text:
Difference between Merge Raster Layers and Build Virtual Raster in QGis?Geographic Information Systems
What is a virtual raster QGIS?
A virtual raster (VRT) is a special type of file that references one or more existing raster datasets and combines them into a single virtual layer.
Can you merge raster layers in QGIS?
QGIS uses the the GDAL merge tool, which is a very fast and efficient tool, to merge multiple raster layers. To merge raster layers in QGIS open the Merge tool from the raster menu, then select the raster layers to merge together, specify an output location and click run.
How do I merge raster in QGIS?
QGIS: Raster Merging
- In the QGIS Browser Panel, select the GeoTiffs you want to merge and right click to add them to the main window.
- Select Raster > Miscellaneous > Merge.
- In the Merge dialogue window, for Input files, browse to your directory containing your GeoTiff tiles.
How do I combine two raster layers?
Open the Mosaic To New Raster tool by navigating to ArcToolbox > Data Management Tools > Raster > Raster Dataset.
- Insert the raster files.
- Select the output location.
- Specify a name and extension for the output.
- Specify the pixel type.
- Specify the number of bands.
What is a virtual raster?
A virtual raster is a special type of raster whose pixel values are created upon request during data processing or visualization. Its memory footprint includes a reference to a source raster along with details of how the source pixel values will be modified in order to create new pixels.
What are the two types of raster data?
There are two types of raster data: continuous and discrete. An example of discrete raster data is population density. Continuous data examples are temperature and elevation measurements. There are also three types of raster datasets: thematic data, spectral data, and pictures (imagery).
What is the difference between merge and mosaic raster?
In the case of MERGE, the sequence of input grids determines the values assigned to cells, giving priority to those entered first. For MOSAIC, overlapping areas were blended to make a smooth transition and the sequence of entry is irrelevant (if on each overlapping area no more than two grids intersect).
What is merge in QGIS?
QGIS Introduction: Merge Shapefiles
Merging data can be necessary when you obtain vector data from multiple sources. In QGIS, the data need to be the data same type (i.e. all polygons or all points) and in one folder with no other data.
How do I merge layers in QGIS?
Quote from video: Okay often in qgis we might may find ourselves with a situation where we have four different layers. These are just countries and they just come in my background mapping. And so it's not really that
What is a virtual field in QGIS?
Virtual fields are a pure QGIS concept. The data provider (your database) does not know the slightest bit about their existence. Virtual fields are just put "on top of" the real data, their values are temporarily regenerated by QGIS every time they are required somewhere.
What is a virtual layer in QGIS?
A special kind of vector layer allows you to define a layer as the result of an advanced query, using the SQL language on any number of other vector layers that QGIS is able to open. These layers are called virtual layers: they do not carry data by themselves and can be seen as views to other layers.
What is VRT in QGIS?
Description. Builds a VRT (Virtual Dataset) that is a mosaic of the list of input GDAL-supported rasters. With a mosaic you can merge several raster files. The algorithm is derived from the GDAL buildvrt utility.
- Compaction in the Rock Cycle: Understanding the Process Behind Sedimentary Rock Formation
- Crystallization in the Water Cycle: A Fundamental Process in Water Distribution and Purification
- Understanding Crystallization in the Rock Cycle: A Fundamental Process in Rock Formation
- SQL Server to Google Maps
- Stereo-pair Image Registration
- Extracting Lat/Lng from Shapefile using OGR2OGR/GDAL
- Constructing query in Nominatim
- In Ogr2OGR: what is SRS?
- Identifying port numbers for ArcGIS Online Basemap?
- Remove unwanted regions from map data QGIS
- Waiting for Vector & WFS loading
- Adding TravelTime as Impedance in ArcGIS Network Analyst?
- Listing total number of features into an ArcGIS Online feature pop-up
- Tile large raster file in QGIS


text:
Job Vacancy For E-Commerce Manager At Arik Air Nigeria
- Responsible for designing, developing, implementing, maintaining and managing all electronic commerce (EC) channels.
- Control all aspects of company's online business.
- Develop websites that will promote the brand and generate revenues.
- Define company's objectives for using electronic commerce and decide what computer applications are needed to achieve them.
- Develop marketing plans that explain how the e-commerce proposals will increase the company's business.
- Monitor the company's e-commerce strategies as they are being implemented
- Staying up to date on any software or data management trends.
- Constructing and maintaining Web back-end systems and ensuring the currency, quality, and integrity of information on the sites.
- Track online sales progress by analyzing sales statistics, conducting online traffic studies, and analyzing site data.
Desired Skills and Experience:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Business Administration, Operations Management, or equivalent experience. MCSE+Internet and PMI certifications are pluses.
- Minimum of 7 years of information systems and business unit experience, 5 of which are in increasing levels of responsibility in a technical management capacity and program management.
- Must have a strong ability to lead with a very strong understanding of what it takes to develop a successful ecommerce operation.
- 4 or more years of team/project leadership responsibilities in a web/e-commerce environment, developing project plans and managing web-based solution delivery from implementation through to completion.
- Must possess a broad but thorough knowledge of EC and IT systems as well as comprehensive knowledge of relevant business functions and their interdependencies.
- Thorough knowledge of Web technology and solutions, and experience delivering through third-party providers.Must have advanced knowledge of Visual Basic.
- Basic knowledge of networking protocols, configuration, network administration
- Excellent organizational skills.
- Experience in a large organization and experience developing successful vendor relationships.
- Experience with relational databases and object oriented and event driven techniques.
Deadline: Not stated

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


text:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Chapter 2: A Peck of Owls
Where a Vietnamese word has been borrowed from Chinese, the original Chinese character is shown in parentheses.
群 qún = 'crowd, bunch, group'.
猫头鹰 māotóuyīng = 'cat-headed hawk' = 'owl'.
|A bunch of owls|
= 'cat-headed hawk' = 'owl'.
大隊 dàduì = 'large body, specifically batallion, regiment, group, or brigade (depending on organisational context)'.
|A contingent of owls|
Fukurō no tsubute
|ふくろう fukurō =
の no = connecting particle
つぶて tsubute = 'throwing stones' (or stones so thrown).
|Pelted with owls|
|Vietnamese||Một bầy cú||một
= 'one, a'.
bầy = 'flock, pack'.
cú = 'owl'.
|A flock of owls|
There is no problem saying 'a flock of owls' in CJV, but the word play involved in this little slip of the tongue (Uncle Vernon meant to say 'a pack of owls' but said 'peck of owls' instead) is not so easy to reproduce. (See Wordplay: '...a peck, I mean, a pack of owls').
Alas, the 'peck of owls' must be sacrificed for the prosaic 'bunch of owls' in the Mainland Chinese version, a 'large body or contingent' of owls in the Taiwanese version, and a 'flock' or 'pack' of owls in the Vietnamese.
The Japanese translator comes up with the most ingenious translation. The word つぶて tsubute means 'throwing stones' and can also refer to the stones that are so thrown. The Japanese title thus means 'Owl stone(s)', with the implication that the owl or owls come pelting at you like stones. This is no doubt exactly how Uncle Vernon felt about the owls that kept bringing letters to Harry.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


FREE Christian Pastors and Christian Leadership Resources
Can Christians Be Angry?
 - Dr. Roger Barrier Preach It, Teach It
 - 2013 4 Apr
Can Christians Be Angry?
Dear Roger,
I really struggle with anger. It seems like I just can't keep it under control. I know it's not Christian to be angry, so what advice would you give me?
Dear BLE,
Who says that it's a sin for a Christian to get angry? Jesus got angry on numerous occasions (Matthew 23:13-26 and John 2:13-17 just to name a few). I figure that if it was OK for Jesus to get angry then it is OK for you and me!
Like you, many people do wonder: "Is it a sin to be angry?" Of course not. Anger is a necessary, built-in emotion. (Proverbs 27:4Proverbs 14:17 Ephesians 4:26-27 . The emotion of anger is not sin; but, anger has the potential to lead into sin. Anger does not become sin until we translate it into aggressive and hostile actions—or activities destructive to ourselves.
However, anger has its limits. Out of control anger can be a dastardly thing. One of my favorite proverbs is Proverbs 29:11 "A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control."
Why do people get angry? You know the answer to that. People get angry for all sorts of reasons. Some are angry because of the injustices done to themselves or to others. Some are angry for righteousness sake. Hurt someone and they will get angry (Proverbs 20:2). Anger is the natural response to being hurt. Some are stymied and kept from doing something they intend to do. Some have been embarrassed by others. Others feel cheated. The loss of a loved one can trigger intense anger. Occasionally a small squabble can become an angry encounter. The list goes on and on.
On somewhat of a deeper level, some get easily and overly angry because of imbalanced brain chemistry. Some have opened their lives to a demonic stronghold (Ephesians 4:26-27).
Uncannily, many people don't realize when they are angry. According to Dwight L. Carlson, M.D. the following are misconceptions about anger:
 1. If I don't look, feel, or seem angry, I don't have an anger problem.
 2. If I ignore my hurts and anger, they will go away and won't cause me any trouble later on.
 3. If I just let all my feelings and anger out—just get them out of my system—I'll solve my anger problems.
 4. It won't cost me too much emotionally to be a nice person who never gets angry at anybody.
 5. If I express my hurts and anger to the person with whom I'm angry, our relationship will suffer.
Very often, we tend to express our anger in two ways: we blow up and vent our anger (Proverbs 29:11), or we internalize it by "clamming up." The first century Greeks recognized these two polar opposites.
"Orge" describes a fire that quickly flashes up and dies down just as quickly. Like when an open flame is touched to a pile of extremely dry sticks and leaves. It burns furiously and just as quickly burns itself out. Some angry people explode and often hurt those around them--but they sure feel better.
On the other hand, the Greek word "thumos" describes a ripe peach still hanging on the tree that keeps getting riper and riper until it turns to mush and falls on the ground for some unsuspecting person to step in. "Thumos" people internalize anger and refuse to face it for what it is. Eventually, however, their anger will likely ooz out and sabotage relationships with the people around them--as well as their own emotional well being.
In his dynamic work, The Angry Book, Dr. Theodore Isaac Rubin, M.D., illustrates describes what "orge" and "thumos" might look like.
 1. Venting ("orge"): Auto Poison; Bullying; Explosive Behavior; Rage; Violence; Suicide; and Murder
 2. Repressing ("thumos"): Anxiety; Depression; Self-Sabotage; High Blood Pressure; Overeating; Under eating; Sleep Problems; Silent Treatment; Malicious Gossip; Overworking; Over sexing; Over exercising; Bad Dreams; Always Tired; Drugs; Alcohol; and Juice-Stewing
Now, let's come to the crux of the matter. What do I do when I feel myself becoming angry? (Proverbs 16:32)
1. Deescalate the emotions of the moment. Choose to calm yourself down. (Proverbs 30:33Proverbs 15:1 . Take time to read and apply Psalms 131 Counting to 100 is still a most effective way of quieting yourself down before doing something stupid.
2. Quickly decide whether the anger is worth it and back away if it is not. I was a happy third grader on the play ground when a big-fourth grader challenged me to a fight.
"I heard that you said that you can beat me in a fight. Do you want to try," he asked?" My first thought was, "I never said that." My second thought was that it wasn't worth the fight. I said, "O.K. you win. You are better than me." He screwed up his face and looked at me: "Well then, don't you forget it." Some situations just aren't worth it.
3. Ask the question, "where have I been hurt?" Most people get angry they've been hurt by someone, something or some situation. (Proverbs 19:11). What hurt is producing you anger? Heal the hurt and you will begin to heal the hurt (Matthew 5:4).
4. Follow Jesus' anger-healing model as revealed during His crucifixion experience (This model is adapted from "Jesus Healing Model by David Ferguson of Intimate Life Ministries.)
First, He mourned His hurt (Matthew 26:38) and received comfort (Matthew 5:4) from the angels.
"He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me" (Matthew 26:37-38).
Second, He understood the truth of what was happening: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" "(Luke 23:34).
Third, He forgave those who were crucifying Him: "Father, forgive them... " (Luke 23:34).
I hope this helps. We need to feel the emotion of anger to be healthy, as long as we express it in a godly way.
Publication date


text:
The Two Sides Of The Brain
On this date in 1913, Nobel Prize winner Roger Sperry was born in Hartford, Connecticut. He won a Nobel Prize in 1981 in physiology or medicine, for his more than four decades-long study of the human brain. Sperry found that the two cerebral hemispheres of the brain have separate functions, linked by the corpus callosum, the nerve bundle that connects them. He also discovered that the left side is usually the more dominant; it controls reasoning, language, writing and reading. The typically less-dominant right side controls such non-verbal pursuits as art, music and other creative activities. Sperry received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He first studied cats and later studied epileptic patients, especially those whose corpus callosum was cut to block seizures.
Copyright Aetna InteliHealth, Inc., 2012. All rights reserved.


text:
Thanks to modern technology Caroline now offers online tuition in Anglo Irish Concertina on a range of platforms – Skype, WhatsApp, Facebook and Zoom to students all over the world. This means that anyone, anywhere in the world can learn Irish traditional music from an expert tutor. Through regular lessons, students can expect to improve concertina technique, and develop maturity and musicality in their playing. Online lessons are highly successful and reap many of the rewards of traditional face to face lessons, right from the comfort of your own home!
In general, students can expect a lesson to include:
- Revision of previous tune – suggestions of revisions (improvements or additional embellishments).
- A new piece of repertoire – taught phrase by phrase through repetition.
- Lesson ends with revision of new piece and Caroline records the tune at various speeds – slow, phrase by phrase and 'normal speed'. The recording also includes relevant indications on fingering. This recording acts as a guide to facilitate independent learning and practice before the next lesson.
Over time, the listening skills developed during lessons will allow learners to pick up tunes with minimal effort by ear (Yes anyone has this ability, you just need to be taught how!). This repetitive technique also improves and stabilises rhythm and builds confidence. Students learn to contextualise the music, gaining an insight into the tunes and traditions from an insiders' prospective – a pivotal feature of a living tradition which is often overlooked.
Students will be encouraged to develop their own individual style and gradually begin to find their place within the wider Irish traditional music community.


You are here: Home Insurance How To Appeal A... How To Appeal...
How To Appeal Denial Of A Referral Or Pre-certification For Treatment
When an insurer denies coverage for a referral to another doctor or for pre-certification for a treatment, the denial rests on the insurer's opinion that what is being suggested is not "medically necessary."
There is no clear cut definition of "medical necessity." Instead, the definition depends on the context and who is making the decision. The basic concept is that medically necessary services are those which are reasonable and necessary or appropriate based on current clinical standards of care.
Build your case for medical necessity by taking the following steps:
 - Step 1. Pull our a copy of your insurance policy.
 - Each health insurance policy defines medical necessity in wording which is specific for the particular insurer. Locate the description in your insurance policy. Note the page on which it is located and the exact wording of the definition.
 - Locate the policy's specific exclusions (treatments etc. which are not covered). Note whether the requested referral or treatment is specifically excluded. If not, note the page number where the exclusions are listed.
 - Step 2. Check to determine if either the referral or treatment is required to be covered by the laws in your state. If there is such a mandate, note the citation and the exact wording.
 - To learn the law of your state, go to The Actors' Fund Of America's Health Insurance Resource Center ( offsite link, click on your state, then click on "Insurance Guides" and/or Complaints/Appeals). If you have difficulty, contact your Department of Insurance. They can guide you. To locate contact information for your state insurance department, see: offsite link. Click on "NAIC States and Jurisdictions."
 - Step 3. Put together a brief description of your current health condition. Include a chronology of your symptoms and any tests and treatments you have undergone which relate to the current subject
 - Step 4. Obtain a letter from your doctor explaining why the referral or treatment is medically necessary. Ask the doctor to include references which suppport his or her reasoning.
 - Step 5. If you can, obtain additional evidence to support your request. For example, letters from other specialists or copies of studies or reports. Work with your doctor and/or his or her head nurse to pull together this information.
 - Step 6. Write a letter which includes the above information. We provide a sample letter which you can link to in: Health Insurance: Claims: Appeals: Sample Letter: Not Medically Necessary
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text:
Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: April 4, 2010
Publication Date: November 3, 2010
Citation: Codling, E.E. 2010. Availability of residual phosphorus from broiler litter ash and layer manure ash amended soil for Paspalum vaginatum uptake. Meeting Abstract. pp. 304-307. Technical Abstract: It has been hypothesized by several scientists that poultry litter ash could be used as a slow releasing phosphorus fertilizer that will become available over time. To test this hypothesis, a greenhouse study was conducted using a broiler litter ash, layer manure ash and calcium phosphate to determine phosphorus availability for Paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum) after consecutive cropping with corn (Zea Mays), wheat (Triticum aestivum) and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr]. In the original study, broiler litter ash, layer manure ash and calcium phosphate were applied at two rates (40 and 80 mg P kg-1) to a limed low phosphorus silt loam soil from the Beltsville series. Each pot contained two kilograms of the amended soil replicated four times. After the third crop (soybean), soil was mixed and sample removed for Mehlich-3 extraction. Four pre-rooted Paspalum cuttings were planted in each pot and fertilized with 100 kg ha-1 nitrogen as potassium and magnesium nitrate. Plants were harvested, 8, 14 and 18 weeks after planting. Averaged over harvest, yields were higher for the plants grown on the phosphorus amended soil compared to the control. There was no significant difference in yield between phosphorus source or the phosphorus rates. Phosphorus concentration in the Paspalum tissue will be presented.


Take the 2-minute tour ×
As a character of an algebraic group is defined to be any morphism (of algebraic groups) from this group to $\mathbb{G}_m$, how to prove:
$\mathbb{G}_a$ has no nontrivial characters.
If I take the ground field $K=\mathbb{C}$, and define a map $\phi: \mathbb{G}_a \rightarrow \mathbb{G}_m$, $a+bi \mapsto $exp$(a+bi)$, why isn't $\phi$ a character of $\mathbb{G}_a$? (Why isn't it a morphism of algebraic groups?)
Many thanks.
share|improve this question
What exactly is $\mathbb{G_m}$? – Thelonius Sep 16 '12 at 2:29
4 Answers 4
up vote 9 down vote accepted
One way to establish that there is no nontrivial homomorphism of algebraic groups from $\mathbb{G}_a$ to $\mathbb{G}_m$ is via the Jordan decomposition: every element $x$ in a linear algebraic group may uniquely be written as the product of a semisimple element $x_s$ and a unipotent element $x_u$, and this decomposition is preserved by homomorphisms of algebraic groups. See for instance Theorem 6 of these notes of Ryan Reich.
Now we can realize $\mathbb{G}_a$ as the subgroup of matrices $\{ \left[ \begin{array}{cc} 1 & a \\ 0 & 1 \end{array} \right], \ a \in K \}$,
which shows that every element of $\mathbb{G}_a$ is unipotent. On the other hand, every element of $\mathbb{G}_m$ is semisimple. Since an element which is both unipotent and semisimple is the identity, the only homomorphism from $\mathbb{G}_a$ to $\mathbb{G}_m$ is the trivial one.
As for your example with the exponential map: that's not an algebraic function! Remember that in dealing with homomorphisms of algebraic groups, we restrict to maps which are locally given by polynomials.
share|improve this answer
Thank you very much! This answer is really detailed and impressing! Many thanks! – ShinyaSakai Jul 22 '11 at 18:40
You might be interested in this answer of mine from MO. Over a base ring $R$ which contains $\mathbb{Q}$, I show that the hom's from $\mathbb{G}_a$ to $\mathbb{G}_m$ are in canonical bijection with the nilpotent elements of $R$. In particular, if $R$ is itself a field, then the only nilpotent is $0$, giving the trivial hom.
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I am really very very lucky to see admirable and helpful teachers here. Thank you very much, Mr Speyer. This answer gives me a deeper look into this question. – ShinyaSakai Jul 22 '11 at 18:57
Since these are affine algebraic groups, there is an equivalent ring-theoretic statement. Namely, a character over a commutative ring $R$ is an $R$-Hopf algebra map from $R[x,x^{-1}]$ to $R[y]$, where the comultiplication is $x \mapsto x \otimes x$ on the left and $y \mapsto y \otimes 1 + 1 \otimes y$ on the right.
To be an $R$-algebra map, $x$ has to go to an invertible element of $R[y]$. We will write it as $f(y) = \sum_{i=0}^n r_i y^i$, where $r_0 \in R^\times$. Taking tensor square is a functor on algebras, so we get a map $$R[x,x^{-1}] \otimes_R R[x,x^{-1}] \to R[y] \otimes_R R[y] = R[y,z]$$ that in particular yields the assignment: $$x \otimes x \mapsto f(y) f(z) = \sum_{j=0}^n \sum_{k=0}^n r_j r_k y^j z^k.$$ To have a Hopf algebra map, it is necessary and sufficient that this be equal to the image of $f(y)$ under the comultiplication map, which is $$\sum_{i=0}^n \sum_{j=0}^i \binom{i}{j} r_i y^j z^{i-j}.$$ Comparing the coefficients of $y^j z^k$ yields the system of equations $r_jr_k = \binom{j+k}{j} r_{j+k}$, where $r_m = 0$ for $m > n$.
We find that $r_0 = 1$ (since $r_0$ is an invertible idempotent), and all $r_i$ for $i \geq 1$ are nilpotent. Since the complex numbers have no nonzero nilpotents, all characters defined over $\mathbb{C}$ are trivial.
A little more work shows that there is a functor from schemes to sets that takes the spectrum of a ring $R$ to the character group of the additive group over $R$. This functor is formally represented by the multiplicative formal group $\widehat{\mathbb{G}_m}$, whose reduced subscheme is $\operatorname{Spec} \mathbb{Z}$. This is an example of Cartier duality where one has to allow formal schemes to take duals of commutative affine groups.
Regarding the exponential function, it does not yield a map from $R[x,x^{-1}]$ to $R[y]$, but in characteristic zero, there is a formal exponential map to the completion $R[[y]]$, which is the coordinate ring of the formal additive group $\widehat{\mathbb{G}_a}$. This is given by sending $x$ to $\exp(y) = \sum_{i = 0}^\infty \frac{y^i}{i!}$, and it is straightforward to check that the assignment $r_i = 1/i!$ satisfies the system of equations $r_j r_k = \binom{j+k}{j} r_{j+k}$. In positive characteristic, you can't divide by $i!$, but there is a formal exponential to a formal divided power series algebra, which yields a sort of PD-additive group. In other words, the exponential does yield a homomorphism when restricted to an infinitesimal neighborhood of the identity, but that homomorphism cannot be extended to a homomorphism (in group schemes) on the whole additive group.
share|improve this answer
Thank you for giving me a deeper insight into this quesiton. Thank you very much. – ShinyaSakai Jul 27 '11 at 0:02
If ${\Bbb G}_a$ had a non-trivial character, then there would be a systematic (in fact, functorial) way to produce invertible elements in any ring $R$ (or maybe in any $R_0$-algebra, where $R_0$ is the ring of definition of the character) from its additive structure.
This would be quite strange........
share|improve this answer
Thank you very much. Now I understand why I am wrong. – ShinyaSakai Jul 22 '11 at 18:45
Your Answer


text:
Select the Drive that you wish to use, such as J: and type your server name (always starts with \\; i.e. \\nas\home\john.doe) into the Folder field. Be sure Reconnect at logon is checked so you will be reconnected to this drive back whenever you restart your computer. Click on Finish.
In the User name field, type GALLAUDET\ then your username. In the Password field, type your password. The user name and password should be based on your Bison account. Click on OK.
You can access your folders and files by opening Computer (same as step #1) and selecting the J: drive (or the drive letter you picked).


text:
Why do some people get violent after boozingDecember 16th, 2008 - 6:17 pm ICT by ANI
Washington, Dec 16 (ANI): Have you ever wondered how generally calm people suddenly turn violent after downing a drink? Well, Finnish researchers have got the answer for you: it''s caused by an over active gene which triggers aggression.
Finnish researchers have found that drinking and MAOA gene can help predict impulsive violent behaviour in men.
The monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene is an outer membrane mitochondrial enzyme that breaks down monoamines such as serotonin, noradrenalin and dopamine.
A common polymorphism in MAOA results in highor low-activity MAOA that has been linked to aggression and violence.
The researchers have found that drinking and high-activity MAOA can predict the risk of impulsive violence, while aging may decrease this risk.
Roope Tikkanen, a researcher in the department of psychiatry at Helsinki University Central Hospital and corresponding author for the study and his colleagues decided to look at the MAOA gene, alcohol consumption and aging as predictors for recidivism in impulsive violent behavior among a sample of 174 Finnish alcoholic male offenders originally recruited between 1990 and 1998.
Each offender was given a psychiatric assessment; in addition, their alcohol consumption was measured, their violent behaviour was assessed, and they were genotyped for polymorphisms of MAOA.
"Increased alcohol consumption and aging seem to predict violence," said Tikkanen, "although these risk factors "work" in opposite directions, and only concern individuals who have been given by nature a high-activity variant of MAOA."
He said additional research has suggested that individuals with low-activity MAOA seem to be at risk for criminality and violence after exposure to severe childhood maltreatment.
"People react quite differently to acute alcohol exposure," Tikkanen said.
"Most individuals become relaxed and talkative, while some particularly persons who are introverted while sober become expansively extroverted and aggressive.
A dramatic change from a normally introverted personality to extroverted aggressiveness and uncontrolled behaviours under the influence of alcohol was formerly called "pathological intoxication" in Finland," he added.
Tikkanen suggests that high-activity MAOA offenders may be helped to control their violent behaviours by coaching to maintain alcohol abstinence, and possibly by psychopharmacological treatment to increase central serotonin levels.
The study will be published in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View. (ANI)
- Scientists discover gene that triggers violent anger - Dec 23, 2010
- There's a gene behind male moroseness - Aug 29, 2012
- Drunken rage could be in your genes - Dec 23, 2010
- Men carrying 'warrior gene' more likely to join gangs, use weapons - Jun 06, 2009
- 'Warrior gene' turns boys into violent gang members - Jun 06, 2009
- ''Warrior gene'' makes people aggressive - Jan 25, 2009
- Presence of 'warrior gene' triggers aggressiveness in people - Jan 24, 2009
- 'Midas touch' gene that makes people brilliant businessmen discovered - Dec 29, 2010
- Gene variation behind problem behaviours in adults with developmental disabilities unveiled - Jul 22, 2009
- Certain genetic makeup reduces the brain's neurons in drug addicts - Mar 08, 2011
- Scientists pinpoint brain receptor linked with rage - Jun 20, 2012
- Playing lottery, buying insurance - all in our genes - Jan 12, 2010
- Lack of enzyme creates skewed response to fear - Aug 12, 2011
- Is alcoholism in your genes? - Nov 25, 2011
- Good luck at gambling'may be in your genes' - Dec 08, 2010
Tags: acute alcohol, additional research, alcohol consumption, alcohol exposure, childhood maltreatment, concern individuals, criminality, factors work, finnish researchers, helsinki university, impulsive violence, monoamine oxidase, noradrenalin, outer membrane, polymorphisms, psychiatric assessment, recidivism, roope, violent behavior, violent behaviour


each subsequent activity launch will use the same group id. This means files to be shared for all instances of an activity must be made group-accessible.
File Access
Home Directory
Since each activity is run as a different user, it gets a different home directory on each invocation. In release 8.2, the home directory for an activity equals the $SUGAR_ACTIVITY_ROOT/instance/ directory (see below). For data such as config files to survive and be accessible by all future activity invocations, they must not be stored in $HOME but rather $SUGAR_ACTIVITY_ROOT/data/ should be used.
Hint: A trick to help porting legacy software which expects its config files to be in the home directory is to export HOME=$SUGAR_ACTIVITY_ROOT/data in an activity's launch script. --Bert
Writable Directories
All writing to the file system is restricted to subdirectories of the path given in the SUGAR_ACTIVITY_ROOT environment variable. This directory has three subdirectories with different policies:
This directory is used similar to a traditional home directory, for persistent activity data such as configuration files. Make sure files in there are group readable and writable (see users and groups). The directory itself is group-writable. Files stored here will survive reboots and OS upgrades.
This directory is used similar to a /tmp directory, being backed by RAM. It may be as small as 1 MB. This directory is deleted when the activity exits (specifically, as soon as all children of the activity's first process die). This directory is only accessible to the activity and its children; not even to Sugar.
This directory is used similar to a /var/tmp directory, being backed by flash rather than by RAM. It is unique per instance. It is used for transfer to and from the datastore (see keeping and resuming). This directory is deleted when the activity exits (specifically, as soon as all children of the activity's first process die)
As of version 8.2, all the activity root directories are created in /home/olpc/isolation and can be examined there with the Terminal activity. However, activities MUST use the $SUGAR_ACTIVITY_ROOT variable because the isolation directory layout is expected to change.
Multiple instances of an activity may communicate with one another through their shared 'data' directory; however, since each instance runs as a different user, some care must be taken (#5476) when sending messages to other activities through this shared medium.
External Media
External media (USB drives, SD cards) are auto-mounted by the Journal and appear in /media/*. No access restrictions are applied currently (up to release 8.2). If activities use these external media directly (rather than through the Journal, see mount points), they need to take care of ensuring data integrity since the user may (and will) remove the medium at any time.
An activity will have to be cryptographically signed to allow secure activity upgrades once they are on the machines. Tools for this will be provided soon. See discussion of contents.sig.
to be detailed
Permissions Declarations
Permission declarations will enumerate which special permissions (camera access? microphone access? non-Tubes network access? etc.) your activity may need for its normal operation. See and generally Bitfrost.
to be detailed
Collaboration plays a large role in Sugar. Still, the presence and sharing APIs are still somewhat rough. There are attempts to explain sharing, see Activity sharing. The following are the bare essentials.
Activities must support sharing using the Presence Service (PS). It is accessible on the D-Bus:
Service: org.laptop.Sugar.Presence
Interface: org.laptop.Sugar.Presence
Object Path: /org/laptop/Sugar/Presence
If the activity was not yet shared but the user clicked the Share button, sharing is initiated by calling ShareActivity():
activity = PS.ShareActivity(activity_id, bundle_id, name, properties)
The bundle id is used for the icon and to launch the same activity when someone joins it. The name will be shown in the mesh view and should generally be the same as the title of the datastore object (see above). The properties argument is not used currently (but see #4660) and should be an empty dictionary.
Note that sharing will be private (invitation-only) by default, that is, the icon will not be visible in the mesh. To share publicly, set the 'private' property to False:
activity.SetProperties({'private': False})
Another way of starting a shared session is by inviting a buddy from the mesh view. The Invite() method of the activity is called (see above). Then the activity should be shared privately, and the buddy must be invited using the key that was passed to Invite():
buddy = PS.GetBuddyByPublicKey(buddy_key)
activity.Invite(buddy, message)
When launching, the PS must be consulted to see if this instance was shared by someone else, meaning it was launched by the user is trying to join it:
activity = PS.GetActivityById(activity_id)
This yields an error if this instance (identified by its activity id) was not shared, in which case a regular non-shared startup should be performed. Otherwise, the activity object held by the PS is returned, and this activity instance needs to join:
It should continue by establishing a communication channel with the originating instance (see below)
To leave a shared activity (e.g. because it is closing) you need to inform the PS:
The activity object created by either sharing the current activity or joining an existing activity is used to establish means of communication between these instances. The joined XOs can be accessed to start communicating with them:
buddies = activity.GetJoinedBuddies()
To get notified of buddies joining or leaving, listen to these signals:
BuddyJoined (o: buddy)
BuddyLeft (o: buddy)
"Tubes" are the transport medium of choice on the XO, provided by the Telepathy framework. There are "D-Bus Tubes" allowing remote D-Bus calls, and "Stream Tubes" which forward sockets (similar to ssh forwarding). Tubes are collected in a "Channel", and channels are associated with a "room", one per shared activity instance.
First, get the Telepathy connection from the shared activity object:
 (tp_service, tp_connection, channels) = activity.GetChannels()
where tp_service and tp_connection is the D-Bus service name and object path for the Telepathy connection. An array of channels pre-created in the activity room is returned, too. There is at least a text chat and a tubes channel at
Service: (tp_service)
Object path: (channels[i])
Interface: 'org.freedesktop.Telepathy.Channel'
Use GetChannelType() to tell the channels apart:
if (channel.GetChannelType() == 'org.freedesktop.Telepathy.Channel.Type.Tubes')
elseif (channel.GetChannelType() == 'org.freedesktop.Telepathy.Channel.Type.Text')
Stream Tubes
A stream tube forwards a socket to a remote host (similar to ssh forwarding, but not encrypted). The activity can set up a listening socket by whatever means and then create a tube to forward it:
tube_id = channel.OfferStreamTube( # sa{sv}uvuv -> u
 'service-name', # well-known TCP service name conforming to RFC 2782, see [1]
 {}, # dict of params
 2, # socket type (0=Unix, 2=IPv4, 3=IPv6)
 ('', 12345), # socket address (depends on type)
 0, 0) # access control & params
You can forward Unix, IPv4, or IPv6 sockets. Access control is restricted to localhost by default.
New tubes are announced by a signal:
NewTube ( u: tube_id, u: initiator, u: type, s: service, a{sv}: parameters, u: state )
and you can list all available tubes:
tubes = channel.ListTubes() # -> a(uuusa{sv}u), same as in NewTube signal
To connect to a tube:
address = channel.AcceptStreamTube( # uuuv -> v
 2, # socket type to return (0=Unix, 2=IPv4, 3=IPv6)
 0, 0) # access control & params
which returns an address struct of the specified type, e.g., ('', 45679). Then just connect a socket to that address and you are ready to share data.
D-Bus Tubes
to be continued. In the mean time, see olpc:Presence Service D-Bus API and Tubes


text:
The potential of Pathfinder AVHRR data for providing surrogate climatic variables across Africa and Europe for epidemiological applications.
Green RM., Hay SI.
Surface climatic conditions are key determinants of arthropod vector distribution and abundance and consequently affect transmission rates of any diseases they may carry. Remotely sensed observations by satellite sensors are the only feasible means of obtaining regional and continental scale measurements of climate at regular intervals for real-time epidemiological applications such as disease early warning systems. The potential of Pathfinder AVHRR Land (PAL) data to provide surrogate variables for near-surface air temperature and vapour pressure deficit (VPD) over Africa and Europe were assessed in this context. For the years _PHONE_ and 1992, correlations were examined between meteorological ground measurements (monthly mean air temperature and VPD(grd)) and variables derived from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data (LST and VPD(sat)). The AVHRR indices were derived from both daily and composite PAL data so that their relative performance could be determined. Furthermore, the ground observations were divided into African and European subsets, so that the relative performance of the satellite data at tropical/sub-tropical and temperate latitudes could be assessed.Significant correlations were shown between air temperature and LST in all months. Temporal variability existed in the strength of correlations throughout any twelve-month period, with the pattern of variability consistent between years. The adjusted r(2) values increased when elevation and the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were included, in addition to LST, as predictor variables of air temperature. Attempts to derive monthly estimates of atmospheric moisture availability resulted in an over-estimation of VPD(sat) compared to ground observations, VPD(grd). The use of daily PAL data to derive monthly mean climatic indices was shown to be more accurate than those obtained using monthly maximum values from 10-day composite data. A subset of the 1992 data was then used to build linear regression models for the direct retrieval of monthly mean air temperature from PAL data. The accuracy of retrieved estimates was greatest when NDVI was included with LST as predictor variables, with root mean square errors varying from 1.83°C to 3.18 °C with a mean of 2.38 °C over the twelve months.


text:
Printing and Scanning in the Libraries
All libraries on campus are equipped with "bookscan stations," which allow you to scan documents and save them to a USB drive, or to scan documents and then send them to a printer.
In order to scan documents, you must have the following:
- A Cal 1 Card, with money loaded onto it (go here to make a deposit to your Cal 1 Card account). This is not the same as meal plan points! Your Cal 1 Card debit account is a separate fund on your card.
- A USB drive (you cannot email a scanned document from a bookscan station; you must save your document to a USB drive)
- Scanning and saving to a USB drive is 5 cents a page for students.
- Scanning documents and sending them to the printer is 10 cents a page for students. Color printing is 60 cents a page.
In order to send documents to the printer from any of the public computers in the libraries, you must have the following:
- A Cal 1 Card, with money loaded onto it (see above)
- A document that's on the Web or attached to your email (the public computers in the libraries will not open files from a USB or other drive)
- Printing is 10 cents a page for students (black and white). Color printing is 60 cents a page.
Have more questions? There's more info here.
1. Read an introduction to the campus libraries for undergraduates.
2. Set up your computer for off campus access to library databases.
4. Each library has its own hours and they may change on holidays and between semesters - click on the calendar for each library to view a month at a time.
5. Information about citing your sources and links to guides for frequently used citation styles here.
Beyond the Web
"It's all free on the Internet, right? Why should I go through the library's website to find sources for my paper?"
The Web is a great source for free, publicly available information. However, the Library pays for thousands of electronic books, journals, and other information resources that are available only to the campus community. Through the Library website, you can access hundreds of different licensed databases containing journal articles, electronic books, maps, images, government and legal information, current and historical newspapers, digitized primary sources, and more.
You access these resources through the Internet, using a browser like Firefox, Chrome or Internet Explorer -- but these databases are not part of the free, public Web. Resources like Lexis-Nexis, Web of Science, Academic Search Complete, and ARTstor are "invisible" to Google. You will not see results from most library databases in the results of a Google search.


How to Make a Freedom of Access Act Request
There is no central government records office that services Freedom of Access Act requests. Each public body or agency responds individually to requests for its own records. To submit a request, you should determine which public body or agency is likely to maintain the records you are seeking and submit a request to the individual designated as the Freedom of Access Act contact for that body or agency. Please refer to the State of Maine Freedom of Access Act Contacts list for individual contact information.
Is there a form that must be used to make a Freedom of Access Act request?
No. There are no required forms.
Does my Freedom of Access Act request have to be in writing?
No. The Freedom of Access Act does not require that requests for public records be in writing. However, most bodies and agencies ask individuals to submit requests in writing in order to maintain a record of when the request was received and what records were specifically requested.
What should I say in my request?
In order for the body, agency or official to promptly respond to your request, you should be as specific as possible when describing the records you are seeking. If a particular document is required, it should be identified precisely—preferably by author, date and title. However, a request does not have to be that specific. If you cannot identify a specific record, you should clearly explain the type of records you are seeking, from what timeframe and what subject the records should contain.
For example, assume you want to obtain a list of active landfills near your home. A request to the state Department of Environmental Protection asking for "all records on landfills" is very broad and would likely produce volumes of records. The fees for such a request would be very high; the agency would likely find your request too vague and ask that you make it more specific. On the other hand, a request for "all records identifying landfills within 20 miles of 147 Main Street in Augusta" is very specific and the request might fail to produce the information you desire because the agency has no record containing data organized in that exact fashion.
You might instead consider requesting any record that identifies "all active landfills in Augusta" or "all active landfills in Kennebec County." It is more likely that a record exists which contains this information. You might also want to explain to the agency exactly what information you hope to learn from the record. In other words, if you are really trying to determine whether any active landfills near your home in Augusta accept only wood waste, this additional explanation may help the agency narrow its search and find a record that meets the exact request.
More Frequently Asked Questions about FOAA


Take the 2-minute tour ×
Let's say that a function which returns a fixed 'random text' string is written like
char *Function1()
return "Some text";
What are the square brackets after the function call attempting to do that would make the program crash? If you're familiar with this, any explanation would be greatly appreciated!
share|improve this question
The [1] is pointing to the 2nd character in the string ([0] would be the first) – climbage Nov 19 '10 at 16:10
Why do you say C++ in the title, yet tag the question C? – GManNickG Nov 19 '10 at 17:03
You should mark this as MSVC since gcc (at least >= 4) would warn you about assigning a char const [] to a char * is deprecated...for good reasons as you see. – Rüdiger Stevens Nov 19 '10 at 17:54
7 Answers 7
up vote 12 down vote accepted
The string you're returning in the function is usually stored in a read-only part of your process. Attempting to modify it will cause an access violation. (EDIT: Strictly speaking, it is undefined behavior, and in some systems it will cause an access violation. Thanks, John).
This is the case usually because the string itself is hardcoded along with the code of your application. When loading, pointers are stablished to point to those read-only sections of your process that hold literal strings. In fact, whenever you write some string in C, it is treated as a const char* (a pointer to const memory).
share|improve this answer
You can't say that it will cause an access violation. C++ doesnt know anything about access violations. All you can really say is that it will evoke undefined behavior – John Dibling Nov 19 '10 at 16:23
_USER_: you're right. Take it in the philosophical meaning then :) – Diego Sevilla Nov 19 '10 at 16:27
_USER_: Maybe "will" is too string but you have a good chance that it will :-) – Rüdiger Stevens Nov 19 '10 at 17:56
_USER_: On Windows it might GPF. On linux it might segfault. On my phone it might call my mother. Point is it's UB. – John Dibling Nov 19 '10 at 18:20
The signature of that function should really be constchar* Function();.
share|improve this answer
Completely agree. – Diego Sevilla Nov 19 '10 at 16:15
it should actually be std::string since OP wants to modify the value retued from the function – John Dibling Nov 19 '10 at 16:23
Yes, John, in C++ - sure, in C - that's the only way. – Nikolai N Fetissov Nov 19 '10 at 17:02
You are trying to modify a string literal. According to the Standard, this evokes undefined behavior. Another thing to keep in mind (related) is that string literals are always of type const char*. There is a special dispensation to convert a pointer to a string literal to char*, taking away the const qualifier, but the underlying string is still const. So by doing what you are doing, you are trying to modify a const. This also evokes undefined behavior, and is akin to trying to do this:
const char* val = "hello";
char* modifyable_val = const_cast(val);
modifyable_val[1] = 'n'; // this evokes UB
Instead of returning a const char* from your function, return a string by value. This will construct a new string based on the string literal, and the calling code can do whatever it wants:
_TAG_
std::string Function1()
return "Some text";
std::string s = Function1();
s[1] = 'a';
Now, if you are trying to change the value that Function() reuturns, then you'll have to do something else. I'd use a class:
_TAG_
class MyGizmo
 std::string str_;
 MyGizmo() : str_("Some text") {};
int main()
 MyGizmo gizmo;
 gizmo.str_[1] = 'n';
share|improve this answer
You can use static char string for return value, but you never use it. It's just like access violation error. The behavior of it is not defined in c++ Standard.
share|improve this answer
Ofcourse you can use it. You just can't modify its contents. – larsmans Nov 19 '10 at 16:18
ohya, exactly. and one more thing(just like jobs...:), as many other guys said already, converting constant char string into non-constant char string is blah blah blah...you know~ – Hongseok Yoon Nov 19 '10 at 16:26
It's not the brackets, but the assignement. Your function returns not a simple char *, but const char *( i can be wrong here, but the memory is read-only here), so you try to change the unchangeable memory. And the brackets - they just give you access to the element of the array.
share|improve this answer
Note also that you can avoid the crash by placing the text in a regular array:
char Function1Str[] = "Some text";
char *Function1()
 return Function1Str;
share|improve this answer
The question shows that you do not understand the string literals.
image this code
char* pch = "Here is some text";
char* pch2 = "some text";
char* pch3 = "Here is";
Now, how the compiler allocates memory to the strings is entirely a matter for the compiler. the memory might organised like this:
Here isHere is some text
with pch2 pointing to memory location inside the pch string.
The key here is understanding the memory. Using the Standard Template Library (stl) would be a good practice, but you may be quite a steep learning curve for you.
share|improve this answer
Your Answer


Facebook PixelDo Individuals That Use Noradrenaline Blockers Retain Hair Colour?
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Do Individuals That Use Noradrenaline Blockers Retain Hair Colour?
Image credit: Adrian Fernández /Unsplash
Jamila Sep 08, 2020
Do individuals that use noradrenaline inhibitors retain hair color?
Zhang et al. found that stress stimulates the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) to release a rush of noradrenaline. The spike in noradrenaline causes a steep decline in the number of melanocyte stem cells, and this leads to the loss of hair colour.
In the same study, Zhang and colleagues found that a drug called guanethidine was able to prevent stress-induced hair greying in mice. Zhang suggests that the mice treated with guanethidine were able to maintain the melanocyte stem cell population and that's why they didn't lose their hair colour.
So what is guanethidine?
Guanethidine is a drug that blocks the release of noradrenaline from the nerve endings. It is an anti-hypertensive drug commonly used to treat high blood pressure as it can reduce the heart rate and can dilate the blood vessels.
Interestingly, noradrenaline inhibitors can be prescribed to individuals with anxiety, depression, and ADHD. Perhaps a study could be conducted to determine whether other noradrenaline inhibitors like atomoxetine, reboxetine, tandamine, etc. have the ability to retain hair colour. If so, this would be highly beneficial because most of these drugs are already licensed and would just need to be repurposed as a hair pigment therapy.
So do individuals that use noradrenaline inhibitors retain their hair colour?
[1]Zhang, Bing, et al. "Hyperactivation of sympathetic nerves drives depletion of melanocyte stem cells." Nature _PHONE_ (2020): 676-681.
[2]Woosley, Raymond L., and Alan S. Nies. "Guanethidine." New England Journal of Medicine 295.19 (1976): _PHONE_.
[3]Dell'Osso, Bernardo, et al. "The noradrenergic action in antidepressant treatments: pharmacological and clinical aspects." CNS neuroscience & therapeutics 17.6 (2011): 723-732.
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Question: What Time Are Most Big Bucks Killed?
Is it better to hunt in the morning or evening?
Hunting the gray light of dawn and dusk is often your best shot at success.
Watch the wind to ensure you don't blow your cover, and stay as silent as possible the nearer you get to your hunting site.
Whether it's by choice or circumstance, hunts during mornings or evenings often yield the best results..
Do deer travel the same path every day?
What time of day are the biggest bucks killed?
Most hunters are headed for lunch and something cold to drink well before noon, especially during the hot part of the day. This is exactly when many of the heavyweight brawlers will ease off the bed for a quick drink. Many mature bucks have learned that the midday hours are safe.
What time of day do big bucks move?
Deer Move Most at Dawn and Dusk––End of Story Like taxes and death, you can count on two things when talking about mature bucks: they move most at dawn and dusk, and during the rut. Deer are crepuscular. It's built into their DNA.
Are more deer killed in the morning or afternoon?
The bottom line is morning and afternoon hunts can both be very productive. Extra caution and care must go into your approach in the mornings. You simply can't see what's around you. For this reason, you will spook more deer.
What time of day are deer most active?
dawnTime of Day: For whitetail deer the most active times typically occur around dawn and dusk, with periodic increases in activity overnight. Plan ahead and get out there during the right time of day to increase your chances of success.


text:
Megapomponia merula (Distant, 1905) is a cicada found in Indonesia. Its name was once Pomponia merula, but recently, that changed.
There's a dozen species in the Megapomponia Boulard, 2005 genus. "Mega" refers to their large size.
Species: Megapomponia merula (Distant, 1905)
The image says Pomponia merula but the cicada is now known as Megapomponia merula.
- The illustration and genus description comes from the journal Genera Insectorum, and a specific article from 1913 by W. L. Distant titled Homoptera. Fam. Cicadidae, Subfam, Cicadinae. Read it on the Biodiversity Heritage Library website.
- Species name information/verification comes from Allen Sanborn's Catalogue of the Cicadoidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha).


text:
November 22, 2011
The IFA is proud to announce Professor Jonathan Brown's selection for the prestigious Bernardo de Galvez Prize in recognition of his pioneering work in the study of Spanish Golden Age painting, along with his decades of contributions to the intercultural dialogue between Spain and the United States, and the accessibility and appreciation of Spanish visual culture in the US. Professor Brown's work on Spanish painting focuses not only on the historical context and aesthetic aspects of these works, but on the keys to their conservation and restoration which have been essential to their proper care and preservation.
Professor Brown is one of the world's foremost authorities on the work of Velazquez and is also an expert in such Spanish masters as Murillo, Ribera and El Greco.
The Bernardo de Galvez Prize is an annual award given by the Fundación Consejo España-Estados (the Spain-US Council), a non-profit organization started in 1997 to facilitate reciprocal exchange between the societies of both nations. The award honors Bernardo de Galvez, who was a prominent diplomat, military figure and Governor of the Territory of Louisiana under the Spanish crown. He is remembered for providing essential supplies and ammunitions to the United States during the Revolutionary War.


text:
Structure, Management, and Performance Characteristics of Specialized Dairy Farm Businesses in the United States
by Sara D Short
Agricultural Handbook No. (AH-720) 60 pp, October 2000
The U.S. dairy industry faces a changing government policy environment in the year 2000. Milk producers are struggling, and will continue to struggle, to adjust to markets that are more dependent on the forces of supply and demand. Data from the 1993-95 Farm Costs and Returns Surveys and the 1996 Agricultural Resource Management Study show that dairy farm businesses in general did a fairly good job of meeting short-term debt, generating returns, and meeting long-term debt from 1993 to 1996. The analysis indicates that farm management strategies will play an important role in determining the overall profitability of a dairy farm business as Government supports decline. However, the 1996 data suggest that changes in management techniques are adopted slowly.
Keywords: Dairy farm businesses, structure, management, performance, characteristics
In this publication...
- Title page, Contents, Summary,
- Approach to Analysis,
- Data Sources,
- Economic Structure,
- Financial Structure,
- Dairy Farm Management Decisions,
- Distribution of Profits,
- Appendix A: Definition of Financial Ratios,
- Appendix B: Statistical Procedures,
- Appendix Tables,
- Entire Report,
Need help with PDFs?


Calpine opens energy center next to Shell DP, earns EPA recognition
Calpine's DPEC will produce enough electricity to power more than 1,000,000 Texas homes. Steam generated at the facility will also be sold under a long-term agreement to Shell Chemical Company. DPEC consists of four combustion turbines, one steam turbine generator and four heat recovery steam generators.
Combined-cycle power generation uses natural gas to produce two forms of energy - steam and electricity. Burning natural gas drives a turbine generator that produces electricity. Hot exhaust gasses from the turbine are then routed to a heat recovery steam generator. Heat from the heat recovery steam generator is absorbed by circulating water, producing steam to serve Shell Chemical's needs and to power a steam turbine generator that produces additional electricity.The steam is then condensed back into water and recirculated through the heat recovery steam generator, where the process begins again.
Also at the recent dedication ceremony of Calpine's new DPEC, the EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy recognized the first phase of the Calpine Corporation Deer Park Energy Center for "leadership in energy supply" with a Energy Star Combined Heat and Power Award.
The award "demonstrates Calpine's commitment to providing power in one of the most efficient and environmentally responsible ways possible." Thirty-three of Calpine's 69 natural gas facilities are CHP, representing nearly 9,700 megawatts of power and serving an aggregate steam load of up to 18 million pounds per hour. According to company material, "this makes Calpine the leading cogeneration company in the United States."
Ron Walter, Executive Vice President, Business Development, and one of Calpine's founders 20 years ago was on hand at the DPEC dedication ceremony, along with Calpine's Peter Hansen, Vice President, Business Development, who provided an overview of the project, Kellie Byerly, Vice President, Regional Power Executive, Andrew Siegelstein, Senior Project Manager, and William Chenette, Plant Manager.
Calpine's Deer Park Energy Center's first combustion turbine began operation in 2003, producing 178 megawatts of baseload power and up to 1.1 million pounds per hour of steam. Now that the facility is completed, it consists of four combustion turbines, one steam turbine generator and four heat recovery steam generators that can produce up to 1,007 megawatts of power. Steam is utilized by the joint Shell Deer Park Oil Refining Company and Shell Chemical LP manufacturing facility adjacent to Calpine's site. Calpine sells the electricity to its other industrial and residential customers in the deregulated Texas market, which provides competitive access for energy procurement.
A Calpine press release states that the new DPEC project "helps the Houston/Galveston area in its efforts to achieve Federal Clean Air Act Compliance. For instance, compared to the average fossil fueled power plants in the United States, Calpine's fleet emits, on a megawatt-hour basis, 96 percent less nitrogen oxide, a major cause of smog, nearly 100 percent less sulfur dioxide, a major cause of acid rain, 53.4 percent less carbon dioxide and almost 84 percent less particulate matter, a contributor to respiratory problems. Also, unlike coal-fired plants, Calpine's power plants have no mercury emissions, a major health hazard."
Calpine is a member of the EPA/CHP Partnership, which seeks to reduce the environmental impact of power generation by fostering the use of CHP. The EnergyStar CHP award recognizes projects that use at least 5 percent less fuel than state-of-the-art separate power-and-heat generation. By significantly improving efficiency, award-winning projects save money while reducing greenhouse gases, such as C02, and other air pollutants, including NOx, S02, and particulate matter.
Calpine is the largest independent power producer in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas with 11 power plants capable of generating more than 6,700 megawatts of electricity. Calpine describes their facilities as "the cleanest, most fuel-efficient natural gas-fired facilities that provide power under both shortand long-term contracts to wholesale and industrial power customers."
Calpine marks its 20th year in operation this year. Calpine is one of the nation's leading independent power producers and the largest in Texas. Headquartered in San Jose, California, Calpine builds and operates power plants fueled by natural gas and renewable geothermal steam. DPEC will consume "40 percent less fuel per megawatt hour produced than older fossil-fueled plants while also reducing emissions." According to Calpine literature, "gas-fired power plants such as DPEC represent the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. power industry.


text:
The precise origins of this famous Scottish drink remain shrouded in a deeply alcoholic haze. This much is known. The first written record dates back to 1464, and appeared on the tombstone of Duncan Earl of Inerary. The inscription reads that he died, aged 16, from "…too much of the Athole Blaze, and a fiste to the heed from Mollie Stewart".
By the 1700's the drink had become a firm favorite of the Jacobites. It is said that it's over-indulgence by the rebel leaders contributed to their ultimate downfall.
During the 19th century several notable distilleries began shipping Blaze in limited quantities – but its precocious shelf life (of around two days, with extensive shaking), made commercial production all but impossible.
The drink is also variously known as Arthol Baise, Atholle Bose, Arthole Bias and "The Biggun"
- 1 large bottle of single malt whisky
- Half pint of double cream
- 300g of Scottish jam (strawberry preferable)
- The whites of six large eggs
- The yolks of six large eggs
- The shells of six large eggs
- One handful of oatmeal
1. Soak the oatmeal with the whisky and set aside.
2. Consume one small glass of whisky and set aside.
3. Beat the eggs until stiff.
4. Combine egg yolks and beat with added urgency.
5. Fold in the jam, cream and egg shells.
6. Blend in the oatmeal and whisky mixture at a feverish pace.
7. Pour into six small bottles, and store in a cool, damp place for at least one week.
8. Shake bottles vigorously every hour.
Makes approximately twenty-five adult-sized servings (or forty child-appropriate portions).
Traditional Serving Style:
Spoon the drink through a fine sieve into small pewter mugs.
Warm over open flame until liquid is "scadding hot".
Down liquid in one swift motion; clutch chest hairs and shout "Finistere!"
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes (plus around twelve hours of follow-up)
Difficulty level: Moderate
Known fatalities: At least twelve


1000kg/h Carbonization Furnace Plant Was Shipped to Congo
Congolese customers ordered a continuous carbonization furnace and charcoal grinder with an output of 800-1000kg/h from our charcoal machine factory for the production and sale of barbecue charcoal. The Congolese customer has inspected the charcoal processing project for nearly half a year and finally decided to purchase carbonization equipment to produce barbecue charcoal. He said that his local barbecue charcoal is in great demand, and he believes that his investment decision is correct, and he will surely create great benefits for himself.
How to make barbecue charcoal in Congo?
At present, the Congolese charcoal production still uses a more traditional method, that is, charcoal kilns are used to carbonize various types of wood and logs. Nowadays, with the continuous improvement of charcoal equipment, the production of charcoal can be carried out with a dedicated carbonization furnace. Considering the low production efficiency of traditional charcoal processing methods and high labor costs, the Congolese customer decided to try to import charcoal machines to produce charcoal.
Why choose the continuous carbonization furnace to Congo?
The Congolese customer understood the difference between different types of carbonization furnaces when consulting us because after consulting him for more information, we recommended continuous carbonization furnaces to him. Why do we recommend a continuous carbonization machine to him?
This is mainly determined by the customer's raw materials. The customer stated that the raw materials used to produce charcoal are mixed, but mainly agricultural waste such as rice husks, wood chips, and peanut husks. The main feature of the customer's raw materials is that they are small in size, so there is no need to use a grinder for processing.
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Technology Musings
Making Reusable iPhone Widgets with Interface Builder
One annoying thing about Interface Builder, at least for the iPhone, is that there is not a direct way of making reusable widgets that are both made *in* Interface Builder and *for* Interface Builder. I came up, though, with a set of instructions and helpers that make the process fairly painless. The class is called IBView, and should be used as the parent class for your reusable widget.
Here's how to create the widget:
 1. Create a class for your new widget, called MyWidget. Inherit from the IBView class (code provided below). Create all of the IBOutlets you want for your widget.
 2. Create a view with the same name as your widget class in Interface Builder. If your widget was named "MyWidget.m" then your interface should be called "MyWidget.xib". DO NOT set the class of this view or any subview to be of the MyWidget (or whatever class you are create) type. DO NOT do it.
 3. Set the "File's Owner" of your interface in Interface Builder to be the name of the class that you are creating - MyWidget in this case.
 4. Set up any connections you want between your IB view and File's Owner (i.e. your widget).
Now, your widget is created. You can now use the view in any IB panel by doing putting in a generic UIView, and setting the class name to your new class (MyWidget in this case).
Important caveat - one consequence of creating the view in Interface Builder is that there will be an extra view between the main view represented by your class and the rest of the elements of your class. Basically, your custom view acts as a generic view, and then *loads in* your Interface Builder file as a subview, meaning that the toplevel view in Interface Builder will sit under your MyWidget view. This is usually unimportant if you are just using IBOutlet stuff, but if you do advanced view management, it would be important to know that a view sits between you and the rest of your sub-widgets.
Okay, here is the code for IBView.m - just very simple code, with a tiny bit of Objective-C magic thrown in:
_TAG_ "IBView.h"
_USER_ IBView
-(void) loadViewsFromBundle {
NSString *class_name = NSStringFromClass([self class]);
NSLog(@"Loading bundle: %@", class_name);
UIView *mainSubView = [[[NSBundle mainBundle] loadNibNamed:class_name owner:self options:nil] lastObject];
[self addSubview:mainSubView];
-(id) initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)coder {
self = [super initWithCoder:coder];
if(self) {
[self loadViewsFromBundle];
return self;
- (id)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame {
self = [super initWithFrame:frame];
if (self) {
[self loadViewsFromBundle];
// Initialization code.
return self;
And IBView.h is super-simple:
_TAG_
_USER_ IBView : UIView {
And that's all there is to it!


text:
Ford has recalled Firestone Wilderness AT and Radial ATX tires installed on multiple lines of Ford trucks from 1991 to 2000. On some tires, under extreme conditions, the tread could separate, which can cause immediate tire failure. This may lead to a loss of vehicle control, injury, and death. Dealers replaced the affected tires.
Recalls are issued for cars with safety-related defects or problems
1995 Ford Ranger recalls
Summary: THIS IS NOT A SAFETY RECALL IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE SAFETY ACT. HOWEVER, IT IS DEEMED A SAFETY IMPROVEMENT CAMPAIGN BY THE AGENCY. EQUIPMENT DESCRIPTION: FORD IS REPLACING ALL FIRESTONE WILDERNESS AT 15, 16, AND 17 INCH TIRES MOUNTED ON FORD TRUCKS AND SUVS. FORD REPORTS TREAD SEPARATION CAN OCCUR DUE TO A COMBINATION OF THE SENSITIVITY OF THE TIRE DESIGN TO STRESS, AGING, AND MANUFACTURING DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PLANTS. FORD IS REPLACING THESE TIRES TO PREVENT POSSIBLE PREMATURE TIRE FAILURE. VEHICLE DESCRIPTION: THE VEHICLES LISTED BELOW MAY HAVE BEEN ORIGINALLY EQUIPPED WITH FIRESTONE WILDERNESS AT TIRES OR MAY HAVE HAD WILDERNESS AT TIRES INSTALLED DURING THE FIRESTONE RECALL LAUNCHED IN AUGUST 2000. CERTAIN 1991 THROUGHT 2002 FORD EXPLORER CERTAIN 2001 THROUGHT 2002 EXPLORER SPORT, AND SPORT TRAC CERTAIN 1997 THROUGH 2002 MERCURY MOUNTAINEER CERTAIN 1991 THROUGH 2001 RANGER CERTAIN 1999 THROUGH 2001 EXPEDITION CERTAIN 1991 THROUGH 1994, AND 1997 MODEL YEAR F-SERIES CERTAIN 1991 THROUGH 1994 BRONCO NOTE: BOTH ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT AND REPLACEMENT TIRES ARE AFFECTED.Learn more »
RepairPal Expert Overview:


Isla Mujeres' Pirate Mundaca
The Pirate Mundaca is a well-known figure to those who frequent Cancun's 'Jolly Roger Pirate Ship' tours as he is a fictional character who strides through the Galleon during each show. But did you know that there was a real Pirate Mundaca?
Historian Fidel Villanueva Madrid has written an article for the magazine "Pioneers" which suggests that he was more than just this. Fermín Antonio Mundaca was in fact a real life, first class pirate who practically ruled Isla Mujeres in his day. Check out what we now know about Mundaca;
Early Years of Pirate Mundaca
Fermín Antonio Mundaca was born on October 11, 1825 in Villa de Bermeo in Spain. Madrid thinks that the first few decades of Mundaca's life were spent learning about navigation and architecture.
Pirate Mundaca the Slave Trader
Nobody knows much about the first years of Mundacas life, but we do know that when he burst into history he did so on Isla Mujeres, most likely on the run from authorities following some crime or other. Some think this may be to do with his illicit slaving activities. Whatever the case, Mundaca chose to make Isla Mujeres his home. There are some whisperings about the relationship he had with the Yucatan government. Some think he may have acted as a slaver selling Mayans to Cuba.
Isla Mujeres
A mere 2 years after his surfacing in Isla Mujeres the pirate Mundaca had firmly established himself. It is said that he fell in love with a beautiful woman who lived on Isla Mujeres, and that it was his desire to impress Prisca Gómez Pantoja, otherwise called "La Trigueña" (the Brunette), that caused him to build Vista Alegre. His home, now referred to as Hacienda Mundaca, covered around 40% of the Island and included orchards, large gardens, wells, arches and even a tomb for Mundaca! Sadly he was never buried there; Mundaca died 200 miles away in Merida.
A Reclusive Pirate?
All reports suggest that he was a solitary kind of person who had little contact with anyone other than his servants, plantation workers and business contacts.
Unrequited Love
La Trigueña was the supposed focus of the pirate Mundaca's attentions, and if the reports of her are true it's easy to see why. She was said to have skin the color of honey and eyes that were olive colored and it was thought that all the men of the island were in love with her. She never returned Mundacas affections, however, and legend has it he died of a broken heart while in Merida.
If you'd like to know more about Fermín Antonio Mundaca you can check out the article from which we got our information:
Pirates of Viking Descent
The Vikings were the forerunners of the pirates found around Britain and Scandinavia during the Golden Age of Pirates. There were a few big differences, however, between the Vikings and the pirates that would follow in later centuries.
Pirates of Viking
What makes Vikings Pirates?
Firstly, Vikings did not limit themselves to attacking other ships, in fact they specialized in raiding villages and islands. They were adept fighters and sailors, and their favored tactic was to land, raid, and leave with stunning brutality and speed. This is what they did to the Island of Landisfarm in the 8th century. They were able to get their long-boats much closer to the shore than many others because of their shallow draft and narrow deck; they are designed to get in and about the narrow fjords and inlets of the Vikings home countries.
Vikings, pirates and Religion
The reason for their warlike nature can be traced back to the Vikings religion. The Vikings didn't believe in just one God, but in a Pantheon of Gods who were largely dedicated to warfare and the honour of the battlefield. They believed that those men and women who fought well and died on the battlefield would be rewarded in the afterlife via admittance to Valhalla. This militaristic focus can be seen clearly in the way they treated their weapons.
Weapons fit for pirates and vikings
A Vikings weapons were often named, given personalities, and treated with the utmost respect. They were prized possessions, and a lot could be deduced about a Viking warrior by studying his or her weapon. For example an axe which was heavily engraved had probably been owned for a long time, and depending upon what the runes said you could learn a little about where it and its owner had been. A warrior of high status might have these runes filled in with silver to create an ornate and valuable weapon.
Unlike the pirates of later years Vikings didn't live on their ships; they launched from fishing villages in their home countries and returned their once their voyage was over.
What is the Pirate Code?
If you watch any pirate film, or read literature, then you'll find that there are plenty of mentions of the Pirate Code. Even Jack Sparrow, the character portrayed by Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean, makes a mention of it as a decree that joins all pirates. A kind of common law.
Papiro enrollado 2
What was the Pirate Code?
The pirate code was, at the most basic level, a code of conduct that had been drawn together and been agreed by the pirates themselves. This was designed to keep them in line, and to provide some form of Government. The pirate code, however, was enforced on a ship to ship basis. Unlike on legitimate sailing vessels where the sailors follow Navy or Merchant Navy rules and regulations, the crew would decide together what rules were required.
Somewhat different to national laws imposed by Monarchies and Governments, the Pirate code was not a formal, blanket law. It not only changed from ship to ship, but also from voyage to voyage to make sure that it represented the views of the crew at large. It was common for pirates to swear an oath to follow this code; they might swear on a bible, a cannon, crossed swords or even a human skull. What's more all who were on board had to give this oath, even if they weren't crew members. Stowaways and prisoners were required to sign or face torture or even death! Nice, right?
Though the particulars changed there were some common articles that could be found on many ships consistently. They were;
- No fighting on the ship, unless it was in battle or self-defence.
- No women (though this was not always observed).
- No gambling with cards or dice.
- Pirates must be armed and ready always.
- All goods, food, and beverages would be divided equally among the crew. Only the Captain and Quartermaster received a larger share (they got a double share each).
- Pirates who lost a limb would get an extra half share.
- All pirates get one vote as to the next destination and mission taken.
- All crew members follow and respect the orders of the Captain and Quartermaster.
If you're ever tempted to think that being a pirate would put you out of the reach of the law then remember that all pirates were subject to rules and regulations. The Pirate Code applied to everyone.
Viking Pirates and their Ships
The Viking longboat is one of the most iconic ships in pre and early medieval history; the striking silhouette is hard to forget. But why were they so widely used as battle ships by the Vikings? Well they were slim, hardy boats with shallow drafts which meant that they were able to get very close to the shore, and they were able to manoeuvre through close spaces.
Viking Pirates and their Ships
The iconic dragon heads that were attached to the tall, slim, stems at the front of the boats were removable. Though these are the forerunners of the figureheads seen on many pirate ships in later centuries, the Viking animal heads had spiritual, and practical uses for the ship. The Vikings believed that these animal heads protected the ship from the dangers that the sea held, but they would remove them upon return to their homes so as not to scare off the guardians of the towns and villages themselves.
Each Dreki had 60 oars, but no galley slaves; the warriors themselves were expected to be fit and strong enough to row the single-masted vessel and still fight when needed. This was all a part of the mentality of strength, honour and skill that came with the Viking religion. Their belief was that glory and skill on the battle-field, as well as a good death, would gain them entrance to the feasting halls of Valhalla.
As far as pirates go, the Vikings were undoubtedly the elite, though they had their differences. For a start they lived mainly on land, and they targeted settlements as well as other ships. But their consummate skill as fighters, and indeed as sailors mean that any considerations about the history of piracy would be incomplete without at least a few words spared for the Nordic warriors that terrorized large swathes of Europe for hundreds of years in the early medieval era.
Reference: Gail Selinger, W. Smith Jr. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pirates, Penguin Press 2006
5 Prosperous Pirate Strongholds
The seas and oceans once used to be the playground of many notorious pirates who chanced upon sea travelers for the purpose of deceit and plain robbery. In turn, the Caribbean, the Gulf Of Mexico and the coasts of Africa also served as hideaways for these sea criminals.
When pirates were not on the seas, they were in safe harbors located within pirate strongholds or hidden coves, resting on their laurels and getting ready for their sne


Entrepreneur-in-the-Classroom (EITC) Programs
Introducing America's youth to the importance of entrepreneurship
Our FREE curriculum makes it possible to introduce entrepreneurship to any high school classroom or after school program regardless of discipline. This curriculum enables students to learn first-hand about the risks and rewards of operating a small business. Entrepreneur-in-the-Classroom is composed of three modules, all of which contain teaching notes, PowerPoint presentations, and hands-on activities.
 - Module One examines the definition of entrepreneurship and small business, while providing an overview of the past and present small business environment.
 - Module Two delves into the steps and considerations involved with turning an idea into a business: identifying a passion or hobby that can provide a product or service, researching the market, and weighing the risks of starting a small business.
 - Module Three explores the nuts and bolts of starting a business: writing a business plan, obtaining funding, and learning about the agencies businesses interact with to become a legitimate entity.
EITC Curriculum


Mancini sisters
family of Italian sisters
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Mancini sisters, family of Italian noblewomen noted for their great beauty. Nieces of Jules, Cardinal Mazarin, they moved to France at an early age. Laure Mancini (1636–57) married Louis de Vendôme, duke de Mercoeur and grandson of King Henry IV. Olympe Mancini, countess de Soissons (1639–1708), was a mistress of Louis XIV. She was involved with her sister Marie Anne in the notorious Affair of the Poisons and was also accused of poisoning her husband; she was the mother of Prince Eugene of Savoy. Marie Mancini, princess de Colonna (1640–1715), was also a mistress of Louis XIV; Mazarin intrigued to prevent their marriage, and she spent most of her life in Spain. Hortense Mancini, duchess de Mazarin (1646–99), married Armand Charles de la Porté, who assumed the Mazarin title. After leaving her husband, she became a famous beauty at the English court of Charles II. Marie Anne Mancini, duchess de Bouillon (1649–1714), was known for her literary salon but was banished in 1680 for the alleged poisoning of the sorceress La Voisin (Catherine Monvoisin).
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text:
Astrobiology in a Box is a resource created by the UK Centre for Astrobiology to teach concepts in science using astrobiology. The box contains resources for four classroom activities for 20 students and an instruction kit. It is appropriate for both primary and secondary schools. The activities are 'Detection of Life Experiment', 'Extremophiles and the Limits to Life', 'UV Radiation and Damage to Life' and 'Pressure and the Limits to Life'.
Although the Astrobiology Academy distributes these boxes to participants in its CPD events, you can make your own Astrobiology in a Box by downloading the instructions below, which contain details on each activity as well as the resources you'll need to put together the kit.


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How much power managers perceive they have plays a role in how fairly they treat those who work for them, according to new research.
The study, recently published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, found that managers who have a heightened sense of their power treat others less fairly compared with bosses who see themselves as less powerful.
"Although power and status are often thought of as two sides of the same coin, they, in fact, have opposite effects on the fairness of people's behavior," said Steven Blader, NYU Stern associate professor of management and organizations. "Unfortunately, there is much less emphasis in organizations on highlighting issues of respect and prestige — factors that drive a person's sense of their own status and would, therefore, encourage fairer treatment towards others."
As part of the study, researchers placed participants in a wide range of roles, providing them with information about the power and status associated with their characters. The research found that participants who had an elevated sense of their power behaved less fairly toward others and made decisions that reflected a weakened concern for fairness, while those who had an elevated sense of their status — and were thus concerned about maintaining their high status — behaved more fairly toward others and made decisions that reflected a far greater concern for fairness.
Blader said the results have important implications for managers, and for businesses in general, since they help make sense of the factors that determine how fairly or unfairly managers treat their subordinates.
The researchers conclude that a push by organizations to exclusively emphasize things that focus managers on power, such as head count, budget control, bonuses and other economic factors, actually leads those supervisors to treat their subordinates less fairly. In contrast, the study's authors expect that if companies emphasized focusing managers on status, and how peers, subordinates and superiors think of them, it would result in a far more positive impact on fairness and workplace relations.
The study, "Differentiating the Effects of Status and Power: A Justice Perspective," was co-authored by Ya-Ru Chen of Cornell University's Johnson School of Management.


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Revista argentina de cardiología
versión On-line ISSN _PHONE_
BORRACCI, Raúl A; DOVAL, Hernán C; MANENTE, Diego y TAJER, Carlos D. Scientific Collaboration Networks in Argentine Cardiology Publications. Rev. argent. cardiol. [online]. 2009, vol.77, n.6, pp. 487-492. ISSN _PHONE_.
Background The structure of scientific collaboration networks has been recently studied in different disciplines. The analysis of large data bases using specialized software capable of connecting the different authors and coauthors in a large network of scientific collaboration has enabled the construction of collaboration graphs between investigators in several disciplines. The use of these networks is not new in the field of bibliometrics; however, attention has been recently focused on academic co-authorship networks which might be more representative of the structure of knowledge of an academic community. Objective To describe the structure of scientific collaboration networks in Argentina based on co-authorship network analysis of the articles published in the field of cardiology during 2007. Material and Methods We conducted a bibliographic search of Argentine papers published in the field of cardiology. Data was retrieved from Medline and from two local journals: Rev Argent Cardiol and Rev Fed Arg Cardiol. Collaboration networks between authors were constructed using the Kamada-Kawai algorithm included in the Pajek software. Results Mean papers per author ranged from 1.12 to 1.24, the exponent tau of productivity was 2.78 to 3.45, mean authors per paper from 3.60 to 6.51, and collaborators per author ranged between 2.60 and 4.88. The construction of collaboration networks showed that the size of the giant component was between 13.1% and 65.8%, the mean distance between authors was 1.5 to 8.5 and the maximum distance was 5-24. Conclusions The structures of different scientific collaboration networks based on co-authorship in Argentine papers published in local and international journals were studied. The productivity index followed Lotka's law with a value that was similar to the one reported in biomedical publications. The size of the collaboration network was smaller than expected, probably due to the short period of the study. The mean distance between authors was greater than we expected, indicating an inadequate structure of connections and collaboration between investigators.
Palabras llave : Bibliometrics; Cardiology; Argentina.


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|Geographical Range||Northern South America, in Colombia and Venezula|
|Habitat||Humid forests (in mountains)|
|Scientific Name||Crax pauxi pauxi|
This unusual-looking bird is named for the large bluish-grey "helmet" on its forehead. Curassows live in the dense, cool mountain forest. As they move about, the undigested seeds of the fruit they eat are left behind in the birds' droppings. In this way, curassows play a vital role in renewing the forest. Habitat loss and hunting are taking a toll on the number of wild curassows.
Did You Know?
The curassow is one of the largest birds in the South American forests.


text:
This week we're going to look at how to choose a coordinate system for your database. In PostGIS, this includes the choice of geometry vs geography columns, as well as which projection (if any) to use, and how to interact with it from Rails.
In this article, we'll:
- Review geographic and projected coordinate systems
- Discuss the pros and cons of using the PostGIS geographic type
- See why I typically store data in a projection
- Look at some specific projections I recommend using (or avoiding)
- Learn how to handle projected data in Rails
My original series plan for this week called for a worked example of a location-based web service, bringing together much of the material that we've covered so far. But as I was writing it, I realized there was one more topic we probably ought to cover first. So I'll publish the example next week.
This is part 7 of my continuing series of articles on geospatial programming in Ruby and Rails. For a list of the other installments, please visit _URL_


text:
Reports & Briefings
Briefing: EU gas infrastructure and EFSI: time for change
- Category: Reports & Briefs
- Published: 22 February 2017
This briefing shows that further public investment in EU gas infrastructure is likely to represent bad value for money, given:
- the very limited need for new gas investment for security of supply;
- the change of the market where gas demand is falling;
- the failure to test new gas infrastructure against EU climate and energy targets;
- the opportunity cost of not investing scarce EU public funds in other more productive areas, notably energy efficiency, renewable energies and electricity grids.
As a result, funding for new gas infrastructure under the EFSI 2.0 should be phased out. This would send a powerful signal that the EU will properly implement the Paris Agreement and create a much needed international precedent.


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The Goodwin-Niering Center actively strives to increase the availability of research opportunities for students. Since the Center's establishment, over 250 student research projects on environmental topics have been completed, including both undergraduate and graduate, individual, summer and honor studies.
The Center particularly emphasizes the importance of long-term ecological research, such as the projects conducted in Arboretum natural areas involving students in forest vegetation and animal inventory and analysis. At least 25 courses regularly use the Arboretum. Students doing individual studies or honors and masters theses commonly use the Arboretum as a field site for research.


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consider a parabolic boundary value problem, for instance
$-\partial_tu+\Delta u=0$, in $\Omega$,
$\partial_\nu u=0$ on $\partial\Omega$,
in a domain $Q=(0,T)\times\Omega$, where $\Omega\subset R^n$ is bounded. Now suppose $u$ is smooth and attains its maximum in $(T,x_0)$ for some $x_0\in\partial\Omega$. Is it possible to say anything about the normal derivative $\partial_\nu u(T,x_0)$ similarly as in Hopf's boundary point lemma?
(Hopf's boundary point lemma is not applicable, since there is no circle tangent to $\partial Q$ at $(T,x_0)$ entirely contained in $Q$!)
I came across this problem by the following thought:
By classical maximum principles the maximum can't be attained in $\Omega$, so it has to be located on the boundary. What if the maximum is at the (in time) top end? Although the initial distribution is strictly negative, it could be positive without violating the boundary condition $\partial_\nu u=0$ on $\partial\Omega$, so there would be a change in signs. Of course one can exclude this by applying positive operator theory, but is there an elementary proof for this?
I would be grateful for valuable comments on this.
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3 Answers 3
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Pick 0< $\tau$ < T, and let $$\phi(\tau)=\max_{x\in\bar\Omega,0\le t\le\tau} u(x,t).$$ If this maximum is assumed at any point where $x\in\Omega$ and $t>0$, then $u$ must be constant. Suppose the maximum is at a point $(x_0,\tau)$, where $x_0\in\partial\Omega$, and $u$ is not constant. Then the function $\phi(\tau)$ must be increasing. This is possible only if $u_t(x_0,\tau)\ge 0$. But then the elliptic Hopf lemma gives a contradiction to the boundary condition.
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Nice idea, haven't thought of using the elliptic Hopf lemma! In the meantime I found out that the parabolic Hopf lemma still applies in my situation. Instead if the ball K in the proof of Thm 3 on page 170 of WP one can also choose a cylinder $(0,\tau)\times\Omega)$ and consider the body enclosed by the wall of that cylinder, the ball around the maximum on the boundary from the proof and the plain $\{\tau\}\times\Omega$. Using a modified auxiliary function, one still can prove that $\partial_\nu>0$ (or <0 depending on whether you want positivity or negativity). Thank you very much! – Marc May 6 '11 at 7:32
Yes, there is an analogue to Hopf lemma. In most general form (degenerate operators...) is it done in the works of Kamynin and Khimchenko. Boundary required to be smooth enough, e.g. from parabolic class $C^{1,\alpha}$. That's an analogue for Lapunov class for elliptic problems. For $C^1$ boundaries Hopf lemma doesn't hold.
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I think what you are looking for is the parabolic Hopf lemma, given for instance in the book of Protter and Weinberger.
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You are right. However the parabolic Hopf lemma in PW requires a circle tangent to $\partial Q$ through $(T,x_0)$ which lies entirely in $Q$. So I am looking for a suitable extension of this result for corners. – Marc May 4 '11 at 19:10
There seems to be no exactly such result for domains with corners. For example, function $f(x,y)=xy$ in the positive angle $\{x>0,y>0\}$ satisfy Laplace equation (stationary heat) equation. It is smooth and has a local minimum at the origin, but its derivatie in any direction is zero. – Andrew May 5 '11 at 9:39
For domains of $C^1$ class there is a result of Nadirashvili, however. It states that if $x_0$ is a point of solution's local minimum at the boundary then in any neibourhood there is a point in which normal derivative is positive. For parabolic equations it was generalized by Kamynin. Since domains with angles is sort of good Lipschitz, may be something analogous holds there. For the above example it does :) – Andrew May 5 '11 at 9:42
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The Social Significance Of Ghana's 2002 District Level Elections – In The Upper East Region
"This paper attempts to analyse the social structure of the District Assemblies created by the District Assembly Elections of 2002. The Upper East Region of Ghana, which is the poorest region in the country, is the focus of the study. The analysis is situated against the background of the social, economic and political conditions of the region at the time of the District Assembly Elections of 2002. It was discovered in the study that some 61% of the 270 people who were elected to the District Assemblies were mainly teachers and farmers, and that out of thirtyfive women candidates only seventeen, or 48.55% were successful. In addition, only one out of ten disabled candidates was able to make it to the Assembly. The Assemblies created by the Election of 2002, therefore, are predominantly constituted by able-bodied male teachers and farmers. Both society and Government have a major responsibility to ensure that more women get elected in future elections, to ensure their full and free participation in Ghana's democratic political system."