text:
The plan was
announced at a two-day workshop held in Delhi, India, recently
by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC). Participants at the workshop have begun drawing up a
technical framework for classifying the region's traditional
knowledge and linking it to the international patent
The aim is to create a composite
digital library comprising individual Traditional Knowledge
Digital Libraries (TKDL) from each country in South Asia.
Accessible using the internet, the library will contain
information on traditional medicine, foodstuffs, architecture
and culture. SAARC will fund the infrastructure required, and
individual nations will fund the costs of training and work.
The meeting's delegates said South
Asian nations could use the digital library to fight
contentious patent claims by proving the prior existence of
knowledge, as well as promoting research on novel drugs,
enhancing the region's share of the global herbal medicine
market and helping set the international agenda on
intellectual property rights.
India's own TKDL is the SAARC
The planned initiative follows the
success of India's own TKDL, which will be used as a model by
other South Asian nations. India created its library after
fighting a successful but costly legal battle in 1999 to
revoke a US patent for the use of turmeric to heal wounds - a
property well known in India for generations.
The Indian library contains
information on 36,000 formulations used in Ayurveda - India's
5,000-year-old system of traditional medicine. The information
- presented in English, French, German, Spanish and Japanese -
was created in a format accessible by international patent
offices to prevent the granting of inappropriate patents. The
database set international standards for registries of
traditional knowledge, which were adopted by the
intergovernmental committee of the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO) in 2003.
In 2001, India developed a system
for classifying resources used in traditional knowledge that
is similar to that used by the International Patent
Classification (IPC). The IPC has agreed to include the Indian
system in its own classification, which will be expanded to
include about 200 sub-groups of drugs derived from Indian
medicinal plants. According to delegates at the Delhi meeting,
this is likely to significantly aid patent offices searching
the databases to ensure that proposed patents are truly novel
and have not been reported before.
Documenting traditional knowledge
has become important as most of it is in the public domain and
is easy to misappropriate, says Raghunath Mashelkar, Director
General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
(CSIR). India's National Institute of Science Communication
and Information Resources (NISCAIR) found that in 2000, almost
80 per cent of the 4,896 references to individual plant-based
medicinal patents in the US Patents Office related to seven
medicinal plants of Indian origin.
Indian journals ignored by patent
In 2003, there were almost 15,000
patents on such medicines in the US, European and UK patent
offices' registries. However, according to the institute's
Director Virender Kumar Gupta, none of the 131 academic
journals used by patent examiners when deciding whether to
grant a patent is from developing countries such as Brazil,
China or India.
South Asia possesses significant
traditional knowledge that affects biotechnology, agriculture,
pharmaceuticals and health care. More than 80 per cent of its
1.4 billion population have no access to modern health care
services and medicine, and rely on traditional medicine, the
Delhi meeting heard.
The region shares a common heritage
in traditional medicine - Bangladesh, India and Pakistan share
the Unani system of medicine, whereas Ayurveda is used in
India, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. India's NISCAIR
prepared and circulated a practical guide for classification
of traditional knowledge to other South Asian countries.
The Indian digital library of
traditional knowledge has also attracted attention from other
regions. Representatives from South Africa, the Commonwealth
West African Education Delegation, the African Regional
Industrial Property Organization and International Property
Office in Singapore have discussed with India the possibility
of creating similar databases.
to prevent misappropriation of traditional knowledge
The participants at the meeting,
including staff of the SAARC Documentation Centre in Delhi,
NISCAIR, and WIPO also discussed creating new laws to prevent
misappropriation of traditional knowledge. Mikhail Makarov,
Deputy Director at WIPO's technology retrieval systems service
told SciDev.Net that WIPO is working towards a new legal
instrument to protect traditional knowledge, using a
combination of existing intellectual property laws and sui
generis laws unique to individual circumstances of the
countries developing them.
Brazil, Costa Rica, India, Panama,
Peru, the Philippines, Portugal, Thailand and the United
States are among those that have adopted sui generis laws that
protect some aspects of traditional knowledge. Regional
organisations in the South Pacific and Africa are trying to
define specific rights relating to traditional knowledge and
strategies to protect them, said Shakeel Bhatti from WIPO's
global intellectual property issues division.
Reprinted from SciDev.Net with
permission. Visit SciDev here


text:
Effects of lysozyme supplementation on performance, nutrient digestibility, intestinal microbiota, and blood profiles of weanling pigs challenged with Escherichia coli
Received: Dec 29, 2020; Revised: Mar 02, 2021; Accepted: Mar 03, 2021
Published Online: Mar 04, 2021
This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of LYS (lysozyme) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, excreta microflora population, and blood profiles of weanling pigs under Escherichia coli (E. coli) challenge. A total of 30 piglets weaned at 25 days, 7.46 kg body weight, were assigned to three dietary treatments, composed of five replications, two piglets per replication, for 7 days. The dietary treatment groups were negative control (NC; without antibiotics and LYS), positive control [PC; NC + antibiotic 55 mg/kg (CTC-Aureomix)], LYS (NC + 0.1% LYS). All piglets were challenged orally with 6 ml suspension, containing E. coli K88 (2 × 109 cfu/ml). Dietary supplementation with LYS and PC resulted in no significant differences in average daily gain and gain to feed efficiency. Weanling pigs fed with E. coli challenge with LYS and PC treatments had significantly enhanced nutrient retentions of dry matter and energy (p < 0.05); however, there was a tendency to increase nitrogen digestibility. Furthermore, significant effects on excreta, ileal, and cecal of the fecal microbial population as decreased E. coli (p < 0.05) counts with dietary inclusion of LYS and antibiotic, without effects on lactobacillus counts. A significant effect was observed on a white blood cells, epinephrine and cortisol concentrations were reduced in piglets fed diets containing E. coli challenge with LSY and antibiotic supplementation comparison with the NC group. Therefore, the present data indicate that LYS in diet could ameliorate the experimental stress response induced by E. coil in piglets by decreasing intestinal E. coli, white blood cells and stress hormones and improving nutrient digestibility.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


- GHF CAT Team
Worry Balloons
Updated: Apr 8, 2020
Imagine your worries as balloons and then blow them away!
What you'll need: A piece of paper, coloured pens or pencils, scissors
What's it for?
This activity helps you think about your worries and how you can let them go.
Check In:
 - How are you feeling?
 - What are you thinking?
 - How does your body feel?
 - Cut out five balloon shapes. Make sure they are big enough to write in.
 - Spend a moment thinking carefully about anything you are worried about.
 - Write or draw these worries in the balloon shapes.
 - Place these 'balloon worries' on a smooth table top or on the floor. Place the balloons that have the worries that you're most anxious about closest to you.
 - Imagine that the balloons are in the sky on a windy day. Blow each balloon off the table / away from you on the floor, imagining that you are blowing the worry away.
 - Continue, until you have blown all the balloon worries away.
Extra Activity: Draw a sky for the balloons to sit in and glue them in place. What kind of sky would it be? Where would you place the balloons? Near the ground? Far away?
When you've finished playing / writing spend a moment thinking about your story, ask yourself the following questions:
 - How did it feel to name your worries in the balloons? Was it difficult?
 - How did it feel to blow the balloon worries away?
 - How could you blow your worries away in real life?
Actually naming and thinking about our worries can give us a certain amount of control over them.
Created by Ian Grundy © March 2020
Creative Art: Art, Creative Writing
Psychological Area: Emotional Wellbeing, Anxiety


Job Demands-Resources Theory and Experience Sampling
24 June 2019
Begin time:
CITEC 1.204
JD-R theory is a theory about the causes of employee well-being and behaviors that can be used to predict a wide range of organizational outcomes.
Accordingly, employees are confronted with and proactively modify various job demands and resources, which consequently impact job strain and work engagement, and have an indirect effect on creativity, performance, etc.
In this presentation, I will discuss the basic propositions of JD-R theory, and discuss the available evidence.
The focus will particularly be on daily diary and experience sampling studies, to illustrate how mobile devices and technology can be used to study employees during work, while they are confronted with various external demands and resources.
Everyone is invited to join the talk.


text:
Medical Definition of Thebesian vein
: any of the minute veins of the heart wall that drain directly into the cavity of the heart—called also Thebesian vessel
Biographical Note for thebesian vein
Thebesius \te-ˈbā-zē-əs\play, Adam Christian (1686–1732), German anatomist. Thebesius was the first to examine the details of the circulation of the blood in the heart. He described the valve at the orifice of the coronary sinus, now known as the coronary valve or the valve of Thebesius, and the small veins by which the blood passes from the walls of the heart to the right atrium.
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up Thebesian vein? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).


text:
Watershed Lit: Center for Literary Engagement and Publishing Practice
Watershed Lit: Center for Literary Engagement and Publishing Practice is a collective of organizations whose missions create and promote transformative experiences in the literary arts at Mason and beyond. Together, we seek to inspire love of the written word in all its forms, foster the professional development of writers, teachers and future literary leaders, and provide a platform for new and unheard voices.
Watershed Lit emerges organically from separate efforts that the Mason Creative Writing Program has spearheaded for nearly four decades: Fall for the Book, Northern Virginia Writing Project, Poetry Daily, Stillhouse Press, and the Cheuse Center for International Writers.
Watershed Lit serves as the hub for program-related initiatives outside of the classroom and across the region: an incubator for research on topics ranging from the history of the book to translation arts to burgeoning publishing technologies, and a laboratory for experiential learning for generations of Mason students to come.
The goals of Watershed Lit include:
to foster entrepreneurial initiatives related to the creation and dissemination of writing;
to explore—through the curation and presentation of events in collaboration with partners within and outside the university—critical issues confronting global citizens through the lens of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and other narrative platforms;
to support research related to the literary arts (e.g., investigating the roots of science fiction as a genre), publishing practice (e.g., history of printing technology), or any of the disciplines associated with the center (e.g., survey of literary festivals in America and their impact on reading culture or how technology has changed reading patterns); and encourage scholarship by visiting creative writers as fellows (e.g., matters of translation);
to better leverage current assets on behalf of student recruitment, program growth, and alumni support;
to provide internships, mentorships, apprenticeships, and other valuable career-path opportunities for students to become better artists and smarter authors prepared for a variety of professions—and who are prepared to navigate the publishing world.
Watershed Lit is located in Horizon Hall and endeavors to spark a greater, more holistic vision of what Mason students and faculty can accomplish together.


Moving Alps with Mountain Leaders
Find your guide!
Where to find my mountain leader :
Access to the list filtered by country
What is a Mountain Leader?
The mountain leader is a graduate professional who leads a group (or alone) in the mountains. Unlike the mountain guide, the mountain leader evolves outside the techniques and tools specific to mountaineering. His field of intervention is the discovery of the mountain with different supports of progression. The mountain guide is a naturalist generalist and is primarily discovering the natural mountain environments, heritage and human.
Mountain leaders are organizers and hikers.
The professional activity covers three specific, identifiable but complementary functions: the guiding and management functions of the security of the practitioners; an educative and pedagogic action is also important and underlying in all of their activities (improvement of the physical and technical capacities of the practitioners); mediation for the discovery of the mountain environment in all its aspects (natural, heritage, human). Mediation and interpretation have for object the discovery, the understanding and the appropriation of the mountain environment.
To exercise this mediation action, the mountain guides have the choice between several supports: hiking, snowshoeing and, for some professionals, pack animals, mountain biking (additional qualification) or canyoning (AQA unique to this day issued in 1995).
Why touring in the Alps with a Mountain leader?
It's amazing! With a good knowing of his territory, he will be able to make you enjoy your time in an alp area in security. If you want to learn more about a specific topic, you will find a specialist for your tour.
Contact us and update information
External Links :


text:
SceneView memory resources
The amount of memory available in the SceneView to display features and terrain depends on a number of factors, such as the device, but also the specified qualityProfile. In complex scenes the SceneView may reach this memory limit. To prevent browser crashes and slow performance, it will reduce the amount of data rendered. This sample shows how to use SceneView.performanceInfo to get information about memory consumption in a scene. Such information can be useful to scene creators and application developers working with webscenes.
PerformanceInfo.usedMemory shows an estimation of how much memory the SceneView is currently using. When this value approaches the totalMemory, then the Quality is reduced. This will reduce the level of detail for scene layers, lower the tile resolution for tiled layers, and reduce the number of features for feature layers.
SceneView.performanceInfo.layerPerformanceInfos contains information about memory consumption for each of the layers in the scene. displayedNumberOfFeatures gives information about how many features are currently displayed in the view. The property maximumNumberOfFeatures shows how many features could be displayed in the SceneView. The maximumNumberOfFeatures property available on FeatureLayer, CSVLayer, GeoJSONLayer and point SceneLayer can be used to override the default value and display more features even if there isn't enough memory. High values could however lead to the browser running out of memory.


From Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
edit English
For those obsessed with experts, Uncyclopedia has an article about: Boring.
edit Adjective
Boring (plural Borings)
 1. A term usually reserved for someone aged 25 or over.
 2. It also describes anything requiring effort or commitment from Generation Y.
 3. Another word for Belgium.
edit Example
 - "The date with Shelia was Boring because she was 26, from Belgium and kept droning on about how she 'worked' and'studied' to 'achieve' something in her life. I was like... that's just totally lame and afterwards I went home to go play the video games my Mom and Daddy bought for me."
Personal tools


Storytelling Through Video
Home / Events / Storytelling Through Video
Telling the story of your organization at your event in a compelling and clear way is one of the most important parts of your program. It is vital to tap into the why of your work first, to convey the beating heart of it all. This will pull your donors in and engage them.
While your numbers and programs specifics are incredibly important to your work, they can create distance between you and your event audience. They can also make for a very complicated story.
How you tell your story at your event can create a cohesive narrative for your organization.
The use of video can be an amazing tool to accomplish this task. In a very short period of time you can convey the vision and energy of your organization, show how your programs are a part of that and give your donors access to moments they would not get otherwise.
They can get a true experience of your work and its impact first hand.
This year Camp Fire Columbia took this task head on and created an organizational video for their annual Talent Show event that told a unified story of two programs that had previously felt separate.
Why did video work so well for them?
2015Campfire (36 of 69)Camp Fire offers both school programs and a summer camp for kids. Often people know about one or the other, but not both. The video was carefully scripted and narrated by the new CEO of the organization and grounded the two programs in the common vision of their work: "At Camp Fire we believe that engaged, confident, well-rounded youth build thriving communities."
By setting that as a platform, it became easy for donors to see that whether at Camp or in school, kids were receiving the benefits of education, enrichment and opportunities to find their spark. By utilizing footage in their video from both camp and school programs, they were able to take donors to the front line of the organization's work. Donors could see the amazing activities at Camp and go into the school classrooms and see the faces of youth impacted by this important work.
The result was a spirited narrative that allowed them to communicate the inspiration for their work and show its impact in a very short period of time.
Video by PCMA
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text:
Green Commercial Kitchens for Your Food Truck
Most commercial kitchens use excessive amounts of water and energy, and many followers of the food truck industry are becoming increasingly aware of a kitchen's impact on the environment. Since its inception, the mobile food industry has been an active participant in the movement to improve environmental sustainability. Therefore, finding earth-friendly commercial kitchens can be a responsible and smart business strategy as a food truck owner.
The amount of energy and water used, along with the waste produced in the creation of food, makes the food service industry one of the least sustainable. A food truck's commercial kitchen pollutes the air, water, and soil simply by being used. Finding a kitchen that's gone green helps you reduce your impact on the environment.
Although you may not receive the direct cost savings involved in a green commercial kitchen, you may receive the indirect benefits. By finding a commercial kitchen that has a green rating, your rents may be smaller than those being offered by other kitchens.
If you do find a commercial kitchen that hasn't achieved a green rating, you may try to talk the owner into striving for a green rating by pointing out some of the benefits he would receive with the rating, including the following:
Lower energy bills: An upgrade to energy-efficient equipment can almost halve energy usage, and local governments and utility companies around the country offer substantial rebates for consumers purchasing Energy Star–qualified equipment.
Lower water bills: Taking steps to conserve water can save the kitchen owner a large amount of money on utility bills.
Reduced air pollution: Using green cleaning supplies and lowering energy consumption can greatly reduce the amount of harmful emissions indirectly caused at your commercial kitchen.
Reduced landfill usage: The consistent creation of waste produced at commercial kitchens not only takes up space in landfills but also contaminates air, water, and soil.
Less water usage: Fresh water supply is being rapidly depleted, causing some states to declare water shortages. Using a kitchen with water-saving equipment and policies can greatly reduce your water usage.
If you're looking for a green commercial kitchen, ask the kitchen owner to provide you with proof of its green certification. There are organizations that provide guidelines and certifications to each kitchen. The following provide the standards for those looking to make the necessary changes to go green:

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


Merck finds fighting hunger sticks to its corporate ribs
on November 29, 2008 at 3:01 PM, updated November 29, 2008 at 3:08 PM
There are lots of problems in the world, and Merck is already working on some of them -- cancer, diabetes, HIV -- but during the past year, the company added a long-standing social issue to its list of causes. It's spending time and money to help fight hunger in communities across the United States.
Ellen Lambert, who helps decide where the giant drugmaker will direct its philanthropic efforts, recently explained why hunger became a target and shared some of her philosophy about corporate giving.
Why did Merck take up the problem of hunger?
Hunger is very complex. It's an issue that affects all of us. It affects our communities. It affects families of people who work at Merck. It affects families who live next door to people who work at Merck. It affects communities that we drive through on our way to work.
The first thing we did was look at the easiest ways to get involved, which are food drives and making donations to food banks. As we began to explore, we started to look at it as a much bigger issue. We looked at what hunger looks like in the United States, and it's so many things. It's not enough vegetables in a supermarket in your city. It's not enough fruit. It might be the husband and wife who don't heat their house because they have to feed themselves.
Everyone thinks it doesn't affect them, but look around the block. In May or June, we started to see a lot of articles about hunger and we talked to employees and this was an issue they wanted us to explore. Merck does things to support the hungry every year, food drives, small donations, but we decided we would look at it as a major issue after hearing Meals on Wheels was going bankrupt in a number of places.
It's a big issue now, and the economy makes it a much bigger issue, so we decided to look at it as an aspect of health and wellness.
We usually hear more about Merck's efforts against HIV and other diseases. Are there other things the company is working on in the same quiet way it has taken up its fight against hunger?
We're looking at a number of issues. Look at the number of underinsured and uninsured living in the U.S. We have very generous patient-assistance programs, but we're looking at, can we actually provide some other kinds of assistance.
If you look at wellness and quality of life and prevention, it isn't always just disease-specific. It can be just about stages of life when people might need more attention, parents taking care of both children and their parents, families that are stretched on both sides in terms of caregiving. I think we are looking at deeper, more complex social issues.
We're very lucky as a company. We have a foundation that is endowed and we can give money away. I think the company is very interested in doing it thoughtfully and doing it in a way that brings other partners in. We're not going to stop anything we're currently doing with HIV or diabetes, but I think we're going to look at some of the social issues that impact our communities.
How do you say no to a group asking for money?
Very fairly and very straightforward. We have specific areas that we give away money in, so first and foremost an organization's request has to fit into those areas. Second, because we do have an endowed foundation, we choose for the most part to solicit grants, so we don't accept grants that come in randomly.
We read them because there may be an idea out there that's terrific and deserves funding, but as a company, we really reach out to organizations we think we can help. With hunger, we read an article that Meals on Wheels was losing volunteers and not being able to feed folks who needed their services, and we reached out. It's helpful that we can be active in that way.
Is that what influenced Merck's decision to step up efforts against hunger, the difficulties at Meals on Wheels?
We were hearing a lot about food shortages. It was beginning to be summer and there was an article that in Philadelphia, 18,000 children would be giving up their meal a day because there are no subsidized lunches when they're not in school, and then we read about Meals on Wheels.
We made contributions to Meals and Wheels and a couple of food banks for the summer, one in New Jersey and one in Philadelphia. We're looking to do other things. Employees let us know that shelves were bare in certain food banks, so we actually made commitments. Every site in the U.S. (meaning the community where Merck has facilities) received some funding to make a contribution to one or two food banks.
From your perspective, why is philanthropy important for a company?
It's part of good citizenship. We reside here. We participate in the community. We pay taxes. We have to care as a group about everything that goes on. It's our city. It's our country. It's our world.
We make products for people, and we have to care about their well-being. I also think it's important because we all need to feel good about doing something. We all need to think we can make a difference. There was a point in time when philanthropy was a competitive issue for corporations. I don't think it's that way any longer. You see a lot of collaborations, and a lot of companies working with nonprofit groups and other corporations and non-government organizations because, you know, it is our world. Philanthropy does help to make it better.


text:
What is the pressure inside my Propane Tank?
That is an important question!
- Propane pressure is directly related to the ambient temperature. For example, any volume of propane contained in a propane tank at 80 degrees Fahrenheit, the pressure is about 128 psi, at 50 degrees Fahrenheit, the pressure is about 78 psi and at zero degrees Fahrenheit, the propane pressure can reduce to 24 psi. Therefore, using appliances in colder climates can present issues that require professional assistance.
- Contact your local propane distributor for assistance.
You can learn more interesting and helpful propane facts. Complete the two boxes below.


text:
March 29, 2010
The National Mall was more dark than usual on Saturday night, when buildings around the city and the world—including the Smithsonian Institution's Castle and the Reynolds Center—turned off the lights for 60 minutes as part of Earth Hour, a global effort by the World Wildlife Fund to draw attention to climate change.
The hour "symbolizes that by working together, each of us can make a positive impact in this fight," the fund says. Most times, even at night, the world's most populous areas are still bright with light, but most of it is just wasted energy.
Last week, museum staffers at both the Castle and the Reynolds Center, home to the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum, made preparations for a Saturday night plan to go dark.
At the Castle Saturday evening, Smithsonian photographer Eric Long set up camp outside the building shortly before Earth Hour began at 8:30 p.m., snapping a shot of the castle before the hour (at left above), with lights both inside and outside of the castle aglow, and after (at right), when only a handful of emergency lights, and the glow of the Washington Monument in the distance, remained.
"There are reflections from the Independence Ave. street lights that are in the windows of the Castle and surrounding the front of the gardens," Long said. "There are also some emergency lights which were not able to be turned off." But the symbolically dark 19th-century Gothic revival building looked marvelously eerie against the pink-hued light of the city's night sky.
All 50 states participated in the initiative, and early estimates say 4,000 communities in 126 countries turned off their lights during the hour.
Sign up for our free email newsletter and receive the best stories from Smithsonian.com each week.
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text: The 5 movements of the Second Symphony are represented by various objects in the sketch. The "Todtenfeier" is represented by the weeping figure. According to Mahler's narrative, the protagonist recalls a sweet moment in his life in the 2nd movement. As such, the 2nd movement is represented by the rose held by the mourner. The protagonist's moment of bliss is shattered in the 3rd movement when he recalls the turmoil of human existence, which is represented by the dates of the 2 World Wars written on the shaded side of the coffin. In this sketch, "Urlicht" is represented by the illuminated rose on the coffin, with the rose also being a reference to the first line of the Wunderhorn song. Finally, the glorious finale of the 5th movement is represented by the beam of light shining onto the coffin.


text:
The Mercedes-Benz Museum is home to more than just automobiles. In 2007, the Guinness Book of Records gave it recognition for housing the "strongest artificially generated tornado in the world." The 34.4 meter high (that is 37.2 yards to those metrically challenged) vortex was not designed as an attraction, but to channel smoke out of the building in the event of a fire. In the event of fire, 144 outlets located along the core walls inject air into the interior courtyard of the Mercedes-Benz Museum. The 100-feet twister takes around seven minutes to materialize, drawing smoke out of the building's corridors and funnelling it upwards and out an exhaust vent on the roof.
Due to the open-plan structure of the Mercedes-Benz Museum, the various exhibition areas are connected to each other without any fire zones via an interior courtyard and ramps. From the perspective of smoke elimination this presented a challenging task that could not be implemented through conventional fluid mechanics. It was necessary to take a new approach, and so a globally unique smoke elimination system was developed especially for the Mercedes-Benz Museum.
This procedure uses the principle of the tornado force, which has a devastating effect under natural conditions, to create a controlled life-saving form of fluid mechanics that opens up new architectural possibilities.


. The ayurvedic shastras say that adding shilajeet to the iron bhasma makes the iron more potent and useful for the body.
These two formulas contain nano-particles of iron, infused in the intelligence of the herbs, spices and essential oils found in the formula. These two formulas are very potent; however, for best results, use under the guidance of a SVA expert.
Disclaimer: the description of herbs, plants, ingredients, and combinations offered in the above articles and verses are meant for educational purposes only. If you have, or suspect you have, any medical condition, check with your medical doctor or physician before using any of the herbs or products mentioned above to your daily protocol.


The Music of Brain Shift Radio
All of the music on Brain Shift Radio is composed and performed by BSR co-founder Jeff Strong (read Jeff's blog here). Each of the rhythm tracks use acoustic percussion instruments. Tracks employing single drums were played live, while the multi-instrument tracks utilize multi-tracking and overdubbing techniques with Jeff assuming the role of one-man-band.
The ambient tracks are all performed on a variety of keyboards and synthesizers. These are human performances with no loops or corrections.
If you listen carefully (which you aren't supposed to do, by the way, because this music is meant to be background stimulus :-) you will hear the ocassional mistake and many variations in tempo, timbre, and timing. This is important because the human brain is far more responsive to music with this human element.
The reason for offering separate rhythm and ambient tracks is one we cover a lot in the Articles section of the website, but to offer an overview, the rhythm track is the key to getting your brain to shift. The underlying pulse of the rhythm drives your brain to the desired state while the variations in the rhythm - both the pitches and the accents - stimulate the brain in specific ways.
The ambient instrumental tracks act as modulators and modifiers to the rhythm tracks, reducing or altering the effects of the rhythm on the brain. In a purely clinical setting ambient tracks are generally not used, but for Brain Shift Radio we include them so that you have more control over your experience with the rhythms. This also makes it more fun.
You can learn more about the music of Brain Shift Radio in these articles:
Understanding BSR Rhythm and Ambient Music Tracks
Understanding Variant and Modifier tracks
A Look at Rhythmic Entrainment Intervention by Its Creator
© Copyright for all music and written content for Brain Shift Mobile and BSR Mobile is owned by the Strong Institute, publisher of Brain Shift Radio and BSR Mobile. Used with permission.
Mark H.
Shirley L.
Allie S.
Sanda P.
Mother of 5 y/o son with autism


text:
Mollisols (from Latin mollis, "soft") are the soils of grassland ecosystems. They are characterized by a thick, dark surface horizon. This fertile surface horizon, known as a mollic epipedon, results from the long-term addition of organic materials derived from plant roots. Mollisols are among some of the most important and productive agricultural soils in the world and are extensively used for this purpose. They are divided into eight suborders: Albolls, Aquolls, Rendolls, Gelolls, Cryolls, Xerolls, Ustolls and Udolls.
Mollisols primarily occur in the middle latitudes and are extensive in prairie regions such as the Great Plains of the U.S. Globally, they occupy approximately 7.0 percent of the ice-free land area. In the U.S., they are the most extensive soil order, accounting for approximately 21.5 percent of the land area.


Browse Dictionary by Letter
Dictionary Suite
strong-willed having a strong will; resolute; determined. [2 definitions]
strontium a highly reactive chemical element of the alkaline-earth group that has thirty-eight protons in each nucleus, that occurs naturally only in compounds, and that has highly toxic radioactive isotopes that are by-products of some types of nuclear fission reactions. (symbol: Sr)
strop a pliable strip, usu. of leather, on which a razor is sharpened. [2 definitions]
strophe the movement from right to left of the chorus in classical Greek drama, or the part of the choral ode sung during this movement. (Cf. antistrophe.) [2 definitions]
strove past tense of strive.
struck past tense and past participle of strike. [2 definitions]
structural of or pertaining to construction or structures. [2 definitions]
structuralize to include as part of a structure.
structureless combined form of structure.
strumpet formerly, a harlot; whore.
strung past tense and past participle of string.


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Development aid for Greek NGOs
The debt crisis in Greece is affecting non-governmental organizations. Their close ties to politics and the state have left them with little funding to carry out their work.
Greek Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are facing an existential threat. Nobody really knows how many of them there are, their legal status is unclear, and they will need to change their focus and the way they work to survive.
The participants at the meeting
Foto: Panagiotis Kouparanis
The meeting looked at ways of improving Greek NGO activity
At a hastily arranged conference in the northern city of Thessaloniki, initiated by the local German consulate, a dozen German and twice as many Greek NGOs discussed the future and fate of civil society groups in Greece.
Nikos Hatzitryfon of the gay and lesbian group Sympraxis explained why he was taking part: "We not only want money from the European Union, but we also want a different philosophy in Greece. That is why, for me, it was a moral obligation to participate - because here in Greece we say we belong to Europe, but only from a financial perspective, and not from the way we think."
Involved with the state
Worldwide, NGOs play an important role. In democratic societies they are viewed as a key factor in shaping civil society. They work together with government agencies, but are accepted more readily by average citizens the more independent they are from the state and political parties.
Judith Wunderlich-Antoniou, Photo: Panagiotis Kouparanis
Wunderlich-Antoniou says Greek NGOs are too linked to the state
In Greece, however, that is usually not the case, says Judith Wunderlich-Antoniou, a German who has been working for many years for the Athens-based NGO Elix.
"Greek NGOs have a bad reputation because they are identified with the political system," she notes and adds that this is their main problem. "Now they are trying to take a step forward. They want to make their work more transparent so that everybody can see on the websites what their activities are and how they are financed. That was rarely the case before."
Funding and ideas
The discrepancy in how NGOs are viewed in Germany and how they are seen in Greece is best explained by Bert Ludwig, of the Open House Network in Weimar, a group that restores historic buildings.
"From just talking to Greek participants you could hear the kind of statist mindset we know from Eastern European countries. The word 'project' to them is not an idea for which you seek funding, but rather 'project' means a source of financing into which the idea is pressed. I don't think that's the right way around. First, you need an idea and not a funding source," he explains.
To underscore the difference, Ludwig points out that his group, the Open House Network, today finances 90 percent of its projects itself, and in the first 12 of the group's 20 years of activities it worked without any outside financing at all.
Julian Nitzsche, Wikimedia Photo: Panagiotis Kouparanis
Nitzsche says NGOs have to achieve things for themselves
Another major difference is the widespread willingness in Germany to do unpaid, volunteer work. "Ultimately, you have to get involved yourself if you want to change something for the better, whatever the field. It's also important in an NGO to have the experience that you are changing something. That way you build self-confidence. I think that can be developed further in Greece," says Julian Nitzsche, from the group Wikimedia.
Working in legal limbo
The high social acceptance and respect for volunteer work in Germany is also supported by the government. Every year, there is a special day when all volunteers are honored. Many get to meet the president; some are given special awards. Working in, and for, civil society is promoted with scholarships and stipends and is greatly appreciated when applying for a job.
Equally important is also the fact that in Germany the work of NGOs is regulated by law. Not so in Greece. There, says Christina Mpertsenidi from the group Peirama in Thessaloniki, NGOs work in a legal limbo; in other words, legally, there are not even supposed to exist.
At the Thessaloniki conference, it was decided that the German-Greek cooperation should continue. The two sides want to tackle at least three projects. One is to work with an NGO active in Eastern Europe which plans and builds bike paths along the old iron Curtain. The renovation of monuments is also planned. And to keep village youths from migrating to the cities, they plan to recruit volunteers to work with local young people on joint projects.
DW recommends


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Visualize Potential Breast Augmentation Results with 3D Imaging
The Vectra 3D imaging system was primarily used with clinical research studies involving breast surgery revision. It provides physicians with objective information and standard measurements allowing them to see how the volume and shape of the breast changes over time in very precise ways.
"The same concept is useful when you are looking at a primary breast augmentation or any other breast surgery," explains Dr. Richard Baxter, a board-certified plastic surgeon based in Mountlake Terrace, WA.
The Vectra 3D imaging system creates proportional 3-D images of the area of a patient's body they are interested in sculpting. Dr. Baxter notes, "One of the things we found out by using this system is that everybody is asymmetrical, there is no such thing as two perfectly matched breasts. The ability to rotate the image and look at it from different angles can show physicians that the chest wall might be different; there might be variations in the volume of the breast and subtle differences in the shape. Understanding all of this up front is very helpful in planning the surgery."
"We think in 3D but have always had to look at 2D pictures to do our planning. When you are just looking at 2D before and after images you miss a lot of the different approaches and those can be helpful in planning the surgery," he adds.


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Here we are providing you an example with code that retrieves all columns name in a specific database table. Sometimes, you need to know the number of columns and the names of the columns of the table, so you can retrieve it with the help of this example. See detail information given below:
Description of program:
Create a class ColumnName. The name of the class should be such that the other person can easily understand what this program is going to do. Strictly follow the naming conventions of java. Now declare a static method inside which creates the connection with MySQL database through the JDBC driver. After establishing the connection then you get all columns name and number of columns of specified table with the help of some APIs and methods.
Description of code:
This is an interface of java.sql package that can be used for getting information about types and properties of columns in a ResultSet object.
Above method retrieves number of columns (integer types data) in the ResultSet object.
This method returns columns name (string type data) from ResultSetMetaData object and takes integer type value.
Here is the code of program:
Output of program:
Getting Column Names Example!
Number of Column : 2
If you are facing any programming issue, such as compilation errors or not able to find the code you are looking for.
Ask your questions, our development team will try to give answers to your questions.


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Notes: All timings are represented in 12-hour notation in local time of Ashburn, United States with DST adjustment (if applicable).
Panchang makers use either visibility of upper edge or visibility of middle limb of the Sun at eastern horizon to mark the sunrise time used in Panchang. The difference in both timing of Sunrise could be up to few minutes.
There is no consensus and most Panchang makers don't even mention it in their Panchang. Generally, upper edge timing of sunrise is considered as astronomical sunrise and middle limb timing of sunrise is considered as Hindu Sunrise. Most newspapers publish astronomical value of sunrise which consider upper edge of the Sun to mark the sunrise time.
Modern research shows that upper edge of Sunrise is more appropriate and authenticated to use as sunrise time in Panchang.
उदयास्त मनाख्यं हि दर्शनादर्शनं रवेः।
which means "visibility of sun's limb is the rising time and complete invisibility is the setting time."
which means "the first three Muhurta of the day counted from the first visibility of the sun's rays." Further it mentions -
रेखामात्रन्तु दृश्येत रश्मिभिश्च समन्वितं।
उदयन्तद्विजानीयात् होमं कूय्यात् विचक्षणः॥
which means "when even a portion of the sun with it's ray is visible it is to be considered as sunrise and at that time oblation (homa) is to be performed".
Drik Panchang shows both values side-by-side to clear the difference between upper edge and middle limb timing of sunrise and sunset. We also provide setting to change sunrise time between "Upper Edge" and "Middle Limb".
Drik Panchang uses upper edge of sun along with refraction to mark the time of sunrise. Further, by default we don't consider elevation for Sunrise calculations but provide option to enable elevation in Sunrise calculations. Elevation can change sunrise timings up to few minutes. Once setting of sunrise is updated, the new value would be used for all Panchang calculations including festivals and Muhurta timings.


SAP Knowledge Base Article - Public
_PHONE_ - SAC number out of range error message even when correcting the amount in SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) - 2020.14.21
In a story table, when entering a value with more than 7 decimal places the system throws an error message:
"The number you are entering is out of range"
The problem is that when the user now enters a correct value (with less than 7 decimal places) still the error message is displayed. The user has no chance then to revert back the planning figures.
 - SAP Analytics Cloud (Enterprise) 2020.14.21
Reproducing the Issue
 1. Open your story table
 2. Enter a value with more than 7 decimal
 3. Get the error message
 4. Enter a correct amount
 5. Still the error message is displayed.
This is a product defect.
This fix is delivered in 2020.21.
 1. Enter a value with more than 7 decimal, you will get the error message
 2. Enter a correct amount still the error message is displayed
 3. Change the cell and enter a valid value you can retype the same amount add just 0 at the end of the decimal part
 4. Go back to the cell of step 3. and enter your correct value, the error will not appear.
See Also
Your feedback is important to help us improve our knowledge base.
SAP Analytics Cloud 1.0


Avalanche Victims: When can rewarming lead to survival?
It is difficult for doctors to accurately assess avalanche victims who arrive at hospital suffering cardiac arrest: has the patient effectively suffocated, or is there a realistic prospect of survival if the patient is properly rewarmed? The correct initial assessment is crucial: it ensures that patients with a viable chance of survival are properly rewarmed, while also preventing unnecessary medical intervention in cases where survival is not possible.
See posts by others with similar interest


Why Castrate Cattle?
Cattle Castration Beef Quality Animal WelfareWhy do farmers and ranchers castrate their cattle?
First thought that comes to mind, because I do not want my heifers bred to an inferior bull. Castration also comes to mind when I think of the neighbors' traveling bulls. But in reality, it's a management decision. Why would you castrate your dog?
When I asked for a blog post topic via Twitter, I received a couple of questions about castration and why we have to do it. Well, we do not have to castrate our cattle, but like many, many other management decisions in raising beef, it is a decision in response to consumer demand. Consumers want a consistent palatable, flavorful product. So, producers respond to the demand.
I castrate my male calves a few hours after birth using a band method. Some producers choose to not castrate until 2 to 4 months of age using either a band or knife method. Other producers choose not to castrate and the cattle will be castrated at 7+ months of age. Not all male calves are castrated. Animals with superior genetic and physical characteristics are left intact (not castrated) and used as bulls in breeding herds. I have a few reasons for castration and I will try my best to break them down for you.
Castration for Breeding Selection
If I were to give you one reason why we castrate animals, I would say it is because of breeding selection. It goes back to the earlier mentioned consumer demand. We set parameters, for selected characteristics in our herd (i.e. Weaning Weight, Muscling:Fat, Milk Production, Physical Soundness…). We select bulls that fit this criteria to produce a uniform, desirable calf crop. If we left all bull calves intact (not castrated) we would have heifers bred to their brothers, at an early age, and would move away from desired breeding program. Not to mention heifers bred too early are not allowed to reach their full growth potential as cows.
Why choose banding shortly after birth?
Any stress in a calf's life has direct impact on immune function, appetite, and lifetime performance. If we can castrate, vaccinate, etc. calves while they are still nursing their mother's in a familiar environment, at a younger age, we minimize the stress on that animal. The calf has a sustained immune system, healthy appetite, and endures less stress.
How does castration affect beef product?
Have you ever tasted beef from an 18 month old steer, compared to an older bull? There is a difference in flavor, texture, fat composition, and overall palatability. Lower levels of testosterone lead to higher quality grades and more consistent tenderness and marbling in beef. Consumers have chosen the flavor of the steer beef over bull beef with their spending dollar. Castrating early decreases the number of "dark cutters" due to high muscle pH.
Why not just leave them all bulls?
Sure we could do that. Intact males tend to be more aggressive cattle and there is less control of breeding programs and seasons, a less consistent beef product, and no calf fry gourmet dishes.
When it comes down to it we castrate calves because, compared to bulls, steers bring more at market, have higher post-weaning performance, and can't breed their sisters during the grazing program after weaning. We want our heifers to be able to mature without the stress of any early pregnancy and castrate early because we care about the stress and immune system of our cattle.
Maybe it all boils down to caring about the welfare of our cattle while responding to consumer demand.
What are your thoughts? Why should we (or shouldn't we) castrate cattle?
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About Ryan Goodman (994 Articles)
17 Comments on Why Castrate Cattle?
 1. Good post Ryan. I might add a couple of things that people with no cattle experience don't realize.
 Bull calves often enter puberty at five months of age. Any cow not pregnant by the time the bull calves reach this point will be literally mobbed by the bull calves to the point the cow is injured (This doesn't take into consideration the injuries to the bull calves fighting over the cow)
 When working for Leachman Cattle Co. of Billings Montana back in the early 90's we had over 400 private treaty bulls in one pasture. There were times we had to put down bulls because they had been injured too badly to survive when other bulls would gang up on a single bull.
 - Thanks Bob. I thought about adding behavior issues to my list, but didn't make it there
 - Well you haven't cowboyed until you've moved a big wad of bulls and had 50 or 60 of them having a free for all bull fight as you are moving them!
 - Yeah about all I get to deal with is 20, and they are handful enough when they get to fighting
 - Cattle are raised to sell at the market, and the farmer is paid by the pound. A steer (a castrated male calf) will gain faster than a bull or a heifer (female calf) because they have other things on their mind besides just eating. Also steers and heifers can be in the same feedlot without any problems. If you had a bunch of bulls in a feedlot they would have it tore up with fighting. There is nothing that will stop a bull fight, nothing!
 2. I learn something new every day on this blog. Just not sure what I'm going to do with this new found knowledge. Thanks.
 - Goddess, Just bide your time and the opportunity to spread your new found knowledge will present itself.
 3. Good post Ryan! Too often I forget to think about the cattle industry from the viewpoint of a person who wasn't raised in it and probably wouldn't have thought to go into detail about why we castrate.
 - That's a problem I often have as well. That's why I love that I can send out a tweet and get a question that someone has from outside ranching
 4. Hi Ryan,
 I really like how simply you explained this complex issue. Those of us in the industry often don't even consider why we do the things we do because we've always done them. I linked this post to my blogpost on branding where I talked a little about the castration we do at brandings. You can see the blog at _URL_
 5. Shannon Fields // May 24, 2011 at 3:09 PM // Reply
 Enjoyed your article. Now I got a question – we just bought 25 heifers with calves from a neighbor. We worked them this past weekend for the first time. All the calf bulls had been banded but 2 so we banded them (because our neighbor has always banded). But we have been told that banding brings a lower price at the sale. Is there any truth to this?
 - Banding shouldn't make a difference, compared to using a knife, in castration. Now, if you're selling calves calves soon after banding, that would bring a discount. I wouldn't reccomend marketing any castrated calves until they are completely healed after castration.
 6. bobkinford brought up an important point, and it's something we producers are going to have to watch carefully if/when AR groups gain more foothold. Most welfare certification programs require (usually at a given stage of certification) that animals 'are born and die with all the same body parts.' No castration, no tail docking, etc. These 'welfare' requirements have no consideration for the human beings who work with these animals – bulls are downright dangerous to not only each other but to the people who work with them. Thanks for a great post!
 7. Implanting far exceeds the ability of just simply castrating for the points you listed plus behavior. So are producers just adding unnecessary stress and infection risk when done by knife to the animal?
 - Jim, I assume your referring to implants like Ralgro or Revalor? These are great products that allow for improved efficiency of weight gain by helping to enhance metabolic processes, Are you suggesting using these without castration?
 8. Nebraska Farm Wife // May 10, 2012 at 10:41 AM // Reply
 Bob brings up a great addition about the aggression of bulls to each other. But there is also the danger in their aggression toward the human handlers too!! There is always increased risk of being hurt by either being caught in their fighting and not being able to get away from them or them being aggressive directly towad you. My sis worked at a sale barn and had 2 bulls come in and fight over a fence, they crashed through a gate she was behind and it pinched her between them the fence and the ground. The only thing that saved her was her dog that stepped in between her and the bulls and got them to the other end of the pen. If he wouldn't have been that kind of cow dog they would have continued to do the Mexican Hat Dance on her.
 Jim Fisher – Our vet is a believer that a knife is less stressful than a band especially in older bulls. The problem I have seen with the band especially at birth is alot of times 1 of the testicals was missed. I have had to "re-castrate" a lot of bulls coming into the feedlot that had been banded. Not saying that banding is not a good option I think it has a place. We knife


People have often said that when their dog first greets someone, they show all of their teeth and "smile." Some visitors mistake this for aggressive behaviour, but the owners feel that the dog is just very excited and happy. So what is going on?
It sounds like this dog is displaying an appeasement gesture, called a submissive grin, to show people that she's no threat. Submissive grins are a way for a dog to show deference to another individual.
Usually submissive grins are associated with increased movement and a body posture that is lower than the dog's normal stance. There are other signals your dog likely uses, along with her submissive grin, to show deference, such as lowering her tail, lifting a paw, licking you, licking her lips and looking away or squinting her eyes.
Say Cheese!
The submissive grin is a tactic dogs use to shut off aggression from another individual, either human or canine. This behaviour is commonly seen in greeting situations where the dog is actively soliciting attention in a nonthreatening manner. Often the submissive grin invites interaction from others, but it's also possible that dogs are trying to increase distance between themselves and others if they feel threatened.
It's likely that these dogs have continued "smiling" at people because it's gotten them a lot of attention in the past. You can actually turn a dog's smiling into a trick by clicking and treating her every time she does it and adding a word to it, such as "say cheese," just as they starts to smile, which will encourage more of their smiling if this is a behaviour you enjoy seeing.
It would be helpful to explain to visitors before they meet your beloved canine that smiling is a as part of their greeting sequence but is nonthreatening. You can even channel their greeting behaviour into another outlet, like a game of ball or a quick series of tricks they are asked to do, such as sit and down, as a way to redirect their energy away from greeting mode, where they are likely to smile, and into a different mode, like play or food acquisition.
If you doubt that your dog is smiling as a greeting behaviour to show appeasement, or if there is any possibility that there may be aggression involved in her behaviour, contact Kaleen Veterinary Hospital as we have a behavioural expert on staff who can discuss this with you.
This post was originally published in 2012


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Definitions of bel
n. - The Babylonian name of the god known among the Hebrews as Baal. See Baal. 2
n. - A thorny rutaceous tree (Aegle marmelos) of India, and its aromatic, orange-like fruit; -- called also Bengal quince, golden apple, wood apple. The fruit is used medicinally, and the rind yields a perfume and a yellow dye. 2
The word "bel" uses 3 letters: B E L.
No direct anagrams for bel found in this word list.
Words formed by adding one letter before or after bel (in bold), or to bel in any order:
a - able bale blae b - bleb d - bled i - bile l - bell o - bole lobe p - pleb s - bels t - belt blet u - blue lube w - blew
All words formed from bel by changing one letter
Browse words starting with bel by next letter


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The Architects Who Made London
15 February—4 June 2008
In the Architecture Space
Adjacent to the Royal Academy Restaurant
Installation photograph of 'The Architects Who Made London' display 2008. Photograph by Richard Bryant/ arcaid.co.uk
Against a backdrop of contextual photographs of London by Richard Bryant, this display looks at six architects from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century who have had a significant impact on the London we see today. Drawings, plans and photographs of their major London buildings, illustrate the impact of architects including Norman Shaw, Lutyens and Lubetkin on the capital.
Through their buildings and urban visions, their ideas influenced the physical and social structure of the city. In contrast to previous generations of architects, they faced often outwardly incompatible tasks, such as creating an identity for railway suburbs on the city's expanding fringe, giving a semblance of unity to the ceremonial approach to Buckingham Palace, or developing an architectural idiom for social housing.
10am-6pm every day except Friday
Click here to download the accompanying handout (309 KB)
This display has been curated to complement the lecture series The Architects Who Made London with Maxwell Hutchinson.


Chapter 32: Alien Combat
Aliens are any organic non-anthropomorphic life form. They are the blobs, the 5 legged scuttlers, and the ferocious amphibious snake elephants. Aliens will find that they have to fight a lot. Whether it is referee persona aliens slugging it out with xenophobic anthropomorphs, or some indigenous persona making a last ditch effort to escape her place in the food chain. The referee will find that aliens spend a lot of time in combat. Alien combat is essentially no different than any other persona combat. The important elements of combat are covered in Chapter 26: Theatrical Combat and Chapter 27: Tactical Combat. This brief discussion about alien combat is to highlight the similarities and differences that alien and anthro personas have in combat.
Lunch avoiding diner. Diner acquiring lunch.
Lunch avoiding diner. Diner acquiring lunch.
Aliens roll to hit like all other participants in combat. They wait their turn, roll the appropriate dice, and add their bonA,proficient. The result must be higher than The target's armour rating before damage can be inflicted. Aliens, the same as players, also earn experience for descriptive attacks. If the alien is a tool user they may be able to employ mundane or artifact weapons.
Combat Table
The alien combat table is identical to the combat table for anthropomorph personas, however it is much easier to populate it's matrix. Aliens which have classes should use the regular combat table that is described in Chapter 9: Combat Tables. The combat table here is for the alien's natural attack type. If the alien only has a type A, type B, or type C natural attack then the combat table need only include those attack types. Educated, tool using aliens should use the combat table in chapter 9. Table 6.7 Alien Attack Type is included here for reference.
Table 6.8 Alien Combat Table
A table for calculating a table.
Weapon TypeBonus Proficient (BP)Maximum Roll (MR)
A (contact)10 times PSTR700 plus BP
B (ranged)10 times INT750 plus BP
C (weapons)10 times DEX800 plus BP
Weapon TypeBonus ProficientMaximum Roll
Type A Weapon: Thrusting and striking weapons for aliens include their naturally endowed thrusting and striking attacks. Examples are bite, punch, claw, beak, gore, stab, rake, slice, gouge, tear, trample. Any alien using a non natural Type B weapon attack should use the regular combat table for that weapon.
Type B Weapon: This attack type is designated for those aliens that fling objects, shoot quills, or spit in an attempt to inflict their natural damage (spit, breath, blast, arc, spray). Self powered ranged attacks are less common than thrusting and striking attacks for aliens. Any alien using a non natural Type B weapon attack should use the regular combat table for that weapon.
Type C Weapon: Again this is weapon type applies to those natural powered attacks that function like lasers, sonics, electric arcs, radiation doses, or extremely high velocity projectiles. Aliens with natural powered attacks are very rare, and extremely dangerous. They have specially evolved organs that allow them to attack naturally, but with equivalent effect of an artifact weapon. The natural powered attack type will inflict the damage of, and have the attack type of the weapon rolled. Any alien using a non-natural powered weapons should use a regular combat table for those weapons.
The combat table for alien natural attacks is very brief. There is no bonus non-proficient (BNP) column, because an alien can't be unskilled with its own attack, and unless the alien is a tool user it will have no attack other than it's natural attacks. There is also no Damage Adjustment (DA) because the damage inflicted by natural attacks is already moderated by PSTR. For example, an alien should not get a PSTR bonus on a Type A natural attack. This only applies to natural attacks, and tool using aliens would benefit from the Damage Adjustment (DA) as would any other persona using the tactical combat table. Table 6.8 Alien Combat Table is included here for ease of mouse pointing.
Table 6.7 Alien Attack Type
Determine what weapon type the alien's natural attack resembles.
Die Roll (d100)Attack TypeExamples
01-75Type ABite, punch, lick, rake, gore
76-97Type BSpit, breath, quill, spray
98-99Type CBullet, lazer, dart, ray
00Ref's Own Table
Die RollAttack TypeExamples
Damage Adjustment
Aliens using natural attacks do not get PSTR damage bonuses. The damage of their attack is determined by their size, and PSTR attribute. Since PSTR helps determine how much damage a hit will inflict PSTR damage adjustments are not applied. Damage can only be inflicted if the alien makes a successful roll to hit, and like all other damage it is subtracted from the opponent's HPS total.
Armour Rating
An alien's Armour Rating (AR) is dependant on its outer layer composition, internal body structure, dexterity, and natural combat skills. When an opponent attempts to hit an alien, it must penetrate the alien's armour. This is done by rolling over the target's Armour Rating (AR). The better the alien's armour rating, is the harder she will be to hit. The alien's AR may be due to a combination ofthe factors described previously, or may be due to one outstanding feature. Armour Rating bonuses such as cover, and concealment can make an alien harder to hit, whereas to hit bonuses such as flanking can make an alien easier to hit.
Hit Points
Alien hit points, like all other participants in combat, are lost whenever they take damage. A HPS of damage to an alien is the same as a HPS of damage to any other persona. The size of the alien makes no difference, if an attack scores a hit then it will inflict whatever damage the weapon designates. Since size is taken into account when the alien's hit points are generated there are no adjustments in damage based on the alien's wate. This may be different when using collision or ramming rules in the tactical combat system. A hit point is a hit point, but when an alien reaches zero HPS Total she is dead. This is the single most important difference that aliens have in combat. Aliens are irrevocably dead once they reach zero HPS. Unlike robots and anthropomorphs, an alien cannot survive a negative HPS total. Aliens are not required to make a DSS roll regardless of how much damage they take. Aliens essentially fight to the death. The reasoning for both these peculiarities is rather simple, maybe even specious. Animals generally engage in combat to avoid getting eaten. If they're knocked unconscious they are going to get eaten anyway, so they might as well fight to the death.


Shaping Your Flower Arrangement – The 6 Basic Shapes
Flower Arranging expert Louise Larabie shares her tips on the basic of a good flower arrangement with Dot Com Women. For any successful flower arrangement, a well-balanced shape and a proper balance and proportion are the most essential steps. Here are Louise's insider tips on how to shape your arrangements as well as her guidelines for bringing the perfect proportion to any flower arrangement.
These are the 6 basic flower arrangement shapes that are the easiest to start with.
1. Arc Shape
Arc shaped Flower Arrangement
2. Circle Shape
circle shape
3. Curve Shape
4. Right Angle Shape
right triangle
5. 'S' Curve Shape
S curve
6. Triangular Shape
Each of these arrangements is a combination of good proportion and balance.
All good flower arrangements have 'pleasing proportions' which means it looks comfortable within the size, shape and style of container.
If you are showing a single perfect bloom in a bud vase then you can disregard all but the first rule.
These are the basic rules for good flower arranging:
 1. Low arrangements should be a little wider than their container.Tall arrangements should be 1 1/2 to 2 times taller than their container.
 2. If your arrangement has a theme choose or make a container big enough to hold your arrangement.
 3. Put enough oasis in the base to fill it up level with the top of the container. Cut off any that goes above the lip of the container.
 4. Imagine an invisible outline of the shape you want to create and chose which side will be the front of your arrangement.
 5. Choose your tallest and widest flowers and arrange them in your container first within the outline of your chosen shape.
 6. Fill in around the base and lower part of the arrangement with more large blooms.
 7. Working up and outward user smaller blooms or filler to fill in the arrangement.
 8. Use the smallest blooms, foliage and filler to hide stems, oasis and the edge of container.
There are 2 kinds of balance; asymmetrical where the 2 sides don't match but appear to have equal weight or strength to our eyes and symmetrical where the 2 sides are nearly identical.
If your arrangement looks like it's about to tip over then, visually, it isn't properly balanced.
Good balance can be achieved following a few simple rules:
 1. The bottom half of the arrangement should be BIG enough to support the weight of the top.
 2. The left side should have the same amount of interest as the right side.
 3. Leave a little more s p a c e around anything you want to stand out.
 4. Keep it simple. Don't overd esign your arrangement: too many types of flowers will look messy.
Remember how well-balanced plants look in the garden all by themselves? They could be an inspiration for your arrangements.
Flower arranging and Art books have lots of information about balance, proportion and scale. They can give you lots of great ideas, too.


Is Crystal Clear An Idiom?
Is clear as crystal a simile?
They're both very quiet, but "as quiet as a mouse" is the popular simile.
What is as clear as?
to be very easy to see or understand, or to be impossible to doubt. I remember it as clear as day. Synonyms and related words.
What does clear as day mean?
What are the 20 idioms with meaning?
20 English Idioms with Surprising OriginsStraight from the horse's mouth. Meaning: getting information directly from the most reliable source. … Let the cat out of the bag. Meaning: to mistakenly reveal a secret. … Butter someone up. … Pulling someone's leg. … Wolf in sheep's clothing. … Hands down. … Riding shotgun. … Barking up the wrong tree.More items…•Aug 4, 2016
What words are idioms?
How do you use crystal clear in a sentence?
She was in her mid-twenties, with crystal clear blue eyes and porcelain skin. Ouray County was perfect for invigorating outdoor activity, with its crystal clear air and dry, windless temperatures just below freezing. The water is so crystal clear that one inadvertently steps into it.
What is a better word for clear?
1 fair, cloudless, sunny. 2 translucent, limpid, crystalline, diaphanous. 8 intelligible, comprehensible, lucid, plain, perspicuous. 10 obvious, manifest, apparent, unmistakable.
What does idioms mean in English?
An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase; but some phrases become figurative idioms while retaining the literal meaning of the phrase. Categorized as formulaic language, an idiom's figurative meaning is different from the literal meaning.
Is clear as day an idiom?
If something is as clear as day, it is very easy to see, or very obvious and easy to understand. Suddenly she stepped out from behind a tree less than ten yards from me. I saw her face as clear as day.
What does the phrase crystal clear mean?
Water that is crystal clear is absolutely clear and transparent like glass. … If you say that a message or statement is crystal clear, you are emphasizing that it is very easy to understand. [emphasis] The message is crystal clear–if you lose weight, you will feel better.
What is another word for crystal clear?
What is another word for crystal clear?apparentclearclear-cutdistinctevidentlucidobviousperspicuousplaintransparent234 more rows
What does clear as mud mean?
informal. : very difficult to understand : not clear at all The explanation was as clear as mud.
What are the 20 idioms?
Is crystal clear a metaphor?
Origin of crystal-clear Emphatic form of clear in visual and metaphorical "understandable" senses.
What is the opposite of crystal?
An anticrystal is a theoretical solid that is completely disordered, making it the opposite of a crystal. … Amorphous materials may display regions with atoms in repeating patterns, but without crystalline order.


How to Create a Mirror of the Desired Window
Available in:Actual Window Manager, Actual Multiple Monitors.
 1. Open the desired window.
 2. Click with the right mouse button to the icon of Actual Window Manager in the system tray and select Configure...
 3. Go to the Multiple Monitors -> Mirroring in the left menu of the opened window.
 4. Click to the Add a New Item button on the toolbar.
 5. Check the Window box in the Source Parameters section.
 6. Select the window opened in the step 1 with one of the two ways:
 1. Window Selector - just select the desired running window.
 2. Window Finderjust drag the crosshair icon to the desired window
 7. Set desired parameters in the Mirroring Settings section.
 8. Click to the Apply Button.


ComEd Owned Street Light Audit
Like a lot of communities around Chicago, The Village of Glencoe has a small collection of street lights that they own and maintain. The rest of the lights are owned and maintained by ComEd, and The Village is then billed for their usage. ComEd provides The Village of Glencoe with a list of all the lights in its database that are within Glencoe's village limits. The Public Works department asked the GIS Department to see if all the lights could be mapped out and then analyzed to make sure that The Village was being billed correctly and that ComEd had the right information for each street light that they owned.
The GIS Department began using a combination of address information, aerial imagery, and Google Streetview to find the locations of each street light provided by ComEd. First, the street light locations were mapped against the Village's address and street range databases placing them in the general vicinity. Then by using a combination of aerial imagery and Google Streetview, the locations of each light were narrowed down. Any street lights in the ComEd database that can't be mapped will be then marked in the database and the Village will have to have discussions with ComEd to figure out the discrepancy. When the street light mapping is completed, The Village of Glencoe will then be assured that they are being billed correctly for their street light usage and that their own street light database is up-to-date.


How to Stop a Heat Cycle in Dogs?
A Stopwatch! Could it Stop a Dog from Being in Heat?Several people have asked me recently, if it is possible to stop a heat in dog. They were unpleasant with the whole situation when the dog must not be let alone in the yard, had to be guarded, and were restless most of the time.
To answer short, Yes, there is a method to stop a heat cycle in dogs.
However, owners who seek a relief for their misery may be left disappointed, because you will still need to protect your dog. Protective period will be shorter, but it will not disappear at all. If someone wants to escape from caring for a dog in heat, using medications is not the best option. But it's your choice.
How the heat cycle postponement work in dogs?
Heat cycle in dogs can be halted by using megestrol acetate (commercial name: Ovaban).
Above all, these medications must be used under veterinarian recommendation and supervision only. While they may be available with no prescription in some countries, most of the world markets require it. And it's not without a reason.
Megestrol acetate is a synthetic derivative of a hormone called progesterone.
Naturally, level of this hormone starts climbing near the ovulation of the dog (about day nine of he heat). It then suppresses the hormone called estrogen, which is high before it, and plays an important role in continuation of the heat.
If megestrol acetate, that is a synthetic derivative of progesterone, is given to the dog during the beginning of the heat, output of the estrogen (the hormone which is high before ovulation) is suppressed and stops developing, thus breaking the heat cycle.
Is stopping a heat cycle in dogs safe?
Stopping the heat cycle by using Ovaban sounds like an easy and harmless hormonal modification. Like speeding up things and ending the heat cycle earlier. However, there are things you should be aware of:
 - Veterinary guidance and manufacturer instructions. I already wrote it above (there, in bold, red letters – it's important), but it's not possible to mention it too often. Do not use ovaban on your own. Ask a vet for instructions, do not exceed prescribed dosages and inform him if unexpected happens.
 - Contraindications. Megestrol acetate should not be used in pregnant dogs, dogs who have uterine disease, diabetes mellitus or mammary tumors. Also, there should be caution using it for young dogs who have not developed stable heat cycle, or for dogs who undergo stress. Contraindications, not mentioned here, must be discussed with a veterinarian.
 - Aversive effects. Like most medications, Ovaban also has a long list of contraindications. They vary starting from increased appetite (and weight gain), or fatigue, and ending with mammary tumors, and some studies showed a development of diabetes. Some may say, most drugs have long lists and they are used anyway. That's right, every treatment is about taking risks. If we are healing cancer, we may take the risk of getting diabetes in exchange. But if we are treating heat cycle (which is not even a disease), diabetes is an unnecessary risk, no matter how small.
 - Keep your dog isolated during therapy. While the therapy, in most cases, is intended to stop the heat cycle and stop worries about unwanted pregnancy, you still have to avoid your dog mating during the therapy. In most cases, it lasts for eight days or more. If the mating occurred, use of the megestrol acetate must be cancelled (unless your vet says you may continue it which often happens if mating occurred near the ending of the therapy).
 - Consider spaying. If megestrol acetate (Ovaban) is used to escape worries about the dog in heat, and the dog is not intended for breeding, spaying must be seriously considered. However, surgery must done when the dog is not in heat. I know there are people, who say, spaying is not natural, but you know what is not natural, as well? Giving hormonal medications and domesticating wild animals (even if dogs were domesticated thousands of years ago).
If the above contraindications or aversive effects did not scare you, you may go to your vet and ask for more information about halting a heat cycle in dogs. Therapy must be started during the first three days of the heat, though. But remember, list of aversive effects is not just letters on instructions. They actually do happen, and many of them are not rarities.
If you are really responsible dog owner, you'd want to stop dog from coming in heat by spaying, not halting the cycle each time it starts.
This article is a part of series about dogs in heat.
Dog Health / Dogs
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Interface Authenticator
All Known Subinterfaces:
SecurityManager, WebSecurityManager
All Known Implementing Classes:
AbstractAuthenticator, AuthenticatingSecurityManager, AuthorizingSecurityManager, CachingSecurityManager, DefaultSecurityManager, DefaultWebSecurityManager, ModularRealmAuthenticator, RealmSecurityManager, SessionsSecurityManager
public interface Authenticator
An Authenticator is responsible for authenticating accounts in an application. It is one of the primary entry points into the Shiro API.
Although not a requirement, there is usually a single'master' Authenticator configured for an application. Enabling Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) behavior (Two Phase Commit, etc.) is usually achieved by the single Authenticator coordinating and interacting with an application-configured set of Realms.
Note that most Shiro users will not interact with an Authenticator instance directly. Shiro's default architecture is based on an overall SecurityManager which typically wraps an Authenticator instance.
See Also:
SecurityManager, AbstractAuthenticator, ModularRealmAuthenticator
Method Summary
 AuthenticationInfo authenticate(AuthenticationToken authenticationToken)
 Authenticates a user based on the submitted AuthenticationToken.
Method Detail
AuthenticationInfo authenticate(AuthenticationToken authenticationToken)
 throws AuthenticationException
Authenticates a user based on the submitted AuthenticationToken.
If the authentication is successful, an AuthenticationInfo instance is returned that represents the user's account data relevant to Shiro. This returned object is generally used in turn to construct a Subject representing a more complete security-specific 'view' of an account that also allows access to a Session.
authenticationToken - any representation of a user's principals and credentials submitted during an authentication attempt.
the AuthenticationInfo representing the authenticating user's account data.
AuthenticationException - if there is any problem during the authentication process. See the specific exceptions listed below to as examples of what could happen in order to accurately handle these problems and to notify the user in an appropriate manner why the authentication attempt failed. Realize an implementation of this interface may or may not throw those listed or may throw other AuthenticationExceptions, but the list shows the most common ones.
See Also:
ExpiredCredentialsException, IncorrectCredentialsException, ExcessiveAttemptsException, LockedAccountException, ConcurrentAccessException, UnknownAccountException


text:
Pediatric Disclosure Materials: Booklet 1—How to Keep Healthy
How to Keep Healthy is the first in a series of four booklets designed to help adults facilitate health-related discussions with children and adolescents. It was written to be used with children from 2 to 6 years of age, an age when children may ask many questions about why they go to the clinic or why they have to take medicines.
The booklets are available for download in color and in black-and-white. Accompanying cue cards offer guidance for health care providers to use in introducing these booklets to caregivers.
The other booklets in this series include:


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As far as I've seen, this expression is almost always used in relation to gene expression profiling. Unfortunately, I have no background in this area. Can someone please explain this in layman terms?
Although each cell of your body essentially contains the same DNA and the same genes, cells in different tissues express (turn on) different genes under different conditions. Measuring differential gene expression involves looking at the amount of expression for a gene (or set of genes) in two contrasting scenarios. The contrast could be across different times, different tissues, different conditions, different related species, etc.
When, you say a gene is "differentially expressed", this is very context-specific. The phrase means nothing by itself, and it is only useful in terms of the applicable contrast. For example, the statement "gene A is differentially expressed" is uninformative, while the statement "gene A is differentially expressed in liver and muscle tissue" is descriptive--it tells you that liver tissues and muscle tissues have a significantly different level of gene A products. Often the terms "up-regulated" and "down-regulated" are also used to provide additional detail. In the context of the previous example, the statement "gene A is up-regulated in muscle tissues" tells you that the level of gene A products is higher in muscle tissues than in liver tissues.


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The Edwardians: Secrets and Desires showcases the broad range of art created by artists working and exhibiting in London during the years 1900 to 1914. The exhibition reflects a time of great social change — from a period of established order to the beginnings of a more modern world — and reveals the variety of possibilities that became available during this time.
Many Australian artists went to Europe at the turn of the 20th century to live and study. Likewise, artists from Ireland and America sought to establish themselves in the artistic centres of London and Paris. The Edwardians: Secrets and Desires places the work of these expatriate artists within the context of British art of the time. Artists moved regularly between London and Paris, and were keen to have their works included in exhibitions in both centres. Parisians such as Auguste Rodin and Jacques-Emile Blanche regularly exhibited their work in London, and Rodin became President of the London-based International Society of Painters, Sculptors and Gravers.
The exhibition catalogue, fully illustrated in colour, contains comprehensive essays and information on all of works in the exhibition and is available from ngashop.com.au.
ART GALLERY OF SOUTH
|NGA Home | Introduction | Gallery | Search | Essay | Learning | Symposium | Visiting | Previous|


Definitions for "Jib"
A triangular sail set upon a stay or halyard extending from the foremast or fore-topmast to the bowsprit or the jib boom. Large vessels often carry several jibs; as, inner jib; outer jib; flying jib; etc.
One that jibs, or balks; a jibber.
To move restively backward or sidewise, -- said of a horse; to balk.
Keywords: bonk, snowboard, rail, slide, tricks
Riding which closely resembles street skating. "Jibbers" commonly slide rails, bonk trees and perform flatland tricks.
The act of riding on something other than snow, i.e. rails, trees, garbage cans, logs.
Describes a type of riding that most closely resembles street skateboarding. "Jibbers" commonly slide rails, bonk trees, and perform flatground tricks.
The projecting arm of a crane, from which the load is suspended.
An extension section attached to the end of a crane boom.
Projecting from the main body of a crane, this arm can be swiveled around to reach and move loads.
Keywords: dude, tease, dialect, peculiar, english
Multi functional word (see DUDE); typically used to indicate a piece of or the use of terrain park equipment but may also be used as a replacement for the English words give, pass and tease.
A dialect of the English language peculiar to certain peoples of African heritage.
Keywords: jejunoileal, bypass
Jejunoileal Bypass
A stationary condition; a standstill.
Keywords: gib, version, smaller
apparently a smaller version of gib
Keywords: dolly, camera, backwards, arm, dynamic
a camera arm used to achieve dynamic camera motion.
The arm on the dolly that allows the camera to move out to the side, as well as forwards and backwards.
Keywords: dod, personnel, joint, affairs, bureau
JOINT INFORMATION BUREAU. A news media center set up and operated by public affairs personnel of more than one DOD component. JIB personnel may include personnel from other federal agencies.
Joint Interest Billing
Keywords: refuse, comply
refuse to comply


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Thus, the degradation condition can be represented by the MQE as follows:
where is the test input data vector and stands for the weight vector of BMU.
3.3. Failure threshold
The bearing health state during the whole bearing life is divided into three stages as normal, degradation and failure. After sampling from bearing vibration data, we calculate the three features into MQE value and then compare the incipient failure thresholds. The normal value of MQE is in range of 0-0.3. Therefore, the incipient threshold is set as 0.3 and the failure threshold is set as 1.0. If the features exceed the incipient threshold and enter the degradation area, an incipient fault will occur. And then the prediction model will be activated to continually track and record the vibration data. Once the failure threshold is exceeded, bearing suffers from a severe degradation and must be replaced.
A multistep prediction method is used in this paper. The initial time step is a very important element in bearing remaining life prediction. In order to realize the bearing remaining life prediction, the initial time step should be a point whose MQE is below the failure threshold. Generally, we choose the initial time step with a MQE value between the incipient failure threshold (the value is 0.3 in thise paper) and the final failure threshold (the value is 1 in thise paper). However, different initial time step result in different prediction accuracy.
3.4. GPR prediction
GPR is used to predict the failure time of bearings by assessing the features of bearings. The hyper-parameters are obtained by maximizing the marginal likelihood algorithm. The model outputs the predicted MQE value and confidence interval for the next steps. The latest (in this paper, 10) MQEs are took as input vector of GPR to predict the next several periods. The RUL of the bearing can be obtained based on the predicted MQE and failure threshold.
Covariance function is a key factor in GPR. Three standard covariance functions are used in this paper (i.e. squared exponential (SE) covariance function, rational quadratic (RQ) covariance function and Matern class of covariance functions). If,,…, are independent random GP, is also a GP. Therefore, a composite covariance function can be described as:
Fig. 2. Bearing test rig sensor placement illustration
4. Case studies
In this section, we used the test data of bearing to validate the effectiveness of the proposed bearing failure prediction model. The bearing test dataset was generated from the run-to-failure test performed under a constant load condition by the national science foundation industry and university corporative research program (NSF I/UCR) center on Intelligent Maintenance Systems (IMS). The test rig is shown in Fig. 2.
Four bearings were installed on one shaft for the run-to-failure test [18, 19]. The rotation speed was maintained at 2000 rpm. A radial load of 2730 kg was placed onto the shaft and the bearings by a spring mechanism. Vibration data were collected every 20 minutes, with a sampling rate of 20 kHz. Three tests were carried out and all tests were terminated when some failure occurred.
In order to give a brief demonstration of the proposed method, a part of MQEs were shown in Fig. 3. Three time domain features are applied to construct the input vector of SOM. After training SOM, the MQE of each test dataset can be calculated by Eq. (13)-(15).
Fig. 3. MQE of test bearing
4.1. Prediction based on GPR
Several degradation datasets are extracted from Bearing 3 of Test 1 and used to make predictions. Performance degradation causes fluctuation of bearing vibration and the increase of MQE. When MQE exceeds the incipient threshold, the prediction model are activated. If MQE exceeds 1.0, bearing enters the failure stage and should be replaced.
The evolution of MQE of the vibration signal of bearing 3 with threshold setting and prediction is shown in Fig. 4. The prediction is trigged at the 40th time step, where the MQE is about 0.7. The dotted line is the actual MQE and the solid line indicates the prediction result of GPR with composite covariance function. The actual failure time is 55.3 and the predicted one is 56.6. The prediction is overestimated with an accuracy of 97.7 %, which is acceptable.
Fig. 4. Remaining life prediction for bearing MQE
The prediction model based on GPR (CK) with 95 % confidence interval is used, as depicted in Fig. 5. Three prediction processes were triggered at the 30th, 40th and 52th time step, respectively. The corresponding MQEs of the bearing are approximately equal to 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9, respectively. The lines represent the predicted MQEs and the colored areas are the uncertainty areas of the predicted results. Among these lines, the black dot one indicates the actual MQE. It can be found that the predictions at 30 failed to follow the actual trend. Thus, prediction at the early stage faces a larger deviation. While, with more new data being added, the predictions become better as illustrated by the predictions at 40 and 52.
Fig. 5. Prediction of MQE based on GPR (CK) with 95 % confidence interval at 30, 40 and 52
4.2. Comparisons between different kernels
Covariance function is crucial for GPR, and can determine the efficiency of prediction. In this case, 60 points were used to make a comparison between different kernels. The length of the training data are 10. Six covariance functions are applied to the prediction model for training and validation. As shown in Fig. 6, most of kernels can suit the actual data well for one-step prediction. The RMS error (RMSE) and output variance are used to estimate the accuracy. Although, composite covariance functions consumed more time, they exhibited better performance (smaller RMSE and variance) than the single kernels. As listed in Table 1, the RMSE of the composite kernel of SE and Matern is smaller than others. Variance also reduces significantly. The composite kernel spent additional 60 % computing time in exchange for 30 % performance enhancement, which is valuable.
Fig. 6. Predictions with different covariance functions
For an -steps prediction, the dynamic of PDF predictions with single and composite covariance functions is shown in Fig. 7. The RUL distributions of both kernels cover the real RULs well. However, the distributions of RUL obtained from the single kernel have a larger PDF at early time, which means the variance of prediction is higher than the composite covariance functions. More accurate prediction with higher confidence can be obtained at the end life. This probabilistic implement help us make a correct judgment and provide an uncertainty management.
Fig. 7. PDF of prediction with different covariance functions
Table 1. Comparison of different kernels
4.3. Comparison with particle filter
PF is a kind of Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) methods that are coupled with the recursive Bayesian estimation. The principle of PF is to utilize a set of weighted particles to represent the probability densities. 120 points degradation data are used to make a comparison. The failure threshold of the MQE is set as 1.0. The predictions are started at 100th time step. Both PF and GPR prediction model are run ten times and the average results are calculated. Fig. 8(a) is the prediction result using PF, and Fig. 8(b) is the prediction using GPR with the composite kernel.
Fig. 8. Comparison of MQE prediction between composite kernel GPR and PF method
The actual failure time as shown in the Fig. 8 is 116.2. While the mean value of the predicted failure time by GPR and PF are 117.8 and 119.1 respectively. Both results are acceptable. Compared with PF, GPR has a better accuracy and the predicted curve of GPR is more stable. That is to say GPR is superior to PF in maintenance decision.
This paper proposes a bearing remaining life prediction model based on GPR with composite kernel. Dynamic of PDF is illustrated in the experiment. The PDF of model outputs is essential for risk analysis and maintenance decision. From this paper, following conclusions can be drawn:
1) This paper proposes a creative application of GPR in bearing prediction field. The GPR model can simplify the prediction process with a satisfactory performance.
2) GPR with composite kernels can improve the prediction accuracy and reduce the variance of the RUL in comparison with single kernel.
3) Compared with PF algorithm, GPR model is better in terms of prediction accuracy.
The authors are highly thankful for the financial support of National Natural Science Foundation of China (61304111), Beijing Natural Science Foundation (_PHONE_), National Program on Key Basic Research Program of China under Grant 2014CB744904, and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities under Grant No. YWF-14-KKX-001, China.
- Heng A., Zhang S., Tan A. C. C. Rotating machinery prognostics: State of the art, challenges and opportunities. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, Vol. 23, Issue 3, 2009, p. 724-739. [Search CrossRef]
- Qiu H., Lee J., Lin J. Robust performance degradation assessment methods for enhanced rolling element bearing prognostics. Advanced Engineering Informatics, Vol. 17, Issue 3, 2003, p. 127-140


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The first annual Cancer Nurse Coordinator Initiative (CNCI) evaluation report has drawn on a number of data sources, including:
- a specific Cancer Nurse Coordinator (CNC) database that provides information about the activity and function of the nurses
- a CNC online survey which profiles CNCs and their activities, contribution and perceived effect on patient experience
- a provider online survey to assess understanding and perceived effects on patient experience
- a patient survey to assess patient experience of the new role and its contribution
- qualitiative interviews.
The data collected to inform the 2014 annual report provides high level insight into implementation of the CNCI and shows that:
- the CNCI is implemented across 20 DHBs using four delivery models that reflect DHBs' existing cancer care structures and population profile
- CNCs have an important role in the treatment team and contribute to improving communication between health professionals about patient care
- CNCs are seen to be contributing to a more coordinated patient journey and making a difference to patients and their family/whanau.
The evaluation provider is looking at enhancing the data collection tools to further improve data quality for the 2015 annual report.