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text:
Pelosi seeks to curb Trump's nuke power: Read her letter to Dems about it
spotlight AP
Associated Press, CNN
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday she has spoken to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff about preventing an "unhinged" President Donald Trump from ordering military actions including a possible nuclear strike in his final days and hours at the White House.
The president has sole authority in the U.S. government to order the launch of a nuclear weapon. But a military commander could refuse the order if it were determined to be illegal. Trump has been making no such threats.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Pelosi said the situation of "this unhinged president could not be more dangerous."
Pelosi was meeting with the House Democratic caucus Friday to consider impeachment proceedings against the president as soon as next week after the deadly siege of the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob that shocked the nation and the world.
Pelosi said in a statement to colleagues that she spoke with Gen. Mark Milley "to discuss available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes" for nuclear war. She said Milley assured her longstanding safeguards are in place.
The text of Pelosi's letter is below:
Dear Democratic Colleague,
It is a spirit of pride and with great solemnity that I write to you about the events of this past week.
Thank You to Members Defending Democracy: On Wednesday evening, following an horrific assault on our Democracy, our Democratic Caucus showed to the country and to the world that we would not be diverted from our duty to validate the election of President-elect Joe Biden. Despite the desecration of the temple of our democracy, the House upheld its responsibility to the Constitution and to the American people. My deepest gratitude goes to our scholars -- Reps. Raskin, Lofgren, Schiff, and Neguse -- and to the delegations of Arizona and Pennsylvania facing objections who made the case for respecting the will of the American people.
Capitol Police: It is with great sadness that I also write to share the news that a twelve-year veteran of the U.S. Capitol Police, Officer Brian Sicknick, died after defending the Capitol complex and protecting all who serve and work here. The perpetrators of Officer Sicknick's death must be brought to justice. Five people have now died because of the act of insurrection. This is a stain on our nation's history.
While we are appreciative of the bravery of the Capitol Police, we are disappointed in the lack of leadership. For that reason I called upon the Chief of the Capitol Police to resign, and he has. I have also accepted the resignation of the House Sergeant-at-Arms. Chair Lofgren will discuss on our noon Caucus call how we will move forward with responding to the failures that allowed this tragedy to happen.
Removing the President From Office: As you know, there is growing momentum around the invocation of the 25th Amendment, which would allow the Vice President and a majority of the Cabinet to remove the President for his incitement of insurrection and the danger he still poses. Yesterday, Leader Schumer and I placed a call with Vice President Pence, and we still hope to hear from him as soon as possible with a positive answer as to whether he and the Cabinet will honor their oath to the Constitution and the American people.
Nearly fifty years ago, after years of enabling their rogue President, Republicans in Congress finally told President Nixon that it was time to go. Today, following the President's dangerous and seditious acts, Republicans in Congress need to follow that example and call on Trump to depart his office -- immediately. If the President does not leave office imminently and willingly, the Congress will proceed with our action.
Preventing an Unhinged President From Using the Nuclear Codes: This morning, I spoke to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley to discuss available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike. The situation of this unhinged President could not be more dangerous, and we must do everything that we can to protect the American people from his unbalanced assault on our country and our democracy.
Resources for Responding to Trauma: The attack on Wednesday had a great traumatic effect on Members and congressional employees. I have asked the Attending Physician to provide to Members with information about access to counseling. You should shortly be receiving a Dear Colleague from the Office of the Attending Physician and the Office of the Employee Assistance.
I am very grateful to Members for your communications regarding what you think should happen. I take your suggestions very seriously as we build consensus in our Caucus as we go forward.
Thank you for your patriotism, your courage and your leadership.
FBI releases photos seeking ID of suspected rioters
The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Washington Field Office is seeking the public's assistance in identifying individuals suspected of making unlawful entry into the U.S. Capitol building on Wednesday.
Anyone with information regarding these individuals, or anyone who witnessed any unlawful violent actions at the Capitol or near the area, is asked to contact the FBI's Toll-Free Tipline at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) to verbally report tips. You may also submit any information, photos, or videos that could be relevant online at fbi.gov/USCapitol. You may also contact your local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate.
Source: www.fbi.gov/wanted/seeking-info/
Mark Milley
Dc-protest
Dccjb

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Located at a walking distance from the Calangute Beach in Goa, Casinha Margarida is the ideal accommodation. Overlooking the sea, the hotel is constantly engulfed in the cool sea breeze. The hotel offers the guests facilities like room service and much more to suit your needs.


Umreth is one of those places that do not need an extensive introduction. Umreth is a well known city located in the Anand district of Gujarat. Umreth has lot in store for anyone visiting it. There are many popular places to visit in Umreth. The main languages spoken in Umreth are Gujarati.
Planning on a trip by road? Sounds good, however hiring a car from Ahmedabad to Umreth can get very tedious, especially during holiday breaks, if one has not planned in advance. Well the easiest way to do so is to log onto www.bookcab.in and book your cab for the time span you're looking at. One can even avail ongoing discounts or packages which Bookcab may have during the said time period. Bookcab, has a range of cabs to choose from Tata Indica to Rolls Royce, as per your requirements. You can book a cab at any time from Ahmedabad to Umreth and back and be assured of the best of cars and service from Bookcab. So friends, get going and check it out!
Book a cab from Ahmedabad to Umreth and experience the reliable services of Bookcab. Bookcab is India's leading chauffeur driven car hire company that provides the best Ahmedabad to Umreth taxi experience. Book a cab with bookcab's convenient taxi booking system for a full day car rental trip from Ahmedabad to Umreth and get best deals on your cab booking. Bookcab, the outstation specialist has a large fleet of cars to choose for a taxi from Ahmedabad to Umreth at affordable prices. Avail car rental services from Ahmedabad airport to Umreth. We provide taxi services from Ahmedabad railway station as well. Bookcab is the best car rental platform, if you want to travel only one way in taxi from Ahmedabad to Umreth. Estimated distance from Ahmedabad to Umreth is 79 Km. Journey time for Ahmedabad to Umreth would be approximately 1 hour 21 mins. Thinking what is the weather in Umreth? Check out the weather info, while travelling from Ahmedabad to Umreth at Bookcab. Get accurate and reliable weather information and weather updates here. Wondering where to stay in Umreth? Bookcab has got all the details of Hotels in Umreth. Get the list of hotels in Umreth with contact details and addresses. Find detailed information on 2 star, 3 star, 4 star, 5 star, budget, cheap and heritage hotels in Umreth.
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Yahoo's PPC is a new type of online marketing tool, this advertising is placed in this type of approach, appear on the site's search page, when users click on ads, will enter the advertiser's web site, to borrow this increase sales opportunities. Most advertisers on Yahoo's PPC are limited, so if you know how to use this tool, you can raise the Yahoo's PPC effectiveness. TAIKONG is a large-scale company, buying Yahoo's PPC strategy worth exploring further discussion, but this study available to use Yahoo's PPC, advertisers a reference.
This case study set from TAIKONG Corporation by three campaigns (A) Company Exposure (B) marketing (C) products, to understand the application of TAIKONG strategy, advertising campaigns and in-depth analysis of the number under ad groups. Through these discussions, advertisers using Yahoo's PPC can be used the following four points: (A) first thought advertising goals, then create a campaign (B) confirm the keyword type, effect and control advertising budget (C) full use of Insert Keyword feature to enhance the ads click rate (D) timely update ad copy and keywords, keywords and ad copy to confirm the correlation. For advertisers, if these four points as operating guidelines, coupled with the appropriate plan, The study believe will be able to maximize the effectiveness of advertising.


This Overwatch Junkrat Rip-Tire guide will teach you how to hide your Rip-Tire from the enemy team. Rip-Tire, which is Junkrat's Ultimate ability, is one of the more powerful DPS Ultimates in Overwatch, in that it charges insanely quickly, and deals a huge amount of AoE damage. At one point in time, there was a way to exploit the Rip-Tire ability in order to keep it concealed from the enemy team, but Overwatch developers Blizzard decided to label this as a bug, proceeding to cut it from the main game with a patch. Recently, however, a Redditor reported that a different Rip-Tire bug was fixed, which sort of undid the previous patch, meaning that player can hide their Rip-Tire again. Maybe Blizzard should just cut their losses and delete Rip-Tire, widely referred to as a broken ability, from the game. Actually, maybe just delete Junkrat entirely, but nonetheless, here's how to hide your Rip-Tire.
So, if you want to hide your Rip-Tire from the enemy team, what you need to do is to press the button for your Ultimate, while simultaneously detonating your Concussion Mine beneath you. By doing this, you'll launch yourself into the air, as Junkrat tends to do, while being stuck in the animation for Rip-Tire. You'll land, and the Rip-Tire will launch as it usually does from where you do; meanwhile, Junkrat will be where he was before the Concussion Mine sent him flying, so enemies will be looking at him, while the Rip-Tire comes for them from where he launched himself to.
What essentially happens is that the Rip-Tire overrides the Concussion Mine command, but doesn't actually cancel the animation. Junkrat players can exploit this in order to get some sneaky kills without the enemy team even seeing the Rip-Tire coming. Just one more broken ability for the most broken hero in Overwatch. Fire in the hole!


text:
Bishops in western Canada tell Catholics it's OK to take COVID-19 vaccine
In Catholic News Service, Church in the Americas, COVID-19
Andrew Ehrkamp
Moderna COVID-19 vials and a medical syringe are displayed in an illustration. In pastoral letter, bishops of Alberta and the Northwest Territories tell Catholics when a vaccine is available to treat or prevent COVID-19, it is OK to take it. (Credit: Dado Ruvic/Reuters via CNS.)
When a vaccine is available to treat or prevent COVID-19, it is OK to take it. That's the message from the bishops of Alberta and the Northwest Territories.
EDMONTON, Alberta — When a vaccine is available to treat or prevent COVID-19, it is OK to take it.
That's the message from the bishops of Alberta and the Northwest Territories in a pastoral letter to the faithful as they navigate for Catholics a path through a moral dilemma presented by COVID-19 vaccine development. It echoes messages from the Vatican and bishops' conferences in the U.S. and Britain.
While many of the possible vaccines are synthetic and have no relationship to abortion in their production, several contenders were developed using cell lines descended from cells originally derived from aborted fetuses or embryonic stem cells.
Even if a vaccine is sourced from cell lines distantly derived from aborted human fetuses, which is an evil act according to Catholic teaching, the bishops say taking that vaccine is morally permissible given the remoteness of the recipient from the original act of abortion, the scarcity of ethical alternatives, and the grave threat that COVID-19 poses to public health.
While physicians and families should seek out ethical vaccines, the bishops say that use of previous cell lines is so prevalent in research that there may not be an ethical alternative accessible during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
"Making use of abortion to create cell lines for research and development is an affront to human dignity and cannot be morally justified," the bishops write. "Sadly, such cell lines are so widely used in the biopharmaceutical industry that a vaccine that has not been ethically compromised in its production and/or testing by their use may very well not be available for employment against COVID-19.
"With respect to someone simply receiving the vaccine, the degree of connection with the original evil act is so remote that, when there also exists a proportionately grave reason for vaccination, such as the current, urgent need to halt the COVID-19 pandemic, then the church assures us that it is morally permissible for Catholics to receive it for the good of personal and public health."
The bishops' letter is in keeping with statements from the Pontifical Academy for Life, which studies issues of biomedicine and law. The academy has addressed this issue in statements in 2005 and 2017.
The chairmen of the U.S. bishops' doctrine and pro-life committees issued a similar statement Nov. 23, adding: "Some are asserting that if a vaccine is connected in any way with tainted cell lines, then it is immoral to be vaccinated with them. This is an inaccurate portrayal of Catholic moral teaching."
On Dec. 2, the Pfizer & BioNTech vaccine was approved for use in the United Kingdom. A statement from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales said: "Each of us has a duty to protect others from infection with its danger of serious illness, and for some, death. A vaccine is the most effective way to achieve this unless one decides to self-isolate."
It, too, gave similar background on development of the vaccine and said: "Catholics may in good conscience receive any of these vaccines for the good of others and themselves. In good conscience, one may refuse a particular vaccine but continues to have a duty to protect others from infection."
Dr. Moira McQueen, executive director of the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute, who was part of a group advising the bishops on the vaccine letter, told Grandin Media in the Archdiocese of Edmonton: "The official teaching is saying then, if ethical (synthetic) vaccines are truly not available, then take this vaccine. … The level of moral cooperation by people in 2020 is what the church would call 'remote.'"
"Here we are talking about a pandemic. The idea is because of two factors — lack of personal responsibility for an original action yet facing serious illness and needing to protect yourselves and your children — church teaching says, and I think it's reasonable, that in these circumstances taking any vaccine is justified. They won't say the action is right in the fullest sense, but they do say it's justified. If an ethical vaccine comes along, you have to choose to use that one."
McQueen was part a group of Catholic medical, legal and theological experts who wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau early in the pandemic, pressing for any vaccine to be ethically sourced.
The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are both Messenger RNA vaccines in which molecules are chemically synthesized. However, the Oxford and AstraZeneca vaccines are sourced from cell lines that were originally abortion-derived, according to the Lozier Institute, a pro-life institute based in the U.S., which studied a range of vaccines under development.
Dr. David Evans, professor of medical microbiology at the University of Alberta, is quick to note that the vaccines are sourced differently and the bishops' letter shouldn't be used as justification to refuse to be immunized. Evans, who was a part of an advisory group to the bishops, leads a team that has studied the coronavirus extensively.
Still, McQueen expects some Catholics and others to refuse a vaccine as a matter of conscience.
"It may seem acceptable to some people not to take the vaccine and say they will stay at home and never leave. But I don't see how people could reasonably take a stance like that and then go out into society, as they must at some point and perhaps they are carriers," she said. "There's very much the reality of an individual conscience decision, which should always be respected. But that person always has to be thinking too about her or his responsibility to everybody else."
Catholic teaching on the common good is also a factor in making a good conscience decision, McQueen said.
Evans noted that any government-approved vaccine will be safe and effective; however, it's not yet known how long the immunity will last. Patients may have to be inoculated again with a "booster" after weeks or months.
Ehrkamp is editor of Grandin Media, based in Edmonton, Alberta.
Archbishop: Vaccine objectors still have 'responsibility to protect public health'
Vatican will offer Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19 to employees
U.S. bishops urge vaccination, but avoid morally compromised vaccines if possible
canadian bishops


text:
Q: Why doesn't the action tied to my checkbox work on the first click? I'm trying to create an order form for training courses, which will include a discount for existing or former customers. It should be simple - simply tick the checkbox if you are a former student and the form will apply the discount.
The code I have written almost works, but there's a glaring problem. The very first time you check the box, nothing happens. Then if you uncheck the box, it applies the discount. Check the box again and it removes the discount. This means that if you check the box once, nothing happens, but if you click on it again, you are receiving the discount despite indicating that you are not an existing/former customer.
The html is as follows:
<input type="checkbox" name="discounttick" value="Current or former student" id="discountbox" />

And the jquery:
var discount = 1;

function discountfunction(){
 if($("#discountbox").attr('checked')){
 discount = 0.9;
 }
 else {
 discount = 1;
 }
 }

$("#discountbox").click(discountfunction);

Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks!

A: attr method is not a good option for getting/setting properties of an element you can use prop instead:
if($("#discountbox").prop('checked')){

You can also use ternary operator and change event:
$('#discountbox').change(function(){
     discount = this.checked ? 0.9 : 1
})

A: Swap your variables around dude
var discount = 1;

function discountfunction(){
 if($("#discountbox").attr('checked')){
 discount = 1;
 }
 else {
 discount = 0.9;
 }
 }

$("#discountbox").click(discountfunction);

A: Try using is instead of attr.
 var discount = 1;

    function discountfunction(){
     if($("#discountbox").is(':checked')){
     discount = 0.9;
     }
     else {
     discount = 1;
     }
     }

    $("#discountbox").click(discountfunction);

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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text:
Bryan James Gilfillan (born 14 September 1984), is a footballer who plays as a defender or midfielder for Gretna 2008.

He represented Northern Ireland at under-21 level.

Club career
Gilfillan began his career with Inverness Caledonian Thistle in 2000, where he made a handful of substitute appearances before a loan spell at Brora Rangers in 2001. He later moved to Gretna, scoring 6 goals in 21 appearances, in a season that saw Gretna promoted to Division Two as Scottish Third Division 2004-05 champions. After a short spell at Stranraer and two years with Peterhead, Gilfillan went to Australia to play for Sunshine Coast in the Queensland State League. He returned to Scotland in December 2008, signing for Annan Athletic.

International career
Although he was born in Scotland, Gilfillan's mother's family come from Northern Ireland, and he was first called up their under-21 team in 2005.

References

External links

1984 births
Living people
People from Cardenden
Association football midfielders
Scottish footballers
Northern Ireland under-21 international footballers
Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. players
Cowdenbeath F.C. players
Gretna F.C. players
Stranraer F.C. players
Peterhead F.C. players
Annan Athletic F.C. players
Scottish Football League players
Clyde F.C. players
Airdrieonians F.C. players
Sunshine Coast F.C. players
Scottish expatriate footballers
Expatriate soccer players in Australia
Footballers from Fife
Brora Rangers F.C. players
Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Australia

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Using css selector for containing more than 1 value in attributes In css, IF i want to select (for example) 4 divs that the class of them Contains two types of value How should i select them ?
For example, I want to use :
div[class*="test"] OR [class*="myname2"] OR [class*="myname3"] [class*="myname4"]

What is the best Way to select them ALL ?
I want to select the div s that the class of them contains any of my names .

A: I might have miss-understood, but I think this is what you are looking for:
.test, .myname2, .myname3, .myname4 { // stuff }

A: Use commas
div[class*="test"], div[class*="myname2"], div[class*="myname3"], div[class*="myname4"]


text:
Revista Brasileira de Ciência do Solo
Rev. Bras. Ciênc. Solo vol.37 no.2 Viçosa Mar./Apr. 2013
DIVISÃO 1 - SOLO NO ESPAÇO E NO TEMPO
COMISSÃO 1.3 - PEDOMETRIA
Comparison between artificial neural networks and maximum likelihood classification in digital soil mapping
Comparação entre redes neurais artificiais e classificação por máxima verossimilhança no mapeamento digital de solos
César da Silva ChagasI; Carlos Antônio Oliveira VieiraII; Elpídio Inácio Fernandes FilhoIII
IPesquisador A da Embrapa Solos. Rua Jardim Botânico, 1024. CEP 22460-000 Rio de Janeiro (RJ). E-mail: cesar@cnps.embrapa.br; chagas.rj@gmail.com
IIProfessor do Departamento de Geociências, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina - UFSC. Caixa-Postal 476. CEP 88040-900 Florianópolis (SC). E-mail: carlos.vieira@cfh.ufsc.br
IIIProfessor do Departamento de Solos, Universidade Federal de Viçosa - UFV. Av. P.H. Rolfs, s/n. CEP 36570-000 Viçosa (MG). E-mail: elpidio@ufv.br
Soil surveys are the main source of spatial information on soils and have a range of different applications, mainly in agriculture. The continuity of this activity has however been severely compromised, mainly due to a lack of governmental funding. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of two different classifiers (artificial neural networks and a maximum likelihood algorithm) in the prediction of soil classes in the northwest of the state of Rio de Janeiro. Terrain attributes such as elevation, slope, aspect, plan curvature and compound topographic index (CTI) and indices of clay minerals, iron oxide and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), derived from Landsat 7 ETM+ sensor imagery, were used as discriminating variables. The two classifiers were trained and validated for each soil class using 300 and 150 samples respectively, representing the characteristics of these classes in terms of the discriminating variables. According to the statistical tests, the accuracy of the classifier based on artificial neural networks (ANNs) was greater than of the classic Maximum Likelihood Classifier (MLC). Comparing the results with 126 points of reference showed that the resulting ANN map (73.81 %) was superior to the MLC map (57.94 %). The main errors when using the two classifiers were caused by: a) the geological heterogeneity of the area coupled with problems related to the geological map; b) the depth of lithic contact and/or rock exposure, and c) problems with the environmental correlation model used due to the polygenetic nature of the soils. This study confirms that the use of terrain attributes together with remote sensing data by an ANN approach can be a tool to facilitate soil mapping in Brazil, primarily due to the availability of low-cost remote sensing data and the ease by which terrain attributes can be obtained.
Index terms: terrain attributes; neural networks; maximum likelihood.
O levantamento de solos é a principal fonte de informação espacial sobre solos para diferentes usos, principalmente o uso agrícola. No entanto, a continuidade dessa atividade tem sido grandemente comprometida, principalmente pela escassez de recursos financeiros. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a eficiência da utilização de dois classificadores distintos (redes neurais artificiais - RNAs e o algoritmo da máxima verossimilhança - Maxver) na predição de classes de solos em uma área na região noroeste do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. As variáveis discriminantes usadas incluem atributos do terreno, como elevação, declividade, aspecto, plano de curvatura e índice topográfico combinado (CTI) e índices clay minerals, iron oxide e de vegetação NDVI, derivados de uma imagem do sensor ETM+ do LANDSAT 7. Para o treinamento e a validação dos classificadores, foram utilizadas, respectivamente, 300 e 150 amostras por classe de solo, representativas das características dessas classes, com relação às variáveis discriminantes utilizadas. De acordo com os testes estatísticos realizados, o classificador com base na RNA produziu maior exatidão do que o classificador clássico da máxima verossimilhança (Maxver). A comparação com 126 pontos de referência coletados no campo evidenciou que o mapa produzido pela RNA teve desempenho superior (73,81 %) ao mapa produzido pelo algoritmo Maxver (57,94 %). As principais causas de erros detectadas na utilização desses classificadores foram: a heterogeneidade geológica da área aliada a problemas no mapa geológico utilizado; profundidade do contato lítico e, ou, exposição da rocha; e problemas com o modelo de correlação ambiental utilizado em razão da natureza poligenética dos solos. Os resultados obtidos permitem inferir que a utilização de atributos do terreno juntamente com dados de sensoriamento remoto em uma abordagem por RNAs pode contribuir para facilitar o mapeamento de solos no Brasil, principalmente por causa da disponibilidade de dados de sensores remotos a custos mais baixos e da facilidade de obtenção dos atributos do terreno.
Termos de indexação: atributos do terreno; redes neurais artificiais; máxima verossimilhança.
Soil survey is one of the main sources of spatial information on soils and has a wide range of uses. The qualitative landscape approach used in these surveys based on the interpretation of aerial photographs has however been criticized, for not allowing an understanding of the quantitative relationships between the shape of the land surface and the soils and their properties (McBratney et al., 2000).
Therefore, various quantitative methods (McBratney et al., 2003) have been developed over the last few years to describe, classify and study patterns of spatial distribution in soils. These methods are grouped together in an emerging field of soil science known as pedometrics (McBratney et al., 2000). This way of mapping soils digitally involves the quantitative prediction of soils and their properties using measured and/or observed and auxiliary data representing factors of soil formation. Various techniques have been used to predict soil properties and/or classes, such as kriging (Brus & Heuvelink, 2007; Weindorf & Zhu, 2010), multiple logistic regression (Hengl et al., 2007; Ten Caten et al., 2011), decision trees (Elnaggar & Noller, 2010; Giasson et al., 2011), and artificial neural networks (Behrens et al., 2005; Boruvka & Penizek, 2007; Chagas et al., 2010), among others.
The main advantages of artificial neural networks (ANNs) are an efficient handling of large quantities of data and their capacity for generalization. Furthermore, they require no specific type of data distribution, unlike the traditional parametric statistical approach, which implies normal data distribution, and allow the manipulation of data from different sources, with different levels of precision and noise (Atkinson & Tatnall, 1997; Benediktsson & Sveinsson, 1997).
In soil science, ANNs have already been used to map soil properties, mainly (McBratney et al., 2003). However, their application in the mapping of soil classes is less common and has been reported in only a few studies. Zhu (2000) used ANNs to populate a soil similarity model constructed to represent soil landscape as spatial continua. In this study, a set of soil formative factors were used as input data for the network, and the map derived by this approach was more detailed and superior to that derived from a conventional soil map.
An approach to the digital mapping of soil classes based on ANNs was developed by Behrens et al. (2005), using 69 terrain attributes, 53 geological units and three types of land use, extracted from existing maps and databases. In general, this approach proved fairly satisfactory, saved time, reduced financial costs and provided reliable results, with an average accuracy of the evaluated soil units of over 92 % for both training and validation. Boruvka & Penizek (2007) used ANNs for the mapping of soil classes with data of pH, clay levels and textural gradient from pre-existing soil surveys, as well as data on elevation, aspect and plan curvature as discriminating variables. The results demonstrated differences in the allocation of the soil classes.
In Brazil, the use of ANNs for the prediction of soil class was described by Chagas et al. (2010, 2011), who demonstrated the efficiency of this approach in digital soil mapping. Despite the growing use in recent years, there is still an enormous lack of studies involving digital soil mapping in Brazil, and mainly with a view to the selection of predictors, soil sampling techniques, evaluation of prediction methods (MLC, ANNs, decision trees, multiple logistic regressions, etc.), validation methods, and even the evaluation of the different environmental conditions in the country.
In this context, this study differs from previous work in its objective to compare the efficiency of the two prediction methods (ANNs and MLC) for digital soil mapping, using terrain attributes derived from a digital elevation model (DEM) and data from an orbital remote sensor (Landsat 7), to evaluate the real possibility of using these approaches in medium-scale soil surveys.
The study was carried out in an area of approximately 10,000 ha in the basin of the São Domingos River, a tributary of the Muriaé River in the northwestern region of the State of Rio de Janeiro, between the UTM coordinates 7,629,223N to 7,638,239N and 186,146E to 197,180E, Zone 24K, Datum Córrego Alegre (Figure 1). Two geomorphological systems can be found in the region: the hillslope area Mar de Morros and mountain chains and layered structures (NE-SW); the predominant lithology structure in the region comprise noritic granulites, heterogeneous migmatites and Quaternary alluvial deposits (DRM-RJ, 1980).
To understand the soil-landscape relationships, the area was surveyed according to procedures established for pedological surveys (Embrapa, 1995). For the characterization of the identified soil classes, 73 soil profiles and 11 extra samples were collected with augers and classified according to the Brazilian Soil Classification System (Embrapa, 2006). In view of the high number of soil classes and the high complexity of the training and validation processes, mainly for ANNs, as well as the limitations of the different programs used at each step, the area was subdivided (shown in table 1). The Quaternary deposit areas were considered to be the flattened patches in the areas of noritic granulites and heterogeneous migmatites.
This approach, which uses two different supervised classification algorithms (ANNs and the maximum likelihood algorithm), is based on the soil-landscape concept developed by Jenny (1941), according to which the soil is the result of interactions between formation factors over time.
Firstly, a digital elevation model (DEM) with a spatial resolution of 30 m was generated using the Topo to Raster option of the ArcGIS 10 program (ESRI, 2010). For this purpose, contour lines (20 m intervals), hydrography and elevation points contained in the topographic maps of IBGE SF-23-X-D-III-4 (Miracema) and SF-24-G-I-3 (São João do Paraíso) were used, both at a scale of 1:50,000. Then, after removing the spurious pits, this DEM was used to calculate the terrain attributes: elevation, slope, aspect, plan curvature and compound topographic index (CTI), according to Gallant & Wilson (2000), which together with the clay minerals, iron oxide (Sabins Junior, 1997) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Indices (NDVI) (Wiegand et al., 1991), derived from Landsat 7 ETM+ sensor imagery, represent the main factors of soil formation (discriminating variables) for the study area.
The compound topographic index (CTI) was obtained by equation 1:
where As is the contributing area ((flow accumulation + 1) x cell size of the grid in m2) and β is the slope expressed in radians.
The indices derived from the Landsat 7 ETM+ sensor images were used to reduce the work involved with data analysis by maximizing spectral information for a reduced number of sensor bands. Some studies demonstrated the relationship between the NDVI and soil moisture (Narasimha Rao et al., 1993) and the soil physical properties (Yang et al., 1997). This index was calculated as follows:
Similarly, clay minerals and iron oxide indices are frequently included in geological studies, underlying the distinction of soils with different physical and mineralogical characteristics (Sabins Junior, 1997). The clay mineral index was obtained by the ratio of band 5 (1.55-1.75 µm) by band 7 (2.08-2.35 µm) and the iron oxide index by the division of band 3 (0.63-0.69 µm) by band 1 (0.45-0.52 µm), both obtained from images of ETM+ sensor (LANDSAT 7) taken in August, 1999, using ERDAS Imagine 8.5 software.
The application of ANNs starts with the network training process (Tso & Mather, 2009). Firstly, the values related to all discriminating values were normalised to the interval between 0 and 1 [(discriminating variable - minimum value)/(maximum value - minimum value)] to facilitate the training process and avoid ANN saturation, as very large values can hamper the problem solution (saturation of the transfer functions could hinder the convergence of the network). Furthermore, efforts were made to prevent large variations in unimportant variables from inhibiting small variations in other more important variables.
The Java Neural Network Simulator was used for the classification by ANNs, based on the Stuttgart Neural Network Simulator 4.2 Kernel (Zell et al., 1996), and an applicable algorithm (funcpow) developed by Vieira (2000) for the classification by a Maximum Likelihood Classifier (MLC).
Two sets of independent stratified samples were collected from the areas containing profiles considered to be representative of each soil class, one for the training process and the other for validation of the two classifiers. In this way, efforts were made to represent the characteristics of each one in relation to the discrimination variables used (elevation, slope, aspect, plan curvature, CTI index, clay mineral index, iron oxide index, and NDVI index). It should be highlighted that the soil classes differed in relation to one or more of the discriminating variables. The training samples were used so that the classifiers could establish relationships between the discriminating variables (input data) and the soil classes (output data) through a learning process. The validation samples were then used to test this relationship by statistical means.
The training samples for both classifiers consisted of 300 samples or pixels per class, i.e., 3,600 samples for Area 1 and 3,000 samples for Area 2. The number of validation samples was limited to 50 % of the number of training samples (150 samples or pixels per class), with 1,800 samples for Area 1 and 1,500 samples for Area 2, according to Zhu (2000).
In the training step, 10 ANN architectures were tested, which differed only in terms of the number of neurons in the internal layer (3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 20, and 25 neurons). All of these had the same number of neurons in the input layer (number of discriminating variables) and in the output layer (12 soil classes for Area 1 and 10 for Area 2). The learning algorithm used was the backpropagation method, with random allocation of interneuron weights between -0.5 and 0.5 and a learning rate of 0.2, involving 10,000 learning cycles.
The results were evaluated through statistical means using the Kappa coefficient and overall classification accuracy, derived from a confusion matrix (Congalton & Green, 1999) from the validation samples. In this way, the ANN architecture obtaining the best result for the Kappa coefficient was selected for the prediction of the soil classes.
A statistical test to verify the significance of the differences between two or more classifiers (represented by their respective confusion matrices) using Kappa coefficient analysis is proposed as an alternative approach for the comparison of independent confusion matrices. In this way, a significance matrix was generated using the results of the statistical tests for the chosen ANN and the classification with MLC, using the Kappa values and Kappa variance between the classifications, by means of the Z statistical test. The formula to test the significance between two independent Kappa coefficients (Z test) is given in the following equation:
Where Ka1 and Ka2 are the two Kappa coefficients that are being compared (Congalton & Mead, 1986) and var is the variance of the Kappa coefficient (Ka).
Thus, the Z test firstly verifies if the classification differs from a causal classification. In other words, if Z calculated > Zα/2 tabulated, the classification is significantly better than a random classification, where α/2 is the confidence level of the Z test and the number of degrees of freedom is assumed to be infinite. In a second analysis, the test verifies if there is a significant difference between the Kappa values resulting from the evaluation by the different classifiers. Values < than 1.96 (95 % confidence level) indicate no significant difference between the estimated Kappa values, while values > 1.96 demonstrate a significant difference.
The only existing soil survey in the area has a scale of 1:250,000 (Embrapa, 2003), a scale incompatible with the level of detail required for comparison with the digital maps produced by the two classifiers (between 1:100,000 and 1:50,000, medium scale). Therefore, 126 points of reference were used to determine the percentage of locations classified correctly on the maps, according to the procedure used by Zhu (2000). These reference points were collected by projects developed by Embrapa Solos in the area (the CNPq/CTHidro project, the Radema project and the Aquiferos project), including soil profiles, extra samples and observation points that were not used for the training and validation processes (independent points). The highest concentration of points in the middle of the area refers to a semi-detailed study carried out in the Barro Branco watershed for the Aquiferos project.
The contribution of the different variables in the discrimination of soil class in Areas 1 and 2 are shown in table 2.
In general, the differentiation of the soil classes detected by terrain attributes was much clearer than by the Landsat 7 indices. Studies carried out by Dobos et al. (2000, 2001) using terrain attributes and data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on the NOAA satellite for soil mapping showed that terrain attributes alone were not sufficient for the discrimination of the soils in the areas studied, while integrating this data with the AVHRR data increased classification performance.
The best architecture for final data classification was selected based on the results of the Kappa coefficient and the overall accuracy, obtained using the validation samples (Figure 2).
In this evaluation, the highest values for the overall accuracy and the Kappa coefficient for Area 1, obtained using the validation samples, were achieved using network architecture with only one input layer containing 8 neurons (Kappa value of 0.908). The Kappa coefficient for Area 2 performed best when using a network architecture with an input layer containing five neurons (Kappa value of 0.893). An analysis of the Kappa significance matrix (Table 3) showed significant differences between these networks and the others. These two architectures were therefore selected for the final data classification.
On the other hand, using MLC in the classification led to an overall accuracy of 84.4 % and a Kappa coefficient of 0.830 for Area 1, and an overall accuracy of 72.3 % and a Kappa coefficient of 0.693 for Area 2. A comparison of the performances of the two classification types, based on an analysis of the Kappa significance matrix, indicated significant differences between these classifications for both areas (Table 4).
The results obtained in this evaluation are similar to those in other studies, in which the approach via ANNs generally led to better results than by the MLC, mainly in the classification of soil use and cover using remote sensing data (Heermann & Khazenie, 1992; Bischof et al., 1992; Paola & Schowengerdt, 1995; McBratney et al., 2000).
Despite the significant differences between the two classifiers, with a better performance of the ANN classification (Kappa values of 0.908 and 0.893 for Areas 1 and 2 respectively), it should be emphasized that this approach requires more time and more computational resources for the training process than the classic approach using the MLC. However, for Yool (1998), ANNs have an advantage over conventional supervised classification methods such as MLC, as these are inadequate and impractical for the mapping of large areas.
According to Kanellopoulos & Wilkinson (1997), one aspect that has been neglected in the comparisons between statistical classifiers and artificial neural networks is the existence of significant differences in the performance of these classifiers when classes are considered individually. The confusion matrices obtained for the tested classifications based on the validation set are presented in tables 5 and 6.
In the area characterized by noritic granulites (Area 1), the worst performance for ANN classification occurred for class PAe1 (62.0 %), with greatest confusion with classes PVAe2, GXbe and LVAd. In the case of PVAe2 and GXbe, the confusion can be explained by the extremely similar characteristics of the discriminating variables between these classes, mainly for slope, CTI index and the indices derived from Landsat 7 (Table 2). For class LVAd, the differentiation was clearest with regard to elevation, slope and CTI index (Table 2); therefore, the confusion observed must be attributed to an error in the classifier. Accuracies exceeded 85 % for all other soil classes (Table 5).
In the area characterized by Heterogeneous Migmatites (Area 2), the worst performance occurred for class PVe5 (70.7 %), with greatest confusion with class PVe6 (Table 5). These classes have very similar environmental characteristics and can be differentiated only by their aspect (Table 2). Accuracies exceeded 95 % for all other soil classes (Table 5).
For the Maximum Likelihood classification (Table 6), the performances in the classification of the area of noritic granulites (Area 1) was poorest for the classes PVAd (60 %) and PAe1 (56 %), versus 92.7 and 62 % obtained using ANNs. The confusion of PVAd was greater with PVe1, and since the average values of the discriminating variables of these classes are very different (Table 2), it can be concluded that MLC was less efficient than ANNs in the discrimination of these classes. The confusion of class PAe1 was greatest with class PVAe2 (Table 6), in part related to the similarity of the discriminating variables between these classes (Table 2). Therefore, the result of ANNs for class PAe1 (62 %) suggests that MLC is less efficient.
In the area characterized by Heterogeneous Migmatites (Area 2), the worst performances were obtained for classes PVe6, PVe4 and GXve, with accuracies of 44.7, 48.0 and 49.3 % respectively. Accuracies of 83.3, 92.7 and 97.3 % were obtained using ANNs for the same classes, which shows that the MLC was less efficient than ANNs in the discrimination of these classes. For PVe6, the confusion with class PVe5 was greatest, as well as for GXve with PAe2 and PVe4 with PVe6 (Table 6). The MLC performed well in discriminating the other classes, despite some confusion, with accuracy values exceeding 78.7 %.
Finally, a comparison between ANN and MLC shows a differentiated classification in Area 1, with ANNs performing better for the classes AR1, GXbe, PAe1, PVe1, PVe2, PVe3, PVAd, PVAe2, and RLe1, while MLC was only better in the classification of CXbe and PVAe1. The LVAd was classified equally by the two classifiers (Tables 5 and 6). In Area 2, the ANN approach was better in the classification of all classes except PVe5.
According to Landis & Koch (1977), the Kappa coefficient value obtained through the neural network approach indicates a very good to excellent performance for this classifier (Kappa > 0.75) for both Area1 (0.908) and Area 2 (0.893). On the other hand, the MLC presented a very good to excellent classification for Area 1 (0.830) and a moderate performance (0.4 < Kappa < 0.75) for Area 2.
Considering that some classes occupy small and/or very fragmented patches in the study area, some were grouped together to facilitate understanding of the ANN- and MLC-based maps. The criteria for this grouping was similarity in the characteristics of the area of occurrence, as mentioned in the key to Figure 3.
Although the results for the Kappa coefficient obtained from the validation samples were satisfactory for both classifiers, the resulting maps were different. The agreement between the ANN- and MLC-based maps was only 47.28 %. According to Kanellopoulos & Wilkinson (1997), this low agreement demonstrates the differing nature of the mathematic models used in the classifications and the way they structure the space.
Figure 3 shows that both maps contain many spatial details, reported by Zhu (2000). Using terrain attributes and geological properties as discriminating environmental variables therefore showed the soil-landscape relationships in the area more clearly, resulting in spatially more detailed maps.
In the absence of a conventional soil map on an adequate scale (> 50,000), reference points were used to compare and evaluate the maps obtained using ANNs and MLC, according to Zhu (2000). In this comparison, the classification using ANNs correctly inferred the soil classes at 93 locations (73.81 %) and MLC at 73 (57.94 %) (Table 6), which was comparable to results reported in other studies (Zhu, 2000; Zhu et al., 2001).
The matrix of Kappa significance (Table 7) indicated a significant difference between the classifiers. Better results were obtained using ANNs (Kappa coefficient of 0.709), which were significantly different from those obtained by MLC.
In the ANN classification, possible causes of the low agreement with the reference points include the rather complex geological nature of the area, which in some situations impeded the correct determination of soil-landscape relationships; the quality of the geological map used; the lack of information on the depth of lithic contact; and problems related to the environmental correlation model used. Most misclassified observations occurred at the boundaries between the units of the geological map. Problems related to the quality of geological maps used in environmental correlation studies were also reported by Thomas et al. (1999) and McKenzie & Ryan (1999).
McKenzie & Austin (1993) found that the presence of an impediment layer at low depths is a strong predictor of soil properties and the presence of geological structures such as dikes can control the soil distribution pattern. Dikes of basic material are common in the area studied, but are not shown on the geological map (DRM-RJ, 1980).
On the other hand, McKenzie & Ryan (1999) emphasized that there are circumstances in which soil variation occurs without any direct relation to easily observable environmental variables (lack of a reliable predictor) and in these cases, detailed sampling is inevitable and some form of interpolation is necessary to generate a spatial prediction.
In the case of MLC-based classifications, the low agreement with the reference points was mostly due to the inefficiency of the classifier.
The main lack of agreement between ANN- and MLC-based classifications can be verified in the flatter areas of the landscape (flat and gently undulating topography), classified by ANNs as belonging to the Haplic Gleysol class (GXbe and GXve for Areas 1 and 2 respectively) and by MLC as belonging to classes PVAe2 and PVe7 (for Areas 1 and 2 respectively), which occurs in undulating topography. In this case, the ANN-based classification was more accurate while MLC was less effective in adequately discriminating areas with very similar slope values.
Conversely, by the ANN-based classification the class LVd (top-left corner of the image) was incorrectly identified in areas that should have been classified as belonging to class PVe7. In spite of the similar slope values of these classes, they occupy different positions on the landscape, with class LVd in even areas at high elevations and class PVe7 in the lower third of slopes close to wetlands. This result demonstrates an inefficiency in the ANN-based classification that was not observed for the MLC-based classification.
1. The Artificial Neutral Network classifier resulted in a higher accuracy for general classification when validation samples were used, producing significantly better statistical results than the Maximum Likelihood Classifier.
2. A comparison of reference points showed that the ANN-based was more accurate than the MLC-based map, which was significantly different. The main cause of data classification errors of the classifiers may be related to the geological heterogeneity of the area, the depth of lithic contact and problems associated with the environmental correlation model used, including the discriminating variables selected.
3. The use of terrain attributes and remote sensing data with spatial resolution compatible with the objectives of the study, together with a neural network approach, can help accelerate, extend and cheapen soil mapping in Brazil, due to the availability of lower-cost digital satellite images and the ease at which terrain attributes can be obtained.
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Received for publication on July 18, 2012 and approved on February 28, 2013.
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Over the period of the project we had a team of 12 young people aged 14 - 20 plan and run the show mentored by both UVG and Express FM staff. They took on a series of roles including: editing, researching, presenting, marketing and interviewing, resulting in the production and broadcast of 5 radio shows on local Express FM. The young people gained a real insight into the challenges of working within a team to a deadline and the importance of communication. They also gained a greater understanding of the technical issues such as editing content to fit in with show timings. Confidence in the young people visibly improved over the period of the project particularly those who recorded interviews and voice overs or presented.


After the recent debut of Iberia's San Francisco route, the company continues to add new destinations. Flights to Managua will begin next October. There will be an increased offering of connections with Central and South America this season, including Puerto Rico, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Argentina, bringing these destinations closer than ever. But that's not all. This summer, Iberia customers will have so many destinations within their reach.
For lovers of beaches, salsa music and adventure, Iberia is increasing its flights to Puerto Rico between 4 June and 10 August. Spain will connect to the 270 miles of the island's coastline with five weekly flights. In addition, thanks to the way the schedule is designed, connecting with another 25 destinations – including Asturias and Tenerife – will be very easy. Exploring Colonial architecture, arranging a hiking expedition through a subtropial forest or flying like a bird (at 100 km/h) over the Orocovis Mountains in the Caribbean's largest adventure park – Toroverde – are just some of the reasons to fly to Puerto Rico from only €433.
Routes to Catania (Italy), Dubrovnik, Zagreb and Split (Croatia) will resume from early summer. In addition, destinations including Paris will have increased flights all season long. Up to 54 weekly flights will connect to the City of Light.
Iberia Express is joining this increased offering. Its new destinations are Palermo and Mykonos, along with its usual summer destinations – Cork, Oslo and Krakow – and an increase in flight frequencies to Spain's islands, France and Italy.
In August, Iberia will operate 250 additional flights to its most popular tourist destinations. Greece, Italy, Croatia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Morocco are just some of the countries that will enjoy this privilege. Italy is one of the countries with the greatest increase, with more frequent flights to the company's usual four destinations: Roma, Milan, Venice and Florence. And Croatia will once again be one of the top summer destinations.
This season is full of opportunities for every taste. From embarking on a route through the Greek Islands, sailing through the Baltic Capitals or the Norwegian Fjords, or fleeing the heat on an expedition to the Arctic Circle. As the finishing touch to the summer's offerings, Iberia has partnered with Pullmantur Cruises to join Madrid and Barcelona to Athens, Helsinki, Rostock, Trieste and Trondheim. The agreement will be offered to more than 90,000 passengers between April and October.


The lychee is a Chinese fruit resembling a large strawberry in appearance and bursting with layers of complex flavors . . . and scents.
This perfect summer-y fruit is a favorite ingredient in many mixed drinks and its fresh, tart and spicy-sweet taste has endeared it to many different cultures!
With the bright notes of tart fruit and an almost floral sweetness, this candle's fresh scent is sure to cheer up any room! Yet this candle's full-bodied scent doesn't end there! It's also infused with a delicate rose scent, along with a warm honied scent and an underlying, deep and floral musk.


The Birth Control Pill: skin defender or offender?
Is A Legitimate Work At Home Business Right For You?
Platinum vs White Gold Engagement Rings: Which Is Best?
An insurance agency that offers Realtor Health Insurance, Affordable Health Insurance.
It's not only wealthy individuals who invest to let. Thousands of ordinary people are finding it an interesting and profitable proposition. The market is growing fast.
House prices – boom or bust?
Despite some predictions to the contrary, the property market remains buoyant. Mortgages are plentiful, borrowing rules are relaxed. Is this set to continue? Read on for some varying views.
Want to have your own relaxing place? Then, oak furnitures could just be thing for you. Here you will know how to find and bargain high-quality oak pieces of furniture.
The simplest approach to recruiting that everybody uses, even if they "don't do" MLM!


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Toto je seznam představitelů Súdánu.

Anglo-egyptské kondominium

Angličtí guvernéři

Králové a sultánové Súdánu, personální unie s Egyptem
Dynastie Muhammada Alího

Sultánové
Oficiální titul panovníka byl: z milosti boží, sultán Egypta a Súdánu

Králové
Oficiální titul panovníka byl: z milosti boží, král Egypta a Súdánu, vládce Núbie, Darfúru a Kordofánu

Nezávislý Súdán

1.1.1956-17.11.1958 - Abdel Fattah Muhammad al-Magrabi, Muhammad Ahmad Yasin, Ahmad Muhammad Salih, Muhammad Othman ad-Dardiri, Siricio Iro Wani – Rada svrchovanosti

18.11.1958-31.10.1964 – Ibrahim Abboud – předseda Nejvyšší rady; voj.

31.10.1964-16.11.1964 – Ibrahim Abboud – prezident; voj.

16.11.1964-3.12.1964 – Sirr al-Chatim al-Chalífa – úřadující prezident; UNF

3.12.196-10.6.1965 – Abdel Halim Muhammad, Tijani al-Mahi, Mubarak Shaddad, Ibrahim Yusuf Sulayman (do 31.5.1965), Luigi Adwok Bong Gicomeho (od prosince 1964) – Výbor svrchovanosti (týdenní střídání předsedy)

10.6.1965-8.7.1965 – Ismail al-Azhari, Abdullah al-Fadil al-Mahdi, Luigi Adwok Bong Gicomeho, Abdel Halim Muhammad Khidr Hamad – Výbor svrchovanosti (týdenní střídání předsedy)

8.7.1965-25.5.1969 – Ismail al-Azhari – předseda Rady svrchovanosti; NUP

25.5.1969-19.7.1971 – Džafar Nimeiry – předseda Rady revolučního velení; voj./SSU

19.7.1971-22.7.1971 – Babiker al-Nur Osman – předseda Revoluční rady; voj.

22.7.1971-12.10.1971 – Džafar Nimeiry – předseda Rady revolučního velení; voj./SSU

12.10.1971-6.4.1985 – Džafar Nimeiry – prezident; voj./SSU

6.4.1985-9.4.1985 – Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab – vrchní velitel; voj.

9.4.1985-6.5.1986 – Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab – předseda Přechodné vojenské rady; voj.

6.5.1986-30.6.1989 – Ahmed al-Mirghani – předseda Nejvyšší rady; DUP

30.6.1989-16.10.1993 – Umar Hasan Ahmad al-Bašír – předseda Rady revolučního velení národní spásy; voj.

Od 16.10.1993 – 2019 Umar Hasan Ahmad al-Bašír – prezident; voj./SNC
2019 - Abdel Fattah Abdelrahmane al-Burhan
Mohamed Hamdan Dogolo – prezident; voj./SNC.

Související články

 Seznam představitelů Egypta
 Dějiny Súdánu

S

představitelé


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What Is the Tax History of the United States?
United States tax law is a constantly changing landscape. The latest major piece of tax legislation is the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was signed into law on December 22, 2017, by President Donald Trump.
The 2017 law kept the 10% personal income tax rate and lowered the others to 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37%. It almost doubled the standard deduction, eliminated personal exemptions, and kept the long-term capital gains tax rates of 15% and 20%. In addition, the law limited the combined itemized deduction for state and local property taxes and local income taxes (or sales taxes in lieu of income) to $10,000 ($5,000 if married filing separately). Qualifying mortgage interest can be deducted on up to $750,000 of mortgage debt ($375,000 if married filing separately); for debt incurred on or before December 15, 2017, the prior $1 million limit will apply. The law also nearly doubled the estate tax exemption but kept the federal estate tax rate at 40%. These tax law changes affecting individuals are scheduled to expire after 2025.
The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 was signed into law on January 2, 2013, by President Barack Obama. It extended many of the provisions in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 2010 and the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (EGTRRA) of 2001.
The 2012 tax law extended indefinitely the federal income tax rates that had been in effect since 2003 (10% to 35%) and added a 39.6% rate that was in effect prior to enactment of the 2001 tax law. The law also extended the 0% and 15% tax rates on long-term capital gains and qualified dividends and added a 20% rate. The law also extended the federal estate tax provisions of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 2010, with the exception that the top federal estate tax rate increased from 35% to 40%.
EGTRRA was signed into law by President George W. Bush on June 7, 2001. This bill provided the largest tax cut in two decades. Previous administrations have enacted other major tax packages. In the 1980s, the Reagan administration passed the Tax Reform Act of 1986. It not only reduced maximum tax rates and the number of federal income tax brackets but also eliminated many loopholes that existed in the tax code.
The Clinton administration also passed major tax legislation. The Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1993 eliminated some of the changes in the 1986 tax act and added two new federal income tax brackets to the existing three, with the top rate hitting 39.6%. The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 incorporated many reforms, including the reduction of long-term capital gains taxes and creation of the child and education tax credits, the Roth IRA, and the Education IRA, among other provisions.
Whenever major changes affect the tax law, there are potential ways that taxpayers can benefit their personal financial situations.
Life Insurance Quotes by Wholesale Ins.


Pacific is the most recent collection presented by Vania Ruiz, from Casa Kiro Joyas, at Joya Barcelona 2016. Inspired by lost memories and found treasures in shipwrecks along the Pacific Ocean, her jewelry evoques antique pieces, devoured by time under the sea.
"A day will come, where our memories will be our only wealth", is a quote by Paul Géraldy that appeared to her as an epiphany while working on her latest pieces.
Vania usually works with resin creating small landscapes that evoke different places from Chile, in a very personal technique using resin as paint. Her closeness to the sea influences the imagery she puts onto her work.
"On earth, things oxidize and rust through time, but under the ocean, other things grow around them. These treasures also treasure time, in the form of crusts. Shells that grow around objects until they are no longer recognizable.
I take this idea of crusts and fragments, and play with presence, absence, and incompleteness in my work".
In her latest work she has also been experimenting with new additives for resin and molds that result in a very unexpected texture.


This year Brittany hosted Thanksgiving at her new house.
We debated between going to Grand Rapids, Michigan (where my sister and mom live) and going to Little Chute (most of Brooke's family). With Grand Rapids being a 9 hour drive (no stopping), we opted for the 4 hour drive to her family.
While getting ready for Thanksgiving I found these 30 plus year old German wines sitting in the garage. I guess they'd been sitting in Grandma Lungwitz's basement since then. We uncorked one of them for the night.
I was all for it until my dad opened one and when I mentioned where it came from he made a face and exclaimed he would not drink it.
My contribution for Thanksgiving this year was pumpkin shaped rolls.
For the first time in 33 years we actually get to sit with the adults and the cousins were at the kids table.
They were happy to have their own table.
To our surprise Brooke's cousin Hayden showed up too. We always have a fun time chatting.
Only a few of us were brave enough to try it out. It was a bit off at first, but after a while it was pretty good. By then everyone else had chickened out except Jeff.
Theo was loving the Thanksgiving dinner and couldn't get enough.
My sisters surprised me with a gift of an avocado toast ornament. For those that don't know, I eat avocado toast every morning.
Today also happened to be Dan's birthday. On top of pie and apple crisp we had birthday cake.
The kids were pretending to be dogs and did whatever my dad commanded them to do.
Even Harvey was in on this.
Brayden had smashed cake in Nolan's face which made him cry. Chelsea later got Brayden back when he was licking a plate of whipped (vegetable) topping.
Lucky Marina has a swing in her house.
We then left Meadow at their house for a cousin sleepover.
The next day on our way to picking up Meadow we saw a dog walking a dog.
Hey, that's Marina. She's got all the cool costumes.
Today we had plans to go to my grandma's house one last time. Before heading over we stopped for lunch at our favorite small town Mexican joint, El Popo.
It's just down the road from Redgranite in Wautoma.
Brooke got tacos and I got a torta. She was super excited about the avocados on the tacos. You can understand her sisters thought it would be funny to give her that avocado toast ornament.
Chelsea shared her lunch with Theo.
This kid will eat anything.
On our way out Chelsea and Brittany stopped in the conjoined Mexican market and got treats for the kids.
We're too cheap for that.
At my grandparents home the kids found the toys right away.
We realized that there wasn't really that much to do. The place was actually mostly emptied out.
I talked the kids into playing outside while the sisters looked around.
We took one last look around and said goodbye to this house.
Immediately upon waking the next morning Amanda invited us over for breakfast.
We always try to get over to see Amanda and Jeff when we're in the Chute.
She made a yummy cream cheese and sausage bake.
It was kind of like a less messy biscuits and gravy.
Theo and Meadow made themselves right at home.
He's pretty good at finding somewhere to play.
Meadow was sad to leave, but we had to part ways.
We had plans to see The Grinch in 3D with Marina. Apparently the movie isn't playing in 3D around here so we settled on Funset Boulevard. I hadn't been here since I was a teenager.
I'd heard about this place so many times. I didn't know what to expect, but it turns out it's like a giant arcade with an indoor playground. Kind of like a Chuck E Cheese.
We played some games while waiting for the Farber's to arrive.
It was actually pretty reasonable to play games for a few hours.
We debated earlier on going bowling, but Meadow didn't want to. Of course when she saw the ten-pin game she was all for it.
Jeff made the right decision and played in the classic arcade game corner while the girls finished a second round of bowling.
Meadow and I played a few games together like the Batman road battle game and Mario Kart.
They had a Thanksgiving weekend special with unlimited rides for only $7. Meadow didn't want to do any of the rides. We even had to talk her into riding the carousel.
The playground did have a 4 and under area.
The big playground was also a part of her unlimited ride pass. She even went back for a second run through the giant jungle gym.
We had to go meet G.G. for dinner. We settled on Anduzzi's. For some reason we always go here when it's a Saturday night and get the family-friendly section to ourselves.
Before our drive home, Marina stopped over to paint nails with Meadow.
And that's all that Thanksgiving weekend wrote.


When one typically thinks of summer it's usually of warm sunny days and fun at the beach. That is usually not the case in the San Francisco Bay Area as summer is more likely to be fogged in with a low marine layer and have gusty winds. Though not idea for bikinis and swim trunks, the San Francisco summer fog is a surreal sight to witness and photograph when dressed appropriately.


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Pterocerina costalimai är en tvåvingeart som beskrevs av Capoor 1954. Pterocerina costalimai ingår i släktet Pterocerina och familjen fläckflugor. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Fläckflugor
costalimai


Skrillex will soon be back changing the game again!
Just yesterday, his very own imprint OWSLA celebrated seven years since its establishment. Friends of the label took to social media to say "Happy Birthday" and share their memories, Skrillex included. But, one update in particular has stirred up some excitement.
Audio engineer Randy Urbanski (@urboengineering) uploaded a stream of photos just for the occasion and an important message to go with it, which has talking.
After Skrillex's break from the industry, we're so thirsty for his next album that we want to believe that's the case here. However, if you take a look at his tour schedule, he starts back up on September 22 in Melbourne, Australia and runs through New Year's Eve. "Back" in this case probably means playing shows again. But we'll take it!
If he wants to change the game with a new album while he's at it, we won't be mad either. Stay tuned.


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Merrily We Roll Along with Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez to transfer to Broadway
The Sondheim musical has already sold out its initial run
New York 16 December 2022
Lindsay Mendez, Katie Rose Clarke, Jonathan Groff, and Daniel Radcliffe in Merrily We Roll Along
© Joan Marcus
The hit New York Theatre Workshop production of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's Merrily We Roll Along will transfer to Broadway in the fall of 2023. Dates and theatre will be confirmed in the coming months.
Directed by Maria Friedman, the musical's first-ever Broadway revival will feature the stars of the current off-Broadway run: Jonathan Groff as Franklin Shepard, Daniel Radcliffe as Charley Kringas, Lindsay Mendez as Mary Flynn, Krystal Joy Brown as Gussie Carnegie, Katie Rose Clarke as Beth Shepard, and Reg Rogers as Joe Josephson. Additional casting is still to be announced.
Friedman's production originated at the Menier Chocolate Factory in 2012, before moving to London's West End. It has subsequently been seen in Boston and Tokyo, in addition to the current run in New York City. Merrily We Roll Along famously flopped on Broadway in 1981, though it has gone on to become one of the most popular works in the Sondheim repertory. The musical is based on the play by Kaufman and Hart.
The Broadway run will once again feature choreography by Tim Jackson and orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick.
Click here to read our review of the New York Theatre Workshop production, which calls the show "musical-theater heaven in a two-and-a-half-hour package."
Menier Chocolate Factory
Broadway revival
Jonathan Tunick
Tim Jackson
Lindsay Mendez


On-line resource for young naturists aged between 16 and 35. Includes FAQs, travel reports and a forum.
Arranges activities and advocates acceptance. Lists upcoming events and resorts. Features articles on social activism and offers news and a blog.
This Yorkshire club's main activity is a weekly swim with jacuzzi and steam room session. In the summer they organize visits to the beach and walks in the countryside.
A group of friends from the north west of England who socialize naked at each others' homes. Includes advice on how to start a similar club.
A family orientated naturist club that meets for regular swims at a leisure centre in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, UK.
Naturist caravan and camping club based in the north-east of England. Activities include caravan rallies and swim nights.
Portuguese naturist society. Lists beaches, accommodation and activities in the country.
North Carolina social club that organizes clothing-optional recreation including Thanksgiving and Christmas parties, boat trips, games nights, pool parties and trips to local clothing optional resorts.
Californian naturist group involved in camping, hiking, swimming and similar activities. Information, calendar, and links.
Naturist club based in Milltown, New Jersey, that specialises in canoeing and skinny dipping. Includes membership details.
Group welcomes families, couples and singles. Includes an events calendar and membership information. Located in Boston, Massachusetts.
This club in Florida leases a private lake every weekend. Other activities include full-moon skinny-dips, canoeing, trips to a secluded barrier island and swimming trips to remote springs.


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An 'Indiespensable' addition to your book collection
Damien D. Willis
I'm a book collector. As best I can recall, I began collecting books in college.
Walking to class each day, I would pass a little book stand – five or six tables of books in cardboard flats – manned by Bradley Bumgarner-Kirby. Bradley set up every day, weather permitting, outside of Popejoy Hall on the University of New Mexico campus. And Bradley had the best books.
He had hard-to-find first printings. He occasionally had a signed copy. And written very lightly in pencil on the first page inside the cover was the price, typically accompanied by N/D – which stood for "No Discount." But, for young college students and burgeoning book collectors, Bradley nearly always gave a discount.
I had a work-study job at Zimmerman Library, and much of the money I earned was passed along to Bradley as I developed a small library of my own.
In the years since, one of my great joys has been browsing the stacks of used bookstores, looking for hidden gems. And I've spent hours in some truly great ones.
I've strolled the stacks of the legendary Moe's Books in Berkeley. I've traveled with empty suitcases to Portland, Oregon – and filled those suitcases with amazing books from Powell's City of Books, the world's largest independent bookstore. I've spent hours in Albuquerque's Page 1 Books – and, before it was closed, Page One, Too.
For local news and commentary, subscribe to the Las Cruces Sun-News today.
And, of course, I consider myself lucky to live in Las Cruces with Coas Books, one of the greatest bookstores in New Mexico.
Over the years, I've amassed a fairly respectable collection — thousands of books, hundreds of which are signed editions. My collection has outgrown my study and spilled into other rooms in my house. I have no complaints about that.
On the other hand, moving is never fun. But I suppose that's a small price to pay for something that brings one joy, right?
One of the great additions to my ever-growing collection is a subscription service from Powell's that I'd like to share. It's called Indiespensable, and I'm a big fan. Every 6 to 8 weeks, subscribers receive a carefully-curated package. Each box contains an exclusive signed edition of a (typically critically-acclaimed) book in a custom slipcase. Each book comes with a collectible booklet — which often includes an interview with the author. Often, another book is included in the package, sometimes an advance copy of an upcoming release.
Also – and cannot to be overstated – each shipment contains "other surprises." Sometimes this is Powell's swag, like a coffee mug or water bottle. But very often it is some sort of edible, regional goodies from the Pacific Northwest. (The most recent package included a couple of artisan chocolate bars, which were delicious.)
The subscription is $44.95 per shipment. I've been a subscriber for about four years now, and suspended my subscription once, when money was a little tight. I re-subscribed as soon as I was able to.
Find out more about Indiespensable, and view some of the past installments, at www.powells.com/indiespensable.
Damien Willis is a columnist for Pulse, writing primarily about entertainment and pop culture. He may be reached at dwillis@lcsun-news.com or @DamienWillis on Twitter.
More Airwaves:
Airwaves: 'You' offers a deeply disturbing look at delusion
Feeling sick? Go ahead and Google it
With Netflix, the good stuff breaks through


Celebrate Halloween in your classroom with these 5 fun activities. They include a math, reading, writing, and STEM activity, so you can stick to your regular schedule. There's even an Unlock the Box Mystery to end your day with some extra fun.
Are you looking for some great back to school picture books to build a community of learners? Here are some of my favorites to teach my students how I expect them to treat each other and behave in the classroom.
Are you looking for great books to add to your classroom library? These are some of the upper elementary books that my students love!
Reading Eggspress is my students' new favorite reading website. They love reading passages, answering questions, and practicing spelling and vocabulary to earn eggs. Find out how to use it in your classroom.


From Thursday to Sunday, veteran pastry chef Jane Urban wows with French provincial breakfast and lunch fare at this creekside country charmer. Stop in frequently to nab the elusive banoffee tart. This banana-chocolate-caramel dream, topped with double cream, doesn't last long. And be sure to try the other tarts.


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What Is the Difference Between a Conceptual Model & A Physical Model?
Geoff Hineman - Updated September 23, 2017
How to Make a Map Legend
Many projects, be they physical or task-related, progress through a series of steps that take the project from the idea stage to the real world. In data modeling in particular, there are three progressive modeling stages: the conceptual model, the logical model and the physical model. Each model is different from the others, but the biggest differences occur in the high-level overview of the conceptual model and the detail-oriented nature of the physical model.
A conceptual data model simply identifies the highest-level relationships found between entities. The features of the conceptual data model include the entities and the relationships among them. No attribute is specified and no primary key is specified. The only information shown on a conceptual data model are the entities that describe the data and the relationships between those entities.
Logical Model
A logical model describes, in detail, the data and how that data will be implemented in the database. The logical model includes all entities and relationships, each entity's attributes, primary keys, foreign keys for identifying the relationships between different entities, and normalization at the logical level. The logical model is created by specifying primary keys for all of the entities, finding the relationships between the entities, finding the attributes for each entity, resolving the many-to-many relationships and, finally, normalization.
The physical data model is representative of how the model will be built within the database and shows table structures that include column name, column data type, column constraints, primary key, foreign key and the relationships formed between the tables. More specifically, the physical data model includes table and column specifications, foreign keys to identify relationships, physical considerations, and physical data. This model is designed by converting entities into tables, converting relationships into foreign keys, converting attributes into columns, and modifying the physical data model based on constraints and requirements.
The differences between the conceptual model and the physical model are primarily of scale and depth. The conceptual data model starts with the idea and uses that idea to suggest what a system is and how that system might work by describing data and the relationships between entities. The physical model, on the other hand, goes into much more detail by showing how the data will be built, and diagrams the relationships between the entities by converting the information into tables and columns. A physical model may also be a model that is built to scale to represent the conceptual data that is simply diagramed on paper to show the data and the relationships.
How to Develop Assessment Tools
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How to Evaluate Statistical Analysis
Advantages & Disadvantages of Triangulation Design
Multivariate Techniques: Advantages and Disadvantages
Questionnaire Validation Methods
How to Memorize the Color Wheel
How to Report ANOVA Results
Geoff Hineman has been a professional writer since 2001. His work has appeared in Dodge Magazine, The Ann Arbor Paper and online. Hineman holds a Master of Arts in writing from Northern Michigan University.


Because the practical Huck is an agent of Realism, he finally decides that the "adventures" are simply lies of Tom Sawyer. Huck cannot see the purpose behind Tom's reasoning and imagination, and his literal approach to Tom's extravagance provides much of the novel's humor.
Although Tom resurfaces at the novel's conclusion, Twain makes use of other devices to attack Romanticism during the course of the novel. When Huck hears a "twig snap" in Chapter 1, the subtle allusion is to James Fenimore Cooper and his Leatherstocking Tales, such as The Last of the Mohicans. In "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses," a satire of the early-nineteenth-century American novelist, Twain argued against the Romanticism that caused Cooper to prize "his broken twig above all the rest of his effects . . . . In fact, the Leatherstocking Series ought to have been called the Broken Twig series." In addition, when Huck and Jim come upon a crippled steamboat during their flight down the river, it is not coincidental that the boat's name is the Walter Scott, the same name as the Romantic author of Ivanhoe and The Abbott.
Twain's burlesque of Romanticism represents more, however, than simply a literary method of humor. The imagination of Tom also symbolizes the constructed idealism of civilization, and its contrast with Jim's right to freedom becomes evident at the end of the novel. In this manner, the mistaken belief that nineteenth-century American society, especially in the South, had overcome its racial bigotry and hatred is as ludicrous as Tom's extravagant plan to free Jim from the Phelps farm.
In contrast, as Huck questions the validity of Tom's Romanticism, he also questions the validity of the society around him, including its religious teachings and social laws. But, because Huck believes that Tom's education and upbringing make his judgment sound, Huck feels that he is the one who is destined for hell. The satiric comment is a harsh one and notifies readers that the interplay between Tom and Huck is not simply for humor. The contrast between Tom's Romanticism and Huck's Realism is also Twain's condemnation of a society that was still divided and unequal even after the Emancipation Proclamation.


Walter Exploration Inc. was formed in 1975 by John V. Walter with a capitalization of $25,000. John started fast out of the gate drilling 10 prospects in two years. However, the first five were dry holes. His luck changed when he drilled the University "A" Number 1 and since then he has not looked back. With the acquisition of Collier Diamond "C" Inc. of Fort Worth and assets from Petro-Lewis Inc. we had the core personality of our company.
Brian Walter joined Walter Exploration Inc. in 1985 after graduating from Texas A&M with a petroleum engineering degree. However, in 1986, the oil price collapsed below $10 per barrel and business slowed to a crawl. During this slow time we honed our skills as a low cost producer. This exercise has proven valuable in the following years to come.
In 1988 Brian Walter was realizing the importance that economics played in the current low oil priced environment. Seeing a need for industry economics and leveraging the new desktop windows software, he founded a petroleum economics software company. With his partner David Pacinda, they formed TRC Consultants LLC and wrote the first version of PHDwin software. By using the PHDwin software, Walter was able to make some key oil and gas acquisitions during this period.
In 1990, a new technology was embraced by Walter, 3D seismic. Recognizing that 3D seismic was the key to the future for finding oil and gas, we formed a 3D seismic data acquisition company, Basin Geophysical L.C. Forming Basin was a complement to our exploration efforts. Craig Walter, a family member and a mechanical engineer from Texas A&M, is currently owner and manager of Basin. Since a 1991 discovery based on 3D, Walter has extensively used this method of exploration.
In 2001 Walter Exploration Company with Brian Walter as owner was formed to take over as operator from Walter Exploration Inc. and to handle all field operations.
Walter expands and contracts its staff by outsourcing many of its jobs. We are fortunate to have built up a long list of relationships over the years to help with our exploration and production efforts.
Walter continues to maintain the family company environment and has grown into a small financially strong niche player. We have consistently maintained the entrepreneurial spirit and optimisms of 1975.