you are formatting a large range of cells, you need to do the following steps thinking only about the first cell in the range, C5.
 2. Select Home, Conditional Formatting, New Rule.
 3. Choose Use a Formula to Determine Which Cells to Format
 4. In the rule description, type a formula of =C5<>B5
 5. Click the Format button. Choose a red font. The dialog will look like Figure 4.
 6. Click OK to apply the conditional format.
 The conditonal formatting rule that will highlight new prices
Any prices that have changed will appear in red.
Pain is relative: Copy your VLOOKUP formula to other categories
So far, you've solved the problem for a very small category of the master price list. You need to copy the C5 cell to the first row of the next category and use the fill handle to fill down. With 10 more categories, you will repeat this process several times and it might take 5 minutes to perform the copy operation repeatedly. Maybe it would be easier to copy all the way down to row 10000 and then manually clear out the blank rows between the categories. Someday you should reorganize the spreadsheet, but for today, you've save a lot of time.
Don't forget: Change those formulas to values before you delete the new price range
At this point, you decide you don't need the temporary range over in G:H any more. Don't delete it yet! Those VLOOKUP formulas back in column C are still using that range. You need to convert the formulas to values.
 1. Select all of column C
 2. Right-click and choose Copy
 3. Right-click and choose the 123 icon for Paste Values
I'm Speechless
If you've followed along here, you might not know what to say. You might be upset that you wasted so much time using the Find method and wasted one day of your life every month for the last 18 months. You might be angry that you never knew about VLOOKUP before. You might be giddy that you solved this problem in 20 minutes instead of 8 hours. (And…once you gain more confidence with VLOOKUP, you'll be able to solve the problem faster and faster each month.) You might be plotting what you can do with all the time you just got back today ("long lunch!").
VLOOKUP solved this cool problem and can solve many more problems.
When you were manually finding the items, it was natural to start with the shorter list of 475 items with the intent to work through it. Since VLOOKUP is incredibly fast, you can throw the VLOOKUP at all 10,000 items and let the IFERROR clean up the unfound entries.
Many people get discouraged when they encounter the _TAG_/A errors from VLOOKUP. Understand that some _TAG_/A are to be expected. It is part of the messiness of data in real life.
What to do with your free time–perform a quick quality-check
 Have you done this process manually in the past? Did the part numbers in the new price list match up correctly? As a human, you would recognize "A-1234″ and "A1234″ to likely be the same item, but VLOOKUP will not understand this. Take an extra five minutes to make sure that all of the items in your new price list are found in the original table:
 1. Add a column heading in I2 called "Is it OK?"
 2. The formula in I3 is =VLOOKUP(I3,A:A,1,False). This formula will look for the part number from I3 over in column A. If it is found, it will return the first column of the lookup table, which is the part number from column A. If it is not found, it will return _TAG_/A.
 3. Copy that formula down by double-clicking the fill handle.
 4. Sort descending by column I. Select one cell such as I2 and click the ZA button on the data tab. If there are any _TAG_/A values that come to the top of the list, it means that the part number in I is not found in column A.
 5. Do some research on these. Are they mis-typed? Are they new?
This is just one example of the many ways to use VLOOKUP. Check out for many additional articles on other ways to use VLOOKUP.
About the author: Bill Jelen is an Excel MVP and the host of He is the author of the e-book VLOOKUP Awesome Quick: From your first VLOOKUP to becoming a VLOOKUP Guru. This article appears as part of VLOOKUP Week March 25-31, 2012.


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European Decorative Arts and Sculpture
Drawing Room from Lansdowne HouseMade in England, Europe
Designed by Robert Adam, Scottish, 1728 - 1792. Painted decoration by Giovanni Battista Cipriani, Italian (active Florence and England), 1727 - 1785, and Antonio Zucchi, Italian, 1726 - 1795. Gilded by Joseph Perfetti, Italian, active London from 1760 - 1778.
1931-104-1Gift of Graeme Lorimer and Sarah Moss Lorimer in memory of George Horace Lorimer, 1931
This drawing room is an archetypal example of the work of Robert Adam, a Scottish architect and designer whose name has become synonymous with this style of neoclassical decoration. The room was originally situated on the ground floor of the grand London house that Adam designed for the third Earl of Bute in the early 1760s. Adam's original plans refer to it as the "Organ Drawing Room," the large recess being intended for Lord Bute's vastly expensive mechanical organ.
In 1765, Lord Bute sold the unfinished house to William Petty Fitzmaurice, second Earl of Shelburne and later first Marquess of Lansdowne, with the provision that Adam be retained to continue work on the home. Adam was already well known to Lord Shelburne, whose father had employed the architect to remodel Bowood, his family's country estate in Wiltshire. (Shelburne, who served as Secretary of State and in 1783 concluded the Treaty of Paris granting independence to the United States, entertained Benjamin Franklin at Bowood on several occasions.) Lord Shelburne and his wife moved into the house in 1768, when it was in what Lady Shelburne described as "so unfurnishd a State." Yet by the time of Lady Shelburne's death and the end of Adam's employment by Lord Shelburne in 1771, the decoration of the drawing room remained incomplete and was evidently abandoned.
Although the room's original furnishings do not survive today, it is known that Adam provided designs for a pier-glass and a semicircular pier-table, executed by John Gilbert; circular picture frames, executed by Sefferin Nelson; and a carpet, the design for which is in the collection of Sir John Soane's Museum in London.
In 1929, Lord Shelburne's heirs sold the house to a group of investors. The room was acquired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1931, when the front of the house, including the drawing room and the dining room (now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art), was slated for demolition to make way for a new street.
Social Tags [?]adam [x] drawing room [x] georgian [x] lansdowne house [x] neoclassical [x] period room [x] robert adam [x] the adam style [x] [Add Your Own Tags]
* Works in the collection are moved off view for many different reasons. Although gallery locations on the website are updated regularly, there is no guarantee that this object will be on display on the day of your visit.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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It takes just over three weeks: flush a toilet in Didcot, England and 23 days later, it has produced biomethane that heats about 200 homes—through the national grid.
The BBC explains how the project goes beyond existing waste-to-energy facilities:
The practice of using anaerobic digesters - carefully managed bacteria - to turn faeces into a means of generating electricity is already well established across the country. But the additional plant that British Gas has installed at the Thames Water sewage treatment works in Didcot cleans up the spare biogas that is produced and turns it into biomethane suitable for household hobs and in gas central heating.
The project is a joint effort by British Gas, Thames Water and Scotia Gas Networks, which collectively hope to replicate the process across the UK.
Expanding beyond Didcot
British Gas already has four other biogas-to-grid projects planned, but it's not the only company going down this path.
Projects that feed biogas into the grid are not new, and even exist in the U.S., but this is thought to be the first time people are using their own human waste to power homes through the natural gas grid.
United Utilities and Ecotricity also have plans in the works to feed biomethane into the grid, and if the company's estimate is accurage, United Utilities could by powering 500 homes this way as soon as next summer.
NewNet quotes an official from Thames Water: "For decades we've generated electricity by burning sewage sludge or methane derived from it, saving £15m in power bills last year alone."
Using biomethane from sewage as another source of gas was just the next step on their "renewable energy hit list."


Why does my Engine Run Rough?
When an engine runs rough, it can be a sign of a number of problems – sometimes they can be long-term issues that can damage the engine, other times they can be momentary blips that aren't a big deal. So why is your engine running rough, and what can you do to bring it back in line?
Engine cycles up and down
If your engine cycles its running speed up and down, this is likely due to an issue with the fuel flow. Fuel flow can be effected by a number of things-
 - Object in the gas tank: If something works its way into your gas tank and restricts the fuel flow into the exit hose, this will cause surges and stoppages of gas. Empty your tank and shake out anything that is causing a blockage.
 - Carburetor not feeding freely: Remove the plug from the bottom of the fuel bowl of the carburetor and see if gasoline flows freely from the tank, through the hose and float valve, into the carburetor. If it doesn't, trace things back to find the problem.
 - Gummed-up carburetor: If none of these actions remedy the problem, take the carburetor apart and blow out all the orifices and jets. You may need to soak it in carburetor cleaner first to remove some of the build-up.
Engine Ignition Causes Sputtering
Sometimes a failure in the ignition system can cause a rough idle, something that is often traced back to the spark plug. Make sure the spark plug leads are secure, that the spark plug itself is clean, and that it is gapped correctly. Measure the gap and adjust it per specifications.
Wheezing and Lagging
If the air filter gets clogged up with dirt and debris, it will restrict the airflow to the engine, causing the engine to get choked up. Use a screwdriver to remove the filter cover and take out the old filter. If its a foam filter, you can clean it with hot water and light detergent, just make sure you allow it to dry completely before reinstalling it and running your mower. If it's a pleated air filter, remove it and shake it out. If shaking it out doesn't work, you will need to replace the filter entirely.
Regardless of the reasons behind it, you will need to remedy your rough, lagging mower as soon as possible. Aside from performance issues, this can be the sign of the deterioration of your carburetor, which can be a crippling problem and will lead to the need for an expensive rebuild.
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Breakthrough in supply chain packaging management
Trading Labels of Warrington in Lancashire has developed Webnosys, an integrated information portal which links brand owners, their product suppliers and packaging/printing suppliers.The software developer says it will transform the packaging supply chain because partners can share secure information anywhere in the world, at any time and at any stage of a product's life cycle. It is proving particularly effective in sourcing from overseas markets.
"Webnosys tells all those involved in the supply chain exactly what is happening at any given time," says managing director Steve Pemberton. "It manages the whole life cycle of an item of packaging. Reducing waste is achieved as much in terms of saving time, sourcing and manufacturing more effectively as it is in eliminating wasted product."
Originally a niche product for the labels market, Webnosys can now manage various packaging formats for use across all in-store consumables. This means it can build and manage a label specification to a consistent format, while storing a visual reference of the label linked to the specification. Users can group specifications and manage a range of products from concept to launch, standardizing to a control timeline and sequence where necessary. They can also tender a range of electronic labels to a set list of potential printers, collate the returns and rank bids for evaluation. Another trick is to collate and store inventory levels at various points in the supply chain, allowing data to be collected electronically from a common MIS without re-keying data. Brand owners can publish the sales rate of an item alongside its inventory and generate data relating to customer demand. They can also upload cutter profiles from a converter and pass them to a design/artwork studio.
To meet security concerns, the primary database is held locally and web access acts as a window into the data. Each partner can access only their own data. Uploads made using the web are verified before their return to the database to protect data integrity, although users can share valuable information for the benefit of those who need it. Webnosys is supplied either as a fully managed service or as an application hosted on a brand owner's computer system. An unnamed major UK retailer is already using the system for its own-label operation.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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Synthesis of speech and song: commonalities and differences, style versus individuality
Takeshi Saitou, Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) Hideki Kawahara, Wakayama University
This seminar will feature two distinguished guests from Japan. Dr. Takeshi Saitou of Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) will present his method for Morphing audio from speech to song, by which a text recorded by a speaker can be reprocessed into a song, preserving phonetic realism, with melody and other attributes of singing added.
To follow, Professor Hideki Kawahara of Wakayama University, inventor of the well-known STRAIGHT algorithm for voice synthesis, will present a project on speech analysis and modification method based on an elaborated VOCODER and a morphing procedure. He will then moderate an open discussion of possible ways of handling singing/speaking style and individuality separately.


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This huge rift can be clearly seen from space.
Geologists are truly surprised at how fast it developed, when a 60 meter long rift opened up in Ethiopia.
It occurred in the course of a few days, in 2005 and the rift is still expanding.
According to recent reports, particularly those from the University of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the rift is
steadily expanding and will allow a new ocean to form and separating East Africa from the rest of the continent.
A 500-metre-long crack opened up in just a few days in Afar, Ethiopia, in 2005 (Photo Credit: University of Rochester)
"The ocean's formation is happening slowly, likely to take a few million years.
It will stretch from the Afar depression (straddling Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti) down to Mozambique,"
professor Atalay Ayele, lead researcher at the Addis Ababa University explained.
The seismic movements observed in Ethiopia are very similar to the changes normally caused by faults and fissures on the seafloor,
where the processes moving tectonic plates usually start
However, this time it is happening violently and very fast.
Dr. James Hammond, a seismologist from the University of Bristol, says that parts of the region are below sea level and the Indian Ocean is only cut off
by about a 20-meter strip of land in Eritrea:
"Eventually this will drift apart.... The sea will flood in and will start to create this new ocean.
It will pull apart, sink down deeper and deeper and eventually... parts of southern Ethiopia, Somalia will drift off, create a new island,
and we'll have a smaller Africa and a very big island that floats out into the Indian Ocean."
As the researchers explained, after last known eruption of Dabbahu in 2005, a volcano located in the remote Afar desert of Ethiopia,
magma pushed up through the middle of the rift area and began "unzipping" the rift in both directions.
The entire eastern part of the African continent has been affected by the strong forces.
Both small and large cracks can be found. Photo Credit: Cindy Ebinger/University of Rochester
"We know that seafloor ridges are created by a similar intrusion of magma into a rift, but we never knew that a huge length of the
ridge could break open at once like this," says professor Cindy Ebinger of Department of Earth And Environmental Science, University of Rochester.
Copyright @ MessageToEagle.com.
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or part without the express
written permission of MessageToEagle.com.
Radio Emission From Ultracool Dwarf Detected By Arecibo Telescope
The Arecibo Telescope in Puerto Rico has discovered sporadic bursts of polarized radio emission from the T6.5 brown J1047+21.
Because Arecibo is a single, fixed-dish telescope, it has a restricted practical sensitivity to weak, quiescent emission from radio sources...
Invader From Another Galaxy
This alien intruder from another galaxy is in many ways different from other exoplanets observed by astronomers.
Located about 2000 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation of Fornax (the Furnace), the Jupiter-like planet orbits a dying star of
extragalactic origin and risks to be engulfed by it.
Power To See Most Distant Objects In The Universe
The 3C294, is one of the most distant galaxies recorded by Chandra, the most sophisticated X-ray observatory ever built.
The cluster 3C294 is even 40 percent farther (!) than the next most distant x-ray galaxy cluster.
Chandra focus on X-rays from high-energy regions of the Universe and see the invisible.
It is so sensitive that it can capture images of particles as they disappear into a black hole deep in outer space.
"Pillars Of Creation" Are Gone
Every time you look at the beautiful and famous image of the Pillars of Creation taken by Hubble back in 1995,
you are actually admiring something that no longer exists.
In fact, the Pillars of Creation were already long gone by the time the image was captured!


The sirloin is cut from the beef loin and is a muscle that does very little work, so the strip steak is particularly tender although not as tender as the tenderloin. It is also called a strip loin steak.
When attached to the bone, together with the tenderloin, the strip steak becomes a T-bone or porterhouse steak.
It is suitable for fast, dry heat cooking methods, such as grilling, broiling or pan frying.
Grilling is a popular method of preparing beef cuts, especially steaks. By grilling, one can take advantage of a high degree of heat which can quickly sear the outside of a steak cut, sealing in moisture and flavour while creating a desired crust.
Broiling is a cooking method where the meat is placed under direct heat such as flame.
Pan frying involves cooking in a shallow skillet. It can also give the meat a desirable crust and the tender cuts of beef are best suited for this method.


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Investigating the efficacy of white light-emitting diodes at regulating flowering of photoperiodic ornamental crops
Under natural short days (SDs), low-intensity lighting during the middle of a night (night interruption, NI) can control flowering of daylength-sensitive ornamentals. Red (R, 600-700 nm) and far-red (FR, 700-800 nm) radiation is primarily absorbed by phytochromes that mediate flowering, whereas blue (B, 400-500 nm) radiation typically has less photoperiodic relevance, at least at a low intensity. White (W) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) emit photons over a broad spectrum; however to our knowledge, their efficacy at regulating flowering has not been published. We investigated whether white LEDs controlled flowering of five long-day plants [calibrachoa (Calibrachoa × hybrida), coreopsis (Coreopsis grandiflora), petunia (Petunia × hybrida), rudbeckia (Rudbeckia hirta), and snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus)] and two SD plants [chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum × morifolium) and marigold (Tagetes erecta)]. Plants were grown in a greenhouse at 20°C under 9-h SDs with or without 4-h NIs from R, B+R, cool-W, warm-W, or R+W+FR LEDs. Irradiance at plant canopy was adjusted to approximately 2 µmol m-2 s-1 between 400 and 800 nm. Compared with SD, all NIs similarly promoted flowering of calibrachoa and rudbeckia; however, only R+W+FR promoted flowering of snapdragon. NIs without FR radiation (i.e., R, B+R, cool-W, and warm-W) accelerated flowering of coreopsis and petunia, but flowering under R+W+FR was 11-16% earlier than under the other NIs. R+W+FR was less effective than the other NIs at inhibiting flowering of chrysanthemum and marigold. Cool-W and warm-W had similar effects on flowering and development of all crops. Plant height of calibrachoa, coreopsis, and marigold at flowering was greatest under R+W+FR; however, stem length of the other crops was similar under all NIs. We conclude that W LEDs inhibited flowering of SD plants and were as effective as R or R+W+FR radiation at promoting flowering of some, but not all, long-day plants.
Meng, Q. and Runkle, E.S. (2017). Investigating the efficacy of white light-emitting diodes at regulating flowering of photoperiodic ornamental crops. Acta Hortic. 1170, 951-958
blue radiation, far-red radiation, floriculture crops, LEDs, red radiation


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On the right, you see a picture of a surface which is starting along a bad path. Light colors represent atoms in high layers (isolated atoms and clumps we call islands), and dark colors represent atoms in lower layers (vacancies and pits). Most of the surface is pretty flat, but there is a big dark-grey pit! This pit represents a region of the surface which has lagged behind by a whole monolayer: pits like these will eventually lead the surface to become rough.
Experimentalists have various ways to test whether their surfaces are growing
layer by layer (flat), or 3D (rough). One way is by using STM to directly
image the layers; another way is to scatter something off the surface and
look for oscillations in the ''Anti-phase intensity''.
If a layer completes and forms a perfectly flat surface, you get anti-phase intensity of one; if the surface is rough (or flat but half-covered with a new layer), the antiphase intensity goes to zero. The dashed line in the picture on the left shows the anti-phase intensity for our computer model. (We're growing on a platiunum (111) surface at 130K at one layer per second, using KMC with EMT potentials.) It goes away quickly.
The spiky, solid line is our proposed new method for growing surfaces. We
suggest using pulsed sputtering. If we sputter (remove atoms) from the
surface just after a complete layer has been laid down, the extra atoms
and islands can be removed without digging new pits: this smooths the surface.
The spikes show how the surface gets smoother (bigger antiphase intensity)
each time we sputter: the smaller inset graph shows that it stays smooth
even after a hundred layers (at least on the computer!). It also shows
that a rough surface can be made smooth by using our pulsed sputtering method.
It's important to pick the right time to sputter. The big pit in the top picture formed even though we did pulsed sputtering. Our surface stayed flat for forty layers before the pit formed. Can we time things so as to make layer-by-layer growth last forever?
The reason that we lasted for forty layers is that small pits tend to shrink:
only big pits grow. We tested this by starting with pits of various sizes,
and watching them grow or shrink. Averaging over many runs we get the picture
on the right. By timing our
pulses after every 1.15 layers, we find that a pit has to make it to
~350 atoms big before it'll keep growing. We then change our timing to
try to make pits of all sizes shrink.
This graph shows our theory curve, for how big a pit needs to be before it will grow and mess up our surface (the critical pit size Rc). If we start sputtering each time we deposit 1.15 layers of atoms (0.15 on the horizontal axis), we see that it needs to have a radius around 10 (around the same as the ~350 atoms we saw above). By estimating the growth parameters and developing a theory for the fluctuations in island size, we are able to predict that growing at 0.24 (about one and a quarter layers deposited, then 1/4 layer sputtered away) we could grow layer-by-layer forever!
James P. Sethna, _EMAIL_
Statistical Mechanics: Entropy, Order Parameters, and Complexity, now available at Oxford University Press (USA, Europe).


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Scientific Name(s): Harpagophytum procumbens, subsp. procumbens DC. ex Meisn. Family: Pediliaceae (sesame).
Common Name(s): Devil's claw, grapple plant, grapple vine, Radix Harpagophyti, wood spider, xwate.
Uses of Devil's Claw
Devil's claw is a folk remedy used for an extensive range of diseases, including arthritis and rheumatism. Clinical trials are generally supportive of its use as an anti-inflammatory and analgesic in low back pain and osteoarthritis.
Devil's Claw Dosing
Devil's claw has been studied for low back pain, muscle pain, and osteoarthritis using daily doses of crude tuber up to 9 g, 1 to 3 g of extract, or harpagoside 50 to 100 mg.
Because of the bitterness of the preparation and consequent increase in gastric secretion, devil's claw is contraindicated in patients with gastric or duodenal ulcers.
Documented oxytoxic adverse effects. Avoid use.
Devil's Claw Interactions
None well documented.
Devil's Claw Adverse Reactions
Rare, generally consisting of headache, tinnitus, or anorexia.
Clinically important toxicity has not been observed in limited, short-term use.
Devil's claw grows naturally in the Kalahari Desert and Namibian steppes of southwest Africa. The plant is a weedy perennial bearing small, claw-like protrusions on the fruit and a strong central taproot growing up to 2 m deep. The secondary roots are used in decoctions and teas. The plant's leaves are large and grey-green in color, and it produces pink, red, or purple, trumpet-shaped flowers. 1, 2 Devil's claw is also known as Uncaria procumbens and Harpagophytum burchellii Decne.
Devil's claw has been widely used among indigenous people of South Africa as a folk remedy for diseases ranging from liver and kidney disorders to allergies, headaches, and most commonly, rheumatism. Devil's claw was reportedly introduced to Europe by a German soldier in the mid-1900s, and thereafter its popularity increased among British, Canadian, and European herbalists. Devil's claw is marketed in Canada and Europe as a home remedy for the relief of arthritic diseases. 1, 2, 3
The major chemical component thought to be responsible for the anti-inflammatory activity of devil's claw is harpagoside, a monoterpene glucoside. Other iridoid glycosides include procumbide, harpagide, 8-para-coumaroyl-harpagide, and verbascoside. Harpagoside is found primarily in the roots; secondary tubers contain twice as much glucoside as the primary roots. Flowers, stems, and ripe fruits are essentially devoid of the compound, while traces have been isolated from the leaves. Harpagoside can be progressively hydrolyzed to harpagid and harpagogenin. Commercial sources of devil's claw extract contain 1.4% to 2% of harpagoside.
Other constituents include carbohydrates, flavonoids (kaempferol, luteolin), aromatic acids, phytosterols, and triterpenes. High-performance liquid chromatography methods for identification have been reported. 2, 4, 5
Devil's Claw Uses and PharmacologyAnti-inflammatory/analgesic effects
In vitro studies are largely supportive of anti-inflammatory action. Mechanisms elucidated include inhibition of COX-2 enzymes and proinflammatory enzymes, antioxidant activity, reductions in expression of prostaglandin PGE 2, and inhibition of cysteinyl-leukotrienes. 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9Animal data
Most animal studies support the anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of devil's claw extracts. Studies have included oral, intraperitoneal, and intraduodenal routes of administration, with oral use having the most negative findings. Inhibition of carrageenin-induced paw edema by devil's claw was comparable with that of phenylbutazone, indomethacin, and acetyl salicylic acid. A dose-dependent effect has also been described. 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14Clinical data
Reviews of clinical trials have focused primarily on arthritic conditions (hip and knee) and low back pain. A meta-analysis of available data has not been conducted, possibly because of diverse methodologies. 3, 4, 15, 16
Few quality double-blind, placebo-controlled, or comparator randomized trials have been conducted in osteoarthritis; however, there is general support for evidence of effect in pain reduction. Other clinical studies (open-label) are also supportive. Well-designed, adequately powered studies are required before definitive statements regarding optimal dose, efficacy, and duration of therapy can be made. 15, 16 The use of devil's claw in treating low back pain has been reviewed by a Cochrane group who found evidence to support a short-term reduction in pain greater than that of placebo, based on 2 quality clinical trials. 15 Positive results from other less well-designed trials have been published. 3, 4Other uses
Older animal studies demonstrated cardiac effects of extracts of H. procumbens, including dose-dependent reduction in blood pressure, decreased heart rate, and anti-arrhythmic activity, with mixed results or inotropic and chronotropic effects for different iridoids. 17, 18, 19 Clinical studies are lacking.Central nervous system
A study in rats showed anticonvulsant effects of an extract of H. procumbens, possibly via CNS depression and gamma aminobutyric acid neurotransmission. 20 Anticholinesterase activity has also been described. 21
Devil's claw has been studied for low back pain, muscle pain, and osteoarthritis using daily doses of crude tuber up to 9 g daily, 1 to 3 g of extract, and harpagoside 50 to 100 mg. 3, 22, 23 Commercial preparations are inconsistent in the composition of iridoid glycosides, with some products likely to be more effective than others. Harpagoside is considered the key ingredient for anti-inflammatory effect. 23
Devil's claw is not recommended for use in children due to lack of safety or clinical trial data. 3 It is also not recommended for long-term use (more than 3 to 4 months) because of a lack of data. 3, 24
A poorly documented case report of an interaction with warfarin manifesting as purpura exists. 3, 26, 27 However, devil's claw does not affect blood eicosanoid production. 28 Use with antiarrhythmic, chronotropic, or inotropic medicines is contraindicated because of decreased heart rate observed in rats and mild positive inotropic effects in rabbits in older studies. 3, 18, 19 Devil's claw may also potentiate antidiabetic therapy. 2, 3, 4
Screening studies report that H. procumbens is unable to inhibit cytochrome P450 enzymes and is unlikely to have any clinically relevant effect on the cytochrome system. 4, 29 It is possible that devil's claw may affect multidrug P-glycoprotein drug transporter. 30
Rare, GI-related adverse effects have been reported in clinical trials, including mild GI upset, anorexia, and loss of taste. Headache and tinnitus have been reported. 31, 32 Cardiovascular adverse events are theoretically possible based on older studies in rodents; however, case reports are lacking. 32
Anecdotal reports suggest devil's claw may increase stomach pH due to its bitter taste, and is thus contraindicated in people with gastric or duodenal ulcers. 3, 33 Cautious use by patients with gallstones is likewise advised. 2, 3 For diabetic patients, consider the unsubstantiated reports of possible hypoglycemic effects of devil's claw. 3
Harpagoside has been found to be of low toxicity, with a median lethal dose of more than 13.5 g/kg in mice. Although no long-term toxicity studies have been reported, rats given oral doses of harpagoside 7.5 g/kg/day showed no clinical, hematologic, or gross pathologic changes. 3, 33
Bibliography1. Harpagophytum procumbens. USDA, NRCS. 2011. The PLANTS Database ( _URL_, 6 December 2011). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC 27401-4901 USA. Accessed March 8, 2012.
2. Radix Harpagophyti. In: WHO Monographs on Selected Medicinal Plants. Vol. 3. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2007. _URL_
3. Brendler T, Gruenwald J, Ulbricht C, Basch E; Natural Standard Research Collaboration. Devil's Claw ( Harpagophytum procumbens DC): an evidence-based systematic review by the Natural Standard Research Collaboration. J Herb Pharmacother. 2006;6(1):89-126.
4. Grant


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I am a Year 8 student at Tauranga Intermediate School, New Zealand.
Wednesday, 9 April 2014
McDonald's receipt tattoo
Use the article above to answer the following questions. Write both the questions and answers down in your book.
1. Who is the main person or group of people in this news article? Stian Ytterdahl and this
group of friends √
2. What was the key event from the news article? The guy has a tattoo of a McDonald's recipe on his
3. Where did this event take place? In Norwegian. √
4. When did this event take place? It took place on the 1st of april. √
5. Why did this event happen? This friends talked him into it. √
Use the article above to answer the following questions. Write both the questions and answers down in
1. Find a quote from the main person in this news article? Stian Ytterdahl, will now never forget his latest trip to McDonalds. √
2. In your own words describe what happened in this news article. Stian Ytterdahl friends talked him into getting a tattoo, he had a choice of a barbie tattoo or his McDonald's recipe he choice the McDonald's tattoo. √
3. Find out where this event took place and include some information about this place.
It took place in Norway in a local town.
4. Tell us when this event happened and explain what might happen in the future.
It happened on april the 1st 2014 and in the future people might not hire him because they will think he is immature. √
5. Explain in your own words why this event took place.
Because his friends were jealous that he was getting all the girls. √
6. Use the Dictionary in the bottom right hand corner to find the meaning of 3 words from the article.


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Indian Journal of Science and Technology
Year: 2016, Volume: 9, Issue: 22, Pages: 1-8
Hetal Patel* and Dharmendra Patel
Objectives: To compare different data mining algorithms with the same parameters on the 10fold cross validation test to predict the crop yield. Methods/Analysis: Different data mining classification algorithms like K-nearest Neighbor, K-means, Neural Network, Support Vector Machine, Case-based Reasoning, Decision Tree algorithm, etc. are applied for various application of agriculture domain. A comparative study is done by using J48, Naïve Bayes and Simple Cart algorithms to determine which classification algorithm is best fitted for crop prediction. Findings: In this study, this work reveals the superior performance of J48 classification algorithm with accuracy 89.33% for crop prediction than the other two classification algorithms Simple Cart and Naïve Bayes. Novelty /Improvement: This study first time demonstrates the application of different data mining classification techniques (as discussed above) in the domain of agriculture for yield prediction.
Keywords: Classification Algorithm, Crop Prediction, Data Mining, Decision Tree, J48
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Lesson 18: Strategy in closed positions
In this lesson, Susan explains about strategy in closed positions through two of her early games. In such type of positions, a lot of patience is required. In addition, a key question to try to find the answer for is how and when to break through? The lesson ends with the Miracle in Chess feature, an elegant endgame study from the 18th century by Stamma, which ends with an unexpected checkmate.
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to_categorical()' function so that column will be 'one-hot encoded'. Currently, a patient with no diabetes is represented with a 0 in the diabetes column and a patient with diabetes is represented with a 1. With one-hot encoding, the integer will be removed and a binary variable is inputted for each category. In our case, we have two categories: no diabetes and diabetes. A patient with no diabetes will be represented by [1 0] and a patient with diabetes will be represented by [0 1].
_TAG_ that target column has been converted train_y_2[0:5]
_TAG_ model model_2 = Sequential()
_TAG_ number of columns in training data n_cols_2 = train_X_2.shape
_TAG_ layers to model model_2.add(Dense(250, activation='relu', input_shape=(n_cols_2,))) model_2.add(Dense(250, activation='relu')) model_2.add(Dense(250, activation='relu')) model_2.add(Dense(2, activation='softmax'))
The last layer of our model has 2 nodes - one for each option: the patient has diabetes or they don't.
The activation is'softmax'. Softmax makes the output sum up to 1 so the output can be interpreted as probabilities. The model will then make its prediction based on which option has a higher probability.
_TAG_ model using accuracy to measure model performance model_2.compile(optimizer='adam', loss='categorical_crossentropy', metrics=['accuracy'])
We will use 'categorical_crossentropy' for our loss function. This is the most common choice for classification. A lower score indicates that the model is performing better.
To make things even easier to interpret, we will use the 'accuracy' metric to see the accuracy score on the validation set at the end of each epoch.
_TAG_ model model_2.fit(X_2, target, epochs=30, validation_split=0.2, callbacks=[early_stopping_monitor])
Congrats! You are now well on your way to building amazing deep learning models in Keras!
Thanks for reading! The GitHub repository for this tutorial can be found here.


2. CARE's policy
2 CARE recognises that humanitarian space is guaranteed to aid workers under Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law, and that states have the responsibility to provide the minimum conditions for humanitarians to carry out their work in areas of conflict. To facilitate access to humanitarian space, CARE places a great deal of emphasis on the guiding principles of the humanitarian imperative, independence and impartiality. That is, CARE's relief efforts should be driven by the level of humanitarian need, and CARE should promote and protect its independence and impartiality at all times.
CARE advocates applying a 'quiet diplomacy' approach in cases where humanitarian space is threatened. It can be beneficial to enlist governments as allies and understand how policy instruments might be used to preserve independence and humanitarian space. Based on 'best practice' learned from previous operations, CARE encourages building coalitions with like-minded humanitarian agencies operating in the same 'space'. This strengthens humanitarian operations, maintains humanitarian space and ensures that no agencies' work is undermined. Forming a united group increases the possibility of challenging negative trends that require high levels of advocacy.
CARE's humanitarian space policy promotes a proactive approach to raise concerns related to humanitarian space in UN-led humanitarian system reforms. Reforms of humanitarian coordination and pooled financing should be understood in the context of wider reforms to promote 'coherence' in the UN peace and security architecture. Reforms of UN coordination and civil-military relations (e.g. integrated missions) should support humanitarian principles, rather than subordinate humanitarian responses to political or institutional interests.


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Labour's proud history
In its almost one century of existence Labour has fought many battles which have shaped Irish society for the better. Among our achievements can be included the following:
- In 1922, when the opponents of the Treaty left the Dáil and precipitated the Civil War, Labour provided the first Opposition, bringing constitutional politics to Ireland.
- Labour Leader, Tom Johnston, TD., was the author of the programme for the first Dáil
- Labour in Government was responsible for major building programmes for social housing in the 1940/50s and again in the 1970s. The homes provided during these period still provide the backbone for social and affordable housing today.
- Labour was the first major party to oppose Ireland's constitutional ban on divorce. On two occasions - with Labour in Government on both occasions - the people were asked to change the Constitution on this issue. On the second occasion the proposal was carried by a small majority. Labour has consistently championed liberal legislation on divorce, contraception, women's reproductive rights and gay rights. Often Labour has been a lone voice on these issues.
- Established Combat Poverty Agency. Frank Cluskey, as Minister for Social Welfare established the first Combat Poverty Agency which channelled funds to disadvantaged communities and revealed for the first time the extent of poverty in Ireland. Labour re-established the agency in 1986 after Fianna Fail had closed it down.
- The election of Mary Robinson as President of Ireland in 1991. Mary Robinson was the first woman President, the first not to be nominated by Fianna Fᩬ. For the first time she made the presidency an active and inclusive institution.
- Introduction of Equality Legislation. Mervyn Taylor, as Minister for Equality and Law reform introduced the Equality Legislation which for the first time outlawed discrimination against people with disabilities, gays and lesbians, Travellers, ethnic minorities and other minorities.
- Introduced the National Anti-Poverty Strategy. Proinsias De Rossa as minister for Social Welfare introduced the first National Anti-poverty Strategy (NAPS). For the first time Government acknowledged poverty and set out targets to reduce it and its causes. This approach is now adopted through out the EU, while Fianna Fail/PDs have watered down the Irish version.
- Ethic in Politics. Labour introduced the first legislation to cap spending at elections, control political donations, and require politicians to reveal their interests. Uniquely among the larger parties, no Labour politician has been charged with corruption.
- A commitment to universally free and accessible education, exemplified by the abolition of third-level fees and the introduction of radical and Innovative programmes to combat disadvantage at primary level.
- Played a key role in the peace process. Party leader Dick Spring, as Minister for Foreign Affairs, was a major participant in the Downing Street Declarations and led the negotiations that concluded the Joint Framework Documents, the precursor to the Good Friday Agreement. He also concluded agreements with the USA and the European Union to underpin the peace process with financial support and significant investment.
- Laid a good part of the foundations for the "celtic tiger". Ruairi Quinn's tenure in the Department of Finance is now widely seen as being responsible for the strong base of the economy in the first half of the 1990s, positioning it for end of the mass unemployment of the 1970s and 80s and the rapid growth that followed.
- Placed a considerable emphasis on the development of arts, culture and our national language, especially through the appointment of Michael D Higgins as Ireland's first - and best - Arts Minister.
- The first political party to commit Ireland, in word and deed, to achieving the United Nations target of aid to the developing world.
A Brief History of The Labour Party
The Labour Party was founded in 1912 in Clonmel, County Tipperary, by James Connolly, James Larkin and William O'Brien as the political wing of the Irish Trade Union Congress. It is the oldest political party in Ireland and the only one which pre-dates independence. The founders of the Labour Party believed that for ordinary working people to shape society they needed a political party that was committed to serving their needs; they knew that there is only so much that trade unions and community organisations can do, an effective political party is needed to create a fair society. Similar political movements were being forged throughout the world at this time, and the internationalism and progressive politics of this era has profoundly shaped Labour's philosophy since.
Much of the political optimism and potential of that era came to grief in the slaughter of the First World War. In Ireland concerns about national determination came to dominate with the 1916 Easter Rising and the War of Independence. Labour was profoundly engaged in those events, Labour leaders arguing for not just an "independent Ireland" but on Ireland which was just and fair. The decisions taken by Labour leaders at that time are still debated today. James Connolly, of course, was one of the signatories of the 1916 Proclaimation, participated in the rising along with the Citizen's Army, and was executed in May 1916
The Labour Party did not take part in the General Election of 1918 or the parliamentary elections of 1921. This decision was taken to facilitated a clear-cut decision by the electorate on the national question and to avoid the possibility of a split in the Labour Movement which was organised on an all-Ireland basis.
This decision had serious implications for the future of the Party. In the 1918 election, two out of every three voters were voting for the first time and forming political links which were to last a lifetime. The national debate was not resolved by the elections of 1918 and 1921 or the civil war which followed. It has continued to be a part of politics in Ireland ever since.
The debate about the national issue pushed consideration of social issues into the background. Moreover, the major parties were conservative and opposed to socialism. This meant that there was little or no attention given to issues of social justice, such as poverty, unemployment and emigration which badly affected the lives of Irish working people.
James Connolly & Jim Larkin, co-founders of The Labour Party
In the 1922 elections, the Labour Party won 22% of the vote, with 17 of its 18 candidates being elected. The outbreak of civil war and the refusal of those against the Treaty to take their seats in the Dáil cast Labour in the role of the first official opposition party in the State. The Labour Party was thus instrumental in establishing constitutional party politics in Ireland.
The participation of both groups in the 1948 Inter-Party Government helped reunite the Party in 1950. From 1954 to 1957 the Labour Party joined Fine Gael in the Second Inter-Party Government.
The early sixties brought growth within the Party and an extension of its support. It also received a considerable boost from the re-affiliation of a number of trade unions, including the ITGWU, during this period. At the 1965 General Election the Party won 22 Dáil seats and in 1969 received 17% of the vote.
A decision of the 1970 Annual Conference enabled the Party to consider entering coalition. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Labour entered a number of coalition governments with Fine Gael. Party fortunes varied over these years with a particular success being achieved in 1979 when the Party won four of the 15 seats in the European Elections.
In 1990, the Party Leader, Dick Spring TD, invited Mary Robinson, a former Labour Senator, Councillor and Dáil candidate and a leading civil rights lawyer, to seek the Labour nomination for the Presidency. In an historic campaign, Mary Robinson was elected by the Irish people to become Ireland's first woman President.
In the General Election of 1992, the Party achieved its highest vote ever (19.3%) and highest number of Deputies (33). This historic breakthrough paved the way for Labour's entry into Government for the sixth time.
Labour remained in Government until May 1997, sharing power with Fianna Fail until November 1994 and from then with Fine Gael and Democratic Left. It was a period of unparalleled economic growth and social reform. During that time the education budget doubled, local authority house completions trebled, arts investment and aid to the developing world quadrupled.
The General Election in 1997 saw Labour's return to opposition and in November 1997, Dick Spring TD, resigned as Party Leader and was succeeded by Ruairi Quinn TD. In 1999 The Labour Party merged with Democratic Left and Proinsias De Rossa, Leader of Democratic Left, became Labour's first President. In 2002 Pat Rabbitte was elected Party Leader in a national member ballot. Eamon Gilmore succeed Pat Rabbitte as Leader of the Labour Party in 2007
The previous leaders of the Labour Party were:
- Tom Johnson TD _PHONE_
- T.J. O'Connell TD _PHONE_
- William Norton TD _PHONE_
- Brendan Corish TD _PHONE_
- Frank Cluskey TD _PHONE_
- Michael O'Leary TD _PHONE_
- Dick Spring TD _PHONE_
- Ruairi Quinn TD _PHONE_
- Pat Rabbitte TD 2002-2007
Symbol of the Labour Party
The rose was adopted by the Party as its symbol in 1991 and redesigned to its current presentation in 1997. It is a symbol we share with many of our sister parties in the Socialist International.
For many years the party used the "Starry Plough" as its primary


Decision Making in Logistics: A Chaos Theory Based Analysis
Priya Ranjan, Soundar Kumara, Amit Surana, Vikram Manikonda, Mark Greaves, and Wilbur Peng
Logistics in general is a complex system. In this paper we investigate the existence of chaos in logistics systems. Such an investigation is necessary to use appropriate and correct methods for further analysis, as linear systems techniques will not be useful. If a system exhibits chaos, decision making should consider the system characterization parameters from a chaos theory perspective. In this paper, three models from the existing literature are reported. Of these models, the non-preemptive queuing model is considered for further exploration. A prototypical supply chain example is used and the resulting behavior is characterized. At certain input values the behavior of the logistics system exhibits chaos. This information is useful for further analysis for predication and control. The working prototype is implemented in the DARPA Couggar agent architecture.


How to Determine a Corporation's Fiscal Year End Date
by Jeff Franco
 A corporation's fiscal year refers to the 12-month period it uses for financial and tax reporting purposes when a calendar year isn't used. Initially, a corporation can choose any fiscal year it wants, but it must maintain its books and records in accordance with that fiscal year. If you want to determine the fiscal year that a company uses, the information is readily available if the company is publicly traded. Private corporation fiscal years, however, can be a little more difficult to determine.
 Choosing Fiscal Year
 Since a corporation is treated as a separate taxpayer, it must obtain an employer identification number, or EIN, with the IRS in order to file its taxes. Corporations can choose a tax year at the time of applying for the EIN, but the IRS doesn't consider a corporation's tax year as being officially adopted until it receives the first corporate tax return. However, when corporations use a fiscal year for financial reporting that doesn't end on December 31, its tax year must match the fiscal year. Therefore, when you're able to determine a company's fiscal year, barring unusual circumstances, its tax year should cover the same period.
 Public Company Information
 Federal law requires all public corporations that have their stock trading on a public exchange within the U.S. to register with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Once registered, a corporation has a legal obligation to publish audited financial statements. Whether it's a quarterly or annual financial statement, the published statement will clearly state what the corporation's fiscal year is. There are various resources available for accessing a corporation's financial statements. The SEC maintains the "EDGAR database" on its website that stores all financial statement filing for every public company. But since the information is public, you can usually find the statements in other places, such as one of the many financial news organization websites.
 Private Corporation Financials
 It gets a little more complicated when you're trying to determine the fiscal year of a private corporation. Private corporations can range from a small business with just one or two shareholders to multimillion-dollar corporations. Since these corporations don't raise capital from the public by having their stock listed on a public exchange, they're under no obligation to make any financial information available to the public. Generally, only government agencies like the IRS and private creditors of the corporation will have access to that information.
 Accessing Private Corporation Information
 There are resources available online, some of which may require a premium subscription, which store financial information for large private corporations. Dunn & Bradstreet is one of the more popular firms that offer private company information. And if the company you want information on has a contract with a government agency, you may be able to extract fiscal year information from the government contractor database. If all else fails, you can always try and reach someone at the company, though business owners may not always be so willing to divulge any information.
 About the Author


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Anthrax Q & A: Laboratory Testing
Can I get screened or tested to find out whether I have been exposed to anthrax?
There is no screening test for anthrax; there is no test that a doctor can do for you that says you've been exposed to or carry it. The only way exposure can be determined is through a public health investigation. Nasal swabs and environmental tests, are not tests to determine whether an individual should be treated. These kinds of tests are used only to determine the extent of exposure in a given building or workplace.
If patients are suspected of being exposed to anthrax, should they be quarantined or should other family members be tested?
Anthrax is not known to spread from one person to another person. Therefore, there is no need to quarantine individuals suspected of being exposed to anthrax or to immunize or treat contacts of persons ill with anthrax, such as household contacts, friends, or coworkers, unless they also were also exposed to the same source of infection.
CDC collect samples to test the bacteria?
CDC is engaging its partners in the Laboratory Response Network (LRN) in states all across the United States. The LRN is a collaborative partnership and multilevel system linking state and local public health laboratories with advanced capacity laboratories—including clinical, military, veterinary, agricultural, water, and food-testing laboratories—to rapidly identify threat agents, including anthrax. Local clinical laboratory testing is confirmed at state and large metropolitan public health laboratories. CDC conducts the definitive or highly specialized testing for major threat agents. There are 100 laboratories in the network; none of them are commercial labs.
an area is tested for the presence of Bacillus anthracis, how long
does it take to get the results?
Before testing can begin, samples must be collected in a form suitable for testing. The length of time it takes to get test results depends on both the kind of test to be performed and the laboratory's workload. Some tests may take only a short time to perform, but confirmation takes longer. It may take many days to get the test results.
Testing is a two-step process. The first test, a screening test, may be positive within 2 hours if the sample is large and contains a lot of Bacillus anthracis, the organism that causes the disease anthrax. However, a positive reading on this first test must be confirmed with a second, more accurate test. This confirmation test, conducted by a more sophisticated laboratory, takes much longer. The length of time needed depends in part on how fast the bacteria grow, but results are usually available 1 to 3 days after the sample is received in the laboratory.
CDC recommend the use of home test kits for anthrax?
Hand-held assays (sometimes referred to as "Smart Tickets") are sold commercially for the rapid detection of Bacillus anthracis. These assays are intended only for the screening of environmental samples. First responder and law enforcement communities are using these as instant screening devices and should forward any positive samples to authorities for more sensitive and specialized confirmatory testing. The results of these assays should not be used to make decisions about patient management or prophylaxis. The utility and validity of these assays are unknown.
At this time, CDC does not have enough scientific data to recommend the use of these assays. The analytical sensitivity of these assays is limited by the technology, and data provided by manufacturers indicate that a minimum of 10,000 spores is required to generate a positive signal. This number of spores would suggest a heavy contamination of the area (sample). Therefore a negative result does not rule out a lower level of contamination. Data collected from field use also indicate specificity problems with some of these assays. Some positive results have been obtained with spores of the non-anthrax Bacillus bacteria that may be found in the environment.
For these reasons, CDC has been asked to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the commercially available, rapid, hand-held assays for B. anthracis. When this study is completed, results will be made available. Conclusions from this study are not expected in the near future.
nasal swab test an approved diagnostic tool for determining whether a
person has been exposed to anthrax?
No. At present, CDC does not recommend the use of nasal swab testing on a routine basis to determine whether a person has been exposed to B. anthracis or as a diagnostic tool. At best, a positive result may be interpreted only to indicate exposure; a negative result does not exclude the possibility of exposure. Nasal swab screening may be used by public health officials to assist in an epidemiological investigation of potentially exposed persons to evaluate the dispersion of spores.
department laboratories capable of conducting testing?
All state health departments are capable of obtaining results of tests on suspected infectious agents. Laboratories are usually classified as Level A, B, C, or D. Level A laboratories are those typically found in community hospitals, and these laboratories should be able to perform initial testing on all clinical specimens (usually blood or some other body fluid). Public health laboratories are usually Level B; these laboratories are valuable for confirming or refuting preliminary test results and can usually perform antimicrobial susceptibility tests on bacteria and viruses. Level C laboratories, which are reference facilities and can be public health laboratories, can perform more rapid identification tests. Level D laboratories are designed to perform the most sophisticated tests and are located in federal facilities such as CDC. Every state has a Laboratory Response Network (LRN) contact. The LRN links state and local public health laboratories with advanced-capacity laboratories, including clinical, military, veterinary, agricultural, water, and food-testing laboratories. Laboratorians should contact their state public health laboratory to identify their local LRN representative. CDC's Emergency Preparedness and Response website provides access to CDC's Centers for Public Health Preparedness, a national network of academic institutions and local health departments whose goal is to ensure that local public health workers are fully prepared to respond to current and emerging health threats, including bioterrorism.
and reliable are anthrax tests?
There are many kinds of tests, and the reliability of each has not been determined. In general, findings from culturing environmental samples are specific; that is, a positive result reflects the true presence of Bacillus anthracis, and a negative result likely means that no B. anthracis is present.
Subtyping is a laboratory process to identify different subtypes of organisms, which is not possible with standard microbiological testing. Most Bacillus anthracis subtyping is done by examining the organism's molecular structure for certain genetic characteristics that can then be compared with those of other B. anthracis organisms to determine whether they are the same or different. Differences between these two organisms would indicate different strains.
different from polymerase chain reaction (PCR)?
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a laboratory method used to detect and amplify genetic material from organisms. It can be used to diagnose disease by identifying genetic material (DNA) commonly found in all Bacillus anthracis strains or it can be used to subtype the organism by amplifying specific genetic material and comparing it with known strains of B. anthracis to see if it matches or if it is different. When PCR is used for subtyping, the amplified genetic material is usually further analyzed by other molecular methods, such as DNA sequencing.
method does CDC use to subtype Bacillus anthracis?
CDC uses a method called MLVA, which is the acronym for multi-locus variable-number of tandem (consecutive) repeat analysis.
MLVA (multi-locus variable-number of tandem [consecutive] repeat analysis)
identify different strains of anthrax?
MLVA examines a number of DNA segments within the chromosome or plasmids of Bacillus anthracis that have specific repeat patterns of nucleotides (fundamental DNA units). These repeats may differ by sequence and length, as well as the number of times that they are repeated. Different types of these repeats and the number of times that they are repeated provide a specific pattern that will identify different strains of the organism. More than 100 different strains of B. anthracis have been identified using this method.
is environmental sampling performed?
Environmental sampling is the sampling of the air, soil, dust, water, and physical surfaces to identify the presence or absence of bacteria, chemicals, and radiological materials (see "Procedures for Collecting Surface Environmental Samples for Culturing Bacillus anthracis"). In the case of anthrax, this is used to identify its location and presence in the environment. Environmental sampling would be conducted if there were a threat or possibility of Bacillus anthracis contamination. However, the presence of B. anthracis in an environmental sample does not mean the person will get the disease.
Why is environmental sampling performed?
- To identify the site or source of B. anthracis that could lead to exposure and disease,
- To trace the route of an exposure (e.g., a letter),
- To guide clean-up efforts in a facility with known exposure, and
- To assess biosafety procedures in laboratories processing anthrax specimens.
What is a nasal swab test?
A nasal swab involves placing a swab inside the nostrils and taking a culture. The CDC and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services do not recommend the use of nasal swab testing by clinicians to determine whether a person has been exposed to Bacillus anthracis, the bacteria responsible for anthrax, or as a means of diagnosing anthrax. At best, a positive result may be interpreted only to indicate exposure; a negative result does not exclude the possibility of exposure. Also, the presence of spores in the nose does not mean that the person has inhalation anthrax. The nose naturally filters out many things that a person breathes, including bacterial spores. To have inhalation anth


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Civil War Exhibit
|Lock 16 Center|
|754 First Street, LaSalle, IL 61301|
|Feb 21, 2013|
Visit the following two exhibits at Lock 16 Center
Monday-Saturday 8:00am – 5:30pm
Saturday, February 2, 2013 – Wednesday, February 27, 2013
To Kill and to Heal: Weapons and Medicine of the Civil War
The deadliest weapon of the Civil War was one that nobody could see, killing two soldiers for every one felled by gunfire.
The extraordinary casualties caused by that invisible killer, disease; the conventional weapons used to create slaughter
on an unprecedented scale; horrific injuries suffered on the battlefield; and the heroic efforts of medical personnel
to treat soldiers on both sides are described in this exhibit.
Abraham Lincoln and the I&M Canal
Abraham Lincoln believed that the Illinois & Michigan Canal promoted the settlement and growth of Northern Illinois.
Ultimately, the canal made a once small settlement, Chicago, thrive and become a major transportation and economic center
for the entire nation. The exhibit explores Abraham Lincoln's connection to the Illinois & Michigan Canal from his early days
in Illinois and the creation of the I&M Canal to his desire to expand it during his Presidency.
Visit this exhibit on Saturday, February 16 or Monday February, 18, and receive a free children's activity book and exhibit guide.


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Tree of Life Pendant Necklaces
The Tree of Life is a powerful symbol encompassing the circle of life. Its roots grow under the earth's surface, and its branches stretch into the sky above. It represents the three layers of existence from the underworld, the earth and our final destination, the heavens.
A tree stretches down below into the earth's core, and its branches stretch into the heavens above. The body of the tree provide food and shelter to all those who need it. This magical mystical symbol is basic in its approach and a reminder to us all to keep it simple. We must stay grounded on our path of life, strengthen our trunk or body so that we can branch out and be the best version of ourselves that we can. While all the time looking skywards to the divine, in whose glory we are made. We are all part of this wonderful tree of life.
The Tree of Life is often represented in jewellery. These Tree of Life Pendant Necklaces are handmade with crystals and gemstones and finished in a wire wrap design. They are a symbol of growth, blessings and love.
Our distinctive Tree of Life Pendant Necklaces symbolise the evolution of our spiritual selves and the circle of life.
- Sort by Default Order


green design, eco design, sustainable design, paper art, Michael Velliquette, One From Many From One, Caestecker Art Gallery, Paper sculptures
Unlike other artists who work with paper, Velliquette's cuts and curves are more spontaneous, allowing the placement of each piece to dictate his next move. One would hardly guess the method to this madness is not carefully calculated, as each finished piece seems almost perfectly placed, but Velliquette prefers each color and shape to inspire the next.
Using archival card stock in a rainbow of colors, Velliquette relies only on his meticulous cuts to transform the flat sheets of paper into textural components for his sculptures. Fine snips create furry, feather-like elements that the artist uses as ornamental details and longer pieces sprout out like whiskers from his mask-like sculptures. Short fringe is used to create husky texture, reminiscent of bark or rough fur. Velliquette also suggests volume, simply by curling contrasting colors of paper and arranging them in a line, which the viewer's eyes seamlessly blend together, even though the actual mass is lacking.
Bending, folding, and rolling create visual trompe l'oiels that make each fleck of paper seem to be more than the delicate medium it is. Velliquette's fine-tuned techniques transform normal paper into iconic deities and statuettes that appear rich and weighty.
+ Michael Velliquette
Via Frame Mag


How to Open XER File?
What is a Primavera P6 XER Project File?
An XER file is a file format natively used by the Oracle® Primavera P6 enterprise project and portfolio planning and management software solutions. Software tools from the Primavera suite of Construction and Engineering solutions such as the P6 use the.xer file format to store schedule data about the projects created within the application.
The XER file format is used to store the data upon an export and communicate the project information between different project stakeholders and P6 databases.
In its textual structure this file format has the potential to store enormous amount of project data. The P6 application is a complex solutions dedicated to match the needs of large organizations and therefore it has the potential to store schedule data in more than 170 tables, associated with different relationships. When this data is exported on an.xer file it is roughly gathered in 20 to 66 tables. Different categories of project data are imprinted into the output file, such as records and data values for Global, Project, Activity Codes, Calendars, Activities, Projects, Resources and their inter-relationships.
XER files can be opened by the Primavera P6 software itself, but a more easier way to open an XER file is through the ScheduleReader software, due to the fact that this XER file viewer does not connect to any database and can open large project files in this or the XML file format in a matter of seconds.
This.xer file reader is a standalone, independently developed software solution and it is not connected or associated with the Oracle® corporation.
Following are the instructions of how to open an XER file with ScheduleReaderTM.
To open XER file follow the next steps:
Open submenu in ScheduleReader
Locate your.XER file.
Select it and click open.
Locate and open XER File
How to open XER files with ScheduleReader
Still have questions?
Email Us Your QuestionRequest Live Demo Session


How To Cook Something In The Dishwasher
Ed. note: Authors Gever Tulley and Julie Spiegler's Fifty Dangerous Things (you should let your children do) builds on the premise that "dangerous" things we avoid are often eye-opening and educational. One such dangerous thing: Cooking food in your dishwasher.
Cooking in the dishwasher is not much different than baking; you just need to keep the food from getting soapy. Here's how to make dishwasher chicken, hot dogs or vegetables:
 - Aluminum Foil
 - Raw Chicken, Hot Dogs or Vegetables
 - Butter
 - Salt or Spices (optional)
 - Meat Thermometer (or Adult)
How to:
 1. Prepare food. Cut chicken into strips about 1⁄2 inch wide. If you don't like chicken, hot dogs, vegetables or apples work just as well. Place food in centre of a sheet of foil. Dab with butter and add salt or spices if you like.
 2. Seal it up. Fold up, then carefully roll the edges of the foil to create a watertight packet. You can add another layer of foil if your foil is thin. Place packet in top rack of dishwasher (middle if you have three racks) and finish loading the dishwasher with dirty dishes. Do not let packet get punctured by the rack or any dishes.
 3. Cook it. Run the dishwasher on the hottest setting (at or above 70C). After the wash cycle finishes, make sure the dry cycle completes before opening.
 5. Enjoy. Toast goes particularly well with dishwasher chicken.
Now, if only there was a way to make toast without using the toaster…
Fifty Dangerous Things explores the idea that many "dangerous" things that are interesting, eye-opening, enlightening or just plain fun! And while there are aspects of danger in virtually everything we do, the trick is to learn how mastery actually minimises danger. Walking is dangerous when we start as babies, but we persevere and it becomes safe. Next we learn to negotiate stairs. Why stop there? Why not practice and become proficient at walking on the roof or walking on a tightrope? These are just a few of the Fifty Dangerous Things the book invites you to try.


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Art Nouveau was most successfully practiced in the decorative arts. The artists chose themes involving symbolism, especially in terms of eroticism; their designs often processed dreamlike and exotic forms. The richly ornamented and asymmetrical style has influenced even architecture. This type of style was very radically different compared to the styles prior 1890's.
Vienna Secession attempts to create a modern style without historicism. It was founded in 1897 in Vienna, Austria, by a group of artists, sculptors, architects, and designers. The building itself, however, rejects more lively and Art Nouveau expressions; it advocates rational construction, simplicity and honest use of materials, which will turn into an influence on modern developments to follow this period.
The Vienna Secession
A monumental mass and geometrical pure forms, such as horizontal rectangles and cubes, are dominant in the composition, while still holding bits and pieces of the ornamentation aspects of classical styles, though the ornamentations are much less detailed and used much more sparingly. As compared to the styles before this time, which may have included ornaments of religious figures, detailed vegetal forms, etc., the ornamentation done in Vienna Secession is much less refined. More emphasis is put on function, light and air. It is this mix that has created a step in contemporary architecture.
The Churrigueresque ornamentation style


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CENEMS is a user-friendly tool that computes the surface charge density distribution on the surface of the conductors in a multi-conductor system. CENEMS contains a graphical user interface which will allow users to design multi-conductor systems, including drawing conductors, specifying applied voltage and discretization level (the higher the level, the finer the discretization) for the conductors. After running the simulation, users can immediately see the surface charge density distribution on the conductors. CENEMS solves the exterior potential problem and computes the surface charge density by using boundary integral equations and a Boundary Cloud Method (BCM).
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How can I tell if someone I love is alcoholic?
Even though he was a practicing physician, Bob got drunk nearly every night for 17
years. Somehow believing he could hide his alcoholism from Anne, his wife, he constantly
looked for new places to stash his liquor.
"When my wife was planning to go out in the afternoon, I would get a large supply of liquor and smuggle it home and hide it in the coal bin, the clothes chute, over door jambs, over beams in the cellar and in cracks in the cellar tile," Bob recalled years later in the Big Book of "Alcoholics Anonymous."
Bob did not fool Anne forever. Eventually she took her husband to meet Bill, a man who called himself a recovering alcoholic.
One month after that meeting, on June 10, 1935, Bob took his last drink. He and Bill began seeing other alcoholics, and soon they formed a mutual-support group called Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).
Members of AA often tell the story of Bill's first meeting with Dr. Bob. But any full account of AA history must note that someone worried enough about Bob's drinking to arrange that meeting.
If you worry about someone's drinking, you're not alone. According to the most recent figures from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), 13.7 million U.S. adults meet the criteria for alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence.
Still, people might struggle for years with the question: How can I tell if the person I love is truly alcoholic?
Fortunately you don't have to be a medical professional to answer that question and take appropriate action.
One simple option is to use a four-item questionnaire developed by Dr. John Ewing. The first letter of a key word in each question forms the acronym CAGE:
You can pose these questions directly to your loved one, or come up with your own answers for that person. According to NIAAA, one "yes" answer signals a possible problem, and more than one means that it's time for your loved one to get help.
Another way to help determine if your loved one is alcoholic is to learn about the way alcoholism is diagnosed. In the United States, professionals commonly use the criteria listed in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV).
According to DSM-IV criteria, people who are alcohol dependent (alcoholic) will:
To satisfy a diagnosis of alcohol dependence, a person must experience at least three of these criteria during a 12-month period.
People who are not alcohol dependent may still meet the criteria for alcohol abuse, a condition listed separately in DSM-IV. Alcohol abusers can limit the amount they drink when the consequences become severe enough. People who are truly dependent on alcohol cannot do this.
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The Chiphen Rigpel Project was conceived to aid the Kingdom of Bhutan in achieving its vision of transforming itself into a Knowledge based Society, with employment and advancement of opportunities in the knowledge sector and skilling of population that is fully equipped to take advantage of these opportunities. The project was designed to create a large impact by directly touching more than 50% of the population of Kingdom of Bhutan in a short span of five (5) years. The encompassing Project is designed to train or educate or introduce to education all strata of the Bhutanese people.
1. Ministers, administrators and government employees who make and implement education and related policies, are benefitting through the Enabling e-Governance Project.
2. Teachers, who are the backbone of the education system and play a key role in building the knowledge capability of Bhutan are being trained through the Empowering the Teachers Project.
3. Youth and tertiary students, who are at the brink of entering the job market and professionals in the labor market who wish to improve their skills, are getting aided through the Employable Education for a Knowledge Based Society Project, Tertiary Institutes Go High Tech Project and The Mass IT Literacy Project.
a. Entrepreneurs, change agents or public leaders who may have a stake in preserving Bhutan's ecological heritage and balance are being provided special training for the identification of e-waste from IT hardware and management of e-waste generated from the Chiphen Rigpel Project.
4. School students and teachers in government schools are benefitting from the Taking ICT to Schools Project.
5. The drop outs or citizens who have not received formal education are being brought into the fold of the educational processes. Learning is being made more accessible to them through the Reaching the Unreached Project and IT literacy for vulnerable youth initiative.
Prime Ministers of India and Bhutan at the Launch of Project Chiphen Rigpel along with Rajendra Pawar, Chairman of NIIT Ltd.
The NIIT team with the Prime Minister and his entire cabinet after the successful completion of the training.


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The Lost Evidence: Alamein DVD
SKU ID #69893
You Save: $4.96 20% off
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- Additional Details
- Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
- Rating: Not Rated
- Number of Discs: 1
- Run Time: 50 Minutes
- Region: Region 1
- Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
- Language: English
- Studio: History Channel
- DVD Release Date: November 17, 2006
The incredible showdown between WWII's greats - Rommel and Montgomery - as you've never seen it before.
- A cutting-edge combination of CGI animation and aerial photographs.
- Hear the stories of men who were there from their own mouths.
- Features dramatic re-enactments and archival film.
The material sat for decades, its unique view of important encounters unseen. Shot from aircraft high above the conflicts, it captures the intense action as Allied forces battled their enemies. Enriched with cutting-edge CGI graphics which create detailed contour maps of the battleground, THE LOST EVIDENCE sheds new light on some of WWII's most important engagements.
In the fall of 1942, in the remote North African desert, British and Allied troops face the feared German Afrika Korps and their Italian Allies. The British were pushed back nearly 1000 miles from Libya, to a little known Egyptian railway stop called El Alamein. Over the following nine days, this battle became a personal duel between General Bernard Montgomery and General Erwin Rommel. Only by brazenly pulling off one of the greatest deceptions of the war, the British fooled the Germans into making a catastrophic mistake.
Winston Churchill called this turning-point battle "not the beginning of the end, but, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Using rare aerial photographs from both Allied and Axis reconnaissance, THE LOST EVIDENCE provides the best overview ever of the Second Battle of El Alamein.


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What Does It Do?
One of the most important activities of the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism is protection and management of threatened and endangered species. The checkoff has been able to fund dozens of projects that assess the status of threatened and endangered species and other animals on the state's Species in Need of Conservation list.
One of the more exciting projects of the checkoff was the golden eagle reintroduction project in Russell and Ellsworth counties. The goal of the project was to establish nesting golden eagles in that area in cooperation with Western Resources, Inc. Food base for Golden Eagles, primarily black-tailed prairie dogs, continued in decline in the area which hampered success. While cottontail rabbits were provided as food for young eaglets, they never were able to adapt fully without prairie dogs as well to supplement a mixed diet and encourage later nesting. Occasionally, Golden Eagles nest in two to three places in Western Kansas but we not been able to enjoy expanded nesting and populations. Perhaps with additional food base improvements, especially prairie dog towns, there could be opportunity for more Golden Eagles in the state.
For several years the Chickadee Checkoff sponsored the Nursing Home Bird Feeder Program with tremendous success. Over 250 sites have been provided with bird feeders and initial bird feed. This was one of the first projects funded through the checkoff in 1981.
Another of the first projects subsidized by the checkoff was the Songbird Bundle supplied by the Kansas Forest Service. The bundle consists of several species of shrubs and small trees suitable for backyard wildlife habitat plantings. The plants are selected because they provide food, cover and habitat for a variety of desirable animals.
Since 1985, the checkoff has sponsored the Backyard Habitat Improvement Program. Besides providing information and assistance to people for improving their yards for wildlife, a certification program is offered to recognize those people who have done the necessary or exemplary things for wildlife in their own backyards.
The Chickadee Checkoff has supported the Kansas Winter Bird Feeder Survey since 1988. About 1000 people have participated in past years and provided valuable information about midwinter bird populations.
Research and habitat management have focused on sensitive river species in southeast Kansas, dwindling resources in western Kansas and endangered species such as the Least Tern.
The Outdoor Wildlife Learning Sites Program (OWLS) has been one of the most popular programs initiated and supported by the checkoff. Over 200 schools have taken advantage of OWLS grants in developing outdoor learning laboratories.
The Chickadee Checkoff has supported hundreds of research and surveying projects to help determine the status of nongame species. Nearly 300 projects have been funded through the 30 year history of the checkoff to better understand nongame wildlife of Kansas.
Perhaps the most value of the checkoff has been its role in supplying match funding for the larger federal State Wildlife Grants Program (SWG.) While the checkoff has supplied over 4 million dollars through the years, much of this money has been used as leverage for much larger amounts from the SWG program. Major projects funded through this matching of dollars have included the two major on-line atlases for reptiles, amphibians and mammals, natural area evaluations in Northeast Kansas, support for prairie re-establishments, and major survey work for sensitive aquatic species.
Even though a meager portion of our state wildlife agency's total budget, the Chickadee Checkoff has made a big difference. Thirty years ago, there was very little information being pursued about nongame wildlife. Today, with the additional support of match funding with SWG, there have been major strides made for the conservation of all wildlife, but particularly those nongame species of which so little is known.


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I live in New York City, and for me, there's nothing that compares to its culture, energy and convenience. I'm not alone in feeling this way — more than half of the world's population now lives in urban areas.
But I also know that when it comes to mental health, the urban lifestyle may not be such a good thing. City dwellers tend to be more stressed and have higher levels of mood disorders and psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia than those living in rural or suburban areas. And now researchers say they have uncovered certain changes in brain activity that could potentially help explain why.
In an international study, researchers at University of Heidelberg and the Douglas Mental Health University Institute at McGill University report in the journal Nature that people who live or were raised in cities show distinct differences in activity in certain brain regions than those who aren't city dwellers.
Those who currently live in the city, for example, showed higher activation the amygdala, the brain region that regulates emotions such as anxiety and fear. The amygdala is most often called into action under situations of stress or threat, and the data suggest that city dwellers' brains have a more sensitive, hair-trigger response to such situations, at least when compared with those living in the suburbs or more rural areas.
The study also found that people who were raised in the city during their first 15 years of life were more likely to show increased activation in another brain region, a more global regulator of stress known as the anterior cingulate. In these individuals, the change appears to be more permanent than in people who move to cities later in life, says Jens Pruessner, director of aging and Alzheimer's research at the Douglas Institute and one of the study's co-authors, because it occurs during an important period of development. Living in the city during your early years "means you will become more alert to [stress] situations via the anterior cingulate for the rest of your life," he says.
The researchers came to their conclusions after conducting a stress test on volunteers while their brains were imaged with functional MRI to detect which areas of the brain were more or less active when the participants felt stressed. The stress was applied by asking people to solve difficult math problems, either under time pressure or while enduring criticism from researchers for their bad performance.
The research team then correlated the participants' brain scan results with information they provided about where they currently lived or where they were raised. Activation of the amygdala increased in step with the population density of participants' home towns: from rural areas to small cities to large urban settings.
The researchers think it is the social aspects of urban living — the stress of living and dealing with lots of people, and feeling more anxiety, fear and threat as a result — more so than other urban factors like pollution or noise that explains the higher stress-related brain responses among the city dwellers.
Although it would seem that the more people were faced with stress, the more they might tolerate these annoyances and even become immune to them — thus lowering, rather than increasing their threshold for triggering the stress response — the new findings suggest otherwise. Even after years of city living, people remained highly alert and anxious, which indicates that the stresses of city life may be both constant and diverse and not easy to adapt to.
"City people may never really face the same stresses," says Pruessner. "Even though the type of stress may be similar, such as time pressure or being stuck in a commute or meeting a deadline, it's always distinct enough that you don't have the chance to habituate to them."
So what does this mean for avid city livers like me? I'm not giving up my urban lifestyle, but I may have to balance the high-energy hum of city activity with more downtime. "In general when it comes to stress, it's important to keep a balance," says Pruessner. "These results suggest the need to keep things in balance so after a period of working hard, you balance that with a period of off-time as well."
That sounds good, but in the city, that's a lot easier said than done.


How to Create a USB Flash Drive to Install Windows
With more and more notebooks and netbooks being produced without DVD/optical drives, I've had a few requests on how to created a USB drive to install Windows 7 from. Here is a brief tutorial on how to create a bootable flash drive, and how to install the Win 7.iso onto that.
Step 1 is to format a USB/Flash drive so that it is clean and bootable (needs to be at least a 4GB). The Diskpart utility from the command prompt will do that, here are the instructions:
1. Open command prompt as administrator and run diskpart, use the following commands:
a. List disk
b. select disk 3 (select the disk that is your flash drive)
c. clean
d. create partition primary
e. select partition 1
f. active
g. format quick fs=fat32
h. assign
i. exit
Step 2 is to extract the Bytespeed.iso file (if you need to download any of the Bytespeed iso's, please contact the Helpdesk). I found a free tool that is really easy to use, it's called ISO Opener, here is the URL for it:
What I did was create a new folder on my desktop and extracted the files there.
Step 3 is just simply copy the extracted files to the newly formatted flash drive and you're flash drive is good to go. Just boot to that like you would a CD/DVD to begin the installation.