Fungi have important biogeochemical roles in the biosphere and are intimately involved in the cycling of elements and transformations of both organic and inorganic substrates (Gadd, 2007; Fig. 1). The research area of geomycology is focused on the interactions of fungi with their geological environment.
Many macrofungal species are capable of accumulating high concentrations of various trace elements including toxic heavy metals (Hg, Cd), alkali metals (Rb, Cs), noble metals (Ag, Au), and metalloids (As, Se) in fruit-bodies and thereby affect elemental geochemical cycling.


Source of information about places and companies in Dunluce.
Find addresses, opening hours, reviews and photos of Dunluce places you want to visit.
Ate dinner there. Sat by the windows and watched the ocean and an incredible sunset while a storm rolled through. Good food, killer location.
I never write reviews but this hotel has topped my all time favourite!! When they say seaview thats exactly what you are getting. I was lucky enough to be booked into a premier room on the top floor, this was the most comfortable and enjoyable experience in a long time i have experienced. Watching the sun set over the bay.....beautiful!! The staff were helpful and made us feel very welcome, they are a credit to the hotel, it was clean and fresh and homely. I got engaged while staying here and the staff were so wonderful in helping out my other half organising a suprise :-) Thanks Bayview, hope to visit in the future.
Had Sunday lunch here, very nice indeed, reasonable too. Their apple & mixed berry crumble was delicious. The staff were very helpful and pleasant. Beautiful views and stunning surroundings to walk it off afterwards.
Beautiful hotel, setting is delightful, take a wetsuit and swim in the bay.
It was very good because there is internet !


text:
City of Memphis enforcing a late-night curfew for scooter riders
WATCH: City of Memphis enforcing a late-night curfew for scooter riders
By: Tony Sloan, FOX13Memphis.com
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The city of Memphis is enforcing a late-night curfew for the use of scooters due to complaints and dangerous behavior.
"We've seen people weaving between car traffic and I've even seen groups of people on scooters driving on the wrong side of the road and daring car drivers to move out of the way," said Memphis Bike and Pedestrian Manager Nick Oyler.
Nick Oyler is the manager of the city's bike and pedestrian department.
He said in recent weeks, complaints have skyrocketed in regard to scooter use downtown, so the city is stepping in for rider safety.
"This past weekend was the first weekend of our new scooter curfew in the downtown area," Oyler said.
Scooters are now set to turn off from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Friday through Sunday.
"We've made an arrangement with Bird that they would turn them off at 10 o'clock," said Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland. "We did hear some reports that not all of them were turned off, so we'll circle back with Bird for them to be off from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m."
Shelby County voters must vote Wednesday at assigned precinct, election official says
St. Jude Ironman 70.3 Triathlon postponed to 2021
Man arrested in Memphis for attempted carjacking
The city said the curfew will serve as a way to protect drivers, scooter riders and pedestrians walking downtown.
Oyler said there's a hope for scooters to not be permanently taken from downtown.
"I just really hope that a few people don't ruin the experience for everyone else and end up removing this opportunity and these scooters for all of Memphis just because of their actions," Oyler said.
The city said there have been some compliance issues from one of the operating services.
Either today or tomorrow, they'll announce some punitive measures against that operator.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Boone Logan undergoes elbow surgery
By Aaron GleemanSep 12, 2014, 5:22 PM EDT
Rockies left-hander Boone Logan is done for the season after undergoing surgery to remove a bone spur from his elbow.
Logan underwent similar surgery last offseason to remove bone chips from his elbow, yet the Rockies still signed him to a three-year, $16.5 million contract as a free agent.
It's unclear why the Rockies felt the need to make a sizable three-year commitment to a 30-year-old left-handed specialist coming off surgery, but he posted a 6.84 ERA in the first season of the deal and now they have Logan signed for $5.5 million next season and $6.25 million in 2016.
Follow @AaronGleeman


text:
Q: Pyspark job failing while reading parquet file with billions of records in AWS EMR I'm trying to read two partitions from a hive table using two spark sql with clauses and using left outer join on both to get the deltas, both the partitions are having 27 billion records with a size of 900GB, there are 10 files in each partition of 90GB. File format is parquet with snappy compression.
I'm running the pyspark job in a aws emr r4.16xlarge cluster with 28 nodes. I have tried various spark configurations, but each time the job is failing with Job aborted due to stage failure: most recent failure: Lost task java.io.IOException: No space left on device error
I have tried various spark configurations, If I'm not wrong I guess the job is running out of tmp space in the worker nodes, I tried setting the "spark.sql.shuffle.partitions=3000" but even then its failing, any idea how I can fix this?
spark configurations tried so far
try:1
    --executor-cores 5 --num-executors 335 --executor-memory 37G --driver-memory 366G

try:2
    '--driver-memory 200G --deploy-mode client --executor-memory 40G --executor-cores 4 '
                   '--conf spark.dynamicAllocation.enabled=true ' \
                   '--conf spark.shuffle.service.enabled=true ' \
                   '--conf spark.executor.memoryOverhead=30g '  \
                   '--conf spark.rpc.message.maxSize=1024 '\
                   '--conf spark.sql.shuffle.partitions=3000 ' \
                   '--conf spark.sql.autoBroadcastJoinThreshold=-1 ' \
                   '--conf spark.driver.maxResultSize=4G '\
                   '--conf spark.hadoop.mapreduce.fileoutputcommitter.algorithm.version=2'

try:3
'--driver-memory 200G --deploy-mode client --executor-memory 100G --executor-cores 4 ' \
               '--conf spark.dynamicAllocation.enabled=true ' \
               '--conf spark.shuffle.service.enabled=true '

A: In my limited experience with spark,the cause of this error may be insufficient temporary space. You can try to modify the spark-env.sh configuration.
export SPARK_WORKER_DIR=dir_have_enough_space
export SPARK_LOCAL_DIRS=dir_have_enough_space

A: I used the solution provided in this article , but the process of allocating the EBS volume might differ depending upon your bootstrapping process

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


One of the things I missed most when I was in California—there were no thunderstorms.
Deep in the morning hours John woke me to see the show. Our windowsills now are deep, and I curled up in this one to watch the sky – it was brilliant and beautiful. The thunder rumbled and rolled almost without stop, and lightning streaked down and then across above our building, brighter than anything you can imagine. It was spectacular. One of the most dramatic storms I've seen of late.
And then it passed. Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes of sky-cracking drama and then a release; the sky softened, the rain slowed and the storm, rather unremarkably, passed.
And this morning – green, wet, sunshine with just a whisper of ozone.


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Mihael I. Komnen Dukas (grško: Μιχαήλ Α΄ Κομνηνός Δούκας, Mihaēl I Komnēnos Doukas), pogosto imenovan tudi Mihael Angel, čeprav tega imena nikoli ni uporabljal, ustanovitelj in prvi vladar Epirskega despotata (1205–1215), * ni znano, † 1215.

Življenjepis

Mihael je bil nezakonski sin sebastokratōrja Ivana Dukasa in bratranec cesarja Izaka II. Angela.

Do leta 1204 je bil guverner Mylaške teme v Mali Aziji. Po padcu Bizanca v četrti križarski vojni  je šel v službo Bonifacija Montferraškega, ki je po delitvi Bizantinskega cesarstva postal kralj Solunskega kraljestva. Z Bonifacijevega dvora je odšel na Peloponez, kjer se je uprl križarjem in se morda celo udeležil bitke pri kunduroškemu ojčnemu nasadu.

Po bitki je pobegnil v Epir, kjer je ustanovil bizantinsko (grško) nasledstveno državo Epirski despotat z glavnim mestom Árta. Despotat je obsegal ozemlje bivše Nikopoljske teme. Epir je postal zatošišče mnogih grških beguncev iz Bizanca, Tesalije in Peloponeza. Mihaela so imeli Grki za drugega Noeta, ki jih rešuje iz latinske poplave. Patriarh Bizanca Ivan X. Kamater Mihaela ni priznal za zakonitega naslednika Bizantinskega cesarstva, ampak je  namesto njega izbral nikejskega cesarja Teodorja I. Laskarisa. Mihael je zato prekinil vezi z grško pravoslavno cerkvijo v Nikeji in priznal cerkveno oblast rimskega papeža Inocenca III.

Bonifacij Montferraški je večkrat poskusil osvojiti Epir, toda Mihael se je vsem njegovim poskusom uspešno uprl. Ko je Epir napadel cesar Latinskega cesarstva Henrik Flandrijski, ki je bil mnogo močnejši sovražnik, je bil Mihael primoran s cesarstvom skleniti zavezništvo. Svojo hčerko  je poročil s Henrikovim bratom Evstahijem, zavezništva pa ni spoštoval, ker je menil, da so epirske gore dovolj velika zaščita pred vdorom Latincev.

Epirsko ozemlje so si v tem času začeli lastiti tudi Bonifacijevi sorodniki iz Montferrata, zato se je Mihael leta 1210 povezal z Beneško republiko in napadel Solun. S svojimi ujetniki je bil baje izjemno krut in je celo križal nekaj latinskih duhovnikov, zato ga je papež Inocenc III. izobčil. Henrik je Solun še isto leto osvobodil in prisilil Mihaela v novo zavezništvo.

Mihael je potem opustil željo po Solunu in začel osvajati druga strateško pomembna mesta. Leta 1212 je Latincem odvzel Lariso v Tesaliji, leta 1214 pa Benečanom Drač in otok Krf. Obvladoval je tudi celoten Korintski zaliv. Kot zaveznik Latinskega cesarstva in Bolgarije se je nato zapletel v vojno s Srbijo.

Leta 1215 ga je eden od njegovih služabikov ubil. Nasledil ga je polbrat Teodor Komnen Dukas (1214-1230).

Družina

Mihael I. je bil poročen s hčerko epirskega velikaša, s katero je imel tri otroke:

 Konstantina Komnena Dukasa, ki je že v mladosti umrl
 Teodoro Komneno Dukas
 Marijo Komneno Dukas, ki je bila poročena s Konstantinom Melisenom

Z neimenovano ljubico je imel še najmanj enega sina

 Mihaela II. Komnena Doukasa, ki je leta 1230 postal epirski vladar (1230-1271)

Viri

 Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, 1991
 K. Varzos, Ē genealogia tōn Komnēnōn, Solun1984, vol. 2,  stran 669-689

Veterani križarskih vojn
Bizantinci v 12. stoletju
Bizantinci v 13. stoletju
Angelska dinastija

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The 2013 Belmont Stakes was the 145th running of the Belmont Stakes, the third jewel in the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. The race was held on June 8, 2013. For the third consecutive year, the race was run without the Triple Crown being at stake as 2013 Kentucky Derby winner Orb was defeated in the 2013 Preakness Stakes by Oxbow.
The race was won by Palace Malice in 2:30.70. Oxbow finished second, Orb third, Incognito fourth, Revolutionary fifth and the filly Unlimited Budget was sixth.
The official attendance was 47,562.
Both the Kentucky Derby winner Orb and the Preakness Stakes winner Oxbow entered the race. This was the 21st time that the winner of the Kentucky Derby and the winner of the Preakness Stakes competed in the race. A total of fourteen horses entered the race, tying for the second-largest field for the third time in the race's history.
Orb was the morning line favorite. Trainer Todd Pletcher entered a record 5 horses in the race, including the filly Unlimited Budget who was attempting to become the second filly to win the race in the modern era after Pletcher's 2007 winner Rags to Riches. Ridden by Rosie Napravnik, who in doing so, became the first woman jockey to ride all three Triple Crown races in a single year, the filly-and-female-jockey story garnered considerable press.
Oxbow held the lead late into the race until Palace Malice passed him with a quarter-mile to go. Palace Malice eventually won by 3 1⁄4 lengths. Orb made a run from back in the pack and finished third.
^ "Race Day Info". belmontstakes.com. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
^ a b c d e f g h i "11th Race, Belmont Park, June 8, 2013". Equibase. June 8, 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 8, 2013. Retrieved June 8, 2013.
^ Melissa Hoppert (June 8, 2013). "Palace Malice Wins 145th Belmont Stakes". New York Times. Retrieved June 8, 2013.
^ a b c Matt Gardner (5 June 2013). "Belmont Stakes 2013: Entries, Post Positions & Morning Line Odds". SB Nation. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
^ a b c Kyle C. Leach (6 June 2013). "Belmont Stakes 2013: Orb is favorite in field of 14; rematch with Oxbow set". The Star Ledger. nj.com. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
^ Colleen Thomas (4 June 2013). "Napravnik has another shot at history aboard Unlimited Budget at Belmont". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
^ "Palace Malice wins at 13-1 odds". The Associated Press. espn.go.com. June 8, 2013. Retrieved June 8, 2013.


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How Two Small Churches Are Reaching Their Community Through a Cross-Cultural Partnership
Mike Waddey began praying the minute he pulled into the parking lot at First Baptist Church in Maury City, Tennessee.
Waddey had come to Maury City (population 665) to interview for the role of pastor at First Baptist. He was familiar with church life in rural America, having been a pastor in Cottage Grove, one of the smallest towns in the state.
But Maury City was going to be different.
From the parking lot, Waddey noticed about 100 people gathered in a park across the street. That was more people than the population of Cottage Grove.
Most of the folks were Hispanic. And Waddey didn't have much experience with cross-cultural ministry. So he started asking God for help—even before he was called to First Baptist.
"I don't speak Spanish," he prayed. "And if there is a large Hispanic community here, I want to be able to reach them."
Not long afterward, Waddey's prayers were answered.
One of the first people he met after becoming pastor at First Baptist was Zerafin Guardian, the pastor of a small multi-ethnic church looking for a new home.
The two decided their churches would team up. Today First Baptist is home to two thriving congregations, both trying to share the good news in a small town that needs it.
Places in rural areas—like Maury City—tend to get overlooked these days. People either assume it's God's country—where everyone already goes to church and life is like it was in the 1950s—or it's a version of Hillbilly Elegy, a memoir that tells the story of a family and culture ravaged by opioids and joblessness.
But most of these areas don't fit neatly into either category. In some places, churches are thriving. In others, there's a veneer of religion—where people believe in God, but few have any tie to a local congregation.
Here in Maury City, it's somewhere in between, says Waddey.
People still want to come to church, he says. But they don't always show up or have a way to get there. And the surrounding county is becoming more diverse—so there's a need for new ministries to reach new groups of people.
But Waddey maintains it's still a great place to be a pastor. "Jesus is still a draw," he says.
Giving up on his dream
Waddey never expected to be a small-town pastor.
He grew up near Franklin, Tennessee, and spent his formative years in a suburban church. When he got the call to ministry, Waddey thought he'd become a church planter. Or maybe a youth pastor.
Then he finished seminary. The only call he got was from a church in a place he'd never heard of.
"I looked on the map," he says. "Cottage Grove wasn't on it. That's how small it was."
So Waddey and his family went to a town of 88 people, where he learned to love rural ministry. And he learned some humility.
In a small town church, the pastor does everything.
For Waddey, that meant serving his congregation, spearheading an effort to save the town's post office, and eventually becoming mayor.
It also meant cleaning out the leaves that cluttered the stairwell leading to classrooms in the church basement.
At first, he was angry. Waddey had spent years in seminary preparing to be a pastor only to wind up raking leaves.
Then he laughed. At least the leaves don't talk back, he thought.
At that moment, Waddey realized he had to be humbled to be effective in ministry. Being a pastor is about serving. Not about being important.
"God knew I needed some humility—and so He took me to Cottage Grove," he says.
"There's no better place to learn humility than the smallest incorporated town in Tennessee."
In those early years, he also learned how to get a lot done with a little bit of money. And he found creative solutions to a community's problems.
Small town churches know how to do both, he says. That's how they've managed to survive for so long. And how they meet the needs of people in the community.
First Baptist Maury City, for example, has teamed up with other local churches to run a community thrift store and mission, where they sort through donated clothes and other items to determine what should be sold.
The proceeds from the sales are used for a community benevolence fund.
When someone needs help buying groceries, paying the rent, or paying their utility bills, they call Sissy Davis, who founded the mission about eight years ago. Some of the funds also go to help the local Christian school.
The mission started after Davis was up one night praying. She knew the local Christian school was having money troubles. As a pastor's wife, she was often getting calls from people in the community who needed help.
At about four in the morning, the idea for the mission came to her. She wrote it down and started talking to people about it the next day. Most of the local churches got on board, helping out with donations and volunteers. Church members, and some of the local pastors, like Waddey, shop at the mission as well.
"We get super nice stuff," says Davis. "I mean the Lord keeps blessing every week. I tell people, 'When you buy from us, you are blessing someone else. Your dollars help put food on someone else's table. Or keep their lights on.'"
Sometimes people call and ask for help. Other times, a pastor or other church leaders will let Davis know that someone from their church or in their community is having a hard time. She says some don't want to ask for help, even if they need it.
Sales at the mission took off when a volunteer's daughter started a Facebook page for the thrift store. She posts pictures of newly donated items to give customers an incentive to shop.
Davis says the mission would never work without the help of volunteers. She's glad people from different denominations are willing to pitch in. That kind of community spirit helps hold the town together, she says.
"Lots of those women who volunteer don't have money to donate," she says. "They couldn't give me a $20 donation but they go down there to the mission and work their socks off."
Still, she worries about the town's future. Like many communities, Maury City and the surrounding county have been hard hit by the opioid epidemic. She tries to help people affected by opioids—especially if they have kids.
See also Pastors and Churches Face Historic Lack of Trust
"Little children are innocent," she says. "They can't help who their parents are or what their parents are doing."
But she'll rarely give out cash.
Instead, she'll pay directly for someone's electric bill or medicine. And she's got an arrangement with the local grocery store. She'll send someone to the store where they can get $40 or $50 worth of groceries and the mission will pick up the tab.
By working together, Davis says, the local churches accomplish more than they could on their own.
Pastors Mike Waddey and Zerafin Guardian work together to reach more people in their area. Photos by Justin Veneman
A great example of doing more together is First Baptist's partnership with Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva (New Life Baptist Church).
Ironically, Vida Nueva's pastor hadn't planned to be a small town pastor, either.
Zerafin Guardian—also known as "Mister Z"—and his wife, Teresa Guardian, relocated to Maury City about 12 years ago.
They had spent a decade living in Michigan, but had to move for health concerns after Teresa was in a serious crash.
Doctors had to piece her bones back together with steel plates. Even after she recovered, the cold of Michigan made life miserable. So they moved south to Maury City, near Teresa's parents.
"This is a better place for me to live with all the gear I have in my body," Teresa says.
Coming to Maury City was like coming home. The Guardians had family nearby and lots of fond memories. They'd met here while working at the local PicSweet Farms when Teresa was on summer break from college.
After moving back, both took jobs in the local school system. Zerafin is a custodian; Teresa works in the school health department.
Things were hard at first. Making friends took time. And then there were the accents. Many folks nearby have thick Southern accents, which hasn't always been easy for the Guardians, both from immigrant families, to understand.
But they made it work and became beloved in the community.
A few years ago, they felt called to start a church. Both had come to faith as adults and wanted others to have the same experience. In January 2013, they held the first service at a local school.
Their new church continued to meet at the school for two years, growing a multiethnic congregation of about 60 people, with bilingual services in English and Spanish. Zerafin preaches and pastors the church. Teresa leads worship.
The youth group, in particular, thrived—drawing about two dozen teenagers on Friday nights.
When the school district stopped renting space to churches, the congregation at Vida Nueva needed a new home.
A friend introduced Zerafin to Waddey and an instant friendship was born.
Today, Vida Nueva meets on Sunday afternoons at First Baptist, and the two congregations have developed close relationships. When Waddey and his wife adopted their daughter from China, the Guardians and their congregation sold more than $2,000 worth of tamales in a fundraiser on their behalf.
Waddey says church members are glad to host Vida Nueva, especially since Zerafin and Teresa were the leaders.
"They are beloved," he says.
The Guardians hope their congregation will one day have a home of their own. For now, they are glad to partner with First Baptist.
"We want to reach people for God," says Zerafin. "That's the most important mission we have."
Teresa says she hopes small congregations like Vida Nueva can inspire other, larger churches.
"Our hope is that bigger churches will look at what little churches do and see that they can do the same things—or even more."
Jesus is still a draw
Before Waddey arrived, the growth of First Baptist Maury City had been plateaued for a while.
The former pastor suffered from cancer, and the church had rallied around him and his family. Helping their pastor through the crisis became the focus of the congregation.
Church members eventually helped his family move to nearby Jackson when he was no longer able to stay in the ministry.
"They loved their pastor through all that," Waddey said. "That's one of the reasons I felt comfortable coming here. I knew they would take care of my family. That's important when you have eight kids."
Having a new pastor in place has allowed the church to refocus on ministering to their neighbors. Attendance in Sunday school has doubled in size since Waddey arrived—and now averages about 80 people. Around 120 people come to services each Sunday.
Money can be an issue. Some of the newcomers are learning how to give, says Waddey. And older members don't always have a steady income.
"There's not a lot of money in rural America," he says.
The church still has a parsonage, which helps. Waddey and other church leaders keep a close eye on the budget.
It's a constant balancing act: The church wants to treat their pastor fairly, but they also want to mobilize ministries of the church.
If most of the budget is tied up in a pastor's salary, says Waddey, that can hurt a church. "If you don't have money for ministry, then your hands are tied."
These days, church members do a good job of inviting their friends, says Waddey. And when newcomers arrive, church members make them feel welcome.
The church also started a new Sunday school class when Waddey began as pastor—that's been a draw as well. New people feel like there's a place for them.
And often, newcomers to the church will find a friendly face in the pews.
"In Maury City, you don't have a lot of people who are moving in from somewhere else," he says. "What you have is a community filled with lifelong relationships. Even if someone has never been in your church—chances are they still know your people."
Bob Smietana
@bobsmietana
Bob is the former senior writer for Lifeway Research. In September 2018, he joined Religion News Service, where he currently serves as a national writer.
The Forgotten Church: Why Rural Ministry Matters for Every Church in America
Glenn Daman
4 Great Commission Questions Every Pastor Must Ask


text:
Baby Fish Prefer Plastic Over Natural Food
Larval perch gorge themselves on microplastics, which seems to be stunting growth and affecting natural instincts
Jason Daley
Larval perch with a stomach full of microplastic
Editor's Note: May 4, 2017: Since this article was published, the journal Science has retracted the study on which Smithsonian.com's reporting was based. The retraction followed an investigation by the Central Ethical Review Board in Sweden, which found serious ethical issues surrounding the study's data and methods. A report on the investigation and the concerns by Science Magazine can be found here. We will update this post when new information is available.
Plastic pollution in the world's oceans is a problem that has recently gained a lot of attention. Earlier this year a report from the World Economic Forum claimed there could be more plastic in the ocean than fish by 2050 and president Obama signed a ban on plastic microbeads into law late last year. Now, a new study shows that the problem may be more urgent than first thought—some baby fish choose plastic microparticles over natural food, leading to stunted growth and changes in behavior.
In a new study published in Science, researchers reared Eurasian perch eggs collected from the Baltic Sea in water with polystyrene plastic microparticles—bits smaller than 1/5 inches—similar to those found around the world. Researchers found that when the fish larvae had access to the plastic particles, they chose them over zooplankton, their natural food source.
"This is the first time an animal has been found to preferentially feed on plastic particles and is cause for concern," Peter Eklöv, co-author of the study, says in a press release.
Matt McGrath at the BBC writes that when perch eggs were put in plastic-free water, about 96 percent of them hatched. That number decreased as the levels of plastic microparticles increased, with only 81 percent hatching in the presence of large amounts of plastic.
The fish that did hatch displayed stunted growth and were less active, especially in the presence of predators. "Fish exposed to microplastic particles ignored the smell of predators which usually evoke innate anti-predator behaviors in naïve fish," study leader Oona Lönnstedt of Uppsala University says in the press release. In fact, the fish exposed to plastic were eaten by pike, their natural predator, four times faster than non-exposed fish.
The most worrying aspect of the study is that the fish larvae will choose to eat the plastic bits over natural foods. "They all had access to zooplankton and yet they decided to just eat plastic…It seems to be a chemical or physical cue that the plastic has, that triggers a feeding response in fish," Lönnstedt tells McGrath. "They are basically fooled into thinking it's a high-energy resource that they need to eat a lot of. I think of it as unhealthy fast food for teenagers, and they are just stuffing themselves."
Eight trillion microbeads enter U.S. waters every day, writes oceanographer Carl Safina for National Geographic. But they aren't the only problem. Up to 236,000 metric tons of microplastics enter the oceans each year, much of it created when larger pieces of plastic break down into smaller bits, reports Nsikan Akpan at PBS Newshour. The contamination can even come from washing synthetic clothing.
The next step in the study is to research the perch in their natural setting and to look at the impact of other plastic contaminants. "Now we know that polystyrene is harmful, but we also need to compare it to the other common polymers such as polyethylene and PVC," Lönnstedt tells Akpan. "If we can target the chemical that is most harmful, at least this could hopefully be phased out of production."
Jason Daley | | READ MORE
Jason Daley is a Madison, Wisconsin-based writer specializing in natural history, science, travel, and the environment. His work has appeared in Discover, Popular Science, Outside, Men's Journal, and other magazines.
Anthropocene Fish Fishing Oceans Water


It's safe to say that Urban Decay need no introduction when it comes to eye makeup. Their eyeshadow palettes alone are the stuff of legends, fast becoming treasured collector's items as well as everyday makeup staples. And so it is with great excitement that the brand has announced an entirely new array of brow products, ranging from a powdery putty, to a precision pencil, setting gel and even a brow primer, two of which are also vegan.
Despite being a brunette, my eyebrows have always been determinately meek. They're sparse and muted in colour - more like a grey beige shade. In fact, they're so at odds with my head hair that I spend five minutes every morning meticulously filling them in, and consequently, feel totally naked without brow makeup.
Over the years I've become a bit of a brow product connoisseur, and I know the precise products I like and don't like. To sway my every day go-tos will be a big challenge!
In the spirit of research, I decided to try all of the products rather than bee-lining for the type I always use (precision pencil and gels). I started with the Double Down Brow Putty (although I feel that the name is misleading, the texture is more akin to a powder). The Double Down comes with two shades and a double ended applicator - one end a spoolie, the other an angled brush. The formula is impressively budge-proof and once applied, instantly sets to create a fine, fall-out free line. Don't be afraid to really wriggle the brush in there, unless you want a very subtle shading.
Next up, the double-ended Brow Blade; on the one side, a waterproof, micro-fine pencil (my fave) and the other a felt tip ink stain. It's impossible to fault this product; the pencil drew the sharpest line possible, indistinguishable to an actual hair. The felt tip adds dimension and effortlessly fills in any gaps.
Finally, I used the double-ended Brow Endowed primer and colour. The primer comes out in a white, tacky formula but is undetectable when deposited onto the brows. The effect it gives is a bit like softer soap brows - brushed up, separated but not owl-like, and perfectly prepped to add a bit of colour over the top with the other end. The pigment is impressive, and even a gentle sweep will coat brows thoroughly.
Although I ordinarily wouldn't use all the products at once, the result was pretty impressive - brushed up, groomed brows that lasted the whole day. I mean, what more could you ask for?


Trossen Robotics Community > Robotics > HR-OS1 Development and Discussion > Camer is built but were to plug it in.
View Full Version : Camer is built but were to plug it in.
Hi, so camera is built installed and ready to pug into? The build stops right there!
If the build guides' BOM is accurate, there should be three of the 4-pin Molex to USB converter PCBs included in the kit. One is for the CM-730, a second should be for the camera, and not sure if the third is just a spare or intended for stereo vision with a second camera.
But then I would wonder why I cut off a USB connector from the camera, to convert to a molex, that I plug into a molex to USB converter? Why not just leave on the original connector?
How big is the original USB Type-A connector on the camera, and how far outside the chassis does it force the cable to protrude compared to the WIFI and Bluetooth dongles? Hardwiring the camera with a proper right-angle connector would be a much better solution than that adapter PCB and unshielded spliced cables.
Hum. So right angle connectors are at a real premium, I never really noticed how few right angle connectors there are not out there.
I think ill try the camera on a different pi first, did not leave myself a spot to check my connections and blowing up my pi now would be just, sad.
As Tician mentioned, the idea is to plug the 4-pin end into one of the 4-pin molex/usb adapters. I'll see what I can do about getting the guide updated to reflect that.
Whenever we're putting together a robot like the HR-OS1 or HR-OS5, long USB-A connectors have always been a pain. They waste a lot of space and can make shelling the robot a pain. Right angle connectors are difficult to source and still have clearance issues. The 4-pin molex plug saves a lot of space. It also allows us to save space on peripherals. We've got a design for a 4-pin molex USB hub that's really small - I don't have an ETA on that, but it's in the works. The hub will make it easier to get more plugged into the edison on a small footprint.
That all being said, you can just plug the USB cable right into your raspberry pi, or find your own right angle connector and solder that in place if space allows.
Dam, ok no heat guns on web cam for heat shrinking. The really thin wires have a plastic coating that hates heat and will melt all the plastic away in one second ;-(. Did you reverse the wireing on your usb to 4-pin, mine seems to plug in on the ps3 controller the outherway around?
Hi, just be careful one USB to 4 pin adapter is wired reverse of the other two (2) somehow I missed that and it's sorta important to know up front.
LLoydF, can you send me pictures of your 4-pin connectors? I know we ship them soldered in 2 different orientations (2 of them with the molex facing down, one with the molex facing up) but the wiring itself should be the same - that is using the 'wrong' one should not cause an electrical fault, it should just be at a different orientation.
I want to see the ones you have - if they really are soldered reverse electrically, that's a problem.
We shipped the board with the reverse orientation in a separate bag with the usb-otg connector, but I agree it could use better labeling. I'll try to get some pictures on the assembly guide.
I considered this, but the cable was worrisome. Do they have a non-flat version available in the 8-12" range?
Does the camera work with the Edison?
The Assembly Guide doesn't show connections to the robot.
Do they have a non-flat version available in the 8-12" range?
"They" as in the Raspberry Pi Foundation do not.
AFter it is plug, how to use it hehehe, is there any tool on the framework to testthe camera view on the robot?
I<m installling ROS Desktop (ROSBerrypi-wheezy), but would like to try the cam before that.
Maybe I will just install something to test the cam from the PI Store.
Hi, Yes just don't be confused with guvcview , a very popular cam viewer, not working, it works on the rpi's but not the rpi 2's. They must have changed something that broke it's code.
Hi, the camera is not detected by Rpi2, I don't see /dev/video0, is the camera has a green led or something telling that it is properly connected or rceive power when connected to the Rpi2 USB with the 4pin adapter?
I'm looking into the camera issue.
It looks like we had an incorrect wiring diagram on the assembly guide - I'm really sorry about that. I've updated the assembly guide and listed the correct picture on this post - the white and green data lines need to be swapped from the incorrect graphic.
The incorrect wiring should not have caused any damage to your system and there should be extra heat shrink for you to make repairs, but if you have problems please let me know.
I guess maybe I messed it up ?, no light no nothing no device found when "lsusb" is typed.
Is it possible to fill a RMA ?
don't worry my camera is dead after trying to rewire it.
Please contact [email protected] with your order number and we can send you out replacement cameras.
Sorry for the confusion guys!
I'll buy one from you tomorrow, this was mostly my foo-paw getting ahead of myself.
Lloydf and panthallion, I'll send you both out new camera today. It's our fault for the incorrect documentation. I had one camera in house wired incorrectly, and re-wiring it correctly got it up and working, but I'm guessing that some units are just not as resilient to incorrect wiring as others.
Hay, Hay, Hay, camera back up and working. So how is the visual/camera software coming ;-) ?
We don't have anything yet, and I don't have a timeline yet.
This installation guide serves as a GUIDE, not as a substitution to actually knowing what you are installing, and using Google to help you to understand what is the best option for your particular situation.
Do not just copy and paste blindly into your Raspberry Pi terminal, make sure that you know what you are copying and pasting.
If you follow my advice it may save you countless painful hours later, of trying to find out where you went wrong during the installation process. You have been warned. Please take the advice, and enjoy OpenCV on your Raspberry Pi !!!!
ssh -X [email protected] (Your IP address).
sudo cmake -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RELEASE -D INSTALL_C_EXAMPLES=ON -D INSTALL_CPP_EXAMPLES=ON -D INSTALL_PYTHON_EXAMPLES=ON -D BUILD_EXAMPLES=ON -D WITH_QT=ON -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local -D WITH_OPENGL=ON -D WITH_V4L=ON ..
#save it and close the terminal, and log back in by opening a new terminal to make sure your changes to the bash.bashrc file take effect.
5948The cameras work with the format used in opencv.
Sweet Unbuntu-Mate runs Hros1-Framwork and all the webcam stuff works, like guvc and VNCserver, so nice to use guvcview remotely (about a 15 fps frame fate). I used apt-get to install the opencv2.4 packages and they all run nice and man it is easy-er to use apt-get to install opencv :o. Hum I noticed the python camera.py runs a nice frame rate with a good picture with the included HROS1 web-cam.


text:
from __future__ import print_function

import os
import time
import numpy as np
import theano
import theano.tensor as T
import lasagne
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

from tqdm import tqdm
from mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1 import make_axes_locatable
from lasagne.layers import InputLayer, Conv2DLayer, Pool2DLayer
from lasagne.regularization import regularize_network_params, l2

VERBOSE = False
GRID_SEARCH = True

def bootstrap(data, labels, boot_type="downsample"):
    print("Bootstrapping data...")
    ot_class = 0
    mw_class = 1

    ot_idx = np.where(labels == ot_class)
    mw_idx = np.where(labels == mw_class)

    # Get OT examples
    ot_data = data[ot_idx]
    ot_labels = labels[ot_idx]
    print(" - OT (class: {}) | Data: {} | Labels: {}".format(ot_class, ot_data.shape, ot_labels.shape))

    # Get MW examples
    mw_data = data[mw_idx]
    mw_labels = labels[mw_idx]
    print(" - MW (class: {}) | Data: {} | Labels: {}".format(mw_class, mw_data.shape, mw_labels.shape))

    # Set majority and minority classes
    if ot_data.shape[0] > mw_data.shape[0]:
        maj_class, maj_data, maj_labels = ot_class, ot_data, ot_labels
        min_class, min_data, min_labels = mw_class, mw_data, mw_labels
    else:
        maj_class, maj_data, maj_labels = mw_class, mw_data, mw_labels
        min_class, min_data, min_labels = ot_class, ot_data, ot_labels

    print(" - Majority class: {} (N = {}) | Minority class: {} (N = {})".format(maj_class, maj_data.shape[0],
          min_class, min_data.shape[0]))

    # Upsample minority class
    if boot_type == "upsample":
        print("Upsampling minority class...")

        num_to_boot = maj_data.shape[0] - min_data.shape[0]
        print(" - Number to upsample: {}".format(num_to_boot))

        bootstrap_idx = np.random.randint(min_data.shape[0], size=num_to_boot)

        min_data_boot = min_data[bootstrap_idx]
        min_labels_boot = min_labels[bootstrap_idx]

        final_data = np.concatenate((data, min_data_boot), axis=0)
        final_labels = np.concatenate((labels, min_labels_boot), axis=0)
    elif boot_type == "downsample":
        print("Downsampling majority class...")
        # Resample N = number of minority examples
        num_to_boot = min_data.shape[0]

        bootstrap_idx = np.random.randint(maj_data.shape[0], size=num_to_boot)

        maj_data_boot = maj_data[bootstrap_idx]
        maj_labels_boot = maj_labels[bootstrap_idx]

        final_data = np.concatenate((maj_data_boot, min_data), axis=0)
        final_labels = np.concatenate((maj_labels_boot, min_labels), axis=0)

    print("Final class balance: {} ({}) - {} ({})".format(
        maj_class, len(np.where(final_labels==maj_class)[0]),
        min_class, len(np.where(final_labels==min_class)[0])))

    return final_data, final_labels

# Load EEG data
base_dir = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), os.pardir), os.pardir))
data_dir = os.path.join(base_dir, "data")

data = np.load(os.path.join(data_dir, 'all_data_6_2d_full_30ch.npy'))
data = data.reshape(-1, 1, 30, 512)

data_labels = np.load(os.path.join(data_dir, 'all_data_6_2d_full_30ch_labels.npy'))
data_labels = data_labels[:,1]

# Electrode Order (30 channels)
electrode_order_30 = ('Fp1','Fp2','Fz',
                 'F4','F8','FC6',
                 'C4','T8','CP6',
                 'P4','P8','P10',
                 'O2','Oz','O1',
                 'P9','P3','P7',
                 'CP5','C3','T7',
                 'FC5','F7','F3',
                 'FC1','FC2','Cz',
                 'CP1','CP2','Pz')

# Downsample to specific electrodes (4 channels)
electrode_order_4 = ('Fp1','Oz','T8','T7')

data_temp = np.empty((data.shape[0], data.shape[1], 4, data.shape[3])).astype('float32')

for i in range(data.shape[0]):
    data_temp[i,0,0,:] = data[i,0,0,:]  # Fp1
    data_temp[i,0,1,:] = data[i,0,13,:]  # Oz
    data_temp[i,0,2,:] = data[i,0,7,:]  # T8
    data_temp[i,0,3,:] = data[i,0,20,:]  # T7

data = data_temp
del data_temp

# Standardize data per trial
# Significantly improves gradient descent
data = (data - data.mean(axis=(2,3),keepdims=1)) / data.std(axis=(2,3),keepdims=1)

# Up/downsample the data to balance classes
data, data_labels = bootstrap(data, data_labels, "downsample")

# Create train, validation, test sets
rng = np.random.RandomState(5334)  # Set random seed
indices = rng.permutation(data.shape[0])

split_train, split_val, split_test = .6, .2, .2

split_train = int(round(data.shape[0]*split_train))
split_val = split_train + int(round(data.shape[0]*split_val))

train_idx = indices[:split_train]
val_idx = indices[split_train:split_val]
test_idx = indices[split_val:]

train_data = data[train_idx,:]
train_labels = data_labels[train_idx]

val_data = data[val_idx,:]
val_labels = data_labels[val_idx]

test_data = data[test_idx,:]
test_labels = data_labels[test_idx]

def build_cnn(k_height=1, k_width=25, input_var=None):
    # Input layer, as usual:
    l_in = InputLayer(shape=(None, 1, 4, 512), input_var=input_var)

    l_conv1 = Conv2DLayer(incoming = l_in, num_filters = 8,
                          filter_size = (k_height, k_width),
                          stride = 1, pad = 'same',
                          W = lasagne.init.Normal(std = 0.02),
                          nonlinearity = lasagne.nonlinearities.very_leaky_rectify)

    l_pool1 = Pool2DLayer(incoming = l_conv1, pool_size = (2,2), stride = (2,2))

    l_drop1 = lasagne.layers.dropout(l_pool1, p=.75)

    l_fc = lasagne.layers.DenseLayer(
            l_drop1,
            num_units=50,
            nonlinearity=lasagne.nonlinearities.rectify)

    l_drop2 = lasagne.layers.dropout(l_fc, p=.75)

    l_out = lasagne.layers.DenseLayer(
            l_drop2,
            num_units=2,
            nonlinearity=lasagne.nonlinearities.softmax)

    return l_out

# ############################# Batch iterator ###############################
# This is just a simple helper function iterating over training data in
# mini-batches of a particular size, optionally in random order. It assumes
# data is available as numpy arrays. For big datasets, you could load numpy
# arrays as memory-mapped files (np.load(..., mmap_mode='r')), or write your
# own custom data iteration function. For small datasets, you can also copy
# them to GPU at once for slightly improved performance. This would involve
# several changes in the main program, though, and is not demonstrated here.
# Notice that this function returns only mini-batches of size `batchsize`.
# If the size of the data is not a multiple of `batchsize`, it will not
# return the last (remaining) mini-batch.

def iterate_minibatches(inputs, targets, batchsize, shuffle=False):
    assert len(inputs) == len(targets)
    if shuffle:
        indices = np.arange(len(inputs))
        np.random.shuffle(indices)
    # tqdm() can be removed if no visual progress bar is needed
    for start_idx in tqdm(range(0, len(inputs) - batchsize + 1, batchsize)):
        if shuffle:
            excerpt = indices[start_idx:start_idx + batchsize]
        else:
            excerpt = slice(start_idx, start_idx + batchsize)
        yield inputs[excerpt], targets[excerpt]

def main(model='cnn', batch_size=500, num_epochs=500, k_height=1, k_width=25):
    # Prepare Theano variables for inputs and targets
    input_var = T.tensor4('inputs')
    target_var = T.ivector('targets')

    network = build_cnn(k_height, k_width, input_var)

    # Create a loss expression for training, i.e., a scalar objective we want
    # to minimize (for our multi-class problem, it is the cross-entropy loss):
    prediction = lasagne.layers.get_output(network)
    loss = lasagne.objectives.categorical_crossentropy(prediction, target_var)
    loss = loss.mean()
    # We could add some weight decay as well here, see lasagne.regularization.
    l2_reg = regularize_network_params(network, l2)
    loss += l2_reg * 0.001

    train_acc = T.mean(T.eq(T.argmax(prediction, axis=1), target_var),
                      dtype=theano.config.floatX)

    # Create update expressions for training
    params = lasagne.layers.get_all_params(network, trainable=True)
    updates = lasagne.updates.nesterov_momentum(loss, params, learning_rate=0.01)
    #updates = lasagne.updates.adam(loss, params, learning_rate=0.1)

    # Create a loss expression for validation/testing. The crucial difference
    # here is that we do a deterministic forward pass through the network,
    # disabling dropout layers.
    test_prediction = lasagne.layers.get_output(network, deterministic=True)
    test_loss = lasagne.objectives.categorical_crossentropy(test_prediction,
                                                            target_var)
    test_loss = test_loss.mean()

    # As a bonus, also create an expression for the classification accuracy:
    test_acc = T.mean(T.eq(T.argmax(test_prediction, axis=1), target_var),
                      dtype=theano.config.floatX)

    # Compile a function performing a training step on a mini-batch (by giving
    # the updates dictionary) and returning the corresponding training loss:
    train_fn = theano.function([input_var, target_var], [loss, train_acc], updates=updates)

    # Compile a second function computing the validation loss and accuracy:
    val_fn = theano.function([input_var, target_var], [test_loss, test_acc])

    training_hist = []
    val_hist = []

    print("Starting training...")
    # We iterate over epochs:
    for epoch in range(num_epochs):
        # In each epoch, we do a full pass over the training data:
        print("Training epoch {}...".format(epoch+1))
        train_err = 0
        train_acc = 0
        train_batches = 0
        start_time = time.time()
        for batch in iterate_minibatches(train_data, train_labels, batch_size, shuffle=True):
            inputs, targets = batch
            err, acc = train_fn(inputs, targets)
            train_err += err
            train_acc += acc
            train_batches += 1
            if VERBOSE:
                print("Epoch: {} | Mini-batch: {}/{} | Elapsed time: {:.2f}s".format(
                        epoch+1,
                        train_batches,
                        train_data.shape[0]/batch_size,
                        time.time()-start_time))

        training_hist.append(train_err / train_batches)

        # And a full pass over the validation data:
        print("Validating epoch...")
        val_err = 0
        val_acc = 0
        val_batches = 0
        for batch in iterate_minibatches(val_data, val_labels, batch_size, shuffle=False):
            inputs, targets = batch
            err, acc = val_fn(inputs, targets)
            val_err += err
            val_acc += acc
            val_batches += 1

        val_hist.append(val_err / val_batches)

        # Then we print the results for this epoch:
        print("Epoch {} of {} took {:.3f}s".format(
            epoch + 1, num_epochs, time.time() - start_time))
        print("  training loss:\t\t{:.6f}".format(train_err / train_batches))
        print("  training accuracy:\t\t{:.2f} %".format(
            train_acc / train_batches * 100))
        print("  validation loss:\t\t{:.6f}".format(val_err / val_batches))
        print("  validation accuracy:\t\t{:.2f} %".format(
            val_acc / val_batches * 100))

    # After training, we compute and print the test predictions/error:
    test_err = 0
    test_acc = 0
    test_batches = 0
    for batch in iterate_minibatches(test_data, test_labels, batch_size, shuffle=False):
        inputs, targets = batch
        err, acc = val_fn(inputs, targets)
        test_err += err
        test_acc += acc
        test_batches += 1

    test_perc = (test_acc / test_batches) * 100
    print("Final results:")
    print("  test loss:\t\t\t{:.6f}".format(test_err / test_batches))
    print("  test accuracy:\t\t{:.2f} %".format(test_perc))

    # Plot learning
    plt.plot(range(1, num_epochs+1), training_hist, label="Training")
    plt.plot(range(1, num_epochs+1), val_hist, label="Validation")
    plt.grid(True)
    plt.title("Training Curve\nKernel size: ({},{}) - Test acc: {:.2f}%".format(k_height, k_width, test_perc))
    plt.xlim(1, num_epochs+1)
    plt.xlabel("Epoch #")
    plt.ylabel("Loss")
    plt.legend(loc='best')
    plt.show()

    # Optionally, you could now dump the network weights to a file like this:
    # np.savez('model.npz', *lasagne.layers.get_all_param_values(network))
    #
    # And load them again later on like this:
    # with np.load('model.npz') as f:
    #     param_values = [f['arr_%d' % i] for i in range(len(f.files))]
    # lasagne.layers.set_all_param_values(network, param_values)

    return test_perc

if GRID_SEARCH:
    # Set filter sizes to search across (odd size only)
    search_heights = range(1, 5, 2)  # Across spatial domain (electrodes)
    search_widths = range(1, 64, 4)  # Across temporal domain (time samples)

    # Preallocate accuracy grid
    grid_accuracy = np.empty((len(search_heights), len(search_widths)))
    num_kernels = grid_accuracy.size
    cur_kernel = 0

    for i, h in enumerate(search_heights):
        for j, w in enumerate(search_widths):
            # Train with current kernel size
            cur_kernel += 1
            print("***** Kernel {}/{} | Size: ({},{}) *****".format(cur_kernel, num_kernels, h, w))
            cur_test_acc = main(batch_size=200, num_epochs=20, k_height=h, k_width=w)
            grid_accuracy[i, j] = cur_test_acc

    # Show accuracy heatmap
    fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(10, 10))
    heatmap = ax.imshow(grid_accuracy, cmap = plt.cm.bone, interpolation = 'mitchell')
    divider = make_axes_locatable(ax)
    cax = divider.append_axes("right", size="5%", pad=0.2)
    cb = plt.colorbar(heatmap, orientation='vertical', cax=cax)
    cb.ax.set_title('Test Acc (%)', {'fontsize': 10, 'horizontalalignment': 'left'})
    ax.grid(True)
    ax.set_xlabel('Kernel Width', weight='bold')
    ax.set_ylabel('Kernel Height', weight='bold')
    ax.xaxis.set_label_position('top')
    ax.xaxis.tick_top()
    ax.set_xticks(range(grid_accuracy.shape[1]))  # X element position
    ax.set_yticks(range(grid_accuracy.shape[0]))  # Y element position
    ax.set_xticklabels(search_widths)  # Labels for X axis
    ax.set_yticklabels(search_heights)  # Labels for Y axis
    plt.show()

    # Get highest accuracy and associated kernel size:
    best_idx = np.unravel_index(grid_accuracy.argmax(), grid_accuracy.shape)
    print("Highest accuracy: {:.2f}%".format(np.max(grid_accuracy)))
    print("Best kernel size: ({},{})".format(search_heights[best_idx[0]],
          search_widths[best_idx[1]]))

    # Highest search accuracy: 56.00%
    # Best kernel size: (3,17)

    # Train model using ideal kernel size over more epochs
    cur_test_acc = main(batch_size=200, num_epochs=300,
                        k_height=search_heights[best_idx[0]],
                        k_width=search_widths[best_idx[1]])

    # Final test accuracy: 64.62%
else:
    cur_test_acc = main(batch_size=200, num_epochs=300, k_height=3, k_width=17)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


I was just thinking of this issue as I scanned tax-related documents and saw how much I actually paid into Social Security this year.
I'm pretty . . . uh. . . okay . . . . dumb, as far as the world of economics goes - but if people are working, doesn't that mean that the people who aren't will get the money? Are we going to "run out" of employed persons? Will they just not be required to pay? I guess the theory is that there won't be enough working people to "support" all of the retired people. But there will still be *some* money coming in, right?
the main idea of the "crisis" is that the ratio of working people to retired people is getting closer to 1:1 as the Baby Boomers retire. I think it's actually projected to be something like 10:1, but at that point the system will rely on the trustfundlockbox until there are extra workers.
But, I too took my economics at KVCC and didn't learn much about this.


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Every time a potential affiliate fills your application, they will be shown a message which their accounts is"pending approval". You will find a notification that they applied via email when that happens. It'll also have buttons to approve or deny the person's application. If you'd like, you may also set this up to automatically accept affiliates.
SamCart's default affiliate commission is 50 percent. But this payout to whatever you want can be customized by you. You can pay your affiliates a flat rate commission (a set dollar amount per sale) or a proportion. I've had a great deal of success by increasing the affiliate for affiliates to give a bonus to market more to them.
One of the coolest things about SamCart is that they have 18 professionally designed templates that are proven to convert. Honestly, I really don't think all the templates will be that great, but I really do love almost all of them. My favourite is the template that is traditional.
The apparent big advantage here is that the templates are used by other proven marketers, which means it is possible to stay away from the countless hours of designing and analyzing your own pages.
All the templates have trust elements like reviews, warranties, and safety reassurances that provide your clients the peace of mind they need to boost your conversions.
Once you choose your checkout page, then you can easily personalize it by changing the colours of the header, footer, buttons, etc.. You can also pick the fields you would like to add and you can add custom bullet points to describe the product your customer is buying (I've found bullet points to be especially helpful, which is why you see them all my earnings pages).
I do a lot of advertising on Google AdWords, where most of my traffic comes from cellular. I found that at a rate, which meant I flushed my advertisement spend down the bathroom, people abandoned with my shopping cart. SamCart assisted my increase my conversions from cellular.
Plusthey have a trendy"sandbox" mode, which enables you make certain everything is working before going live with your goods. With my cart that is previous, test it and I really had to print everything. I hated doing that. With SamCart, I can test obligations without going live and without charging your credit card (and messing up your stats).
When I told my friends I was composing a SamCart review, they told me that I should stress how awesome their click upsells are, and that I concur.
If you're selling on the internet and you aren't offering upsells, you're leaving a lot of cash on the table. In fact, back in 2006, Amazon reported that 35 percent of its earnings were from its own upselling efforts. Don't you think that it deserves your consideration if Amazon is earning that much money from it?
An upsell is a strategy that helps you increase your average order value. You don't even understand it and encounter upsells all of the time. It is there as an upsell for people who do not want to worry about maintenance, although you don't need to get the elongated warranty for your vehicle. You do not need to have dessert after dinner, but restaurants like to offer it.
Continuing with the dessert case, those little $8 cakes aren't a massive sum of money, however if you're the restaurant selling dozens of these every night, the money adds up.
This feature is unique because it provides you the ability to include many different payment choices onto a single checkout page. For my 997 online course, Teachable is used by me, and they do not offer this feature. If a client wants the payment plan I have to have checkout pages. I WISH I could use SamCart because of that.
The one page voucher takes multiple payments to a completely new level because it keeps visitors on the webpage while they determine how to pay. You realize how important it's to keep your traffic if you've ever sold anything online.
Cross-selling is a strategy to sell products that are related to the one the client already owns. A cross-sell would be gasoline or car insurance if a client purchases a vehicle from you.
You might be familiar with this as bundling. You can raise your profits on each sale, when you package auxiliary products and the product together. McDonald's does so exceptionally well by purchasing fries and beverages.
When I started selling subscription merchandise on the internet, I had been naive enough to believe everybody would pay on time, every moment. I figured that if I was good enough to pay my bills and honor my duties, so would everybody else.
Boy, was I naive. Turns out there are some real losers. People who decline cancel credit cards to get out of making payments or fees. Your subscription income is gone, usually after this happens. Barring any legal action (such as sending a demand letter… in case you've got the customer's address) you can not receive your cash. Sad.
But today with SamCart, your subscriptions have been safeguarded from declined obligations and expired credit cards. A payment fails, SamCart sends your customer an email on your behalf – that the email has a link where clients can upgrade the payment they have on file . This means that you don't have to waste your valuable time hounding your customers.
Is not it bizarre that people talk about split examining their sales pages, their opt-in pages, their email subject lines, and even more… but they don't ever speak about testing their homepage?
When you figure that most of your potential clients are abandoning your checkout page, don't you believe a half-decent split test might let you get yet another client??
Fortunately, SamCart offers the ability to conduct live split tests. In the world of shopping carts, this is wonderful. In case you've got a 90% abandonment rate and your snags you ONE customer, you may double your sales. Yes, DOUBLE SALES. Just like that.
SamCart lets you change almost any setting you want, so you can test any variant which tickles your fancy. It's possible to change the template, try a different guarantee (I've discovered the longer, the greater ), eliminate some fields (I have found the less, the greater ), and more.
Once you've got your variants created, SamCart automatically tests between your own variations. You do not need to do anything except watch the results roll in. You can head over to the"AB Test" section from the product's preferences to see how the variants do. As soon as you locate a winner, SamCart allows you to disable the failure.
The only thing you can't split-test using SamCart is your product's cost. If you want to do so, you are going to need to create two goods and run a test between those two products.
Once it comes to A/B analyzing, experience tells me that you should test the major stuff first (like entirely different templates) and work your way down to the second particulars. Oh, and wait till you've got a statistically significant sample size until you call it.
Based on what study you read, 80% of individuals Which"add to cart" on your website will abandon cart. You may add a significant amount of cash to your bottom line if it is possible to get a little quantity of those people to convert.
SamCart's entire value proposition is their checkout site templates have been tested to the gills and they've been demonstrated to convert more compared to their competitors. You want to ensure you're optimizing your conversions, Should you sell things online, and SamCart can help you do that.
Plus, most checkout pages are not designed to maximize the amount of profit that you get from each sell. Matters like upsells and order bumps help you add more profit.
By way of example, I sell a $97 PDF on my site. When I used a checkout form, I would not have the ability to bring an upsell. But since I provide an upsell, my upsell offer is taken by roughly one out of every three people for $60.
Due to this one simple attribute, I'm adding an average of $20 to every single order of that product. That's like giving myself over a 20% raise simply. Which means that I can devote an extra $20 on advertising to acquire a client and develop my business faster.
My SamCart feature is hands-down the Training and customer support they provide. They have a lot of videos in what is called their"Knowledge Base" that teaches you how you can use their software (although it's already pretty easy) and they supply a good deal of education about the best way to make more cash if you are selling online.
They have a complete library of product info, webinars, tutorials, and much more. The education alone is well worth the cost. I had to add this fact in my SamCart review.
I didn't have a chance to integrate SamCart using a Lot of resources because I don't use that many. I use mainly utilize Drip OptinMonster, PayPal and Stripe.
Interested in learning more about OptinMonster? Have a look at my review here. I wrote a review of that, if you are interested in learning more about Drip.
SamCart allows you to easily sync with a bunch of tools, such as email, marketing automation, membership, and payment processing. It was easy for me to integrate my entire system together with SamCart and I envision it would be the same for the majority of individuals out there.
Even in the Premium level, SamCart is a complete steal with the features they provide you. However, I've found that the Basic is great for online entrepreneurs, however you wish to acquire the Pro plan, if you're doing a lot of business on the internet.
Also remember that if you're looking to save a little money, they offer you a discount if you pay yearly. I recommend that you take advantage of their free trial (to ensure it's definitely right for you) and then paying yearly to conserve money. If you pay yearly, the Pro program is $888 per year (that saves you $300) and the Premium program is $1,788 annually (which saves you $600).
This usually means that you can try them out absolutely free, and if they don't make you more cash than your old cart (or you just hate it for some reason) then it's possible to fire them. You are able to cancel and walk away.


It is artistic directors Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson's lifelong appreciation for the artistic & aesthetic appeal of the multicultural that forms the cornerstone of Complexions Contemporary Ballet's singular approach to reinventing dance. Founded in 1994, Complexions' groundbreaking mix of methods, styles, cultures has created an entirely new and exciting vision of human movement over the past decade-and-a-half.
The company's foremost innovation is that dance should be about removing boundaries, not reinforcing them. Whether it be the limiting traditions of a single style, period, venue, or culture, Complexions transcends them all, creating an open, continually evolving form of dance that reflects the movement of our world—and all its constituent cultures—as an interrelated whole.
It is Rhoden and Richardson's unique career paths that have paved the way for them to re-define dance—as their multifaceted resumes will show, neither has ever been comfortable with his art being placed in a box. Instead, from E! to PBS to VH1, from Cirque de Soleil to the Joffrey Ballet to So You Think You Can Dance, the two have allowed the transformative power of their art to flow freely throughout the entertainment world—their creative vision restricted by nothing but the limits of the human body itself.


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Ministry of Petroleum pushes for use of coal to solve energy crisis - Daily News Egypt
Business Ministry of Petroleum pushes for use of coal to solve energy crisis
Ministry of Petroleum pushes for use of coal to solve energy crisis
Debate between the Ministry of Petroleum, the Ministry of Environmental Affairs, and the Federation for Egyptian Industries heats up
Doaa Farid March 30, 2014 5 Comments
Minister of Environmental Affairs Laila Iskandar strongly rejected using coal as a source of energy
(Photo from AlBorsa Daily)
The use of coal as a source of energy "is not a wrong solution" and has been adopted by 42 countries, said Nehad El-Kordy, undersecretary of the gas studies department within the Ministry of Petroleum, in a Sunday interview with Daily News Egypt.
An energy supply shortage at cement factories and a heavy energy consuming industry, has prompted the government to promote using "alternative sources of energy", included coal, she said.
Coal is well known for its negative environmental impact, but El-Kordy said harmful emissions can be controlled using modern filters and other methods.
"Egypt already has the needed regulations to implement coal usage in factories," El-Kordy said.
Habiba Ramadan, a researcher of environmental issues at the Egyptian Centre for Social and Economic Studies, said cement factories are pressuring the Ministry of Industry to allow the use of coal. But, Ramadan said, Egypt will have to import coal from other countries, "which implies that this is a high-cost solution."
Ramadan noted that using coal would not only have negative environmental effects, but would also have social and economic effects. "Some cement factories are located in heavy residential areas such as Helwan," she said. As a more appropriate and low-cost solution, Ramadan suggested using waste as a source of energy.
Minister of Environmental Affairs Laila Iskandar also strongly rejected using coal as a source of energy, state-run news agency MENA reported on Thursday.
In order to be "politically independent", Egypt should not depend on foreign energy resources to meet its needs, Iskandar said, adding that using coal will cause health problems for Egyptians after 30 years.
Because of its polluting effects, Iskandar said a decision to rely on coal would be met with sanctions from the international community.
"Issuing the decision of using coal should be made by an elected parliament, because such decisions have to be represented by the people," Ramadan said.
Meanwhile, Tamer Abu Bakr, head of the energy division in the Federation of Egyptian Industries, told Alborsa newspaper on Saturday that there is no alternative for using coal in cement factories.
Cement's production deficit is estimated at around 10 million tons per year due to energy shortage, Abu Bakr said. Cement factories depend on a government decision to allow using coal.
Egypt's current energy shortage was expected to occur in 2022, according Anhar Hegazy, head of the energy efficiency department at the state-owned Information and Decision Support Centre.
To best address the energy shortage problem, Hegazy said the government should work on reforming energy subsidies and enhancing renewable energy usage.
The cabinet discussed new and renewable energy sources during a meeting earlier in March as a possible solution to the cement factory energy issue. The government also plans to produce 20% of the country's energy through new and renewable energy by 2020, 12% of them will be generated using wind energy, former Minister of Electricity Ahmed Imam said in February.
Topics: coal Daily Egypt energy resources ministry of environment Ministry of Petroleum News
Doaa Farid
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https://dailynewsegypt.com/2014/03/30/ministry-petroleum-pushes-use-coal-solve-energy-crisis/
Lung cancer looms over Helwan residents amid increased factory pollution: Maat
March 30, 2014 Breaking News


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Innocenty, imię świeckie Joann Aleksiejewicz Borisow (ur. 15 grudnia 1800 w Jelcu, zm. 26 maja 1857) – rosyjski biskup prawosławny, teolog, święty Rosyjskiego Kościoła Prawosławnego.

Życiorys
Był synem kapłana prawosławnego. W 1819 ukończył seminarium duchowne w Orle i jako jeden z najlepszych słuchaczy został skierowany na dalszą naukę w Kijowskiej Akademii Duchownej. W 1823 ukończył ją jako magister nauk teologicznych. W tym samym roku został zatrudniony w seminarium duchownym w Petersburgu jako inspektor i wykładowca języka greckiego oraz historii Cerkwi. Po trzech miesiącach został rektorem szkoły duchownej przy Ławrze Aleksandra Newskiego. 10 grudnia 1823 złożył wieczyste śluby mnisze, przyjmując imię Innocenty. Tego samego dnia przyjął święcenia diakońskie, zaś 29 grudnia 1823 – kapłańskie.

10 grudnia 1824 został wykładowcą w Petersburskiej Akademii Duchownej, zaś w 1825 – jej inspektorem. W 1826 mianowany profesorem nadzwyczajnym, otrzymał ponadto godność archimandryty. Zasłynął jako wszechstronny teolog i wybitny kaznodzieja. W 1829 uzyskał stopień naukowy doktora teologii. Rok później objął stanowisko rektora Kijowskiej Akademii Duchownej. W okresie zarządzania uczelnią zreformował program nauczania, poprawił warunki materialne słuchaczy szkoły, starannie dobrał dla niej kadrę naukową. 3 października 1836 przyjął chirotonię biskupią, otrzymując tytuł biskupa czehryńskiego, wikariusza eparchii kijowskiej. Pozostając rektorem Akademii, został równocześnie przełożonym monasteru św. Michała Archanioła o Złotych Kopułach. Mnogość obowiązków związanych z pracą duszpasterską i administracyjną w eparchii zmusiła go do zakończenia działalności naukowej. W marcu 1841 został mianowany biskupem wołogodzkim, jednak służył w niej tylko kilka miesięcy: 31 grudnia tego samego roku Świątobliwy Synod Rządzący przeniósł go na katedrę charkowską.

Będąc biskupem, a od 1845 arcybiskupem charkowskim Innocenty (Borisow) kontynuował działalność literacką i naukową. Ułożył akafisty ku czci Męki Pańskiej, Opieki Matki Bożej, Grobu Pańskiego i inne, wydawał drukiem swoje kazania. Od 1847 do 1848 brał udział w sesjach Świątobliwego Synodu Rządzącego jako członek kadencyjny. W lutym 1848 został mianowany biskupem chersońskim i taurydzkim. Utworzył na Krymie kilka nowych skitów i dokonał ponownego otwarcia kilku monasterów.

W czasie wojny krymskiej arcybiskup Innocenty osobiście odwiedzał obrońców Sewastopola i żołnierzy stacjonujących w Odessie, głosząc dla nich patriotyczne kazania i odprawiając nabożeństwa w cerkwiach polowych, organizował pomoc dla rannych żołnierzy. Po zakończeniu działań wojennych zaangażował się w odbudowę zniszczonych wskutek walk świątyń prawosławnych. W czasie jednej z podróży duszpasterskich zachorował i 26 maja 1857 zmarł. Pochowany w soborze Przemienienia Pańskiego w Odessie; po jego zniszczeniu jego szczątki zostały przeniesione do soboru Zaśnięcia Matki Bożej w tym samym mieście.

W 1997 kanonizowany przez Rosyjski Kościół Prawosławny. Dziesięć lat później jego relikwie ponownie znalazły się w odbudowanym soborze Przemienienia Pańskiego w Odessie. Jego kult miał początkowo charakter lokalny, jednak w 2017 r. został rozszerzony na cały Patriarchat Moskiewski.

Przypisy

Urodzeni w 1800
Zmarli w 1857
Zakonnicy Monasteru św. Michała Archanioła o Złotych Kopułach
Absolwenci Kijowskiej Akademii Duchownej
Rosyjscy teolodzy prawosławni
Biskupi charkowscy
Biskupi wołogodzcy
Biskupi chersońscy
Ludzie urodzeni w Jelcu
Rosyjscy święci prawosławni
Pochowani w Odessie


A linguistic analysis of the sample numeracy skills test items for pre-service teachers issued by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).
In 2015, the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) was tasked with developing literacy and numeracy skills testing for pre-service teachers. All undergraduate and postgraduate trainee teachers are now required to pass these literacy and numeracy tests at some stage on their journey to becoming a teacher; for commencing students from 2017 in all states (except New South Wales), successfully passing these tests is a requirement for graduation. Following this announcement, ACER released a number of sample test items for both literacy and numeracy. This study used multimodal analysis to study the nature of the language, symbolic notation and visual representations in the sample test items for numeracy, with a focus on the linguistic complexity of the questions. The findings suggest that the types of linguistic constructions found in the assessment questions create significant challenges in terms of reading and comprehension which could impact on how the students engage with the numeracy assessment items.
O'Keeffe, L. and O'Halloran, K. and Wignell, P. and Tan, S. 2017. A linguistic analysis of the sample numeracy skills test items for pre-service teachers issued by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). Australian Educational Researcher. 44 (3): pp. 233-253.