text:
Betsy's Plesiosaur, Nichollsia borealis
Nichollsia borealis, one of the oldest and most complete plesiosaur fossils recovered in North America, and the oldest yet discovered from the Cretaceous Period, was uncovered in a Syncrude Canada Ltd. mine near Fort McMurray, Alberta, in 1994.
Two U of Calgary scientists, Dr. Patrick Druckenmiller and Dr. Anthony Russell have named the 2.6m long plesiosaur Nichollsia borealis in memory of the late Elizabeth (Betsy) Nicholls, former curator at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. Nicholls was a renowned palaeontologist who is credited with transforming the understanding of prehistoric ocean life by describing the largest-ever marine reptile, a 23-metre-long ichthyosaur, discovered in northern British Columbia in 1999.
Elizabeth (Betsy) Nicholls conducting field work in northeastern B.C. Photo:Rolex Awards/Tomas Bertelsen.
"We chose this name because Betsy was a key player in the study of marine reptiles, a mentor to me, a former student of Tony, and a great person," said Druckenmiller, who is now Curator of Earth Sciences at the University of Alaska Museum of the North in Fairbanks, Alaska. "We felt it was a fitting way to honour both her memory and her accomplishments in palaeontology."
The fossil was discovered by machine operators Greg Fisher and Lorne Cundal in 1994 during routine mining operations at Syncrude's Base Mine, about 35 kilometres north of Fort McMurray near the Athabasca River. Amazingly, the specimen was serendipitously exposed by one of Syncrude's 100-ton electric shovels approximately 60 metres below ground surface. It is complete except for its left forelimb and shoulder blade.
Nichollsia is also very significant because it fills a 40-million-year gap in the plesiosaur fossil record and greatly increases the understanding of the ancient seaway that once split North America in two and whose shores abounded with dinosaurs.
"This individual was a pioneer in the marine waters that would eventually become the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway, which ran the length of North America during much of the Cretaceous and was home to one of the world's most diverse communities of marine reptiles," Druckenmiller said. "It represents the oldest known forerunner of this amazing period in North American prehistory."
Nichollsia borealis is currently on display in the Discoveries Gallery at the Royal Tyrrell Museum. The paper is published in Palaeontographica Abteilung A, but I can't find a doi for it.


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Benefits to Governments
Smart Career Development Program (SCDP) is a world-class, large-scale(Mass), comprehensive, customizable, cost-effective education programs (IT and non-IT). It builds the workforce skills with the aim of developing their careers. The program is always directed towards jobs required in the labor market.
No, SCDP aims to leverage the talent pool in the country by providing customized training programs that are suitable in training duration and topics to cover:
1. Computer Literacy:
8 - 12 weeks training curricula
Mostly targeting under graduates and government employees
2. Professional Training:
4 - 6 months training curricula
Mostly targeting university graduates
3. Vocational/User Training:
3 - 4 month training curricula with Hands-On workshops.
Mostly targeting students who didn't attain High School or university certificate.
Medrar has various capabilities and modes of delivery of SCDP training programs to suit each client:
Contact our PROGRAM MANAGER

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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Fostering an ecological worldview: What's love go to do with it?
Despite the growth of interest in nature based leisure pursuits, including ecotourism, there is little understanding of the environmental orientation of those who are more interested in nature based leisure experiences when compared with those who are not. This research sought to gain deeper insights into the psychological profile of the person who prefers nature based leisure activities, such as ecotourism, over other types of leisure activities by extending existing models of pro-environmental altruism (conceptualised as an ecological worldview) and incorporating a new and explicitly emotional construct of love and care for nature. This construct, variously termed 'biophilia' or a 'land ethic', has not been previously measured in spite of its apparent importance in the development of an environmental ethic. In order to achieve the aims of this research a psychometrically sound scale that measured the construct of love and caring for nature was developed. The development process, involving 568 respondents, led to a final scale that exhibited good psychometric properties, including high reliability and good content, criterion-related, and construct validity. The findings of this research show that an ecological worldview, comprising deep love for nature and pro-environmental biospheric values, does significantly influence people's pro-environmental interests, attitudes, and choices, including preferences for nature based leisure experiences. More specifically, love and caring for nature was the most important influence (more than values or beliefs) on pro-environmental choices and behaviours, which were indicative of a stronger environmental ethic. Such behaviours and choices involved more effort and commitment on the part of the individual, including willingness to make personal sacrifices to protect the environment. The new 15-item measure of the construct of love for nature, the Love and Care for Nature (LCN) scale (Perkins, 2010), is easily administered and has potential application across a wide variety of contexts for predicting a pro-environmental orientation and pro-environmental behaviour, as well as interest in nature based leisure experiences.
Leisure, Living, Learning: Education in Sport, Tourism and the Outdoors
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences


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The FAA recently published a Final Rule amending the Code of Federal Regulations to conform certain regulations with recent legislation raising the upper age limit for pilots serving in domestic, flag, and supplemental operations from 60 to 65 (49 U.S.C. Section 44729). Although the legislation became effective December 13, 2007, the Final Rule's amendments became effective July 15, 2009.
Not only does the Final Rule specifically implement the legislation, it also goes beyond that legislation to maintain consistency throughout the remaining aviation regulations. The FAA believes Congress clearly intended the legislation to implement the ICAO age requirements for pilots operating internationally, to allow them to conduct commercial air transportation operations under certain conditions until the age of 65. As a result, additional implementation includes amendments to FAR Sections 121.411 and 121.412 to raise the age limit from age 60 to age 65 to allow check airmen and flight instructors to serve as pilot flight crewmembers until they reach the age of 65 and amendments to the applicable provisions of FAR Part 61 to reflect the new upper age limit and to allow a person over the age of 60 to serve as a pilot in command in covered operations between the United States and another country, and in operations between other countries, if there is another pilot in the flight deck crew under the age of 60.
If you would like further information regarding the Final Rule, you may contact the following: For technical questions concerning this rule contact Lawrence Youngblut, Air Transportation Division, AFS-200, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20591; telephone _PHONE_, e-mail _EMAIL_. For legal questions concerning this rule contact Angela Washington, Office of the Chief Counsel, AGC-210, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20591; telephone _PHONE_; e-mail _EMAIL_.

source: m-a-p/FineFineWeb


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|Oracle Solaris Cluster System Administration Guide Oracle Solaris Cluster 3.3 3/13|
This appendix provides an alternative to host-based replication that does not use Oracle Solaris Cluster Cluster Geographic Edition. Use Oracle Solaris Cluster Geographic Edition for host-based replication to simplify the configuration and operation of host-based replication between clusters. See Understanding Data Replication.
The example in this appendix shows how to configure host-based data replication between clusters using Sun StorageTek Availability Suite 4.0 software. The example illustrates a complete cluster configuration for an NFS application that provides detailed information about how individual tasks can be performed. All tasks should be performed in the global-cluster voting node. The example does not include all of the steps that are required by other applications or other cluster configurations.
If you use role-based access control (RBAC) instead of superuser to access the cluster nodes, ensure that you can assume an RBAC role that provides authorization for all Oracle Solaris Cluster commands. This series of data replication procedures requires the following Oracle Solaris Cluster RBAC authorizations if the user is not superuser:
See the System Administration Guide: Security Services for more information about using RBAC roles. See the Oracle Solaris Cluster man pages for the RBAC authorization that each Oracle Solaris Cluster subcommand requires.
Disaster tolerance is the ability to restore an application on an alternate cluster when the primary cluster fails. Disaster tolerance is based on data replication and takeover. A takeover relocates an application service to a secondary cluster by bringing online one or more resource groups and device groups.
If data is replicated synchronously between the primary and secondary cluster, then no committed data is lost when the primary site fails. However, if data is replicated asynchronously, then some data may not have been replicated to the secondary cluster before the primary site failed, and thus is lost.
This section describes the remote mirror replication method and the point-in-time snapshot method used by Availability Suite software. This software uses the sndradm(1RPC) and iiadm(1II) commands to replicate data. For more information about these commands, see the Availability Suite documentation.
Figure A-1 shows remote mirror replication. Data from the master volume of the primary disk is replicated to the master volume of the secondary disk through a TCP/IP connection. A remote mirror bitmap tracks differences between the master volume on the primary disk and the master volume on the secondary disk.
Figure A-1 Remote Mirror Replication
Remote mirror replication can be performed synchronously in real time, or asynchronously. Each volume set in each cluster can be configured individually, for synchronous replication or asynchronous replication.
In asynchronous data replication, a write operation is confirmed as complete before the remote volume is updated. Asynchronous data replication provides greater flexibility over long distances and low bandwidth.
Figure A-2 shows point-in-time snapshot. Data from the master volume of each disk is copied to the shadow volume on the same disk. The point-in-time bitmap tracks differences between the master volume and the shadow volume. When data is copied to the shadow volume, the point-in-time bitmap is reset.
Figure A-2 Point-in-Time Snapshot
Figure A-3 illustrates how remote mirror replication and point-in-time snapshot are used in this example configuration.
Figure A-3 Replication in the Example Configuration
This section provides guidelines for configuring data replication between clusters. This section also contains tips for configuring replication resource groups and application resource groups. Use these guidelines when you are configuring data replication for your cluster.
This section discusses the following topics:
Replication resource groups collocate the device group under Availability Suite software control with the logical hostname resource. A replication resource group must have the following characteristics:
Be a failover resource group
A failover resource can run on only one node at a time. When a failover occurs, failover resources take part in the failover.
The logical hostname must be hosted by the primary cluster. After a failover, the logical hostname must be hosted by the secondary cluster. The Domain Name System (DNS) is used to associate the logical hostname with a cluster.
Have an HAStoragePlus resource
The HAStoragePlus resource enforces the failover of the device group when the replication resource group is switched over or failed over. Oracle Solaris Cluster software also enforces the failover of the replication resource group when the device group is switched over. In this way, the replication resource group and the device group are always colocated, or mastered by the same node.
The following extension properties must be defined in the HAStoragePlus resource:
AffinityOn property = True. This extension property causes the device group to switch over or fail over when the replication resource group switches over or fails over. This feature is called an affinity switchover.
ZPoolsSearchDir. This extension property is required for using ZFS file system.
For more information about HAStoragePlus, see the SUNW.HAStoragePlus(5) man page.
For example, devgrp-stor-rg.
Be online on both the primary cluster and the secondary cluster
To be highly available, an application must be managed as a resource in an application resource group. An application resource group can be configured for a failover application or a scalable application.
Application resources and application resource groups configured on the primary cluster must also be configured on the secondary cluster. Also, the data accessed by the application resource must be replicated to the secondary cluster.
This section provides guidelines for configuring the following application resource groups:
In a failover application, an application runs on one node at a time. If that node fails, the application fails over to another node in the same cluster. A resource group for a failover application must have the following characteristics:
Have an HAStoragePlus resource to enforce the failover of the file system or zpool when the application resource group is switched over or failed over.
The device group is colocated with the replication resource group and the application resource group. Therefore, the failover of the application resource group enforces the failover of the device group and replication resource group. The application resource group, the replication resource group, and the device group are mastered by the same node.
Note, however, that a failover of the device group or the replication resource group does not cause a failover of the application resource group.
If the application data is globally mounted, the presence of an HAStoragePlus resource in the application resource group is not required but is advised.
If the application data is mounted locally, the presence of an HAStoragePlus resource in the application resource group is required.
For more information about HAStoragePlus, see the SUNW.HAStoragePlus(5) man page.
Must be online on the primary cluster and offline on the secondary cluster.
The application resource group must be brought online on the secondary cluster when the secondary cluster takes over as the primary cluster.
Figure A-4 illustrates the configuration of an application resource group and a replication resource group in a failover application.
Figure A-4 Configuration of Resource Groups in a Failover Application
In a scalable application, an application runs on several nodes to create a single, logical service. If a node that is running a scalable application fails, failover does not occur. The application continues to run on the other nodes.
When a scalable application is managed as a resource in an application resource group, it is not necessary to collocate the application resource group with the device group. Therefore, it is not necessary to create an HAStoragePlus resource for the application resource group.
A resource group for a scalable application must have the following characteristics:
The nodes that are running the scalable application use the shared address to distribute incoming data.
Be online on the primary cluster and offline on the secondary cluster
Figure A-5 illustrates the configuration of resource groups in a scalable application.
Figure A-5 Configuration of Resource Groups in a Scalable Application
Clients use DNS to map an application's logical hostname to an IP address. After a takeover, where the application is moved to a secondary cluster, the DNS information must be updated to reflect the mapping between the application's logical hostname and the new IP address. Figure A-6 shows how the DNS maps a client to a cluster.
Figure A-6 DNS Mapping of a Client to a Cluster
Synchronize the primary cluster with the secondary cluster to ensure that the primary volume is up-to-date. You can achieve this by stopping the resource group on the secondary node, so that the replication data stream can drain.
Reverse the direction of data replication so that the original primary is now, once again, replicating data to the original secondary
Start the resource group on the primary cluster.
Update the DNS so that clients can access the application on the primary cluster.
Table A-1 lists the tasks in this example of how data replication was configured for an NFS application by using Availability Suite software.
Table A-1 Task Map: Example of a Data Replication Configuration
Figure A-7 illustrates the cluster configuration the example configuration uses. The secondary cluster in the example configuration contains one node, but other cluster configurations can be used.
Figure A-7 Example Cluster Configuration
Table A-2 summarizes the hardware and software that the example configuration requires. The Oracle Solaris OS, Oracle Solaris Cluster software, and volume manager software must be installed on the cluster nodes before Availability Suite software and patches are installed.
Table A-2 Required Hardware and Software
This section describes how device groups and resource groups are configured for an NFS application. For additional information, see Configuring Replication Resource Groups and Configuring Application Resource Groups.
This section contains the following procedures:
The following table lists the names of the groups and resources that are created for the example configuration.
Table A-3 Summary of the Groups and Resources in the Example Configuration
With the exception of devgrp-stor-rg, the names of the groups and resources are example


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Becoming a Prosperous Teacher, Part I
By Jelaila Starr
written October 4, 2000
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This article is written based on my own understanding and struggle with the core beliefs and fears that block our ability to manifest money. As a teacher myself I know that we must be able to manifest money in order to do our work and fulfill our missions. Those who are not teachers of ascension or First Wave Teachers as I call them, may also affected by these fears and beliefs.
I, like many of you, have intimate knowledge of these fears, having danced with each as my partner for many years and many lifetimes. I feel that by using my personal experiences as example and sharing the solutions that I have discovered, I can assist in helping you to identify those that still block you.
To understand how we incurred these beliefs and fears, at least in this lifetime, we will also need to examine some of the major systems of earth and the beliefs with which we have been indoctrinated. This examination is not done with malice but objectively, knowing that everything, even the most imbalanced systems, has value in our spiritual growth as human beings.
On any given day I receive at least one email from a frustrated, upset teacher asking for assistance in finding out why this financial deprivation has happened to them. They arrive in my email filled with the energy of pain, fear and sometimes hopelessness. As I read each one, my heart aches for them. I can easily empathize with their plight. I too have experienced times when I reached the end of my rope, out of money, energy spent and full of anger and bitter tears, railing at my guides and God asking, "Why, why has this happened to me? Haven't I done everything you asked of me? Haven't I jumped faithfully into every void, spent my savings, given my heart and soul to helping others? Why have you let me down?"
So what is causing this money issue among the First Wavers, those who came to teach and assist others through earth's ascension process? Why is it that so many teachers and would be teachers are finding themselves in a situation where they have no money to begin or continue their work? Could it be that the answer lies in the old 3D beliefs and fears about money. Is it possible that we are still buying into them but we are just not aware that we are doing it? I believe that to be the case and I intend through the remainder of this article to ferret them out, bring them to light, provide a way to identify them and give a solution to begin clearing each one.
So let's get started 'cause we've got a lot of digging to do.
Belief #1: If it's spiritual it should be free.
This belief has to be in my opinion the #1 stumbling block for spiritual teachers. To fully understand this belief we must look at it from both a 3D (earthly) perspective and the higher (spiritual) perspective.
Those of us who have been raised in organized religions have had this concept programmed into us since childhood. As a child growing up, the elders of my church told me that you couldn't put a price tag on God's word. Okay, I thought, that made sense to me, but why then, did they pass the offering plate around each Saturday (our church met on Saturdays)? Why are they doing that if God's word is free? As a child it made no sense to me.
Years later I finally understood this apparent dichotomy. I realized that the reason they passed the plate had nothing to do with God's word, but had everything to do with covering the costs they incurred in teaching God's word to the congregation. So while, in the eyes of the elders God's word is free, the church and its expenses are not. Someone has to pay for it. And while we're at it, someone has to pay the preacher for his work and the utilities to heat and cool the church.
I realized that churches don't get built on prayers and love alone, they need 3D money to build them. The elders can't pay the brick mason and the carpet layer with love and prayers. The brick mason can't take love and prayers to the grocery store and turn them into cash for food to feed his family. So if they can't do it, then how can you?
Your local churches, and every organized religion are spiritual based businesses and as such need money to keep them running. They offer a service and need to get paid for that service to keep providing that service week in and week out. Whether you are a teacher offering readings, a healer or have a center or school, your service is considered a spiritual based business. And because they are businesses you must find a way to financially support them just like any other business.
So why do so many of us still struggle with the feeling that if we charge for our spiritual work, we are bad or no longer spiritual? And why, as we look at the facts before us, do we feel it is okay for the churches to do it but not us? Why do we think that God or Spirit would expect us to provide a spiritual service without the earthly means to support it?
I believe the reason is that the powers that be here on earth want to keep us disempowered and under their control. I believe they know that the way for a man/woman to move out of the earthly systems, the earthly prison, is through a spiritual reconnection with the Soul/Higher Self and ascension. So, in order to prevent that from happening they created this belief and promoted it through the spiritual institutions. Knowing how strong our need to connect with source, with spirit is, they used it to shame us into obeying. Shame is a powerful emotion and will stop us dead in our tracks because it attacks our sense of self-worth.
When the religious institutions tell us that in order to be spiritual we should not charge for our services, and we believe them, they are able to render us powerless to fulfill our missions because we lack the financial resources to do it. I believe that our continued acceptance of this belief is what has led to the financial crippling of the metaphysical community.
Going further, if we were to attempt to move beyond this belief, we could be stopped because built into this belief is the emotion of guilt. In other words, if we do charge and someone who still believes in this belief, challenges us on this we will feel guilt. This has been my experience. And in that guilt I would feel as if I had stolen from God. Pretty powerful belief, huh?
But, as we have already seen, the church leaders don't believe this, now do they? So isn't it time we throw off the shackles of this belief by charging to cover the expenses and make a profit in our work, just like they do?
Now let's go to the final step and look at this belief from the higher perspective and when we do, we will see that Spirit does not support this, "If it is Spiritual it should be free" belief either.
In the universe we have a law called Cause/Effect or Giving/Receiving. In essence it means that for every cause there is an equal effect or when we give, we must receive. In other words, what goes around comes around.
We also have another law that states, "Everything is energy and all energy has value." So if every form of energy has a value, then it is subject to the law of Cause/Effect or Giving/Receiving. Then the only thing that wouldn't be subject to these two laws is nothing—a no-thing. So, if your spiritual service is a Something and not a No-thing then it is subject to the law of giving and receiving, therefore you must receive something in return for the spiritual service you give.
Now that we have looked at this belief from both the earthly and the higher perspectives, is there any reason to keep believing it? Can we take the steps to deal with the shame and guilt it creates in order to free ourselves from it? I believe that we can, and we must in order to do our work as teachers.
How can you tell if you are still operating from this belief?
 - You refuse to accept money for your services or only accept a love offering with no minimum stated.
 - You negatively judge those who do accept money for their services.
Is there a way to release this belief?
 1. Get in touch with the shame that keeps this belief active in your life. Taking a look at your family's beliefs around money and spirituality will help you identify it.
 2. Make an agreement with your Inner Child/Ego (I use these terms interchangeably because I believe they are the same) that you will not abandon him/her while you take the necessary actions to begin living out of a new belief that it is appropriate and necessary for you to charge money for your services. Let him/her know that when people come forward and project shame onto you because they still operate out of this belief, that you will not take that shame on


connecting the two origins is the axis of the new annular, cylindrical expansion image. In Fig. 7, the normal vector of the annular, cylindrical top plane π can be expressed as \( n=\left[{n}_x, n{}_y,{n}_z\right]=-\overline{T} \) in F u . F u is transformed to make the plane π perpendicular to the \( {Z}_{\mathrm{m}1}^{\prime } \) axis in the new coordinate system \( {F}_{\mathrm{u}}^{\prime } \) via a rotation transformation, which can be expressed as
$$ {\boldsymbol{x}}_{\mathrm{u}}^{\boldsymbol{\prime}}={\boldsymbol{R}}_{\mathrm{u}}{\boldsymbol{x}}_{\mathrm{u}} $$
(14)
where
$$ {\boldsymbol{R}}_{\mathrm{u}}=\left[\begin{array}{c}\hfill \overline{\left(\boldsymbol{m}\times \boldsymbol{n}\right)\times \boldsymbol{n}}\hfill \\ {}\hfill \overline{\left(\boldsymbol{m}\times \boldsymbol{n}\right)}\hfill \\ {}\hfill \boldsymbol{n}\hfill \end{array}\right]=\left[\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill \frac{n_x{n}_z}{\sqrt{1-{n}_z^2}}\hfill & \hfill \frac{n_y{n}_z}{\sqrt{1-{n}_z^2}}\hfill & \hfill -\sqrt{1-{n}_z^2}\hfill \\ {}\hfill \frac{-{n}_x}{\sqrt{1-{n}_z^2}}\hfill & \hfill \frac{-{n}_y}{\sqrt{1-{n}_z^2}}\hfill & \hfill 0\hfill \\ {}\hfill {n}_x\hfill & \hfill {n}_y\hfill & \hfill {n}_z\hfill \end{array}\right] $$
(15)
and m = [0, 0, 1]T. \( {F}_u^{\prime } \) is the expanded cylindrical coordinate system shown in Fig. 4, and x u is described by Eq. 8. Similarly, transforming the expanded cylindrical image in the coordinate system F d , where \( \boldsymbol{n}=-\boldsymbol{R}\overline{\boldsymbol{T}} \), the formula for R d can be described by Eq. 15.
In Eq. 15, the calculation of the rotation matrix R u does not rely on the real solution of the translation vector T; indeed, the rotation matrix R u can be calculated using the unit translation vector \( \overline{\boldsymbol{T}} \), which is directly decomposed by the essential matrix E. Using Eqs. 8 and 13–15 to calculate the point's 3D coordinates of the expanded cylindrical image in the mirror coordinate system, the unified sphere-imaging model's projection formula can be applied to facilitate the cylindrical expansion of the upper and lower panoramic stereo image pair to obtain the standard, cylindrical, stereo image pair. Then, the standard, vertical-baseline, omnidirectional, stereo-vision-positioning model in Fig. 6 is used to calculate the 3D coordinates of the spatial points according to Eq. 12.
Baseline length calculation
The 3D coordinates of one of the calibration board's corner points are X = [X, Y, Z]T, and the corresponding point coordinates in the cylindrical image are equal to m = [u, v]T. The corresponding point's incident light vector can be determined using Eq. 8, where x = [x, y, z]T; thus, the corresponding point's angle of incident light can be expressed as follows:
$$ \theta =2\pi u/ W,\alpha =\mathrm{arc} \tan \left(\frac{z}{\sqrt{x^2+{y}^2}}\right) $$
(16)
This angle's corresponding parallax value is assumed to be v′, and as a result, based on Eq. 12, the corner space coordinates can be expressed as
$$ \left\{\begin{array}{c}\hfill X= r \cos \theta \hfill \\ {}\hfill Y= r \sin \theta \hfill \\ {}\hfill Z= r \tan \alpha \hfill \end{array}\right.,\kern2em r= f\frac{d}{v^{\prime }}= f\frac{\lambda}{v^{\prime }} $$
(17)
The length between the two corner points of the calibration board is assumed to be equal to L; then, the coordinates in the omnidirectional coordinate system can be expressed as X 1 = [X 1, Y 1, Z 1]T and X 2 = [X 2, Y 2, Z 2]T, and the parallax values are \( {v}_1^{\prime } \) and \( {v}_2^{\prime } \), respectively. Thus, the following holds:
$$ \begin{array}{l} L=\sqrt{{\left({X}_1-{X}_2\right)}^2+{\left({Y}_1-{Y}_2\right)}^2+{\left({Z}_1-{Z}_2\right)}^2}=\\ {}\sqrt{{\left( f\frac{\lambda}{v_1^{\prime }} \cos {\theta}_1- f\frac{\lambda}{v_2^{\prime }} \cos {\theta}_2\right)}^2+{\left( f\frac{\lambda}{v_1^{\prime }} \sin {\theta}_1- f\frac{\lambda}{v_2^{\prime }} \sin {\theta}_2\right)}^2+{\left( f\frac{\lambda}{v_1^{\prime }} \tan {\alpha}_1- f\frac{\lambda}{v_2^{\prime }} \tan {\alpha}_2\right)}^2}=\\ {}\lambda \sqrt{{\left(\frac{f}{v_1^{\prime }} \cos {\theta}_1-\frac{f}{v_2^{\prime }} \cos {\theta}_2\right)}^2+{\left(\frac{f}{v_1^{\prime }} \sin {\theta}_1-\frac{f}{v_2^{\prime }} \sin {\theta}_2\right)}^2+{\left(\frac{f}{v_1^{\prime }} \tan {\alpha}_1-\frac{f}{v_2^{\prime }} \tan {\alpha}_2\right)}^2}\end{array} $$
where the proportional coefficient λ is described by
$$ \lambda = L/\sqrt{{\left(\frac{f}{v{\prime}_1} \cos {\theta}_1-\frac{f}{v{\prime}_2} \cos {\theta}_2\right)}^2+{\left(\frac{f}{v{\prime}_1} \sin {\theta}_1-\frac{f}{v{\prime}_2} \sin {\theta}_2\right)}^2+{\left(\frac{f}{v{\prime}_1} \tan {\alpha


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UMass Extension's Garden Calendar
A renewal of a long-standing annual tradition… a useful, stimulating, and educational monthly wall calendar from UMass Extension.
Our Extension Specialists have compiled the latest collection of uplifting images of garden and landscape plants well-suited for the Northeast. Each date features a timely, research-based tip such as when to fertilize, insect and disease alerts, or when to be especially tick-aware.
FEATURED ARTICLE: Achieving Success Installing Container Grown Plants
Purchasing plants for the landscape can be a considerable investment in both time and money. Selecting the right plant for the right place is the first step in making the most of this investment. This means selecting the best-suited plant material for your location according to light exposure, water availability, hardiness zone, soil conditions, and environmental exposure. The next step, and just as important to success, is following proper planting procedure.
Our 2024 calendar includes guidelines for preparing the planting hole, avoiding problems with circling roots, amending the soil before planting, and shares the results of a two-year UMass study looking at plant establishment success using different root preparation methods at planting.
About the Calendar
Each month of UMass Extension's Garden Calendar features:
- One large, inspiring garden image plus information about the image
- Daily gardening tips for Northeast growing conditions
- Daily sunrise and sunset times*
- Phases of the moon
- Plenty of room for notes
- Low gloss paper for easy writing
The UMass Garden calendar is a wall calendar. The dimensions of the calendar when open are 12.5" wide x 19" long.
* Sunrise and sunset times may differ from location to location within New England because of slight differences in latitude and longitude. Times used in this calendar are for Worcester, Mass. Moon phases, solstices, and equinoxes are in Eastern Standard Time.
Do you have a question on a home garden topic?
Proceeds from sales of our UMass Garden Calendar helps to support the ongoing work of horticultural Extension at the University of Massachusetts.


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Shahid Khandker is currently Lead Economist in the Agriculture and Rural Development Unit of the Development Research Group. He was formerly Lead Economist in the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Division of the World Bank Institute where he taught courses on poverty and impact evaluation. He has produced two well known handbooks in the current development literature during his tenure in WBI: Handbook on Poverty and Inequality, and Handbook on Impact Evaluation—Quantitative Methods and Practices. Over the past 20 years in the bank, he has worked extensively on research topics such as microfinance, rural finance, poverty, rural infrastructure, rural energy, and agriculture development. He has authored more than three dozen articles in peer-reviewed journals, and authored several books, including Fighting Poverty with Microcredit: Experience in Bangladesh, published by Oxford University Press. His current research projects include seasonality of income and poverty, evaluation of ultra-poor microfinance programs, long-term dynamics of microcredit programs, energy poverty, rural roads and electrification. His current research also includes analytical work on macro-micro linkages for assessing the distributional impacts of government interventions adopted during the past economic crisis to mitigate its adverse effects on growth and poverty.
- Does Institutional Finance Matter for Agriculture? Evidence Using Panel Data from Uganda
- Why energy poverty may differ from income poverty
- How Competition Affects the Performance of Microfinance Institutions in Bangladesh?
- Microcredit Borrowers in Bangladesh Are Not Necessarily Trapped in Poverty and Debt as many contended in recent years
- Seasonal Hunger: A Forgotten Reality
- Microcredit deserves support to benefit the poor
- Pathways to Development: What We Know and Don't Know


Async I/O
Asynchronous I/O for External Data Access #
This page explains the use of Flink's API for asynchronous I/O with external data stores. For users not familiar with asynchronous or event-driven programming, an article about Futures and event-driven programming may be useful preparation.
Note: Details about the design and implementation of the asynchronous I/O utility can be found in the proposal and design document FLIP-12: Asynchronous I/O Design and Implementation. Details about the new retry support can be found in document FLIP-232: Add Retry Support For Async I/O In DataStream API.
The need for Asynchronous I/O Operations #
When interacting with external systems (for example when enriching stream events with data stored in a database), one needs to take care that communication delay with the external system does not dominate the streaming application's total work.
Naively accessing data in the external database, for example in a MapFunction, typically means synchronous interaction: A request is sent to the database and the MapFunction waits until the response has been received. In many cases, this waiting makes up the vast majority of the function's time.
Asynchronous interaction with the database means that a single parallel function instance can handle many requests concurrently and receive the responses concurrently. That way, the waiting time can be overlaid with sending other requests and receiving responses. At the very least, the waiting time is amortized over multiple requests. This leads in most cased to much higher streaming throughput.
Note: Improving throughput by just scaling the MapFunction to a very high parallelism is in some cases possible as well, but usually comes at a very high resource cost: Having many more parallel MapFunction instances means more tasks, threads, Flink-internal network connections, network connections to the database, buffers, and general internal bookkeeping overhead.
Prerequisites #
As illustrated in the section above, implementing proper asynchronous I/O to a database (or key/value store) requires a client to that database that supports asynchronous requests. Many popular databases offer such a client.
In the absence of such a client, one can try and turn a synchronous client into a limited concurrent client by creating multiple clients and handling the synchronous calls with a thread pool. However, this approach is usually less efficient than a proper asynchronous client.
Async I/O API #
Flink's Async I/O API allows users to use asynchronous request clients with data streams. The API handles the integration with data streams, well as handling order, event time, fault tolerance, retry support, etc.
Assuming one has an asynchronous client for the target database, three parts are needed to implement a stream transformation with asynchronous I/O against the database:
 - An implementation of AsyncFunction that dispatches the requests
 - A callback that takes the result of the operation and hands it to the ResultFuture
 - Applying the async I/O operation on a DataStream as a transformation with or without retry
The following code example illustrates the basic pattern:
// This example implements the asynchronous request and callback with Futures that have the
// interface of Java 8's futures (which is the same one followed by Flink's Future)
/**
 * An implementation of the 'AsyncFunction' that sends requests and sets the callback.
 */
class AsyncDatabaseRequest extends RichAsyncFunction<String, Tuple2<String, String>> {
 /** The database specific client that can issue concurrent requests with callbacks */
 private transient DatabaseClient client;
 @Override
 public void open(Configuration parameters) throws Exception {
 client = new DatabaseClient(host, post, credentials);
 }
 @Override
 public void close() throws Exception {
 client.close();
 }
 @Override
 public void asyncInvoke(String key, final ResultFuture<Tuple2<String, String>> resultFuture) throws Exception {
 // issue the asynchronous request, receive a future for result
 final Future<String> result = client.query(key);
 // set the callback to be executed once the request by the client is complete
 // the callback simply forwards the result to the result future
 CompletableFuture.supplyAsync(new Supplier<String>() {
 @Override
 public String get() {
 try {
 return result.get();
 } catch (InterruptedException | ExecutionException e) {
 // Normally handled explicitly.
 return null;
 }
 }
 }).thenAccept( (String dbResult) -> {
 resultFuture.complete(Collections.singleton(new Tuple2<>(key, dbResult)));
 });
 }
}
// create the original stream
DataStream<String> stream = ...;
// apply the async I/O transformation without retry
DataStream<Tuple2<String, String>> resultStream =
 AsyncDataStream.unorderedWait(stream, new AsyncDatabaseRequest(), 1000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS, 100);
// or apply the async I/O transformation with retry
// create an async retry strategy via utility class or a user defined strategy
AsyncRetryStrategy asyncRetryStrategy =
 new AsyncRetryStrategies.FixedDelayRetryStrategyBuilder(3, 100L) // maxAttempts=3, fixedDelay=100ms
 .ifResult(RetryPredicates.EMPTY_RESULT_PREDICATE)
 .ifException(RetryPredicates.HAS_EXCEPTION_PREDICATE)
 .build();
// apply the async I/O transformation with retry
DataStream<Tuple2<String, String>> resultStream =
 AsyncDataStream.unorderedWaitWithRetry(stream, new AsyncDatabaseRequest(), 1000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS, 100, asyncRetryStrategy);
/**
 * An implementation of the 'AsyncFunction' that sends requests and sets the callback.
 */
class AsyncDatabaseRequest extends AsyncFunction[String, (String, String)] {
 /** The database specific client that can issue concurrent requests with callbacks */
 lazy val client: DatabaseClient = new DatabaseClient(host, post, credentials)
 /** The context used for the future callbacks */
 implicit lazy val executor: ExecutionContext = ExecutionContext.fromExecutor(Executors.directExecutor())
 override def asyncInvoke(str: String, resultFuture: ResultFuture[(String, String)]): Unit = {
 // issue the asynchronous request, receive a future for the result
 val resultFutureRequested: Future[String] = client.query(str)
 // set the callback to be executed once the request by the client is complete
 // the callback simply forwards the result to the result future
 resultFutureRequested.onSuccess {
 case result: String => resultFuture.complete(Iterable((str, result)))
 }
 }
}
// create the original stream
val stream: DataStream[String] = ...
// apply the async I/O transformation without retry
val resultStream: DataStream[(String, String)] =
 AsyncDataStream.unorderedWait(stream, new AsyncDatabaseRequest(), 1000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS, 100)
// apply the async I/O transformation with retry
// create an AsyncRetryStrategy
val asyncRetryStrategy: AsyncRetryStrategy[String] =
 new AsyncRetryStrategies.FixedDelayRetryStrategyBuilder(3, 100L) // maxAttempts=3, fixedDelay=100ms
 .ifResult(RetryPredicates.EMPTY_RESULT_PREDICATE)
 .ifException(RetryPredicates.HAS_EXCEPTION_PREDICATE)
 .build();
// apply the async I/O transformation with retry
val resultStream: DataStream[(String, String)] =
 AsyncDataStream.unorderedWaitWithRetry(stream, new AsyncDatabaseRequest(), 1000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS, 100, asyncRetryStrategy)
Important note: The ResultFuture is completed with the first call of ResultFuture.complete. All subsequent complete calls will be ignored.
The following three parameters control the asynchronous operations:
 - Timeout: The timeout defines how long an asynchronous operation take before it is finally considered failed, may include multiple retry requests if retry enabled. This parameter guards against


text:
This paper describes the fabrication and the performance of microfluidic paper-based electrochemical sensing devices (we call the microfluidic paper-based electrochemical devices, µPEDs). The µPEDs comprise paper-based microfluidic channels patterned by photolithography or wax printing, and electrodes screen-printed from conducting inks (e.g., carbon or Ag/AgCl). We demonstrated that the µPEDs are capable of quantifying the concentrations of various analytes (e.g., heavy-metal ions and glucose) in aqueous solutions. This low-cost analytical device should be useful for applications in public health, environmental monitoring, and the developing world.
|Journal||Lab on a chip|
|Publication status||Published - 2010|


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Training a new breed of hacker
Filed under
Barcelona is home to an innovative new project designed to combat hacking.
The Hacker High School is at the University of La Salle, in the same department that churns out some of the best of Barcelona's designers.
The scheme is not the "devil's workshop" it might sound but, say its organisers, aims to tackle a modern-day taboo.
Likening current attitudes to hacking to old repressed notions of sex, they say many are doing it, but few are talking about it.
Pete Herzog, managing director of the organisation that set it up, says: "If you go back 50 years ago what was sex education? Sex education was'sex is out there, don't do it, you'll get diseases'.
"We have the same situation now. We can't really tell you what hacking is.
"You'll get worms in your e-mail box all the time. Somebody will probably put Trojans on your computer. Something will happen.
"You'll see it, but everyone who is doing this is doing it illegally, they're bad. We can't define it, but if you do it you'll go to jail. "
Digital self-defence
The programme was set up by the Institute for Security and Open Methodologies (ISECOM), a non-profit computer security outfit that wants to make students streetwise to the hostile neighbourhood the internet can often be.
Children from local high schools get a sort of digital self-defence class, giving teens the moves to tackle fraud, identity theft and attacks on their systems.
Mr Herzog says: "We are taking kids who will see this kind of illegal activity, and showing them how it is done, what's happening.
"This is so they can understand the technical concept, and also, what is their computer doing, how can it be cleaned up, why is this taking over their system, why is their privacy being invaded?"
The A to Z of hacking includes modules in ports and protocols, malware, digital forensics and e-mail security and privacy, showing how to send an e-mail that looks like it comes from someone else.
Teacher Xavier Cadenas says: "The students should be able to distinguish if the user who sent them an e-mail is a known person and they are who they claim to be, if the e-mail is legal or not legal.
"They should always be suspicious and not believe everything they see."
Full Story.
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Strange things I see frequently
I don't know if they didn't get the memo, but a startlingly large number of people talking on cell phones in Mexico hold the phone in front of their mouth while talking. It is as if they didn't know that the mouthpiece on these things was designed to pick up their voice WHILE the body of the phone is pressed to their ear. This allows for a quite handy full-duplex conversation, a wonderful feature of modern life. I never noticed this type of behavior in other countries I have visited, so what is up with Mexico or its cell phones?


text:
Deploy an AWS server with a cloud account
This topic explains how to deploy an Ubuntu or Debian Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud server with systemd to your Advanced Server Access team. You may need to modify this process to fit your specific needs.
Creating a cloud server with user data means installing the Advanced Server Access server agent when you create a server with a cloud provider. Using user data to install software on a new cloud server can be done through any cloud provider, though the user data that is used helps dictate the specific software that's needed. For Advanced Server Access, user data is used is to install the Advanced Server Access agent on your cloud server. Installing the Advanced Server Access server agent on a cloud server doesn't need to be done when the cloud server is created, but running the installation as user data alongside a server's creation ensures that your cloud deployment is as safe and secure as possible.
- Create a server from the AWS Management console
- Enroll your server in Advanced Server Access by attaching your cloud account
- Next steps
Amazon Web Services
|Amazon Web Services Account||An Amazon Web Services account is needed to access the AWS Management console, where you create virtual machines for your team.|
Advanced Server Access
|Advanced Server Access team||The top-level object that represents an Okta org within Advanced Server Access.|
|Advanced Server Access project||The authorization-scope of your team, organizing your users, groups, and servers.|
- Sign in to the AWS Management console.
- Click the Services tab at the top of the console and select the EC2 option in the Compute category to create a new EC2 Server.
- Click Launch Instance.
- On the Choose an Amazon Machine Image page, scroll down and select Ubuntu server 16.04 LTS (HVM), SSD Volume Type.
Doing this sets your new instance as an Ubuntu/Debian Server with systemd.
- On the Choose an Instance Type page, click Next: Configure Instance Details.
- Select the Advanced Details box on the Configure Instance Details page to access the User Data field.
- Enter the following text into the User data field: #!/bin/bash echo "deb _URL_ linux main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list curl -C - _URL_ | sudo apt-key add - sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install -y scaleft-server-tools
- Click Review and Launch, then click Launch.
The Select an existing key pair or create a new key pair dialog appears.
- Select the Proceed without a key pair option from the dropdown menu.
- Confirm and acknowledge your choice by selecting the relevant checkbox, then click Launch Instances.
- Click View Instances.
You should see the new server being initialized on the Instances page.
- In the Amazon Web Services management console, select the dropdown menu next to your profile name at the top of the page and click My Account.
- Copy your account ID number under Account Settings.
- Navigate to your team's dashboard within the Advanced Server Access console.
- Click the Projects header at the top of the console and select a project for your server.
- Click the Enrollment tab within your project's console.
- Click Add Cloud Account.
- Paste your Amazon Web Services account ID number in the Account ID field, and add a description if needed.
- Click Submit.
- Go to the Servers tab and confirm that your new server is listed.
Confirm that your new servers are listed in the Server tab of your Advanced Server Access project before you attempt to connect to them.


text:
19 February 2014
The Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association (OATA) and the Reptile and Exotic Pet Trade Association (REPTA) have joined forces to launch a new Code of Practice for traders and pet owners to help encourage responsible ownership.
The vast majority of non-native pets in the UK are ornamental fish and reptiles so the code outlines people's responsibilities when they keep animals that are foreign to the UK, in particular the importance of making sure they do not escape into the wild and cause a problem to native wildlife.
The code covers three main issues for pet owners when it comes to buying and keeping a non-native pet:
- The importance of not releasing the pet into the wild or allowing it to escape
- The need to properly dispose of old bedding and pet litter so that eggs and pests can't get into the wild
- The importance for owners of researching and preparing themselves for all that's involved in keeping their chosen pet for the whole of its life.
It also urges traders involved in selling pets to:
- Make sure customers know and understand all the commitments involved for the pet they want to buy
- Make sure pets are free of pests and parasites as far as possible when they're sold.
"We want this code to be simple and understandable for owners so that they understand the responsibilities they have when they take on a pet," explained OATA Chief Executive Keith Davenport.
"The message is simple – we want people to understand how important it is not to release or allow their pet to escape into the British countryside because it's cruel and can damage our native wildlife. And we need retailers to play their part in making sure owners understand this message by helping them to be prepared for what's involved in caring for their new pet.
"The issue of non-native animals and plants escaping into the British countryside is coming under growing political scrutiny with the forthcoming European Alien Invasives Regulation and the parliamentary enquiry currently being done by the Environmental Audit Committee. As the ornamental fish and reptile industries import more non-native species than any other trade it's vital we play our part in ensuring that what we bring into this country stays safely in the aquarium, tank or vivarium."
Chris Newman of the Reptile and Exotic Pet Trade Association said: "The code really just reinforces the common sense idea that nothing associated with reptile keeping should be released deliberately or inadvertently into the wild. Keepers should take great care to avoid either the animals they keep or food items leaving captivity. This protects the reptiles we care for and the environment we all enjoy in this country."


Bandwidth-Limited Communication Channel Modeling
This example shows how to model a communication system that sends frames of video data over a channel. By dropping frames that wait too long to reach the end user, the model also illustrates how to use timeouts to implement point-to-point timing constraints.
Structure of the Model
The model includes the sections listed below.
 - Video source - Attaches frames of video data to entities at a constant rate using matrix-valued attributes of the entities. The source also uses the Schedule Timeout block to establish each frame's time-to-live (TTL) value, which is the duration until the channel drops that frame if it has not yet reached the end user.
 - Bandwidth-limited communication channel - Buffers the incoming frames and delays them for a period of time. If the TTL for a given frame elapses before it has reached the end user, then the channel discards the frame. Removing outdated video data from the system results in an improved quality of service because the channel focuses on newer data that is more relevant to the end user.
 - Video end-user - Buffers the received frames and forwards them to a viewer block at a constant rate.
Watching the Video Viewer
When you run the simulation, the Video Viewer block opens to display the received video. You can observe the following behavior:
 - The viewer is initially blank and does not start to display the video until T=10. The reason is that the block labeled Flow Control changes its output value from 0 to 1 at T=10, which enables the periodic release of frames to the viewer.
 - The video repeats a few times, but has a discontinuity near T=37. Also, between approximately T=31 and T=36, the plot of timed-out entities rises steeply. Frames time out when they experience a delay in the channel equal to their TTL value. Around T=31, accumulated delays cause many consecutive frames to time out, leaving a gap in the video data. Even when the channel resumes sending frames to the end user, you notice the gap when you watch the video in the viewer.
Results and Displays
Scopes in the model plot the following quantities to help you understand its performance:
 - The size of the input buffer shows how many frames are waiting in the channel. Frames accumulate in the input buffer until they either progress through the channel or time out.
 - The size of the reception buffer shows how many frames are waiting in the receiver. Before T=10, frames accumulate in the reception buffer because the block labeled Flow Control keeps the path closed between the receiver's buffer and the video viewer.
 - The status of underflow events in the receiver has a value of 1 whenever the Release Gate block permits a frame to advance from the reception buffer to the video viewer, but no frame is present. For more about this, see Experimenting with the Model below.
 - The communication delay per frame shows how long the channel delays each frame that has advanced beyond the input buffer. In this model, the delay is periodic.
 - The number of timed-out entities shows how many frames have timed out in the channel. The end user does not receive these frames and can observe a gap in the video if many consecutive frames time out.
Experimenting with the Model
To vary the simulation behavior, decrease the initial delay in the end user's viewing by changing the Step time parameter from 10 to 3 in the block labeled Flow Control. As a result, the simulation has some instances at which the gate opens to let a frame advance, but the reception buffer is empty. You can see values of 0 in the plot of the reception buffer's size and values of 1 in the plot of underflow events.
Note: To run this simulation, you must have a license for the Computer Vision System Toolbox™ product.


text:
Rollingword: a website about words.
For more words, see the search page.
Tendency [to a particular kind of behavior.
英语解释:a natural tendency to behave in a particular way
常见翻译:倾向; 癖好; 脾性
A person's propensity to joke is their natural tendency to joke, that is, they have the behavior of joking. A person has a propensity to lie if they have the natural tendency to lie with or without good reasons. If a person makes much of very little things, they have the propensity to exaggerate.
- The teacher noticed in the boy a propensity to bully others. Not a day passed without his bullying his class mates especially the milder pupils of the class.
- His propensity to jokes was so strong that even in the most serious situation he would joke and that irritated others.


text:
September 18, 2007 > History
Pioneer School People
The original Act to create the County of Alameda called for an election of officers that did not mention a County Superintendent of Schools, but at the first election held in May 1853, Rev. William W. Brier was elected to that office. County officials divided the county into six townships that included Washington and made each township a school district.
Rev. Brier visited communities throughout the county helping residents start schools, acquire buildings and promote the cause of a regular school attendance. He worked with county officials to secure money for school buildings and teachers' salaries. Historian William Halley reported in 1856, when the county was three years old, that "Education was making headway under the efficient management of Mr. Brier."
A board of trustees was required to operate each district in spite of obstacles that included unstable finances, teacher shortages, widespread ignorance and parental complaints. They were empowered to maintain a classroom, hire a teacher, purchase supplies, keep records of meetings and file reports with the county. Trustees sometimes ran unopposed for reelection and voter turnout depended on how pleased the parents were with the teachers' perceived performance.
Information about these pioneer school trustees is sketchy. The first trustees at Irvington were William Y. Horner, George M. Walters and William Hopkins. All were nearby prominent landowners.
Our most complete early day records appear to be those for Lincoln School District because trustee records have been preserved. The first trustees were Emory Munyan, Abijah Baker, and George W. Tait. Munyan served as clerk of the board and recorded the minutes by hand. He was a faithful trustee until his death in 1899 for a total of 29 years. Munyan treated the students and teachers as family, even delivering fruit in season from his nearby orchard to the students. Abijah Baker owned a large farm near the school and "gave generously to good causes." George W. Tait, who had been Superintendent of Schools in San Francisco, came to Washington Township for his health and was credited with naming Lincoln School.
The most important person in any school was (and still is) the teacher. At first there were no special credentials for teachers. Erastus Johnson reported that he came to Centerville to visit and ended up opening a school there in 1853. Other pioneer teachers at Centerville included Mrs. Jonathan Mayhew, Judge Stephen Nye, Julia Rappleye and W. H. Yates.
The first public school teacher at Alvarado was Mrs. Warren. As in many pioneer communities, she "boarded around" among the families. Rev. W. W. Brier taught here and later served as a trustee. Several teachers at Lincoln School including Mollie Reeder, Emma Reeder, Louise Cearley, Flora Brown, Cora Simpson and Addie Ross grew up in Washington Township. Irvington teachers included many local residents and J. C. Gilson and W.F.B. Lynch who later became Alameda County Superintendent of Schools.
The average monthly salary for pioneer teachers in Alameda County was about $75 per month, but sometimes, as at Lincoln School, it was $50 plus board. By 1904 the average for men was about $99 and $72 for women. The Alviso principal was paid $110 per month and the other teachers $90 in 1919. A Niles teacher was paid $115 in 1929 with $5 raises until the depression forced the monthly total back to $115.
Many pioneer teachers were men who went on to other occupations. The county had 13 male and 14 female teachers in 1859, but by 1878 there were three times as many women as men. Teachers were challenged to provide lessons for pupils with varying age and achievement levels. A primary teacher at Centerville summarized the problem when she wrote, "I cannot give to the separate classes as much time as I would like." Teachers in pioneer schools had no time to themselves as they had to supervise students during lunch and recess breaks. They ate with the children and often played with them at recess. There were times when text books and materials were not available, and teachers were forced to improvise and make do with what they had.
Local history books don't give much information about janitors, but all schools became dirty and needed attention. At first the teachers were the janitors, with occasional assistance from students. Alviso trustees allocated $1 for washing windows in 1890 but later paid $20 per month for a janitor. Sometimes custodians were also the gardeners. Guido Laneri was a favorite gardener at Niles School.
Teachers and parents sometimes provided warm meals for students. Centerville School began limited cafeteria service in 1925 and cafeteria workers became a regular part of the staff. Alviso School started cafeteria service in 1947 and also began bussing students to school. Bus drivers were often custodians or teachers who did double duty.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


text:
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The paper presents the simulation analysis and comparison of two commercially available shipboard cylindrical trihedral radar reflectors. The reports found in literature indicate that this type of radar reflector provides very poor radar visibility. Therefore, detailed analysis was carried out taking into account various heeling angles of radar reflectors and various azimuth angles of incident plane wave for standard marine navigational radar frequencies in S-band and X-band. Simulations were performed using FEKO software suite. The simulation results show that the backscatter radar cross section (RCS) of these radars is insufficient for reliable performance.


Why Choose Powervault 3 To Store Electricity In Your Home?
Powervault 3 is an intelligent battery system for the modern smart home, designed to maximise energy efficiency and value for the customer. Powervault 3 reduces customers' energy bills by storing free solar energy or cheap, off-peak electricity from the grid. Customers can also receive an income from Powervault by allowing Powervault's proprietary GridFLEX™ platform to occasionally control their Powervault 3 battery and support the grid when it is under stress. By connecting Powervault 3 directly to their solar system, customers can also prevent the need to replace their solar inverter when it fails.
Economic Benefits
Powervault 3 can reduce customers' electricity bills by up to 20% by storing solar energy during the day and discharging it in the evening. Powervault 3 can also charge from the grid, which means it can store cheap, off-peak electricity. Customers on 'smart' time-of-use tariffs can save an additional 15% on their energy bills by storing low-cost electricity and discharging it at peak time. Powervault 3 is compatible with Economy 7 tariffs and Green Energy UK's TIDE tariff. Powervault 3 is forward-compatible with other 'smart' tariffs, which are forecast to become widespread once smart meters are installed.
Environmental Benefits
Powervault 3 enables customers to use less of the energy generated by centralised power stations and more of their own, locally-generated, clean energy. Powervault works with the National Physical Laboratory to better understand the impact Powervault 3 and Powervault 3eco has on greenhouse gas emissions. The National Physical Laboratory has calculated that Powervault 3 and Powervault 3eco will, depending on the capacity of the system, reduce CO2 emissions by >300kg/p.a. in the average U.K. home.
Additional BenefitsSmart Tariff Charging
Powervault 3 is compatible with 'smart' time-of-use tariffs, which vary in cost throughout the day. Using Powervault's proprietary smart tariff controller on the Customer Portal, customers can select the charging schedule of their Powervault 3 system to ensure they benefit from low-cost energy from the grid. This provides additional benefit to customers, beyond the benefit of storing excess solar generation during the day.
Customer Portal
The Powervault customer portal provides customers with a platform from which to monitor their energy use and optimise their Powervault 3 charging schedules. It provides customers with accurate information about the present and historical performance of their Powervault 3 system. Customers can also use the smart tariff controller on the portal to optimise the charging of their Powervault 3 systems against 'smart' time-of-day tariffs.
Energy Independence
Powervault 3 is designed to enable customers to become more energy independent and reduce their reliance on electricity supplied via the grid. Powervault 3 allows customers to maximise the use of their clean, green solar energy and either minimise or eradicate their export to, and import from, the grid. Powervault 3 also helps protect customers against rising electricity tariffs, which are currently increasing at a rate of >6% per year.
Ease Of Installation
Powervault 3 is very simple to install and is compatible with all solar systems. Powervault 3 is an 'all-in-one' system, which means it contains batteries, an inverter/charger, a Battery Management System, an Energy Management System and various control boards. Customers are not required to buy additional hardware to install Powervault 3.
Compatible With All Solar PV Systems
Powervault 3 is an AC-system and is therefore universally compatible with all solar PV systems. No additional parts or adjustments to your existing solar PV system are required to accommodate Powervault 3 in your home.
Comprehensive Warranty
Powervault offers a comprehensive 10-year warranty on the Powervault 3 system and a 3-year warranty on the Powervault 3eco system.
Safe Technology
Powervault 3 has been designed to be safe to use in domestic and commercial premises. All products have undergone extensive safety testing, and EMC and CE certification.
British Design and Manufacture
Powervault is a British company, based in London. Powervault's products are designed and assembled in London and the company is focused on designing products suitable for residential and commercial premises in the U.K.
Customer Service
Powervault pride themselves on their customer service and will always answer any questions customers might have about their Powervault system. Their engineers are always on-hand to check customers' systems remotely or visit customers' properties if they believe their Powervault product is not working as it should be.
Click to download a data sheet on the new Powervault 3 and Powervault 3eco
If you want to know more, contact one of our trained staff on 0800 0699 607 or send us your details HEREand we will get back to you.


text:
A Proposal for the Retrospective Identification and Categorization of Older People With Functional Impairments in Scientific Studies—Recommendations of the Medication and Quality of Life in Frail Older Persons (MedQoL) Research Group
When treating older adults, a main factor to consider is physical frailty. Because specific assessments in clinical trials are frequently lacking, critical appraisal of treatment evidence with respect to functional status is challenging. Our aim was to identify and categorize assessments for functional status given in clinical trials in older adults to allow for a retrospective characterization and indirect comparison of treatment evidence from these cohorts. We conducted 4 separate systematic reviews of randomized and nonrandomized controlled clinical trials in older people with hypertension, diabetes, depression, and dementia.


text:
- 8 ½" x 11" piece of cloud paper (or you can use a piece of light blue construction paper and add your own clouds to it)
- Brown and white construction paper
- Images of furniture such as a bed, chair, dresser, or wardrobe, and objects that represent things you like. Or, images of things that are important to you, such as animals, books, sports equipment, favorite toys, as well as things that remind you of your favorite places or people. You can use photos or realistic images you find in magazines and catalogues.
- A pencil or black pen
- What objects do you see in this painting?
- In your mind's eye, change the size and scale of the objects in this painting. How does that affect your response to the work?
- If you could enter this space, would you be standing inside or outside? What do you see that makes you say that?
- Make an argument for why this painting is true to life. Make an argument for why it is not.
- What might the objects in this work tell us about the artist or about the time and place in which he lived?
- Cut your pieces of brown and white construction paper so that they each measure 2" x 11".
- Place them on top of each other so they are lined up. Cut the corners off both ends at an angle to make an isosceles trapezoid (the bottom edge should still measure 11" long and the diagonal edges should be equal in length).
- Glue the brown trapezoid to the bottom of your cloud paper and the white trapezoid to the top. These will become the floor and ceiling of your room.
- Using a pencil or a black pen, draw a vertical line to connect the inside corners of your floor and ceiling to create three walls in your room.
- Cut out images from magazines, catalogues, or photos that represent things, people, places, and ideas that are important to you. Be sure to include at least one piece of furniture.
- Select five or six objects to include in your room.
- Experiment with the arrangement of your objects until you are happy with the composition.
- Glue your objects in place.
René Magritte originally called this painting The Clear Field but he changed the title when a friend suggested Personal Values. The word "values" can refer to the importance, worth, or usefulness of something, and it can also refer to someone's judgement about what is important in life. Magritte wrote to his art dealer that this painting took him two months to paint. He considered every detail carefully and revised it until it had reached what he called "a state of grace."
- How do the different objects in your work reflect what is important to you?
- Is the size and scale of your objects important? If so, why?
- What inspired you to arrange the objects the way you did?
- What title did you give to your artwork? Why did you select that title?


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Coffee is an art and a science, but our passion for it is drawn from its incredible capacity to bring people together. Yellow House aims to create an atmosphere of community and growth for every person who enters our space. From the Southern hospitality to the quality of our menu, we strive to craft a stellar experience.
Our story is one centered around genuine relationships and communal growth. Our pursuit of bringing some of the world's best coffees to Lubbock, TX is generated from our conviction that how we live and do business affects real people locally and globally. We could not exist on our own – we are bound together with others throughout the world.
Why Direct Trade?
The history of farmer abuse and sourcing shortcuts is long and thick, but these destructive habits are being put to rest through the practice and attitude of direct trade, which is transforming the way coffee is purchased around the globe. Here are some of the key principals of the direct trade model:
- The coffee roaster and farmer negotiate costs and projects directly, and legitimate relationships are formed through farm visits and face-to-face dialogue.
- Transparency becomes a core value in the process, with the farmer and roaster working together to find a balance that benefits the buyer and the seller. Without middlemen exporters and importers, direct trade farmers receive at least 25% more for their crop than fair trade farmers.
- Quality becomes an effort sustained by the roaster and the farmer as they work together to improve systems, grow better crops, and increase the quality of life for both parties.
While Yellow House does not source coffees on its own, we participate in the direct trade effort by brewing and selling coffees roasted by Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters, who is committed to ethical sourcing of fantastic coffees.
Lance Neffendorf of Yellow House Coffee and Shannon Neffendorf of Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters are continually using their brother smarts to provide amazing coffees in welcoming atmospheres.


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Natura Morta
 - G3002
 - F58
 - D0
 - "Natura Morta" is a musical concert where the only instruments used are real fruits and the sound we'll hear is exclusively the electric energy contained within them.
 The elettric power of the humans getting mixed with the energy of the fruits makes the sound audible, is the fisical contact between human and nature that generate the music.
 Each fruit has acid in it that produces electrical tension, using a special technique we can boost these frequencies making the inaudible audible,
 the sound of the vital energy of nature.
 The individual fruits are raised on wooden platforms, standing on a transparent plexiglass plate lit from under. Each time a fruit plays its base will lit up, staining the surrounding space, making it changeable and dinamic. Each platform is a home made midi controller which allow us to modulate the sound wave's, creating more complex rhythms and sounds.
 The sound frequencies are emphasized by a large videoprojection representing a macro vision of the fruits.
 Slowly the concrete images becomes abstract, the Natura morta (Still life) picture changes reacting precisely to the sound vawes,
 crashing and dissolving into pure shapes of colors and lights.


Beverly Hosford by Beverly Hosford
Imagine yourself walking down a decorated aisle with ceremonial music playing in the background. All of your friends and family are sitting on either side of you. When you get to the altar, facing you is a full-length mirror framed with beautiful flowers. It's time to say your vows, to yourself. What promises would your body want to hear?
Perhaps it would go something like this: "I promise to love and cherish you, nourishing you with healthy food and taking you out for regular exercise sessions. I'll make sure you get plenty of rest and keep you hydrated." It might sound cheesy, but there are many analogies between marriage, wedding ceremonies and your commitment to fitness.
Breaking Vows With Yourself
A vow is a promise or an oath. People make commitments every day and yet they get broken or need to be renewed. Have you ever broken an exerciseor nutrition-related promise to yourself? We all have! The relationship you have with yourself and your body is one of the most valuable in your life, yet it is easily taken for granted.
The old saying goes, "You can't love others until you love yourself." When you're feeling your best, you perform better at work, care for your family more lovingly and give back to your community.
Work your way through the following activities to renew your vows and improve your relationship with fitness.
Making Vows More Solid
The first key to having good health vows is stating them aloud. Even better, write them down. It's easier to break a promise when it's made casually. Set a timer for 30 minutes and write down vows to your body. Make the commitment in writing.
Use these questions to help you get started:
 - How does my body support my daily life?
 - How does my body want to feel?
 - What foods make my body feel the way it wants to feel?
 - How much daily exercise makes my body feel its best?
 - When do I feel most energized and happy?
Now, have some fun and read your vows aloud in the mirror.
Creating Vows With Meaning
Everyone knows they should do cardio, lift weights and be flexible, but there's more to it than that. Strong health vows need to have deep and personal meaning. The reasons underpinning one's exercise efforts are different for each person. The better you understand your own desires to be fit, the more committed you'll be.
Answer these questions (bonus for writing them down):
 - Why do I exercise?
 - How does exercise benefit me specifically?
 - What are the outcomes of exercise that are most important to me?
 - What meals give me the most energy and focus?
 - Why do I want to have energy?
After answering each question, read your response aloud and ask yourself, "Why?" For example, if you exercise because it keeps your weight down, ask yourself why that's important and see what comes to mind. We all have surface reasoning for exercising, but sometimes we need to dig for the deeper meaning.
As in marriage, knowing why the relationship is important helps get you through tough times. For example, you generally love your partner or your kids. Recognizing the specific joy they bring to your life as individuals is what keeps you bonded to one another through thick and thin.
When you contemplate the true value of being fit, as it pertains to you personally, it becomes easier to stick with your exercise habits, even on the days when you don't feel like it.
Sharing Vows With Others
Couples gather their loved ones together at weddings because it's fun, makes it more real and enables them to make a public commitment to one another. It's harder to break a promise when you have a solid support community. With this in mind, it's time to send some invites.
Write down a list:
 - Who would you invite to your "health vows ceremony"?
 - Who do you know that exhibits consistently healthy habits?
 - Who could you invite to a weekly walk, hike or bike ride?
 - What fitness classes (aerobics, dance, weights) would you enjoy attending?
 - What type of activity group (hiking, biking) could you join?
Now, make some phone calls and get together with supportive people for a walk or inquire about local classes you can join. Exercising with others makes it feel like a team effort instead of you verses your workout, week after week. Take action now!
Celebrating Your Vows
People celebrate their months, years and decades of marriage. These milestones keep them enthusiastic about the hard work they do to stay happy. Set weekly or monthly fitness goals for yourself, so that you can keep the vows you've made. Consider hiring a personal trainer or health coach to conduct fitness assessments with you to help set your goals.
The benefits of daily movement—such as enhanced mood, better sleep and improved energy—are not easily measured. Instead, set a time goal for each week. Choose how many minutes of exercise to do or how many steps to take (using a pedometer).
Again, write down your goals:
 - What are your weekly and monthly goals for fitness?
 - What can you do to celebrate your health goals?
 - How often do you want to celebrate and with whom?
Take an oath with your own body and enhance the one relationship that supports everything else in your life.


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|"Children are one third of our population and all of our future."|
|–Select Panel for the Promotion of Child Health, 1981|
The value of a good mentor is immeasurable when it comes to being able to inspire and promote social norm change – particularly among men. By sharing their insight and knowledge, a mentor can increase the awareness to the magnitude of violence against women. A good mentor can advise, support and help mentees avoid feelings of incompetence and isolation. A good mentor introduces others to the collaborative efforts of men and women in reducing gender violence.
What you can do:
- Become familiar with the Mentors in Violence Prevention Program and the Bystander Model
- Volunteer to coach or supervise a youth sport or activity – check local resources for requests and openings
- Encourage the place you volunteer at to talk about violence prevention with coaches and mentors
- Join and/or Support the Iowa Men's Action Network


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Plant Research Unit - Program Overview and Update
ISSN: 0148-7191, e-ISSN: 2688-3627
Published July 15, 2002 by SAE International in United States
Annotation ability available
The Plant Research Unit (PRU) is the Space Station Biological Research Program plant growth facility being developed for the International Space Station. The plant habitat is designed for experiments in near-zero gravity or it can be rotated by the ISS Centrifuge for experiments at any gravity level from microgravity to twice Earth's gravity. Plant experimentation will be possible in multiple Plant Research Units at one time, isolating the effect of gravity on the biological specimens. The PRU will provide and control all aspects of a plant's needs in a nearly closed system. In other words, the shoot and root environments will not be open to the astronaut's environment except for experiment maintenance such as planting, harvesting and plant sampling. This also means that all lighting, temperature and humidity control, nutrient delivery, and air filtering and cleaning must be done in a very small volume, with very little mass and power usage and with minimal crew time. The PRU will be a fourteen-panel unit experiment interfacing with the Habitat Holding Rack and Centrifuge Rotor. The PRU will provide continuous data logging of the environment including video images of the plants. The system will be robust enough for 10 years of life and dozens of trips to and from orbit. The Plant Research Unit will provide a significant new science capability that could accelerate biotechnology and controlled agriculture applications on Earth. This paper will review the status of the program. Discussions will encompass the prototype testing that has taken place, expected capabilities of the flight unit, and research preparations that could be conducted using the Science Evaluation Unit.
CitationLee, M., Maldonado, J., and Morrow, R., "Plant Research Unit - Program Overview and Update," SAE Technical Paper 2002-01-2279, 2002, _URL_
- Bugbee, B. 1999 Engineering plants for spaceflight environments Gravitational and Space Biology Bulletin 12 67 74
- McClain, B.J. Scott T.K. 1997 Why study plants in space? ASGSB Newsletter 13 26
- NASA ARC 2001 Fundamental Biology Program Research Agenda _URL_. nasa.gov
- NASA ARC October 2000 SSBRP Plant Research Unit Flight System Specification ARC/BRP-40007
- NASA ARC 1995 Mission Scenarios Document. ARC/CF-11223


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Address: Pungart 4000 Kranj
Medieval Kranj was fortified with a city wall in the 15th-century. Two main city gates and two smaller gates provided access to the city. On the north side along today?s Maister Square (Maistrov trg), the double Upper City Gate was protected by a high tower that can be seen in a depiction from 1649. In front of it and the S section of the double wall was a deep and wide moat, traces of which are still preserved at the Jahavčev Passage and behind the former Špitalski Tower.


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Golden Historical Colours are "authentic recreations" of colours that have been used for hundreds of years and were considered essential to the palettes of past masters. Because of inconsistencies in the performance of these original pigments, artists expressed a widespread need for a safe, reliable paint that could accurately replicate the qualities and capabilities of the originals. Golden worked closely with art experts and museum curators to determine how these paints performed in classic paintings. Great care has been taken to match both the colours and working properties of the original pigments, while resolving the questionable production practices and improving performance standards.
Contemporary artists can now explore the profoundly distinct qualities of historically significant colours, enjoying the advantages brought about by modern chemistry: lightfastness, safe use and permanence.
In the Bengal province of India, a group of farmers raised herds of cattle fed only on mango leaves and water. The urine from these cows, bright yellow in colour, was distilled to produce the pigment for Indian Yellow. This practice wa considered by many to be inhumane, and, since 1908, the marketing of Indian Yellow has been prohibited.


Lid's on, steam's risin':
collard greens, Lord, bubblin' JAZZ!
That's appetizin'.
Analysis, meaning and summary of James A. Emanuel's poem Greens
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Demonstrate Empathy. Safeguard Loyalty.
Today, patients have many options for medical care, which is why making sure they are happy with their experience is critical in maintaining their loyalty. The patient billing process plays a critical role in that overall experience—and therefore should be monitored and evaluated to ensure your patients are receiving a positive result.
Apex offers a quick, easy to use survey that gives the feedback providers need to ensure a pleasant after-care experience. The feedback gained from our survey highlights positive attributes in the patient billing experience, and helps identify issues so action can be taken.
Patients Who Interact with Apex Report an Unmatched 95% Satisfaction
But we don't just sit around and pat ourselves on the back for that number. We're continuously analyzing the feedback of patients who aren't 100% satisified to understand what we can do to improve their experience. We look at feedback based on payment channel, balance due, demographics and other characteristics to truly help us understand where improvements are needed for specific patient populations. Continuously asking patients for their feedback is an essential step in tailoring the billing experience for all, and inspires ideas for future solution enhancements:
- Improve the billing process
- Improve the online experience
- Understand patient challenges so action can be taken
- Demonstrate empathy
- Increase satisfaction and loyalty


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and vegetable varieties can be visually enhanced in this way.
Big taste with interesting plant-based ingredients
Euroma presents Botanical Dressings (image) as a European premiere at FRUIT LOGISTICA 2018. Traditional dressings are given an unexpected "taste twist". The dressings are 100% "Clean Label" and are low on salt, sugar and saturated fatty acids. Their striking flavours are created with interesting plant-based ingredients such as yuzu, algae, apricot, rose petals and elderflowers. The dressings are available in a range of different packaging options. Euroma's product developers can also tailor the product to customer requirements.
Improved development and health of root and leaf systems
The "Microline" product line is based on microbiological compounds to restore the biological fertility of soil (rhizosphere) and plants (phyllosphere). The action of these compounds leads to improved development and health of root and leaf systems, solubilisation, increased availability of nutrients in the soil, and residue degradation. The "Energemma" formula is rich in boron and zinc. These promote bud and fruit formation after harvest. The formula is enriched with amino acids, in particular glutamic acid and glycine as well as humic acids. The powder formula "Rust-Ger" is based on trace elements and kaolin. It prevents or limits fruit rust by improving appearance (in particular in the case of pomaceous fruit) and limits sunburn by reflecting the sun's rays. These three new products will be presented for the first time in Europe at FRUIT LOGISTICA 2018.
Temperature data logger with Bluetooth technology
The ethylene absorption filters from Ozeano make it possible to maintain low ethylene levels and thus guarantee optimal vegetable preservation. Because they do not come into direct contact with the fruit and leave no residues, the filters are not considered additives. The developers' experience in the sector has given them a better understanding of the transport and storage process and the problems that may occur, resulting in a new, patented version of the ethylene filter (image) that that prevents staining in refrigerated containers and maximises filter efficiency. The filter will be presented at FRUIT LOGISTICA 2018 for the first time worldwide. Ozeano has also recently launched the Coollogger (image), its own temperature data logger brand. The patent-pending device works with Bluetooth technology and is unique on the market, according to company sources.
Lightweight, resistant, eco-friendly
V-piles (image) from Valente are suitable for use in both orchards and vineyards. According to the manufacturer, they are unique inside and out. Highlights include the V-shaped incision as a guarantee of outstanding attributes in terms of lightness, resistance and eco-friendliness. According to Valente, this vine stake is the lightest, most resistant (DNV-certified) and most eco-friendly (EPD environmental certification) on the market. Valente piles are made using prestressed precast concrete to guarantee significantly higher resistance. The components have also been selected for improved quality in terms of mechanical resistance and durability.
Crisp, sweet, tangy, and very juicy
Cosmic Crisp™ (image) has been described as "remarkably crisp, sweet, tangy, and unbelievably juicy". The prominent lenticels of this beautiful red apple, originally dubbed the WA 38 cv, were the inspiration behind its name. Developed by Washington State University, Cosmic Crisp™ is being grown by Washington apple growers. Washington State is known for excellent growing conditions and vast, pristine apple regions. Over 600,000 trees with the Cosmic Crisp™ variety were planted in with significant plans for planting in 2018 and 2019. The Washington state apple industry intends to quickly have a large, deliverable retail volume of Cosmic Crisp™ available from autumn 2019.
Mini quiches with fresh vegetables
Zerbinati is a family-run business founded in 1970. Originally specialising in premium fresh vegetables, the company is now a leading producer of ready-to-eat products and fresh-cut salads. Zerbinati describes itself as a company that is constantly changing and which has been trading and processing the best Italian products since 1970. One of its key strengths lies in the constant search for innovative solutions to improve product quality, preserving natural properties and guaranteeing freshness. Flan'Z (image) is the name of the new ready-made meal launched by Zerbinati in 2017: tasty mini-quiches with fresh vegetables using only Italian extra virgin olive oil. Flan'Z are ideal as a starter or side dish.
Efficient crop growth solutions
According to company sources, Zhangjiagang Kangyuan New Material Company has been China's leading specialist supplier of biostimulants since 1997. It aims to provide complete solutions for crop growth and be a reliable partner in high-tech agriculture. The company has researched and developed highly soluble fertilisers (image) and offers various product lines: potassium humate and potassium fulvate, Fertimax, liquid humic acid 18, fulvic acid, sodium humate, humic acid, and customised NPK and biostimulants. The company says that its own brand "True Humic" already enjoys an excellent reputation in more than 16 countries and has received Ceres Organic certification in Germany in line with the American NOP regulations. It also has ISO systems for the entire quality control process, from the raw materials to the final products, and all testing records in its traceability systems.


Does It Hurt More to Punch With the Side of Your Hand?
by Luke Schmaltz, Demand Media
The side of your fist opposite your thumb has more padding on it than the frontal plane. This layer of flesh serves the striker as a cushion for pain upon impact as well as a layer of protection from internal injuries. Although punching with knuckles inflicts more damage from certain angles, the knuckles, fingers and metacarpals tend to sustain an equivalent ratio of trauma. For these reasons, punches that land with the knuckles result in more painful injuries to the striker than do punches landing with the side of the fist. A strike with the side of a closed hand is called a hammerfist.
The Side of the Head
The human skull is far more durable than the human hand. Punching into the head with the front of a closed fist immediately hurts the puncher far more than the victim. A hammerfist strategically placed into the temple of an opponent may render that person unconscious, while the person punching feels very little thanks to the extra padding of the outer palm. The trick here is gaining position on an opponent in order to strike from the best angle, which is usually from overhead while the opponent is on the ground.
Ground and Pound
When your opponent is on the ground and you have the upper position, you can use a hammerfist effectively without experiencing painful hand damage. Gravity adds power to your blows as your body heaves downward with each strike. A knuckle punch thrown during this action carries great risk of a sprained wrist. This is especially the case if the intensity of the moment makes you forget to clench your fist. A hammerfist from the same angle, although maybe not as powerful requires less range of motion which has the additional bonus of giving your opponent less of a window for escape.
Lateral Backhand vs. Hammerfist
From a lateral position, a circular strike can be thrown at an opponent that originates from the guard position and moves in an outward arcing motion. This is usually aimed at the face or head. If the person throwing the punch chooses a backhand over a hammerfist, she is going to be hitting with the tops of her knuckles onto a equally hard if not harder surface. This carries potential for injury because it is essentially bone hitting bone. That same strike can be landed in the form of a padded hammerfist and deliver the same amount of power with a less painful impact for the striker.
Vertical Backhand vs. Hammerfist
In an infighting scenario, a striker has a choice between landing a punch with the back of the knuckles or with the side of the hand. When an upward elbow strike is thrown at the sternum or chin, it puts the attacker in perfect position to follow that strike with a downward hand hit to the top of the head, bridge of the nose or cheekbone. Choosing a backhand carries more potential for injury to the attacker's hand. If a hammerfist is opted for, the fleshy bottom part of the fist provides a less painful impact for the striker and less potential for a hand injury.
About the Author
Luke Schmaltz has extensive experience in martial arts and personal training, which informs his writing on health and fitness. He also spends time in the entertainment world as a songwriter and performer. He has written and produced numerous studio albums and published many articles online.
Photo Credits
 - Jupiterimages/Goodshoot/Getty Images
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The Little Current Swing Bridge carries Highway 6 across a narrow channel separating Manitoulin Island from the much smaller Goat Island, forming the only land access. This bridge consists of two 70-foot deck plate girder approaches on the north end (Goat Island) and a single 60-foot deck plate girder approach on the south end (Manitoulin Island), with a 368-foot through swing bridge span.
The swing bridge sits 17.5 feet above the water, and provides a 160 foot opening on either side of the central pier for water passage.
Construction on the bridge foundations was commenced in 1912 by the Algoma Eastern Railway, and the bridge itself was constructed in 1913. Originally this was a railway-only bridge, the bridge stayed in the open position at all times except when a train needed to pass. Passenger traffic to the island was available only by ferry until 1946, when the bridge was improved to allow both rail and vehicle traffic. Train service to the island was subsequently truncated in the 1980s, with railway service ending at Turner on the Goat Island side, and the bridge now serves only vehicle traffic.
Currently, the bridge strongly favours highway traffic, staying in the closed (motor vehicles can pass) position at all times, except for the first fifteen minutes of each daylight hour during the summer, when it opens to permit boating traffic. At night and when the shipping channel is closed during the winter, the bridge stays in the closed position at all times. Originally powered by a gasoline engine, the mechanism was upgraded to electric motors in 2003. Due to the single vehicle lane, it is equipped with traffic signals, the only installation of such on Manitoulin Island.
This bridge, one of the only swing bridges in Canada, has been designated an Ontario Heritage site.
For more information regarding the operation of Little Current Swing Bridge, please contact the information line at _PHONE_.