for summer.
The petticoat, without a volant or flounce, must be made to the ordinary height of a volant with a color matching the second sleeves; the rest must match the gown. The point where the two parts unite serves to hold a band matching that of the second sleeves; a trim matching that of the gown around the bottom of the petticoat.
The shape in the back is indicated by gold braid, with a tassel at the center. The manchettes are round, topped with a row of pearls and accompanied with a puffed undersleeve.
Hair à la Dauphine: two curls on the side, two curls en crochet,* holding a dolphin's tail; this hairstyle is surmounted with a pinched ribbon placed en barriere, holding a diamond rose and crossed by a row of pearls. The chignon is in a knight's cross, from which escapes a curl à la Sultaine which descends to the throat, where it ends.
* "to the new desire"
** from the architectural sense, in which a crochet was a motif of a scroll, curled at one end


text:
Shorelines of stormwater ponds are prone to erosion because there are many forces working to undermine the stability of the bank. In many communities, property lines and HOA easements are drawn relative to the pond shore. The loss of shoreline is the same as moving the easement which reduces the useable real estate for the waterfront owner. Most communities consider it the responsibility of the property owner to manage the waterfront of the property, so stopping shoreline erosion is up to the homeowner but may be restricted by the HOA bylaws. This means that the HOA has to determine what shoreline management strategies it will allow the homeowner to use to prevent erosion of their property.
What causes shoreline erosion?
The most significant erosional force at the shoreline is also the subtlest. The simple lapping of ripples and loosening of saturated soils pulls soil particles apart just below the water surface; therefore, much of the bank erosion is occurring below the water level where it goes unseen until the exposed part of the bank slumps. Stormwater ponds are also designed to fill and drain with each storm event. The repeated rise and fall of water creates currents that pull soils away from the bank. Of course, water enters stormwater ponds through pipes that convey water from the paved surfaces in the community. The inlets where these pipes discharge into the pond are subjected to concentrated flow that can erode deep gullies and holes and affect the adjacent banks. Finally, many ponds are designed to receive surface flow from grassy swales between houses. These swales receive water from the gutter downspouts and direct it over the lawn to the pond or to the street. These shallow swales concentrate sheet flow, which can create gullies and depressions as the water flows down the pond bank slope.
Why are our banks eroding faster than the neighboring community?
Bank Slope: The slope of the bank is the single most important factor that determines rate of erosion. Steep banks with slopes greater than 3 to 1 (3 feet of width for every foot in height) are almost certain to erode and undercut over time if they are not stabilized.
Soil Type: The consistency of the soil also determines rate of erosion. Sandy soils have less structural integrity than soils made of clay. In the coastal plain (where the vast majority of South Carolina's stormwater ponds are located), soils consist of little or no natural rock and are often composed mostly of sand or clay.
Fountains: Surface fountains agitate the water surface, creating more wave action. In most cases wave action dissipates before it reaches the bank, but ponds with large fountains or fountains that are located near the shore are likely to experience accelerated shoreline erosion.
Nuisance Wildlife: Animals also cause erosion, especially when large numbers are confined to small ponds. Concentrations of ducks and geese are the most common destabilizers of pond banks because they eat shoreline vegetation and trample the bank. They also churn sediments near the bank as they sift for invertebrates in the mud. Another problematic animal is the muskrat because it burrows into the bank to make its den, and it consumes shoreline vegetation. Dens can collapse unexpectedly and create large holes in the bank slope.
Lack of Protection: The most common way to manage shorelines in stormwater ponds is with turf grass that is mowed to the water's edge. This strategy provides very little structural integrity to the bank. Turf grass is not an aquatic plant, and its roots do not grow well in saturated soils. Turf grass will not send roots down below the water surface where the most significant erosion is taking place. As a result, pond banks with grass mowed to the edge are almost certain to undercut with time.
What can I do to stop shoreline erosion?
Although there is very little a community can do to change the bank slope or soil types around their ponds, there are significant improvements that a community can make to deal with the fountains, nuisance wildlife, and lack of protection that are accelerating shoreline erosion.
Fountains: Stopping erosion caused by fountains is simple. Either move fountains to the center of the pond away from banks or consider replacing the fountains with other circulation systems (see section on Aeration and Circulation Systems). Diffuser systems do not agitate the water surface as much as fountains.
Nuisance Wildlife: Unfortunately, dealing with nuisance wildlife that are causing bank erosion is not as simple as fountains. Stormwater ponds are suitable habitats for ducks and geese when residents are feeding the birds. When residents stop feeding ducks and geese, there normally are not enough food resources in residential communities to sustain large flocks of waterfowl, so the birds eventually move on. If waterfowl are persistent even if the community curtails all feeding, then it may be necessary to contact a nuisance wildlife control operator to have the birds trapped and removed (see section on Controlling Waterfowl). The only way to control muskrats in stormwater ponds is to have them trapped. Since muskrats are a fur bearing species, only licensed persons can trap and transport them (see section on Controlling Beavers and Muskrats).
Protect the Shoreline: Pond shorelines can be stabilized using two general strategies: 1) emergent wetland plants or 2) artificial materials (such as rip-rap or bulkheads). Each has its advantages and disadvantages, which the community should consider carefully.
How do I use plants to stabilize my pond bank?
Wetland plants established on the shoreline are a preferred method for stabilizing pond banks, and they provide many benefits beyond erosion prevention. The deep, robust root systems of these plants bind soils in the area where the majority of erosion is occurring, just below the water surface. Unlike turf grass, these plants thrive in saturated soils. The main advantage of planting shoreline plants is that they provide other services such as filtering pollutants in runoff, absorbing nutrients that grow algae, trapping sediment and yard debris, deter nuisance wildlife, provide cover and forage for fish and invertebrates, and dampen wind and wave energy. For guidance on which plants to use for stormwater pond banks, consult the Shorescaping fact sheet.
Why not use bulkheads to stop erosion?
Bulkheads provide excellent erosion control if they are installed properly. The toe of a bulkhead needs to extend down into the pond bottom, the sides should be built with wing protection, and the top of the bulkhead needs to be anchored into the slope with a dead-man anchor. Without these measures, bulkheads are likely to breach and fall into the pond or to be undercut and erode from beneath and around the sides. (For design suggestions, refer to the Army Corps of Engineers Bulkheads & Seawalls). All waterfront owners must be aware that each stormwater pond basin is designed to be a very specific volume to meet storage requirements determined by local regulations according to the size of the pond's watershed. If waterfront owners begin building high bulkheads and back-filling behind them, they are reducing storage in the basin. If bulkheads are not regulated by the HOA and high bulkheads proliferate, then the community may be liable for damages incurred from downstream flooding because the community has chosen to alter the engineer's original design. If the community chooses to allow bulkheads, it must be very careful to preserve the storage capacity of the pond and also not impede flow. This is best done by requiring that bulkheads be no higher than a foot or two above normal pool.
There is an easement around my pond. Does that affect what I can do to the shoreline?
Many communities have established easements around ponds. Most commonly the easement extends up the bank 10 to 15 feet from the normal water line. In some cases this easement is merely for maintenance, and what goes on in the easement is determined by the HOA's bylaws. In other instances, the pond is owned/maintained by a municipality rather than an HOA, so it is important for homeowners to know the rules about activities in the easement and who has authority over those activities. Activities such as planting plants or building bulkheads may be restricted by the terms of the easement, and homeowners may be liable for damages and repairs for unpermitted activities in the easement. Nevertheless, the terms of easements can be changed if the community feels the need to do so. For HOAs, this may mean amending the bylaws to allow for shoreline plantings or bulkheads..


text:
Constructing a Low Energy Transfer Between Jovian Moons
292, pp. 129-145, 2002
There has recently been considerable interest in sending a spacecraft to orbit Europa, the smallest
of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter. The trajectory design involved in ecting a capture by Europa
presents formidable challenges to traditional conic analysis since the regimes of motion involved depend heavily on three-body dynamics. New three-body perspectives are required to design successful
and earthcient missions which take full advantage of the natural dynamics. Not only does a three-body
approach provide low-fuel trajectories, but it also increases the exibility and versatility of missions.
We apply this approach to design a new mission concept wherein a spacecraft
moons, orbiting each for a desired duration in a temporary capture orbit. We call this concept the
"Petit Grand Tour."
For this application, we apply dynamical systems techniques developed in a previous paper to
design a Europa capture orbit. We show how it is possible, using a gravitional boost from Ganymede,
to go from a jovicentric orbit beyond the orbit of Ganymede to a ballistic capture orbit around
Europa. The main new technical result is the employment of dynamical channels in the phase space
-- tubes in the energy surface which naturally link the vicinity of Ganymede to the vicinity of Europa.
The transfer Delta-V necessary to jump from one moon to another is less than half that required by a
standard Hohmann transfer.
back to papers page
back to front page

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


Two Tribes (and other DevOps Myths)
"When two tribes go to war, a point is all that you can score" – Two Tribes, Frankie Goes To Hollywood.
DevOps, like Agile and Lean before it, is often heavily resisted by established companies struggling to accept that traditional ways of working are not necessarily effective in today's constantly changing world.
I've heard many explanations for why organisations are unwilling to adopt a DevOps model or practices, often based on incorrect assumptions. In this article, I'll debunk some of the common myths about DevOps; my vision is to empower change agents to challenge erroneous beliefs within their organisations and encourage them to reconsider taking a DevOps approach.
Myth #1 DevOps creates a Two Tribes mentality
In the Agile world, we have adopted 'tribe' or 'guild' vernacular to describe modern cross-functional teams that can make decisions locally to improve their effectiveness. These aren't the tribes I'm referring to.
In traditional IT, the plan – build – operate model has created a disconnect between the development team (the people who build the software) and operations (the people responsible for looking after the software in production). These two tribes are often at war. Historically, poor implementation of IT Infrastructure Library processes has created strong demarcation between these two functions and negatively affected the flow of working software into the production environment.
The level of mistrust between these two groups is high.
Operations teams are concerned that in a highly complex environment (and under business pressure to deliver), development teams will put technical debt into production for operations to support — an "all care, no responsibility" approach to software development. On the other side of the coin, the development teams are frustrated by the time it takes to make configuration changes, open up firewall rules and deploy their applications.
Often, the mention of DevOps as a way to solve these problems leads to paranoia that each team's special skills will be eroded. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. DevOps supports cross-team collaboration, encouraging both teams to work together to address each other's concerns about quality software being deployed.
Puppet's 2016 State of DevOps Report provided key metrics around IT and organisational performance.
Puppet's report showed that teams that adopt DevOps principles realise a 22% decrease in unplanned work and rework.
Myth #2 DevOps adds risk with continuous delivery
I remember the pre-Agile days in IT when there was a single release of software at the end of a project. People had to cancel their leave around the go live date, and everybody was expected to work an entire weekend. The whole event was very stressful and failure was not an option.
In almost every other pursuit in life, if something is this risky then the smart thing to do is to practice it. Strangely, suggesting this approach in a traditional IT organisation is usually met with shock, mainly because most deployment processes are poorly implemented.
A well-crafted delivery pipeline has all of the governance processes built in, reducing the risk of deployment and application. DevOps adds value throughout the entire software creation process, using a combination of Agile and Lean techniques to ensure that the software is of a high standard, its functionality delivers the highest value to the customer, and its passage into the production environment is low risk.
Puppet found that DevOps teams report a 3X reduction in change failure rates and a 24X faster recovery from failure rate than traditional IT environments.
Myth #3 DevOps is just another excuse for IT to spend money on tools
It's true that if you store your infrastructure as code, automate all of your tests and monitor all of your environments, you'll have to invest in technology to enable this, but it doesn't need to cost a lot of money. In fact, almost everything that you need to enable DevOps is open source.
Some organisations choose to pay for product support for commercial products, however this investment represents a fraction of the value that a 2000X improvement in lead time can give an organisation.
Myth #4 DevOps creates a security nightmare
Complex environments generate threats to an organisation's security. Migration to offsite infrastructure, creating consistent-looking environments and sharing enterprise space (as per the practice of Continuous Integration) have all created opportunities for hackers to infiltrate an organisation's technology platforms.
The establishment of infrastructure-as-code, multiple deployments a day and giving developers access to production environments are looked at as security risks, and often used to justify resistance to the adoption of DevOps practices by many organisations.
According to the latest data, DevOps adopters spend 50% less time remediating security issues than others, because their information security objectives are integrated into their daily work.
Myth #5 DevOps is all about release management
Release management is undoubtedly an important component of DevOps. Unless you can safely deploy your code into the production environment and into the hands of your users, your organisation is not banking the value that your software delivers. However, it's important to acknowledge that there's more to DevOps than release management.
If your code is fragile and you have no way of automatically verifying the software's quality, users will not find it useful if it's riddled with defects, regardless of how safely the code was shepherded into production.
DevOps encapsulates good software practices including architectural decisions to reduce batch sizes, and a quality first approach to writing software to ensure clean, organised and maintainable code. Testing should be optimised for automation so that quality can be assured before software is deployed.
Automated builds, testing, deployment and provisioning provide consistency when moving software into environments, increasing speed and reducing risks.
Why DevOps does not create a two tribes mentality
As you can see, there are still a lot of myths surrounding what is DevOps. This blog aims to explain that DevOps is more than just release management, encapsulating software architecture and quality assurance as well.
It's also a risk mitigation strategy that enhances your capability for consistency and security and most importantly, creates an opportunity for people to align and collaborate to reach a common goal.
DevOps lowers the cost of the transaction of getting into the production environment which enables small and frequent changes. This aspect supports faster delivery and unlocks customer value as more regular releases allow the organisation to respond to feedback and tailor changes to deliver even higher levels of customer satisfaction.


text: Daughter of Lord Henshingly Croft, was raised to be an aristocrat from birth. After attending finishing school at the age of 21, Lara's marriage into wealth had seemed assured, but on her way home from a skiing trip her chartered plane had crashed deep in the heart of the Himalayas. The only survivor, Lara learned how to depend on her wits to stay alive in hostile conditions a world away from her sheltered upbringing. 2 weeks later when she walked into the village of Tokakeriby her experiences had had a profound effect on her. Unable to stand the claustrophobic suffocating atmosphere of upper-class British Society, she realised that she was only truly alive when she was travelling alone. Over the 8 following years, she acquired an intimate knowledge of ancient civilisations across the globe. Her family soon disowned their prodigal daughter, and she turned to writing to fund her trips. Famed for discovering several ancient sites of profound archaeological interest she made a name for herself by publishing travel books and detailed journals of her exploits.


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When Dr. Victor Ugaz talks about "catch-and-release," he means DNA, not fish. DNA is known to most of us these days through crime shows, but crime scene investigators and police detectives aren't the only ones who use DNA analysis. DNA identification is also used to diagnose diseases or detect biological agents and toxins. Ugaz, an assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, is working to miniaturize a sprawling DNA lab so that components needed for DNA analysis are available in a tiny lab-on-a-chip about the size of a business card.
He's already worked out a novel scheme to perform the series of reactions that allow scientists to rapidly copy the often trace amounts of DNA for analysis. Now, in a paper in the March 28 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Vol. 103 No. 13, 4825-4830), Ugaz and Ph.D. student Faisal A. Shaikh have retreated a step: isolating and concentrating small amounts of DNA that would otherwise be difficult to analyze.
"We've found a way to take a dilute DNA sample and concentrate it," Ugaz said. "A lot of times, the genomic material you're looking for is in your sample but at very low concentrations. Using our device, DNA can be concentrated to a much higher level so we can detect it more easily."
In the paper, "Collection, focusing and metering of DNA in microchannels using addressable electrode arrays for portable low-power bioanalysis," Ugaz and Shaikh present their scheme for concentrating and focusing a minute sample of DNA in tiny spaces called microchannels.
The scheme involves placing a series of small electrodes at set intervals along the bottom of a microchannel. A DNA sample is injected into the channel and a small voltage (1 Volt) is applied across the first pair of electrodes in the series. Because opposites attract, the negatively charged DNA migrates toward the positively charged anode and accumulates there, making it possible to "catch" the DNA sample. Switching off the voltage and reapplying it between the second and third electrodes will then "release" the DNA allowing it to be collected at the third electrode.
By repeating this sequential catch and release process, the DNA concentration can be progressively increased. Labeling the sample with a fluorescent dye allows the stepwise increase in concentration from electrode to electrode to be directly observed. After enough catch-and-release steps have been performed to raise the concentration to a desired level, the collected DNA can then be dispensed and used to perform a variety of analysis tests.
And all on a device the size of a business card.
"We're working on developing the components needed to build miniaturized lab-on-a-chip devices" Ugaz said. "The simplicity of this design makes it attractive for portable and inexpensive analysis systems that could be used in areas where there's no access to large DNA labs."
Source: Texas A&M University
Explore further: Weekends are the best time to buy airline tickets, researchers find


Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Tech Tip Tuesday: Rewordify
This week's tech tip is a tool that can help teachers with differentiation in the classroom. Providing texts that are differentiated for students based on reading level or language proficiency is often one of the most daunting tasks when trying to differentiate a lesson. This is because t is time consumingeither because you are scouring high and low for a text that covers the same content in more simple language (which can also be expensive if you do find it), or because you end up rewriting it yourself (which takes time and thought).
This week's tech tip is to use ReWordify. You simply copy and paste the text of your reading into the box on the website and click "ReWordify Text". The computer program usually rewords the text fairly accurately, simplifying some of the most difficult words to yield a more readable text. Even cooler, you can print out a number of "learning activities" based on the text you entered. My favorite is the vocabulary list with definitions- a list of all the "rewordified" words and their definitions.
Sometimes, in order to get the text perfect for your very lowest students, you may still have to make additional changes yourself, but rewordify can still be a great starting point, making the process much easier.
Why this is great for ELLs:
In order for our ELLs to acquire language and content, they need to be provided with comprehensible input. Rewordify makes it easier for teachers to ensure that students are still getting the same content knowledge while presenting that knowledge in a comprehensible way. It's a win-win for teacher and student, making the differentiated classroom that much easier to manage.
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From Outdoor JournalMore on this episode »
When it comes to making things out of wood no animal is more persistent and more proficient than the beaver. Beaver dams provide valuable wet land habitat for several species of fish and wildlife. But these same dams can cause a lot of damage to roads and septic systems. In this segment, we look at a unique project called the "Cooperative Beaver Baffle Demonstration Project" that uses water control structures to properly manage beaver dam water levels.
- Vermont Agency of Natural Resources
- Vermont Department of Environmental
Conservation - Water Quality Division


Membership is FREE! Professional Designations for Business & Technology Professionals
Over 200 Documented Blockchain Attacks, Vulnerabilities and Weaknesses
3 Mins read
By Kurt Seifried, Chief Blockchain Officer at Cloud Security Alliance
Blockchain attacks are very hot right now for one simple reason: it's where the money is.
If you attack and compromise a database you need to take that data and then sell it to monetize your attack. If you compromise a web server you need to install some malware to harvest credit card details, and then monetize that data by selling it. But if you steal crypto currency? That's literally money in the attackers wallet now.
The good news: law enforcement is getting better at tracing these transactions and following the money, the bad news: the blockchain industry is not very mature when it comes to identifying vulnerabilities and weaknesses.
Attacks rely on a vulnerability being present so that they can exploit it. These vulnerabilities are implemented in software (web services, smart contracts, the underlying blockchain system, etc.) and can be any number of weaknesses such as logic bugs, reentrancy issues, integer overflows and so on.
There is no comprehensive list of Blockchain weaknesses
And there is no comprehensive public list of weaknesses. There are a number of projects trying to do this, the US Government Department of Homeland Security actually sponsors one such effort, the Common Weakness Enumeration database ( database and there is a Solidity focuses Smart Contract Weakness Classification and Test Cases available from the SWC Registry (
Why is a public list of such weaknesses important?
Simple. How do you find and fix weaknesses in software if you don't have a name to call them, let alone the ability to properly describe the weakness and possible mitigations or solutions to them? Also like most things in life given the choice between using a public database or building your own data set most security scanning tools use the CWE database as their baselines for security flaws that they try to detect and offer guidance on remediating.
This means that Blockchain and smart contract security scanning tools will (probably) detect common and known issues like integer overflows and memory leaks. But they may not detect Blockchain and smart contract specific vulnerabilities as well since there is no good, comprehensive, public database to use as a source.
CSA's has documented over 200 Blockchain weaknesses
The CloudSecurityAlliance is of course working on this issue, we currently have a rough list of almost 200 weaknesses that apply to Blockchain and smart contracts, and about half of which are not in any other public database of weaknesses. You can view the full list of weaknesses here →
The goal is to make this list of weaknesses more detailed and comprehensive, and encourage other public databases (such as CWE or SWC Registry) to include then so that ultimately automated tools will include support for them, making it easier for developers and end users to find, understand and fix vulnerabilities because attackers find and exploit them. If you are interested in joining this project please reach out to us, specifically the Attack Vectors/terms glossary sub Working Group, for more information please see
Preview of Blockchain Weaknesses
Name of weakness Description
API Exposure If an API is improperly exposed an attacker can attack it
Block Mining Race Attack A variation on the Finney attack
Block Mining Timejack Attack By isolating a node the time signal can be manipulated getting the victim out of synchronization
Block Reordering Attack Certain cryptographic operations (such as using CBC or ECB incorrectly) allow blocks to be re-ordered and the results will still decrypt properly
Blockchain Network Lacks Hash Capacity The Blockchain/DLT network lacks hashing capacity, an attacker can rent sufficient hashing power to execute a 51% Attack
Blockchain Peer flooding Attack By creating a large number of fake peers in a network (peer to peer or otherwise) an attacker can cause real nodes to slow down or become non responsive as they attempt to connect to the newly announced peers.
Blockchain Peer flooding Attack Slowloris variant By creating a large number of slow peers (real systems that respond very slowly to network requests) in a network an attacker can cause real nodes to slow down or become non responsive as they attempt to connect to the newly announced peers. Unlike fake peers that do not exist these slowloris peers are real but communicate slowly enough to hold sockets and resources open for minutes or hours.
Blockchain reorganization attack Also referred to as an alternative history attack
Consensus 34% Attack 34% Attack against BFT network, a specific instance of Consensus Majority Attack
Consensus 51% Attack 51% Attack against DLT network, a specific instance of Consensus Majority Attack
Consensus Attack Attacks against the consensus protocol and system in use can take many forms and are not limited to gaining control of the consensus mechanism but can also be used to slow down consensus for example
Consensus Delay Attack Consensus Delay Attacks can allow malicious miners to gain time in order to execute other attacks
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Differential Pressure Measurement Calculator
Differential pressure is defined as the change in pressure of a liquid when it is flowing through a pipe. Here is the online differential pressure measurement calculator to calculate the differential pressure for the given liquid flow. The measurement of differential pressure depends upon the change in pressure, pipe diameter, fluid density and the mass flow rate of the liquid.
Result :
Measure the differential pressure of liquid using this online differential pressure measurement calculator. Differential pressure of a liquid is the difference in pressure between two pressure points in a processing system. The differential pressure gauge is a tool which measures and illustrates the pressure difference.


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An educational summer for Southern librarianBy TERRI REUTER
Publications/public information coordinator,
Southern York County School District
Glen Rock, Pa – Southern Elementary School Librarian Lynn Clements spent time this summer exploring historical artifacts and documents that helped frame the United States.
Clements was selected from a pool of more than 300 applicants to participate in the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Summer Teacher Institute in July. She was one of only 27 educators from across the nation chosen for the five-day program.
Each year, the Library of Congress provides educators the opportunity to attend one of its teacher institutes in Washington, D.C. Clements said she was excited to work with such great educators and librarians from across the country.
"Each summer, I look for these kinds of opportunities to push myself professionally," Clements said. "This was a great way to brush up on my skills and learn the best way to teach to the students."
The purpose of the program is to teach educators in grades K-12 how to use the digitized collection at the library of Congress to promote critical thinking skills and construct knowledge, she said. Through the Library's collections, the teachers explored the largest online collection of historical artifacts and accessed millions of primary (original) sources for use in instruction.
During her program, Clements worked on a unit for fifth grade students to enrich and extend their study of the Battle of Gettysburg, using primary documents, such as photos, diaries, letters, and maps. "I learned how to access digitized resources and how to write lesson plans, using primary sources with students."
Clements said she is enthusiastic to begin applying this knowledge to her students at Southern Elementary this year. "It was a thrill to spend a week at the Library of Congress, working with educators from across the U.S., to develop lessons and exchange ideas," she said. "I saw a survey drawn by George Washington, read an original diary written by a pioneer mother, and touched – gently – a watercolor battle map painted at Gettysburg in 1863."


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Document / Publication
This paper addresses the difficult decisions policy-makers are often tasked with in the face of an uncertain future outlook. It hopes to provide an introduction to many of the key concepts of climate change adaptation or 'serious games'. More importantly it aims to highlight the synergies between the three disciplines and lay the foundations for further elaboration and insight. All this is while maintaining the overarching goal of empowering actors in enhancing their capabilities and level of agency to deal with climate change and uncertainty. It asks if the infrastructural investments will still be relevant in 25 years, what new markets are likely to emerge in the medium term, and how a gradual increase in average temperatures over the coming decades will affect livelihood security.
The paper describes what processes are needed to promote Flexible and Forward-looking Decision Making (FFDM). More specifically, the paper proposes a coupled game and reflection based approach, looking to capitalise on the ability of serious games to encourage experiential learning, as well as ensuring that enough time is provided to reflect on how key components of the game relate to the 'real-world'. It also allows participants to identify their own routes forward for improving decision-making processes. It lays the groundwork for the second phase of research under the Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance (ACCRA), who will be researching the principles outlined within, as well as trialling three separate coupled game-and reflection events across its core countries, namely Ethiopia, Uganda and Mozambique.


The Use of the Human resource for the Best wealth Formula
 The Use of the Human resource for the Best wealth Formula
Human resource management produces great value for the organization when using good HR practices. Activities range from recruitment and training to employee compensation.
Technological development
Technological development is part of the support sector and acts to keep activities running according to standards. This is where research and development (R&D), automation of production processes, design takes place, among other areas.
The purchasing sector is responsible for acquiring the materials necessary for the development of the works. Its value is in the negotiation with suppliers and in the search for quality machines with a good price.
How to apply the value chain
The analysis of the value chain allows the need for improvements in some sectors to be identified. To better understand your application, see the tips below. The visit to is important here.
Primary subactivities
The first step in mapping the value chain is to identify the subactivities of each primary activity. Thus, it is possible to determine which ones generate value. There are direct activities (create their own value), indirect activities (allow direct activities to work perfectly), and quality assurance activities (ensure that both activities follow standards).
Support subactivities
Here it is necessary to identify the sub-activities for each support activity. An example of this is to analyze how HR can create value in the area of inbound logistics, operations, etc. You must also identify the activities that generate value for your business infrastructure.
The next step is to be able to find connections between all the valuable activities that were identified in the process. These connections are an important part of increasing competitive advantage.
After identifying the connections and subactivities, it is time to make the improvements. This will require many changes, such as the implementation of management software, but it will also be essential to improve internal processes and generate even more value.
How a technological solution can help
Mapping the value chain can be a laborious process, and a business management system can be of great help. It is a solution that fits the needs of your company, in addition to assisting in management and organization. This technology also allows total control of administrative or financial activities.
The balance between supply and demand is a constant state of flow. However, it is not far from the truth that the supply has been growing steadily in various industries, faster than the demand. As the market gets more saturated with each passing day, consumers are becoming more pretentious and harder to convince that you will provide the value they are looking for. Fortunately, Lean has a way to stay ahead of the competition by visualizing and improving the value chain you are delivering to your customers.
Paul Petersen
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In a lecture titled "Oy ♥ Noo Yawk (But Maybe Not Da Tawk a' Da Town)!" Linguistics Professor Michael Silverstein tackled the distinctive New York accent and its socioeconomic and cultural ramifications.
Comparing and contrasting two New York Times articles on the subject, Silverstein also examined the research of various linguistic theorists.
"[The accent] is characterized by its lack of noticeable 'r' pronunciation," he said. Linguists use words such as "guard," "car," "beer," and "beard" to test the r-index of speakers. New Yorkers with a strong accent generally have an r-index of zero, he said.
Silverstein said that "r-less New Yorké" is found mostly at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder, contributing to a more stratified population.
Middle-class New Yorkers have often tried to rid themselves of the accent, overemphasizing the "r"s in words and seeking speech therapy, according to Silverstein. Those New Yorkers, he said, often find that in order to ascend the Manhattan social ladder, speaking "normalized" English becomes an advantage. However, it alienates them from friends and relatives who still retain the accent.
Silverstein said that the tension created by the accent has persisted, pointing out similarities between a 1984 and a 2010 New York Times article discussing New Yorkers' attitudes toward their accent woes.
For the 2010 article, he conducted a statistical analysis of its online comments. He discovered common themes among the comments, including a "global versus local dichotomy" and a "pro–New York City, anti-homogenization point of view."
Many comments expressed dismay at the gradual loss of the accent resulting from cultural normalization. "People see the accent as an emblem of local urban identity. It gives them a sense of place," Silverstein said.
Silverstein, a Brooklyn native, grew up in a time when New Yorkers were instructed to shed their accent. Thus, he said, other people often find his accent difficult to place. "[It's a] dialect-less voice from nowhere," he said.
The New York accent is fading, Silverstein said, because it has moved to boroughs outside of Manhattan. He said that over the past few decades, the accent has shifted toward Brooklyn, the Bronx, and even Long Island.
Perhaps, Silverstein said, when asked about their city's eclectic accent, New Yorkers will only say "Fuhgeddaboudit!"


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What will we do
Promote WBL will not only identify and share methods which help make work-based learning more effective, but it will also provide VET professionals with the knowledge and tools to make it happen through a dedicated online course. Our partnership aims to demonstrate that work-based learning in VET can be a win-win situation for both learners and the host employer.
Barriers to making this happen can be challenging to overcome. Issues we have identified include poor relationships and collaboration between VET providers and employers, and a significant skills gap among learners of transferable skills; especially their entrepreneurship capabilities. VET professionals play a key role in developing this agenda, as both relationship-builder with industry and as the deliverer of skills improvement in young people. Promote WBL will support the training of VET teachers to help their students to make the most of their work-based learning.
Through this we will support VET institutions to create a number of long-term collaborations between themselves and businesses of all sizes to create high quality work-based learning opportunities for their learners. It is also expected that, through Promote WBL's contribution to a more effective learning experience for students, we can help to influence an increase of early employment outcomes.


Ducks Unlimited Canada
National Boreal Program
17504 111th Avenue NW
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
T5S 0A2
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Why do we need boreal wetland policy?
Boreal wetland policies and legislation are integral to effective wetland management.
Boreal wetlands are vulnerable; they are primarily on Crown land and appropriate policies and legislation are needed to help guide governments, industry, and residents in wetland management. Therefore, we strongly support the development of boreal wetland policy and legislation across all Canadian jurisdictions.
For more on the significance of boreal wetlands, check out Boreal Quick Facts.
What are we doing to help?
To aid in this effort, we inform government policies and legislation that conserve boreal waterfowl habitat. We support and influence the development of land use planning strategies, industrial land use regulations and protected areas on Crown land. We collaborate in government programs that align with DUC's waterfowl conservation objectives. We advance boreal wetland policy by developing strong relationships with governments, industry, Indigenous Peoples and other conservation groups.
What should boreal wetland policy look like?
Ideally, wetland policies apply to all wetlands and all sectors. Different jurisdictions may require different approaches, but in general, we are seeking strong government commitment to a no-net loss of boreal wetland functions approach that would protect sensitive or significant areas while ensuring mitigation for any areas that might be lost or degraded. In doing so, our work helps to achieve important social, cultural, ecological and economic outcomes now and into the future.


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In Citizen Science, students play a teen concerned about a local lake threatened by eutrophication, a condition in which a body of water becomes starved of oxygen. Set in Madison, WI, the game brings players back in time to the 1960s, where they must uncover and solve specific pollution problems faced by the lake. Returning to the present and finding that the lake continues to face eutrophication threats, players take corrective steps to solve more recent problems. Citizen Science serves several key pedagogical functions: First, through continual evidence-based argumentation, players master the art of crafting reasoned arguments as a way to persuade others using established facts. Second, through models and simulations of scientific data collection, players learn about the factors that influence lake health, including exotic species introduction; manure and fertilizer runoff; fishing regulation; and wetland restoration. Finally, players gain an understanding of how citizens can make positive changes to their communities. Note that while the full game may take up to 90 minutes to play, a number of teaching goals can be met in considerably less time.
In this lesson plan which can be adapted for students in grades 5-12, students use a free online science and English Language Arts (ELA) game to explore personification in writing. See more »
In this multi-day lesson plan which is adaptable for grades 5-12, students use BrainPOP resources to practice crafting reasoned arguments and explore the effect of humans on the environment. Through an online game, students will learn about the causes of water pollution in a lake and pose a question about the local water supply to community residents. Students then compile the residents' opinions during game play and compose a persuasive letter to their congressional representative asking for his or her support in improving water conditions. See more »


Supernatural Superheroes by Heather Trim
Supernatural Superheroes is booklet for kids and teens to learn practical information about God, His angels and how some became demons. Heather Trim does a superb job at bringing the truth about who the devil is and and the role he and demons play in the world today through demonization.
She presents Jesus' Escape Plan of deliverance and how to heal the wounded soul on a level young people can understand.
Topics this 60-page booklet FOR KIDS includes:
1. Who, What, Where Is God?
2. Introducing Angels
3. Introducing Evil
4. Effects of Evil
5. The Escape Plan
6. Prophetic Deliverance
7. Supernatural Healing Plan
8. Supernatural Superheroes
*Includes a list of Resources for Teens [and preteens] to learn about God and pursue healing. Resources are also listed on the Supernatural Superheroes homepage.)
**Currently the prerequisite reading for children attending the Family Deliverance Retreats through Bear Creek Ranch.
This 60-page booklet is available at the Bear Creek Ranch bookstore.
Supernatural Children Series:
Book 1: Are My Children Demonized?
Book 2: Supernatural Superheroes


Sunday, November 19, 2006
Bad Petition
A reader asked me to draw attention to this petition against LSE Professor Satoshi Kanazawa for his research claiming that low IQ is the cause of Africa's woes. Judging by the news story, his claims sound ludicrous. (If based on correlational data alone, it seems far more plausible that any causal arrow would go in the other direction!) But I can't support the anti-academic, politically motivated petition. It reads as follows:
We, the undersigned, feel that the academic paper 'Mind the gap…in intelligence: Re-examining the relationship between inequality and health' written by LSE lecturer Satoshi Kanazawa could be read as promoting racist stereotypes. Dr Kanazawa claims to show that the lower life expectancies and higher levels of infant mortality in less developed nations are the result of lower levels of intelligence, rather than economic inequality.
We also regret the negative publicity this has attached to the LSE, which prides itself on being a diverse and tolerant institution, through the media coverage surrounding the publication of this paper.
We ask that the LSE reaffirms its opposition to racist or racially reductionis[t] standpoints and condemns the publication of any research that may jeopardise students' safety and well being by providing ammunition for those seeking to promote a racist agenda.
Almost every single sentence of this petition betrays its anti-intellectual PC ideology.
1) The mere fact that something "could be read" in a racist way does not justify opposition to it. Surely we should instead oppose those things that really are racist. Despite what some leftists apparently believe, a mere accusation is not enough to establish guilt.
2) The petition then objects to what Kanazawa's research "claims to show". But it never addresses the crucial question of whether the research succeeds in showing this. Yet that is the only question relevant to assessing academic research. Academics are meant to pursue truth, not comforting conclusions. We should object not to Kanazawa's heretical claims, but to their lack of reasoned support (assuming they are in fact unsupported).
3) Okay, the third sentence is harmless enough. Though it seems a bit hypocritical to lament bad publicity in a public petition against the school!
4) The conclusion is a straightforward denial of academic freedom. The LSE's response has been entirely appropriate:
The LSE declined to offer any opinion on Kanazawa's conclusions but defended his right to publish controversial research. A spokeswoman said: 'This is academic research by Dr Kanazawa based on empirical data and published in a peer-reviewed journal. People may agree or disagree with his findings and are at liberty to voice their opinions to him. The school does not take any institutional view on the work of individual academics.'
The petitioners, in contrast, are asking the school to condemn unpopular research, based simply on the claims it makes, and without regard for its academic merit. That's so incredibly wrongheaded, and fundamentally anti-academic, that I'm struggling for words. (Maybe you could go read Butterflies and Wheels instead.)
By all means, refute Kanazawa's arguments. Even condemn him for irresponsibly drawing politically dangerous conclusions on such a flimsy basis. But for God's sake don't just complain about heretical conclusions without regard for their truth! Such ideological witchhunts give the Left a bad name. Aren't we meant to be the "reality-based community"? Let's please start acting like it...
 1. Right on! Even if this research is empirically sound and the tests are fairly administered (something I find hard to believe), the data supports a different conclusion. If an entire continent scores much lower than another on a certain IQ test, it's pretty strong evidence that the test is not a fair measure of what we call intelligence. Of course, discovering empirically what is and is not a fair test for intelligence is a tall order, but if this doesn't count as evidence that we don't yet have it, I don't know what will.
 2. I agree with your post.
 There is obviously a grain in truth in his argument (although I don't know if he does it right) after all being smarter (particularly in a euphemistic way like culturally sensitive IQ) does generally tend to make you slightly more able to live longer, and this "Nobody could prove that there are racial or national differences in IQ" is just crazy talk.
 3. I've only briefly skimmed the guardian article, but I'm not sure that the author denies this:
 Isn't his basic point that their current levels of intelligence determine their life prospects, and therefore it's that we should aim to change, not the poverty, except insofar as the poverty affects the intelligence levels.
 Now that obviously sounds wildly implausible to me, but I don't see any suggestion that he's talking about innate levels of intelligence.
 On the free speech issue, it's worth pointing out that it's consistent with the ideal of academic freedom to insist that authors ought to be tactful when publishing controversial work, and ought to explicitly distance their work from harmful ideologies that it might wrongly be thought to support.
 4. Frank Ellis, a lecturer at Leeds uni, got suspended for the same type of research earlier this year.
 Our students union (warwick) almost unanimously passed a motion calling for his dismissal. I, along with about 3 others, were the only ones at that meeting to vote it down. The majority of the campus left voted with the motion. I still fail to see the logic in it.
 5. As far as I can tell, the best work on IQ suggests very strongly that it is not innate. It is not learned in the way that college admissions tests in the U.S. like the SAT are. It tests an actual skill set rather than just knowledge. But these are developed skills, and they are developed in certain contexts more than others. There's a reason the raw score for IQ tests for black Americans has gone up significantly each generation. It's basically the same genetic stock doing better each generation. Jews in the U.S. went from pretty low before the first world war to pretty high after the second. It may be that genetics will provide a potentiality that gets realized as intelligence develops, but so many other things affect how far it develops.
 Nevertheless, IQ correlates fairly well with one kind of success, just as SAT tests correlate very well with college success. There is something that it tests, whatever you choose to call it. You can refer to something else as intelligence, but it's then worth figuring out what explanatory role intelligence plays. We have explanatory roles already for what IQ tests and SAT tests measure. If there's another thing we're going to call intelligence, it would be good to know what it is and what it explains, and we don't want to remove whatever we're going to call the thing we've been calling intelligence so far. I'm a big fan of the multiple intelligences theory, but it doesn't mean the classical view of intelligence is wrong, just perhaps that there might be other things worthy of the name.
 6. Very strange. I just got an email saying that my comment failed. Yet it seems to be here. The email contained the entire text of my comment. I've never seen anything like that before. Is this some new feature that they haven't gotten working correctly yet?
 7. (Jeremy - I occasionally get similar messages. I think it just means that your comment failed to post to my "recent comments" list. The latter is a special hack I use, not a standard Blogger feature.)
 Alex - good point, I was jumping to conclusions re: claims of innate racial differences. Though - as you also note - if the researcher was making a rather more innocent claim about contingent skills/intelligence, then he really should take care to distinguish this from the more pernicious claims that could easily be misattributed to him.
 8. I think IQ is heavily related to things like what you eat as a very young child, what you were taught as a very young child and whether your mother had measles or drank too much etc.
 BUT the main tests are also strongly correlated to parental intelligence (I had a discussion with the MENSA fellows about how you can tell the difference if you are in an adopted family and how that can cause problems) and surely it is just unbelievably obvious that there is at least some genetic component to intelligence.
 Also you have to be a little willfully blind not to notice that people from certain countries tend to be different in ways that could be tested from many other countries regardless of wealth (whether IQ tests 'the right things' or not is of course debatable). One key measure is that Koreans tend to be more 'child like' in appearance while many Nigerians appear more'masculine' and that that there is a similar (although it could be unrelated, although that seems unlikely) effect in their personality and learning habits. That might have only a small effect (or be in either direction although one direction is more likely), BUT to think that such things would have ZERO effect on IQ is rather like climate change denial.
 Also from an evolutionary psychology perspective, IQ profiles (and the average exam results in any NZ class) are just TOO similar to what you would expect for there to be no connection.
 But I do agree that it could be a dangerous thought. Possibly one worthy of opposing not because it is false but just because it is dangerous.
 9. BTW actually propper IQ tests seem to be pretty reliable after a certain age (very surprisingly so).
 Which implies they are developed at a very young age and then not strongly effected by environment.
 10


text:
||Low temperature oxidation of Fe-included single-walled carbon nanohorns in water by ozone injection to enhance porous and magnetic properties
Sano, Noriaki,
Yamada, Kohei,
Suntornlohanakul, TatpornTamon, Hajime
Chemical Engineering Journal
981, 2016-01, Elsevier B.V.
This short communication reveals that the magnetic and porous properties of Fe-included single-walled carbon nanohorns (Fe-SWCNHs) can be improved via oxidation in water by injection of ozone at room temperature. Fe in Fe-SWCNHs is converted to ferrimagnetic Fe(3)O(4) without producing paramagnetic Fe(2)O(3) by this method. The specific surface area on the basis of the specimen mass can be doubled by this treatment together with significant increase of micro and meso pore volumes. Their magnetic susceptibility which is a determinant factor to magnetically drive the products in fluid can be increased by this ozone oxidation. The enhancement effects on the porous and magnetic properties of Fe-SWCNHs should be preferable to develop catalyst support or adsorption media which can be magnetically handled. The method proposed here is extremely safe and environmentally benign.


text:
Paint correction is a craftmanship of refining the surface, permanently removing as many defects as possible such as swirl marks, scratches, water etching or any defects that are topical and/or sub-topical thru mechanical abrasions via machine polishing, without jeopardizing the clear coat. It takes skills and patience in order to truly complete the highest degree of paint correction, displaying a true "optical clarity" on the surface.
Why consider a paint correction?
Many factors needs to be taken in consideration to determine if any paint correction is needed on a vehicle, given the environmental challenges the surfaces have endured.
- water etching
- bird etching
- swirl marks caused from improper wash methods
- Poor machine polishing
- Oxidation (lack of reflection)
Sadly, a combination of these can leave the car finish looking less than perfect, dull and a surface that refracts light instead of reflecting due to the heavy defects. Not only does this detract from the vehicle appearance, but it ultimately reduces the value.
Paint correction can improve the vehicle appearance by reducing or fully removing the defects and imperfections throughout the vehicle's surface. By doing so, this process can add an increased in gloss, depth of reflection, clarity and slickness.
Read "Paint Correction: How To Address The Ugly Secret Lurking In Your Brand New Car's Paint"
by Karl Brauer at Forbes.com


text:
J.L. van den Berg
- A feedback fluid queue with two congestion control thresholds
- Mathematical Methods of Operations Research
- Volume | Issue number
- 70 | 1
- Pages (from-to)
- Document type
- Faculty of Science (FNWI)
- Korteweg-de Vries Institute for Mathematics (KdVI)
Feedback fluid queues play an important role in modeling congestion control mechanisms for packet networks. In this paper we present and analyze a fluid queue with a feedback-based traffic rate adaptation scheme which uses two thresholds. The higher threshold B 1 is used to signal the beginning of congestion while the lower threshold B 2 signals the end of congestion. These two parameters together allow to make the trade-off between maximizing throughput performance and minimizing delay. The difference between the two thresholds helps to control the amount of feedback signals sent to the traffic source. In our model the input source can behave like either of two Markov fluid processes. The first applies as long as the upper threshold B 1 has not been hit from below. As soon as that happens, the traffic source adapts and switches to the second process, until B 2 (smaller than B 1) is hit from above. We analyze the model by setting up the Kolmogorov forward equations, then solving the corresponding balance equations using a spectral expansion, and finally identifying sufficient constraints to solve for the unknowns in the solution. In particular, our analysis yields expressions for the stationary distribution of the buffer occupancy, the buffer delay distribution, and the throughput.
- go to publisher's site
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text: Binocular rivalry is an important phenomenon for understanding the mechanisms of visual awareness. Here we assessed the functional locus of binocular rivalry relative to blind spot filling-in, which is thought to transpire in V1, thus providing a reference point for assessing the locus of rivalry. We conducted two experiments to explore the functional order of binocular rivalry and blind spot filling-in. Experiment 1 examined if the information filled-in at the blind spot can engage in rivalry with a physical stimulus at the corresponding location in the fellow eye. Participants' perceptual reports showed no difference between this condition and a condition where filling-in was precluded by presenting the same stimuli away from the blind spot, suggesting that the rivalry process is not influenced by any filling-in that might occur. In Experiment 2, we presented the fellow eye's stimulus directly in rivalry with the 'inducer' stimulus that surrounds the blind spot, and compared it with two control conditions away from the blind spot: one involving a ring physically identical to the inducer, and one involving a disc that resembled the filled-in percept. Perceptual reports in the blind spot condition resembled those in the 'ring' condition, more than those in the latter, 'disc' condition, indicating that a perceptually suppressed inducer does not engender filling-in. Thus, our behavioral data suggest binocular rivalry functionally precedes blind spot filling-in. We conjecture that the neural substrate of binocular rivalry suppression includes processing stages at or before V1.


Tulane Home Tulane Shield logo linking to site home page
Developing a Logic Model
This tutorial defines a logic model and explains why they are used in program planning. There are five main parts of a logic model, including (1) resources/inputs, (2) activities, (3) outputs, (4) outcomes, and (5) impact. This tutorial takes you through each of the five parts and uses a Workplace Lactation Program as an example for each section.
You have reached the end of the slides.
Take Quiz


text: This paper concerns covariance matrix based spectrum sensing over frequency selective channels. The impact of frequency selective channels on the covariance matrix of received signals is analyzed in frequency domain and it is shown that the phases of channel spectra degrade the performance of covariance matrix based detectors. To overcome this problem, we propose a new detector which employs only the magnitude spectra of received signals and thereby achieves considerable performance gain. Theoretical performance, in terms of the false-alarm and detection probabilities of the proposed detector, is analyzed. Simulation results verify our theoretical analyses and demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed detector.


text:
Follow these safety guidelines
If you are like most American families, you will be celebrating the last days of summer (and August) with one final road trip for the season. Whether a long-haul or hop, skip and a jump away from home, you will be sharing the travel space with thousands of others. Safety is of utmost concern.
At Brownell Insurance we care about our clients' well-being, and have sourced the following safety tips from the American Red Cross to help keep your family safe, and happy this holiday weekend:
- Pay attention to the weather forecast for your destination.
- Buckle up, slow down, and don't drink and drive. Designate a driver who won't drink.
- Be well rested and alert; give your full attention to the road.
- Use caution in work zones.
- Observe speed limits.
- Make frequent stops.
- Be respectful of other motorists.
- Clean your vehicle's lights and windows to help you see, especially at night.
- Turn your headlights on as dusk approaches, or during inclement weather, and don't overdrive your headlights.
- Carry a Disaster Supplies Kit in your trunk.
- Don't let your vehicle's gas tank get too low.
- If you have car trouble, pull as far as possible off the highway.
- Let someone know your destination, your route, and when you expect to arrive. If your car gets stuck along the way, help can be sent along your predetermined route.
- RIP CURRENTS – If a trip to the beach is part of your weekend plans, remember the possibility of dangerous rip currents which are responsible for deaths on our nation's beaches every year, and for most of the rescues performed by lifeguards. For your safety, be aware of the dangers of rip currents and remember the following:
- If you are caught in a rip current, swim parallel to the shore until you are out of the current. Once you are free, turn and swim toward shore. If you can't swim to the shore, float or tread water until you are free of the rip current and then head toward shore.
- Stay at least 100 feet away from piers and jetties. Permanent rip currents often exist near these structures.
Maybe of you are one of the families not traveling this weekend, but instead planning a end-of-summer gathering at your home, or with friends and family. There are still dangers associated with backyard grilling, especially when home cooks become distracted by the excitement of the crowd. American Red Cross also offers these grilling tips:
- Always supervise a barbecue grill when in use.
- Never grill indoors – not in your house, camper, tent, or any enclosed area.
- Make sure everyone, including the pets, stays away from the grill.
- Keep the grill out in the open, away from the house, the deck, tree branches, or anything that could catch fire.
- Use the long-handled tools especially made for cooking on the grill to help keep the chef safe.
- Never add charcoal starter fluid when coals have already been ignited.
- Always follow the manufacturer's instructions when using grills.


text:
NAG Library Routine Document
G13BGF accepts a series of new observations of an output time series and any associated input time series, for which a multi-input model is already fully specified, and updates the 'state set' information for use in constructing further forecasts.
The previous specification of the multi-input model will normally have been obtained by using G13BEF
to estimate the relevant transfer function and ARIMA parameters. The supplied state set will originally have been produced by G13BEF
(or possibly G13BJF
), but may since have been updated by G13BGF.
|SUBROUTINE G13BGF (
||STTF, NSTTF, MR, NSER, MT, PARA, NPARA, NNV, XXYN, LDXXYN, KZEF, RES, WA, IWA, IFAIL)
||NSTTF, MR(7), NSER, MT(4,NSER), NPARA, NNV, LDXXYN, KZEF, IWA, IFAIL
||STTF(NSTTF), PARA(NPARA), XXYN(LDXXYN,NSER), RES(NNV), WA(IWA)
The multi-input model is specified in Section 3
in G13BEF. The form of these equations required to update the state set is as follows:
the transfer models which generate input component values
from one or more inputs
which generates the output noise component from the output
and the input components, and
the ARIMA model for the output noise which generates the residuals
The state set (as also given in Section 3
in G13BEF) is the collection of terms
up to the maximum lag associated with each of these series respectively, in the above model equations.
is the latest time point of the series from which the state set has been generated.
The routine accepts further values of the series,, for, and applies the above model equations over this time range, to generate new values of the various model components, noise series and residuals. The state set is reconstructed, corresponding to the latest time point, the earlier values being discarded.
The set of residuals corresponding to the new observations may be of use in checking that the new observations conform to the previously fitted model. The components of the new observations of the output series which are due to the various inputs, and the noise component, are also optionally returned.
The parameters of the model are not changed in this routine.
Box G E P and Jenkins G M (1976) Time Series Analysis: Forecasting and Control (Revised Edition) Holden–Day
- 1: STTF(NSTTF) – REAL (KIND=nag_wp) arrayInput/Output
: the NSTTF
values in the state set before updating as returned by G13BEF
, or a previous call to G13BGF.
On exit: the state set values after updating.
- 2: NSTTF – INTEGERInput
: the exact number of values in the state set array STTF
as returned by G13BEF
- 3: MR() – INTEGER arrayInput
: the orders vector
of the ARIMA model for the output noise component.
,, and refer respectively to the number of autoregressive, moving average, seasonal autoregressive and seasonal moving average parameters.
, and refer respectively to the order of non-seasonal differencing, the order of seasonal differencing, and the seasonal period.
-,,,,,, ;
- if, ;
- if,.
- 4: NSER – INTEGERInput
On entry: the total number of input and output series. There may be any number of input series (including none), but only one output series.
- 5: MT(,NSER) – INTEGER arrayInput
: the transfer function model orders
of each of the input series. The data for input series
are held in column
. Row 1 holds the value
, row 2 holds the value
and row 3 holds the value
. For a simple input,
Row 4 holds the value, where for a simple input and for a transfer function input. When any nonzero contents of rows 1, 2 and 3 of column are ignored. The choice of or is an option for use in model estimation and does not affect the operation of G13BGF.
, or, for.
- 6: PARA(NPARA) – REAL (KIND=nag_wp) arrayInput
: estimates of the multi-input model parameters as returned by G13BEF
. These are in order, firstly the ARIMA model parameters:
parameters. These are followed by the transfer function model parameter values
for the first of any input series and similarly for each subsequent input series. The final component of PARA
is the value of the constant
- 7: NPARA – INTEGERInput
On entry: the exact number of,,,,, and parameters. ( must be included whether its value was previously estimated or was set fixed.)
- 8: NNV – INTEGERInput
On entry: the number of new observation sets being used to update the state set, each observation set consisting of a value of the output series and the associated values of each of the input series at a particular time point.
- 9: XXYN(LDXXYN,NSER) – REAL (KIND=nag_wp) arrayInput/Output
: the NNV
new observation sets being used to update the state set. Column
contains the values of input series
contains the values of the output series. Consecutive rows correspond to increasing time sequence.
, the columns of XXYN
hold the corresponding values of the input component series
and the output noise component
in that order.
- 10: LDXXYN – INTEGERInput
: the first dimension of the array XXYN
as declared in the (sub)program from which G13BGF is called.
- 11: KZEF – INTEGERInput
: must not be set to
, if the values of the input component series
and the values of the output noise component
are to overwrite the contents of XXYN
on exit, and must be set to
is to remain unchanged on exit.
- 12: RES(NNV) – REAL (KIND=nag_wp) arrayOutput
On exit: the values of the residual series corresponding to the new observations of the output series.
- 13: WA(IWA) – REAL (KIND=nag_wp) arrayWorkspace
- 14: IWA – INTEGERInput
: the dimension of the array WA
as declared in the (sub)program from which G13BGF is called.
, where.
- 15: IFAIL – INTEGERInput/Output
must be set to
. If you are unfamiliar with this parameter you should refer to Section 3.3
in the Essential Introduction for details.
For environments where it might be inappropriate to halt program execution when an error is detected, the value
is recommended. If the output of error messages is undesirable, then the value
is recommended. Otherwise, if you are not familiar with this parameter, the recommended value is
. When the value is used it is essential to test the value of IFAIL on exit.
unless the routine detects an error or a warning has been flagged (see Section 6
6 Error Indicators and Warnings
If on entry
, explanatory error messages are output on the current error message unit (as defined by X04AAF
Errors or warnings detected by the routine:
|On entry,||NSTTF is not consistent with the orders in arrays MR and MT.|
|On entry,||NPARA is not consistent with the orders in arrays MR and MT.|
|On entry,||IWA is too small.|
On entry, one of the, stored in, for does not equal, or.
The computations are believed to be stable.
The time taken by G13BGF is approximately proportional to.
This example uses the data described in G13BEF
observations of an output time series and a single input series were processed. In this example a model which included seasonal differencing of order
was used. The
values of the state set and the
final values of PARA
then obtained are used as input to this program, together with the values of
new observations and the transfer function orders of the input series. The model used is
The following are computed and printed out: the updated state set, the residuals and the values of the components and the output noise component corresponding to the new observations.
9.1 Program Text
Program Text (g13bgfe.f90)
9.2 Program Data
Program Data (g13bgfe.d)
9.3 Program Results
Program Results (g13bgfe.r)


You want to change the default paper size of your Cameyo Virtual Printer from LETTER to A4 (or vice versa)
The only known possibility is to change the region settings of your Windows server running Cameyo.
 1. Open your Windows Settings
 2. Goto Region
 3. Click Additional date, time, & regional settings
 4. Click Change date, time, or number formats
 5. Change tab to Administrative tab
 6. In Language for non-Unicode programs click Change system locale
 7. Change it to a region with the according paper format
 Most European countries = A4
 English (United States) = LETTER
Alternatively (to #1-4) you can open the regional settings running the following command (and continue with #5):
 control intl.cpl


text:
Water boatmen are aquatic bugs that live in ponds and slow-flowing streams. In the UK we have 'Lesser' and 'Greater' water boatmen. The Lesser water boatmen include the two families Corixidae and Pleidae; and the Greater water boatmen, includes the family Notonectidae.
You can tell the difference between the Lesser and Greater water boatmen by the way they swim with Greater water boatmen swimming on their backs and Lesser water boatmen swimming on their front.
|Greater Water boatman (Notonecta glauca) © Roger Key|
Athletes of the water bug world
Water boatmen have flat bodies and four oar-like rear legs which are covered in hairs, making them look like mini boats. Water boatmen also have a pair of scoping front legs, these coupled with their powerful rear limbs allows gracefully skimming under the water's surface as well as diving deep into watery depths.
Aquatic plant smoothies
Most Water boatman are vegetarians. If you look closely you will notice their triangular shaped heads have a straw-like mouthpart (a proboscis); which is used to inject plants with digestive saliva. The saliva creates a plant smoothie which is sucked back up and eaten by the boatman. However, a few water boatmen are predators and will eat other insects. Water boatmen are also food for a number of aquatic animals and are eaten by water beetles and dragonflies. Please note: you must be careful if you catch a Greater water boatman when pond dipping as they can give a nasty nip, which is painful but not poisonous.
All aquatic bugs lack gills and therefore have to come to the water's surface to breathe air. However, Water boatmen have a clever trick that allows them to remain under water for longer. They hang upside down below the water's surface and collect air, they then carry this air as a bubble on their body or under their wings; this allows them to breathe when underwater.
Male Water boatmen attract females by rubbing their front legs against a ridge on their head (stridulate) to create a low chirping noise. Water boatman breed once a year and lay (oviposit) their eggs on submerged plants, sticks, or rocks; allowing a brood of young Water boatman to hatch out every year. International Bugs Species of Water boatmen occur all over the world.
In Mexico they are actually considered a delicacy, where they are harvested and eaten in large numbers!


text: sera floredepot is a long-term gravel substrate with growth promoter for freshwater aquariums. The 2.4 kg bucket is sufficient for a 60 litre aquarium, the 4.7 kg bucket for a 100 litre aquarium. sera floredepot contains essential nutrients and trace elements and should be used with new aquarium set-ups and larger rearrangements. During the first 4 weeks sera floredepot provides the plants with everything they need in order to form strong roots and lush green leaves. sera floredepot is free from nitrate and phosphate.Do you have questions about this article?