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The Gaussian assumption in second-order estimation problems in digital communications
Tipus de documentArticle
EditorIEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC
Condicions d'accésAccés obert
This paper deals with the goodness of the Gaussian assumption when designing second-order blind estimation methods in the context of digital communications. The lowand high-signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) asymptotic performance of the maximum likelihood estimator—derived assuming Gaussian transmitted symbols—is compared with the performance of the optimal second-order estimator, which exploits the actual distribution of the discrete constellation. The asymptotic study concludes that the Gaussian assumption leads to the optimal second-order solution if the SNR is very low or if the symbols belong to a multilevel constellation such as quadrature-amplitude modulation (QAM) or amplitude-phase-shift keying (APSK). On the other hand, the Gaussian assumption can yield important losses at high SNR if the transmitted symbols are drawn from a constant modulus constellation such as phase-shift keying (PSK)or continuous-phase modulations (CPM). These conclusions are illustrated for the problem of direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation of multiple digitally-modulated signals.
CitacióVillares, J.; Vazquez, G. The Gaussian assumption in second-order estimation problems in digital communications. IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, 2007, vol.55, núm. 10, p. 4994-5002


The butterfly economy and its investment potential
investment viewpoints
The butterfly economy and its investment potential
Alina Donets - Portfolio Manager
Alina Donets
Portfolio Manager
Kristina Church - Head of CLIC™ (Sustainable) Solutions
Kristina Church
Head of CLIC™ (Sustainable) Solutions
The importance of Natural Capital within the circular economy creates a 'powerful force'. Portfolio Manager, Alina Donets and Kristina Church, Head of CLIC™ Solutions, discuss this theme and why it is a long-term investment opportunity.
1. What is natural capital and why is it important to the global economy?
Nature is the most productive asset of our economy. More than 50% of global GDP currently depends on nature. Natural capital includes all the renewable and non-renewable resources in our biosphere, including clean air and water, fertile soils and sediments, biodiversity, and finite mineral resources. Nature also provides enabling and protective services (like pollination and air filtration) that support economic processes and prevent disruption from climate change, storms, erosion, and disease. We are extracting crazy amounts of material and overexploiting nature. At the same time we are not fully harnessing the regenerative power of nature. As a result, the value of nature is declining, threatening our economies and ability to sustain the same kind of returns in the future.
2. Why does natural capital sit at the heart of the supply chains of major global sectors, and how does the degradation of nature put some of these industries at risk?
We rely on nature directly and indirectly across multiple industries.
For instance, the USD 5 trillion agricultural industry depends as much on rapidly-degrading soils, just as the forestry industry depends on forests, which are shrinking. Within the pharmaceutical industry, two-thirds of newly-developed drugs are based on or inspired by natural products. Meanwhile, the non-material value of nature supports much of the USD 9 trillion tourism industry and can account for as much as 20% of local property prices.
Unfortunately, present levels of raw material usage and consequences of human and economic activity are unsustainable and contribute to ecosystem degradation. Resulting issues like water stress or chemical pollution create substantial economic, social and environmental damage across all levels of human life.
Nature is the most productive asset of our economy - more than 50% of global GDP currently depends on nature
3. How does natural capital fit into the circular economy, and why is it a standalone investment theme, rather than part of a broader sustainability investment strategy?
At Lombard Odier, we believe that the world is embarking on a necessary transition to a Circular, Lean, Inclusive and Clean (CLIC™) economy. While the CLIC™ economy encapsulates the move to a net zero emissions economy in a fair and inclusive manner, it is first and foremost built on natural capital. The transition to a more bio-friendly CLIC™ economy is happening now and it is accelerating. Natural capital will be its most vital foundation. Global businesses are already recognising the need for transformation toward Circular and Lean operating models. Such companies tackling the challenges linked to the circular bio-economy and leaner forms of industry can now be found in listed equity markets. And just as their privately owned peers, they are seeking capital to continue innovating and building solutions. The profound metamorphosis of our linear economic framework into a new circular model is first and foremost driven by value creation and superior economics
Our Natural Capital strategy is highly complementary with our existing Climate Transition strategy. The transition to the "butterfly", circular bio-economy and net zero economy are mutually reinforcing. To achieve the net zero economy, we must first transition to a more bio-aligned economy.
Sources: 1 The current targets of the CBD (Convention on Biological Biodiversity) are the Aichi targets, which will end in 2020. 2 Task Force for Nature-related Financial disclosures. For illustrative purposes only. 3 Ellen Macarthur foundation, Towards the circular economy (2013). 4 2DS Smith (2019). 5 Nielsen. 6 PwC, Nature is to big to Fail (2020).
4. Lombard Odier's Natural Capital investment strategy combines opportunities in the transition to a leaner form of industry and investment in the bio-circular economy. Can you just explain those two elements in more detail?
Powerful forces are now pushing for this outdated linear model to evolve into a new circular economy. Policy support for nature is accelerating globally, and technology costs are falling, enabling increased investment opportunities. Consumers are also pushing for natural preservation. These forces are propelling this new economic model that prospers in harmony with nature.
Harnessing the power of nature means shifting more of our economy into the bio-based economy which is more efficient and circular. This is about greater reliance on bio-materials and increase take-up of nature-based materials across many more industries. It is also about the using waste as resource, about bioenergy, and a variety of regenerative farming, forestry and fishery practices
Preserving nature also means shifting towards greater circularity in the areas of production and consumption where substitution with bio-economy is not yet possible, as well as eliminating waste in our industrial activities. This about creating a much leaner form of industry, or in other words about more efficient use of our resources, a shift in our consumption model and about zero waste strategies.
5. At the heart of this strategy there are 4 revolutions going on. What are the four and why are they important?
The Natural Capital Investment strategy is a global equity strategy, also inspired by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales' vision of the Circular Bioeconomy and developed in partnership with HRH's Circular Bioeconomy Alliance. The Narrative of the strategy and the targeted key sectors are based on the 10-point action plan for a Circular Bioeconomy coordinated by Marc Palahí.
We have identified four key revolutions that also form the basis for investible themes: Circular bio-economy which unlocks innovation across water, food solutions and materials, harnessing the regenerative features of nature; Resources efficiency that targets leaner forms of production through dematerialization and materials performance; Outcome-oriented approach to consumption; and Zero waste world.
The strategy is focused on identifying companies that are already profitable and well positioned to take advantage of these four unstoppable growth opportunities.
6. Is it possible to create a truly global portfolio of companies which can benefit from these opportunities?
Natural Capital is equally important to people and business regardless of their geographic location, and unfortunately it has been equally indiscriminately endangered worldwide. Especially as global supply chains today are tightly interlinked, many companies globally are already taking steps to transition to leaner business models. This opens opportunities globally for the solution providers that would enable such transition.
Equally, technological advances now allow companies to leverage the self-regenerative features of nature to create new solutions that can build the foundation of the bio-economy, which has a potential to create positive externalities. Such innovation is also not constrained geographically, and often benefits from cross-border collaborations and information flows.
We have already identified over 550 companies globally that partake in this key revolution on both ends of the butterfly model: transition to lean industries and the bio-economy. And we expect this number to grow in the future.
Many companies globally are already taking steps to transition to leaner business models
7. How does the investment process work?
The four key revolutions across Circular Bio-economy, Resource Efficiency, Eco-Awareness and Zero Waste serve as the foundation for defining the scope of the strategy's focus. The Sustainability team has performed extensive work to identify the business activities that operate in, and enable these four revolutions. The Equity research platform then pinpointed the exact list of companies operating in these businesses that also have to constitute at least 30% of the economic activity for a company. The team uses a combination of algorithmic and fundamental research to come to the investable universe of over 550 companies, focused on small to mid-cap companies globally.
After this, the portfolio manager identify the companies with potential for superior growth profiles and excess economic returns, combined with solid ESG credentials including assessment of any controversies. The result is 40-50 stock high conviction portfolio, with good diversification and focus on high quality companies.
8. Why do you believe a focussed, high conviction strategy of 40-50 positions is appropriate; does this not create a higher risk approach?
We believe around 50 companies is an optimal size of a high conviction but well balanced portfolio. A concentrated strategy allows us to leverage the internal expertise around Natural Capital developed across the Sustainability team, and effectively reflect it in the long term financial performance of the strategy with the support of the fundamental Equity and portfolio management teams. All that while still maintaining a well-diversified portfolio.
The bio-economy is potentially a more important, and an under-explored part of the next economic revolution
9. How does this strategy correlate with other sustainable investment strategies?
There is an increasing attention on and appreciation of the importance of the circular economy, leading to launches of investment strategies focused on the circularity. However, we believe this focus is not recognising the full scope of the transition that is underway. Circularity only addresses the right wing of the "butterfly" model1, essentially helping to reduce the waste of resources to alleviate the pressure on natural capital. The bio-economy is potentially a more important, and an under-explored part of the next economic revolution. We believe that our strategy is the first of its kind, effectively capturing both sides of the butterfly model, and really investing across the full scope of the natural capital revolution.
10. Why is the 'take-make waste model transition to a sustainable bio-based economy' a multi-year investment opportunity rather than just


The history of Quiet Valley Living Historical Farm begins in the mid 1760's when the Depper family left their home in the Palatinate region of Germany to begin a new life in America. They sailed from Rotterdam to Philadelphia on the English ship The Betsy, arriving in 1765. After a year or two in Philadelphia they began to make their way north looking for land that they could farm. They settled in Quiet Valley near modern-day Stroudsburg.
In 1780 the Depper's only child, Katherine, married Johann Ludwig Meyer. Meyer was originally brought to America as a Hessian soldier during the Revolutionary War. Katherine and Johann passed the farm to their son John Simon Meyer who was a carpenter and farmer by trade. He, in turn passed it to his daughter, Hannah, and her husband, Peter Marsh. Their son Horace and his wife, Emma, lived on the farm until it was sold outside the family to Thomas and Ann Hess. The Hess's rented rooms during the summer to people looking to escape the heat of city.
In 1958 Alice and Wendell Wicks purchased the property from Ann Hess. They intended to develop the property. When they began to look around the farmhouse and barn they realized the historical and cultural significance of the site. From the 1890's modifications to when the Wicks purchased the farm in 1958, little modernization on the property had taken place; there was no indoor plumbing or electricity. Much of the house remained the same as it was during the late 1700's and early 1800's along with artifacts and furnishings.
Alice and Wendell Wicks along with their daughter and son-in-law, Sue and Gary Oiler, restored the original farmhouse. On July 13th 1963, they opened to the public as Quiet Valley Farm Museum. The first years the farm was only open during the summer for tours. Over the years, additional farm buildings were renovated or reconstructed to present a more in-depth interpretation of life on the farm and the impact of technological change through the centuries. These include a 'granddaddy' cabin, outdoor bake oven, ice house, smokehouse, dry house, and various smaller barns and sheds. Later as the farm was used more and more for educational purposes, additional storage was built, along with a modern education building and picnic pavilion. In 1994 construction was completed on a one-room schoolhouse circa 1893.
The original portion of the farmhouse, known today as the 'Cellar Kitchen' was dug into the side of a hill and dates from the late 1700's. It served as the original home. Soon after, a ground-floor bedroom and a loft for the children were added above the cellar. Around 1890, the house saw its next big addition. Part of the wraparound porch was enclosed and became a parlor, and a new kitchen was constructed and furnished with a wood-burning cook stove. Up until that time, the cooking for the family was done at the open hearth in the original cellar of the house. The barn that stands today was built during the 1850's and it is believed to be the third barn constructed on site. It is a beautiful example of a traditional, early American bank barn. The upper barn is made of wood with a mortise-and-tenon construction, and the lower level where the animals are housed is made of stone.
Interpreters in period clothing use first-person interpretation to portray family members and reenact life on the farm during three time periods to show how technology impacted the lives of farmers: 1820's in the granddaddy cabin, cellar kitchen, and bedroom, 1850's in the barn, and 1893 in the new kitchen, parlor, and school house.
Since 1974 Quiet Valley Living Historical Farm has been owned and operated as a 501 (c )(3) non-profit, educational corporation governed by a board of directors. Until her retirement in 2001 at the age of 85, Alice Wicks remained actively involved in the management of the museum. Sue and Gary Oiler remained farm managers until their retirement in 2005. Today the farm is open Tuesday through Sunday throughout the summer and for special events throughout the year. These include our major fundraisers of Farm Animal Frolic, Pocono State Craft Festival, Harvest Festival and Old Time Christmas. We host thousands of school aged children throughout the school year and thousands of domestic and international visitors throughout the summer.
At Quiet Valley Living Historical Farm we strive to educate, engage, and inspire our visitors as we interpret the culture of 19th century farm families, helping them better understand the past and the way it connects with the present and the future.


When a person trains a muscle, there is a necessary recovery from training before one can train again. I'm wondering if there's such a thing with meditation sessions?
If so, how much time between sessions is necessary or even desirable? Are there guidelines in Buddhism about the length of pauses to take and the amount of sessions possible in a day?
 - 1
 The basic rule is more is better. After this it's a matter of practicality. – user14119 Jan 1 '20 at 12:11
More is better. Period. If you want some nuance to this answer, once you start getting above three hours straight in your sits, you start to get into diminishing returns.
The untrained mind and all of its obstacles and doubts is like a game of whack a mole. You've got to keep swinging, every day, if you ever expect to make any progress.
Meditation is recovery: a recovery period from the strenuous activities of thinking and acting and doing. You'll find that if you meditate extensively, even your need for sleep drops to a minimum, because neither your body nor your mind needs down-time.
Of course, if you meditate from a place of achievement, as though you are trying to accomplish something specific and are thus training yourself to be a superior meditator... Well, that can be exhausting in its own right, though it is a stage all of us go through on the path.
Don't be obsessive about meditation. Daily meditation is good, but putting more than an hour a day into meditation is probably excessive (unless you are specifically intending to go the monastic route). On a three-day, ten-day, or thirty-day retreat you might spend as much as eight hours a day meditating, and that's fine, but you should take breaks for meals, walking, and other bodily necessities. You can — technically speaking — meditate for as long as you like (or rather, for as long as you're able), if you have the proper support system. I'm sure you've heard stories of gurus and monastics who've spent weeks in meditation, being fed and cared for by devotees. But for the most part, you can trust your greater self. Once you've established yourself well enough that you can comfortable meditate for an hour or so, just forget about time. You'll go into the meditative state, and when it's the right time for you to come out of it, you'll come out of it. Big-mind knows better than little-mind what's needed; little-mind just has to come to understand that.
If u know about Middle way then this will not be a problem.overworking always cause to exhaustion, not working will always end in failures,......For mediation u have first do a research about different meditation methods and their practices and build proper basic understanding about it.After that it will help u to find a proper teacher to learn the proper techniques and good practices.Then u will be ur own guide and u will undestand and make ur own schedule according to ur state of the mind.................Lord Buddha Life story explain it all if ur undestand well.Even he also become a disciple of three teachers and learn all methods used in those time to create his own way.Which we call today the Middle way.
Your Answer


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Translate mulberry | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of mulberry
noun (plural mulberries)
- 1 (also mulberry tree or bush) a small deciduous tree with broad leaves, native to East Asia and long cultivated elsewhere.
- Genus Morus, family Moraceae, in particular the white mulberry (M. alba), originally grown for feeding silkworms, and the black (or common) mulberry (M. nigra), grown for its fruit. See also paper mulberry
Old English mōrberie, from Latin morum + berry; related to Dutch moerbezie and German Maulbeere

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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Department of Physics
X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is used for capturing the reaction mechanisms at the molecular level via the determination of local electronic configurations inside Li-S batteries. In this paper, a comprehensive investigation of the S K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) of a series of stoichiometric lithium polysulfide solids was performed, assuming that these polysulfide solids are formed during the battery cycling process. The results based on density functional theory show that the pre-edge peak in the S K-edge XANES spectra is not a common feature in the solid phase in contrast to the case of pristine polysulfide molecules where the pre-edge peak constitutes a unique signature when dissolved in liquid electrolytes. A general redshift in the S K-edge XANES peak is found when a Li vacancy is introduced in these lithium polysulfide solids. Furthermore, the first peak positions of the S K-edge XANES spectra of the lithium polysulfide solids appear within a small range (2471-2473 eV) overlapping with the white line of the α-S8 bulk (∼2472 eV). Therefore, the results suggest that the use of additional characterization methods might be necessary for accurately identifying the elusive solid phase lithium polysulfides in Li-S batteries instead of relying only on S K-edge XANES spectroscopy. This journal is
A XANES study of lithium polysulfide solids: A first-principles study.
Retrieved from: _URL_
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

source: m-a-p/FineFineWeb


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Stanford Civil Engineers Lab has signed a $4 million contract with NASA to develop a new type of seismic monitoring instrument.
The $4.5 million contract, awarded in December, is for a three-year contract and is for the detection of seismic activity at a seismographic facility located in San Luis Obispo County.
The seismographic instrument would monitor seismic activity in California's San Luis Basin.
The instrument would be developed by the Stanford Civil Engineer Laboratory, a civil engineering and engineering design program.
"We are very excited about this opportunity to bring the Stanford civil engineering lab to NASA for the first time in history," said Mark Schmitz, director of engineering at the Civil Engineering Laboratory.
"We will be developing a new generation of instruments that will be able to measure earthquake activity and seismicity at the site of a natural disaster."NASA is developing a seismic monitoring system called the Advanced Seismic Sensor System, or ASS, which will monitor earthquake activity across California and other parts of the United States.
The ASS will also be able read and record seismic activity, such as earthquakes, seismic waves and tremors, according to a statement from NASA.
This is the first such instrument to be developed at NASA for use in a disaster relief program.
The instrument will monitor earthquakes in California and elsewhere across the United State and is designed to measure seismic waves that can travel through the ground.
The new instrument is expected to be installed at the San Luis Earthquake Observatory, located near San Luis, California.
"I think it's important for us to be a part of a community of scientists and engineers that understand what we're doing, and that is why we have the civil engineering laboratory," said Schmittz.
"That's what we are, civil engineers.
We are a team of scientists."
This is a developing story.
We will update this article as more information becomes available.


Mathématiques > Accueil > Avancées en Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées > Numéro
Vol 11 - Numéro 1 (Mai 2020)
Avancées en Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées
Articles parus
Solutions régulières pour l'équation relativiste de Boltzmann dans le domaine de Yang-Mills
We consider in this work the Boltzmann equation in the presence of a Yang-Mills fields in temporal gauge, which generalizes to the non-Abelian case the electromagnetic field. We prove, using the method presented by N. Noutchegueme and R. D. Ayissi [2], a local in time existence and uniqueness theorem for the regular solutions.
Une nouvelle caractérisation des anneaux semi-réguliers commutatifs
A commutative ring R is called J-rad clean in case, for any r ∈ R, there is an idempotent e ∈ R such that r−e ∈ U(R) and re ∈ J(R), where U(R) and J(R) denote the set of units and the Jacobson radical of R, respectively. Also, a ring R is called semiregular if R/J(R) is regular in the sense of von Neumann and idempotents lift modulo J(R). We demonstrate that these two concepts are, actually, equivalent and we portray a portion of the properties of this class of rings. In particular, as a direct application, we prove that the commutative group ring RG is J-rad clean if, and only if, R is a commutative J-rad clean ring and G is a torsion abelian group, provided that J(R) is nil.
Produits de Complexes Rectangulaires et Matrices aléatoires hermitiennes
Very recently, it has been shown for products of real matrices with anti-symmetric matrices of even dimension that the traditional harmonic analysis on matrix groups developed by Harish-Chandra et al. needs to be modified when considering the group action on general symmetric spaces of matrices. In the present work, we consider the product of complex random matrices with Hermitian matrices, in particular the former can be also rectangular while the latter has not to be positive definite and is considered as a fixed matrix as well as a random matrix. This generalises an approach for products involving the Gaussian unitary ensemble (GUE) and circumvents the use there of non-compact group integrals. We derive the joint probability density function of the real eigenvalues and, additionally, prove transformation formulas for the bi-orthogonal functions and kernels.
Fonctions ∗-LIE supérieurement dérivables sur les ∗-anneaux
In this paper, it is shown that, if R is a ∗-ring containing a nontrivial self adjoint idempotent which admits a ∗-Lie higher derivable mapping L={Ln}n∈N, then there exists an element ZX,Y (depending on X and Y) in the center Z(R) such that Ln(X+Y)=Ln(X)+Ln(Y)+ZX,Y.
Autres numéros :
Volume 20- 11
Numéro 1 (Mai 2020)
Numéro 2 (Septembre 2020)
À paraître
Volume 21- 12
Numéro 1 (Janvier 2021)


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Reilly Method Figure Drawing with Mark Westermoe Week 6: Designing the Hands : Chapter 3
Free to try
What you will learn
We are pleased to share with you a 10-week long class brought to you by Art Mentors. In this class, legendary illustrator Mark Westermoe teaches figure drawing using the Reilly Method. In this 6th lesson, Mark will go over the Reilly Head Abstraction in detail and analyze selected master works of Matania. He will then demonstrate how to design the hands, first by laying in the structure, and then by refining the design through tonal and value control.


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This 5 ½ hour-long French silent masterwork is an undisputed milestone of its era, telling the story of one of the most famous military leaders in history with eye-opening innovation that still remains startling today.
Dir. Abel Gance
1927 | France | Biography/Drama/History | 333 mins | 1.33:1 | Silent
Not rated – likely to be PG
Cast: Albert Dieudonne, Gina Manes
Plot: This epic biopic of Napoleon traverses many of the formative experiences that shaped the French leader's rapid advancement: from his days in school to his flight from Corsica, as well as the French Revolution and the Terror, and culminating in his triumphant invasion of Italy in 1797.
Source: British Film Institute
Subject Matter: Moderate – History, War & Politics
Narrative Style: Slightly Complex
Pace: Slightly Slow
Audience Type: Slightly Arthouse
I've been wanting to see this for the longest time having heard of its legend, and I wasn't a tiny bit disappointed. If there's a gripe, it would be its long runtime, at 5 ½ hours, which I needed to tackle in several sittings.
But director Abel Gance, the French answer's to D.W. Griffith, told the story in four quite digestible acts, with timely intermissions to boot. The result is a stunning silent masterwork that is up there as one of the greatest films in history, and not just in the silent era.
Viewing it now, nearly a century later, it is firstly a blessing to still be able to see something like this so meticulously restored, and re-scored with new music by Carl Davis.
It is also startling to see some of the eye-opening innovations on display such as the use of handheld cameras, and in the famous three-camera triptych sequence in the final reel of the film, a super widescreen aspect ratio of 4.00:1 that gives a panoramic view of Napoleon's invasion of Italy (this pre-dating Cinerama by decades).
From a narrative point-of-view, Gance's work mostly covers Napoleon's time as a rising commander during the French Revolution and the various political and military obstacles he had to face and endure.
It gives a grandiose sweep of his personal story set against the larger sociopolitics of the time, though even at such a lengthy runtime, the film is still more interested in historical breadth than character depth, which some might find an issue.
Still, it doesn't get any more epic than Napoleon, and the way Davis weaves strains of the French national anthem, "La Marseillaise", into the orchestral score gives us some of the film's most emotional and triumphant moments.


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Japanese Law and Government/Civil Law
Japanese civil law is generally governed by the Civil Code (民法 Minpō). The Civil Code is divided into five volumes:
The Civil Code recognizes two types of "persons" (人 hito); natural persons (自然人 shizen-jin) and juristic persons (法人 hōjin).
Minors and majority
Individuals acquire civil rights at birth (Article 3) and are considered to be competent as adults upon reaching the age of twenty (Article 4).
Minors must have the consent of their legal representative in order to engage in legal acts; any acts engaged in by minors without such consent are voidable but not automatically void. The legal representative may give prior consent for a minor to dispose of their property, in which case any such disposal is not voidable (Article 5).
Minors may also engage in business as adults with the consent of their legal representative (Article 6).
Adults with inhibited psychological competency may be protected under three different systems. These are instituted by a family court at the petition of the individual, their spouse, their immediate relative, their legal guardian/curator/assistant, the supervisor of their guardian/curator/assistant, or by a prosecutor. The family court may also rescind any of the systems upon petition of any such person. The three systems are mutually incompatible with each other; if a person moves from one status to another, their previous status must be canceled (Article 19).
- Guardianship (後見 kōken) is employed when the adult in question has lost their ability to reason due to psychological disability. Once guardianship is instituted, the individual's legal acts are voidable, except for necessary acts in the course of their daily life (Article 9).
- Curatorship (保佐 hosa) is a less severe form of guardianship for adults who have significantly reduced capacity to reason (Article 11). A person under curatorship needs consent of their curator to engage in certain acts listed below (Article 13). The family court may also give this consent where the curator denies consent and there is no risk of harm to the individual (Article 13.3). Any such acts without the curator's consent are voidable (Article 13.4).
- Collection or use of principal
- Lending or guaranteeing an obligation
- Acquiring or disposing of real estate or other major assets
- Gifts, settlements or arbitration agreements
- Accepting or waiving succession rights, or dividing estate property
- Refusing or waiving gifts, or accepting gifts with appurtenant liabilities
- Building, renovating, expanding or conducting major repairs on buildings
- Leases beyond the maximum default term stipulated by law
- Assistance (補助 hojo) is an even less severe system for adults who have reduced capacity to reason. The individual must consent to being placed under assistance (Article 15). The family court then designates acts for which the individual requires the assistant's consent (Article 17).
When a minor or otherwise competency-restricted individual becomes legally competent, any counterparty to a voidable act has the right to demand their acceptance of previously-voidable acts. If the individual remains incompetent, the counterparty may demand a similar acceptance by their guardian, curator or assistant. The demand must allow for a response period of no less than one month (Article 20).
A competency-restricted individual is also barred from voiding prior acts if they used fraudulent means to make their counterparty believe they were competent (Article 21).
For-profit corporations are the most common juristic persons; these are described in Japanese Commercial Law.
The Civil Code also establishes two types of juristic person that are formed for public purposes, such as education, arts, religion or charity. Such corporations must be granted a permit from a relevant government agency before they are legally established (Article 34). Their establishment must then be recorded within two weeks at the Legal Affairs Bureau having jurisdiction over the corporation's head office (Article 45).
Foreign juristic persons are not generally recognized in Japan, except for the following (Article 35):
- Foreign countries
- Foreign regional divisions
- Foreign companies
- Other foreign juristic persons recognized by a Japanese law or treaty
Associations (社団法人 shadan hōjin) are formed by members who execute articles of incorporation (定款 teikan).
Associations have a structure similar to business corporations. Their highest decision-making organ is a general meeting of members (社員総会 shain sōkai), which elects directors (理事 riji) to oversee the operations of the association. Associations may also have auditors (監事 kanji), although these are not required.
Foundations (財団法人 zaidan hōjin) are formed by a donation of capital recorded in an act of donation (寄附行為 gifu kōi). Foundations always have directors and may have auditors, but they do not have a general meeting of members, as there are no members to form a general meeting.
The director(s) of an association or foundation may act on behalf of the corporation with regard to any matters within its enumerated purposes. Directors may be personally liable for approving or executing acts outside the purpose of the corporation (Article 44).

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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You hear this advice everywhere you look when it comes to astro imaging. It's pretty much true. Dithering is an event that occurs between exposures, where the mount is moved a little bit in a random way to point a few pixels away from where it just was. This is used to combat noise.
Things like dark noise and noisy flats can contribute pattern noise when calibrated into the light images. This noise can be accentuated by the stacking process. For example, consider the following calibrated integration that did not use dithering:
You can see that pattern noise is streaked across the image due to slight right ascension shifts throughout the imaging session. If the tracking had been perfect, the noise would be even more pronounced as it was integrated.
With dithering, the noise is much more consistent and random. This was produced with several hundred shorter exposures that were dithered about 7 arcseconds every third frame. The resulting noise is much easier to reduce with a denoising algorithm in post processing..


Do Mercedes make a self-charging hybrid?
Mercedes offers a wide range of vehicle makes and models. On top of that, their vehicles can be powered in different ways with the most popular two ways being diesel and petrol. However, Mercedes also has hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and fully electric cars. But do Mercedes make self-charging hybrid vehicles?
Mercedes-Benz makes several self-charging hybrid cars. Note that a self-charging hybrid car is not a plug-in hybrid car, but a traditional hybrid car. Mercedes refers to normal hybrid cars as mild hybrid cars. Some of the popular Mercedes mild hybrid cars can be found in Mercedes C-Class, New E-Class, GLC-Class, GLE-Class, and GLS-Class.
Self-charging or mild hybrid Mercedes use the electric motor and combustion engine in parallel. This means that the electric motor doesn't run separately from the combustion engine, but supports it by easing the torque curve; thus, bringing about efficiency and delivering more power when required.
What Mercedes models are fitted with a self-charging hybrid system?
As stated earlier, there are a variety of Mercedes models with a self-charging hybrid system. These include:
 - New Mercedes-Benz E-Class – in this class, you will have to pick from the new E-Class saloon or Estate model range.
 - Mercedes-Benz C-Class – the C-Class line has several mild hybrid cars as this system comes standard on almost every powertrain. The self-charging hybrid system can be found on exceptional model lines starting from the SE through to the AMG line Night edition.
 - Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class – this class also boasts of several mild hybrid models. Every 300 variants of the GLC SUV and Coupe feature this standard. Besides, it can also be found on high-performance AMG Line, AMG Line Premium, and AMG Line Premium Plus.
 - Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class – all the GLE SUV petrol engine variants are fitted with a mild hybrid system, including AMG Line models.
 - Mercedes-Benz GLS-Class – only two of the Mercedes GLS SUV models come with a mild hybrid system. These are the Mercedes-AMG GLS 63 and Mercedes-Maybach GLS.
 Best hybrid for towing
So, if you have been searching for a Mercedes model with a self-charging hybrid or mild hybrid system, you can select from the above models. Unlike traditional cars, hybrid cars help you to increase your fuel economy ratings.
What are the advantages of driving a self-charging hybrid?
 - The main reason why you should switch to a hybrid car is that you will reduce CO2 emissions than traditional vehicles, which may qualify you for some incentives.
 - Self-charging hybrid cars enable you to reduce your running costs as the technology can keep the diesel or petrol turned off for most of your journey.
 - There are a wider variety of hybrid cars to choose from. So, you're not just limited to a few types of cars.
 - Most of the hybrid cars are fitted with an automatic gearbox and are made to be very silent and smooth to drive. Therefore, driving these cars is fun and stress-free.
 - Unlike fully electric vehicles or ICE cars, hybrid cars offer a lot of conveniences as you can park or fuel them anywhere that you wish.
What are the setbacks of driving a self-charging hybrid?
 - The main setback of a hybrid car is that they usually have a limited range. Most hybrid cars can only run up to 30 miles on the electric motor. This is quite lower considering most electric vehicles have a range of at least 150 miles.
 - If you're on the highway or in places without traffic, hybrid cars will fully switch to fuel, meaning you won't have any advantage over ICE vehicles.
 - Hybrid cars may not appeal to some drivers as they come with an automatic gearbox and eco tires that are designed to save fuel. So, if love sports cars, you will find such cars to be less appealing.
 Common Mercedes 4Matic issues and problems
What is the difference between a self-charging hybrid and a plug-in hybrid?
Some people normally confuse between hybrid and plug-in hybrid. Even though both cars use both fuel and electricity to run a car, they work differently. Mercedes traditional hybrid cars or self-charging vehicles are referred to as a mild hybrid. Nonetheless, Mercedes has fuel only and fully electric vehicles.
A self-charging hybrid drive system is different from a plug-in hybrid system as it receives its energy simultaneously from a gasoline engine and an electric motor. On the contrary, a plug-in hybrid system utilizes a gasoline engine and an electric motor, but in varying ways.
In a traditional hybrid system, the engine and the motor work together to run the car, while a plug-in hybrid system runs using its electric motor, powered by the motor. On the same note, a plug-in hybrid system won't use your car's fuel until the battery runs out of power.
In short, the plug-in hybrid system uses the engine as a backup plan and not at the same time. On the other hand, the hybrid system uses both the engine and electric battery to save on fuel.
FAQ
What is the range of most self-charging hybrid vehicles?
Most self-charging or hybrid vehicles have a range of between 20 and 30. However, there are a few exceptional models with a range of up to 50 miles. Before selecting a hybrid car, find out the range as it will determine how much fuel you can save in high-traffic areas.
Why does plug-in hybrid have a better range than self-charging hybrid cars?
Hybrid cars travel a smaller distance than plug-in hybrid cars because of the battery size that they come with. Most hybrid cars have a small battery pack that won't last several and that's why they run parallel with combustion engines.
 Are hybrid vehicles safe?
How does a Mercedes hybrid work?
The Mercedes hybrid works simply. As the car cruises down the road at a constant speed, it changes over automatically between the electric motor and diesel engine and a combination of both, depending on the battery charge, load, and gradient. To help improve fuel economy, the engine control unit can program the diesel engine to operate at its most efficient speeds.
Conclusion
If you have been wondering whether Mercedes makes self-charging hybrid vehicles or not – Yes they do. Mercedes self-charging hybrid cars are referred to as a mild hybrid. Self-charging is the term that's usually used by Toyota and Lexus brands. Unlike a plug-in hybrid, mild hybrid/self-charging hybrid variants are fuel-efficient and don't need plugging into a source of electricity.
Edwin Odipo
Why do you love writing about cars? Cars make our lives easy. You can visit your distant friend, relative or even rush to the grocery store a few miles from your home with a lot of ease. Imagine how life was before the invention of cars?? To me, cars are a blessing that made life more convenient.
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Researchers from Purdue University are on the cusp on creating a new type of mobile technology that not only coverts non-potable water into drinking water, but also extracts hydrogen to generate electricity. The technology revolves around an aluminium alloy that the team believes could bring both water and power to poor villages around the world.
Purdue University, jerry woodall, drinking water, portable drinking technology, aluminium alloy, hydrogen gas, hydrogen power, drinking water
Leading the team is Jerry Woodall, a Purdue University distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering. Speaking to Science Daily, he stated that by immersing the new alloy (which contains aluminum, gallium, indium and tin) into water, you can create a spontaneous reaction that splits the water into hydrogen and oxygen molecules. The hydrogen can then be used to fuel power cells, while clean drinking water is produced in the form of steam.
"The steam would kill any bacteria contained in the water, and then it would condense to purified water," Woodall said. "So, you are converting undrinkable water to drinking water."
The technology even works with saltwater, which means it could be utilised on boats and marine vessels around the world to providing drinking water to sailors. A prototype has yet to be created and a patent is pending, but Woodall believes the portable technology could transform villages that aren't connected to a power grid.
"There is a big need for this sort of technology in places lacking connectivity to a power grid and where potable water is in short supply," he said. "Because aluminum is a low-cost, non-hazardous metal that is the third-most abundant metal on Earth, this technology promises to enable a global-scale potable water and power technology, especially for off-grid and remote locations."
It would be cheap too, as water could be produced for about $1 per gallon, while electricity could be generated for about 35 cents per kilowatt hour of energy. "There is no other technology to compare it against, economically, but it's obvious that 34 cents per kilowatt hour is cheap compared to building a power plant and installing power lines, especially in remote areas," Woodall said. "You could drop the alloy, a small reaction vessel and a fuel cell into a remote area via parachute. Then the reactor could be assembled along with the fuel cell. The polluted water or the seawater would be added to the reactor and the reaction converts the aluminum and water into aluminum hydroxide, heat and hydrogen gas on demand."
Simple! And as aluminum hydroxide waste is non-toxic it can be disposed of in a landfill.
+ Purdue University
Via Science Daily


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4x4 Driving with Mud Tyres and Mud Driving
4x4 Driving with Mud Tyres and Mud Driving
Driving through mud is a cross between ice skating and walking through quicksand. Some types of mud have a greasy top layer with a hard baked surface underneath, while other types can be a bottomless quagmire of gooey mush.
Different types of mud require different driving techniques, equipment and Mud Tyres. Greasy mud with a hard bottom layer is best suited to narrow mud tyres to allow them to cut through the top layer to bite the hard surface below. Wide mud tyres in this situation tend to float on the greasy top layer without reaching the hard surface underneath.

Thick gooey mud tends to favor wide mud tyres as they give some flotation, similar to wide tyres favoring sand driving. Lowering your tyre pressures can help just like when sand driving, though its best not to lower tyre pressures below 20-25psi for mud.

Regardless of what type of mud and what width tyres are fitted, the tread pattern needs to have large lugs to allow the tyre to 'clean' itself. If they don't, the lugs fill with mud and the tyre becomes a 'slick' with little chance of getting traction. Road orientated tread patterns tend to have closely spaced lugs to put more rubber on the road and to reduce tire noise at highway speeds. When it comes to mud, road tread tyres are at a significant disadvantage, whereas in sand they help avoid 'digging in'. Dedicated mud tyres have large open spaced lugs to keep the tyre clean. However, they handle worse on bitumen as there is less rubber in contact with the ground and in sand they tend to dig in. Also they can have an annoying drone at highway speeds.

Mud Driving Techniques Mud Tyres

Unlike some other types of terrain, mud-driving techniques vary on the type of mud. Reducing tire pressures can help in 'bottomless' mud whereas it can make things worse when a hard surface is below the mud. Mud usually tends to hide obstacles such as tree roots and sticks just waiting to slash your sidewalls, so its best to avoid reducing tire pressures if you can avoid it.

Driving on the peaks between tyre tracks can provide firmer ground, as water tends to collect in the wheel tracks. Though sometimes the existing wheel tracks have cut through to the firmer surface underneath and provide the best traction.

Moving the steering wheel left to right about 90° from the center can help the front wheels bite into the mud in search of traction. Do not turn the wheel too for as you can end up making things worse.

As you have probably gathered by now, mud driving is unpredictable and you need to have a knowledge of different driving techniques to know which one to apply in each situation. What doesn't change is the need to have good mud tyres with big self-cleaning lugs and good recovery equipment.

Tire Chains, an alternative to Mud Tyres

A way to overcome the cost and audible discomfort of mud tyres is to use tyre chains on your existing tires. They will dramatically improve your traction, but they do damage the track surface. It is best if they are only used when you HAVE to traverse a muddy track, as they can make it almost impassable when it dries out. If possible, it is best to let a muddy track partially dry out so you con get through in 4WD without using chains, as chains will deteriorate the track for future users.

There are two main types of tyre chains, the bar (ladder) pattern or the diamond pattern. The bar pattern is better for mud as it really bites into the surface, whereas the diamond pattern is normally used for snow driving. It provides a smoother ride as the chain is in constant contact with the surface and has side-slip resistance, whereas the bar type has more of a digging action. Both types of chains can be used in either situation so if you do purchase them, choose the sort for your main type of driving.

Maintenance

Mud, especially clay and thick mud, tends to stick wherever it touches, It can build up under the wheel arches to the point it acts as a brake on the tyres. This type of build-up is obvious and has to be cleared immediately, but other types of build-up that are not so obvious but still need immediate removal is on the rims. Even a small amount can throw your wheel balance out dramatically and can lead to uneven tyre wear and a vibrating steering wheel.

Once all visible mud has been removed, its necessary to check items like diff and gearbox breathers to ensure they are clear, otherwise it can lead to seal damage in the long term. Also check all drain holes on the chassis etc to ensure they are not blocked. Its surprising how mud can even find it's way to block drain holes on the bottom of doors!

Information from:
Andre Botha
Member of SONOTA (South African National Offroad Trainers Association)
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Home > technical > Inside-Out, Outside-In
Inside-Out, Outside-In
There are two common perspectives on the process of architectural design, whether it be for buildings or for software. The first is that a designer starts with nothing—a blank slate, whiteboard, or drawing board—and builds-up an architecture from familiar components until it satisfies the needs of the intended system. The second is that a designer starts with the system needs as a whole, without constraints, and then incrementally identifies and applies constraints to elements of the system in order to differentiate the design space and allow the forces that influence system behavior to flow naturally, in harmony with the system. Where the first emphasizes creativity and unbounded vision, the second emphasizes restraint and understanding of the system context. – "RESTful" Roy Fielding
It might not be a correct interpretation, but BD00 associates Mr. Fielding's two alternatives with "inside-out" and "outside-in" design.
The figure below illustrates the process of inside-out design. The designer iteratively composes a structure and "hopes" it will integrate smoothly downstream into the context for which it is intended. During the inside-out design process, the parts are king and the system context is secondary.
Parts First
The figure below depicts an outside-in design process. The designer iteratively composes a structure within the bounded constraints of the context (the "whole") for which it is intended. During the outside-in design process, system context is king and the parts are secondary.
Context First
Because system contexts can vary widely from system to system and they're usually vaguely defined, messy, and underspecified, designers often opt for the faster inside-out approach. BD00 uses the outside-in design process. What process do you use?
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Barlach, ErnstDate of birth and death: 2 January 1870 ÔÇô 24 October 1938
Nationality: GermanUploaded artworks: 51
Ernst Barlach (2 January 1870 ÔÇô 24 October 1938) was a German expressionist sculptor, printmaker and writer. Although he was a supporter of the war in the years leading to World War I, his participation in the war made him change his position, and he is mostly known for his sculptures protesting against the war. This created many conflicts during the rise of the Nazi Party, when most of his works were confiscated as degenerate art.
He began his professional education in Hamburg. In 1888 Berlach attended a vocational school. In 1891 the artist attended the Dresden 'Akademie', where he continued to study sculpture and became Robert Diez's master student. During two study trips to Paris in 1895 and 1897 Barlach's well-founded academic training was reinforced. His artistic work was influenced greatly by a trip to Russia in 1906. The powerful and folk-like design of Barlach's sculptures after this time reflect the impressions of rugged farm-life and Russian folk art. During these years Barlach also produced graphic illustration cycles for his own plays. In 1910 Ernst Barlach settled in G├╝strow (Mecklenburg), Germany. In 1917 Barlach had his first exhibition at Paul Cassirer's in Berlin. In 1919 the sculptor was admitted to the 'Preu├čische Akademie der K├╝nste' in Berlin as a full member. During the following years Barlach produced numerous wood carvings, including one on Goethe's 'Walpurgisnacht'. In 1928 Barlach published his autobiography entitled 'Ein selbsterz├Ąhltes Leben' ('A Selftold Life'). In 1930 a comprehensive exhibition of Barlach's sculptures and graphic works took place at the 'Preussische Akademie der K├╝nste' in Berlin. In 1933 the artist received the order 'Pour le m├ęrit├ę'. In 1935, commission by Hermann F. Reemtsma, Barlach designed the 'Fries der Lauschenden' and a tombstone for Theodor D├Ąubler. During the years that followed, the sculptor was ostracized by the Nazis. In 1936 Barlach's works were systematically removed from museums, churches, and public spaces. Today, Ernst Barlach is known as one of the most important sculptors of Classical Modernism. Excellent examples of his expressionist wood and bronze sculptures can now be seen at the G├╝strow Cathedral, the Elisabeth Church in Marburg and the Berlin National Gallery. Ernst Barlach's home and studio in G├╝strow is now open to the public as a museum.
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text:
Column-shaped origami design based on mirror reflections Origami, which is the construction of an object by folding a single sheet of paper, has been studied in the fields of mathematics and engineering. Several software programs for designing origami shapes have been recently developed, and so we can now obtain a variety of shapes. However, the variations designed with them are still limited. In this paper, we propose a new method for designing origami based on the sweep and reflection operations. As an example, a column-shaped origami object with a relief structure is designed using our method. The shape is defined by a profile polyline and a trajectory polyline that are input by the user. We developed a system on which the user inputs and edits the polylines to generate both the crease pattern and the 3DCG model of the origami object in real time. With the tools implemented in our system, the user can design a wider variety of shapes in a trial-and-error manner while seeing the effects of their operations. Thus, users can easily design stable and geometrically attractive shapes. We indicate the effectiveness and the potential of our system by showing some examples. (ORI-REVO: A Design Tool for 3D Origami of Revolution)
References in zbMATH (referenced in 1 article, 1 standard article )
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text:
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN River Falls
The Crop and Soil Science major at UW-River Falls teaches the production of food, fiber and energy as well as promotes the understanding of the role of soils in agricultural production and sustaining our environment. Three options are available for students to choose from in order to focus their academic studies:
Highlights of the Crop and Soil Science Major
As a student in this program, you will learn to:
As a graduate of this program, you will be prepared for a career in the crop and soil science field. Below is a list of potential job titles and employers that graduates have found employment or internship opportunities with.
Potential Job Titles
Crop and soil science offers
unique options to focus your studies


text:
Tiberium, known as Ichor to the Scrin, is a fictional substance that is central to the plot of much of the Command & Conquer series of real-time strategy computer games. Within each title set in the Tiberium story arc (Tiberian Dawn, Tiberian Sun, Renegade, Tiberium Wars, Tiberian Twilight, and their expansion packs), the Tiberium crystals represent both the tools and spoils of war and are used by players to purchase new units and buildings, with each of the series' factions either directly or indirectly battling for control over the crystals. Tiberium has extraterrestrial origins and comes in a variety of forms, mostly the common green crystal but also the more rare blue crystals, the extremely rare red crystals, and in "veins". It was also demonstrated in a liquid form by the time of Tiberium Wars. Parts of the chemical composition of tiberium remain unknown.
Tiberium is presented as a double-edged sword within the context of the story arc of the respective video games. While it is the greatest mineral resource ever encountered, conveniently gathering many potent elements into an easily harvestable form, it also brings with it considerable hazards: areas rich with the rapidly spreading Tiberium substance are eventually exhausted of their native ecosystems, and become too toxic to support normal carbon-based life. In the context of the gameplay, Tiberium can also be seen this way with its obvious tactical advantage as a resource, and its destructive effect on infantry, sometimes transmuting them into destructive "Visceroids".
Tiberium is a commodity, with everything that one builds in the game costing Tiberium-based credits. It can appear anywhere on Earth, but spreads much more slowly in areas of extreme cold climate. In Tiberian Dawn and Tiberian Sun, it will spread very slowly in-game but primarily comes from special Tiberium-generating Blossom Trees, infested trees that release Tiberium spores into the air; in Tiberium Wars, these trees are replaced by Tiberium Fissures in the Earth's crust, and Tiberium will not spread outside a certain radius of these fissures.
The substance is named as such because it was first discovered near the river Tiber in Italy. Kane, who claims it was in fact the Brotherhood who first discovered Tiberium, states that he himself named it after Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus.
Tiberium was first introduced in the original 1995 Command & Conquer game to replace the "spice" from Dune II as the mined resource for building and expanding, and was inspired by the 1957 B-movie "The Monolith Monsters". According to Westwood Studios co-founder Louis Castle "It solved one of the fundamental problems we had with making an RTS, which was that we wanted to have a central resource that everybody was fighting over. Dune has spice, which made perfect sense — and it was also used when we came to the idea of Tiberium. It became the anchor of the C&C universe because people were arguing over a limited resource that represented wealth and power".
In Tiberian Dawn, Tiberium is said to be composed of 42.5% phosphorus, 32.5% iron, 15.25% calcium, 5.75% copper, 2.5% silica, and 1.5% unknown substances. Its gaseous emissions are composed of 22% methane, 19% sulfur, 12% naphthalene, 10% argon, 6% isobutane, 2% xylene, and 29% unknown gases.
For the development of Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, Electronic Arts decided to radically alter its composition, and commissioned scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to provide a white paper describing the biophysics of Tiberium, its atomic structure, its method of transmutation, the form of the radiation that it emits, and the way to harness it for powering machinery and weapons—giving it the same treatment as would be suitable for a scientific journal article on a real substance.
Mike Verdu, executive producer for Electronic Arts, gives the following scientific analysis of Tiberium from the perspective of the game universe:
Tiberium is a dense "dynamic proton lattice" held together by exotic heavy particles. When Tiberium comes into contact with other matter, the heavy particles randomly collide with the nuclei of the target matter, smashing it to pieces (in the case of smaller nuclei) or incrementally knocking off protons or neutrons (in the case of heavier nuclei). Tiberium captures a fraction of the protons that are ejected during this collision process and incorporates them into its own structure, thus transmuting matter into more Tiberium. Whenever one of the heavy particles—a muon or tauon—collides with an atomic nucleus, fission occurs, which results in the production of alpha, beta, and gamma radiation as well as other forms of electromagnetic radiation (like infra-red). During the transmutation process, nuclei that Tiberium has come into contact with may be changed into nuclei with different (usually fewer) numbers of protons or neutrons.— Mike Verdu, Living with Tiberium
Verdu describes Tiberium as being at the center of the fictional C&C universe as well: "This enigmatic crystal is at the core of our gameplay as well as our fiction. [...] Tiberium is our Force, our Spice, our One Ring, and our Matrix. Everything in our game world is defined by its relationship to Tiberium."
In the game universe, Tiberium crystals proliferate in a number of different ways. In the simplest and most common way, a tiberium "pod" will send out "roots", which create more pods. Tiberium also spreads by infecting trees and mutating them into so-called "Blossom Trees", which seed the substance across large areas of land. Destroying a Harvester, Refinery, Cyborg, Tiberium Spike, or other Tiberium-containing unit or building can cause a small amount of tiberium to be released. In Tiberium Wars, it spreads by growing out of the ground from Tiberium fissures within the Earth's crust. Verdu describes these Tiberium concentrations as "oddly beautiful fields of green crystal that [kill] everything around them". The substance is radioactive and is extremely toxic to carbon-based life, causing either death or severe genetic mutations in plants, humans and animals alike. It replicates by converting everything around it into more Tiberium either through oddly directed mutation of plantlife, or through direct assimilation of other substances on the atomic level, through this gradually covering the whole surface of the Earth. It gives off radiation, which in the game universe is harnessed both for energy and as a weapon. In Verdu's words it is both "a gift and a curse — a resource and a plague".
Tiberium is extraterrestrial in origin and was introduced to the world through a meteorite impact near the Tiber river in Italy, in the year 1995. Exposure of human beings to Tiberium, which can be through touch or inhalation, either results in death or extreme mutation, the mechanism (or purpose) for the latter not being revealed in the game. Part of the game storyline comprises scientific speculation that an alien species is using Tiberium to terraform Earth to its own requirements. This speculation is borne out in Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, when the alien force known as the Scrin arrive at Earth to mass-harvest Tiberium (which they name Ichor).
This effect on both humans and materials has consequences for harvesting. Unprotected infantry passing through a Tiberium deposit are at risk, both from direct exposure to Tiberium itself and thus conversion into Tiberium and from secondary radiation burns and radiation poisoning as others are contaminated and converted around them. Soldiers, tanks, and other vehicles in Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars thus have protective shielding against Tiberium. However, this shielding is imperfect, since it simply slows down the process of conversion, it being based upon the fact that some materials take longer for Tiberium to convert than others (there are other shields against Tiberium. "Sonic resonators", devices that emit sound at particular frequencies, stop the spread of Tiberium and are used to ensure that Tiberium deposits there are contained). Partial contamination of a human, which can occur within 20 seconds, requires immediate treatment in properly equipped medical facilities.
What happens if you're exposed to Tiberium? Nothing good. If you come into direct contact with Tiberium, the green matter will start to fuse with your skin within about 20 seconds. You'll feel an intense burning sensation, similar to touching a hot pan or spilling acid on your skin. A full blown infection will manifest if you aren't treated immediately. Your flesh will begin to take on a glassy-greenish appearance as it begins to crystallize; eventually your internal organs will shut down as Tiberium extends rigid crystalline runners throughout your body. If you breathe in the crystal, then it will become embedded in your lungs. You'll lose the ability to process oxygen as your lung tissue crystallizes. Eventually you'll start coughing up blood and will hemorrhage to death.— Mike Verdu, Living with Tiberium
Tiberium, is, in Verdu's words, a "simple" and an "elegant" piece of game design. It is a resource that drives both the overall storyline and the economy of actual gameplay. Its several properties, including the tradeoff


text:
DTC Troubleshooting: 4
|DTC 4:||A Short in the Outside Air Temperature Sensor Circuit|
|1.||Remove the outside air temperature sensor.|
|2.||Test the outside air temperature sensor.|
Is the resistance within the specifications shown on the graph?
YES - Go to 3.
NO - Replace the outside air temperature sensor.n
|3.||Disconnect climate control unit connector A (12P).|
|4.||Check for continuity between the No. 10 terminal of climate control unit connector A (12P) and body ground.|
Is there continuity?
YES - Repair short to body ground in the wire between the climate control unit and the outside air temperature sensor.n
NO - Substitute a known-good climate control unit, and recheck. If the symptom/indication goes away, replace the original climate control unit.n


text: A wave of business innovation is driving the productivity resurgence in the U.S. economy. In Wired for Innovation, Erik Brynjolfsson and Adam Saunders describe how information technology directly or indirectly created this productivity explosion, reversing decades of slow growth. They argue that the companies with the highest level of returns to their technology investment are doing more than just buying technology; they are inventing new forms of organizational capital to become digital organizations. These innovations include a cluster of organizational and business-process changes, including broader sharing of information, decentralized decision-making, linking pay and promotions to performance, pruning of non-core products and processes, and greater investments in training and education. Innovation continues through booms and busts. This book provides an essential guide for policy makers and economists who need to understand how information technology is transforming the economy and how it will create value in the coming decade.


ISLOCALNAME
Returns the k-th largest value in a given range in all worksheets in a workbook.
For example, you can use LARGE3D to return the highest, runner-up, or third-place score in a given range in the whole workbook. You just need to specify a range, and LARGE3D will go through the same range in all worksheets in the workbook and find out the answer for you.
LARGE3D is very similar to the LARGE function of Microsoft Excel. The main difference is that LARGE3D considers all worksheets, while the original LARGE function doesn't.
Syntax
LARGE3D(range_input, k, include_current)
range_input - is the range for which you want to determine the k-th largest value.
k - is the position (from the largest) in the array or cell range of data to return.
include_current - Optional. Boolean argument , either TRUE or FALSE. Decides whether the current worksheet is included in the function's consideration. TRUE means the current worksheet will be considered, and vice versa.
Remarks


text: Differences in the prevalence and abundance of helminth parasites amongst host populations may result from variations in resistance to infection, differences in habitat preferences, diet or social behaviour. The use of helminth parasites as 'ecological markers' for determining differences between morphological groups of wild-living cats in Scotland was investigated, in light of the debate over the definition of a wildcat. The prevalence and abundance of the tapeworm Taenia taeniaeformis did not differ significantly between cats designated as 'wild' and 'feral' types. The prevalence of both helminths was high (94% and 69%, respectively) and there was significant variation in worm abundance related to season and geographical area. Also, prevalence of infection with Toxocara cati was significantly higher in female cats. Cats which harboured large numbers of one worm species were also likely to harbour large numbers of the other. However, a possible relationship with cat condition was only found for T. taeniaeformis for which there was a significant negative correlation between an index of cat condition and worm abundance amongst 'wild type' cats, but not amongst 'feral type' cats. Variations in worm burdens could not be attributed to differences in the diet of the cats as there was no significant relationship between the presence of any individual prey type and either the presence or abundance of T. cati or T. taeniaeformis. There was a significant negative correlation between density and biomass of individual worms in infections of T. taeniaeformis, suggestive of a density-dependent constraint on tapeworm growth.


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H.N.C. Breusers, A.J. Raudkivi
Information and technical data concerning scouring/erosion caused by water fl in rivers and streams. More specifically, how certain structures exaggerate this natural process by restricting water flow, causing constriction and loc scour. Material presented is from both field studies and laboratories
Produced for the International Association for Hydraulic Research, this monograph covers fluctuating and mean hydrodynamic forces, hydrodynamic forces on high-head gates, and hydrodynamic forces on low-head gates i.e. only the forces induced by flow incident or past the structure.


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Listings in Habitat Conservation
The Word Forest Organisation is a registered charity that plants new forests in Kenya, builds schools in the impoverished communities that surround them & empowers the children & villagers to take care of the trees.
Lyme Regis, Dorset
Bankside Open Spaces Trust is a registered charity that was set up by a group of local people with an aim to improve the SE1 area, making it a greener, more beautiful place to live and work. People and communities are at the heart of what we do.
The Nature Conservancy
The mission of The Nature Conservancy is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. Our vision is a world where the diversity of life thrives, and people act to conserve nature for its own sake and its ability to fulfill our needs.
The world's leading cultivated plant conservation charity, bringing together the talents of botanists, horticulturalists and conservationists and the dedication of keen amateur and professional gardeners.
The Charles Darwin Foundation
The mission of the Charles Darwin Foundation & its Research Station is to provide knowledge & assistance through scientific research and complementary action to ensure the conservation of the environment and biodiversity in the Galapagos Archipelago.


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FREQUENCY AND DISTRIBUTION OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF CERVICAL LYMPHADENOPATHY IN PATIENTS IN D.I.KHAN DISTRICT, PAKISTAN.
Background: Cervical lymphadenopathy is a common medical problem. The objective of the study was to determine the frequency and distribution of different types of cervical lymphadenopathy in patients in D.I.Khan, KP, Pakistan.
Material and Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted at Department of ENT, Gomal Medical College, Dera Ismail Khan from April 2013 to March 2016. Sample size was 80, selected through consecutive sampling technique. Patients having enlarged lymph nodes of either sex and of any age of at least 2 months duration were included. Patients having generalized lymphadenopathy were excluded from the study. Gender and age groups were the demographic variables. The research variables were types of cervical lymphadenopathy (tuberculous lymphadenopathy/reactive hyperplasia/metastatic carcinoma/lymphpoma) and side of the neck involved (right/left). All variables being categorical, the frequencies and percentages were calculated. descriptive statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 10.
Results: Out of 80 patients, 42 were males and 38 females. Majority of the patients were in the first decade. Chronic granulomatous diseases especially the tuberculous cervical lymphadenopathy was the most frequent histological findings in 31 patients. Lymphoma was noted in 21, reactive hyperplasia in 18 and metastatic malignancy in 10 cases. Lymph nodes involvement on the right side was more common 36 than on the left side 32.
Conclusion: Unilateral tuberculous cervical lymphadenopathy was most common found especially in young males.
KEY WORDS: Cervical lymphadenopathy; Tuberculosis; FNAC; Lymphoma.
Cervical lymphadenopathy is usually defined as cervical lymph node measuring more than 1cm in diameter. Lymphadenopathy can involve any site of the body and present at different age groups. Different diseases like tuberculosis, sarcoidosis, lymphoma, bacterial and viral infections and metastatic foci of malignant tumours in the head, neck, throat and face may present with enlarged cervical lymph nodes.1,2
Tuberculosis commonly presents with lymphadenitis in the neck as extrapulmonary manifestation.3,4 Recomended standardized protocols for diagnosis of lymphoma include an access to all patients with cervical lymphadenopathy in a weekly neck lump clinic.5 FNAC of cervical lymph nodes carries a high diagnostic accuracy especially in malignancy.6
Cervical lymphadenopathy is a common medical problem faced by all clinicians.1,7 Cervical lymphadenopathy can involve any site of the body and presents in different age groups.8
The objective of the study was to determine the frequency and distribution of different types of cervical lymphadenopathy in patients in D.I.Khan, KP, Pakistan.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
This cross sectional study was conducted at Department of ENT, Gomal Medical College, Dera Ismail Khan from April 2013 to March 2016. Mufti Mehmood Teaching Hospital and District Head Quarter Teaching Hospital were the data collecting sites. Sample size was 80, selected through consecutive sampling technique. Patients having enlarged lymph nodes of either sex and of any age of at least 2 months duration were included. Patients having generalized lymphadenopathy were excluded from the study. Informed consent was taken. Clinical presentation and history of contact with tuberculosis, duration of illness and other relevant information were obtained on a structured proforma. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), total leukocyte count (TLC), chest x-ray, ultrasound of the neck and FNAC of the lymph nodes were performed in all subjects. Specific investigations like pus for AFB/culture and excisional/incisional biopsy of lymph node were employed in patients in whom FNAC was inconclusive.
All specimens were sent to Shifa International Laboratory for histopathology. The histological diagnosis was undertaken on morphological grounds. The diagnostic criterion for tuberculosis was the presence of caseating epitheloid cell granulomas in biopsy specimen.
Gender and age groups (1-10/11-20/21-30/31-40/41-50/51-60/61-70 years) were the demographic variables. The research variables were types of cervical lymphadenopathy (tuberculous lymphadenopathy/reactive hyperplasia/metastatic carcinoma/lymphpoma) and side of the neck involved (right/left). All variables being categorical, the frequencies and percentages were calculated. descriptive statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 10.
Out of 80 patients, 42 (52.5%) were males and 38 (47.5%) females. Age group-wise distribution of the patients is as follows. Table 1
Table 1: Gender and age group-wise distribution of patients with cervical lymphadenopathy in D.I.Khan, KP, Pakistan (n=80).
Variables###Frequency and percentage
01-10 Years###23 (28.75%)
11-20 Years###21 (26.50%)
21-30 Years###13 (16.25%)
31-40 Years###09 (11.25%)
41-50 Years###03 (03.75%)
51-60 Years###10 (12.50%)
61-70 Years###01 (01.25%)
The tuberculous cervical lymphadenopathy was in 31 (38.75%) patients. Reactive hyperplasia was noted in 21 (26.25%), metastatic carcinoma in 18 (22.5%) and lymphoma in 10 (12.5%) cases. Table 2
Table 2: Distribution of cervical lymphadenopathy in patients in D.I.Khan, KP, Pakistan (n=80).
S. No###Type of Lymphadenopathy###Count and %age
1###Tuberculous cervical###31 (38.75%)
2###Reactive hyperplasia###21 (26.25%)
3###metastatic carcinoma###18 (22.50%)
Lymph nodes involvement on the right side was more common 36 (45%) than on the left side 32 (40%).
In the present study, minimum age was 1 year and maximum 70 years. Almost similar results were also reported in a study conducted locally in which age range of the patients was10 - 70 years.9 Majority of the patients were in the first decade of their life.
But another study has reported a higher incidence in second decade of life.10 But on the other side, in another study the age group mostly involved was 21-40 years which is contrary to our results.11
In the present study males 42 (52.5%) were more commonly affected than females 38 (47.5%). The results of the present study are in accordance with previous work already reported in the literature.12-14 Similarly local study by Siddiqui FG has reported male predominance with 52.9% male and 47.1% female cases.14 But other studies have reported female preponderance contrary to our findings.11,14
In this study besides tuberculous cervical lymphadenopathy being the most common (38.75%) pathological cause, reactive hyperplasia was found in 26% cases, metastasis to cervical lymph nodes in 22.5%, and lymphoma in 12.5% cases. Almost similar results are reported in a study conducted in Kathmandu, in which causes of cervical lymphadenopathy were tuberculous lymphadenitis (54%), reactive hyperplasia (33%) and metastatic lesion in lymph nodes (11.1%).15 Our reports are in tandem with another local study in which out of total 220 patients with enlarged neck lymph nodes, tuberculous lymphadenitis was the most common occurrence (70.45%).16,17 All of the tuberculous patients studied by Chaudry N, 58% presented with cervical adenitis.17
Tuberculosis had been the major cause of lymphadenopathy as evident by another study, showing an incidence of 36% but overall incidence was less as compared to the present study. This disproportion might have been due to differences in local referral pattern and patient selection.18 In Pakistan, tuberculosis as a cause of cervical lymphadenopathy is up to 75%.19 But tuberculosis has become a rare occurrence in western countries due to better awareness about the disease, higher standared of life and better medical care.20
The present study has certain limitations as it was conducted in a small study group. A large sized, prospective, randomized and various centers of the city should be included to study the various causes of cervical lymphadenopathy.
Unilateral tuberculous cervical lymphadenopathy was most common found especially in young males.
1. Gospodarowicz MZ, Soug JY, Cheong HJ.


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A consistent direct-iterative inverse design method for the Euler equations
Brock, Jerry S.
MetadataShow full item record
A new, consistent direct-iterative method is proposed for the solution of the aerodynamic inverse design problem. Direct-iterative methods couple analysis and shape modification methods to iteratively determine the geometry required to support a target surface pressure. The proposed method includes a consistent shape modification method wherein the identical governing equations are used in both portions of the design procedure. The new shape modification method is simple, having been developed from a truncated, quasi-analytical Taylor's series expansion of the global governing equations. This method includes a unique solution algorithm and a design tangency boundary condition which directly relates the target pressure to shape modification. The new design method was evaluated with an upwind, cell-centered finite-volume formulation of the two-dimensional Euler equations. Controlled inverse design tests were conducted with a symmetric channel where the initial and target geometries were known. The geometric design variable was a channel-wall ramp angle, 0, which is nominally five degrees. Target geometries were defined with ramp angle perturbations of J10 = 2 %, 10%, and 20 %. The new design method was demonstrated to accurately predict the target geometries for subsonic, transonic, and supersonic test cases; M=0.30, 0.85, and 2.00. The supersonic test case efficiently solved the design tests and required very few iterations. A stable and convergent solution process was also demonstrated for the lower speed test cases using an under-relaxed geometry update procedure. The development and demonstration of the consistent direct-iterative method herein represent the important first steps required for a new research area for the advancement of aerodynamic inverse design methods.
- Doctoral Dissertations


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Mars City Foundation has introduced the Power Lab for this year, 2017, to help the Mars generation develop the skills and build the tools and technology necessary for this important time and mission.
Starting August 1st, the Power Lab is a two week long "science retreat" where students will have the opportunity to explore ideas in a workshop with experts from NASA and with other technical organizations giving cross-disciplinary expertise for PowerLab attendees to begin tangibly building the technology and tools to build mankind's future life on Mars.
RRS vice president, Frank Miuccio presented on the third day of the workshop at the University of Southern California (USC) with a presentation on the "Past, Present and Future of the RRS". The RRS was glad to share some of our history and present endeavors and aspirations for our society.
Frank also showed the video of George Garboden's altitude record setting amateur rocket launch back in November 23, 1996 at Black Rock, Nevada.
Frank closed the presentation with an update on the SuperDosa project to reclaim the amateur altitude record for the RRS. The students had many questions and was interested in the many things that the RRS was doing.
The RRS is glad to continue our support of the Mars City Foundation and we hope to be present for other Mars City events in the future. The RRS thanks Vera Mulyani for inviting the society to be a part of the PowerLab event.
For any questions regarding the RRS, please contact Frank Miuccio:
For questions regarding Mars City PowerLab, visit the Mars City Foundation website:
Mars City Foundation


Jaro–Winkler distance
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In computer science and statistics, the Jaro–Winkler distance is a string metric measuring an edit distance between two sequences. It is a variant proposed in 1990 by William E. Winkler of the Jaro distance metric (1989, Matthew A. Jaro).
The Jaro–Winkler distance uses a prefix scale which gives more favourable ratings to strings that match from the beginning for a set prefix length .
The lower the Jaro–Winkler distance for two strings is, the more similar the strings are. The score is normalized such that 0 equates to no similarity and 1 is an exact match. The Jaro–Winkler similarity is the inversion, (1 − Jaro–Winkler distance).
Although often referred to as a distance metric, the Jaro–Winkler distance is not a metric in the mathematical sense of that term because it does not obey the triangle inequality.
Definition[edit]
Jaro Similarity[edit]
The Jaro Similarity of two given strings and is
Where:
 - is the length of the string ;
 - is the number of matching characters (see below);
 - is half the number of transpositions (see below).
Two characters from and respectively, are considered matching only if they are the same and not farther than .
Each character of is compared with all its matching characters in . The number of matching (but different sequence order) characters divided by 2 defines the number of transpositions. For example, in comparing CRATE with TRACE, only 'R' 'A' 'E' are the matching characters, i.e. m=3. Although 'C', 'T' appear in both strings, they are farther than 1 (the result of ). Therefore, t=0 . In DwAyNE versus DuANE the matching letters are already in the same order D-A-N-E, so no transpositions are needed.
Jaro–Winkler Similarity[edit]
Jaro–Winkler similarity uses a prefix scale which gives more favorable ratings to strings that match from the beginning for a set prefix length . Given two strings and , their Jaro–Winkler similarity is:
where:
 - is the Jaro similarity for strings and
 - is the length of common prefix at the start of the string up to a maximum of four characters
 - is a constant scaling factor for how much the score is adjusted upwards for having common prefixes. should not exceed 0.25, otherwise the similarity could become larger than 1. The standard value for this constant in Winkler's work is
The Jaro-Winkler distance is defined as .
Although often referred to as a distance metric, the Jaro–Winkler distance is not a metric in the mathematical sense of that term because it does not obey the triangle inequality.[1] The Jaro–Winkler distance also does not satisfy the identity axiom .
Relationship with other edit distance metrics[edit]
There are other popular measures of edit distance, which are calculated using a different set of allowable edit operations. For instance,
Edit distance is usually defined as a parameterizable metric calculated with a specific set of allowed edit operations, and each operation is assigned a cost (possibly infinite). This is further generalized by DNA sequence alignment algorithms such as the Smith–Waterman algorithm, which make an operation's cost depend on where it is applied.
See also[edit]
Footnotes[edit]
 1. ^ "Jaro-Winkler « Inviting Epiphany". RichardMinerich.com. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
References[edit]
External links[edit]


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This report summarizes basic and essential information on terrestrial vertebrates in British Columbia and is intended for wildlife managers and other workers in resource management. Whereas most wildlife information is organized by species or species group, this report is organized by geographic area. The distribution and abundance of the 560 terrestrial vertebrate, marine mammal, and marine reptile species in British Columbia are summarized. The same treatment is given those subspecies and populations considered at risk. Distribution is described using the biogeoclimatic ecosystem classification with some refinements using the ecoregional classification system.
The province's 94 biogeoclimatic subzones are grouped into 49 subzone groups for wildlife. Seasonal abundance of each wildlife species is noted in the appropriate subzone group, yielding a complete species list for each subzone group by season. The 151 species, subspecies, and populations at risk plus selected species not at risk are correlated with 33 broad habitats within each biogeoclimatic zone. This indicates the broad habitats that species at risk may depend on and where special habitat protection measures may be needed.
Some data analysis is given and graphic comparisons of wildlife use by zone and habitat use within zones are shown. Not surprisingly, the richest zone (451 species) is the Coastal Western Hemlock. This high figure reflects the wide range of habitats represented in this zone. Alpine Tundra is the most depauperate zone with 125 species.
Keywords: Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals.
Download Working Paper 04 PDF file (4873 KB)
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Adobe Acrobat Reader, available free from the
Adobe Web Site.
Updated October 15, 2009


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Traditional Chinese Funeral Arrangements
On the passing away of the father, the eldest son becomes the head of the family. If the eldest son passes away, his second brother does not assume leadership of the family. Leadership passes to the eldest son of the eldest son or the grandson of the father. He must assume the responsibilities and duties to the ancestors on behalf of the family.
Form of the Funeral Ceremony
There are two main traditions that are observed:
1. The funeral ceremony, which traditionally lasts over 49 days, the first seven days being the most important. Prayers are said every seven days for 49 days if the family can afford it. If the family is in poor circumstances, the period may be shortened to from 3 to 7 days. Usually, it is the responsibility of the daughters to bear the funeral expenses. The head of the family should be present for, at least the first and, possibly the second, prayer ceremony. The number of ceremonies conducted is dependent on the financial situation of the family. The head of the family should also be present for the burial or the cremation.
2. In the second tradition, the prayer ceremony is held every 10 days. The initial ceremony and three succeeding periods of ten days until the final burial or cremation.
After 100 days a final prayer ceremony is conducted, but such a ceremony is optional and not as important as the initial ceremonies.
In the Mahayana tradition of Buddhism, to which most Chinese Buddhists subscribe, it is believed that between death and rebirth there is an intermediate period – called Antarabhava in Sanskrit, or the Bardo in Tibetan. It is an important period which has an influence on the form that the rebirth shall take. If the family ensures that proper assistance in the form of prayer and remembrance ceremonies are duly performed, the departed is better able to take a favourable rebirth.


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Kids exploring parks
Natural places, such as parks, are a source of health and wellbeing for adults and children.
Time in nature has been associated with positive impacts on mental health, stress reduction, obesity, creativity, imagination, and connection to ourselves and the world around us.
Being outdoors gives children the chance to explore, to engage in imaginative play, and to learn about their surroundings, which you just can't get in front of a screen.
Kangaroo Island parks provides a wonderful space for children to explore and play.
Learning about these natural environments can help us understand, appreciate, and protect them. The kids exploring parks packs are a great way to get out into nature and be inspired by all the things you will discover!
Flinders Chase National Park Kids Pack


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West Greenwich, Rhode Island
Kent county. This town was taken from East Greenwich in 1741, by which it is bounded on the east. It lies 18 miles S.W. from Providence. Population, 1830, 1,818. This town possesses a primitive geological character, and its surface presents a diversity of hills and valleys. Hopkin's Hill affords an agreeable view of the surrounding country. The waters of the town consist of the south branch of the Pawtuxet, which rises here; and of the upper branches of Wood river, which pass through it. There are some manufactures in the town, but the people are generally engaged in agricultural pursuits.


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The French village of Dijon, nestled in the Bourgogne region of France, is not only famous for its mustard, but it's a fantastic and large medieval city, filled with buildings dating back many centuries.
But it's also the source of a real mystery for me. If you walk around this huge town and admire the architecture, you'll find that it is almost exclusively buildings made of stone. But from time to time you'll see something like this:
Which are wood "half-timbered" or Fachwerk houses.
Although these types of buildings are the de facto standard in Eastern France, Germany, and Northern Switzerland – why are are few of them here? And why are they interspersed so spartanly in what are otherwise stone buildings?
It's one of the many mysteries on my list that I hope to clarify someday!


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TALK: Curlew Recovery Programme
@ Great North Museum – HancockBook Now
03 February 2017
Free for Natural History Society of Northumbria members. Suggested donation £3 for non-members. Drop in
The Curlew is an iconic species of our uplands and coastal estuaries. Its familiar 'curloo-curloo' call has inspired music, poetry and literature for hundreds of years.
Unfortunately, the Curlew has declined dramatically since the mid-1990s and is in urgent need of conservation. As the UK is the third most important country in the world for the breeding population we have a global responsibility to take action.
In this talk we will learn about the Curlew and the Programme, which aims to better understand the land management practices required to reverse Curlew population declines and to adopt a no regrets approach to Curlew recovery across the RSPB.
Sarah is the Curlew Recovery Programme Manager for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, based from their Newcastle office.
Great North Museum - Hancock
Newcastle upon Tyne


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Last October, a study in Pediatrics, "Water-Absorbing Balls: A "Growing"Problem," reported on a case in which an 8-month-old infant required surgery after swallowing a superabsorbent polymer ball - a rapidly expanding, water-absorbing ball (Water Balz) that can grow up to 400 times their original size. The study highlighted the dangers of this toy, which may appear 'candy-like to young children.' They found that the growing balls can easily grow larger than the small intestine in just six hours, blocking the intestine and quickly leading to a life-threatening medical emergency.
We soon became aware that in addition to Water Balz, these superabsorbent polymer balls could also be found in other toys (Spider Balls), gardening equipment (Crystal Soil Water Beads), and some crafting/household products (Water Pearls). Magic Growing Jelly Balls were even advertised as a 'great party favor.'
This week we have learned of some new recalls of toys that contain these same types of polymer balls, including:
- Monster Science Growing Spider toy sets with marble-sized polymer ball "spider eggs," which were sold at Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores, Spirit Halloween and Target.
- Cosmo Beads Jumbo Size Colorful Water Balls and Jumbo Multipurpose Colorful Water Balls
If you have these toys, take them away from your kids and contact the manufacturer for a refund.
Remember that kids can easily mistake these balls and beads for candy, and that according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, "When the bead is ingested, it expands and can cause intestinal obstructions inside a child's body, resulting in severe discomfort, vomiting, dehydration and could be life threatening. The toys need surgery to be removed from the body."


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In this simulation activity, students decide which of two companies, each using a different CRISPR genome-editing technology, to invest in. They engage with research on CRISPR genome editing to understand how unintended consequences of one technology used for this editing had real-world business implications. The storytelling element adds immediacy to the activity, making it imaginative and engaging, and students are pushed toward achieving higher levels of competence within Bloom's taxonomy for the subject area.... Read more about Simulated Investment in Genome Editing Technology
Faculty develop a national security crisis and simulate placing the students on the National Security Council Staff to develop strategic options to drive U.S. foreign policy. By thrusting students into positions of responsibility for solutions to real-world issues, this activity requires students to draw on what they have learned and to think on their feet, and it fosters a deeper appreciation for the challenges associated with working on foreign policy.