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The prime objective of the EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS) Metop mission series is to provide continuous, long-term datasets, in support of operational meteorological and environmental forecasting and global climate monitoring.
The EPS programme consists of a series of three polar orbiting Metop satellites, to be flown successively for more than 14 years, from 2006, together with the relevant ground facilities.
Metop-A was launched on 19 October 2006 and Metop-B was launched on 17 September 2012.
Metop carries a set of 'heritage' instruments provided by the United States and a new generation of European instruments that offer improved remote sensing capabilities to both meteorologists and climatologists. The new instruments will augment the accuracy of temperature humidity measurements, readings of wind speed and direction, and atmospheric ozone profiles.
NWP is the basis of all modern global and regional weather forecasting. The data generated by the instruments carried by Metop can be assimilated directly into NWP models to compute forecasts ranging from a few hours up to 10 days ahead. Measurements from infrared and microwave radiometers and sounders on board Metop provide NWP models with crucial information on the global atmospheric temperature and humidity structure, with a high vertical and horizontal resolution.
EPS also ensures continuity in the long-term monitoring of factors known to play an important role in climate change, for example changing patterns in the distribution of global cloud, snow and ice cover, and ocean surface temperatures and winds. In particular, the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) instrument has the ability to detect and accurately measure the levels and circulation patterns of gases that are known to influence the climate, such as carbon dioxide. This heralds a breakthrough in the global monitoring of the climate. The data collected by IASI feeds into the models, for the first time showing the variable global distribution of carbon dioxide as a function of seasons and circulation anomalies such as the Southern Oscillation (also known as El Niño) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO).
EPS Programme Background
EPS is the European contribution to a joint European-US satellite system, called the Initial Joint Polar-Orbiting Operational Satellite System (IJPS). This is an agreement between EUMETSAT and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The terms of this partnership were first cemented through an agreement concluded in 1998. To develop EPS there are also cooperative agreements with the European Space Agency (ESA) and Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES).
The Initial Joint Polar-orbiting System comprises a Metop satellite from Europe and a NOAA satellite from USA. The satellites fly in complementary orbits designed to ensure global data coverage at intervals of no more than six hours.
EUMETSAT is responsible for coordinating all elements of the development, launch and operation of EPS satellites. This includes developing and procuring the ground segment; procuring the launcher and launch site, and operating the systems. Under the IJPS and Joint Transition Activities (JTA) agreement, EUMETSAT and NOAA have agreed to provide instruments for each other's satellites; exchange all data in real time, and assist each other with backup services. Other partners are the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) of France.
The IJPS is a cooperative effort between EUMETSAT and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It is comprised of two polar-orbiting satellite systems and their respective ground segments. The IJPS programme contributes to and supports the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Global Observing System, the Global Climate Observing System, the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), and other related programmes.
Each satellite has a nominal lifetime in orbit of five years, with a six month overlap between the consecutive satellites (i.e. between Metop-A and Metop-B, and between Metop-B and Metop-C), providing more than 14 years of service. The European and American satellites carry a set of identical sensors: AVHRR/3 and the ATOVS suite consisting of AMSU-A, HIRS/4 and MHS. NOAA provides most of the joint instruments on board the satellites and EUMETSAT has developed and provides NOAA with the Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS). In addition, the Metop satellites carry a set of European sensors, IASI, ASCAT, GOME-2 and GRAS, aimed at improving atmospheric soundings, as well as measuring atmospheric ozone and near-surface wind vectors over the ocean.
Metop flies in a polar (Low Earth) orbit corresponding to local'morning' while the US is responsible for 'afternoon' coverage. The series will provide data for both operational meteorology and climate studies. The combination of instruments on board Metop has remote sensing capabilities to observe the Earth by day and night, as well as under cloudy conditions.
The EPS Space Segment includes three successive Metop satellites and is being developed and procured on the basis of cooperation between EUMETSAT and the European Space Agency (ESA). A cooperative agreement with CNES covers the development of the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI).
EUMETSAT is responsible for the definition of the overall EPS system, the development and operations of the ground segment, and for the operation of the whole system.
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Successful butterfly gardening is about more than just providing the flowers. Food, shelter and water must be readily available. The female butterfly will lay her eggs on host plants so that when they hatch, the caterpillar will have plenty to eat. Caterpillars are voracious eaters so be sure to plant plenty of host plants. Host plants are specific to each butterfly species. Monarchs are attracted to milkweed while Black Swallowtails prefer fennel, dill and parsley. Research which butterflies are common in your area and plant the host plant that the females lay their eggs on. Female butterflies will choose to not lay eggs if they don't have the right plant for the larvae to eat. Last but not least, provide water for them to drink by placing a bowl of wet sand in the area or make a mud puddle in a wet area of your garden. You can find a list of flowers, both annuals and perennials, along with host plants on my website, South Carolina Garden Guru, here "Butterfly Garden".
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Going, Going, Gone: The impact of land fragmentation
on Texas agriculture and wildlife
A New Breed of Landowner
For generations, land in Texas was a legacy. It was passed down from one generation of farmers or ranchers to the next. In today's world, however, traditional farming and ranching have become questionable propositions. Fewer and fewer people are willing to take on the challenges of a life on the land.
A new breed of landowners, excited about staking their claim to a bit of Texas, is eager to step in. Younger, more educated and more affluent, the newcomers are quite different from their predecessors. For them a "farm" or "ranch" is not a place to raise crops or cattle, but rather a weekend retreat from the city or a place to raise a family in the country.
Unlike previous owners, they don't need the large acreages of land required to make farming or ranching profitable. Instead, they merely want a place where they can hunt, fish and find a little solitude. Huge expanses of land aren't required for such things.
As a result, prices aren't driven by what the land can produce, but rather by its scenic and recreational value. Those natural amenities have become precious commodities. In many counties across Texas they have pushed prices for land to record levels.
The fragmentation study found that while the average agricultural value of farm and ranchland grew only 4 percent between 1992 and 2001, there were 25 counties where the development and recreational value of land increased between 86 percent and 292 percent. (Look at a map of this disparity between land values) The study found that such increases in "non-agricultural" values were a good early indicator that large farms and ranches would likely be divided into smaller ownerships. The study also revealed that this land fragmentation is often accompanied by changes in land use and fragmentation of wildlife habitats.
The researchers found that "mid-sized" family ranches of 500 to 2,000 acres were particularly susceptible to fragmentation. During the 1990s, these properties disappeared at a rate of a quarter-million acres a year because families who had lived and worked on those lands for generations sold them and moved on. (More information on the decline of mid-sized ranches)
The decision to sell is often a matter of simple, heartbreaking economics. With developers offering far more money than they can make from the land by farming or ranching, landowners accept the offers, often reluctantly, and move on. As they depart, a major piece of Texas' rural heritage disappears. Rural economies are often left in shambles as stockyards, grain elevators, farm implement dealers and other ranch-related enterprises close their doors.
Managing Director, Field Programs
1 Short Street, Suite 2
Northampton, MA 01060
(p) _PHONE_ (f) _PHONE_
Texas Regional home page
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Individual differences |
Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology |
Definition: In her developmental theory, Anna Freud uses the metaphor of developmental lines to stress the continuous and cumulative character of childhood development. It emphasises the interactions and interdependencies between maturational and environmental determinants in developmental steps. The level that has been reached by the child on the developmental lines represents the result of interaction between drive and ego-superego development and their reaction to environmental influences; thus stressing the influence of the internal structures of the child as well as the environment of the child.
An individual is understood to be capable of moving back along developmental lines as well as forwards. This regressing can be necessary at times when the individual has to deal with some current, potentially overwhelming challenge. Once overcome, he or she can then move forward again. When pathology in a person is assessed, there are large discrepancies among the lines and notable lags with respect to normal progress along each line. However, a given behaviour may reflect a temporary 'blip' rather than a true symptom.
A developmental line Anna Freud initially distinguished six developmental lines. The line considered most 'basic' is one which describes the progression from dependency to emotional self-reliance and adult object relationship; therefore this line will be further explained here. The developmental line describes the changes at the level of observable mother-child relationships alongside the evolution of internal representations of objects that create templates for later relationships. Along this developmental line, the following eight stages are identified:
- 1. Biological unity between the mother-infant couple. The infant is under the assumption that the mother is a part of himself/herself and is under his/ her control and the mother experiences the baby as psychologically part of her. Separation from the mother in this stage is thought to give rise to 'separation anxiety proper'. This first stage ends with the first year of life.
- 2. There is a need-fulfilling anaclitic relationship between the child and his/ her object, which is based on the child's imperative body needs. It has a naturally fluctuating character as the need for the object increases with the arousal of drives, but the importance of the object for the child is reduced when satisfaction has been reached. The extent to which the child's needs are satisfied is thought to determine the images of a good and a bad mother. This stage of the developmental line starts at the second half of the first year of life.
- 3. The stage of object constancy: the child achieves a consistent representation of the mother, which can be maintained irrespective of the satisfaction of drives: thus, the representation of the mother is more stable. The child becomes able to form reciprocal relationships that can survive disappointments and frustrations.
- 4. The toddler's positive and negative feelings are focused on the same person and become visible (known as the 'terrible twos'). The child is in conflict: he/ she wishes both to be independent and to retain the complete devotion of the mother. In this stage, ambivalence is considered to be normal.
- 5. The so-called phallicoedipal phase: this stage is object-centred, characterized by possessiveness of the parent of the opposite sex and jealousy and rivalry with the same sex parent. The child becomes aware that there are aspects of the relationship between the parents from which he is excluded.
- 6. The latency period: the urgency of the child's drives is reduced and there is a transfer of libido from parents to peers and others in the child's social environment and the community.
- 7. The preadolescent prelude to the 'adolescent revolt'. A regression from the reasonableness of latency children to a demanding, contrary, inconsiderate attitude characteristic of earlier stages, especially the part-object, need-fulfilling and ambivalent attitudes en behaviour. This strengthens oral, anal and phallic drive components, reviving infantile fantasies and intensifying intra-psychic conflict.
- 8. Adolescence: representing the ego's struggle to master the upsurge of sexuality and aggression during this period. Two new defence mechanisms (intellectualization and asceticism) emerge in adolescence to defend the individual from the instinctual demands of the body. The adolescent is preoccupied with his/ her internal struggle to transfer emotional investment from parents to new objects.
Examples of other developmental lines are: from suckling to rational eating; from wetting and soiling to bladder and bowel control and from irresponsibility to responsibility in body management.
Developmental lines and psychopathologyEdit
Anna Freud, in conceptualising the developmental lines was aware that children could not be expected to proceed evenly across all lines. As the forces determining the child's development are external as well as internal and largely outside the child's control, minor 'developmental disharmonies' are to be expected. However, gross disharmony can predispose to severe psychopathology, neurosis and non-neurotic personality disorders. Anna Freud outlines several examples of phase specific developmental disturbances with reference to the basic line delineated above. As such, in phase 1, an infringement of the biological mother-infant tie for whatever reason, for example through death or neglect, can lead to separation anxiety proper. Similarly, a serious failure on the mother's behalf to be reliable, need fulfilling and comfort-giving in phase 2 will cause breakdowns in individuation and unsatisfactory libidinal relations to unstable love objects during phase 4 will disturb the balanced integration of libido and aggression and can lead to uncontrollable aggressive behaviour and destructiveness.
The framework of developmental lines has been very helpful in allowing us to track 'normal' and 'abnormal' development and has led to some interesting practical lessons. For example, Anna Freud writes that the clinging attitudes at the toddler stage (phase 4) are the result of pre-oedipal ambivalence, not of maternal spoiling as was thought. Further, in the pre-oedipal period (end of phase 4) parents cannot expect a mutuality in object relations as this belongs to the next phase and similarly, no child can be fully integrated in school before libido has been transferred from the parents to the community (phase 6). Developmental lines can also be useful in making predictions as to when particular events will have the greatest impact. For example, she lists the later part of phase 6 as one in which reactions to adoption would be particularly severe. This being due to the fact that with the normal disillusionment with the parents, all children feel as if adopted and feelings about the reality of the adoption merge with the occurrence of "the family romance"
The developmental profileEdit
On the basis of the concept of developmental lines Anna Freud developed the 'developmental profile'. The profile has two aims: - ultimately classifying the individual within a diagnostic schema - a more detailed examination of the internal picture of the child which contains information about the structure of his personality; the dynamic interplay within the structure; some economic factors concerning drive activity and the relative strength of id and ego forces; his adaptation to reality; and some genetic assumptions
A developmental profile consists of the following parts: 1. Reasons (and circumstances) for referral. Description of symptoms. 2. Description of the child 3. Family background (past and present) and personal history 4. Possibly significant environmental circumstances 5. Assessment of development 6. Assessment of fixation points and regressions 7. Assessment of the conflicts 8. Assessment of some general characteristics 9. Diagnosis
Also based on the developmental lines, professor Abraham has in the nineties developed another kind of developmental profile.
Further influences of Anna Freud's workEdit
Anna Freud's theories were important for the discipline of the developmental psychology. She encouraged child analysts to understand the (for psychoanalysis) most central developmental question: what moves development along? Psychoanalysts of today are inspired by her work to take a broad view on child development. Her concept of developmental lines stimulates other child psychoanalysts to pay attention to various fields where the child develops. Although she did not know about new processes in neurobiology, genetics and social psychology, her model still is suitable as basic model of how to understand children and how we can learn more about their development. Lasting contributions of her theories lie in asking how mind and body are brought together. The field of developmental psychology has learned from Anna Freud always to consider that the inner world of the child is constructed in interaction between biologic predisposition and the environment.
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MDX Overview
SQL Server 2000
This section introduces Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) and explains some of the concepts behind its structure and syntax. It contains the following topics.
Topic Description
Introduction to MDX Provides a brief introduction to MDX.
Key Concepts in MDX Explains the differences between relational and multidimensional queries.
Comparison of SQL and MDX Gives a more detailed description of the differences between SQL and MDX.
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Macoupin County Courthouse
The first courthouse was built of logs on
property that is now the City Square. Seth
Hodges won the contract for the structure.
The record shows that construction costs
Ten years later, the county had outgrown this 18' x 24' log structure and made plans for a larger one on the same site. The new brick building measured 50' x 50' and - costing roughly $15,000 - was considerably more expensive than the first. The contractors were Harbird Weatherford and Jefferson Weatherford.
Abraham Lincoln frequently represented his clients in this courthouse. In fact, when the State Preservation Agency examined the Courthouse records in the 1990's, they found over 3,000 documents with the signature of A. Lincoln. Those original documents are now in Springfield, but copies are on file in the Macoupin County Courthouse.
The courthouse that Lincoln practiced in no longer stands in the center of town because shortly after the end of the Civil War, in 1867, elected officials decided that the prosperous county needed an even larger structure.
Four prominent citizens were commissioned to erect a new courthouse: A McKim Dubois, George H. Holliday, T.L. Loomis and Isham J. Peebles. They selected E.E. Meyers as architect and determined that the construction not begin until there were sufficient funds in the county treasury.
The court also ordered that a property tax of 50¢ per $100 be assessed in Macoupin County and that the monies be used for county purposes, i.e. a new courthouse.
Bonds totaling $50,000 were issued for ten-year terms and bore interest at 10 percent. By September, over $13,000 had been spent and in October the cornerstone was set in place. The cost escalated dramatically from then on. By January 1869 nearly $500,000 had been spent and building was still not complete. The great dome and roof would cost an additional $125,115. More bonds were issued, and by the time the courthouse was officially completed in 1870, the project had cost a staggering $1,342,226.31. Thus evolved the nickname, the "Million Dollar Courthouse."
Not only was the courthouse an exorbitant expense to the taxpayers, rumors of a scandal involving misused appropriations also tarnished the project. Initially, the blame was laid on Judge Thaddeus Loomis and George H. Holliday, county clerk. Judge Loomis was apparently innocent of any wrongdoing. (We may never know the truth about Mr. Holliday, however, because one night in 1870, he boarded a train out of town and simply disappeared.)
Upon completion, this courthouse became the largest county courthouse in the United States, with the possible exception of one in New York City. It was even larger than the Illinois Statehouse. While the courthouse still serves as the seat of county government, it has also become a showplace that attracts tourists, architects and artists from across the country, as well as overseas.
Despite the scandal and the expense, citizens supported this project with amazing dedication. In 1910, a mere 40 years after the cornerstone had been set in place, the last bond was burned and the debt retired. To mark the occasion, 20,000 people gathered in Carlinville for a memorable two-day celebration on July 20 and 21. At a pre-determined hour, all mine whistles, church bells, alarms and anything else that could make a loud noise raised quite a ruckus. The noise wasn't limited to one mighty blast, however, because history records that athletic contests, balloon rides and even airplane rides gave the citizens plenty to cheer about. A parade of cars that stretched more than a mile also entertained the crowds. That doesn't seem like such a spectacular event today, but it was quiet impressive at a time when so few people owned cars.
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Benefits of olive oil for a foot massage and its method
Feet massage is often done using oil from natural oils, including olive oil, which is the subject of this article, where we will review the benefits of olive oil for foot massage.
You can download this file that contains 6 steps to make a healthy foot massage using olive oil, which will ensure that you get the maximum benefit in the right way.
Foot massage sessions have spread today, due to their effectiveness in relieving body pain, as the foot contains the nerve ends of the nerves spread throughout the rest of the body, and people who spend long working hours standing, undergo foot massage sessions, in order to relieve their pain,.
Often massages are done using oil from natural oils, including olive oil, which is the subject of this article.
Benefits of olive oil for the body
Benefits of olive oil
Olive oil is one of the well-known natural oils known for its great benefits to the human body, and this oil consists of a group of unsaturated fatty acids such as: omega-3 and omega-6 as well as oleic acid.
These fatty acids have a large and important role in the human body, which made olive oil one of the oils of choice for use in massages.
Benefits of olive oil to massage the feet
Olive oil has antioxidant properties
The antioxidant properties of olive oil contribute to treating inflammation of muscles and joints, and protecting them from the waste of deposited metabolites, as the accumulation of these wastes in the cells of muscle tissue as well as joints causes inflammation in the joints and the surrounding muscles.
Therefore, olive oil is used in massaging the feet for its ability to relieve and remove these pain and inflammation.
Foot fungus removal
One of the important benefits of olive oil is that it works as an anti-fungus, as olive oil eliminates the fungi in the feet, and repairs the dead cells that are next to those fungi, thus obtaining a smooth foot.
Treating cracked feet
These cracks are often caused by dry feet and lack of attention and care for them, and these cracks often increase in the winter, and massage with olive oil is useful in treating cracked feet, as olive oil moisturizes the feet and provides the necessary care.
Reach a state of calm and relaxation and reduce stress
When massaged with olive oil, it stimulates blood circulation in the cells of the body, which helps in nourishing the cells, expelling waste and toxins from them, this blood circulation when it works normally, it increases muscle relaxation, and this effect is reflected on the person, and he enters a state of calm And tranquility.
Activating blood flow to the cells of the body
With massage, olive oil expands blood vessels, thus stimulating blood flow to the massaged area.
Treat insomnia and facilitate sleep
Insomnia mostly results from excessive thinking and increased levels of anxiety and tension in a person, as the nerve cells in the human body cannot prepare the body for the sleeping position.
Body massage in general works to relax muscles and nerves, and reduce levels of anxiety and tension in humans, while olive oil stimulates blood circulation, nourishes cells and rid them of toxins, and thus increases the level of energy production in cells, and the tension and turmoil in nerve cells in particular is removed, to become a person Able to sleep and away from insomnia.
How to massage the feet with olive oil:
- The masseur first rubs the entire foot with olive oil.
- The masseur begins massaging the front of the foot, pressing it with the thumb to deliver the olive oil to the deep muscle tissue and treat its infections.
- The masseur performs a massage with rubbing on the front of the foot area in order to stimulate blood flow to this area, thus the person enters into a state of relaxation.
- The masseur moves to the heel area, and he massages this area with gentle pressure on it to ensure that the oil reaches the internal tissues, to perform its function in removing pain and inflammation, and treating cracks.
- Since the heel area is the strongest area on the foot, pressure is applied to this area with regular circular movements, as most of the foot pain is concentrated in this area.
- The masseur massages the soles of the arched foot and rubs it in order to stimulate blood circulation in it and deliver the oil to the deep tissues.
- Moving to the toes, where the toes are tightened and pressed with oil, to remove the fungi in them, as well as what should not be forgotten between the toes, to remove the bacteria in this area.
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5 lessons from a life livedBlog added by Sandy Schussel on August 30, 2012
Sandy Schussel
Sandy Schussel
Princeton, NJ
Joined: December 10, 2011
My Company
Sandy Schussel, LLC
Corey Rudl was an Internet marketing pioneer who tragically died in a car-racing accident in June, 2005. At only 35 years old, his professional success was already an inspiration to millions of people in both the online and offline worlds.
What follows are the five lessons he used to preach to anyone who would listen:
Lesson No. 1: Failure doesn't happen; it's a choice. In Corey's mind, there were only two ways you could fail: You could quit, or you could decide to learn from your past errors. In either case, you'd have to choose to lose.
Lesson No. 2: Assume nothing, test everything. Corey had no respect for people who were content to ass-u-me. If you don't know the solution, he pronounced, don't guess at what it might be — get the facts. Go straight to the source for the answer, or test your hypothesis before you make claims.
Lesson No. 3: Make opportunities to learn, and take notes. Corey was constantly reading — on airplanes, in between meetings, and on vacations. He attributed his success directly to studying every business book, article, course and marketing campaign he could get his hands on.
Lesson No. 4: Seek out great teachers, and be a great listener. Corey believed that if you wanted to fast-track your career, it was critical to seek guidance from those who had gone before you, even if you only had the opportunity to learn from their mistakes.
Lesson No. 5: Define your own success, and live with passion. Corey's biggest frustration was that people seemed to just let life happen to them. "They have dreams," he would rant, "but they don't set goals! Why do so few of us actually design objectives and take action?"
Corey was adamant that anyone can achieve anything; that we can be anything; do anything; have anything. If you decide that your age, work background and level of education limit your potential, they will. But, if you decide that you can win your objectives, you can. While his own life was short, Corey's teachings will long outlast him.
Don't wait until the near-end to develop and absorb the lessons of your life.
If you have questions, please visit our terms and conditions
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Ecosphere Offers Chemical-Free Water Treatment for Hydraulic Fracturing
(This article is part 1 of a 3-part series on Fracking Water Treatment.)
The hydraulic fracturing process, which unlocked the United States' unconventional resource potential, has also placed new demands on the nation's water supply and created the need for water treatment solutions.
Stuart, Florida-based Ecosphere Technologies, a diversified water engineering, technology licensing and environmental services company, saw potential for its Ozonix water treatment solution in the oil and gas industry as it was searching for a new market for its product in 2008.
"We sought to enter an industry that had the appetite for the type of technology that Ecosphere provided and that had few barriers for entry," said Ecosphere Chairman and CEO Charles Vinick in a recent interview with Rigzone.
The appetite for water in the United States has grown considerably as oil and gas producers hydraulic fracture wells from the Marcellus and other shale plays. As the amount of hydraulic fracturing has increased, concerns also have been raised by government agencies, environmental groups and local citizens over the amount of water used in the process and the impact of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing on drinking water supplies.
Since its establishment over a decade ago, Ecosphere has been focused on identifying an environmental challenge facing industrial use of water and inventing and patenting a new technology to respond to that challenge.
These challenges have included inventing a 3-dimensional way to strip paint from ships developed by Ecosphere; the company sold the rights to this intellectual property in 2007 and retains those rights for other applications of paint stripping, such as cars and planes or physical objects such as water towers.
The company also has been involved in providing clean drinking water in disaster responses, as when it provided drinking water for residents in a Mississippi town following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Ecosphere has provided cost-effective wastewater treatment solutions for a range of industrial, commercial and municipal industries.
The Ozonix Process
The company's Ozonix process can be used to treat water at the front end of the fracking process, eliminating bacteria, biofilms and the food source for microorganisms without the use of biocides.
Biocides have traditionally been used to kill bacteria in fracking fluids prior to the fluids being pumped downhole. This process is done to reduce bacteria that can sour a well, cause corrosion and potentially make the well unusable, said Robbie Cathey, CEO of Arkansas-based Ecosphere Energy Services.
Instead of using liquid chemicals, Ecosphere uses an ozone-based system accompanied by cavitation. Ozone, an oxidant, can easily break down cell walls to destroy bacteria, Cathey said.
The Ozonix process is a single process that runs the water through four zones. Inside the machine, it's four steps, but for operators, it's just one step at a flow rate of 80 barrels per minute or approximately 3,360 gallons per minute.
"Ecosphere's advanced oxidation process is very efficient at killing bacteria," said Cathey, adding that Ozonix is cost competitive with traditional chemical treatment.
"Combining ozone with hydrodynamic cavitation, acoustic cavitation and electro-oxidation increases the mass transfer rate of ozone appreciably, five times and substantially above," said Cathey. "Each of these processes increases the mass transfer rate of ozone, meaning less ozone can be used for increased disinfection of the water to the point where we are actually sterilizing it."
More Than 1 Billion Gallons of Water Treated Since 2008
The Ozonix technology has been used by Ecosphere and its licensee, Hydrozonix, to treat more than one billion gallons of water on approximately 500 oil and gas wells since 2008, said Vinick in a March 28 statement.
The Ozonix process is deployed in individual units that are capable of processing a certain number of barrels of water per minute. Ecosphere has deployed 33 Ozonix units to date that are servicing major oil and gas operators conducting hydraulic fracturing around the United States.
The technology can process up to 120 barrels per minute and can be scaled up or down to meet the producer's operations, which can have a larger footprint in areas such as Texas but smaller footprints in plays such as the Marcellus due to multi-pad operations or mountainous terrain.
The company is on track to deliver two Ozonix EF80 units, which are capable of processing up to 80 barrels per minute, to Hydrozonix every quarter, the company reported in its earnings update on May 7.
Six units are deployed by Hydrozonix, and the remaining units are operated by Ecosphere Energy Services. Units deployed by Hydrozonix are operating in the Eagle Ford and Permian Basin plays in Texas and in New Mexico, said Cathey.
O&G Companies Seeking Cost-Effective, Environmentally Friendly Solution
Ecosphere's customers include Southwestern Energy, which is using Ecosphere's technology to treat wells in the Fayetteville play in Arkansas, and Newfield Exploration, which is using the water treatment technology for its Woodford shale assets in Oklahoma. Ecosphere's technology is being used to treat water at up to 120 barrels a minute in the Fayetteville, said Vinick.
"Recycling is the trend driving interest from a cost standpoint and an environmental standpoint," said Cathey about the interest by oil and gas companies in new ways to treat produced water. "Companies also are looking for cost-effective solutions and ways to reuse as much produced water as possible in an effort to minimize the need for fresh water."
As produced water is reused, the need for and difficulty in treating water grows as the level of bacteria and heavy metals present in the water grows.
"Three or four years ago, most operations were using strictly fresh water from ponds, streams, which have fairly low levels of bacteria," said Cathey.
Besides the environmental and cost benefits, companies do not need to transport or store chemicals, helping eliminate heavy traffic and damage to roads leading to drilling sites, and a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.
"Ozonix reduces costs in two ways by reducing the cost of sourcing fresh water and reducing the cost of disposal for produced and flowback water," said Cathey. "Some customers have reduced the amount of disposal by over 90 percent."
Using the Ozonix process also can reduce the need for deep well injection, which some studies have speculated may cause earthquakes due to the saturation of potential fault lines.
Besides Newfield and Southwestern, Ecosphere has worked with several mid-major and independent companies.
"We've found that folks like Southwestern Energy are very innovative companies that are willing to try new technologies and realize the cost benefits of using Ozonix," said Cathey.
The company in late March announced a letter of commitment with the Blackfeet Nation for Ecosphere Energy Services and Hydrozonix to be the exclusive provider of water treatment services to oil and gas companies targeting the Bakken shale play on the 1.5 million acre Blackfeet reservation in north-central Montana.
Newfield, Rosetta Resources and Anschutz Exploration have all secured mineral rights from the Blackfeet Tribe and are actively drilling vertical and horizontal wells to target plays in the Southern Alberta Basin, including the Bakken, Three Forks, Nisku and Lodgepole formation.
Besides the U.S. onshore exploration and production market, Cathey said Ecosphere feels that the company's technology is applicable for the offshore market. After being laser focused on onshore oil and gas since 2008, the company is in the early stages of growing its technology for use in other energy applications.
"We feel this technology is very applicable to power plants and other industrial applications in which large volumes of water are used. The need to recycle water tends to be an issue in many areas of energy, including power," Cathey noted.
Ecosphere and its majority-owned subsidiary Ecosphere Energy Services were also awarded Frost & Sullivan's 2012 North American Product Leadership Award in Disinfection Equipment for Shale Oil and Gas Wastewater Treatment.
Growing Water Demand Illustrates Need for Water Treatment, Recycling
The need for treating produced and flowback water without harsh chemicals will become more critical as water demand grows worldwide not only for consumption in industry, but as the global population grows and citizens in emerging economies seek the quality of life seen in developed nations like the United States.
While water shortages are being reported in emerging economies such as Africa, water supply issues have been seen in the United States, including the drought that affected Texas last year. The drought, coupled with the demand placed on water supply by the oil and gas industry and other stakeholders such as cattle growers, illustrated how critical an issue water supply has become.
"It's not a new problem, but more of an acute problem as more people place more demands on resources," said Vinick, who joined Ecosphere in 2006 as a director through his 25-year friendships with the family of Jacques Costeau, and has served in executive positions in organizations established by Jacques or his son, Jean-Michel Cousteau, who serves as a director on Ecosphere's board.
These recycling efforts include grey and clear water systems in homes in which water from dishwashers, showers and other appliances can be reused to water lawns or treated for drinking water, depending on the types of soaps used and the right separation systems, Vinick noted.
Continue to Part 2: Water, Energy 'Inexorably Interlinked'
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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The D-4 submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM) system, using the R-21 rocket, used storable liquid-propellants, which were toxic and corrosive - clearly not the best thing to be carried in the sealed environment of a submarine. The concept of the follow-on D-6 system, to be installed on series 629 and 658 nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, was to use safer solid propellants.
Decree 1032-492 of 5 September 1958 authorised research and development of the D-6 solid propellant SLBM system, to be armed with the Article 'R' rocket. The missile was to have a range of 800 to 2500 km, but the D-6 launcher had to have the same external dimensions as that used for the D-2/R-13 liquid propellant SLBM.
Two propellants were considered for the rocket: Nylon-B, a double-based ballistic powder, and Nylon-S, a composite propellant consisting of ammonium perchlorate, a furfuryl-acetate binder, a titanium oxidiser developed in the US by Thiokol, and nitroguanidine. Altogether seven variants of the rocket were studied, two using Nylon-B, and five using Nylon-S. Nylon-B had a specific energy of 40 kg/kW-cm, and a specific impulse of 200 seconds. The motors were built in diameters of 0.70 to 0.85 m, and four motors were clustered per stage. Hydraulic gas vanes were used to steer the rocket. Nylon-S had a specific impulse of 200 seconds, and variants were studied using gas vanes, steerable nozzles (made of composite plastics and molybdenum, or chrome steel).
The draft project was completed in November 1959, and flight trials were to commence in 1960. At Rzhevsk Field and Leningrad test motors of up to 500 kg mass were tested. At the end of 1959 the draft project for the 629D6 launch container for the the series 629 submarine was issued by Ya E Yevgrafov. All drawings were released to Factory 444 for start of construction in December 1960.
Based on the findings of tests on the P5D-4 test stand, decree 38-145 of 18 March 1959 ordered construction of a new test stand for D-6 development. During the course of 1960 the technical project for the P5D-6 test stand for mock-up trials of the missile and container-launcher was completed.
The 613D6 derivative of the 613 nuclear submarine was developed for naval tests of the missile. The decree 141-64 of 9 February 1959 called for design of this submarine to be completed by November 1960. In January 1961 construction of four submarines of this series began at Factory 444.
Decree 656-267 of 18 June 1960 called for further development of the D-6 using Nylon-S propellant for submarine series 629, 658, and 667, the submarines to be designed by Chief Designer A S Kassatsiev. The technical projects for these boats were to be completed by the fourth quarter 1962. Flight trials of the 1100-km range missile aboard a 629B test boat in the third quarter of 1962.
A variant of the rocket was also considered for mobile Army use. It was also planned to replace the liquid-propellant D-4 in the 667 SSBN's with the D-6.
The nuclear device in either missile was to have a mass of 500 kg and a variable yield of from 300 kt to 1.0 MT. The inertial navigation system was to be designed by Semikhatov at NII-592. The missiles would be cold launched from the submarine, igniting above the surface - the Nylon-B version at 30-50 m altitude, and the Nylon-S version at 40-80 m. Two different re-entry vehicles would be used to, that of the Nylon-B version being 1.8 m long.
All of these plans came to a halt on 27 April 1961 when the D-6 was cancelled in favour of the D-7 system, which was to use an RT-15M derivative of the land-based 8K96 solid propellant missile being planned by Korolev. At the time of cancellation, the test stand at Factory 444 was 47% complete. D-6 technology was however used in Korolev's RT-1 test missile, including engines from NII-125.
Boost Propulsion: Solid rocket.
Stage Data - D-6
AKA: Article R; D-6.
Status: Cancelled 1961.
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9780756784287 / 075678428X
Euclid's Window: The Story of Geometry from Parallel Lines to Hyperspace
Publisher:Diane Pub Co
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About the book:
Mlodinow reveals how geometry's first revolution began with a "little" scheme hatched by Pythagoras: the invention of a system of abstract rules that could model the universe. That modest idea was the basis of scientific civilization. But further advance was halted when the Western mind nodded off into the Dark Ages. Finally in the fourteenth century an obscure bishop in France invented the graph and heralded the next revolution: the marriage of geometry and number. Then, while intrepid mariners were sailing back and forth across the Atlantic to the New World, a fifteen-year-old genius realized that, like the earth's surface, space could be curved. Could parallel lines really meet? Could the angles of a triangle really add up to more -- or less -- than 180 degrees? The curved-space revolution reinvented both mathematics and physics; it also set the stage for a patent office clerk named Einstein to add time to the dimensions of space. His great geometric revolution ushered in the modern era of physics.
Today we are in the midst of a new revolution. At Caltech, Princeton, and universities around the world, scientists are recognizing that all the varied and wondrous forces of nature can be understood through geometry -- a weird new geometry. It is a thrilling math of extra, twisted dimensions, in which space and time, matter and energy, are all intertwined and revealed as consequences of a deep, underlying structure of the universe.
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Corn kernels await planting at a farm in rural Angola.
"Get Biotechnology on the Agenda for Africa"
Op-Ed, The Japan Times
June 30, 2008
Author: Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
Leaders at the Group of Eight industrialized nations' summit in Hokkaido next month need to take strong measures to promote cooperation in using biotechnology to address Africa's food challenges. At present there is resistance from Europe, and even Japan is dragging its feet on this vital issue.
Critics often argue that using modern biotechnology in African agriculture would harm farmers, wreck the environment and expose consumers to unknown risks. But by failing to adopt biotechnology, Africa puts its poor populations at greater risk of starvation. Without substantial investment in biotechnology to address critical challenges such as drought, Africa will continue to experience food deficits.
The G8 summit should encourage Africa and its partners to design new models of cooperation that involve partnerships between government, industry and academia. An example of such creative institutional arrangements is the Water Efficient Maize for Africa initiative funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.
The aim of the $47 million grant to the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) is to develop drought-tolerant and royalty-free maize varieties for Africa. It will use marker-assisted technology and other biotechnologies. The first drought-tolerant variety will be available in seven years.
Critics argue that intellectual property rights prevent African countries from obtaining technologies to meet basic needs. But new drought-tolerance techniques have already been licensed to AATF without charge. They can be developed, tested and distributed to small-scale African farmers without charge.
Under this novel arrangement, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) avails itself of conventionally developed drought-tolerant, high-yielding maize varieties suited to African conditions. In addition to CIMMYT's expertise, Monsanto will offer proprietary genetic material and advanced breeding techniques.
Monsanto and BASF will offer royalty-free, drought-tolerant genes arising from their collaboration. Participating countries (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa) will provide additional expertise available in farmers' groups and local companies.
Considerable effort has gone into forging partnerships that let African countries enter into genuine partnership with companies in industrialized countries as envisaged in the "Freedom to Innovate" report commissioned by the African Union and the New Economic Partnership for Africa's Development.
This partnership illustrates the potential for using new technologies to address the world's just causes. Numerous institutions around the world could play a key role in improving African agriculture, but persistent criticism and limited political leadership in the industrialized world continue to undermine international cooperation in the field.
For example, pathbreaking research of relevance into Africa's needs is carried out at the Kihara Institute for Biological Research at Yokohama City University. This research can help Africa enhance the nutritional content of indigenous crops and find plant-based remedies for a variety of tropical diseases. Such institutions could work more closely with the private sector.
This work is hindered by advocacy groups in industrialized countries who purport to speak for developing countries. Some of these groups receive government funding that is used to slow down technical progress in African countries.
At least the Luddites of 17th-century England professed a clear economic ideology to protect their local industries. Modern critics of biotechnology seem to show little interest in the welfare of the people they claim to be protecting.
Although the safety of biotechnology products continues to be a major concern for African countries, the capacity needed to ensure safety comes from efforts to develop the technology. It would be futile to develop the capacity to assess the safety of new products when no capacity exists to develop such products.
This is not to deny the importance of protecting the environment and consumers against unintended harm. Maximization of the benefits of new technologies must be balanced with the reduction of risks.
The demand that products be proven safe before commercialization, however, has denied Africa a crucial chance to learn to use the technology and gain a better understanding of its impact.
While the claims about risks need to be addressed, they no longer carry the same stigma worldwide. South America and Asia have in many cases leapfrogged into the genomics age through the adoption of biotechnology while its use in Africa remains largely marginal.
Advances in the use of biotechnology in South Africa and China, for example, show that safety measures co-evolve with the development of the technology. We should not blindly demand proof of safety as a prerequisite for using new technology. Such demands are ploys used to stall the adoption of new technologies by other vested interests.
Failure to adopt these technologies is one of the gravest risks facing poor countries. The G8 nations must show leadership in supporting new biotechnology partnerships with African countries. Dragging their feet will only prolong human misery.
Calestous Juma is a professor at Harvard Kennedy School and a senior visiting professor at the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies, Yokohama. He co-chaired the African Union's High-Level Panel on Modern Biotechnology. This article is based on his remarks at the G8 Dialogue organized in May by United Nations University, Tokyo.
For more information about this publication please contact the Belfer Center Communications Office at _PHONE_.
Full text of this publication is available at:
For Academic Citation:
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A woman shopkeeper is standing on a plastic chair to avoid knee high swirling rainwater mixed with sewage. "I work with a women's cooperative selling products made by Palestinian women in my shop. The sewage water has gone into the electric wires, so I have no electricity. Everything in the shop is destroyed. The metal door [that was] installed to protect the settlers prevents the water from flowing out into the main drain.... This means we suffer every time it rains. They [the settlers] want us to move from here. This is why they make our life hard," she cries.
With the African Union celebrating the African Year of Human Rights at its 26th summit, at its headquarters in Addis, Ethiopia, the venue raises serious concerns about commitment to human rights.
In our work at Greenpeace and the Oakland Institute around access and control over natural resources, we face constant accusations of being anti-development or "Northern NGOs who care more for the trees", despite working with communities around the world, from Cameroon, to China, to the Czech Republic.
The first years of the twenty-first century will be remembered for a global land rush of nearly unprecedented scale.
On the evening of Apr. 24, following a daylong rally against large-scale land investment deals in poor nations, the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Manhattan became the venue for a 30-minute light show against land grabs in Africa.
The biotech industry is using the increase in global hunger as a tool to win support for GM crops. Its tactics of "poor washing" (we must accept genetic engineering to increase production and improve livelihoods of farmers) and "green washing" (biotech is environmentally friendly and will help counter climate change) have won favor with the misguided philanthropic community as well.
Blaming high food prices on rising demand in fast-developing countries like China and India deflects scrutiny from structural causes - like the liberalisation of agricultural markets - and suggests incorrectly that market-friendly reforms have uplifted the poor and underprivileged, writes Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute, a policy think tank working to increase public participation and to promote fair debate on critical social, economic, and environmental issues. In this analysis, the author writes that a closer examination of India disproves the latter assertion. In India the total number of the poor and vulnerable increased from 732 million to 836 million between 1993/1994 and 2004/2005. In an effort to move towards market-driven production of agricultural goods, India is shifting from coarse grains to high-value commodities for export and systematically pulling away from the long-respected post-Independence statute requiring self-reliance in agriculture. Consequently, there has been a considerable decline in the rate of growth of production, productivity, and the quantity of land planted and irrigated for the major crops. India\'s hunger and poverty amidst plenty is emblematic of hunger worldwide, which is the result of decades of neglect of agriculture in poor countries and ill-advised policies from the international financial institutions. Promoting agricultural development in poor nations would bolster their food self-sufficiency and help alleviate poverty.
Anuradha Mittal is an internationally renowned expert on trade, development, human rights and agriculture. In 2004, she founded the Oakland Institute, a policy think tank focused on social, economic and environmental issues.
Resentment against the international financial institutions is growing across the world, laying a foundation for an alternative economic vision in South America. The challenge is for it to be a true alternative, writes Anuradha Mittal, executive director of the California based Oakland Institute. This has laid the foundation for an alternative economic vision for the region with President Chávez's idea of creating an alternative fund - Banco del Sur or the Bank of the South - to free the region from the IFIs coming to fruition. With Argentina, Bolivia, and Ecuador already on board, Brazil too joined the Bank in April - significantly increasing the available resources. The goal of this Latin American controlled multilateral lender is to fund social and economic development in the region without the political conditions that come with the IMF loans. The intention of this alternative institution is to adhere to local needs than to dictates of the Western nations and Latin America appears to have taken a turn in an overwhelmingly positive economic direction. However, while breaking free from the international financial institutions is essential for formulating national policies that would address the needs of the overall population, much deeper structural changes are required some questions remain to ensure the fulfillment of aspirations behind this institution.
Persistent hunger in countries like Niger reflects the failure of the international community to understand the root causes of hunger, write Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute, and Frederic Mousseau, a food security consultant who works with international humanitarian agencies. In this article, the authors argue that the delayed response in providing aid and the insistence of donor countries like the US on providing in-kind food aid do little to strengthen national economies and tackle hunger. The dumping of cheap subsidised food aid only benefits large agribusinesses while destroying markets and livelihoods of small farmers in recipient countries. Development policies that promote economic liberalisation and encourage specialisation, commercialisation of agriculture, and withdrawal of the state from regulating the market, are eroding ability of nations to feed their populations. Niger\'s experience shows that relying on the market to solve food shortages leaves the poorest people hungrier and drives small farmers into further poverty while large food traders gain monopoly power. The fight against hunger needs to shift away from the free-market ideology. No industrialised country has been capable of developing its agriculture without protective barriers, yet the poorest farmers and consumers in the developing world have been deprived of such protection. It is time to implement an unconditional and non-paternalistic \'\'Marshall Plan for Africa\'\', including 100 percent debt relief and a boost in Western assistance.
Evidence from the fields shows Monsanto\'s claims about its Bt cotton variety to be spurious, writes Anuradha Mittal, executive director of the Oakland Institute (_URL_), a policy thinktank dedicated to creating a space for public participation and democratic debate on key social, economic, environmental and foreign policy issues. In this article, Mittal cites a new study by Cornell University researchers, the first to look at longer-term economic impact of Bt cotton. The study of 481 Chinese farmers in five major cotton-producing provinces found that after seven years of cultivation they had to spray up to 20 times in a growing season to deal with secondary insects, which resulted in a net average income of 8 percent less than conventional cotton farmers. Failure of Bt cotton crops in India resulted in the suicides of an estimated 700 farmers in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, between June 1, 2005 and August 9, 2006, to escape debt incurred by buying the expensive GM seed. As Bt cotton continues to jostle for public acceptance, Bt crops have been attacked by \'\'Lalya\'\' or \'\'reddening\'\' as well, a disease unseen before which affected Bt more than the non-Bt cotton crop, resulting in 60 percent of farmers in Maharashtra failing to recover costs from their first GM harvest. Genetic engineering and Bt cotton will neither revolutionise the countryside in the developing countries nor improve food security, but a new farm economy based on the principle of food sovereignty and farmers\' rights as the centrepiece of the country\'s economic development model will.
On June 6, 2006, the Canadian members of parliament from the New Democratic Party and the Bloc Quebecois met with their American and Mexican counterparts to declare that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was a \'\'continental tragedy\'\', writes Anuradha Mittal, the founder and director of the Oakland Institute. In this article, Mittal writes that the ongoing debate on the fate of some 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US continues to ignore the structural issues that have forced millions to leave their homes. Free-trade agreements like NAFTA promised to bring more jobs, trade surpluses, and an increased standard of living to member countries, but the reality is altogether different. Far from providing a \'\'level playing field\'\', NAFTA has been a death warrant for small farmers, placing small Mexican farmers at a sharp disadvantage with respect to the US. No fence will be able to take the pressure off of the US border. The country must therefore address a number of simple questions: should the undocumented immigrants be criminalised and our borders walled off, or should we get rid of or renegotiate free-trade agreements? Should we blame the victims of free trade-agreements, or should we ensure that as long as capital and goods can move freely across borders, so can the hungry, the destitute, and the dispossessed?
International food aid, initiated in 1954, is the most publicised instrument put forward to fight hunger, especially in southern countries, where millions of tons of food are shipped each year. However, geared towards the dumping of cereal surpluses in developing countries, the aid system has promoted the trade and foreign policy interests of the donor countries at the expense of the hungry over the last fifty years, writes Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute, a research and educational institute. The opening up of markets, along with food aid in kind, has deluged developing countries with agricultural commodities dumped by developed nations at below the cost of production. This has deepened the agrarian crisis in the developing countries, whose one billion-dollar food trade surplus of the 1970s became an 11 billion-dollar deficit by 2001, converting developing countries into major importers of food while destroying livelihoods of small family farmers. What the hungry really need is
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Hypsiglena torquata jani.jpg
Texas night snake
Hypsiglena torquata jani
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Subfamily: Dipsadinae
Genus: Hypsiglena
Cope, 1860
Hypsiglena torquata distribution.svg
Hypsiglena is a genus of small, rear-fanged, colubrid snakes commonly referred to as night snakes. The genus consists of two distinct species.[2] Many subspecies may be considered synonymous depending on the source.
Species and Subspecies[edit]
Geographic range[edit]
Hypsiglena are found throughout the southwestern and western United States, from Texas and Kansas, west to California, north to Washington, and south into Mexico, as well as on islands off the coasts of Mexico.
Their preferred habitat is semiarid desert regions with rocky and sandy soils.
Night snakes typically do not exceed a total length of 40 cm (16 in). They are slender-bodied with a flattened head, and have small eyes with vertical pupils. Their color varies depending on their locality, often matching the soil color of their native habitat. They occur in various shades of gray, and brown, with dark brown, gray or black blotches on the back and the sides. Many also have distinctive black markings on the neck region.
Hypsiglena are nocturnal and terrestrial.
Their diet consists primarily of lizards, but they will also consume smaller snakes, and amphibians.
Their venom is not considered to be dangerous to humans.
1. ^ Tanner WW. 1944. "A Taxonomic Study of the Genus Hypsiglena ". Great Basin Naturalist 5 (3 & 4): 25-92.
2. ^ ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System). _URL_.
Further reading[edit]
- Cope ED. 1860. "Catalogue of the Colubridæ in the Museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, with notes and descriptions of new species. Part 2". Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 12: 241-266. (Hypsiglena, p. 246).
External links[edit]
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Better Cotton Initiative
The Initiative has defined Better Cotton as being produced by farmers who:
- Minimize the harmful impact of crop protection practices
- Use water efficiently and care for the availability of water
- Care for the health of the soil
- Conserve natural habitats
- Care for and preserve the quality of the fibre
- Promote decent work
WWF is working with farmers, government agencies, buyers and investors at key stages of the market chain - from the field to the clothes shop - in a joint endeavour to promote cotton that has less impact on the environment and which is ethically sound.
Read more >> Cotton: a water wasting crop
Just 2.4 percent of the world's arable land is planted with cotton yet cotton accounts for 24 percent of the world's insecticide market and 11 percent of the sale of global pesticides. 73 percent of global cotton harvest comes from irrigated land.
Better farm practices in Pakistan
This is being done together with Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques in order to reduce the use of toxic pesticides.
Farmer Field Schools have been established in South Punjab to undertake these activities in collaboration with the Punjab Agriculture Department and international partners such as CABI-Bioscience.
Initial results show that using these practices farmers can maintain or increase their output while reducing their water use by 40% and suffering a lower intensity of pest attacks.
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Irinotecan (By injection)
Treats cancer, including cancer of the colon or rectum.
Amerinet Choice Irinotecan Hydrochloride, Camptosar, Camptosar Novaplus, Irinotecan HCl Novaplus, PremierPro Rx Irinotecan HClThere may be other brand names for this medicine.
When This Medicine Should Not Be Used:This medicine is not right for everyone. You should not receive it if you had an allergic reaction to irinotecan or you are pregnant.
How to Use This Medicine:
- You will receive this medicine while you are in a hospital or cancer treatment center. A nurse or other trained health professional will give you this medicine.
- Your doctor will prescribe your dose and schedule. This medicine is given through a needle placed in a vein. This medicine is given slowly, so the needle will remain in place for about 90 minutes.
- Missed dose: This medicine needs to be given on a fixed schedule. If you miss a dose, call your doctor, home health caregiver, or treatment clinic for instructions.
Drugs and Foods to Avoid:
Ask your doctor or pharmacist before using any other medicine, including over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal products.
- Some medicines can affect how irinotecan works. You may also need to stop taking certain medicines before you start taking irinotecan. Tell your doctor if you are using any of the following:
- Gemfibrozil, nefazodone, St John's wort, telaprevir
- Medicine to treat an infection (including clarithromycin, itraconazole, ketoconazole, rifabutin, rifampin, voriconazole)
- Medicine to treat HIV infection (including atazanavir, indinavir, lopinavir, nelfinavir, ritonavir, saquinavir)
- Medicine to treat seizures (including carbamazepine, phenytoin, phenobarbital)
- Radiation treatment
Warnings While Using This Medicine:
- It is not safe to take this medicine during pregnancy. It could harm an unborn baby. Tell your doctor right away if you become pregnant. Women should not get pregnant for at least 6 months after treatment ends. Men should not father a child for at least 3 months after treatment ends.
- Do not breastfeed during treatment and for at least 7 days after your last dose of this medicine.
- Tell your doctor if you have kidney disease, liver disease, Gilbert syndrome, lung problems, bone marrow disease, any type of infection, or an enzyme problem called reduced UGT1A1 activity.
- Medicines used to treat cancer are very strong and can have many side effects. Before receiving this medicine, make sure you understand all the risks and benefits. It is important for you to work closely with your doctor during your treatment.
- This medicine may cause the following problems:
- Kidney problems
- Lung problems
- This medicine often causes diarrhea. Diarrhea can begin while you are receiving a dose of medicine or shortly afterward, or it may occur more than 24 hours later. Your doctor may give you medicine to treat diarrhea. Follow instructions carefully.
- This medicine may make you dizzy or cause vision problems. Do not drive or do anything that could be dangerous until you know how this medicine affects you.
- This medicine may make you bleed, bruise, or get infections more easily. Take precautions to prevent illness and injury. Wash your hands often.
- This medicine could cause infertility. Talk with your doctor before using this medicine if you plan to have children.
- Cancer medicine can cause nausea or vomiting, sometimes even after you receive medicine to prevent these effects. Ask your doctor or nurse about other ways to control any nausea or vomiting that might happen.
- Your doctor will do lab tests at regular visits to check on the effects of this medicine. Keep all appointments.
Possible Side Effects While Using This Medicine:
Call your doctor right away if you notice any of these side effects:
- Allergic reaction: Itching or hives, swelling in your face or hands, swelling or tingling in your mouth or throat, chest tightness, trouble breathing
- Blurred vision
- Decrease in how much or how often you urinate, bloody urine, lower back or side pain
- Fever, chills, cough, sore throat, body aches
- Lightheadedness, dizziness, fainting
- Runny nose, watery eyes, flushing, slow heartbeat
- Severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting, stomach pain or cramping, red or black stools
- Trouble breathing, fever, or cough
- Unusual bleeding, bruising, or weakness
If you notice these less serious side effects, talk with your doctor:
- Constipation, upset stomach, loss of appetite, weight loss
- Hair loss
- Redness, pain, or swelling where the needle is placed
If you notice other side effects that you think are caused by this medicine, tell your doctor
Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088
Last Updated: 6/2/2022
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various applications.
Several organizations try to monitor the behavior of Polling arms and the use of polling and statistical data, including the Pew Research Center and, in Canada, the Laurier Institute for the Study of Public Opinion and Policy.
The best-known failure of opinion polling to date in the United States was the prediction that Thomas Dewey would defeat Harry S. Truman in the 1948 U.S. presidential election. Major polling organizations, including Gallup and Roper, indicated a landslide victory for Dewey.
By providing information about voting intentions, Opinion polls can sometimes influence the behavior of electors. The various theories about how this happens can be split up into two groups: bandwagon/underdog effects, and strategic ('tactical') voting.
A bandwagon effect occurs when the poll prompts voters to back the candidate shown to be winning in the poll. The idea that voters are susceptible to such effects is old, stemming at least from 1884; Safire (1993: 43) reported that it was first used in a political cartoon in the magazine Puck in that year. It has also remained persistent in spite of a lack of empirical corroboration until the late 20th century. George Gallup spent much effort in vain trying to discredit this theory in his time by presenting empirical research. A recent meta-study of scientific research on this topic indicates that from the 1980s onward the Bandwagon effect is found more often by researchers (Irwin & van Holsteyn 2000).
The second category of theories on how polls directly affect voting is called strategic or tactical voting. This theory is based on the idea that voters view the act of voting as a means of selecting a government. Thus they will sometimes not choose the candidate they prefer on ground of ideology or sympathy, but another, less-preferred, candidate from strategic considerations. An example can be found in the United Kingdom general election, 1997. Then Cabinet Minister, Michael Portillo's constituency of Enfield was believed to be a safe seat but opinion polls showed the Labour candidate Stephen Twigg steadily gaining support, which may have prompted undecided voters or supporters of other parties to support Twigg in order to remove Portillo. Another example is the Boomerang effect where the likely supporters of the candidate shown to be winning feel that chances are slim and that their vote is not required, thus allowing another candidate to win.
These effects indicate how opinion polls can directly affect political choices of the electorate. But directly or indirectly, other effects can be surveyed and analyzed on on all political parties. The form of media framing and party ideology shifts must also be taken under consideration. Opinion polling in some instances is a measure of cognitive bias, which is variably considered and handled appropriately in its various applications.
See also
External references
Additional Sources
Walden, Graham R. Survey Research Methodology, _PHONE_: An Annotated Bibliography. Bibliographies and Indexes in Law and Political Science Series. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc., 2002. xx, 432p.
Walden, Graham R. Public Opinion Polls and Survey Research: A Selective Annotated Bibliography of U.S. Guides and Studies from the 1980s. Public Affairs and Administrative Series, edited by James S. Bowman, vol. 24. New York, NY: Garland Publishing Inc., 1990. xxix, 360p.
Walden, Graham R. Polling and Survey Research Methods _PHONE_: An Annotated Bibliography. Bibiographies and Indexes in Law and Political Science Series, vol. 25. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc., 1996. xxx, 581p.
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Zyphra/Zyda-2
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children up to one year may. A year-old child can be given up to 1 ml per day.
The following amounts of the drug can be given for children:
from 1 to 2 years - 1 - 1.5 ml per day;
2 to 3 years - 1.5 - 2.0 ml per day;
3 to 5 years - 2.0 - 2.5 ml per day;
from 5 to 7 years - 2.5 - 3.0 ml per day;
7 to 10 years - 3.0 - 3.5 ml per day;
10 to 12 years - 3.5 - 4.0 ml per day;
12 to 14 years - 4.0 - 4.5 ml per day;
14 to 16 years - 4.5 - 5.0 ml per day.
Adult dosage:
For a general rehabilitation the following doses are recommended:
The first bottle - 2 - 3 ml per day;
The second bottle - 3 - 4 ml per day;
The third and the fourth bottle - 4 - 5 ml per day;
1. Course duration and doses are selected individually, depending on the patient's condition, the disease and the effect produced. Therefore, sometimes the dose can be more significant.
2. In most cases, it is appropriate to take Elixir "Phoenix" at least for one or two months. Then, take a few months break and repeat, if necessary. If necessary, it is possible to take this one or another cordyceps preparation for a long time. You can also alternate drugs, depending on the disease. For cancer and hematological diseases liquid forms of Cordyceps (Elixir "Phoenix" and "The Three treasures Fohow") are recommend in the optimal dosage, alternated constantly or taken at the same time: one drug in the morning and the other - in the evening.
3. All drugs containing cordyceps, especially their concentrated liquid forms, in cases, when a chronic disease appears, are prescribed along with traditional medicines only. Later, when a certain level of bioregulation is achieved, doctors may try to gradually scale down the amount or dose of medication, and even cancel some medicines when bioregulation becomes stable.
4. Cordyceps containing drugs can be used safely with all other nutritional supplements and medicines.
5. To prevent possible exacerbation of any chronic diseases (especially hypertension, kidney stones and gall stones), because of the use of dietary supplements, it is recommended to take small doses of cordyceps medications, gradually increasing them to the optimum within 5 - 10 days. We usually start taking dietary supplements containing Cordyceps, and, first of all, concentrated liquid forms (Elixir of "Phoenix" and "The 3 treasures Fohow" with 0.25 - 0.5 ml, increasing the daily dose by the same amount of drug.
Standard packing in carton: 4 bottles of 30 ml.
Storage: keep an open bottle in a cool place, avoid direct sunlight.
Shelf life: 18 months.
Elixir "Phoenix" - the best medication to maintain the traditional culture of health!
Health for life!
A. Budnik, age: 43
The problem / illness: my grandson is 2 years and 2 months old. He has a disability for congenital "atopic dermatitis", resistant form, is not amenable to conventional treatment. We had used quite a lot of medications, but nothing helped.
Product: in July, 2011, I got acquainted with Fohow company, began using homeopathy in along with the company's products: "Linchzhi" capsules (1 per day), elixir "Sanqing" and the elixir "Phoenix" (to 2 ml per day), as well as pasta "Rose". Within two weeks, there was a strong aggravation, abundant rash all over the body, itching, the temperature rose to 38.4, and diarrhea.
Result: By the third week an improvement had come. The skin turned white, the rash gone, and after 4 weeks, we got the result. Skin has got clear! The child enjoys a good sleep and mood.
Davydenko V., age:17
The problem / illness: I had problems with my kidneys, I was registered in the hospital with a diagnosis of "chronic pyelonephritis."
Products: For 8 months I had been taking Elixir "Phoenix," "Liuwei" tea, "Linchzhi" capsules, and paste "Rose Fohow."
The result is stunning! Currently, I have removed from the register! I am grateful to the company Fohow, which produces such wonderful products!...
Davletshina Larissa
The problem / illness: my 3-years old daughter was diagnosed with a "complex astigmatism", eyesight +4 diopters. Glasses, of course, were prescribed. We had wore them for six months only. The we had to give up due to a strong protest of the child.
Products: Elixir "Phoenix", "Linchzhi" capsules.
Result: after a year the eyesight has improved for one diopter. We continued using the products, and a year later the eyesight was 0.8 and 0.9. We check every year and now astigmatism is not found. The girl is now 12 years old. It's great!
Androsova Nadezhda
The problem / illness: I had a xerophthalmia, that is dry eyes syndrome, due to many years of working at the computer.
Products: elixir "Phoenix" inwardly and outwardly, 3 drops into the eyes in the morning and in the evening.
Result: I now have natural tears and my eyesight improved from 2.5 to 1.5.
Cherezova Olga, age: 38, Vladivostok
The problem / disease: For quite a long time I was taking pharmaceutical preparations for the treatment of herniated disc, back pain and vascular abnormalities (narrowing of the vertebral artery in the neck), but the result was not positive!
Products: Linchzhi capsules, Xueqingfu capsules, Elixir "Phoenix" and a thermal waist protector.
Result: Condition has improved a lot within five months: back pain disappeared and sleep became normal. It's harder with blood vessels, but the result is yet to come!
Blotskii Vasily, age: 53, Khabarovsk
The problem / illness: I had a serious work accident : fell from a scaffold and injured my spine. Additionally doctors diagnosed "gangrene" and the chances of life were a few.
Product: But I survived and now I work and easily endure exercise only due to the powerful elixir "Phoenix", Linchzhi capsules, Xueqingfu, "Liuwei" tea, a thermal waist protector and calcium "Haytsao Gai".
The result: a fully restored structure of the blood and the calcium in the body. But the overall life happiness felt only after I had returned male power, even tougher than when I was young (!), and the bald spot on my head covered with hair. What else a man need? Hearty thanks to the "Fohow" company for its noble mission!
Victor, age: 43, Ussuriysk
The problem / disease: Since I was 20 I've been suffering from hemorrhoids, pain in my knees, and my meniscus would move out occasionally.
Products: Took a course of "Phoenix".
Result: I've forgotten about these problems.
The problem / disease: injured my finger with a circular saw, almost to the bone.
Products: Elixir "Phoenix."
The result: pain soothed, the wound closed up without any medical intervention.
Adamowic L., age: 54
The problem / disease: disturbed by periodic joint pain. And often a headache, unstable blood pressure, varicose worried grid on my feet.
Products: I got aquainted with Fohow company in April, 2011. After I had listened to a presentation, I was very interested in production and soon began taking Xueqingfu capsules, " Linchzhi and "Phoenix" Elixir.Result: I was pleasantly surprised by the results: the headache had gone, the pressure had returned to normal, varicose net had decreased, my skin had brightened, and the heaviness in the legs had gone.
My husband also takes Xueqingfu capsules and he noted the improvement of health: higher mood, stabilized blood pressure, more energy in general. We are grateful for such a high-quality and health-restoring items!
Sinyushkina Olga, age:33, Kyakhta
The problem / illness: my 3 month old baby was pestered constantly by diseases and ailments, dysbiosis, she had a smell from the mouth, drugs didn't help.
Products: We used a wonderful paste "Rose Oligose", "Liuwei" tea, Elixir "Phoenix."
Result: We've got great results. Many thanks for your products!
Anastasia, age: 26, Krasnoyarsk
The problem / illness: I work as a saleswoman, 12-hour shifts, all the time on my feet. In the sixth month of pregnancy
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Dmitri Kabalevsky
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Dmitri Kabalevsky (born Saint Petersburg, 30 December 1904; died Moscow, 18 February 1987) was a Russian Soviet composer.
Kabalevsky is particularly well known as a composer of children's music. He wrote a lot of piano music. Many of these pieces are short pieces for children who are learning the piano. He also wrote larger works such as concertos for the piano and violin. In 1918, his family moved to Moscow, where he had formal lessons in music at the Scriabin Musical Institute. He was known for attempting to get children involved in music. In 1925 he began his training at the Moscow Conservatory, studying composition with Catoire and later with Miaskovsky, also continuing piano studies with Goldenveyzer.
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Garden Dictionary Word: autotrophic (n. autophyte)
autotrophic (n. autophyte)
1. Refers to organisms that are capable of processing inorganic materials into organic ones by using energy from outside the organism such as sunshine on chlorophyll. 2. Refers to a body of water that is limited in its supply of organic material to what it is capable of producing within its own borders.
A| B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
| 2.404484 |
openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb
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The code within a dynamic executable is typically position-dependent, and is tied to a fixed address in memory. Shared objects, on the other hand, can be loaded at different addresses in different processes. Position-independent code is not tied to a specific address. This independence allows the code to execute efficiently at a different address in each process that uses the code. Position-independent code is recommended for the creation of shared objects.
The compiler can generate position-independent code under the -K pic option.
If a shared object is built from position-dependent code, the text segment can require modification at runtime. This modification allows relocatable references to be assigned to the location that the object has been loaded. The relocation of the text segment requires the segment to be remapped as writable. This modification requires a swap space reservation, and results in a private copy of the text segment for the process. The text segment is no longer sharable between multiple processes. Position-dependent code typically requires more runtime relocations than the corresponding position-independent code. Overall, the overhead of processing text relocations can cause serious performance degradation.
When a shared object is built from position-independent code, relocatable references are generated as indirections through data in the shared object's data segment. The code within the text segment requires no modification. All relocation updates are applied to corresponding entries within the data segment. See Global Offset Table (Processor-Specific) and Procedure Linkage Table (Processor-Specific) for more details on the specific indirection techniques.
The runtime linker attempts to handle text relocations should these relocations exist. However, some relocations can not be satisfied at runtime.
The x64 position-dependent code sequence typically generates code which can only be loaded into the lower 32–bits of memory. The upper 32–bits of any address must all be zeros. Since shared objects are typically loaded at the top of memory, the upper 32–bits of an address are required. Position-dependent code within an x64 shared object is therefore insufficient to cope with relocation requirements. Use of such code within a shared object can result in runtime relocation errors.
$ prog ld.so.1: prog: fatal: relocation error: R_AMD64_32: file \ libfoo.so.1: symbol (unknown): value 0xfffffd7fff0cd457 does not fit
Position-independent code can be loaded in any region in memory, and hence satisfies the requirements of shared objects for x64.
This situation differs from the default ABS64 mode that is used for 64–bit SPARCV9 code. This position-dependent code is typically compatible with the full 64–bit address range. Thus, position-dependent code sequences can exist within SPARCV9 shared objects. Use of either the ABS32 mode, or ABS44 mode for 64–bit SPARCV9 code, can still result in relocations that can not be resolved at runtime. However, each of these modes require the runtime linker to relocate the text segment.
Regardless of the runtime linkers facilities, or differences in relocation requirements, shared objects should be built using position-independent code.
You can identify a shared object that requires relocations against its text segment. The following example uses elfdump(1) to determine whether a TEXTREL entry dynamic entry exists.
$ cc -o libfoo.so.1 -G -R. foo.c $ elfdump -d libfoo.so.1 | grep TEXTREL TEXTREL 0
The value of the TEXTREL entry is irrelevant. The presence of this entry in a shared object indicates that text relocations exist.
To prevent the creation of a shared object that contains text relocations use the link-editor's -z text flag. This flag causes the link-editor to generate diagnostics indicating the source of any position-dependent code used as input. The following example shows how position-dependent code results in a failure to generate a shared object.
$ cc -o libfoo.so.1 -z text -G -R. foo.c Text relocation remains referenced against symbol offset in file foo 0x0 foo.o bar 0x8 foo.o ld: fatal: relocations remain against allocatable but \ non-writable sections
Two relocations are generated against the text segment because of the position-dependent code generated from the file foo.o. Where possible, these diagnostics indicate any symbolic references that are required to carry out the relocations. In this case, the relocations are against the symbols foo and bar.
Text relocations within a shared object can also occur when hand written assembler code is included and does not include the appropriate position-independent prototypes.
You might want to experiment with some simple source files to determine coding sequences that enable position-independence. Use the compilers ability to generate intermediate assembler output.
For SPARC binaries, a subtle difference between the -K pic option and an alternative -K PIC option affects references to global offset table entries. See Global Offset Table (Processor-Specific).
The global offset table is an array of pointers, the size of whose entries are constant for 32–bit (4–bytes) and 64–bit (8–bytes). The following code sequence makes reference to an entry under -K pic.
ld [%l7 + j], %o0! load &j into %o0
This code sequence provides a 13–bit displacement constant for the global offset table entry. This displacement therefore provides for 2048 unique entries for 32–bit objects, and 1024 unique entries for 64–bit objects. If the creation of an object requires more than the available number of entries, the link-editor produces a fatal error.
$ cc -K pic -G -o lobfoo.so.1 a.o b.o... z.o ld: fatal: too many symbols require 'small' PIC references: have 2050, maximum 2048 -- recompile some modules -K PIC.
To overcome this error condition, compile some of the input relocatable objects with the -K PIC option. This option provides a 32–bit constant for the global offset table entry.
sethi %hi(j), %g1 or %g1, %lo(j), %g1! get 32–bit constant GOT offset ld [%l7 + %g1], %o0! load &j into %o0
You can investigate the global offset table requirements of an object using elfdump(1) with the -G option. You can also examine the processing of these entries during a link-edit using the link-editors debugging tokens -D got,detail.
Ideally, frequently accessed data items benefit from using the -K pic model. You can reference a single entry using both models. However, determining which relocatable objects should be compiled with either option can be time consuming, and the performance improvement realized small. A recompilation of all relocatable objects with the -K PIC option is typically easier.
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HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu
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From: Brian Manthos
Date: Tue, 7 Jun 2011 18:34:59 +0000
Message-ID:
Something was bugging me about the linear gradient keywords, and I think I narrowed it down.
The same issue applies to the Working Draft and the Editor's Draft.
For now, let's use the Working Draft:
# The gradient-line may be specified in two different ways. The
# first is by specifying the angle the gradient-line should assume;
# this uses the standard algebraic notation for angles where 0deg
# points to the right, 90deg points up, and positive angles go
# counterclockwise. The starting-point and ending-point of the
# gradient-line are determined by extending a line in both
# direction from the center of the box at the angle specified.
# [1]In the direction of the angle, the ending-point is the point on
# the gradient-line where a line drawn perpendicular to the
# gradient-line would intersect the corner of the box in that
# direction. The starting-point is determined identically, except
# in the opposite direction of the angle.[/1]
# The [2]second way is to simply provide a side or corner of the box
# that the gradient should start[/2] at; the gradient will then
# automatically angle itself to [3]extend from the specified side or
# corner to the opposite[/3] side or corner in a straight line. To be
# precise, the gradient is converted to the angle form described
# in the previous paragraph at used-value time. If a 'left',
# 'bottom', 'right', or 'top' is given, the used value of the gradient
# is 0deg, 90deg, 180deg, or 270 deg, respectively. If a corner is
# given, the used value of the gradient is the angle necessary to
# place the starting-point of the gradient in that corner of the box.
Paraphrasing [1]:
When specified via angle, the angle can be understood as both the direction ("toward the ") and the ending point ("ends at ").
Paraphrasing [2] and [3]:
When specified via keyword, the keyword can be understood as both opposite direction ("away from the ") and the starting point ("starts at ").
Is it intentional that these two ways of specifying gradient-line are opposite?
Received on Tuesday, 7 June 2011 18:35:31 GMT
| 2.092585 |
Zyphra/Zyda-2
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Question;This relates to our studies involving the audit of Accounts Receivable and Revenue. For purposes of the project, you are to perform the following?1. Identify the documents likely to be used by your audit client (e.g., Customer purchase orders, etc.) to memorialize the significant elements of this transaction cycle.2. In narrative form, describe the document flow (from client department to department) from the beginning to the end of this transaction cycle.3. Identify the controls you would generally expect to see in place relating to these documents and transaction milestones.4. Describe the test of controls that you would utilize to determine whether the controls that you identified in no. 3 above are operating effectively.5. Describe the substantive audit procedures you would utilize to audit this transaction cycle.
Paper#39306 | Written in 18-Jul-2015Price : $25
| 1.545579 |
openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb
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About Incorporating iCloud Into Your App
iCloud is a free service that lets users access their personal content on all their devices—wirelessly and automatically via Apple ID. iCloud does this by combining network-based storage with dedicated APIs, supported by full integration with the operating system. Apple provides server infrastructure, backup, and user accounts, so you can focus on building great iCloud-enabled apps.
The core idea behind iCloud is to eliminate explicit synchronization between devices. A user never needs to think about syncing and your app never interacts directly with iCloud servers. When you adopt iCloud storage APIs as described in this document, changes appear automatically on all the devices attached to an iCloud account. Your users get safe, consistent, and transparent access to their personal content everywhere.
At a Glance
iCloud is all about content, so your integration effort focuses on the model layer of your app. Because instances of your app running on a user's other devices can change the local app instance's data model, you design your app to handle such changes. You might also need to modify the user interface for presenting iCloud-based files and information.
There is one important case for which Cocoa adopts iCloud for you. A document-based app for OS X v10.8 or later requires very little iCloud adoption work, thanks to the capabilities of the
There are many different ways you can use iCloud storage, and a variety of technologies available to access it. This document introduces all the iCloud storage APIs and offers guidance in how to design your app in the context of iCloud.
iCloud Supports User Workflows
Adopting iCloud in your app lets your users begin a workflow on one device and finish it on another.
Say you provide a podcast app. A commuter subscribes to a podcast on his iPhone and listens to the first twenty minutes on his way to work. At the office, he launches your app on his iPad. The episode automatically downloads and the play head advances to the point he was listening to.
Or say you provide a drawing app for iOS and OS X. In the morning, an architect creates some sketches on her iPad while visiting a client. On returning to her studio, she launches your app on her iMac. All the new sketches are already there, waiting to be opened and worked on.
To store state information for the podcast app in iCloud, you'd use iCloud key-value storage. To store the architectural drawings in iCloud, you'd use iCloud document storage.
Three Kinds of iCloud Storage
iCloud supports three kinds of storage. To pick the right one (or combination) for your app, make sure you understand the intent and capabilities of each. The three kinds of iCloud storage are:
Key-value storage for discrete values, such as preferences, settings, and simple app state.
Document storage for user-visible file-based information such as word processing documents, drawings, and complex app state.
Core Data storage for shoebox-style apps and server-based, multi-device database solutions for structured content. iCloud Core Data storage is built on document storage and employs the same iCloud APIs.
Prepare for iCloud with Provisioning and Entitlements
The first two steps in adopting iCloud for your app are to obtain an appropriate provisioning profile for your development device and to request the appropriate entitlements in your Xcode project.
Entitlements are key-value pairs that request capabilities for your app—such as the capability to use iCloud. Your iCloud entitlement values define where your app can place data and they ensure that only your apps are allowed to access that data. You request separate entitlements for document storage and key-value storage. When you code sign your app, these requests become part of your app's code signature.
How to Use This Document
Whether you are developing for iOS, OS X, or both, and no matter which sort of app you are developing, start by reading the entire "iCloud Fundamentals" chapter to get the foundation that all iCloud developers need.
Next, read "Designing for Key-Value Data in iCloud." Any app that provides user settings or maintains user state—that is, nearly every app—should adopt iCloud key-value storage.
The iOS and OS X document architectures automatically provide most of the iCloud functionality needed by document-based apps. If your app works with file-based information, you'll want to read "Designing for Documents in iCloud."
If you are developing a Core Data app, read "Designing for Core Data in iCloud" for an overview of iCloud considerations for Core Data.
No matter which iCloud storage APIs you adopt in your app, testing is critical. To get started on creating a test plan for your app, read "Testing and Debugging Your iCloud App."
This document describes the pieces you need to support iCloud in your app, but does not teach you how to develop apps. For that, start with Start Developing iOS Apps Today or Start Developing Mac Apps Today, and read the following documents:
iOS apps: iOS App Programming Guide
Mac apps: Mac App Programming Guide
For a tutorial introduction to implementing a document-based iCloud app for iOS, read Your Third iOS App: iCloud.
© 2012 Apple Inc. All Rights Reserved. (Last updated: 2012-09-19)
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Skip to content ↓
Enfield Learning Trust
Reception class
The children in reception have settled in brilliantly and are beginning to build relationships with their peers. They are already so used to the different routines of the day and manage these as if they have been in school for years. You can always hear the sounds of children laughing and having fun from the reception corridor.
The adults have been challenging the children in their construction work lately. Here you can see the children selecting their own resources so that they can make their construction even better and more interesting. They worked collaboratively, sharing thoughts and ideas and adding a narrative into their play. What fantastic teamwork!
In the playground on Monday we had about 40 children working collaboratively to create a huge obstacle course. It was fantastic to stand back and watch the children support each other, come up with different ideas and work together to complete the challenge they had set for themselves. Well done Reception!or your news story here.
| 1.612203 |
Zyphra/Zyda-2
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Is it possible to create a whole band from recycled materials? Yes! And it's also a great way to explore music at home or in the classroom while showing that reducing, reusing and recycling can be a blast!
So, rummage around in your recycling bin and craft cabinet and pull out some supplies. Here are some great musical projects that you can easily create in April for Earth Day or any time of year!
A CHINESE-STYLE GONG
Start your project or your band with a bang - bang a gong that is! In ancient China, some of the magnificent gongs they created could be heard from miles away! Thankfully, the ones you create won't be nearly that loud!
Supplies for this project are a large roasting pan or cake pan, pipe cleaners, a cardboard tube from wrapping paper (or a large stick) and materials for decoration. You'll also need a smaller stick, a ruler or a wooden spoon that can become the striker for your new gong. Step-by-step instructions for this project are at the link below.
Every culture in the world has some form of rattle! It's one of the simplest instruments to play. Creating a variety of rattles with different materials and in different containers gives you a great percussion ensemble that can be played by anyone – kids of any age or ability. They can even be played by grown-ups who claim to have no musical abilities! Check out the instructions at the link below.
A DRUM THAT SOUNDS LIKE THE OCEAN
Are you looking for a quieter instrument? Do you have any extra shipping boxes around? If so, you can combine these two things and make an ocean drum that produces the soothing sounds of waves at the sea. By reusing materials from plastic containers or old report clear covers you can create a window in your shipping box. Then, you are able to hear the sounds of the surf and also be soothed as the drum/box is tilted from one side to another and the contents form a kaleidoscope of wonderful, changing patterns.
This is a great instrument to play with quieter music or to create a peaceful space in a busy day.
A BEAUTIFUL "STICKERED" SHEKERE
If you've ever seen shekeres (or sekeres) from Africa, you've probably been dazzled by the beautiful patterns of bead work that go into these wonderful instruments. Since finding just the right dried gourd and the intricate bead work can be a challenge for young hands, we've created a craft where kids can "bead" or create patterns with stickers. The shekere is also filled with rice, beans or small beads so that when it is shaken, it creates a nice percussion sound - just like the real thing!
If you take a moment to check out Daria's website, you can also explore other instruments such as didgeridoos, guiros and a string thing that let's you play with pitch and melody! You can also find complete instructions for the projects mentioned here at the Kinderart.com links below.
So feel free to explore music and art – the planet will surely smile at your wonderful creations!
A CHINESE-STYLE GONG:
AN OCEAN DRUM:
A STICKER SHEKERE:
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Our planet is shaped by the oceans, the dynamic geology and the changing climate. It teems with life and we, in particular, have a massive impact as we build homes, grow food, travel and feed our ever-hungry need for energy. Mathematics is vital in understanding all of these, which is why 2013 has been declared as the year for the Mathematics of Planet Earth.
Why are we so clever? In evolutionary terms this isn't obvious:
evolution tends to favour cheap solutions and the human brain is
expensive. It consumes about 20% of our body's energy budget yet it only makes up 2% of our body
mass. So why did it make evolutionary sense for us
humans to develop powerful brains? Game theory provides a possible answer.
This month 70 teenage girls from nineteen countries including Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia and Finland came to the University of Cambridge to participate in the inaugural European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad (EGMO).
The Plus office has opened in Barcelona! The weather is fine, the architecture is spectacular and everyone has been very friendly. And, importantly, the food is delicious! From the welcoming dinner with the conference organisers (and a delicious glass of port), to the focaccia de xocolata from the cafe round the corner to the pigs skin tapas we tried last night!
Today sees the launch of The Aperiodical, a new maths
magazine/blog aimed at people interested in mathematics who want to
read stuff. Aperiodical will post news stories related to maths, opinion pieces,
videos, feature articles, as well as blog posts. It will also publish accounts of monthly MathsJams and host the Carnival of Mathematics, a monthly blogging carnival.
In our Science fiction, science fact project we asked you which question from the frontier of physics you'd most like to see answered on Plus. We have just closed the poll and with nearly 20% of your vote the winning question is Does infinity exist?.
If, like us, you like fractals, then you will love the work of Frank Milordi, aka FAVIO. Milordi is a former Director of Engineering and Technology who creates mind challenging computer images based on the mathematics of chaos and fractals. You may be familiar with his work already, as one of his beautiful fractal images adorns one of the latest Plus postcards.
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The Good Weekend Quiz: January 18
This was published 1 year ago
The Good Weekend Quiz: January 18
By Jacqui Martinez and Stephanie Bull
1. Alex Blackwell has had an 18-year career playing which sport?
2. Who compiled the three laws of motion?
3. Fragaria is the Latin name for which fruit?
4. By what name is deoxyribonucleic acid more commonly known?
5. Musically, what does "da capo" mean?
6. What is the capital city of Vietnam?
7. Which singer played Foxxy Cleopatra in Austin Powers in Goldmember?
8. A statue of Prometheus is located outside which Manhattan building?
9. Along with Ash Barty, which other Australian female tennis player has received the Newcombe Medal?
10. Which religion is considered to have been founded by Siddhartha Gautama?
11. What was the title of Kylie Minogue's debut album?
12. Which continent is crossed by both the prime meridian and the equator?
13. What Portuguese city is famous for port wine?
14. What is Australian artist and musician Chris O'Doherty's pseudonym?
15. What is the literal English translation of the French word sangfroid?
16. What ball game is a national sport in both Nepal and Sri Lanka?
17. In Greek mythology, what is the name of Jason and the Argonauts' ship?
18. What does a dendrologist study?
19. Which of these dishes is only made with fish: tartare, carpaccio or ceviche?
20. Who do the initials stand for in the French company LVMH?
21.Birds flying high you know how I feel" opens which song sung by Nina Simone?
22. Which of these is not an Australian invention: Wi-Fi, plastic bank notes, referee's whistle?
23. Is C12H22O11 the chemical equation for table sugar, table salt or citric acid?
24. Which Twisted Sister song did the United Australia Party use without permission in 2019?
25. Which American TV anchor broke the news of President John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963?
1 Cricket. 2 Isaac Newton. 3 Strawberries. 4 DNA. 5 Repeat from beginning. 6 Hanoi. 7 Beyoncé. 8 Rockefeller Center. 9 Sam Stosur. 10 Buddhism. 11 Kylie (1988). 12 Africa. 13 Porto. 14 Reg Mombassa. 15 Cold blood. 16 Volleyball. 17 Argo. 18 Trees. 19 Ceviche. 20 Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy. 21 Feeling Good (1965). 22 Referee's whistle. 23 Table sugar. 24 We're Not Gonna Take It (1984). 25 Walter Cronkite.
Fancy yourself a quizmaster? Send us a question; we include one from a reader each week and acknowledge it here. Email label it "GW Quiz Entry". This week, Q25 was supplied by reader Tom Cromwell of Safety Beach, Vic
Most Viewed in National
| 1.553108 |
Zyphra/Zyda-2
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in number, played a significant role in beating back the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge. Attached or nearby General Patton's Third Army when he began his unprecedented race to Bastogne, about a dozen Quad-50 units were used to, among other tasks, literally open up "holes" in the dense forest with their 4 parallel machine guns through which some minimal visibility was made possible. Also available to the Americans at the start of the war was the 120 mm M1 gun stratosphere gun, which was the most powerful AA gun with an impressive 60,000 ft (18 km) altitude capability. No 120 M1 was ever fired at an enemy aircraft. The 90 mm and 120 mm guns would continue to be used into the 1950s.
The United States Navy had also put some thought into the problem, and came up with the 1.1"/75 (28mm) gun to replace the inadequate.50 caliber. This weapon had the teething troubles that most new weapons have, but the issues with the gun were never sorted out. It was replaced by the Bofors 40 mm wherever possible. The 5"/38 caliber gun turned out to be an excellent anti-aircraft weapon, once the Proximity fuze had been perfected.
The Germans developed massive reinforced concrete blockhouses, some more than six stories high, which were known as Hochbunker "High Bunkers" or "Flaktürme" flak towers, on which they placed anti-aircraft artillery. Those in cities attacked by the Allied land forces became fortresses. Several in Berlin were some of the last buildings to fall to the Soviets during the Battle of Berlin in 1945. The British built structures in the Thames Estuary and other tidal areas upon which they based guns. After the war most were left to rot. Some were outside territorial waters, and had a second life in the 1960s as platforms for pirate radio stations.
During World War II, the use of rocket-powered missiles for shooting down aircraft began. Research was conducted mostly by the US, Britain and Germany. The first step was unguided missile systems like the British 2 inch RP, which was fired in large numbers from Z batteries. The firing of one of these devices during an air raid is suspected to have caused the Bethnal Green disaster in 1943. Facing the threat of Japanese Kamikaze attacks the British and US developed surface-to-air rockets like British Stooge or the American Lark as counter measures, but none of them were ready at the end of the war. The Germans missile research was the most advanced of the war as the Germans put considerable effort in the research and development of rocket systems for all purposes. Among them were several guided and unguided systems. Unguided systems involved the Fliegerfaust as the first MANPADS. Guided systems were several sophisticated radio, wire, or radar guided missiles like the Wasserfall rocket. Due to the severe war situation for Germany all of those systems were only produced in small numbers and most of them were only used by training or trial units.
Another aspect of anti-aircraft defense was the use of barrage balloons to act as physical obstacle initially to bomber aircraft over cities and later for ground attack aircraft over the Normandy invasion fleets. The balloon, a simple blimp tethered to the ground, worked in two ways. Firstly, it and the steel cable were a danger to any aircraft that tried to fly among them. Secondly, to avoid the balloons, bombers had to fly at a higher altitude, which was more favorable for the guns. Barrage balloons were limited in application, and had minimal success at bringing down aircraft, being largely immobile and passive defenses.
Post-war analysis demonstrated that even with newest anti-aircraft systems employed by both sides, the vast majority of bombers reached their targets successfully, on the order of 90%. This was bad enough during the war, but the introduction of the nuclear bomb upset things considerably. Now even a single bomber reaching the target would be unacceptable.
The developments during World War II continued for a short time into the post-war period as well. In particular the US Army set up a huge air defence network around its larger cities based on radar-guided 90 mm and 120 mm guns. But, given the general lack of success of guns against even propeller bombers, it was clear that any defence was going to have to rely almost entirely on interceptor aircraft. Despite this, US efforts continued into the 1950s with the 75 mm Skysweeper system, an almost fully automated system including the radar, computers, power, and auto-loading gun on a single powered platform. The Skysweeper replaced all smaller guns then in use in the Army, notably the 40 mm Bofors.
Things changed with the introduction of the guided missile. Although Germany had been desperate to introduce them during the war, none of them became operational during the war. With a few years of development, however, these systems started to mature into practical weapons. The US started an upgrade of their defenses using the Nike Ajax missile, and soon the larger anti-aircraft guns disappeared. The same thing occurred in the USSR after the introduction of their SA-2 Guideline systems.
As this process continued, the missile found itself being used for more and more of the roles formerly filled by guns. First to go were the large weapons, replaced by equally large missile systems of much higher performance. Smaller missiles soon followed, eventually becoming small enough to be mounted on armored cars and tank chassis. These started replacing, or at least supplanting, similar gun-based SPAAG systems in the 1960s, and by the 1990s had replaced almost all such systems in modern armies. Man-portable missiles, MANPADs as they are known today, were introduced in the 1960s and have supplanted or even replaced even the smallest guns in most advanced armies.
In the 1982 Falklands War, the Argentine armed forces deployed the newest west European weapons including the Oerlikon GDF-002 35 mm twin cannon and SAM Roland. The Rapier missile system was the primary GBAD system, used by both Brtish artillery and RAF regiment, a few brand-new FIM-92 Stinger were used by British special forces. Both sides also used the Blowpipe missile. British naval missiles used included Sea Dart and the older Sea Slug longer range systems, Sea Cat and the new Sea Wolf short range systems. Machine guns in AA mountings was used both ashore and afloat.
AA warfare systems
Although the firearms used by the infantry can be used to engage air targets, on occasion with notable success, their effectiveness is generally limited and the muzzle flashes reveal infantry positions. Speed and altitude of modern jet aircraft limit target opportunities, and critical systems may be armored in aircraft designed for the ground attack role. Adaptations of the standard autocannon, originally intended for air-to-ground use, and heavier artillery systems were commonly used for most anti-aircraft gunnery, starting with standard pieces on new mountings, and evolving to specially designed guns with much higher performance prior to World War II. The ammunition and shells fired by these weapons are usually fitted with different types of fuses (barometric, time-delay, or proximity) to explode close to the airborne target, releasing a shower of fast metal fragments. For shorter-range work, a lighter weapon with a higher rate of fire is required, to increase a hit probability on a fast airborne target. Weapons between 20 mm and 40 mm caliber have been widely used in this role. Smaller weapons, typically.50 caliber or even 8 mm rifle caliber guns have been used in the smallest mounts.
Unlike the heavier guns, these smaller weapons are in widespread use due to their low cost and ability to quickly follow the target. Classic examples of autocannons and large caliber guns are the 40 mm autocannon and the 8.8 cm FlaK 18, 36 gun, both designed by Bofors of Sweden. Artillery weapons of this sort have for the most part been superseded by the effective surface-to-air missile systems that were introduced in the 1950s, although they were still retained by many nations. The development of surface-to-air missiles began in Nazi Germany during the late World War II with missiles such as the Wasserfall, though no working system was deployed before the war's end, and represented new attempts to increase effectiveness of the anti-aircraft systems faced with growing threat from bombers. Land-based SAMs can be deployed from fixed installations or mobile launchers, either wheeled or tracked. The tracked vehicles are usually armoured vehicles specifically designed to carry SAMs.
Larger SAMs may be deployed in fixed launchers, but can be towed/re-deployed at will. The SAMs launched by individuals are known in the United States as the Man-Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS). MANPADS of the former Soviet Union have been exported around the World, and can be found in use by many armed forces. Targets for non-ManPAD SAMs will usually be acquired by air-search radar, then tracked before/while a SAM is "locked-on" and then fired. Potential targets, if they are military aircraft, will be identified as friend or foe before being engaged. The developments in the latest and relatively cheap short-range missiles have begun to replace autocannons in this role.
The interceptor aircraft (or simply interceptor) is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft, particularly bombers, usually relying on high speed and altitude capabilities. A number of jet interceptors such as the F-102 Delta Dagger, the F-106 Delta Dart, and the MiG-25 were built in the period starting after the end of World War II and ending
| 1.890636 |
HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu
|
90 servings per bottle.*
PreDigestive has been designed for people who experience gas and bloating after a meal. PreDigestive can be instrumental in improving the proper break down and absorption of nutrients.
Other ingredients: Vegetable capsule (HPMC, water),microcrystalline cellulose, and l-leucine.
This product contains NO yeast, wheat gluten, milk/dairy, sodium, sugar, starch, artificial coloring, preservatives or flavoring.*Betaine HCL is a natural compound made from beets that stimulates the lining of the stomach to produce a stronger gastric acid in preparation for the proper break down and digestion of food, especially proteins. It aids in mineral absorption and helps to kill pathogens commonly found on food.
Pepsin is an enyme that acts as a catalyst to speed up protein digestion.
Fenugreek seed has been used for centuries to enhance appetite, boost metabolism, and give relief for heartburn and constipation.
Protease breaks down protein.
Lactase breaks down lactose or milk sugar.
Cellulase breaks down cellulose (fiber).
Lipase breaks down fats.
- Gas or bloating after a meal
- Uncomfortable fullness after meals
- Difficulty digesting protein
- Hypochlorhydria or low stomach acid
- B12 deficiency
PreDigestive has been designed for people who experience gas and bloating after a meal. These common digestive complaints are often caused by low stomach acid, also known as hypochlorhydria.
Research has shown that 40% of people over the age of 40 have hypochlorhydria. Stomach acid, also known as hydrochloric acid or HCL, plays an essential role in digestion. When stomach acid is low, food is not digested properly so it can pass on to the small intestine. The undigested food stays too long in the stomach fermenting and putrefying, producing gas, bloating and discomfort.
Long term, this condition can play a role in osteoporosis, anemia, depression, memory loss and other illnesses because the body cannot properly absorb nutrients from food. PreDigestive can be instrumental in improving the proper break down and absorption of nutrients.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Directions: Three (3) capsules of PreDigestive immediately before each meal, or as directed by a healthcare professional.
| 2.23785 |
openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb
|
| Nation's Most Comprehensive Cancer Incidence
and Mortality Report Shows Prostate Leading Newly Diagnosed Cancer
among Men; Breast Cancer Leads for Women
The most comprehensive federal report available on state-specific
cancer rates for the first time includes information on incidence
and death rates, as well as data for Hispanics and a new section
on mesothelioma and Kaposi's sarcoma. U.S. Cancer Statistics: 2001
Incidence and Mortality includes quality-assured incidence data
from 43 states, six metropolitan areas, and the District of Columbia,
covering 92 percent of the U.S. population up from the coverage
rate of 84 percent for the report issued last year. The report supplies
essential state, population, racial, ethnic and gender information
for tailored cancer prevention and control programs nationwide.
The latest report shows prostate cancer is the leading cancer diagnosed
overall in men in the United States and breast cancer is the most
common form of cancer diagnosed in U.S. women. The leading cause
of cancer death for both men and women is lung cancer.
"Having highly accurate data about which cancers most commonly
strike specific groups, such as the Hispanic population, means we
can better meet prevention, care and treatment needs. We know from
the report that breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death
for Hispanic women. Breaking out data by racial and ethnic populations,
we have a broader and more accurate view of our nation's cancer
problem, how it affects our diverse population and how to intervene
to combat this disease," said HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson.
Major findings in this year's report include:
- The District of Columbia has the highest incidence rate of prostate
cancer, and Arizona has the lowest;
- Washington State has the highest incidence rate of female breast
cancer, and Texas has the lowest.
- Utah has the lowest lung cancer incidence rate among men and
- Kentucky has the highest incidence rate of colorectal cancer
among men, and New Jersey has the highest incidence rate among
women. Utah has the lowest colorectal cancer incidence rate among
men and women.
The report also cites geographic differences in cancer mortality
- The District of Columbia has the highest prostate cancer death
rate among men; Hawaii has the lowest.
- The District of Columbia has the highest female breast cancer
death rate; South Dakota has the lowest.
- Kentucky has the highest death rate of lung cancer among men.
- West Virginia has the highest lung cancer death rate among women.
- The District of Columbia has the highest colorectal cancer death
rates among men and women; Utah had the lowest.
Collecting and reporting state data helps identify special concerns
in specific populations, such as high proportions of cervical
cancer in Hispanic and African-American women. This information
can be used to assist states to focus on appropriate cancer control
interventions to increase access to screening and care.
United States Cancer Statistics: 2001 Incidence and Mortality
marks the third time the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), in collaboration
with the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries,
have combined data to produce federal cancer statistics. The annual
report provides a basis for individual states and researchers to
describe the variability in cancer incidence and death rates across
different populations and to focus on certain populations for evidence-based
cancer control programs. Future United States Cancer Statistics
reports will include data for American Indians/Alaska Natives. The
full report is available at _URL_
| 1.383454 |
HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu
|
In this post, I will talk about how free energy from your solar panels relates to what you use in electrical heating.
The answer here is not a simple one and depends greatly on the size of your solar panels as this will correlate directly with how much electricity they will produce. It also relates to the size of your heating system and how you use it.
Firstly, there are 2 types of solar system. One is owned by the householder who will have the use of any electricity generated and will gain the FIT subsidy
The other type is owned by a 3rd party who collect the FIT subsidy and the property owner gets the use of the electricity generated.
Domestic systems usually have a maximum generation size of 4kw in peak conditions, so when the sun is shining you can run for example 2x 2kw radiators. Which is enough to heat 2-4 rooms if you have the maximum size array of solar panels, meaning you will pay nothing for the energy the heaters are using (not taking into account any loss in export tariff).
The problem is that when the solar panels are at their peak performance is usually the time when you don't have such high heating demand i.e mid summer. Similarly when you need it most i.e mid winter, the solar array will probably be working at a reduced capacity (due to lack of sunshine) or not at all. So for example a full size 4kwp array may only be able to run 1x 2kw radiator or less and then only for the short period.
Electricity cannot be stored so there are 2 solutions,
If you get the FIT subsidy you could save the money you are awarded in the summer and then put it toward the energy bill where you import extra energy in winter for heating etc.
OR you could get a bigger solar array where the Kwp capacity is a minimum of twice the size of your heating load, and then only use it during daylight.
The later one is generally unsuitable for domestic customers but can suit commercial customers that have a large system on the roof where the building is occupied during the day. It is more common that these systems are owned by a 3rd party so all the building user gets is the generated electricity. If the solar system is very large, a lot of electricity will be generated.
For example I recently fitted 15kw of Elkatherm electric radiator heating to a large hall that was only used during the day and evening as a supplement to their gas system. The roof had a 50kwp solar array and even on a cloudy march day generated excess 100 units of electricity. I designed a control system that switched the heating system on when the sun came up (which varies throughout the year) and off when the sun went down. In this scenario most of the heat was free and if the sun wasn't up the gas system took the load. They estimated recouping the cost of the install off their gas bill in under 2 years.
By Simon Scholes, BSC (Hons) Senior qualified electrician
| 1.292307 |
openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb
|
Set block, you will receive a compiler error. If you wanted to create a read-only property in Visual Basic 6.0, you did not create the Property Let procedure, but no error was generated if you left it off. You just were unable to set the property at run time.
Try It Out
In the project you have created, you have one class and one form. You will now write code in the form that creates a new Line object, places a line of text into the Line property of your object, and then places the length of the line into the Text property of the txtLength text box on your form.
1. In the Solution Explorer window, double-click the frmLineTest form to bring up the form in design mode.
2. Double-click the Display Length button. Visual Basic.NET creates a btnDisplay_Click event procedure for you in the code behind this form. All you need to do is fill in the lines of code shown below, in the body of the procedure.
Private Sub btnDisplay_Click( _
ByVal sender As Object, _
ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnDisplay.Click
Dim oLine As Line
oLine = New Line()
oLine.Line = txtLine.Text
txtLength.Text = oLine.Length.ToString()
End Sub
Within this event procedure, you create a variable named oLine by using the Dim statement. This variable is defined as a reference to a Line class. You actually create the new object reference by using the New keyword, as shown in the next line after the Dim statement. The New keyword must be followed by the name of the class you wish to instantiate. Another difference between Visual Basic.NET and Visual Basic 6.0 is that you no longer use the Set keyword when creating a new object.
In Visual Basic.NET, you are allowed to combine these two lines into one, as shown in the code below.
Dim oLine As Line = New Line()
Dim oLine as New Line()
Visual Basic.NET (and all.NET languages) allow you to declare and initialize any variable on the same line. In Visual Basic 6.0, you were unable to do this, as the Dim statement was not an executable line of code. In Visual Basic.NET, Dim is an executable line of code so this syntax is perfectly legal.
Now let's examine the next two lines of this event procedure:
oLine.Line = txtLine.Text
txtLength.Text = CStr(oLine.Length)
The first line sets the Line property in your object to be equal to the value contained in the Text property of the txtLine text box on the form. This passes the data in the Text property to the Value variable in the Set…End Set block in the Line object.
Now you are ready to report back the length of the string contained in the txtLine text box. Remember, you set the value of this text box equal to the string "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain." This is the value that is contained in the mstrLine variable within your object. You can invoke the Length property on your Line object and it will return the length of this particular string. Because the Length property is an Integer value, you need to convert that value to a string before you can place it into the Text property of the txtLength text box. You accomplish this by applying the ToString method to the Length property.
Create a Write-Only Property
A write-only property is one that defines a Set…End Set block and no Get…End Get block. You are allowed to place data into this property only at run time, but are unable to retrieve data from this property.
If you wanted to extend this Line class to be able to read the line of text in from a file on disk, you might pass the file name to this class. You could accomplish this by using a write-only property. Here is an example of what a write-only property might look like.
WriteOnly Property FileName() As String
Set(ByVal Value As String)
mstrFileName = Value
End Set
End Property
This syntax is again different from Visual Basic 6.0 in that you use the WriteOnly keyword as a prefix to the Property statement. Visual Studio.NET creates the Set…End Set block for you automatically. If you try to add a Get…End Get block, the compiler will give you an error.
Create a Method
A method in a class can be a procedure that performs some sort of operation on the data within the class. Or a method could be a function that performs some operation on the data, and returns that data back from the class. To be able to call a method from an instance of this class, the method must be declared Public. If a method is declared Private, only other methods within the class can call that method. Creating a method in Visual Basic.NET is exactly the same as in Visual Basic 6.0.
Let's create a method in the Line class that breaks up the line of text passed into the class into each separate word. This method is a function that returns the first word contained in the line of text you pass in. If you used the string that was given to you when creating the form, the line of text will be "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain." In this case, the first word returned will be "The."
1. Open the Line.vb class in design mode.
2. Just below your Property statements, create the following method:
Public Function GetWord() As String
Dim astrWords() As String
astrWords = Split(mstrLine, " ")
Return astrWords(0)
End Function
The GetWord method converts the string to an array of individual words using the Split function. The Split function has been around since Visual Basic 6.0 and is passed a string and a delimiter to find. Split starts with the first character in the string and continues moving through the string until it finds the delimiter. Once found, it takes all of the string up to that point and creates a new array element. It then continues processing the string in this manner until the complete string has been put into array elements.
After converting the string to an array, you may return any word in the sentence you pass into the Line class. This example only returns the first word by accessing the first element of the array. In Visual Basic.NET, all arrays are zero-based just like the default in Visual Basic 6.0. The difference here is that you cannot make anything other than a zero-based array in Visual Basic.NET and you could in Visual Basic 6.0.
Note Another way you could have written the code to separate the words in the mstrLine variable into an array is to use the Split method on the String object as shown below.
astrWords = mstrLine.Split(" ".ToCharArray())
Try It Out
Follow the steps below to try out this new GetWord method you just wrote.
1. Open the frmLineTest form in design mode.
2. Double-click the Get Word button. This will open the code window with the btnGetWord_Click event procedure created for you.
3. Add the following code to this event procedure, as shown in the example below.
Private Sub btnGetWord_Click(ByVal sender As Object,_
ByVal e As System.EventArgs)
Dim oLine As New Line()
oLine.Line = txtLine.Text
txtWord.Text = oLine.GetWord()
End Sub
This event procedure first creates a new instance of the Line class into the object variable oLine. You next set the Line property on the line class by getting the value from the Text property of the txtLine text box. Finally, you call your new GetWord method and it returns a string value. This value is assigned into the Text property of the txtWord text box you created on the frmLineTest form earlier in this paper.
Passing Data to a Constructor
In Visual Basic 6.0, you were unable to pass data when you created a new instance of a class. This meant you had to create the object, remember to call an initialization method, and pass data to that method. If you forgot to initialize the object, your object failed. Although you might remember to call this initialization method, if other programmers used your class, they may not know to call it.
This problem has been solved in Visual Basic.NET as the constructor method can now be passed data. The constructor method is called New in Visual Basic.NET. By default, Visual Basic.NET creates this New method for you without you having to do anything. You won't see this code within your code module, but it is there implicitly. If you wish to pass some data to this New method, you need to explicitly create it.
You can place the New constructor anywhere within your class, but you might want to choose a standard location, such as always near the top of your class definition. In this next exercise, you create a New constructor that accepts a String value. By doing this, you will be able to declare, initialize an object variable, and set the data for the Line object, all in one step.
1. Open the Line.vb class in your project.
2. Add the Sub New, as shown below, to your Line class:
Public Class Line
Private mstrLine As String
Public Sub New(ByVal Value As String)
mstrLine = Value
End Sub
The New constructor is a procedure that you write to accept one or more parameters. In the code you just wrote, you created a parameter called Value. You then took the value and assigned it to the private
| 1.781499 |
Zyphra/Zyda-2
|
This example demonstrates how to share resources between appointments to create multi-resource appointments. To assign any appointment to several resources, open the Edit Appointment form and select the required resources in the drop-down list.
Note: Resource sharing is not enabled by default. To use this feature you should set the ResourceSharing property to true. Make sure that your data table structure is appropriate for resource sharing, since the mapped ResourceID field will hold xml string data.
| 1.630911 |
openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb
|
Go to Hepatitis B Foundation home page
8. Recommendations for Routine Hepatitis A Vaccination of Children
Hepatitis A is different in that our immunization strategy across the country was actually regionally based. Why was it regionally based? Well, it was because these states in red and yellow are states where the highest rates of disease had occurred for many, many years. They are primarily in the west and that is where it is recommended that all children be vaccinated - and in fact there have been fairly high rates of immunization that have gone on there.
| 1.371803 |
Zyphra/Zyda-2
|
The physician's workplace simplifies the patient's information search, the physician's examination data input and any patient document creation.
Application also allows quick lab data input, video and images acquisition (as a result of interoperation with medical devices), editing and saving key frames to patient documents.
The Physician's workplace consists of:
- Main menu common for all the workplaces:
- Field for one patient search\select;
- Selected patient's documents list;
- Patient documents view;
- Physician's schedule;
- Links for document templates;
- List of documents, created by specific date.
| 1.490206 |
openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb
|
BSc Plant Science (Cornell University), MS Horticulture (Michigan State University), PhD Plant Physiology and Natural Products Chemistry (Michigan State University)
Professor Weston co-founded and currently leads a large multidisciplinary research team, the Plant Interactions Research Group, investigating plant/plant, plant/microbial, plant/herbivore and insect/soil interactions with a focus on invasion ecology and genetics, chemical ecology and signalling, use of biocontrol organisms for pest management, allelopathy and plant interactions with herbivores resulting in toxicity.
Professor Weston has focused on the study of bioactive natural plant products that are involved in plant defence strategies, with a particular emphasis on bioherbicides and phytotoxins. Ground-breaking research techniques employing analytical chemistry, metabolomics, separation science, genomics and population and field ecology has resulted in advances in our understanding of how plants employ secondary products as chemical signalling agents, in defence strategies against pests including weeds and grazing herbivores, localization of these metabolites in the plant and soil rhizosphere and their impact on the function and dynamics of soil microbial communities. Recent studies have also focused on a greater understanding of their role in toxicity to grazing livestock and specific mode of action as herbicides, cytotoxins and photosensitisers.
From an applied standpoint, our laboratory focuses on understanding how weeds and invasive plants adapt to novel environments and spread. Emphasis has been placed on the development of alternative and integrated weed management strategies to limit the spread of herbicide resistant weeds. We study the use of competitive crops, rotational crops, and both chemical, cultural and mechanical approaches to effectively manage weed invaders in crops and pastures. Particular emphasis on study of the biology and ecology of newly emerging weeds such as panic grasses, wild melons, annual ryegrass, fleabane, Paterson's curse and mikania or mile-a-minute vine have resulted in improved identification and management strategies, and understanding of why these weeds have become successful invaders, both in Australia and more globally.
Professor Weston provides occasional lectures in Introduction to Science, Weed and Pest Management and Natural Products Chemistry/Separation Science. She supervises honours, Masters and PhD students in weed science, metabolomics, plant and microbial interactions and biomedicinal crop physiology
Localisation, transport and mode of action of allelochemicals and toxins, metabolomics, photosensitisation, plant rhizosphere interactions, ecology and genetic diversity of invasive weeds, weed suppressive crops.
(Selected publications are listed below)
| 2.195089 |
openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb
|
1939 and 1958.
Estimates of the rate of return to investment in on-the-job training are very fragmentary. Those reported range from 9.0 to 12.7 per cent per year. The apparent reasons for the two shifts referred to above and the implications of on-the-job training as a factor in income and with respect to employment behavior are also examined by Mincer.
Investment in education
Education is unquestionably the largest source of human capital consisting of acquired abilities. But the road to an analysis of the economic value of education is not paved. The costs of education are surprisingly well concealed. Not all of the benefits accrue to students; they are frequently widely dispersed. The rates of return depend on earning profiles of many different shapes, extending over many years. The responses to new, profitable investment in education are subject to some long lags; they are blunted in the case of public decisions by other matters and in the area of private decisions by incomplete information and by uncertainties that are inherent in a long future. There is also the uncertainty inherent in the fact that no student knows his abilities for schooling prior to putting himself to the test. In addition, the capital market is not well organized when it comes to lending funds for schooling.
Seemingly the task is simplified when it comes to formal education, since it is organized and presumably can be viewed as an industry that produces schooling. The difficulty with this simplification is that the functions of the educational establishment include activities other than schooling. One of the important functions of higher education is research. On-campus research has been increasing rapidly, and much of it is an integral part of graduate instruction. Another function consists of extension activities, notably, in the United States, the farflung state agricultural extension services. There is also activity akin to an advisory service, especially to public agencies. Then, too, universities have been entering upon programs of instruction and research abroad with so-called sister universities in the cooperating country. And not least of these other functions is that of discovering and cultivating talent, which is quite distinct from formal schooling.
Costs. Much has been done recently to clarify the cost components of education. Opportunity costs are large, especially the earnings foregone by mature students, which were concealed in the way costs of schooling were formerly estimated. In the United States, for example, earnings foregone account for fully half to three-fifths of the total costs of high school and higher education. Because of the importance of earnings foregone, education beyond the elementary level is far from free to students. In poor countries and also in some low-income communities in the United States, for instance, in some agricultural areas and in city slums, earnings foregone have been and still are a factor even for children during the latter years in the elementary grades. When earnings foregone are brought into the picture, a part of the educational scene that always appeared blurred becomes clear. The distinction between private costs incurred by the student or his family and total costs to the economy is important analytically in explaining differences in incentives to invest in schooling, the shift in favor of formal schooling relative to on-the-job training over time, and in ascertaining the rates of return that matter in determining optimum investment decisions.
Total costs also provide clues to the amounts invested and changes in stocks. Leaving aside the education of persons who are not in the labor force, in the United States, as already noted, the amount spent on the schooling of persons who are 14 years and older rose at a rate of 4 per cent per annum between 1929 and 1957, measured in constant 1956 dollars. Investment in reproducible tangible wealth rose at 2 per cent per annum. When these rates of growth are applied to the respective stocks of 1957, the net annual investment implied is $21,900 million for this schooling and $25,500 million for this form of material capital.
Benefits. The future benefits from schooling accrue in part to the student and in part to others in society. Burton A. Weisbrod (1962) has substantially clarified the distinction between these two parts, although other investigators are fully aware that there are these two classes of benefits from schooling. As yet there has been little empirical success in determining the value of the benefits from schooling that accrue to co-workers and employers of the students and to the students' neighbors. There is a strong presumption that universal literacy of a population in a modern economy has large external economies [seeCapital, social overhead; External economies and diseconomies].
Furthermore, not all the benefits from schooling that accrue to the student are revealed in his future earnings, in wages, salaries, and entrepreneurial income from work. The benefits that accrue to the student are of three sorts. One consists of current consumption; the other two are an investment. That which is current consumption consists of satisfactions that the student obtains from schooling while in attendance. This benefit is undoubtedly small, for school days entail much hard work and long hours. There is next a class of enduring consumer abilities acquired through schooling; from these abilities the student derives satisfactions throughout his remaining life, for example, the ability to appreciate and enjoy the fine arts, the masterpieces of literature, science, and logical discourse. The source of these satisfactions is an investment in particular consumer abilities; but the value of the stream of satisfactions from this source, although substantial, is not a part of future wages and salaries. The third set of benefits consists of increases in the student's productivity, the source being the producer abilities acquired from schooling. While most of these appear in future earnings, there are nevertheless some that are derived from production activities that the student does for himself over the years, like preparing his income tax returns, which do not enter into his earnings or into national income as it is presently measured.
Earnings. Investigations of investment in education have concentrated on earnings while leaving aside the other benefits from schooling. Even so, it is no simple matter to identify and measure these earnings. They are beset by the effects of differences in the inherited abilities of workers, of race, sex, and age; by unemployment; by the content and quality of schooling; and by the effects upon earnings of job training, health, and other forms of investment in human beings. Difficult as it is to isolate and adjust for these effects, some fairly satisfactory estimates have been obtained. These estimates make it possible to determine the rates of return to schooling, which are considered briefly below. They show also that at least one-fifth of the economic growth of the United States between 1929 and 1957 came from additional earnings connected with schooling.
Rates of return. Available estimates on rates of return are limited to money returns, that is, to money earnings from schooling that accrue to the student. Accordingly, all other benefits from schooling are omitted in these estimates; and to this extent the real rates of return to education are underestimated. For a more complete review and appraisal, see The Economic Value of Education (Schultz 1963).
Rates of return to total costs of schooling support several important generalizations. Costs here consist of all direct and indirect costs, including earnings foregone, whether borne privately or publicly; returns are restricted to monetary earnings from schooling. For males in the United States the following generalizations emerge: (1) the rate of return to elementary schooling is higher than to high school education, and in turn the rate of return to high school education is higher than to college education; (2) the rate of return to high school education (completing the twelfth year) rose persistently and very substantially between 1939 and 1958, while that to college education (completing at least the sixteenth year) declined somewhat between 1939 and 1956 and then began to rise; and (3) the lowest of these rates of return has been about 12 per cent per annum.
New knowledge pertaining to investment in human capital is already quite satisfactory with regard to the behavior of the supply and the rates of return to on-the-job training and to education. Little is known, however, about the factors that have been increasing the demand for these acquired abilities—an integral part of economic growth.
Theodore W. Schultz
Anderson, C. Arnold; Brown, James C.; and Bowman, M. J. 1952 Intelligence and Occupational Mobility. Journal of Political Economy 60:218−239.
Ashby, Eric 1960 Investment in Education: The Report of the Commissions on Post-school Certificate and Higher Education in Nigeria. Lagos (Nigeria): Federal Ministry of Education.
Becker, Gary S. 1960 Underinvestment in College Education? American Economic Review 50:346−354.
Becker, Gary S. 1962 Investment in Human Capital: A Theoretical Analysis. Journal of Political Economy 70, no. 5 (Supplement):9−49.
Becker, Gary S. 1964 Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, With Special Reference to Education. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.
Benson, Charles S.; and Lohnes, Paul R. 1959 Skill Requirements and Industrial Training in Durable Goods Manufacturing. Industrial and Labor Relations Review 12:540−553.
Blank, David; and Stigler, George J. 1957 The Demand and Supply of Scientific Personnel. National Bureau of Economic Research General Series, No. 62. New York: The Bureau.
Bonner, J.; and Lees, D. S. 1963 Consumption and Investment. Journal of Political Economy 71:64−75.
Bowen, William G. 1964 Economic Aspects of Education: Three Essays. Princeton Univ., Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section.
Bowman, Mary Jean 1962 Human Capital: Concepts
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King George V
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George V
George V of the united Kingdom
"Fucking Germans! Oh."
Reign 1910 - 1936
Born 18something
Buckingham Palace
Died 1935
Buckingham Palace (he didn't get out much)
Predecessor King Edward VII
Successor King Edward VIII
Consort Queen "plum-in-my mouth" Mary
Issue Kaiser Wilhelm and his jackbooted hordes
"Was ist mit Ihnen falsch? Lesen Sie einfach den Gott verdammten Index, den ich schrieb! P.S. Wenn Sie dieses lesen, werde ich lachen, weil Sie Ihre Hosen scheißen!*"
~ William Hohenzollern on his cousin.
"When I grow up, I wanna be just like him!"
~ King George VI on his dad.
George V was an important military-political leader and British monarch. He was born on 3 June 1865 and was the first British monarch to date Barbara Windsor, thus founding the House of Windsor. Because he founded the House of Windsor, he was one of the writers of The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the other being his German first cousin. The two could not decide on a topic, and his first cousin declared war. His reign was tumultuous, as he tried to avert it. Oscar Wilde was particularly pissed off about the war, writing the play "100 Which-Ways to Buggery" about the King, although on closer inspection the play seems to be mostly concerned with buggery. He is also quite famous for topping Wikipedia's World Domination high score list.
Early Life
His early life seems to have been quite difficult for him, mostly because his birth age was 37 and he spent most of the time in a tree in Queen Victoria's garden, usually against his will. However, eventually the Queen threw a girl up into the same tree; the girl was Princess Mary-Champagne-Duchess-Princess-Sugarcake-Alexandria, who George promptly fell in love with. She was, however, his sister, as well as both his uncle's husband and his pet hamster's mother, although the conventions of the time considered it okay for rich people to shag family members, as long as one of the two had a foreign name.
He proposed to Alexandria in 1910, and they married the following year. Their wedding reception was held in the same tree that he had lived in all his life (Victoria had assigned an entire regiment, The Queen's Own Bastards, to make sure he didn't escape) and was attended by the Heads of State of pretty much every country that had ever existed (this situation was possible because of the liberal use of time-travel in the 1910's). George's best man was Calvin Coolidge, who was truly the coolest person present; as a wedding gift, he taught George to moonwalk.
George and Alexandria were let down from the tree in 1911, when Queen Victoria died after getting into a fight with a whippet, and they immediately began work on creating an heir. Centuries of inbreeding meant that their offspring looked really really ugly, but most importantly they were stupid enough to be rich, which made them satisfactory royalty.
King George V, striking his "startled" pose (eyes forward and moustache erect).
George began The First World War after an argument with his cousin, Nicholas II over whether Britain or Russia's flag was coolest. Ironically, George originally intended to ally with Wilhelm II's Germany, but accidentally phoned the wrong number, so ended up allying with Russia and France against Germany, which "was a bit of a bugger", according to Oscar Wilde[1]. Nicholas, who had always been a bit of a wimp, ended up losing the war and being shot by Communists. To rub beautifidelity salt into the wound, they then designed a flag that was way cooler than Britain's, which caused George to feel very miserable. In 1918, Wilhelm surrendered and abdicated, which left George the only one of the three left; his mother chided him with the words "you always had to take things too far with those two", which made him cry.
After the War
After the war, George didn't do much, spending most of his time hibernating in a box in a cupboard. He did, however, make sure he raised sons who loved the Nazis. Edward VIII was particularly good at this, at one point being paid by Hitler to lick his face.
In 1936, George lost a fight with a jar of jam. He returned to the tree that had nurtured him during his childhood, and cried himself to death (literally; he cried all the water out of himself).
Oscar Wilde reckoned his life was a "pretty buggering crap story". Which it was.
Noted British historian Alf Garnett said of his attempts to avoid war:
1. Not to be confused with his namesake Oscar Wilde although this Oscar was also an enthusiastic gay
*Translation: "What is wrong with you? Just read the God damned script I wrote! P.S. When you read this, I will be laughing because you shit your pants!"
Personal tools
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im studying building systems engineering technology. yeh i know it's only a technology program at the cegep level but when i'm done with it, i'm gonna do software engineering in university. anyways i'm having trouble to understand two problems in the book. if anyone can help me with this, it would be greatly appreciated. 1) Determine the gage pressure if the atmospheric pressure is 14.7 psia, the gas constant is 96 ft-lb/lb R, and the specific volume is 10 ft^3/lbm. The answer is 31.9 psig 2) 70 lbs mass of gas are contained in a rigid container at 200 psia and 80 F. The gas is then expanded to fill a 2000 ft^3 volume at a pressure pf 20 psia and a temperature of 70 F. Determine the volume of the rigid container. The answer is 203.7 ft^3. Can someone show me the steps on how they got the answer cuz i already know the answer. i just need help on how to solve the problem. for the first question, the formula is pv = mrt. we'll i know right away to find P = mRT. i would multiply 96ft-lb*700 * R (I dunno how to get that)/ Volume (I also dont know how to get that but i know it's something to do with the specific volume of 10 ft^3) for the second question, i multiplied (70)(80)/200. and from there i'm lost and dunno what to do.
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trying to involve the king of Hungary, the king of Portugal, and the duke of Burgundy, who is the equal of many monarchs. But since they had no particular interest in the war, I couldn't get them in. I knew that in any case, with
those I already had involved, there would be no peace for anyone else. The combatants, though they really fought for their own interests, accepted distinguished awards and titles from me, as if the more death and destruction they visited on Christian folk, the more they might seem to be defending devotedly the church of God. And so that you may appreciate the full extent of my luck or skill, I will tell you that though the king of Spain was warring at the time on the Turks, and had enjoyed hitherto enormous success and taken lots of loot, I got him to abandon that enterprise and turn all his forces against the French. The Emperor too was bound to France by many treaties and even more by the enormous assistance he had received from them in regaining his possessions and cities in Italy. And he had major problems in Italy, because Padua had deserted to Venice-as well as in Burgundy, where the Gelderlanders had proved dangerous enemies of his grandson, then duke of Burgundy, in a war he himself had provoked. And yet I arranged that he should neglect his own affairs in order to do my business. Then, there is no people among whom papal authority counts for less than the English (that will be clear to anyone who looks over the life of Thomas archbishop of Canterbury and the ancient constitutions of the kingdom); yet that nation, though otherwise most impatient of impositions, almost allowed itself to be skinned alive by me. It's practically a miracle the way I got the priests, who used to skim off for themselves whatever they could, to bring in taxes to the king, without ever thinking of the precedent they were setting for future royal exactions-though indeed the king himself never noticed the example he was setting for action against his own and his successors' interests whenever the pope in Rome might become impatient with England. In fact, the young king went at the matter with more energy than I wanted or advised, even though I thought he was erring in the right direction. But it would be a long story to explain in detail how artfully I stirred up these various princes to make war on their fellow Christians, when no previous pope had ever even been able to rouse them against the Turks.
PETER: But it may be that the flames of war that you fanned will spread out of control across the entire world.
JULIUS: Let them spread, as long as the Roman church retains its dignities and prerogatives. Actually, I've tried to let the whole weight of the war fall on the barbarians rather than the Italians; let them fight it out as long as they want, we'll stand by, and perhaps applaud their idiocy.
PETER: And is this the proper attitude of a pastor, a most holy father, a vicar of Christ?
JULIUS: Why did they stir up the schism?
PETER: But some evils must simply be endured if the remedy is Worse. Besides, if you had permitted a council, there would have been no occasion for a schism.
JULIUS: Don't be silly! I'd sooner have six hundred wars than one Council. What if they had removed me from the papacy as a simoniac and a buyer of the papal office, not a true pope at all? What if they learned the whole truth about my life, and made it public information?
PETER: Even if you were a true pope, you would have done better to resign the office than to protect your dignity by spreading such evils across the face of the
Christian world. It's even Worse when the office has been bestowed on an unworthy person, or not even bestowed but bought and snatched away by force.
And it occurs to me that God in his wisdom may have created you as a plague for the French in retribution for their having raised you up to be a plague for the church.
JULIUS: By my triple crown, and by my heroic triumphs, I swear if you stir my anger, you, even you, will feel the wrath of Julius.
PETER: Oh, madman! So far I have heard nothing but the words of a warlord, not a churchman but a worldling, not a mere worldling but a pagan, and a scoundrel lower than any pagan! You boast of having dissolved treaties, stirred up wars, and encouraged the slaughter of men. That is the power of Satan, not a pope. Anyone who becomes the vicar of Christ should try to follow as closely as possible the example provided by Christ. In him the ultimate power coincided with ultimate goodness; his wisdom was supreme, but of the utmost simplicity. In you I see an image of power joined with the ultimate in malice and the ultimate in stupidity. If the devil, that prince of darkness, wanted to send to earth a vicar of hell, whom would he choose but someone like you? In what way did you ever act like an apostolic person?
JULIUS: What could be more apostolic than strengthening the church of Christ?
PETER: But if the church is the flock of Christian believers held together by the spirit of Christ, then you seem to me to have subverted the church by inciting the
entire world to bloody wars, while you yourself remained wicked, noisome, and unpunished.
JULIUS: I think the church consists of the holy buildings, the priests, and especially the court at Rome, myself most of all, who am the head of the church.
PETER: But Christ made us servants and himself the head, unless you think a second head is needed. But in what way has the church been strengthened?
JULIUS: Now you're getting to the core of the matter, so I'll tell you. That hungry, impoverished church of yours is now adorned with a thousand impressive ornaments.
PETER: Such as? An earnest faith?
JULIUS: More of your jokes.
PETER: Holy doctrine?
JULIUS: Don't play dumb.
PETER: Contempt for the things of this world?
JULIUS: Let me tell you: real ornaments are what I mean. Those things you've mentioned are just words.
PETER: What do you mean then?
JULIUS: Regal palaces, spirited horses and fine mules, crowds of servants, welltrained troops, assiduous retainers.
GENIUS: -high-class whores and oily pimps.
JULIUS: -plenty of gold, purple, and so much money in taxes that there's not a king in the world who wouldn't appear base and poor if his wealth and state were
compared with those of the Roman pontiff. Nobody is so ambitious that he wouldn't confess himself outdone, nobody so extravagant that he wouldn't condemn his own frugality, nobody so wealthy, not even a usurer, that he wouldn't envy my riches. These are what I call ornaments; I've protected what I inherited and added to them.
PETER: But tell me who first of all befouled and burdened with these ornaments of yours the church that Christ wanted to be supremely pure and unencumbered?
JULIUS: What does that matter? The main thing is that I've got them, I possess them, I enjoy them. Some people do say that a certain Constantine transferred all the riches of his empire to pope Sylvester, armor, horses, chariots, helmets, belts, cloaks, guardsmen, swords, gold crowns (of the very finest gold), armies,
machines of war, cities, entire kingdoms.
PETER: Are there any proper records of this magnificent donation?
JULIUS: None, except one codicil mixed in with some old decrees.
PETER: Maybe it's a fable.
JULIUS: I've often suspected as much. What sane man, after all, would bestow such a magnificent gift even on his own father? But still, it's a very pleasant thing to believe, and when anyone has tried to question it, I've been able to silence him completely with a timely threat or two.
PETER: And still I hear nothing from you but worldly concerns.
JULIUS: Evidently you are dreaming on about the old church in which you, with a couple of hungry bishops, acted out the role of a meager pope afflicted with poverty, labor, danger, and a thousand other troubles. The new age has changed all that for the better. Nowadays the high pontiff of Rome is another creature altogether; you were a pope in name only. What if you could now see all the holy churches decorated with the wealth of kingdoms, the thousands of priests everywhere, many of them with splendid incomes, all the bishops equal in wealth and military power to so many kings, all the splendid episcopal palaces? If we
were at Rome now, you couldn't fail to admire all the cardinals in their purple robes, attended by legions of servants, followed by riders on imperial horses and mules glittering with linen caparisons studded with gold and gems, shod with gold and silver shoes, like so many blazing suns. Then you might see the pope
himself born aloft on the shoulders of his guards, seated on his golden throne, and blessing as he passes all the adoring faithful. If you then heard the crash of the
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Cultural Landscape Report
Garfield Park is a valued, irreplaceable historic public park serving the Indianapolis community as both a city and neighborhood park. The park is a significant cultural landscape recognized for its history, its design influence, and its place in the Indianapolis parks and boulevards system. Heritage Landscapes was commissioned by the Friends of Garfield Park (FOGP) to develop a cultural landscape report investigating the history, chronology, existing conditions and use of the Garfield Park landscape and to recommend a preservation approach that respects its heritage while accommodating current and future directions. Garfield Park stands as a testimony of over a century of use, support and patronage by the neighborhood and the Indianapolis community. This Garfield Park Cultural Landscape Report honors that legacy while it seeks to insure the vibrancy and value of this important park into the future.
To preserve the future of the park FOGP championed the creation of the Garfield Park Cultural Landscape Preservation and Renewal Plan. Created in 2004 and 2005, The Cultural Landscape Plan was funded through grants of $25,000 from the Efroymson Fund of the Central Indiana Community Foundation, $5,000 from Marion County Historic Preservation Fund and $22,500 each from Friends of Garfield Park and Indy Parks.
This project, which celebrates the concepts and designs of George Kessler, was guided to completion by Patricia O'Donnell, ASLA, of Heritage Landscapes, which specializes in preservation planning and implementation for cultural landscapes. The plan will serve as a guide to future development and programs at the park such as:
- Educational materials, such as those included in the Historic Garfield Park Tour
- Fundraising campaigns to preserve and maintain the Bean Creek Bridge and the 100 year old Fountains
- Efforts leading to the designation on the National Registry of Historic Places
- Landscape renovations and restoration, including tree plantings, streets, pathways and other elements
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"In computers, most central processing units (CPU) are labeled in terms of their clock rate expressed in megahertz or gigahertz (106 or 109 hertz, respectively). This number refers to the frequency of the CPU's master clock signal ("clock rate"). This signal is a square wave, which is an electrical voltage that switches between low and high values at regular intervals. Hertz has become the primary unit of measurement accepted by the general populace to determine the performance of a CPU, but many experts have criticized this approach, which they claim is an easily manipulable benchmark as some processors use multiple clock periods to perform a single operation, while others can perform multiple operations in a single cycle. For home-based personal computers, CPU clock speeds have ranged from approximately 1 MHz in the late 1970s (Atari, Commodore, Apple computers) to up to 6 GHz in IBM POWER processors.
Various computer buses, such as the front-side bus connecting the CPU and northbridge, also operate at various frequencies in the megahertz range."_URL_
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Who Creates Creation?
There are generally three schools of thought surrounding the mystery of creation, and this post will attempt to throw some light on the subject.
The first school of thought on how the universe and our species came about can be split into two theories; either there was a "big bang" and everything just fell into place randomly, or it was created in stages by a god.
The second school of thought, which makes perfect sense to anyone who is actively on a spiritual quest and who can see beyond the restrictions and limitations of organised religion, is that the universe only exists when there is an observer. To clarify this concept, I always use the analogy of looking at a tree. The original scriptures, which were not specific to any religion, proclaimed that science and spirituality are inseparable; two sides of the same coin. Science has told us that everything without exception is energy, which is constantly in motion and vibrates at varying frequencies. To come back to our tree analogy, the tree doesn't exist as a tree; it has no idea that it has been given this label by humans. What we know as "the tree" exists as energy, which is vibrating at a specific frequency. But, our brains interpret that energy vibration in a particular way, which appears to us as the phenomenon we call "a tree". The reason we all see the same thing is because we all exist within the same field of infinite consciousness. When we fall into deep dreamless sleep, what we refer to as "creation" disappears, and with it, the ego. On waking, whether that be via dreamstate or not, the "I" thought, or ego, rears its head again and the objective world reappears.
The final school of thought, which will make perfect sense to those who are evolving from the previous school, is that ultimately, there is no creation because nothing exists except consciousness. When the individual, small self, eventually awakens and merges with the one eternal Self, there comes the realisation that there never was an individual self or "the world"; the whole experience was nothing more than a dream. This concept is perfectly encapsulated by the ancient Indian sage, Shankara, when he said:
The Universe is unreal
God is real
The Universe is God
It's my personal preference to substitute the word "God" for either "Consciousness" or "Awareness" but either way, it doesn't really matter. That short but very profound statement also appears to clear up the debate often heard in spiritual circles as to whether the objective world is an illusion or not. It is… or it isn't, depending on where you are at in your existence as an individual soul. To the unconscious, the objective world is as real as real can be; along with all the drama that goes with it. However, to those who are further along "The Road to Nowhere" the objective world is only real in that it is a manifestation of consciousness, all objective reality is a creation of the egoic mind and ultimately does not exist.
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Speaker: Savinkov Rostislav, junior researcher of the Interdisciplinary Scientific Center "Mathematical Modeling in Biomedicine" of the Peoples Friendship University of Russia.
Topic: Algorithms for building networks of fibroblast reticular cells.
Annotation: The network of fibroblastic reticular cells (FRC) is a rather complex structure from the point of view of formation. Therefore, in order to best reproduce its topology, experiments were conducted with various algorithms for its formation, in search of the best option. The report will describe both the simplest method and more complex variations, including non-stationary construction, taking into account the length of the formation of the structure in time.
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Glossary of Arabic Terms
from the Al-Wala wal Bara by Shaykh Muhammad Seed Al Qahtani
Allah ta'Ala: Allah, the Most High, the Lord of all the worlds. Allah, the supreme and mighty Name, indicates the One, the Existent, the Creator, the Worshipped, the Lord of the Universe. Allah is the First without beginning and the Last without end and the Outwardly Manifest and the Inwardly Hidden.
ahlu'l-sunnah wa'l-jama'a: the people who follow the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and who hold together as a community on that basis.
alim: a man of knowledge from amongst the Muslims who acts on what he knows
aqeedah: belief or faith firmly based on how things are, rather than on how they may be imagined. Thus 'aqeedah can only fully be derived from an original revelation from Allah and from the sayings of the Messenger to whom it was revealed: in this age, the Qur'an and the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace
ayah: a sign, a verse of the Quran. ayat: the plural of ayah.
bara': withdrawing from and opposing all that is displeasing to Allah and His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
bida: innovation, changing the original teaching of the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in a
deen: the life-transaction, submission and obedience to a particular system of rules and practices, a debt of exchange between two parties, in this usage between the Creator and the created. Allah says in the Quran: Surely the deen with Allah is Islam. (3.19).
faqih: a scholar of fiqh who by virtue of his knowledge can give an authoritative opinion or judgement
fiqh: Islamic jurisprudence, the science of the application of the shar fisq: corruption.
fuqaha: the plural of faqih.
hadith: reported speech, particularly of, or about, the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
hadith qudsi: those words of Allah on the tongue of His Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, which are not part of the Revelation of the Quran
hajj: the annual pilgrimage to Makka which every Muslim who has the means and ability must make once in his or her life-time; the performance of the rites of the hajj in the protected area which surrounds the Kaaba. The hajj is one of the indispensable pillars of Islam.
halal: permitted by the shariah.
haram: forbidden by the shariah; also a protected area, an inviolable place or object
hasan: good; a category of hadith which is reliable, but which is not as well authenticated as one which is sahih.
hijrah: emigration in the way of Allah. Islam takes its dating from the hijrah of the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, from Makka to Madina, in 622 A.
ihsan: the state of being hasan; being absolutely sincere to Allah in oneself; it is to worship Allah as though you see Him, knowing that although you do not see Him, He sees you.
imam: the one who leads the prayer, an eminent scholar.
iman: acceptance, belief, trust, in Allah, a gift from Him. Iman is to believe in Allah, His angels, His revealed Books, His messengers, the Last Day, the Garden and the Fire, and that everything is by the Decree of Allah, both the good and the evil.
Islam: peace and submission to the will of Allah, the way of life embodied by all the prophets, given its final form in the prophetic guidance brought by the Prophet Muhammad, may the blessings and peace of Allah be on him. The five pillars of Islam are the affirmation of the shahada, doing the salat, paying the zakat, fasting the month of Ramadan, and doing the hajj once in a life-time if you are able.
isnad: the written record of the names of the people who form the chain of human transmission, person to person, by means of which a hadith is preserved. One of the sciences of the Muslims which was developed after the Prophet Muhammad's death, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is the science of assessing the authenticity of a hadith by assessing the reliability of its isnad.
jahiliyyah: the time of ignorance, before the coming of Islam.
jihad: struggle, particularly warfare, to establish and defend Islam.
Inwardly, the jihad is to oppose whatever in your self is displeasing to Allah. Outwardly, it is oppose kufr by word and action.
jinn: unseen beings created from smokeless fire who co-habit the earth together with mankind
Kaaba: the cube-shaped building at the centre of the Haram in Makka, originally built by the Prophet Ibrahim, peace be on him, and rebuilt with the help of the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace; also known as the House of Allah. The Ka'aba is the focal point which all Muslims face when doing the salat. This does not mean that Allah lives inside the Ka'aba, nor does it mean that the Muslims worship the Kaaba. It is Allah Who is worshipped and Allah is not contained or confined in any form or place or time or concept.
kafir: a person who commits kufr, the opposite of a mumin. kaflrun: the plural of kafir.
kalima: the declaration: There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah
kufr: to cover up the truth, to reject Allah and His Messenger, may the blessings and peace of Allah be on him.
la ilaha ill allah: there is no god but Allah.
makruh: disapproved of, without being forbidden, by the shariah.
marfu: a hadith from a companion of the Prophet Muhammad containing words attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
Muhammad ar-Rasulullah: Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, may the blessings and peace of Allah be on h
muhsin: someone who possesses the quality of ih-san, who remembers Allah constantly.
mumin: someone who possesses the quality of iman, who trusts in Allah and accepts His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. muminun: the plural of mumin.
munafiq: a hypocrite; the hypocrites amongst the Muslims outwardly profess Islam on the tongue, but inwardly reject Allah and His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, siding with the kafirun against the Muslims. The deepest part of the Fire is reserved for the munafiqun
munafiqun: the plural of munafiq. mushrik: one who commits shirk. mushrikeen: the plural of mushrik.
muslim: someone who follows the way of Islam, doing what is obligatory, avoiding what is forbidden, keeping within the limits prescribed by Allah, and following the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in what he or she is able. A Muslim is, by definition, one who is safe and sound, at peace in this world, and promised the Garden in the next world.
qadi: a judge.
qiblah: the direction faced in prayer, which, for the Muslims, is towards the Kaaba in Makka. Everyone has a direction in life, but only the Muslims have this qibla
Quran: the 'Recitation', the last Revelation from Allah to mankind and the jinn before the end of the world, revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, through the angel Jibril, over a period of twenty-three years, the first thirteen of which were spent in Makka and the last ten of which were spent in Madina.
The Quran amends, encompasses, expands, surpasses and abrogates all the earlier revelations revealed to the earlier messengers, peace be on all of them.
The Quran is the greatest miracle given to the Prophet Muhammad by Allah, for he was illiterate and could neither read nor write.
The Quran is the uncreated word of Allah. The Quran still exists today exactly as it was originally revealed, without any alteration or change or addition or deletion. Whoever recites the Quran with courtesy and sincerity receives knowledge and wisdom, for it is the well of wisdom in this age.
raka: a unit of the prayer, a complete series of standing, bowing, prostrations and sitting
rakat: the plural of raka.
Ramadan: the month of fasting, the ninth month in the Muslim lunar calendar, during which all adult Muslims who are in good health fast from the first light of dawn until sunset each day. The Quran was first revealed in the month of Ramadan. The fast of Ramadan is one of the indispensable pillars of Islam.
sahaba: companions, particularly the companions of the Prophet Muhammad, may the blessings and peace of Allah be on him and on his family and on his companion
sahih: healthy and sound with no defects; often used to describe a fully authenticated hadith. The two most reliable collections of hadith by Imam AIBukhari and Imam Muslim are both described as saheeh
saIafi: adjective from as-salaf, 'the early years', and used generally to describe the early generations of the Muslims, particularly the sahaba,
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My Tree.......My Responsibility
According to UNEP, women disproportionately suffer the impacts of climate change and other environmental hazards, especially in developing countries (1). In western Kenya perennial flooding caused by larger than normal rainy seasons has resulted in farmlands and homes being destroyed. In the other extreme, a lot of the same areas experience some forms of drought during the dry season resulting in lower farm yields forcing women to engage in dangerous work such as stone quarrying to earn a living. In Busia County over 60% of the population live below the poverty line and only about 20% of youth between 14-17 years are enrolled or transition to secondary school (2). Given the high levels of gender inequality and the fact that women are usually responsible for small scale farming, they also go in search of firewood and clean water sources for domestic chores makes them especially vulnerable to climate change and environment pollution.
It is with these issues in mind that the Women's Rights and Empowerment Partnerships in Africa (WREPA) saw an opportunity to work with girls from a young age, to cultivate a sense of responsibility for their environment and ultimately their future. WREPA girls clubs were started in early 2018 with the objective of creating safe spaces for girls to learn more about themselves, their health, education and environment. The clubs are situated in 6 primary schools within Budalang'i subcounty, Busia County, each club has a minimum of 20 members with their own governing structure that allows the girls to take on leadership roles.
WREPA introduced planting of tree seedlings to engage young girls in combating climate change, improving soil and reducing waste. The project is implemented by WREPA mentors who visit the schools every school term and talk with the girls about the dangers of pollution and the role young people can play in creating healthy ecosystems not just within school compounds but their larger community. Each club was given tree seedlings to plant across their school compounds, with a few girls tasked with caring for the trees, by ensuring they get enough water and cleaning up any rubbish that was not properly disposed of. The girls took pride in the fact that even after they leave primary school, the trees will serve as markers that they contributed to their school. There was also some excitement in knowing that more trees will give students a place to seek shade or refuge during the hot days of the year.
As more girls showed interest in the activity, the clubs adopted the slogan _TAG_, to symbolize their commitment to improving their local environment. As the project continues into their term this coming September, WREPA mentors will be seeking to create a more overt link where girls can see how having a healthy and clean environment can translate in to them taking better care of themselves by ensuring a holistic approach that fosters overall health and well-being. The overall project is in line with the sustainable development goals 13 on "Climate Action" and 15 "Life on Land" (3).
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In our school teacher told that salutaion comes after subject ans fast
Dear student,
Salutation can be written both before and after the subject. However, it would be best if you follow the pattern which your teacher has asked you to follow as it would be in coherence with the latest marking scheme.
- 0
hijo de puta
- 1
What are you looking for?
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From Engineering on March 23, 2007 in Decks and Patios
Over 80% of the countrys decks are made from pressure treated wood, making it the most popular deck material in the US. Even if a deck is made of cedar or redwood, it will most likely have a pressure treated substructure, because it is economical and long-lasting. About 80% of pressure treated wood is southern yellow pine. Its initial greenish color eventually fades to gray and is available at nearly every lumber outlet. Pressure treated wood usually has a warranty against decay and gets its name from the process of forcing a chemical preservative into the wood under pressure. Preservatives can be toxic so dont burn the wood or breath-in the saw dustthough a new process was introduced in 2005, making the lumber safer to use. Though the preservatives in the wood help protect against insects and rot, it does not prevent against weathering. Pressure treated would can be stained or painted, but be sure the product you are using is compatible with the pressure treated material. Pressure treated lumber will shrink and some of the grain may rise or open up. These so-called splits and splinters are a natural occurrence with pressure treated lumber and may happen within a few days after being exposed to the sun. It is by far the least costly building material available in deck construction and comes in a variety of dimensions. Estimated Cost of Pressure Treated Wood: 35-50 cents/linear foot.
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Of the 10,000 educators in Charlotte, fewer than 450 are male teachers of color. Of those male teachers of color in Charlotte, 27.2% will leave the profession after the first year.
In the 2015-16 school year, 96% of the male educators of color in the Profound Gentlemen network returned back into the field of education.
MORE ABOUT PROFOUND GENTLEMEN
Profound Gentlemen improves low retention for male educators of color through direct peer mentorship, professional development, and community gatherings for male educators of color.
Research has shown having men of color as role models and mentors greatly improves the social, emotional, and academic progress of all students, especially boys of color. However, boys of color are rarely exposed to men of color in the classroom.
Mario Jovan Shaw and Jason Terrell, the founders of Profound Gentlemen, saw this first hand as middle school teachers in Charlotte. "Relationships between male teachers of color and boys are so important," said Terrell. "Each day, a young man named Jaylen came into my classroom to talk and share. Meanwhile, in my first year, I sought the mentorship of a veteran male teacher of color who helped me understand my purpose in education. Profound Gentlemen creates this environment where more male teachers of color have that critical mentor and can, in turn, impact boys of color."
After launching Profound Gentlemen in 2014, Shaw and Terrell each received the prestigious Echoing Green fellowship that recognizes and supports social entrepreneurs globally.
To become connected to PG, male teachers of color download the Profound Gentlemen App and can communicate with over 500 male educators of color from around the nation. Each member attends bi-monthly on-line gatherings with a small 'impact cohort' and is encouraged to lead a student group. 87% of the Profound Gentlemen educators reported using resources provided from Profound Gentlemen in their practice.
PG has local programming in three cities: Charlotte, Chicago and Memphis, and has a special emphasis on connecting educators in the same feeder school pipeline in these cities.
Now in their third year, Terrell reports "our goal is to increase the number of teachers in our membership, while also making sure each has the support he needs to stay in education."
In 2016, The Belk Foundation invested $50,000 in Profound Gentlemen.
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Sleep, Rest, and Breast-Feeding
Rest and sleep are important to breast-feeding women for keeping up their energy and their milk production.
Help yourself sleep well
- Avoid or limit caffeine, especially in the hours before bedtime. Caffeine can keep you awake.
- Use the evening hours for settling down. Avoid watching TV and using the computer or phone if they keep you from getting to sleep.
- Make exercise a regular part of your life, but don't do it within 3 to 4 hours of bedtime.
- Keep your bedroom quiet, dark, and cool. Try using a sleep mask to help you sleep.
- Take a warm bath before bed.
- Make your own sleep routine. Try to have the same bedtime and wake-up time each day.
- Manage stress. The stress and worry that come with having a child who isn't sleeping well may be causing you sleep problems too.
- Take naps and find time to rest for short periods throughout the day, such as when your baby sleeps.
- You may be able to collect and store breast milk so that your partner can feed the baby while you sleep. Because both you and the baby have to learn how to breast-feed, you may want to wait a few weeks before you start pumping breast milk.
Get plenty of rest
Rest is also important for breast-feeding women to maintain their energy and milk production. You likely will not have a normal schedule when you first start to breast-feed. But you can take naps and find time to rest for short periods throughout the day, such as when your baby sleeps.
In addition to rest, exercise will also help you feel your best. For the time you are breast-feeding, try to plan a routine that incorporates both rest and exercise.
It is very important to ask for help when you need it. Ideally, plan ahead for certain periods that a friend, relative, or babysitter can come in to help with your chores and child care so you can exercise or rest.
For information about how to help your baby sleep well, see Reference Reference Sleep: Helping Your Children—and Yourself—Sleep Well.
|By:||Reference Healthwise Staff||Last Revised: Reference April 2, 2012|
|Medical Review:||Reference Sarah Marshall, MD - Family Medicine
Reference Kirtly Jones, MD - Obstetrics and Gynecology
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Located along the Potomac River on the north side of Alexandria, Bellevue was home to Alexandria merchant William Hodgson and his wife, Portia Lee, beginning in 1801. The 17-acre property had a house, kitchen, dairy, stables and other outbuildings. They raised their own vegetables and, at times, also grew cherries and collected wild blackberries.
But it was under the ownership of John Slater that Bellevue became well known for its production of fruits, vegetables and flowers. Slater, an awarding-winning horticulturist who had worked with William Yeates of Yeates Gardens, acquired Bellevue around 1840 and successfully developed greenhouses to grow flowers and other plants there.
Among the vegetables Slater grew and sold were asparagus, lettuce, peas and tomatoes, and his vegetable production continued during the Civil War. He also cultivated Catawba grapevines, roses, dahlias and strawberries, which received rave reviews. In 1845, a local paper remarked that Slaters were the finest strawberries we have seen this year and show his great success as a horticulturist. They are not only very large, but finely flavored, and really almost as good to look at, as they are to be eaten.
Bellevue remained in the Slater family for multiple generations and a descendant described the house, seen to the left of the greenhouses in this photo, as having a wide main hallway and a porch with pillars.
The house, which faced the river, suffered significant damage in a storm in the early 1900s. The property was later developed, and today, the eastern side of Slaters Lane is surrounded by a power plant and high rises.
Out of the Attic is provided by the Office of Historic Alexandria.
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Submitting your Abstract
9th international conference on smart materials and nanotechnology (smartmaterials2021) welcomes submission of abstracts for original contribution to the field in the following scientific tracks:
Track 1: Materials and science engineering
Track 2: Emerging smart materials
Track 3: Carbon nanotubes, graphene, and composites
Track 4: Material synthesis and characterization
Track 5: Optical, Magnetic and Electronic Materials
For detailed descriptions of each scientific track,View All Tracks
Download Abstract template here :
* Marked fields are
1Your Primary Details
2Abstract submission Details
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Well defined large mass located in left side of neck, specially in carotid and submandibular spaces and causing airway midline shift. On non-contrast images mild calcification is noted at inner portion of the mass.
After contrast injection, marked enhancement of the mass is seen with some areas of hypodensity which can be due to necrotic changes. Common carotid artery and main branches encased with the mass, but there is no evidence of vascular invasion. Several lymphadenopathies also is seen at adjacent neck spaces.
Fatty replacement of left half of the tongue is consistent of hypoglossal nerve involvement.
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Ray provides leadership development and consulting services to teams, organizations and family businesses in a variety of areas, to include the following: 1) preparing them to accomplish audacious undertakings, 2) developing future generations of leaders, 3) building stronger, more effective teams and dealing with impediments to high team performance, and 4) creating more inspiring environments.
As a West Point graduate and former leader of elite Army Special Operations units as well as a Harvard MPA/MBA, a McKinsey & Company leadership consultant and an official in the Obama Administration, Ray has over 30 years of leadership experience.
While it's widely recognized that talent is a key determinant of realizing organizational success, what's less common is the ability to provide talent developmental programs with near-term impact that sustains itself over the long-term. In both short and longer term customized leadership development engagements, Ray demonstrates this ability, which is attested to by client testimonials. These programs range from transformational offsites to extended, organization-wide, global leadership and talent development initiatives.
Ray specializes in working with teams, organizations and family businesses in both Leader Development and Leadership Development.
- Leader Development (Leading Oneself) – This involves gaining self-awareness, personal mastery, and cultivating the related knowledge, skills, abilities. The premise being that before we can lead others, we need to be able to lead ourselves.
- Leadership Development (Leading Others) – This involves the process, activities and capacities related to building healthy and high-performing teams/organizations (e.g. building trust, unleashing the potential of talent, using conflict constructively, creating alignment and commitment, achieving results, etc.).
OUR APPROACH TO LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
One size does not fit all when it comes to leadership. Every organization faces unique challenges and opportunities, and for that reason benefits most from a customized approach to leadership development. This first involves a deliberate diagnosis of the context to clearly understand the client's situation and needs. Then, carefully designing a made-to-order solution that will exceed expectations and produce the desired outcomes.
These leadership development programs achieve desired, lasting outcomes through creating a supportive learning environment that incorporates the adult learning principles of relevancy, action learning, and stretch experiences. This approach is equally effective whether a client requires an intensive offsite to create a rapid shift in attitudes, mindsets or behaviors, or a longer, more sustained transformational journey.
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LINGUIST List 3.440
Tue 26 May 1992
Qs: Telugu, Mandarin, Voice Projection, Dictionaries
Editor for this issue: <>
1. Zvi Gilbert, Phonology of Telugu
2. S Wang, Retroflex Suffix in Mandarin Chinese
3. Laurie Bauer, Query: voice projection
4. Victor Raskin, Brief E-Dictionaries
Message 1: Phonology of Telugu
Date: Sat, 23 May 1992 15:37:13Phonology of Telugu
From: Zvi Gilbert <>
Subject: Phonology of Telugu
I am a master's student writing my thesis this summer in the phonology
of sandhi processes in Telugu. I have dug around a lot in the
references to Telugu in the linguistics literature, but it is certain
that I have missed some.
If you have any references to the phonology of Telugu, could you
please mail them to me? I will of course acknowlege any assistance.
I have the two basic references for Telugu consonantal sandhi:
Krishnamurti, 1957 and Bhaskararao, 1982, as well as the work in
Language by Wilkinson, 1974. Did he ever publish again on this topic?
Thanks in advance to all.
--Zvi Gilbert
Message 2: Retroflex Suffix in Mandarin Chinese
Date: Tue, 26 May 92 00:24:13 BSRetroflex Suffix in Mandarin Chinese
From: S Wang <>
Subject: Retroflex Suffix in Mandarin Chinese
A little while ago I put in a mail asking for ideas about
experiments in Mandarin Chinese for my Masters Thesis.
Thanks very much for all the replies I recieved, there were lots of
great ideas and suggestions.
What I've decided to do is as comprehensive a study as I can of the
retroflex suffix in Beijing Mandarin (this is the -r suffix added to
words often as a dimintive or to show affection).
I'm going to be working on it full time over the next three months,
here in the linguistics department of Edinburgh Univeristy.
Some of the aspects I will be considering will be:
1) Phonetics: What are its acoustic and tonal characteristics? How
does it relate to stress?
2) Phonology: What are the phonological rules governing how it
interacts with the preceding syllable?
3) Syntax: Which syntactic categories can it go on? Can it ever
affect the syntax of the word it is attached to? (I doubt it!)
4) Semantics: Which semantic categories is it most at home on? Can it
ever change the meaning? (I doubt this too)
5) Pragmatics: When is it used, and what does it signify?
Idealy I would like to find a computerised corpus and search it for
sentences with the suffix in. Then I'll get native speakers to record
them onto DAT, so that I can make acoustic measurements and also work
out the phonological rules. I will do an analysis of the syntactic
and semantic categories of the words the suffix is attached to,
and find out, as far as I can, the pragmatic situations in which it is used.
If I can't find a computerised corpus, then I'll have to extract the
data by hand from a selection of books, newspapers etc.
If anyone knows where I could find a corpus of Mandarin Chinese,
or has any ideas, comments, or references about the retroflex
suffix, then please do let me know. Anything you can say
would be very useful.
Thanks very much,
Sophia Wang.
Sophia Wang
Department of Linguistics
Adam Furgeson Building
Edinburgh University
E-Mail: As header, or sophiaed.ling
Message 3: Query: voice projection
Date: Mon, 25 May 1992 10:40:00 Query: voice projection
From: Laurie Bauer <>
Subject: Query: voice projection
The other day I was speaking to a (non-linguist) colleague about the (lack of)
ability of university lecturers to project their voices. He said (and I quote
as nearly as I can recall) 'The main problem is that they speak down here
[indicating the ventral pharyngeal wall] rather than in the front of their
mouths'. This person has successfully taught voice production, but I could not
interpret what he meant. Clearly raised larynx or general palatalization --
both of which seemed possible interpretations -- were not what was meant. Can
anyone interpret this expression? More generally, is there any source which
interprets in phonetic terms the weird but apparently effective instructions of
speech and singing teachers, such as'sing with your forehead'?
Laurie Bauer
Message 4: Brief E-Dictionaries
Date: Mon, 25 May 92 21:26:57 ESBrief E-Dictionaries
From: Victor Raskin <>
Subject: Brief E-Dictionaries
I am posting it for a friend in Russia. She has a limited e-mail
connection, so please direct your responses to me. I will summarize
them for her and, if appropriate, for the list. This is just a query,
not at all a commercial. This is her unedited message:
"My firm produces electronic dictionaries - two of them, Engish-Russian
and Russian-English general dictionaries, are in the process of development
now, and one terminoligical dictionary (business and commerce, 6.700
entries) is already in sale. We intend to develope several series of
terminological dictionaries of small volume - from 1000 to 5000 entries
each. I'd like to know, are there any electronic terminological dictionaries
into US software market? I saw in price-lists only thesauruses,
synonim dictionaries and two (and more)-language general lexics dictionaries.
May be Americans use modem-link with big terminological databases instead of
standalone programes? I'll be very grateful to you for any information
on US electronic terminological dictionaries and their sales prices."
Victor Raskin
Professor of English and Linguistics _PHONE_
Chair, Interdepartmental Program in Linguistics _PHONE_ fax
Coordinator, Natural Language Processing Laboratory
Purdue University
W. Lafayette, IN 47907 U.S.A.
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Another Type of War Is Already Playing Out: A Financial War
Another Type of War Is Already Playing Out: A Financial War
Dear Reader,
Taiwan has become 'the most dangerous flashpoint' in US–China relations, according to a recent article in The Diplomat.
As the situation in the Taiwan Strait intensifies, the prospect of a shooting war between China and the US cannot be ruled out. But as Jim Rickards explains, another type of war is already playing out.
What are the factors driving it — and what does it mean for investors?
Read on to find out…
Until next time,
Shae Russell Signature
Shae Russell,
Editor, The Daily Reckoning Australia
If the Third World War Starts Soon, It Will Begin Here
The odds of a new world war right now are low, but they're uncomfortably high relative to where they were six months ago. This is not surprising. The world has been wracked by a coronavirus pandemic and a resulting economic collapse worse than the Great Depression.
Countries must contain the virus and at the same time deal with record unemployment, unprecedented levels of debt, and a broken supply chain that will keep factories closed and workers unemployed even when the worst of the virus is past.
When governments face these kinds of internal difficulties, they often look to external enemies to pick fights with to distract attention and rally their citizens behind the national leadership (despite the dismal economy).
The world has no shortage of hotspots right now, including Syria, Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, and the India-China border. But the most dangerous of all is the Strait of Taiwan, which is the subject of this article by the Taiwan Times.
The US, China, and Taiwan
In 1949, the Communists took over mainland China, but the Nationalist forces were not destroyed. Instead, they retreated by sea across the Strait of Taiwan to the island of Taiwan (formerly Formosa). (By the way, when the Nationalists left the mainland, they took a huge amount of China's artistic and archaeological treasures with them. They're on display in the National Palace Museum. I highly recommend a visit there if you're in Taiwan.)
Both the Communists and the Nationalists claim to be the legitimate government of China, even though the Communists obviously control the great majority of the land and population. China has vowed to reclaim Taiwan by force, if necessary.
The US is arming the Taiwanese (as it has for decades). The US has treaties with Taiwan that pledge US support if China tries to invade. A new Taiwanese government has expressed interest in declaring Taiwan an independent country. That would trigger a Chinese invasion and a US response.
The US Seventh Fleet is on patrol in the straits that separate the mainland and Taiwan. Let's hope nothing comes of this. But it would be ironic if a virus that produced death around the world led to more death by provoking the Chinese into launching an invasion they have dreamed about for over 70 years.
Before a shooting war begins, a financial war will play out
A shooting war between China and the US may or may not break out, but the financial war is already here. The financial war has been going on a long time, but it's escalating, and some large systemic shocks may be next. Investors need to be prepared.
From 2007 to 2010, China was devaluing its currency to promote exports and get as many dollars as it could. The US fought this and finally the two sides agreed on a stable exchange rate around seven yuan to one US dollar.
China cheated twice (in August 2015 and again in December 2015). Both times, US stock markets tanked. Stability was restored in February 2016, with the 'Shanghai Accord' worked out by Janet Yellen. Then came the trade wars in 2018. Again, stability was restored in January 2020 with the 'Phase One' trade deal.
Now, with the global pandemic, a new great depression, and a US–China blame game, all bets are off.
Dangerous ground for investors
Reuters recently described how China just broke its treaty obligations with the people of Hong Kong and is imposing strict Communist rule on Hong Kong. The US will likely remove special trade privileges from Hong Kong because it is no longer 'autonomous' as required for the special status.
China is weakening its currency again (the yuan is already down to 7.15-to-1) and is threatening the US with an alternative currency to the dollar if the US imposes sanctions on Hong Kong.
The Phase One trade deal is hanging by a thread.
Some of this is bluster and some of it is serious, but it's all dangerous ground for investors.
We've been warning readers of Strategic Intelligence Australia to get out of Chinese investments for a long time and now that warning applies to Hong Kong also. The real blow will come with regard to the Hong Kong dollar. It's a separate currency supported by a currency board and backed up with reserves. The idea is to maintain a stable exchange rate to the dollar.
Market expert Shae Russell predicts five knock-on effects of the recent market crash that could be even bigger threats to the average investor's wealth than the crash itself.
But China would love to get its hands on those hard currency reserves and might not care about the exchange rate if the US walked away from its trading relationship. China might even favour getting rid of the Hong Kong dollar because it's one more way to deprive Hong Kong of what's left of its independence.
If the Hong Kong dollar went (and it may), this would lead to a crash in Hong Kong equities and real estate that would leave investors in ruins. There's still time to get out of Hong Kong investments, but the clock is ticking.
All the best,
Jim Rickards Signature
Jim Rickards,
Strategist, The Daily Reckoning Australia
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There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember. And there is pansies, that's for thoughts."
It's said that Lévi-Strauss in fact suggested using the phrase "Pansies for Thoughts" as the title for his book in English. Shakespeare's plays are dotted with such evocations of the folk wisdom of flowers, which have been held up as proof of the Bard's humble origins; a Francis Bacon or an Earl of Oxford might have known the classical names of plants, but the peasants' categories would have been beyond his mien. The meanings of flowers are documented at great length in Victorian "floriographies," or flower languages, which elaborate the passions, attributes, and states of mind symbolized by dozens of varieties of wild and cultivated trees, shrubs, and herbs. The Ash Tree represents Grandeur, or Prudence; the Bee Orchis, Industry; the Chickweed, Rendezvous. One could compose a message to one's beloved in the form of a bouquet—although by the time the dear one would have decoded the terms, the posie would have withered away. The floriographies all include a flower that arouses the curiosity of someone looking into traces of reading and writing throughout the culture: a flower called the Abecedary, symbolizing Volubility. The (far more common) non-floral use of the word abecedary is in connection with alphabets written out or printed and illustrated for children, a usage which dates back to the Middle Ages, and covers alphabets reproduced on hornbooks and school slates and carved into headstones. The floral meaning of abecedary isn't documented by the Oxford English Dictionary, even though it's in alI the floriography volumes—at least the ones I've checked thus far in Google Books, including the most famous one illustrated by Kate Greenaway (published in 1885; alas Kate made no illustration of the abecedary flower). The fullest explanation appears in The Language of Flowers (1835):
Volubility, Abecedary. This plant is a native of the island of Fernalus; when you chew its head, or roots, the tongue feels a stimulating sensation, that gives it a singular fluency. This plant is employed in looseing children's tongues, whence comes its name abecedary, or children's grass.
A flower that gives a singular fluency: that's one for my garden, to bloom between the poppies and the morning glories. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to exist. It's as though in a Structuralist move the Victorian floriographers had identified the need for a Volubility flower, a necessary node in the paradigm of the flowers pertaining to the quality of comprehensive and compulsive loquacity, which they answered with a postulated blossom named (naturally enough) for the alphabet.
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Diana Zuckerman, PhD
As kids go back to school, parents are in for a shock. Security measures are everywhere, and tighter than ever before. Some schools have learned their lessons from the Pentagon — since metal detectors are considered inadequate to keep schools safe, all kids must now wear photo ID's hanging around their necks.
This kind of "solution" may reassure some of the parents, students, and teachers, who are worried about whether any schools are truly safe. Certainly, metal detectors have become an important safety strategy in the lives of many Americans. But the shortcoming of some of these strategies is that they are aimed at the enemy out there, when so many of the problems have already come inside.
The tragic murders of school children have taught us a lesson, but it may not be the lesson we needed to learn. As Congress debates whether the problem is the availability of guns or the pervasiveness of violence in the media, virtually nothing is done to prevent either. And that means that the "nice, quiet kid" with his ID around his neck may be entering school with a gun hidden conveniently outside and his brain filled with exciting, violent images of death and destruction.
There are few debates less worthwhile than whether violence in America is caused by guns or the media. Both are worthy of blame. If we want to make our schools and communities safer, we need to change children's attitudes towards guns and violence as well as their access to guns and to images of violence.
Countless studies have shown that violence is pervasive in American "entertainment" and that children are exposed to it every day. Thirty years of research has proven that children who watch violent programs are more likely to hurt others, and to become criminals as teenagers or adults. It will take a few years to study the long-term impact of the increasingly violent and realistic computer and video games, but it is likely that they are even more dangerous, because of the interactive nature of these games.
There is one problem with media violence as the scapegoat: How do you explain the lower murder rates in countries that enjoy the same kinds of media violence as the U.S? Guns are the obvious answer. Guns are cheap and easy to buy in America, and you don't need to be a research scholar to know that young children with guns have a power to kill large numbers of classmates and teachers that they otherwise would not have. More than 9,000 murders in the U.S. involve handguns every year, compared to 106 in Canada and 15 in Japan. Restricting access to guns would help to decrease violence, but, despite Littleton, Congress seems determined to preserve loopholes large enough for any alienated 15-year old to get through. Their excuse? Most who oppose gun control say that media violence is the real culprit.
They are missing the point — it's the combination of guns and glorified media violence that is making our schools and communities unsafe. Films, TV programs, and video and computer games are pervasive, persuasive, and powerful teachers, and they often glorify violence and teach children, starting at a very young age, that violence is an acceptable strategy. If films, programs, and games were designed to instead teach the opposite lesson, and demonstrate just as powerfully how to resolve differences nonviolently, there would be fewer tragedies like the one in Littleton.
Restrictions on advertising might be helpful, but the real problem is the product, not the promotion of the product. Unfortunately, convincing producers, networks, and manufacturers to change their products will require major legal or financial incentives.
Parents need to do more to restrict their children's exposure to media violence, and to stop paying for that exposure, but parents can't watch over their children every hour of the day. Changing policies in the public and private sectors is also essential. One important example is the age restrictions on films and videos, which are often totally ignored. Warning "labels" on violent videos, similar to those on cigarettes, would also be effective. If age restrictions were enforced and if parents were confronted with labels warning about the dangers of violent movies and games, these products, many of which are geared toward young boys, would no longer be such a lucrative business. This would serve two important goals: decreasing children's exposure to the most violent "entertainment" and forcing manufacturers to make their products less violent if they want to sell them to children.
Serious efforts to restrict access to R rated movies would require more low-wage personnel at theaters and stores, which is not too much to ask. Restricting access to violent video movies and games requires changing the written and unwritten policies of video rental stores, many of which currently rent almost anything to anybody, including young children. Warning labels and stricter movie theater and rental policies, such as always requiring an ID, would be applauded by many parents, who would welcome an excuse to say no and the assurance that their children couldn't ignore those no's.
The best public policies in the world cannot always prevent the murder of school children, but strengthening and enforcing existing policies can help protect children from violence. Communities are looking for answers and they need to look inside their own homes and businesses: if we want to decrease violence in America, parents, community leaders, and policy makers need to work together to decrease children's access to TV programs, movies, and games that glorify guns and violence, as well as the guns themselves.
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Central American crisis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Central American Crisis)
Jump to: navigation, search
The Central American crisis refers to events in the late 1970s when major civil wars and pro-communist revolutions erupted in various countries in Central America resulting in the region becoming one of the world's foreign policy hot spots in the 1980s. In particular, the United States feared that victory by communist forces would threaten the Panama Canal and would isolate the rest of South America from the United States if the counties of Central America were to be installed by pro-soviet communist governments.
Main article: Nicaraguan Revolution
El Salvador[edit]
Main article: Salvadoran Civil War
The United States supported the Salvadoran military government.[1][2][3] Israel also actively supported the government forces. The conflict ended in the early 1990s. Between 75,000 and 90,000 people were killed in El Salvadoran Civil War.[citation needed]
Main article: Guatemalan Civil War
Guatemala's civil war began in 1960, but the army and death squads appeared to have contained it. However, Guatemala also saw an increase in violence in the late 1970s, marked by the 1978 Panzós massacre. In 1982 the resurgent guerrilla groups united in the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity. The presidency of Efraín Ríos Montt (_PHONE_), during which he implemented a strategy he called "beans and bullets", is widely considered[by whom?] the war's turning point. The Guatemalan government and the severely weakened guerrillas signed a peace agreement in December 1996, ending the war.
United States response[edit]
Peace efforts[edit]
See also[edit]
1. ^ Francesca Davis DiPiazza. El Salvador in Pictures. p. 32.
3. ^ [1] CIA World Factbook. Accessed online February 21, 2008.
External links[edit]
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In 2011, public fire departments responded to 1,389,500 fires in the United States, 4.4 percent more than the year before, according to Michael Karter in his article "Fire Loss in the United States During 2011" in the most recent issue of NFPA Journal. These included an estimated 484,500 structure fires, virtually the same number as occurred in 2010. Of these structure fires, 386,000 were residential fires, accounting for 80 percent of all structure fires. For nonresidential structure fires, some property types showed notable changes compared to 2010: there were 6,500 fires involving institutional properties, an increase of 18.2 percent, and 10,000 fires involving industrial properties, an increase of 11.1 percent. In addition, 686,000 outside fires were reported in 2011, an increase of 8.2 percent over 2010. An estimated 338,000 of these were brush, grass, and wildland fires, a significant increase of 11.2 percent from the year before. You can read the article check out the complete report online.
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24 Hours Not Enough? See the Light
Pulses of Bright Light May Reset Body Clock and Stretch the Day to 25 Hours
May 14, 2007 -- Get ready for the 25-hour day. A new study, funded by NASA,
shows that it's possible to cram an extra hour into the day.
The researchers included Charles Czeisler, MD, PhD, director of the sleep
medicine division at Harvard Medical School and chief of the sleep medicine
division at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital.
They studied 12 healthy young adults (average age: 28) who volunteered to
spend 65 days living in individual rooms without windows, clocks, or any other
Before the experiment began, the volunteers got eight hours of nightly sleep
at home for at least three weeks.
When they reported to the lab, they spent three days on a normal 24-hour
day. Then the researchers tweaked the hours of light and darkness to pinpoint
the participants' natural circadian rhythm, commonly called the "body
Next, the scientists tacked on an extra hour of light to each participants'
natural amount of daily wakefulness.
The researchers didn't just leave the lights on for an extra hour. At the
end of each "day," the scientists cranked up the light in the overhead
fluorescent lights, delivering two pulses of extremely bright light.
The bright light pulses were nearly 10 times brighter than normal room
light, according to the study.
After the pulses of bright light, participants didn't go to sleep right
away. They stayed up an extra hour, effectively getting 25 hours per day.
Participants stayed on the 25-hour-day cycle for a month. They adjusted to
the schedule, judging by their core body temperature and levels of melatonin, a
hormone involved in circadian rhythms.
Before leaving the lab, participants spent three days on a normal 24-hour
The findings may come in handy if astronauts go to Mars. A Martian day lasts
for 24.65 earthly hours, note the researchers. They argue that without
resetting the body clock to a 25-hour day, astronauts on Mars would be
constantly jetlagged, which could be dangerous.
Of course, Mars-bound astronauts aren't the only people with circadian
rhythm issues. Shift workers and people with sleep disorders may also have body
The researchers write that "the implications of these findings are
important, because they could be used to treat circadian misalignment
associated with space flight, shift work, and circadian rhythm sleep
The study appears online in the early edition of Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences.
- What would you do if you could add an
hour to your day? Tell us on WebMD's Health Cafe message board.
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Boost Your Brain Power
Often at times we feel our brains all clogged up and now and again we experience forgetfulness. You might even start thinking you are getting old or start blaming it on the booze you might have been consuming over the weekends. On the contrary It could simpl. be that you've become preoccupied, what with the assignments and deadlines, who wouldn't be. But if you just want to boost your brain power to allow maximum performance or merely for your benefit, read on for some handy tips!! 1. Engage in physical exercise Believe it or not, when you exercise your body, you exercise your mind as well. The blood pumped increases the oxygen going to your brain which in turn reduces the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases which can lead to memory loss. So whatever exercise is in tune with your body, be it aerobics or a jog, as long as your body gets blood pumping it will be worth your while. 2. Ensure you're sleeping Aim for 6-8 hours of sleep every night to get your brain recharged. And those gadgets we've become such fanatics of? How about you switch then off an hour before going to bed to help your mind shut off as well. Reduce any caffeinated drinks or products as those may affect your sleeping pattern. 3. Stimulate that brain! Mental stimulation, according to research, lowers the risk of dementia. So get out there and interact with others, learn new things and play mind exercise games like Sudoku. 4. Be aware of stress Stress doesn't only make you miserable, but might cause serious long-term effects. Stress has been shown to destroy brain cells of the area creating new memories and recalling past ones. Try avoiding taking on a lot of tasks if you can. 5. Food for thought Certain foods have been proven to significantly prevent memory loss. Ensure to include fruits and vegetables in your diet as well as foods high in Omega-3 fatty acids such as salmon and tuna.
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Websites are filled with dozens of hyperlinks, each sending you to another destination on the internet. Hyperlinks can often be recognized when the mouse cursor changes to a pointing finger. And hyperlinks often appear as images or as underlined words/phrase.
Clicking a hyperlink is all it takes to make the jump to the other destination on the internet. When you click the hyperlink instructs your web browser to load the target web page, usually within seconds.URL: ecolesadefendre.fr
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the maximum value (1/5) but, when this increase continues, the methanolysis reaction yield is then lowered. Thus, the molar ratio of methanol to oil has a significant impact on the viscosity of the obtained biodiesel, where the lowest viscosity value is associated to higher Conversion and Selectivity values, 100% and 98.8%, respectively.
2.4. Influence of Temperature on Process Performance
The optimized conditions (weight of catalyst, reaction time and molar oil/alcohol ratio) have been established according to an elevated temperature, 65 °C. However, the evaluation of the influence of reaction temperature on reaction performance may provide information of interest in relation to the catalysed reaction mechanism of the sunflower oil methanolysis process. Thus, under the experimental conditions of Table 1 (time reaction 60 min, 0.8 g KF/Al2O3, 12 mL oil and 2.43 mL methanol) several reactions were carried out at different temperatures in the 45 to 65 °C range. Results shown in Figure 4 indicate that Conversion and Selectivity reach the highest value, 100% and 99.9% respectively, at 50 °C, however viscosity values exhibit a continuous decrease with increasing temperature.
Recalling that the Selectivity is connected to those methanolysis products with similar RT (retention time) values to those hydrocarbons that comprise conventional fossil diesel, and in this interval not only the different FAMEs are present, but also the corresponding MGs. Besides, a 99% Selectivity with Conversion of 100% would indicate the presence of at least 1% of DG (diglyceride), so that the viscosity obtained is somewhat higher that corresponding to pure the FAME constituting conventional biodiesel. That is, it is perfectly possible for two reaction samples with similar Conversion and Selectivity values to differ in viscosity values. Thus, it is concluded the greater relevance of the viscosity with respect to the Conversion and Selectivity data, with respect to the information obtained on the consecutive reaction progress of sunflower oil methanolysis.
In this respect, the viscosity appears as the most sensitive parameter to the progress of the reaction where the Arrhenius equation that fit Equations (1) and (2) it can be applied as can be seen in Figure 5, where the kinematic viscosity is a parameter directly related to the reaction rate constants:
Here we have that A is the Arrhenius pre exponential factor and Ea is the activation energy of the reaction. This equation is linear with respect to 1/T. If k is determined for varying temperatures, the plot of Ln k vs. 1/T should produce a straight line of slope −Ea/R. The inverse of kinematic viscosity is used because of this parameter inversely decreases with the progress of the reaction. In this way it is obtained that LnA = 5.37, where A is expressed in cSt−1. Activation energy value Ea = 1.16 Kcal/mol is a relative low value that indicates a low influence of temperature on the reaction rate. Thus, it manifests the higher catalytic activity of the KF/Al2O3 catalyst.
It is also important to note how the Selectivity, the Conversion and the inverse of the kinematic viscosity follow a parallel evolution among them, so that is perfectly demonstrated that with the transformation of TG into DG and this in MG, a gradual reduction in the values of kinematic viscosity is obtained, that is, the viscosity decreases more as the concentration of TG and DG is more reduced. The MG concentration does not appear to affect the viscosity of the mixture in a similar measure as those of TG or DG do. Presumably, the influence of these species in the viscosity of reaction mixture will be directly related to the relative values of their respective molecular weights, so that TG ≈ 3/2 DG ≈ 3 MG ≈ 3 FAME.
2.5. Influence of the Repeated Used of the Three Catalysts, on the Process Performance
Taking into account that a main advantage of heterogeneous catalysts is the possibility of their reuse, the catalytic behaviour of repeated uses of the three different KF/support catalysts was investigated, where as supports Al2O3 ZnO and MgO have been studied. Figure 6, Figure 7 and Figure 8 show the variation of Conversion, Selectivity and viscosity over the five studied reuses.
To evaluate the reuses of the different catalysts, in the first reaction 12 mL sunflower oil and 2.43 mL methanol (corresponding to a 1/6 oil/methanol molar ratio), and 0.8 g catalyst (7 wt%) was used, operating at 65 °C for 60 min. In the next successive reactions the same amounts of sunflower oil and methanol were added after withdrawing the previous reaction products. Thus, after allowing the reaction product to be decanted for one hour, the supernatant liquid is removed with a pipette and the supported KF solid catalyst remains deposited in the bottom of the flask reactor, ready to be used again in the next reaction.
According to the results, with all three supported KF catalysts studied it is obtained that, after the first reaction, Conversion and Selectivity decrease continuously while the kinematic viscosity is increased from 5 to 7 cSt to values close to 20 cSt, corresponding to a lowering in the Conversions and Selectivity from 100% to values lower than 10%. In this respect, KF/Al2O3 exhibits the worst catalytic behaviour respect to reuse capability, despite of the fact of being the best heterogeneous KF catalyst studied in the first use. The catalysts KF/ZnO and KF/MgO allow a second reuse, with the same catalytic behavior seen in the first one, and a softer decline in Conversion and Performance that the Al2O3 catalyst. However, the CaO catalyst showed a better performance in regard to the reuse of the heterogeneous catalysts. Catalyst deactivation in no case could be associated to a leaching of the supported KF, according to results obtained after separation of the solid catalysts from the reaction when the reaction was started. These complementary studies, included in the Experimental section, indicate that reaction was always completely interrupted after the separation of supported KF catalyst. Thus, no KF was present in the medium reaction. In this way, deactivation ought to be adscribed to some kind of interaction of reaction products or to impurities, like free fatty acids presents in very little amounts in the sunflower oil.
3. Experimental Section
Sunflower oil with a kinematic viscosity of 32 cSt was obtained commercially. Chromatographically pure ethyl esters of palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid and linolenic acid were commercially obtained from Accustandard (New Haven, CT, USA), and the hexadecane (cetane) from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA). The catalysts and the methanol were obtained commercially from Panreac (New Delhi, India) and were of a purity >99%.
3.2. Synthesis of Catalysts: Supported KF
To synthesise of 10% KF systems supported on three different inorganic solids (Al2O3, ZnO and MgO) an "incipient wetness" impregnation method described previously has been used with a solution of KF (Panreac P.A.), in methanol-water. Thus, support (9 g) and a solution of KF (1 g) mixed in methanol (5 mL) and water (2 mL) were mixed with continuous stirring in a rotary evaporator for one hour. Then the solvent was removed by evaporation to dryness. The solid is heated in an oven at 150 °C for 24 h to remove solvent residues before use.
3.3. Alcoholysis Reactions
The transesterification reaction of food-grade sunflower oil was carried out in a stirred batch reactor, consisting of a 25 mL volume round bottom flask, which was placed in a thermostatic bath. The reactor, with controlled temperature and stirring speed, is equipped with a reflux condenser to avoid methanol losses. The stirring speed was set at 700 rpm to prevent mass transfer limitations. Sunflower oil, methanol and the activated solid were introduced into the reactor, trying to avoid as much as possible contact between the catalyst and the room atmosphere. After the temperature is raised to the desired value, the reaction starts with the agitation of reactants and catalyst in the reactor. The reaction mixture comprises sunflower oil (9.4 g, 12 mL, 0.01 mol), a variable oil/alcohol molar ratio (1/2–1/12), temperatures in the 30–65 °C range and different catalyst amounts in the 0.2–1.0 g range.
In order to exclude the possibility of leaching of KF into the reaction product, some experiments were conducted by measuring the activity of filtrate after 50% conversion, to prove that the reaction does not go to completion after the supported KF solid catalyst is removed from the reaction medium.
3.4. Analytical Methods
Reaction products were monitored at 450 °C with splitless injection at 350 °C by capillary column gas chromatography, using a Varian 430-GC gas chromatograph (Varian Medical Systems, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, USA), equipped with a FID (Flame Ionization Detector) and connected to a HT5 capillary column (25 m × 0.32 mm ID ×
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Often asked: Who Is John The Baptist?
Who is John the Baptist to Jesus?
According to the Gospel of Luke, John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth were relatives. Some scholars maintain that John belonged to the Essenes, a semi-ascetic Judaic sect who expected a messiah and who practiced ritual baptism. John used baptism as the central symbol or sacrament of his pre-messianic movement.
What was John the Baptist real name?
Adaptations. The Hebrew name was adopted as Ἰωάννης (Iōánnēs) in Biblical Greek as the name of both John the Baptist and John the Apostle. In the Latin Vulgate this was originally adopted as Iohannes (or Johannes – in Latin, J is the same letter as I).
How did Jesus describe John the Baptist?
Was John the Baptist a disciple of Jesus?
There is no biblical evidence indicating that John the Baptist ever became a disciple of Jesus, even though it seems he had plenty of time to do so. In fact, to this day, a community of disciples of John the Baptist still exists in the Middle East.
How much older was John the Baptist than Jesus?
So according to that story John the Baptist is six months older. The RC church celebrates the following. 25th of March the Annunciation to Mary, 24th of June the birth of St John the Baptist, 25th of December birth of Jesus. The Birth of St John is celebrated in the northern countries as the Midsummer celebration.
Who died first John or Jesus?
What was John's main message?
The purpose of this gospel, as stated by John himself, is to show that Jesus of Nazareth was Christ, the Son of God, and that believers in him might have eternal life.
Why is John the Baptist called Elijah?
So John the Baptist was Elijah in the sense that he ministered "in the spirit and power of Elijah." This similarity extended to John's rustic clothing (Matt 3:4; cf. 2 Kings 1:8).
Why did John the Baptist have to prepare the way for Jesus?
Just as Christ would accept sinners but admonish them to sin no more, John told the tax collectors to stop defrauding citizens. Just as Christ would criticize the religious establishment for their hypocrisy, John called them a "brood of vipers" (Luke 1:7) and sought their repentance before baptizing them.
You might be interested: Quick Answer: What Happened At The 16th Street Baptist Church In Birmingham Alabama?
What did John the Baptist say when Jesus was baptized?
John tried to make him change his mind, but Jesus answered, "In this way we will do all that God requires." So John agreed. Heaven was opened and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. Then a voice said from heaven, " This is my own dear son with whom I am pleased."
Why was John the Baptist so important?
John the Baptist, (born 1st decade bce, Judaea, Palestine, near Jerusalem—died 28–36 ce; feast day June 24), Jewish prophet of priestly origin who preached the imminence of God's Final Judgment and baptized those who repented in self-preparation for it; he is revered in the Christian church as the forerunner of Jesus
What is the difference between John the Baptist and Jesus?
John the Baptist called people to repentance while Jesus died for the forgiveness of sins. John baptized with water while Jesus baptized with Holy Spirit. 4. John preached about the promised Messiah while Jesus preached about the kingdom of God.
Which disciple did Jesus loved the most?
Why didn't John the Baptist become a disciple of Jesus?
IMO, Jesus did not make John a disciple because John was retiring and Jesus was taking over for John. John the Baptist was the forerunner and announced that the Messiah was coming and proclaimed who He was. That was his job.
You might be interested: Readers ask: How Old Is John The Baptist Than Jesus?
Is the Gospel of John John the Baptist?
In this gospel, John is not called "the Baptist." The Baptist's ministry overlaps with that of Jesus; his baptism of Jesus is not explicitly mentioned, but his witness to Jesus is unambiguous. The evangelist almost certainly knew the story of John's baptism of Jesus and he makes a vital theological use of it.
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Is there an Is/Ought Distinction?
No. Sorry, Hume. Why? Let's examine the types of things we're looking at:
Is: Facts, truths, things we know about the world, the positive, the descriptive
Ought: Things we ought to do, things we should do, the normative, the prescriptive
If we're not Bill Clinton, when we talk about what is, we can point to things. We can show the results of scientific testing, the pictures taken with the Hubble telescope, the flower, the tree, the book, whatever. Even if the subject of discussion isn't physically tangible, there is a referent for that which is.
The definitions I have of ought, though, are kind of useless. They're basically just synonyms, dancing around each other without telling us anything new about the concept of 'ought.' That's a big red flag for there being nothing behind all the language, and I hold that there isn't. If 'ought' existed somewhere out there, it would be a different kind of thing than anything we've ever seen or studied. What do normative statements look like, anyway? Unconditional imperatives, those statements that call us to take action based on no particular condition aside from perhaps existence, are based on lies. There are no 'shoulds' floating around in the universe. Atoms don't come with and xml tags. There are no goodons, or categorical imperatives.
That doesn't mean that what is, is good, nor does it mean that all morality relative. It only means that the only things in the entire world that give humans reasons for doing things are our values, those things we want and desire. We take action because we want to. Living is valuable because we want to live. Happiness is valuable because we want to be happy. There's nothing else to base 'shoulds' on. There is only merely real desires. And those desires are 'is's. We can study them, we can count them, we can in theory measure them. They live inside our brains, we experience them as attractions and repulsions, we can reason about them, change them and explain them. From this we can construct theories of objective morality and plans for the future of robot morality.
[Added later for clarity:] It may still be useful to make a conceptual distinction between those things which are facts about the world and those things which are facts about how we would like the world to be. But there isn't a rigorous philosophical distinction.
Is there an Is/Ought Distinction? No, because Ought is merely a type of Is.
This has been Post the Ninth of Blogathon
16 thoughts on "Is there an Is/Ought Distinction?
1. Jay Feldman says:
I'm a little bit hesitant to completely throw out the word ought. Yes, desires entirely define what "ought" is, but there has to be something connecting "I desire the world to be this way" and actually making the world a certain way.
So, the word ought could be translating desires to actions.
2. Michael says:
If "ought" is merely a type of "is" the desire to get ahead at others' expense (for one example) "is", and one cannot say it "ought" or "ought not" to be according to what you said. I do not think this is something you desire. How do you deal with say the desire to rob that "is" versus the desire not to be robbed that "is" too? If "ought" is a kind of "is" where does that leave us?
- You're right that acknowledging that values are things that exist in the world make most of our moral theories warp and even fall apart. You should check out the link to Desirism I put above. It's also here:
- Michael says:
I meant to check it out, thanks. After having done so, I must say it hardly strikes me as moral realism. Desires would be about the most mind-dependent things you can base a moral theory on. The heart of his theory, if I have read him correctly, is "A desire is good to the degree that it tends to fulfill other desires." That's completely subjective by definition, and thus little help in establishing objective morality. Unless of course this is meant to be a moral subjectivist theory, though I assume from your link with it that's not so.If it is a subjective theory, it's no worse than many, and better than some by far.
- The entire point of this post is that mind-dependent and subjective are not the same thing. We can objectively determine, at least in theory, other people's thoughts, opinions and desires. That makes it an objective theory.
- Michael says:
To that extent, perhaps. It still does not show how some desires can be held as objectively better than others that I've seen however.
- But this would mean that, say, your preference for a particular flavour of ice cream would be considered "objective" by the same criteria, but that's exactly the sort of thing that is considered paradigmatically subjective for cases like this. Thus, it seems that two senses of "objective" are being used here, and so you won't really get far with this. Yes, in the sense you're using objective, perhaps mind-dependent things aren't really subjective, but the fear of subjectivity in the is/ought cases is really about mind-dependence, and not that sort of subjectivity at al.
3. The big issue is that in your list of definitions, you leave out one for the oughts that's really important. The three big ways of talking about the is/ought distinction are: is/ought (you have it), descriptive/normative (you have it) and … fact/value, and while you have fact in the "is" column you left "value" out of the "ought' column. And then as you go on to talk about values all the time, the reply to your whole post is that the instant you bring in "value", you've moved to the "ought" side, and so using them to argue that there is no distinction basically misrepresents what the whole debate is over.
- Michael says:
Well put. I concur.
- That's a great point. I could have put value in the definitions for Ought and restructured the argument so that I argued that value in fact was in the Is section, but I think in the end I'm making the same point. Values are a type of thing that exists in the world. If Ought refers to values, Ought is a subset of is.
- verbosestoic says:
The problem here is that all moral realists think that moral values, at least, are things in the world, but many deny that they are facts in the sense of the fact/value distinction. "Fact" isn't quite being used in that distinction in the way you're using it here, and so there's a big risk of equivocation on that.
A way to put it might be this: you talk about things being decided by our wants, or our desires. Most people will agree that our actions are determined by our beliefs and our desires. No problem there. The issue, though, is that people do argue that just because you DO want to do something doesn't mean that you OUGHT to want to do it, and the claim then is that the "is" part is what you want but the "ought" part is what you, well, ought to want. There is a difference between describing your desires and prescribing them. Yes, in some sense it is a fact — meaning a true statement about the world — that one ought to want X instead of Y, but it isn't simply a fact describing a specific position. And that, then, is the is/ought distinction in a nutshell.
- Did you see the addition I made in the post? Does that adequately respond to your critique?
- Well, no, because my critique is more that the distinction does matter philosophically and is the heart of the debate. I'm not sure what you mean by "rigourous philosophical definition", but that's probably what we're disagreeing on.
4. drakvl says:
I see the difference as a different distinction: one of scientific problems versus engineering problems (phrases used somewhat figuratively). By scientific problem, I mean one with a single solution; by engineering problem, I mean one with many different possible solutions. (If there is some better terminology, I would love to hear it.) Thus, I see is as a solution to a scientific problem, and an ought being a rationale for choosing among the solutions to an engineering problem.
Aside from that, I would like to say that I'm responding to a year-old post because I find your blog engrossing and thought-provoking. Please keep up the good work!
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"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. - That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
These most remembered words from the document and the event we celebrate today define us as a nation. They might be considered our national credo.
Over the past 236 years we have argued and even come to blows over how exactly that statement affects our notion of freedom and liberty, but through it all we have endured as a shining example of self government most of the rest of the world looks to as a model.
And yet, so many of us take our democracy, our freedoms, for granted. When the electorate is called upon to answer the call and participate in this great democratic experiment, more than half of us decline.
"Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country." Franklin Roosevelt's reminder that this is a government of, by and for the people drives home the notion that without the participation of the electorate, elections are diminished and the candidates who ultimately govern are diminished.
We will celebrate all that is good in this great nation today, and culminate the event with the thunder and flashes reminiscent of our birth under fire.
These United States have endured foreign attack, civil war and countless internal squabbles, lurching from one crisis to the next. But through it all the strength of our resolve and that simple statement of belief has carried us through.
| 1.235822 |
HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu
|
Many of us have experienced an involuntary eyelid spasm but didn't give it much thought. These eyelid spasms, or twitches, are a repetitive and involuntary spasm of the muscles in the eyelids. The twitch most frequently occurs in the upper eyelid, but can occasionally occur in both upper and lower eyelids.
The twitch sensation is generally painless and harmless. It can be caused by several factors and rarely indicates a more serious underlying condition. One condition, however, that can contribute to eyelid twitching is dry eye syndrome (DES). Below, we'll briefly explain DES and how it can trigger eyelid twitching.
What Is DES?
Dry eye syndrome is characterized by the chronic lack of sufficient ocular lubrication and can be caused by allergies, irritants, and insufficient or poor quality tears. Some symptoms of dry eye include:
- Dry, irritated eyes
- Watery eyes
- Blurry vision
- Stinging or burning sensation
If you suspect you have DES or experience any of the above symptoms, speak with Dr. Chirag R. Patel about finding relief and regaining the quality of life you seek.
How Is Eyelid Twitching Related To DES?
When the eyes lack lubrication, the nervous system compensates by increasing the eyes' blink rate to try and refresh the tear film. If the brain sends too many signals to increase the blink rate, the eyelid's muscles may begin to twitch due to the overload of signals fired from the brain. Eventually, as the eyelid muscles become more fatigued from the excess blinking, twitching becomes more noticeable and irritating.
What Can Be Done To Ease Symptoms?
Eyelid twitching can be bothersome and can even interfere with performing daily tasks. Though twitching episodes usually subside after a minute or two, there are some steps you can take to shorten their duration or eliminate them altogether.
Try using lubricating eye drops to bring some moisture back to your eyes, thus reducing the signals sent to the nervous system to increase the blink rate. Dr. Chirag R. Patel can recommend which over-the-counter drops best suit your eyes' needs, or prescribe more potent eye drops.
Try gently massaging your closed upper eyelids to suppress the twitching when it occurs. The light pressure can help relax the surrounding muscles. You can also apply a warm eye compress when the lid is twitching or whenever your eyes feel irritated.
Additionally, if you experience twitching or cramping in other muscles, such as in your legs, taking some magnesium may help reduce the frequency of the spasms.
How We Can Help
Mild eyelid spasms and twitches are generally not something to be concerned about, unless they are prolonged, frequent, or distract you from your normal routine. At Dry Eye Center at Turner Eye Institute, we aim to provide you with relief from any dry eye symptoms using the latest treatments available. If you or a loved one suffer from eye twitches or any other DES symptoms, let us help you manage your ocular condition for a lifetime of clear and comfortable vision.
Dry Eye Center at Turner Eye Institute provides dry eye relief and other services to patients from San Leandro, Concord, Castro Valley, Alameda, and California.
| 2.122965 |
openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb
|
Octopus Deploy Documentation
Authoring an Octopus Server extension
Last updated
This is the key NuGet package you will need in order to build an Octopus Server extension.
This namespace contains the interfaces and structures an extension can implement, which the Octopus Server will go looking for.
The key interface to be aware of is IOctopusExtension, as this forms the entry point for your extension and without it the server cannot load your extension. An example of its usage is as follows:
[OctopusPlugin("Directory Services", "Octopus Deploy")]
public class DirectoryServicesExtension : IOctopusExtension
public void Load(ContainerBuilder builder)
The second important component here is the OctopusPluginAttribute, which provides the description and author metadata for the extension.
Octopus Deploy itself uses Autofac as its IoC container, and as such the extensions are provided with the container builder during startup, so they can register their own internal services.
Extension configuration
Many extensions will want to store configuration related to their own specific functionality, certainly all of the Octopus Deploy extensions do. To facilitate this, the server provides the extensions the ability to register their need to store a configuration object in the Configuration table in the database. Below is an example of a configuration object and its mapping class:
public class DirectoryServicesConfiguration : IId
public string Id { get; set; }
public bool IsEnabled { get; set; }
public string ActiveDirectoryContainer { get; set; }
public AuthenticationSchemes AuthenticationScheme { get; set; }
public bool AllowFormsAuthenticationForDomainUsers { get; set; }
public class DirectoryServicesConfigurationMapping : IConfigurationDocumentMapper
public Type GetTypeToMap() => typeof(DirectoryServicesConfiguration);
Things to note here are:
- The configuration object is a POCO stored as serialized JSON in the database, so properties that are enums (as above) or POCOs themselves are supported.
- The configuration object itself must implement IId, to provide the Id for the JSON data. This is typically a constant unique to your extension.
- The mapping class must be registered as an IConfigurationDocumentMapper in Autofac when the extension is loaded.
Configuration stores and the configure command
Now that your extension has configuration, how do you set the configuration values? The pattern we're using involves a Configuration Store and a class that implements the IContributeToConfigureCommand interface. The IContributeToConfigureCommand interface is the key part. The store is a pattern that we've found works well for us (because in some cases we have data that may need to be migrated from the server.config into the DB), but is not mandatory. An example of an extension contributing to the configure command is as follows:
public class DirectoryServicesConfigureCommands : IContributeToConfigureCommand, IHandleLegacyWebAuthenticationModeConfigurationCommand
readonly ILog log;
readonly IDirectoryServicesConfigurationStore activeDirectoryConfiguration;
public DirectoryServicesConfigureCommands(
ILog log,
IDirectoryServicesConfigurationStore activeDirectoryConfiguration)
this.log = log;
this.activeDirectoryConfiguration = activeDirectoryConfiguration;
public IEnumerable GetOptions()
yield return new ConfigureCommandOption("activeDirectoryIsEnabled=", "Set whether active directory is enabled.", v =>
var isEnabled = bool.Parse(v);
log.Info($"Active directory IsEnabled set to: {isEnabled}");
yield return new ConfigureCommandOption("activeDirectoryContainer=", "Set the active directory container used for authentication.", v =>
log.Info($"Active directory container set to: {v}");
yield return new ConfigureCommandOption("webAuthenticationScheme=", "When Domain authentication is used, specifies the scheme (Basic, Digest, IntegratedWindowsAuthentication, Negotiate, Ntlm)", v =>
var scheme = (AuthenticationSchemes) Enum.Parse(typeof(AuthenticationSchemes), v);
log.Info("Web authentication scheme: " + scheme);
yield return new ConfigureCommandOption("allowFormsAuthenticationForDomainUsers=", "When Domain authentication is used, specifies whether the HTML-based username/password form can be used to sign in.", v =>
var allowFormsAuthenticationForDomainUsers = bool.Parse(v);
log.Info("Allow forms authentication for domain users: " + allowFormsAuthenticationForDomainUsers);
Services provided by the host
This section contains the interfaces and structures related to'services' that the extensions can consume from the Octopus Server itself. In this section, we'll detail a couple of interfaces you're most likely to need. To use them install the relevant NuGet package and take a dependency in your extension constructor.
ILog from Octopus.Diagnostics
This interface provides access to the server's logging infrastructure, so your extension can log Info, Warnings, Errors etc.
IKeyValueStore from Octopus.Configuration
This interface provides access to the server.config XML file, should your extension need to read/write configuration values there.
Building the extension
An extension is simply a.NET dll, so you can build it in any way that you would normally build your.NET code.
Extension points
At the moment you can only extend Authentication but we plan to expose more of Octopus internals in the future so stay tuned and check this page every now then for updates.
Install a custom extension
Need support? We're here to help.
| 1.148283 |
Zyphra/Zyda-2
|
Students learn how a society maintains social control while protecting individual rights and how to apply the constitution to everyday life. Students discuss what causes criminal behavior, and what makes effective crime policy. They learn how to control, deter and punish crime and they understand the role of police, prosecutors, the courts, defense attorneys, juries, jails and prisons.
The major is divided into three components: a lower division 15-hour core that serves as a basis for the fundamentals of criminal justice and is consistent with IAI guidelines; an upper division 18-hour core requirement; and a six-hour criminal justice elective component. The major includes a capstone course designed to identify and analyze "real-life" issues facing criminal justice agencies, as well as techniques for developing and proposing solutions to constituents.
Grade of C- or higher required in all major courses.
| 2.028363 |
HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu
|
This post might best be retitled 'reasons not to plough'. The effect of a gardener's soil management on the environment is small compared to agriculture. My recent posts about soil have examined how minimum cultivation helps build-up of soil organic matter and in 'Why Gardeners dig:5', how in traditional horticulture, nutrient release from the breakdown of organic matter as a result of soil cultivation, is harnessed to benefit plant growth. It is the detrimental consequences of organic matter breakdown that I want to discuss in this post.
When organic matter degrades it
- adds carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
- releases soluble nutrients, in particular nitrogen, which can leach into ground water.
There is also a problem of phosphate pollution when leachate from organic matter left standing on hard surfaces such as tarmac, goes directly into the drains. Soil absorbs phosphate very tightly and normally there is very little leaching from soil. When wind and water erosion physically takes soil into water, then phosphate pollution will happen. It is significant that erosion occurs when soil has been loosened by cultivation. In the UK phosphate pollution of water courses is principally caused by industry and detergents.
Soil organic matter sequesters carbon
The soil in an established pasture might contain in excess of 4% organic matter. More, if you include the bio-mass of living grass. After 25 years 'under the plough' this level might be halved. When considered on a worldwide scale, this represents millions of tons of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.
Inevitably when any wild vegetation is brought into cultivation, carbon dioxide will be released. On a global scale the amounts are huge.
Modern farmers can now make their contribution to reducing carbon dioxide release and indeed with enlightened methods, can return carbon to the soil. Although we do not see much movement to 'no till' in the UK, on a world scale there are many examples of otherwise vulnerable soils which retain fertility when minimum cultivation methods are used.
Farm field overlooking Yorkshire Wolds. No local fields have been ploughed this year. It has been too wet.
Pollution of water by nitrates and phosphates
These nutrients promote luxuriant growth in aquatic algae and other water plants. When this growth dies it's decay depletes water of dissolved oxygen, to the detriment of animal life in water courses, lakes and eventually the sea. Not all nitrate leachate entering waterways is from degradation of soil organic matter. Poor fertilizer practices are a significant source of pollution. Organic growers are not absolved of blame - their manures and organic materials also release large amounts of nitrate when they decay. Organic methods, and particularly minimum cultivation, do however tend to minimize this leaching.
|Blue lupin as green manure|
Agricultural practices that help sequester carbon
The modern farmer can do much to maintain a fertile soil and restore the soil after the detrimental effects of poor past practice.
- Converting to minimum cultivation methods. Farmers can use shallower soil cultivations. It has been shown that deep cultivation, other than to break up a known cultivation-pan, brings no agronomic benefit, uses far more energy, and greatly increases loss of soil organic matter.
- For many crops the use of herbicides ends the need to cultivate for weed control.
- Farmers can follow one crop immediately with another. Far better than overwintered, ploughed fields leaching nitrate.
- Use of green manures.
- It is traditional practice to 'repair' damaged agricultural soil by grassing down for a few years. Recent research suggests that inoculating grass seed with mycorrhiza, which add glomalin to the soil, will accelerate this process.
- Carbon can be directly sequestered in the soil as biochar. I will soon be blogging about the enormous benefits of adding charcoal to the soil!
| 2.511831 |
openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb
|
How Many Languages Can Prince William Speak?
Learning a foreign language is part of the royal family's protocol. However, some of the queen's family members are more fluent than others. Not to mention: A few of them know up to five languages. How many languages can Prince William speak? Find out, plus the one language he must know before becoming the British heir, ahead.
How many languages can Prince William speak?
Prince William
Prince William | PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images
The future king is quite the linguist. Apparently, Prince William can speak five languages, including English. Take a closer look at his linguistic proficiency, below.
French is one language many members of the royal family, including Prince William, have mastered. According to reports, the future heir to the British throne can speak French with ease.
Africa holds a lot of memories for Prince William. So, it comes of no surprise that the Duke of Cambridge can speak a little Swahili. The language can be heard throughout several African countries, including Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania.
As the future Prince of Wales, Prince William must learn enough Welsh to converse with those fluent in the language. It's unclear how fluent he is in Welsh, but the Duke of Cambridge can speak the language.
In preparation for becoming Prince of Wales, Prince Charles also learned Welsh as a young boy. While he's not fluent, he allegedly knows enough to get by.
In addition to Welsh, Prince William also knows a little Gaelic. His Royal Highness likely speaks the language — or phrases — while visiting parts of Northern Ireland and Scotland. Prince Charles can also speak Gaelic.
What languages do other members of the royal family speak?
Prince William isn't the only one with impressive linguistic skills. In addition to the Duke of Cambridge, several members of the royal family can speak foreign languages and are even fluent in some. Here are all the languages spoken by the British royal family.
Prince William knows French, but he's not the only one. His great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth is fluent in the language and learned as a young girl (her tutor and governess, Marion Crawford likely taught her). Like his wife, Prince Philip can also speak French — and so can their children. Prince Charles, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, and Princess Anne all speak French.
Apparently, Meghan Markle also knows a little French, but her fluency is unclear.
German isn't the most popular foreign language in the royal family, but Prince Philip is fluent in it. According to reports, the Duke of Edinburgh grew up speaking the language, as it was one of the languages spoken by his family members.
Prince George and Princess Charlotte are currently learning the second most spoken language in the world, Spanish in school. In addition, their Spanish-speaking nanny, Maria Turrion Borrallo helps tutor them.
One member of the royal family knows a little Tagalog, aka the language of the Philippines. While visiting Edinburgh with Prince Harry, Meghan Markle was overheard saying "Salamat Po," which means "thank you" in the foreign language. It's likely that the Duchess of Sussex might only know a few words and phrases in Tagalog.
Some royals even speak Russian. Prince Michael of Kent and his wife, Princess Michael both know the foreign language.
Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook!
| 2.256373 |
Zyphra/Zyda-2
|
Higher reliability. Improved mixing efficiency. Increased duration.
Pressure leaching 'severe service' challenges:
- scale formation
- corrosion (acidic environment)
- wear and erosion
- high velocity and 3-phase flow
- high oxygen concentration
- thermal shock
Specific to the autoclave industry, MOGAS has directly employed and strategically partnered with the best technical specialists, who support the start-up and ramp up to full production of high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) and pressure oxidation (POx) production plants globally.
These experienced operational and maintenance personnel have solid process understanding—a critical factor in the successful start-up of a high-pressure metallurgy process in an autoclave-based circuit, compared to a conventional atmospheric leach or concentrator plant.
This experience base provides input and a better understanding of the overall process circuit beyond autoclaves that advance valve and system designs specific to customer requirements. MOGAS can assess specific design aspects of the circuit to not only assimilate the current operational procedures, but to the underlying reasons for the way the procedures were developed—the 'why's' to procedural steps, operational sequences or specific design features.
The majority of all autoclaves worldwide use MOGAS severe service technology.
| 1.431938 |
openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb
|
father sits as an image in his mind, unresolved, unplaced. Next to this image, a mirror with an engraving of his father's face is barely visible behind one's own reflection.
Kandis Friesen
Friesen grew up Russian Mennonite in Canada. This sect of Anabaptism still speaks a form of low-German called Plautdietsch that dates back to the group's religious persecution and exile. This language itself is both insulating and a point of continuity reaching back into the distant past. Kandis' family, originally from the Germanic lowlands, migrated East to Prussia, and was then drawn by Russia to settle the Ukrainian steppe after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Following the Bolshevik Revolution, many Mennonites were dispossessed of land and after WWII the foreign, German-speaking minorities were sent to labor camps in Siberia and Kazakhstan. Friesen's family emigrated to Canada after the fall of the Soviet Union, though she still has relatives in Kazakhstan and Germany.
Friesen's practice ranges from blowing up details from family pictures and postcards, hyperfocusing on printing patterns and expanding the prints into new landscapes, to recreating ceramic tiles that resemble the asbestos roof tiles produced in Canada and used in Ukraine. Her practice is deeply informed by ethnographic and genealogical research she has conducted during successive trips to Ukraine. On one such trip, Friesen became enamored with the knockoff plastic shopping bags that are everywhere in Ukraine, seen as status symbols, these disposable bags with slight variations of luxury logos are an aspirational conjuring. In 2018 Friesen created a series of inverted BMW bags called, DAUT DINTJ DAUT HELT, Plautdietsch for "the thing that holds."
Marc Vilanova
For the resident exhibition, Vilanova, created an ambitious installation, Spike, that attempts to visualize the "mind" of an AI. To do so, he and his studio assistant broke down yards and yards of a 40 pin ribbon cable, the point of connection between the motherboard and peripherals, like external drives. Each strand—14,200 of them—was hung from a large wooden U creating an encircling forest of dangling cables. Some 200 of the cables were then wired with varying intensity LED lights. The LEDS responded to an evolving score based on a feedback loop the artist created. This loop was based on the artist responding to his own work via an encephalogram (EEG). The light and sound of the installation are generated by the parallel patterns recorded by the encephalogram.
Vilanova's work ranges from experimental saxophone performances that are mesmerizing in their beautiful misuse of the instrument to light and sound installations like the complex Spike. The recurring loop, a concept Vilanova was toying with at the time of our visit, can describe his broader practice wherein a sound, light, and tech visualize the arresting improvisations that both define and drive creative intelligences.
J.C. Todd
My final visit was with the poet and activist J.C. Todd. Todd hung a series of woodcut reproductions by Käthe Kollwitz around her studio from the series Krieg. The series of seven gaunt reflections on the human sacrifices of WWI, specifically those left behind—women, children, the orphaned and abandoned—stood as points of contemplation for Todd to respond to. "There's a narrative of greater good / as if motion has a direction" begins one response. Todd's work, including her artist book FUBAR (2016, 2018), questions the connection between progress and war. How has war become an inevitable entreé to progress, like its ensuing erasure is somehow a pretext to the foundation of an order that is deemed progressive?
Todd's style is visceral. She connects the ideals of glory to the bodily consequences of aspirations, the feelings between us, the touch of a mother: "mother's hands are / palm snugged to skull / ear muff of tendon". Her words are taut, the sinew of human connection straining against our worst impulses.
At Bemis, I joined an impromptu community for a few days and felt the joy of exchange that had developed between these artists. Their works seemed to wind in and out of each other, informing and emboldening each other. I would like to thank Rachel Adams and the staff of Bemis for their generosity in hosting me and opening the door to the beautiful world they facilitate, season after season. Thank you to each artist—Irini Miga, Rodney Ewing, Jes Fan, Adam Milner, Melanie Mclain, Cameron Granger, Kandis Friesen, Marc Vilanova, and J.C. Todd—for sharing their work, sips and tips, and their research with me.
All images via the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts' 2019 Residents Website.
| 1.292046 |
Zyphra/Zyda-2
|
Cue to Help Fastpitch Pitchers Gain an Explosive Release
One of the most common issues among fastpitch pitchers is a tendency to try to add speed to a pitch by forcing it out with a lot of forward effort. You see them get ready to deliver the ball, and suddenly instead of whipping it from back to front and letting go they hang onto the ball and try to purposefully push it out of their throwing hand.
This motion is often accompanied by pushing the throwing side shoulder forward as well. While the intention is to make the pitch faster, it actually ends up having the opposite effect.
In other words, while it may feel strong, it isn't very effective, biomechanically speaking.
I was facing that very dilemma with a younger student this week, so I came up with a new way to explain what she should do. I've since tried it with several with great success (so far).
The way I explained it was in the arm circle there is a point where you have developed all the speed you can get. That point is essentially at the bottom – six o'clock on an analog clock if you're using the clock face as a visualization device.
Anything that happens after that not only doesn't contribute to more speed, it actually starts taking away speed. So, since there's nothing to be gained but much to be lost you might as well just let go right at the bottom, which will be roughly around the back leg.
Putting it this way seems to make sense, probably because it addresses the main reason the pitcher started pushing in the first place – to gain speed. Explaining it hurts their speed instead seems to break through the clutter of ingrained patterns and helps them find their release point.
For the pitchers where I had a radar set up, which was almost all of them, getting the ball out at the right point resulted in an immediate speed increase of 2-3 mph with no additional effort on their part. In fact, for most of them we were just working a drill where they weren't trying to go all-out, just standing at a 45-degree angle and taking an easy step or medium-speed push.
What was really interesting about it was speed wasn't the only aspect of their pitches to benefit. Suddenly balls that had been flying all over the place were going straight and low in the strike zone, even though we weren't focused on accuracy at all.
I did point out the accuracy to the pitchers after a while, however, to give them one more reason not to force the ball forward. Just let it go at the right time, in the right place, and accuracy takes care of itself.
For some pitchers you may need to show them exactly where the ball needs to come out by having them get into their release position, bring the ball from 7:00 to 6:00, and then show them where it should be coming off their thumbs and their fingertips. I did this with one pitcher in particular last night and she immediately improved her speed and accuracy. She thanked me for it, because she said she now understood exactly what she needed to do.
So if you have a pitcher who is struggling to whip and release the ball, and is instead trying to force or push it forward before letting go, give this cue a try. It could be an instant difference-maker.
About Ken Krause
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| 1.012125 |
Zyphra/Zyda-2
|
,000+ miles up). Project Argus: U.S. Navy explodes 3 nuclear missiles in the recently discovered Van Allen belt. VA Belt violently disrupted with nuclear detonations via long range missiles. It sure didn't take them long to start meddling with a natural system they just discovered!
1958: Chief White House Adviser on Weather Modification, Captain Howard T. Orville, said the Department of Defense was studying "ways to manipulate the charges of the Earth and sky and so affect the weather by using an electronic beam to ionise or de-ionise the atmosphere over a given area." Could this be Nikola Tesla's wireless electricity "death ray" being experimented with 54 years ago!
1958: M. Gorodsky, Soviet engineer and mathematician, and Valentin Cherenkov, Soviet meteorologist, propose placing a ring of metallic potassium particles into Earth's polar orbit to diffuse light reaching Earth and increase solar radiation to thaw the permanently frozen soil of Russia, Canada, and Alaska and melt polar ice. Once again, we see proposals to melt the Arctic. Also worth noting, these scientists proposed adding metallics to the atmosphere to HEAT the planet. Modern Geoengineers claim adding metallics to the atmosphere will COOL the planet. What do you think the real impact of atmospheric aerosol metallic particles is? Does metal get hot when the sun hits it? Will hot metal transmit heat to the air around it? Think about it.
1958: Arkady Markin, Soviet engineer, proposes that the United States and Soviet Union build a gigantic dam across the Bering Strait and use nuclear power–driven propeller pumps to push the warm Pacific current into the Atlantic by way of the Arctic Sea. Arctic ice would melt, and the Siberian and North American frozen areas would become temperate and productive.
1958: Russian oil engineer, P.M. Borisov proposes melting the Arctic and Greenland icecaps by spreading black coal dust on the ice, creating cloud-cover across the poles to trap heat, and by diverting warm Atlantic waters into the polar regions. This scheme was taken seriously by Soviet climatologists. Two conferences were held in Leningrad in the early 1960′s following an initial meeting in Moscow of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1959.
1958: Atlantic Richfield geologist L.M. Natland, proposes exploding up to 100 underground nuclear bombs to mine the Alberta Tar Sands. Heat from the detonations was expected to boil the bitumen deposits, reducing their viscosity to the point that standard drilling operations could be used. The plan was encouraged by US efforts to find "peaceful uses" for atomic energy. The project was approved in 1959 but the Canadian government reversed their decision in 1962 and declared that Canada was opposed to all forms of nuclear testing. In 2012 the Canadian Tar Sands are again an issue of international concern.
1960: Series of weather disasters begin.
1961: Project Skywater – Bureau of Reclamation (water) cloud seeding project funded by Congress.
1961: Scientists propose artificial ion cloud experiments. In 1960′s the dumping of chemicals (barium powder, etc.) from satellites/rockets began.
1961-62: Soviets and USA blast many electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) in the atmosphere. 300 megatons of nuclear devices detonated deplete ozone layer by an estimated 4%.
1962: Harry Wexler (March 15, 1911- 1962) was an MIT graduate and PhD in meteorology. Wexler had been researching the link connecting chlorine and bromine compounds to the destruction of the stratospheric ozone layers, but died of a heart attack while on vacation in Woods Hole, Mass. Wexler had already accepted an invitation to deliver a lecture entitled "The Climate of Earth and Its Modifications" at the University of Maryland Space Research and Technology Institute.
1966: Gordon J. FMacDonald publishes military ideas on environmental engineering. MacDonald was Chair of the ICAS Select Panel on Weather and Climate Modification.
1966Weather officials from 25 nations meet in London for the First International Clean Air Congress. The National Meteorological Center introduces a computer numerical model capable of making sea level predictions as accurate as those made manually.
1968: Gordon J. F. MacDonald authored a chapter in "Unless Peace Comes" where he correctly predicted that future means of obtaining national objectives by force hinges on man's ability to control and manipulate the environment of planet Earth. MacDonald was Chair of the ICAS Select Panel on Weather and Climate Modification.
1968: Gordon J. F. MacDonald writes as follows in "Toward the Year 2018", p. 34): "By the year 2018, technology will make available to the leaders of the major nations a variety of techniques for
1970The Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) becomes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with Dr. Robert White assuming the role of its first administrator. The U.S. Weather Bureau becomes the National Weather Service (NWS).
1970: US National Security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski (who is still very active in 2012) publishes "Between Two Ages: America's Role in the Technetronic Era" containing the following informative quotes:
"Not only have new weapons been developed but some of the basic concepts of geography and strategy have been fundamentally altered; space and weather control have replaced Suez or Gibraltar as key elements of strategy... future developments may well include automated or manned space warships, deepsea installations, chemical and biological weapons, death rays, and still other forms of warfare—even the weather may be tampered with."
1971: The US and Russia undertake a joint research venture named POLEX, Polar Experiment of the Global Atmospheric Research Program.
1972: First reports on "ionospheric heater" experiments with high frequency radio waves, at Arecibo. 100-megawatt heater in Norway built later in decade which can change conductivity of auroral ionosphere.
1973: There are more than 700 scientists and engineers in the U.S. whose major occupation is weather modification.
1974: United Nations General Assembly bans environmental warfare. ENMOD
1975: Stanford professor Robert Helliwell reports that Very Low Frequency (VLF) from power lines is altering the ionosphere.
1975: Soviets begin pulsing "Woodpecker" ELF waves, at key brainwave rhythms. Eugene, Oregon, one of locations where people were particularly affected. Russia begins generating powerful electromagnetic transmissions which are dubbed 'The Russian Woodpecker' by western ham-radio operators.
1976: Drs. Susan Bawin and W. Ross Adey show nerve cells affected by Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) electromagnetic fields.
1977; Cesare Marchetti, Italian industrial physicist; Coined the term "geoengineering" and proposed sequestering CO2 in the deep ocean.
1977: Environmental Impacts of Precipitation Management – Inferences to Project Skywater
1979US NWS Nested Grid Model (NGM) becomes operational; a Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS) developed. AFOS Computer system is deployed, connecting all Weather Service forecast offices. AFOS is the most ambitious computer network created at the time, setting records for volume of data and number of entry points while supporting full range of other capabilities.
1983: Project Stormfury ends after 22 years of experimentation into predicting and modifying hurricanes.
1983; Stanford Penner, A. M. Schneider, and E. M. Kennedy, American physicists; Suggested introducing small particles into the atmosphere to reflect more sunlight back into space.
1987: Bernard Eastlund authors US Patent # _PHONE_ (and two others) in which he references Tesla's work as a source of historical contribution. It is entitled:Method and Apparatus for Altering a Region in the Earth's Atmosphere, Ionosphere, and/or Magnetosphere. Part of it reads: "Weather modification is possible by... altering upper atmospheric wind patterns or altering solar absorption patterns by constructing one or more plumes of particles which will act as a lens or focusing device." Years later he admits in an interview to having approached the Pentagon with his ideas but says he is not at liberty to disclose the outcome. His device would allow a concentration of one watt per cubic centimeter compared to others only able to deliver about one millionth of one watt.
1988: John H. Martin, American oceanographer; proposes dispersing a relatively small amount of iron into appropriate areas of the ocean to create large algae blooms that could take in enough atmospheric carbon to reverse the greenhouse effect and cool Earth.
1989Eight year plan for the modernization and restructuring of the US National Weather Service announced. The $4.5 billion overhaul of the agency lasts a decade and changes the way the agency operates To modernize its operations, the NWS developed and implemented five major technologies: 1) Automated Surface Observing System, or ASOS, which replaced manual weather observations, 2) Next Generation Weather Radar, or NEXRAD, a network of advanced Doppler radars, 3) A new series of satellites that provided improved, all-weather data for longer-term forecasting, 4) Advanced computer systems
| 1.929941 |
Zyphra/Zyda-2
|
Take the 2-minute tour ×
It's long time ago that I took the calculus class, so I dare to ask. If $X\sim N(0,1)$, what is $\mathbb{E}(1/X)$? $$\mathbb{E}(1/X) = \int_{-\infty}^\infty \frac1x \cdot \frac1{\sqrt{2\pi}} \exp\left(-\frac{x^2}2\right) dx.$$ Can I just claim $\mathbb{E}(1/X) = 0$ as $\frac1x \exp\left(-\frac{x^2}{2}\right)$ is an odd function even when it is not bounded?
share|improve this question
Isn't it an odd function? – Thomas Andrews Dec 10 '11 at 20:18
The integral does not exist. There is no good reason to take existence in the PV sense as relevant. – André Nicolas Dec 10 '11 at 20:38
The is rather similar to asking for the expected value of the Cauchy distribution, which also gives 0 if we adopt the Cauchy PV; but that is not consider relevant/appropiate. In particular, if we use the Lebesgue integral (the sane thing to do in probability) it's clear that the integral does not exist. – leonbloy Dec 10 '11 at 21:27
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1 Answer
You could speak of a Cauchy principal value. It's an integral whose positive and negative parts are both infinite, so the expected value does not exist.
$$ \int_0^\infty \frac1x e^{-x^2/2}\;dx \ge \int_0^1 \frac1x e^{-1}\;dx = \infty, $$ and similarly $$ \int_{-\infty}^0 \frac1x e^{-x^2/2}\;dx = -\infty. $$
The Cauchy principal value is $0$ because it's an odd function, i.e. $$ \lim_{a\to0+}\left(\int_{-\infty}^{-a}+\int_a^\infty\right) \frac1x e^{-x^2/2} \; dx = 0. $$
share|improve this answer
Maybe I should add that limit theorems like laws of large numbers require actual integrals to exist; Cauchy principal values aren't good enough for those. – Michael Hardy Dec 11 '11 at 3:07
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Your Answer
| 1.049197 |
Zyphra/Zyda-2
|
mange causes hair loss, bald spots, scabbing and dry sores. Secondary bacterial infections can make the dog extremely itchy and uncomfortable. Demodectic mange is not transmitted from dogs to humans. Demodex in pets can be detected by:
- Itching, bald patches, particularly around the mouth and eyes
- Itching, bald patches on the body and legs – spreading to cover the entire body
- Thick discharge from the ears, particularly in cats
- Leathery or wrinkly skin
A veterinarian will perform a physical exam of your pet and if necessary, take skin scrapings and examine these with a microscope to confirm the presence of mites. If the mites are buried deep in the skin, they can be difficult to identify. In such cases, the veterinarian may rely on your pet's history and clinical signs to make a final diagnosis.
Localized demodectic mange: Puppies and dogs less than 18 months old are especially prone.
Generalized demodectic mange: Can be hereditary in dogs. Some breeds, such as the Dalmatian, American Bulldog and American Pit Bull Terrier appear to be more susceptible. Older dogs with and underlying illness are also more prone.
Demodectic pododermatitis: The Old English Sheepdog and Shar Pei are particularly prone.
The medication given to your dog will depend on various factors such as the type of mange and the breed of dog. Medication may be given orally, by injection, by shampoo or dip, or applied topically (locally). It is important to realize that many skin treatments can be toxic to dogs. They should not be repeated frequently. Check with your vet before beginning any mange treatment program.
Sarcoptic mange
When treating sarcoptic mange, the first step is to isolate your dog to prevent the disease spreading to other pets (and humans). It is likely your vet will prescribe antiparasitic medications to eradicate the mites, as well as separate medications for easing itching, reducing inflammation and treating secondary skin infections. The results of such treatment are usually seen after 4 weeks
Demodectic mange
Demodectic mange is treated not only by medications but also by managing physiological stress to improve your pet's immune system. To prevent secondary skin infections, some dogs may also require additional treatments, for example, medicated shampoos.
Younger dogs often fully recover from mange. In contrast, adult dogs often require long-term treatment and therapy to control the disease. It has been suggested that because demodectic mange is thought to be hereditary, dogs with the disease should not be bred.
Whichever treatment option is used, this should be accompanied by skin scrapes every 2 weeks. Usually, medication is discontinued after 2 consecutive scrapes are negative. A final scrape should be performed 4 weeks after treatment to check there has not been a recurrence.
Sarcoptic mange: Thoroughly clean or replace the bedding and collar. Treat all animals in contact with your pet.
Keep your pet away from animals you suspect might have the disease.
Get periodic skin scrapes to ensure the mites have been eradicated.
Canine Parvovirus (CPV), sometimes simply called "Parvo", is a viral illness that exists in 2 forms. Intestinal CPV is the more common form. This is characterized by vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss and anorexia (lack of appetite). The second less common form is cardiac CPV. This affects the hearts of puppies in the uterus or up to 8 weeks of age and is often fatal. CPV is highly contagious, although the incidence of infections has been considerably reduced by early vaccination of puppies.
The first sign of CPV is usually lethargy. The next symptoms are generally loss of appetite or diarrhea, followed by vomiting.
Intestinal CPV
The intestinal form of CPV drastically reduces the dog's ability to absorb nutrients. This means that infected animals quickly become dehydrated and weak from a lack of protein absorption. The major symptoms of CPV are severe bloody diarrhea, fever, vomiting, lethargy, anorexia and eventually, severe weight loss. The mucous membranes of the eyes and mouth often become redder and the animal may have tachycardia (rapid heart rate). Infected dogs may respond with pain or discomfort when the abdomen is touched. Another symptom of CPV can be hypothermia (low body temperature) rather than fever.
Cardiac CPV
The cardiac form attacks the heart muscle and the puppy often dies suddenly or after a brief period of breathing difficulty due to the collection of fluids in the pulmonary system. This disease may or may not be seen in conjunction with the signs and symptoms of the intestinal form. However, the cardiac form is now rarely seen due to vaccination of breeding dogs.
There are several risk factors that can increase susceptibility to CPV.
The virus is usually transmitted either indirectly from the feces of an infected dog, or directly by contact with an infected dog. The feces of an infected dog have high concentrations of the virus, so when a healthy dog sniffs or ingests infected feces, it may contract the disease. The virus can also reside in the soil and on small items within the environment (fomites); it will be transmitted if these are ingested. Transmission of the virus to a dog's environment can also occur from shoes that have contacted infected feces or fomites. This is an important route of transmission as the virus can live in the ground for up to 1 year. It is also resistant to most cleaning products and weather changes. If there is a possibility that infected feces have been contacted, the suspected areas should be washed with household bleach, the only disinfectant known to kill the CPV virus.
CPV infections can also be caused by improper vaccination protocols or vaccination failure. Establishments that house a large number of inadequately vaccinated puppies (e.g. some breeding kennels, dog shelters) are particularly hazardous places with respect to transmission. Dog breeds that have a high susceptibility to the virus include German Shepherds, Rottweilers, Pit Bulls, Doberman Pinschers, English Springer Spaniels, Labrador Retrievers and Alaskan Sled Dogs. A poor immune system from immuno-suppressive diseases or drug therapies can also increase the possibility of infection.
Diagnosis of CPV requires a range of techniques. This will usually start with a physical examination of the dog. If required, biochemical tests and urine analysis will reveal any elevated liver enzymes, lymphopenia (low lymphocyte levels) or electrolyte imbalances. The blood tests will give a chemical blood profile and a blood cell count. Radiograph imaging will show any obstruction of the intestine while ultrasound imaging can reveal enlarged lymph nodes within the body and any fluid-filled sections of the intestine.
The veterinarian will require a thorough history of the dog's health, recent activities and when the onset of symptoms occurred. Samples of feces or vomit can be examined and used microscopically for detection of the virus.
Because CPV is a viral infection, there is no cure for it. Treatment is aimed at controlling the symptoms and preventing secondary infections. The dog will require intensive therapy for it's bodily systems to recover. Severe diarrhea and dehydration will be treated by intravenous fluids to re-establish and maintain normal body fluid levels. Nutrition therapy is critical in re-establishing protein and electrolyte levels which will then need to be monitored and regulated.
Several medications may be given to your dog to treat symptoms or prevent further complications. These include antiemetics to reduce vomiting, H2 blockers to reduce nausea, antibiotics to prevent secondary infections and anthelmintics to prevent parasitic infections.
Untreated cases of CPV have a mortality rate of 91%. With aggressive therapy, mortality rates are reduced to 5-20%. When death occurs, this is usually due to severe dehydration, secondary bacterial infections, toxins in the blood from bacteria, or severe bleeding from the intestines. Because puppies have a less developed immune system, their prognosis is usually poorer. Puppies that are infected with CPV commonly suffer from shock and sudden death.
During recovery, it is best to feed your dog a form of diet that is easily digested. After the initial recovery, your dog will be a contagion risk to other dogs for possibly 2 months. Therefore, you should isolate your dog from others. In addition, you should consider telling your neighbors that they may need to have their own pets tested. Wash all objects that your dog uses (e.g., toys, kennel, sleeping box, dishes) with a very dilute bleach solution (1:30 ratio) to disinfect and kill the parvovirus.
Having suffered and recovered from a CPV infection, it is likely your dog will have a weakened immune system making it more susceptible to other illnesses. Talk to your veterinarian about how the dog's immune system can be made as normal as possible and ways in which you can protect your dog from unhealthy situations. Complete recovery means your dog will have long-term immunity against the virus, however, it is still possible that your dog can again be infected with the virus.
To prevent CPV infection, the best course of action is to follow the correct vaccination protocol. Puppies should be vaccinated at 6, 9 and 12 weeks of age, and should not be allowed contact with outside dogs until at least 2 weeks after the last vaccination. Breeds with a high susceptibility to CPV may require a longer initial vaccination period, possibly up to 22 weeks.
Rabies is caused by a group of viruses (lyssaviruses) which can infect all warm-bloodied animals. Rabies can also infect humans, which is probably why it is one of the most well known viruses
| 2.060593 |
Zyphra/Zyda-2
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output : [batch_size, voc_size], target_batch : [batch_size] (LongTensor, not one-hot)
loss = criterion(output, target_batch)
if (epoch + 1) % 1000 == 0:
print('Epoch:', '%04d' % (epoch + 1), 'cost =', '{:.6f}'.format(loss))
The skip-gram model increases computational complexity because it has to predict nearby words based on the number of neighboring words. The more distant words tend to be slightly less related to the current word.
Summary so far:
1. Neural Network Language Model (NNLM) or Bengio's model outperforms the earlier statistical model like the n-gram model.
2. NNLM also tackles the curse of dimensionality and preserves contextual, linguistic regularities and patterns through its distributed representation.
3. NNLM is computationally expensive.
4. Word2Vec models tackles computational complexity by removing the hidden layer and sharing the weights
5. The downside of Word2Vec is it does not have a neural network which makes it hard to represent the data but the upside is that if it can be trained on a large number of data then because it is much more efficient than neural networks it is possible to compute very accurate high dimensional word vectors.
6. Word2Vec has two models: CBOW and Skipgram. The former is faster than the latter.
On softmax function
So far, you've seen how the softmax function plays a vital role in predicting the words around a given context. But it suffers from a complexity issue.
Recall the equation of softmax function:
Where wt is the target word, c is the context words, and y is the output for each target word.
If you look at the equation above, the complexity of the softmax function arises when the number of predictors is high. If i=3, then the softmax function will return a probability distribution over three categories.
But, in NLP we usually deal with thousands, sometimes millions of words. Getting a probability distribution over that many words will make the computation really expensive and slow.
Keep in mind that softmax functions return the exact probability distribution, so they tend to get slower with increasing parameters. For each word (wt), it sums over the entire vocabulary in the denominator.
So what are the different approaches that will make computation inexpensive and fast, while making sure that the approximation is not compromised?
In the next section, we'll cover different approaches that can reduce the computational time. Instead of getting exact probabilities over the full vocabulary, we'll try to approximate over the full vocabulary, or even a sample vocabulary. This reduces complexity and increases processing speed.
We will discuss two approaches: softmax-based approaches and sampling-based approaches.
Improving predictive functions
In this section, we explore three possible methods for improving prediction, by modifying the softmax function for approximating better results, and replacing the softmax with new methods.
Softmax-based approaches
Softmax-based approaches are more inclined towards modifying the softmax to get a better approximation of the predicted word, rather than eliminating it altogether. We will discuss two methods: hierarchical softmax approach and CNN approach.
Hierarchical softmax
Hierarchical softmax was introduced by Morin and Bengio in 2005, as an alternative to the full softmax function, where it replaces it with a hierarchical layer. It borrows the technique from the binary huffman tree, which reduces the complexity of calculating the probability from the whole vocabulary V to log2(V), i.e. binary.
Coding a huffman tree is very complicated. I'll try to explain it without using code, but you can find the notebook here and try it out.
To understand the H-softmax, we need to understand the workings of the huffman tree.
The huffman tree is a binary tree that takes the words from the vocabulary; based on their frequency in the document, it creates a tree.
Take for example this text: "the cat is eating and the dog is barking". In order to create a huffman tree, we need to calculate the frequency of words from the whole vocabulary.
word_to_id = {w:i for i, w in enumerate(set(raw_text))}
id_to_word = {i:w for w, i in word_to_id.items()}
word_frequency = {w:raw_text.count(w) for w,i in word_to_id.items()}
{'and': 1, 'barking': 1, 'cat': 1, 'dog': 1, 'eating': 1, 'is': 2, 'the': 2}
The next step is to create a huffman tree. The way we do it is by taking the least frequent word. In our example, we have a lot of words that are occurring only once, so we're free to take any two. Let's take 'dog' and 'and'. We will then join the two leaf nodes by a parent node, and add the frequency.
Word embedding 1
In the next step, we'll take another word that is least frequent (again, the word that occurs only once) and we'll put it beside the node that has the sum of two. Remember that less frequent words go to the left side, and more frequent words go to the right side.
Word embedding 2
Similarly, we'll keep on building the words until we've used all the words from the vocabulary.
Word embedding 3
Remember, all the words with the least frequency are at the bottom.
{0: [0, 1, 1],
1: [0, 1, 0],
2: [1, 1, 1, 1],
3: [1, 1, 1, 0],
4: [0, 0],
5: [1, 1, 0],
6: [1, 0]}
Once the tree is created, we can then start the training.
In the huffman tree, we no longer calculate the output embeddings w'. Instead, we try to calculate the probability of turning right or left at each leaf node, using a sigmoid function.
p(right | n,c)=σ(h⊤w′n), where n is the node and c is the context.
As you will find in the code below, a sigmoid function is used to decide whether to go right or to left. It's also important to know that the probabilities of all the words should sum up to 1. This ensures that the H-softmax has a normalized probability distribution over all the words in the vocabulary.
class SkipGramModel(nn.Module):
def __init__(self, emb_size, emb_dimension):
super(SkipGramModel, self).__init__()
self.emb_size = emb_size
self.emb_dimension = emb_dimension
self.w_embeddings = nn.Embedding(2*emb_size-1, emb_dimension, sparse=True)
self.v_embeddings = nn.Embedding(2*emb_size-1, emb_dimension, sparse=True)
def _init_emb(self):
initrange = 0.5 / self.emb_dimension, initrange), 0)
def forward(self, pos_w, pos_v,neg_w, neg_v):
emb_w = self.w_embeddings(torch.LongTensor(pos_w))
neg_emb_w = self.w_embeddings(torch.LongTensor(neg_w))
emb_v = self.v_embeddings(torch.LongTensor(pos_v))
neg_emb_v = self.v_embeddings(torch.LongTensor(neg_v))
score = torch.mul(emb_w, emb_v).squeeze()
score = torch.sum(score, dim=1)
score = F.logsigmoid(-1 * score)
neg_score = torch.mul(neg_emb_w, neg_emb_v).squeeze()
neg_score = torch.sum(neg_score, dim=1)
neg_score = F.logsigmoid(neg_score)
# L = log sigmoid (Xw.T * θv) + [log sigmoid (-Xw.T * θv)]
loss = -1 * (torch.sum(score) + torch.sum(neg_score))
return loss
Sampling-based approaches
Sampling-based approaches completely eliminate the softmax layer.
We'll discuss two approaches: noise contrastive estimation, and negative sampling.
Noise contrastive estimation
Noise contrastive estimation (NCE) is an approximation method that replaces the softmax layer and reduces the computational cost. It does so by converting the prediction problem into a classification problem
This section will contain a lot of mathematical explanations.
NCE takes an unnormalised multinomial function (i.e. the function that has multiple labels and its output has not been passed through a softmax layer), and converts it to a binary logistic regression.
In order to learn the distribution to predict the target word (wt) from some specific context (c), we need to create two classes: positive and negative. The positive class contains samples from training data distribution, while the negative class contains samples from a noise distribution Q, and we label them 1 and 0 respectively. Noise distribution is a unigram distribution of the training set.
For every target word given context, we generate sample noise from the distribution Q as Q(w), such that it's k times more frequent than the samples from the data distribution P(w | c).
These two probability distributions can be represented as the sum of each other because we are effectively sampling words from the two distributions. Hence,
As mentioned earlier, NCE is a binary classifier which consists of a true label as '1' and false label as '0'. Intuitively,
When y=1,
When y=0,
Our
| 2.335915 |
Zyphra/Zyda-2
|
How we know that this is a piece of fossilized lightning
Lightning struck the Sahara desert about 15,000 years ago, and left a sign of its presence behind. The heat from the lightning reached a little over 1,800C and melted certain elements in the soil until they fused together. This solid form, called a fulgurite, most often shows up in sandy soil, or soil with a lot of… » 2/28/13 12:40pm 2/28/13 12:40pm
| 1.488052 |
Zyphra/Zyda-2
|
WASHINGTON — A series of problems with electronic voting machines has raised fresh questions about election technology as newer computerized systems gain ground for the 2012 US election.
As many as 25 percent of Americans are expected to use paperless electronic voting machines in the upcoming November elections, according to the Verified Voting Foundation, but confidence has been eroded by incidents showing vulnerabilities.
The foundation, which seeks more reliable election systems, contends that voting machines in 11 states are all-electronic, with no paper systems for recounts, and that many other jurisdictions have some of these systems in place.
Last year, Microsoft Research published a paper describing vulnerabilities to what had been described as "fully verifiable" direct recording electronic (DRE) systems in which a hacker can "undetectably alter large numbers of votes."
Separately, scientists at Argonne National Laboratory described a way to tamper with certain electronic voting machines by inserting a $10 component along with a $15 radio frequency device to alter vote results.
Pamela Smith of the Verified Voting Foundation said these incidents highlight the fact "that you can have insider challenges as well as outsider hacks. It points out that you have to be able to check the system."
Election security and technology has been an issue in the United States since the 2000 president election marred by "hanging chads" in Florida that muddled the result.
US laws enacted since then encourage the use of new technology including touch-screen ballots. But some critics say these can be vulnerable to hackers and that some lack a "paper trail" which could allow a recount in case of machine failure.
"We still have a number of states which do not have what I call resilient recountable systems," Smith said.
"If they do have problems they may not be able to recover from them. So we would like states to move to recoverable systems where they could do a recount if there were a problem."
Last September, researchers led by Roger Johnston at the Argonne lab were able to change votes on the a ballot machine using about $25 worth of equipment, by inserting a device to manipulate touch screens by remote control
"We believe these'man in the middle attacks' are possible on a wide variety of voting machines," with little technical expertise, Johnston said.
In October, Microsoft Research released a paper describing a so-called "trash attack" which it said could be "effective against the majority of fully verifiable election systems."
It is known as a trash attack because it would allow a corrupt elections worker, for example, see a voter dumping a receipt on the way out from a polling station, and then modify the vote without detection, and with no way to verify the original vote. Microsoft also offered a technical fix for this weakness.
Dan Wallach, a Rice University computer scientist, said little has changed since reports about vulnerabilities in voting machines began around 2007.
"Anybody trying to compromise them could have read all the public reports in 2007 and now, five years later, they've had lots of time to engineer attacks," Wallach said.
Wallach said it is not clear if any elections have been compromised by computer intrusions: "We don't know. If they were doing it and were doing it skillfully, we'd never know."
Other countries have faced similar issues. The Netherlands scrapped electronic voting several years ago after a high-profile hacking incident. Ireland also abandoned the use of Dutch-made voting machines. Controversies have arisen over security of voting machines in India and several other countries.
Richard Soudriette, president of the Colorado-based Center for Diplomacy and Democracy, said it was "unfortunate that electronic voting systems have taken on such a negative connotation."
"I think it is entirely possible to build trustworthy and verifiable systems. But there has been so much negative publicity about electronic voting, I don't think it's going to make a revival."
Charles Stewart, a political scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and faculty member of the Voting Technology Project of MIT and the California Institute of Technology, said he is "more comfortable than most people" with the new systems, while acknowledging that any system can be vulnerable.
"I trust my computer scientist friends when they tell me all the ways you can hack into the machines," he said. "But I've yet to see an election hacked."
Stewart that if the 2012 presidential race is a runaway, few will notice any flaws in vote technology. But if it is a tight race, "I can easily imagine in a state like Ohio or Florida or Pennsylvania, if there are one or two counties where things go wrong, that could raise this issue again."
Copyright © 2013 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
| 1.240433 |
HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu
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Contemporary theory is full of references to the modern and the postmodern. How useful are these terms? What exactly do they mean? And how is our sense of these terms changing under the pressure of feminist analysis?
In Doing Time, Rita Felski argues that it makes little sense to think of the modern and postmodern as opposing or antithetical terms. Rather, we need a historical perspective that is attuned to cultural and political differences within the same time as well as the leaky boundaries between different times.
Neither the modern nor the postmodern are unified, coherent, or self-evident realities. Drawing on cultural studies and critical theory, Felski examines a range of themes central to debates about postmodern culture, including changing meanings of class, the end of history, the status of art and aesthetics, postmodernism as "the end of sex," and the politics of popular culture. Placing women at the center of analysis, she suggests, has a profound impact on the way we thing about historical periods. As a result, feminist theory is helping to reshape our vision of both the modern and the postmodern.
"In these captivating essays, Rita Felski weaves together an important and original inquiry into the tangled relations among postmodernism, modernity, class politics, and feminism. Refusing the solace of & final' answers, Felski offers instead a series of vibrant investigations into the gray zones of lived relations. Doing Time is lucidly written, powerfully theorized, trenchantly argued, and compels us to reevaluate the cultural contexts through which & modernity' has been understood."--Janet Lyon, University of Illinois
| 1.713816 |
openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb
|
Coins and Power in Late Iron Age Britain (Hardback)
$125.80 - Save $6.62 (4%) - RRP $132.42 Free delivery worldwide (to United States and
all these other countries) Usually dispatched within 48 hours
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- Paperback $37.26
Short Description for Coins and Power in Late Iron Age Britain This book examines the background to the first individuals in British history.
- Published: 06 July 2000
- Format: Hardback 266 pages
- ISBN 13: 9780521772075 ISBN 10: _PHONE_
$57.30 - Save $32.70 36% off - RRP $90.00
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Full description for Coins and Power in Late Iron Age Britain
Cunobelin, Shakespeare's Cymbeline, ruled much of south-east Britain in the years before Claudius' legions arrived, creating the Roman province of Britannia. But what do we know of him and his rule, and that of competing dynasties in south-east Britain? This book examines the background to these, the first individuals in British history. It explores the way in which rulers bolstered their power through the use of imagery on coins, myths, language and material culture. After the visit of Caesar in 55 and 54 BC, the shadow of Rome played a fundamental role in this process. Combining the archaeological, literary and numismatic evidence, John Creighton paints a vivid picture of how people in late Iron Age Britain reacted to the changing world around them.
| 2.042024 |
HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu
|
Thanks For Visiting the Home Page for the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge Complex!
The Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge Complex is comprised of
four National Wildlife Refuges in southwestern Washington State.
These Refuges share the common bond of the lower Columbia River.
A once wild and dynamic Columbia River scoured the earth and spread
rich soils along its edges and into its floodplain. Floodwaters
spilled over these bottomlands and nourished the landscape. Left
behind was a mosaic of wetlands, riparian forests, sloughs, wet
meadows, and meadows, which sustained a diversity of plants, animals,
and fish. In turn, humans have thrived on the River's abundance
for thousands of years. Today, these habitats and wildlife resources
are protected along the lower Columbia River within the boundaries
of the Pierce, Franz Lake, Steigerwald Lake, and Ridgefield National
Wildlife Refuges. Please use the links on this webpage to
learn more about these special places, called National Wildlife
| 2.453228 |
HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu
|
Pedipalps are segmented appendages attached to the cephalothorax of arachnids. The structure of the pedipalps varies between organisms. In scorpions, the pedipalps end in the Chelae; the structures most people refer to as claws or pincers. They are often used for capturing or holding prey.
In adult female and juvenile spiders the pedipalps resemble a smaller pair of walking legs. In the adult males the tips of the pedipalps are greatly enlarged and are used in mating. The males transfer sperm from their genital opening into the pedipalps. The pedipalps are then used to transfer sperm to the female.
Although not pedipalps, insect have movable appendages that form part of the labium and the maxilla that are also known as palps. These small, segmented appendages help in feeding by holding or manipulating the food being eaten.
A photograph of a female Mexican Red-kneed tarantula Brachypelma smithii. The pedipalps are the appendages that look like small legs at the front of the animal.
Photograph by HTO.
Other names for (or types of) Pedipalps include:
Related groups of terms
Related pages on this web site
Back to Glossary
| 2.407739 |
openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb
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Given it's your router you should already know this, but if you wanted to pretend you had no knowledge of the networks logical addressing structure you could use one of the following methods to discover it:
- Do a scan of the appropriate network range using a command line host/port scanner such as nmap, unicornscan, etc. This can be defeated by packet filters (firewalls) on the scanned systems. You also have to know that the appropriate range is, which you can find via DHCP replies or via sniffing.
- Capture traffic on the network and check the source and destination addresses. This requires that each system sends or receives traffic on the network during the time which you are sniffing.
- Access the router and check its DHCP database. Requires that you can access the router. Not all machines with DHCP leases are necessarily currently active on the network.
| 1.770748 |
HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu
|
The Broken Symmetry of Time
The Broken Symmetry of Time
A published version of this paper can be found here:
Ruth E. Kastner
Department of Philosophy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Abstract. This paper seeks to clarify features of time asymmetry in terms of symmetry breaking. It is observed that, in general, a contingent situation or event requires the breaking of an underlying symmetry. The distinction between the universal anisotropy of temporal processes and the irreversibility of certain physical processes is clarified. It is also proposed that the Transactional Interpretation of quantum mechanics offers an effective way to explain general thermodynamic asymmetry in terms of the time asymmetry of radiation, where prior such efforts have fallen short.
Keywords: time symmetry; quantum mechanics interpretations; Wheeler-Feynman theory; Transactional Interpretation
PACS: 04.20.Cv, 01.70.+w, 03.65.-w
1. What is symmetry breaking?
In a nutshell, symmetry breaking is the selection of a particular event or situation from a set of possible alternative situations characterized by a symmetrical relationship. In more technical terms, symmetry breaking consists in the reduction of the symmetry group characterizing a given physical situation to a subgroup of the original group. Symmetry breaking can be either forced or spontaneous: in the former, there is an asymmetric cause which picks out one from a set of solutions; in the latter, there is no asymmetric cause, yet somehow a particular solution is actualized.
In spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB), the governing theory for the phenomenon under study specifies a symmetric situation, schematically illustrated in Figure 1. A component of the theory (e.g., a field) undergoes a transformation in which a multiplicity of states or outcomes is possible, none of which can be 'picked out' by anything in the theory as the realized state or outcome.
Figure 1 Spontaneous symmetry breaking: a transformation of a theory component in which a multiplicity of states or outcomes is possible, none of which can be 'picked out' by anything in the theory as the realized state or outcome.
A specific example of this phenomenon occurs in the "Higgs Mechanism"[1] in what is termed the "Standard Model" of elementary particle theory. According to this widely accepted model pioneered by Steven Weinberg and Abdus Salam, the quanta of some force-carrying fields acquire a mass by way of a process in which the ground (vacuum) state of the field undergoes the kind of transformation conceptually depicted above. What was a single vacuum state of the field acquires what is termed a "degeneracy"—that is, many possible ground states (in fact, an infinite number of them). The symmetry breaking occurs through what is called a "Mexican Hat" potential due to its shape. The original ground state becomes unstable and corresponds to the crown of the 'hat'; the infinite set of ground states are found all around the ring at the lowest point. The theory does not provide any way of deciding which of these many ground states is realized. But, according to the theory, the fact that the quanta in question have a nonzero mass indicates that one has been realized.
2. Curie's Principle and Curie's Extended Principle
The situation just described seems to run afoul of a philosophical doctrine[2] termed "Curie's Principle" in honor of Pierre Curie who championed it. (The principle is actually a version of Leibniz' "Principle of Sufficient Reason" (PSR), which states that any event occurs for a reason or cause that specifies or determines that particular event, as opposed to some other event. The PSR implies that, absent such a reason or cause, the event in question will not occur.)
Curie's Principle states that an asymmetric result (i.e., the choice of one outcome among many equally possible ones) requires an asymmetric cause. That is, it posits that there can be no sound basis for saying that one of the outcomes 'just happens'; one must be able to point to a definite reason for that outcome (the reason being the asymmetric cause). This principle is illustrated by a humorous paradox, "Buridan's Ass," discussed by French philosopher Jean Buridan, in which a hungry donkey is placed between two equally distant, identical bundles of hay (see Figure 2). According to an implicit version of Curie's Principle being satirized by Buridan[3], the donkey will starve to death because it has no reason to choose one pile of hay over the other. Of course, our 'common sense' tells us that the donkey will find a way to begin eating hay, even though one can provide no reason for it (hence the paradox). Similarly, in SSB, the field in question arrives in a particular ground state though no specific cause for that choice can be identified. If we take Curie's Principle to be applicable to the above, then it appears that Nature simply violates the principle (as does a hungry donkey).[4]
Figure 2. A political cartoon (ca. 1900) satirizing U.S. Congress' inability to choose between a canal through Panama or Nicaragua, by reference to Buridan's Ass.
[Wiki Open Source; public domain]
There is another way of looking at this situation, described by Stewart and Golubitsky {1}. These authors point out that Nature seems to be replete with symmetries that are spontaneously 'broken,' similar to the way in which the symmetry of the vacuum state is broken by the Higgs et al. mechanism. In general, a symmetrical system may, under certain circumstances, be capable of occupying any one of a set of symmetrically related states, with no particular state being privileged; thus the particular state in which it happens to be found is arbitrary. Stewart and Golubitsky suggest that this situation should be understood as conforming to an Extended Curie's Principle (ECP), specifically: "physically realizable states of a symmetric system come in bunches, related to each other by symmetry"; or, alternatively, "a symmetric cause produces one from a symmetrically related set of effects." (original italics; 1992, 60.) Technically, the 'bunches' are subgroups of the originally symmetry group which has been 'broken' by the dynamical situation under consideration. ECP amounts to a weakening of Curie's Principle.
As noted by Stewart and Golubitsky, a famous illustration of symmetry breaking appears in the iconic 1957 photo of the splash of a milk droplet by high-speed photography pioneer Harold Edgerton (see link indicated for "Figure 3"). The authors point out that the pool of milk and the droplet both have circular symmetry, but the 'crown' shape of the splash does not—it has the lesser symmetry of a 24-sided polygon. This happens because the ring of milk that rises in the splash reaches an unstable point—a point where the sheet of liquid cannot become any thinner—and 'buckles' into discrete clumps (the laws of fluid dynamics predict that there are 24 clumps). But the locations of the clumps are arbitrary; that is, the clump appearing just beneath the white droplet above the crown could just as well have been a few degrees to the left (with all the other clumps being shifted by the same amount). An infinite number of such crowns are possible, but only one of them is realized in any particular splash.
FIGURE 3. Harold Edgerton's iconic milk droplet splash photo.
MIT© 2011 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Courtesy of MIT Museum
Thus, the authors point out that, while the mathematics describing a particular situation may provide for a large, even infinite, number of possible states for a system to occupy, in the actual world only one of these states can be realized. They put it this way:
"A buckling sphere can't buckle into two shapes at the same time. So, while the full potentiality of possible states retains complete symmetry, what we observe seems to break it. A coin has two symmetrically related sides, but when you toss it it has to end up either heads or tails: not both. Flipping the coin breaks its flip symmetry: the actual breaks the symmetry of the potential." (1992, 60.)
The last sentence has been italicized because it expresses a deep and important principle: mathematical descriptions of nature, with their high degree of symmetry, in general describe a world of possibilities rather than a specific state of affairs. Nevertheless, the astute reader may well raise the following question: but isn't it the case that, in the classical domain, we can always find some external influence, however small, that caused the system to end up in one particular state as opposed to some other possible state? This would seem to apply, for example, in classical chaotic systems such the double pendulum (See Figure 4). For large initial momentum, such a system's set of possible trajectories encounter 'bifurcation points' (essentially 'forks in the road') in which a specific choice of trajectory is sensitive to perturbations down to the Planck scale (i.e., random quantum fluctuations).
Figure 4. A double pendulum, whose classically-described motion
encounters bifurcation points.
The authors address this, at least in part, as follows:
"we said that mathematically the laws that apply to symmetric systems can sometimes predict not just a single effect, but a whole set of symmetrically related effects. However, Mother Nature has to choose which of those
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A total of around 760.000 Soviet citizens were buried in Germany as a result of the Second World War, most of them soldiers of the Soviet Army and forced labourers. The Soviet-Russian Second World War Cemetery Simmerath-Rurberg holds the remains 2.322 of them – men, women and children. Only fifty-five of them rest in individual graves, the others in mass graves. Just a small number is known by name. Here in Simmerath-Rurberg almost all of the buried were also prisoners of war or forced labourers. They died in consequence of hardship in the labour camps or as a result of Allied bomb strikes. After the war was over many small Soviet cemeteries were established all over Germany. The Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge united 38 of these cemeteries in the region of Monschau, Erkelenz, Geilenkirchen, Aachen, Jülich, Düren and Schleiden in Germany and Rurberg in Belgium. Most of the dead were transferred from Düren, where in the course of the war 1.522 forced labourers died in arms factories. The Simmerath-Rurberg Cemetery was officially opened in 1961.
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I'm trying to apply the output from PCA analysis I've run on some yield curve history and am getting a bit confused. I have followed the steps below,
1. From a history of the yield curve ($m \times n$ where $m$ are the days and $n$ are the tenor points) I derive the daily returns
2. Calculate a covariance matrix from the daily returns
3. Calculate the eigenvectors and eigenvalues that correspond to the covariance matrix. The first two eigenvectors (principal components) are,
Tenor PC2 PC1
1Y -0.15028 0.05154
2Y -0.32138 0.13310
3Y -0.41856 0.20852
5Y -0.41465 0.26116
7Y -0.33315 0.29555
10Y -0.19980 0.31919
15Y -0.04874 0.33416
20Y 0.08760 0.34173
PC1 explains 85% of the variance and PC2 explains 11%, so these two components are enough for the purposes of my analysis.
What I would like to do is measure the amount the yield curve moves if I assume the 5Y point moves by exactly one unit with every point moving in the same direction (the move exactly described by PC1).
To do this I calculate a shift to the yield curve using the following expansion, $ \textbf{PC1} = \Bigg[ \textbf{SD} \cdot \bigg[ \textbf{P} \cdot \big[ \textbf{Sc} \cdot \textbf{SD} \cdot \textbf{P} \big] ^ {-1} \bigg] \Bigg] \cdot \big[1\big]$
- $\textbf{SD}$ is the standard deviation matrix of size $n \times n$ where $n$ is the number of tenors, the diagonal value is the square root of the diagonal of the covariance matrix and zeros everywhere
- $\textbf{P}$ is the first Principal Component vector, which is simply the eigenvalues of the covariance matrix of the daily returns of size $n \times 1$
- $\textbf{Sc}$ is a scalar vector that represents a unit shift at the 5Y point, so is a $n \times 1$ vector with 0 at each element apart from 1 at the corresponding 5Y tenor
The output of the above expansion does indeed lead to an $n \times 1$ vector that has a shift for every tenor and exactly 1 at the 5Y point, so the result does appear to be correct.
This is the output,
However, some other references suggest that I can use the eigenvectors as weights directly. If I do that and scale the results of the PC1 vector so that the 5Y element is exactly 1, I get this result,
So my question simply is - which result is correct? Is it the first one or the second, which is simply a linear scaling of the eigenvector?
Thank you in advance.
- $\begingroup$ Welcome to CV. I've a few questions to clarify what you are doing. what is SD? The standard deviation of a matrix I am familiar with is a scalar (see _URL_. Do you mean the covariance matrix with element by element square root? Or maybe the eigenvalues? You allude to references, could you provide some? $\endgroup$ – ReneBt Feb 15 '19 at 14:15
- $\begingroup$ Hi Rene, I've edited my question about. In specific answer to your questions SD is square root of the diagonal of the covariance matrix. I've also linked to a reference. $\endgroup$ – insomniac Feb 15 '19 at 15:02
Try squaring your transformed PC1 (eqn 1) and compare it to the directly weighted loading (option 2) - you will see that it is the square of the direct weighting.
For your purposes there is no need to manipulate the eigenvectors themselves, what you should adjust is the scores applied to each PC (which is method 2).If you manipulate the eigenvectors themselves, you are directly manipulating the underlying reality of your covariance structure. Eigenvectors are unit vectors, so they have an overall weight of 1 - if you mess with that you just make life complicated for yourself in correcting for when to square and when to square root, as you would need to work out with solution 1.
If you manipulate the scores, you are simply observing what happens as you manipulate observations, which sounds more like what you want. The PCA equation it is very simple.
$ Data = Scores * PCs$
If you adjust the scores there is no squaring involved - the effect of scaling changes are inherently handled by the nature of linear algebra multiplication.
- $\begingroup$ Hi Rene, thanks but I don't follow your explanation. What do you refer to by "transformed PC1", "scores" and "weighted loading"? Can you please clarify. $\endgroup$ – insomniac Feb 23 '19 at 8:14
- $\begingroup$ OK, have included reference to your 1st and second options. If you scale the eigenvectors then you are introducing a weight to them. $\endgroup$ – ReneBt Feb 23 '19 at 15:16
Your Answer
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Zyphra/Zyda-2
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The stone castle at Sudeley was mainly built in 1441 by Ralph Boteler, who had the castle confiscated by Edward IV. The King gave it to his brother, who later became Richard III. When Henry VII became king, the castle became his property, and he gave it to his uncle, Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford.
By the time Henry VIII succeeded, the castle was a property of the crown once again. Henry visited the castle in 1535 with his second queen, Anne Boleyn, but the castle had been unattended for sometime at that point. One contemporary historian said of Sudeley, "[it's] going to ruine, more's the pittie".
When Henry VIII died in 1547, his son, Edward VI gave it to Thomas Seymour, the boy-king's uncle. Seymour was made Lord of Sudeley and married Henry VIII's widow, Katherine Parr. During this time, a renewal of Sudeley began. Seymour had a new suite added to the castle for Katherine's private use, but only one room he had constructed remains today.
Seymour and his new wife moved to the castle, bringing with them ladies to attend the Queen Dowager, as well as gentlemen of the household and Yeomen of the Guard, bringing the total to over 100 people in residence at Sudeley. Another famous Tudor figure to live at the castle was Lady Jane Grey, whose stewardship had been arranged by Seymour.
Katherine personally directed the decorating of the rooms planned for the child she was carrying. A daughter, Mary, was born on August 30, 1548, but Katherine contracted puerperal fever and died on September 5. The exact fate of the child is not known.
Queen Katherine Parr was laid to rest in St. Mary's Chapel at Sudeley. Her grave was rediscovered in 1782 after the Castle and Chapel had been left in ruins by the English Civil War in the mid-17th century. The lead casket was opened and it was commented that the body was 'uncorrupted'. However, lack of attention led to the degradation of the remains, and the Queen was reinterred in 1817 by the Rector of Sudeley. The plaque next to the tomb was copied from the original inscription on the lead coffin. The effigy on the tomb was made in Victorian times.
Thomas Seymour's ambitions led to his arrest and trial on 33 counts against King and Crown. He was executed on March 20, 1549 and Sudeley passed to the Marquess of Northampton, Katherine Parr's brother William, but he was stripped of his titles and properties after the failure of John Dudley's plot to make Jane Grey Queen.
In 1554, Mary I gave Sudeley to John Brydges, Lord Chandos, and it remained in their family into Elizabeth's reign. Elizabeth I was entertained three times at Sudeley, including a spectacular feast in 1592 to celebrate the anniversary of the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
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Solution structure of the DNA binding domain of rice telomere binding protein RTBP
Sunggeon Ko, Eun Young Yu, Joon Shin, Hyun Hee Yoo, Toshiyuki Tanaka, Woo Taek Kim, Hyun Soo Cho, Weontae Lee, In Kwon Chung
Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review
15 Citations (Scopus)
RTBP1 is a rice telomeric protein that binds to the duplex array of TTTAGGG repeats at chromosome ends. The DNA binding domain of RTBP1 contains a Myb-type DNA binding motif and a highly conserved C-terminal Myb extension that is unique to plant telomeric proteins. Using an electrophoretic mobility shift assay, we identified the C-terminal 110-amino acid region (RTBP1 506-615) as the minimal telomeric DNA binding domain, suggesting that the Myb extension is required for binding plant telomeric DNA. Like other telomeric proteins such as human TRF1 and yeast Rap1, RTBP1 induced a DNA bending in the telomeric repeat sequence, suggesting that RTBP1 may play a role in establishing and/or maintaining an active telomere configuration in vivo. To elucidate the DNA binding mode of RTBP1, we determined the three-dimensional structure of RTBP1506-615 in solution by NMR spectroscopy. The overall structure of RTBP1506-615 is composed of four α-helices and stabilized by three hydrophobic patches. The second and third helices in RTBP1 form a helix-turn-helix motif that interacts directly with DNA. The fourth helix located in the Myb extension is essential for binding to telomeric DNA via stabilization of the overall structure of the RTBP1 DNA binding domain. When DNA bound to RTBP1506-615, large chemical shift perturbations were induced in the N-terminal arm, helix 3, and the loop between helices 3 and 4. These results suggest that helix 3 functions as a sequence-specific recognition helix while the N-terminal arm stabilizes the DNA binding.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)827-838
Number of pages12
Issue number5
Publication statusPublished - 2009 Feb 10
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Biochemistry
Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'Solution structure of the DNA binding domain of rice telomere binding protein RTBP'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Cite this
| 1.48718 |
Zyphra/Zyda-2
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If you're arrested after an illegal search– now, that's hard to declare. It just– as an illegal search, you usually need to be arrested. And a lawyer needs to evaluate whether there was enough evidence to support probable cause. But it happens. If you're arrested, and let's say something is seized as a result of your arrest,– let's say, a bag of marijuana, contraband. –that piece of evidence is the most important thing in the prosecutor's case.
If the search was unconstitutional, there's a doctrine called fruit from a poisonous tree. What that means is that evidence will be suppressed. And what that means for you going to trial is that evidence cannot be introduced in a court of law. If they don't have the contraband, drugs, or other whatever is seized, then, you'd better believe the case is going to be dismissed.
| 1.313178 |
Zyphra/Zyda-2
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will maintenance be possible?
5) Irrigation: will you plants need extra water? If so, what it the best way to deliver it? Will you need an irrigation system?
6) Drainage: While a rooftop garden will absorb a lot of water, it will still be necessary to have form of drainage system. Stagnant water can add a lot of extra weight to your rooftop and may be harmful to your plants. This can usually be connected to the rooftop's existing drainage system with minimal effort.
Remember that wind speeds double every 10 stories or so. This can lead to a loss in moisture and top soil, so you need to plan for this.
Good luck and stay prepared!
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This rock-themed crossword puzzle turns vocabulary review into a game. Some of the worksheets displayed are brocksb band mineralsb unit fourth bgradeb brocksb bgradeb b4b brocksb band mineralsb activities brocksb band mineralsb first bgradeb brocksb science content standards brocksb band mineralsb science third bgradeb unit 1 brocksb band mineralsb objectives. Rocks theme activity pages centers and games to make that can be used when planning lessons and curriculum for preschool pre k and kindergarten children. Rocks ad Minerals Crossword 1. Rock Cycle Worksheet – Science Printable for 6th Grade. Rocks earth and volcanoes. Obsidian, basalt, and granite are all examples of igneous rocks. Rocks and Minerals Review Sheet and Quiz for Highschool – TPT. The Three Types Of Rocks Our Activities And A Free Worksheet Packet | Rock Cycle Worksheets Free Printable Uploaded by Bang Mus on Monday, June 17th, 2019 in category Printable Worksheet. 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SCIENCE | GRADE: 3rd, 4th Print full size Many resources are free. Rocks and Minerals Posters. Visit a natural history museum or planetarium. Jewel […], I am not a programmer but taught myself how to code […]. 3 Types Of Rocks Worksheet one of Teacher Worksheet Ideas - ideas, to explore this 3 Types Of Rocks Worksheet idea
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the Śaiva scene was dominated by the confrontation of two radically opposed schools: on the one hand, a group of nondualistic traditions, principally the Trika and the Krama, and on the other, the dualistic Śaiva Siddhānta. The nondualists, upholding the doctrine that the world and persons are no more than the play of the power of a universal consciousness-self, operated from within transgressive cults "tainted" by the Kāpālika culture of the cremation grounds and the erotico-mystical soteriology of the Kaulas.40
The Nondual School of Kashmir Śaivism integrated elements of both the transgressive nondualistic traditions and the more orthodox dualistic Śaiva Siddhānta. The end result was a nondualistic system in which the transgressive elements were internalized and hence rendered less offensive to the orthodox.
One of the best known Kashmir Śaiva theologians was Abhinavagupta (c. 975–1025 ce). He was a prolific author who wrote a number of commentaries on major works from the Trika and Krama traditions, as well as works in philosophy and aesthetics. According to David White he bridged the divide between the conservative and transgressive schools operating at the time by transforming the way the "hard-core" Kaula practices were understood. In his exegesis of Kaula works he "sublimates, cosmeticizes, and semanticizes many of its practices into a type of meditative asceticism whose aim is to realize a transcendent subjectivity."41 He thus played the role of domesticating the "hard core" practices, creating in their place "soft core" contemplative exercises. This is apparently the origin of the distinction in the tantric traditions between "left handed" or unorthodox practice (vāmācāra) and "right handed" or orthodox practice (dakṣiṇācāra). A similar development also occurred in Buddhist traditions; a tendency to neutralize the more transgressive elements of tantric practice, often by transforming the practice from external rituals to completely internalized visualizations.42
The last of the major Śaiva tantric traditions to develop is the Nāth or "Split-Ear" Kānphaṭa tradition. It is medieval tradition that grew out of the heterodox Śaiva renunciant orders, namely the Pāśupatas and Kāpālikas.43 While primarily Śaiva in orientation, some Nāths have also assumed Vaiṣṇava and Buddhist identities, and some also drew elements from Sikhism and Islam.44 It emerged around the 12th or 13th century and quickly rose to prominence, "so much so that by the nineteenth century, the term 'yogi' was often construed, by India's British colonizers, to refer to a member of one of the Nāth Yogī orders."45 This sect produced the tantric texts of the Haṭhayoga tradition that are believed to have been revealed by the great adept Gorakṣa or Gorakhnāth. They produced several tantric scriptures, such as the Gorakṣasaṃhitā, the Khercarīvidyā, and the Haṭhayogapradīpikā, which were composed around the 14th and 15th centuries.46 While a relatively late tradition, they have been a significant influence on the contemporary practice of yoga. They practice a distinct form of tantric yoga involving breath control (prāṇāyāma) and the retention and transformation of sexual fluids via complex yogic exercises.47
The Śākta Traditions
The Hindu Śākta traditions are traditions focusing on the Goddess (devī) in one of her many manifestations, as the supreme deity. The Śākta traditions involve both devotional strands and tantric strands, with popular Śākta practice being largely devotional in practice. Nonetheless, the Śākta traditions have maintained strong tantric tendencies, having preserved ritual and contemplative practices originating in Hindu tantric circles.48
The Śākta tradition is closely related to the Śaiva tradition, and the textual basis of many Śākta traditions are rooted in the goddess-oriented Vidyāpīṭha and Kaula traditions. The Kaula tradition, being almost entirely goddess oriented, is as much a Śākta tradition as it is Śaiva. This is because these are clearly overlapping categories. The nondual Śaiva and Śākta traditions both focus on the "bipolar, bisexual divinity within one's own body," as Goodriaan described it.49 This divinity is typically conceived as a male deity (Śiva or Viṣṇu) in union with his wife, Śakti. The distinction between Śaiva and Śākta in the Kaula tradition is largely one of emphasis, the deity upon which one primarily focuses.
However, the Śākta tradition was not exclusively tied to the Śaiva tradition. The worship of goddesses was a venerable practice widespread throughout South Asia. While goddesses are relatively few in the ancient Vedic pantheon, there was tremendous growth in goddess worship during the first millennium ce, as indicated by the Purāṇa literature composed during this era.50 One of the great works of the early Śākta tradition, the Devī-Māhātmya, which extols the goddess, in her numerous manifestations, as the supreme creator deity. This work was composed around the 6th century, around the same time as the goddess-oriented Vidyāpīṭha tantras were initially circulating.51
The Kaula tantras provide the early scriptural basis for the Śākta tradition. Of particular historical importance is the Kaula Southern transmission, which constitutes the tantras of the clan of the goddess Śrī (śrīkula), and the Northern and Eastern transmission, which gave rise to the tantras of the clan of the goddess Kālī (kālīkula).52 These became by far the most popular Śākta tantric traditions. The former, focusing on beautiful and erotic goddess Śrī, gave rise to the Śrī Vidyā tradition, which is an orthodox, "right handed" tradition that became particularly popular in South India.53 It is also the tradition that gave rise to the Śrī Yantra, a mystical diagram consisting formed by nine interlocking triangles that is probably one of the most widespread and best known tantric images.
The Kālīkula tradition, focusing on the fierce goddess Kālī, gave rise to the traditions of practice focusing on Kālī, which are particularly important in East and South India. Kālī remains one of the best known and beloved of Hindu goddesses, despite her ferocious appearance.54 She is also the focus of a considerable devotional tradition.55 Kālī is also included in the ten Mahāvidyās, a group of ten goddesses whose worship remains very popular in Bengal.56 Two of the goddesses included in this group, Tārā and Chinnamastā, originated as Buddhist goddesses who were later absorbed into this Hindu tantric pantheon.57
Śākta communities in northeastern India produced a number of tantras, such as the Cīnācāra Tantra and Bṛhannīla Tantra during the late medieval period, around the 15th and 16th centuries. These scriptures focus on the worship of goddesses and drew from both older Hindu as well as Buddhist works.58
Other Hindu Tantric Traditions
The Vaiṣṇava tradition of Hinduism has tended to be far more engaged with the Bhakti devotional mode of Hindu practice and correspondingly less engaged with the tantric mode of practice. However, the Pāñcarātra sect, which dates back to the 5th or 6th century and focused on Viṣṇu qua Nārāyaṇa, produced a number of tantric works, although this sect no longer identifies as tantric.
The Pañcarātra tradition claims to have had a canon of 108 texts, revealed by Viṣṇu in His form of Vāsudeva or Nārāyaṇa, most of which are apparently lost.59 While some scholars have argued that the oldest Pāñcarātra texts may date to the 5th century ce,60 Pāñcarātra scriptures are notoriously difficult to date due to a dearth of dateable early commentaries and manuscripts preserved by this tradition. One of the oldest works of this tradition, the Ahirbudhnyasaṃhitā, likely dates to the 8th century.61 There is indication of early influence from Kashmir Śaivism on Pāñcarātra scriptures. But as these works were later preserved by the Śrīvaiṣṇava tradition in South India, there is also evidence of later Pāñcarātra influence on the South Indian Śaiva Siddhānta tradition.62
During the medieval period another tantric Vaiṣṇava tradition emerged in Bengal. Known as the Sahajiyā tradition, it flourished in Bengal around the 16th through 19th centuries. It taught that each individual is a
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November 13, 2012 as seen from Amaroo, outside of Cairns, Australia, is posted on YouTube. The video also shows that even astronomers have to contend with the weather.
The sequence below is of the May 20, 2012 annular solar eclipse as seen from Red Bluff, CA. Select the image to go to a full-size image of the eclipse sequence and an animation.
Eclipse Web Sites
The following sites are probably the best and most complete ones on the web. You'll find eclipse predictions, photographs, observing instructions, and fairly complete indexes of all high-quality eclipse sites on the web. Between these three you should find whatever you may be interested in with regard to eclipses. They will display in another window.
- NASA's Eclipse Bulletins.
- Fred Espenak's eclipse site. A less technical version of the NASA site. Fred Espenak is also the main contributer to the NASA site.
- Sky & Telescope's eclipse site.
- annular eclipse
Review Questions 10
- What are the two parts of a shadow and in which part is the Sun partially visible?
- Why does the Moon turn orange-red during a total lunar eclipse?
- Would a person on the Moon ever experience an annular solar eclipse? Explain your answer.
- Why do we not have just annular solar eclipses or just total solar eclipses when the Moon and Sun are exactly lined up?
3.9 Planetary Motions
There are other celestial objects that drift eastward with respect to the stars. They are the planets (Greek for "wanderers"). There is much to be learned from observing the planetary motions with just the naked eye (i.e., no telescope). There are 5 planets visible without a telescope, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn (6 if you include Uranus for those with sharp eyes!). All of them move within 7 degrees of the ecliptic. This tells you something about of the orientation of the planet orbit planes with respect to the ecliptic—the figure below shows how flat the solar system is when viewed along the ecliptic plane. The planet positions, of course, do change as they orbit the Sun, but the orbit orientations remain the same.
The arrow pointing to Polaris in the solar system picture is tilted by 23.5 degrees because the Earth's rotation axis is tilted by 23.5 degrees with respect to the ecliptic. As viewed from the Earth, two of the planets (Mercury and Venus) are never far from the Sun. Venus can get about 48 degrees from the Sun, while Mercury can only manage a 27.5 degrees separation from the Sun. This tells you something about the size of their orbits in relation to the Earth's orbit size—their orbits are smaller and inside the Earth's orbit. When Venus and/or Mercury are east of the Sun, they will set after sunset so they are called an "evening star" even though they are not stars at all. When either of them is west of the Sun they will rise before sunrise and they are called a "morning star".
Planets produce no visible light of their own; you see them by reflected sunlight. True stars produce their own visible light. The planets inside the Earth's orbit are called the "inferior" planets because their distance from the Sun is less than (or inferior to) the Earth's distance from the Sun. Their closeness to the Sun enables us to see them go through a complete set of phases. Because they can get between us and the Sun, Venus and Mercury can be seen in a crescent or new phase. This also explains why the planets outside the Earth's orbit, called the "superior planets", are never seen in a crescent or new phase. When Venus is in crescent phase, it is the brightest object in the sky besides the Moon and the Sun. Even though you see a small fraction of its sunlit side, it is so close to us that you see it appear quite bright. At these times, Venus is bright enough to create a shadow! The fact that you can see Venus and Mercury also in gibbous and nearly full phase proved to be a critical observation in deciding between a Earth-centered model and a Sun-centered model for the solar system.
Because Mercury and Venus are closer to the Sun than we are (i.e., their orbits are inside the Earth's orbit), they are never visible at around midnight (or opposite the Sun). The superior planets can be visible at midnight. At midnight you are pointed directly away from the Sun so you see solar system objects above the horizon that are further out from the Sun than we are. If you want to see where the planets are in their orbits today or any other date, then go to the Solar System Live site (will display in another window).
Ordinarily the planets "wander" eastward among the stars (though staying close to the ecliptic). But sometimes a strange thing happens—a planet will slow down its eastward drift among the stars, halt, and then back up and head westward for a few weeks or months, then halt and move eastward again. The planet executes a loop against the stars! When a planet is moving backward it is said to be executing retrograde motion. Perhaps it seemed to the ancients that the planets wanted to take another look at the stars they had just passed by.
The figure below shows Mars' retrograde loop happening at the beginning of 1997. Mars' position is plotted every 7 days from October 22, 1996 (the position on November 12, 1996 is noted) and the positions at the beginning and end of the retrograde loop (February 4 and April 29, 1997) are noted. An animation of this is available here. What causes retrograde motion? The answer to that question involved a long process of cultural evolution, political strife, and paradigm shifts. You will investigate the question when you look at geocentric (Earth-centered) models of the universe and heliocentric (Sun-centered) models of the universe in the next chapter.
- retrograde motion
Review Questions 11
- How do the planets move with respect to the stars?
- What does the fact that all of the planets visible without a telescope move within 7° of the ecliptic imply about the alignment of their orbital planes? What would an edge-on view of our solar system look like?
- Why are Venus, and Mercury never seen at midnight while the other planets can be visible then?
- What phase would Venus be in when it is almost directly between us and the Sun? Where would it be in its orbit if we see in a gibbous phase?
- Are the planet motions random all over the sky or are they restricted in some way?
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|"All Creatures Great and Small"
|James Herriot inspired many to become vets in
Millions of Indians still live directly off animal husbandry. Innovative application of
modern veterinary science can help improve the lives of both the animals and their owners.
Want to become Indias Herriot?
Most people will have had some contact with vets
either through the family pets, or on TV in the form of James Herriot, the pen name of
James Alfred Wight a British veterinary surgeon and writer.
The work they do helping sick creatures will tug at the heartstrings. While
these guys make it look easy, becoming a vet is seriously hard work. In fact, getting into
a veterinary career is harder than becoming a doctor! Until recently, vets have had to
struggle against indifference to their profession in the developing world. But these days,
the welfare of domestic animals is seen more positively as an essential part of rural
development and an indication of a modern progressiveoutlook.
The large majority of vets will end up working in private practice small
operations, of between one and four animal doctors where family pets will be the
mainstay of these businesses. Most veterinary doctors, develop a particular area of
expertise. As there are limited opportunities in areas of specialised research and
breeding of animals in India, a majority of veterinarians choose to work in urban areas,
where the work would mostly include the care and handling of domestic pets, or in the
government's animal husbandry departments. As with a doctor handling the medical ailments
of human beings, a veterinarian's work involves diagnosing the ailment of an animal,
through physical and clinical examination, and the administration of appropriate
medication. It also involves the timely administration of vaccines for preventing disease,
and advising on matters of nutrition
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40% cost savings to 8% increase in profit margin, aiding social stability, improving wellbeing and supporting development. Because of its importance in software systems (online or otherwise), a number of researchers have tried to tackle trust.. Although it is beyond the scope of this paper to present a comprehensive list of works related to trust in software systems, we present below approaches that are related to the idea of "design for trust".
According to the literature, "...Trust is a term with many meanings", that is difficult to define, convey, measure or specify. The definition of trust presented below is derived from typical constructs found in the literature (e.g..)
|[Trust is] the willingness of a party (trustor) to be vulnerable to the actions of another party (trustee) based on expectation that the other party will perform a particular action important to the trustor, irrespective of the ability to monitor or control that other party.|
The relationship between trust and ICT technology (such as online systems) is a particularly complex one, and is still a subject of a research debate. Even the simple question whether trust can be extended towards technical systems does not have a clear answer. Josang argües that individuals, from different cultures and backgrounds, are willing to trust software systems, as they trust other humans, knowing that there are potential risks. Dennett explains this phenomenon by referring to intentionality, which is simplifying the perception. On the other hand, research by Lacohee et al. emphasises that trust is directed towards the humans behind the systems and not the systems itself, while systems are treated as conveying a message about trustworthiness embedded into their design.
The development of modern software systems went towards increased integration and inter-connectivity, with the Internet or SOA being only one example. Therefore we are painfully aware that the complex modern technology is quite often an obstacle, as it brings yet more questions: why one should trust technology? and how can machines trust each other? In situations where operators of such systems are remote, relationships between systems are volatile and decisions regarding trust have to be made fast. Our everyday experience is usually of a problematic kind where computers refuse to cooperate, network outages stall work and cars tend to fail at the least convenient moments. If technology is to be used to develop trust between people, and support multi-cultural trusted models, then such technology must befirst and foremost trusted. As research has shown, if trust is not present, if there is no confidence, expectation, belief and faith in a software system, then there will be no willingness to rely on any such systems.
Further, modern software systems store sensitive and important information while communicate and exchange information with a large number of other systems. In order to guarantee security and privacy of information, software systems must be guaranteed to only exchange information with other systems that are trustworthy. As a result, the importance of assessing and analysing trust (both between software systems and humans; and between software systems that represent its operators) as part of the development process has been brought to light. Recent literature states that "trust is becoming an increasingly important issue in the design of many kinds of software systems" since "uncertainties and concerns of various stakeholders and participants need to be considered and addressed".
Suttcliffe argües that design and trust intersect in two ways. Firstly, if the design of a software system is not thought-out prior to the development stage, then there is a possibility that the system will not be built as per the user's requirements. When the user actually utilizes the system, she/he will be made aware that her/his requirements haven't been fulfilled, henee causing distrust of the system and the rejection of it. The second way that design and trust are intersected is by having 'technology acting as a mediator of trust between people, organizations or produets'.
We can expand on this insight to identify three different types of discussions regarding trust and design of ICT systems. The closer analysis of the social context of a typical on-line system reveals at least three social actors of potentially different requirements regarding trust (Figure 1).
|1.||Designers (and developers), the community that this paper focuses on, are responsible for designing and producing the actual system. They view the system as a product that is reflecting requirements of their customers, and hand-overthe system-product to operators.|
|2.||Operators are responsible for the everyday operation of the system, including maintenance, management, supervision, necessary upgrades, and also decommissioning. For on-line systems operators tend to provide the on-line platform, appropriate access etc.|
|3.||Users actually use the system for their own purposes, that may or may not be in accord with the original set of requirements. For modern on-line systems users quite often contribute the major part of the content, either directly (user-generated content) or indirectly (e.g. e-mail).|
Note that the honeycomb-like structure can repeat itself, revealing more social actors and systems. For example, the designer community themselves can act as users with regard to design tools that they are using (e.g. compilers, repositories). They can also act as operators e.g. for customer portal that facilitates on-line requirement gathering.
Three types of social actors suggest that the question of trust suggest that there may be at least three different views on the role and position of trust in design of on-line systems. Those views are characterised below, all from the perspective of their impact on the design process.
The trust-aware design takes into account similarities and differences between views on trust and trustworthiness of the variety of social actors that are and will be with the system. The main purpose of the trust-aware design is to capture customer requirements regarding trust, and to reflect them in the architecture of the system. Trust-aware design builds on existing software development methodologies, by enriching them with means to capture and reason about trust.
Trust-awareness closely resembles the view of the design community on the role and position of trust. Here' trust is a property of the operational environment of the system that ahs to be captured, structured and formalised in a form of a requirement. The trust-aware system is the one that satisfies trust-related requirements. While it may look as if this approach exhausts the need of the design community, the complexity of the challenge require an understanding of others approaches.
Typical examples of trust-aware design address the problem by adding trust-related extension to existing design frameworks, thus combining the familiarity of an approach with addressing new challenges. For example, Secure Tropos extends the Tropos methodology with the concepts of trust, delegation, provisioning and ownership in order to allow the developer to capture trust relationships at a social and individual level. Bimrah extends the secure Tropos methodology with the concepts of request, action, trust relationship, trusting intention, repetitive knowledge, recommendation and consequence in order to model trust. The developer is guided through a series of models in order to analyse and reason about trust relationships.
Similarly, in the proposed method makes use of the Goal Requirement Language (GRL) and Use Case Map (UCM) which both of them belong to the User Requirement Notation(URN). In particular, trust is captured as a soft goal because of its uncertainty of whether it is has been satisfied or not and because of its fuzzy nature. Further analysis of trust as a soft goal will eventually lead to well defined tasks. The UMLtrust framework of Uddin and Zulekernine considers trust from the early stages of the development process and it is a scenario based analysis of trust. It uses UML which is well accepted among software developers.
The impact of such considerations on the architecture can be seen e.g. in Yan and Cofta where trust is a set of statements and goals and trust domains are defined as areas of mobile communication where the trust definition is common among the various elements. Because of the subjectivity of trust definitions there are gaps between the trust domains and certain elements bridge the gap and are responsible for ensuring trust at a higher level than the one of the domains.
Trust-expressiveness shifts the focus from design to operation, thus reflecting the view of the operator community. It provides tools and methods to express and reason about trust, but it does not reflect any particular relationships of trust or distrust in the design itself. Consequently, the design is 'trust neutral', and the purpose of trust-expressive design is to enable the expressiveness of trust in the operation.
However, while the 'trust neutrality' may be the intention, the potential expressiveness is constrained by design decisions. For example, by including or excluding particular protocols or algorithms, the designer can enable or inhibit particular forms of trust. If, say, the system design does not include a provision for a reputation-based trust, then trust will not be able to be expressed in a form of a reputation.
Requirements regarding trust expressiveness are usually captured as functional ones, as (from the design perspective), it is a function of the target system to deliver a functionality that supports the expression of trust. However, there is a dependency between information captured by trust-aware design and ability to opérate a required scheme to express trust. For example, if the assumed operator of the PKI infrastructure is not trusted, then no implementation can overeóme it.
The trust-expressive approach bears the very cióse resemblance to current security practices, where there is a clear operational separation between policies and policy execution points. Designers of the actual system can construct effective security enforcement means without knowing what policies will be implemented. The design of actual pólices can be separated from the design of an ICT system, without the need for any re-development.
Trust expressiveness is closely related to the well established area of trust management, and the need for trust expressiveness can be often structured
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This sacred site was one of the greatest Mayan centres of the Yucatán peninsula. Throughout its nearly 1,000-year history, different peoples have left their mark on the city. The Maya and Toltec vision of the world and the universe is revealed in their stone monuments and artistic works. The fusion of Mayan construction techniques with new elements from central Mexico make Chichen-Itza one of the most important examples of the Mayan-Toltec civilization in Yucatán. Several buildings have survived, such as the Warriors' Temple, El Castillo and the circular observatory known as El Caracol.
Stepped pyramid of Kukulkan, El Castillo - The Castle
© M & G Therin-Weise
Chichen Itza is the most important archaeological vestige of the Maya-Toltec civilization in Yucatán (10th-15th centuries). Its monuments, particularly in the northern group which includes the Great Ball Court, Temple of Kukulkan and Temple of the Warriors, are among the undisputed masterpieces of Mesoamerican architecture because of the beauty of their proportions, the refinement of their construction and the splendour of their sculpted decorations. These monuments exerted an influence throughout the entire Yucatán cultural zone from the 10th to the 15th centuries.
Located midway between Mérida and Cancún, Chichen Itza is the northernmost of the major archaeological sites in Yucatán. Covering more than 300 ha, it is also one of the largest and richest in monuments. Above all, it is one of the most significant in historical terms because it illustrates two major periods in pre-Hispanic civilizations in the Mesoamerican zone.
The town was established close to two natural cavities (cenotes or chenes), which facilitated tapping the underground water area of the cenote of Xtoloc during the Classic period. The dates for this settlement vary according to subsequent local accounts: one manuscript gives 415-35, while others say 455. The town that grew up around the sector known as Chichen Viejo already boasted important monuments of great interest: the Building of the Nuns, church, Akab Dzib, Chichan Chob, Temple of the Panels and Temple of the Stag. They were constructed between the 6th and 10th centuries in the characteristic Mayan style then popular both in the northern and southern areas of the Puuc hills.
The second settlement of Chichen Itza, and the most important for historians, corresponded to the migration of Toltec warriors from the Mexican plateau towards the south during the 10th century. According to the most common version, the King of Tula, Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl, or Kukulkan as the Mayans translated the name, reportedly took the city between 967 and 987 after wandering for many years. What is known for certain is that the Toltec invaders subjugated the local population with a ferocity which even five centuries later the chronicles of the'sacred books' of the Mayans spoke of. The Toltecs imposed the ritual of human sacrifice which until then was rarely, if at all, practised in the region.
Following the conquest of Yucatán a new style blending the Mayan and Toltec traditions developed, symbolizing the phenomenon of acculturation. Chichen Itza is a clear illustration of this fusion. Specific examples are, in the group of buildings to the south, the Caracol, a circular stellar observatory whose spiral staircase accounts for its name, and, to the north, the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl, El Castillo. Surrounding El Castillo are terraces where the major monumental complexes were built: on the north-west are the Great Ball Court, Tzompantli or the Skull Wall, the temple known as the Jaguar Temple, and the House of Eagles; on the north-east are the Temple of the Warriors, Group of the Thousand Columns, market and ball courts; on the south-west is the Tomb of the High Priest.
This new architecture, known today as Maya-Yucatec, took from the old local structures the art of stereotomy used on walls and vaults while incorporating certain Toltec elements in the decorations. Besides all the battle scenes, which are depicted in luxurious detail, the most obvious of the influences from central Mexico are the likenesses of the plumed serpent Quetzalcoatl, present on columns and substructures where enormous heads of reptiles create a vigorous decorative motif. Other examples of the Mexican influence are the famous statues of the rain god Chac-Mool, executed in a typical half-reclining pose.
The history of Chichen Itza from the end of the 10th to the 15th centuries is complex. The monopolistic authority of military leaders seems to have been mitigated after the city joined the Mayapán League, which included Uxmal. After the 13th century no major monuments seem to have been constructed at Chichen Itza and the city rapidly declined after the fall of Mayapán. In 1556 Bishop Diego de Landa visited the practically abandoned ruins and recorded the legends pertaining to the various monuments. The ruins were not excavated until 1841. Source: UNESCO/CLT/WHC
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