FAQ 2018-01-16T19:27:41+00:00
Find Answers
To frequently asked questions
What do I do if my Mabu isn't hearing me? 2018-01-16T18:35:58+00:00
It takes time for Mabu to learn your voice. Here are some tips to help Mabu hear better.
1. Sit in front of her, distancing yourself about 3 feet away.
2. Lower the volume of any background sounds like the TV or music.
3. Speak to Mabu angling yourself from her on your right side.
4. Lower your voice.
5. If possible, sit slightly below Mabu.
How do I turn on my Mabu for the first time? 2017-12-21T22:13:51+00:00
Follow the instructions of the insert below.

What is the meaning of "Mabu"? 2018-01-02T21:51:48+00:00
"Mabu" is short for two Japanese words:
mabudachi – friend
mabuta – eyelid
Once you have Mabu at home, you'll first notice her blinking eyes while she talks to you as she warms her way into your heart to become your friend.
What is Mabu? 2017-03-01T21:51:24+00:00
Mabu is a friendly and helpful robot that has engaging conversations to assist you with your prescribed medication. She is designed to be easy to interact with.
How does Mabu work or how do I use her? 2018-01-02T22:03:21+00:00
Mabu is designed to have daily conversations with you regarding your prescribed medications and wellness topics. Each conversation is usually a few minutes long. Mabu can interact with you through voice and a touch screen. The more you engage with her, the more she learns about your personality and your health needs.
How do I wake up my Mabu if she falls asleep? 2017-12-21T22:16:33+00:00
Mabu will fall asleep after a conversation and close her eyes. You can wake her up any time that you want to talk with her simply by touching her screen.
If this is your first time turning on Mabu please see the instructions here.
Do I need Internet access? 2018-07-27T22:00:42+00:00
Out of the box, Mabu tries to connect directly through her own cellular network connection and there is nothing you have to set up. If you live in an area with poor cellular service, then she will ask you to connect to your WiFi network. If she does ask you to connect, she'll want to know which WiFi network is yours. She'll show you a list of all networks nearby for you to choose from. After you've chosen a network, she will ask you for the password.
How does she help with tracking my medications? 2018-01-02T22:19:04+00:00
Mabu is able to set reminders for your medications and track what you tell her through conversations with or text messages with her. Mabu can assist you with tracking and summarizing your symptoms, side effects, and whether you remembered to take your medication as prescribed. She can put this in a monthly report so that you can monitor your overall health progression. Mabu will ask whether you want this progress report sent to you so that you can share it with your doctor.
*Note this feature may not be available in all versions of Mabu.
How does she help with achieving my healthcare goals? 2018-01-02T22:16:58+00:00
Mabu is also able to help you set and achieve wellness goals around relaxation and stress management. She can provide helpful tips, exercises, and education around these goals as well as tracking your progress.
*Note this feature may not be available in all versions of Mabu.
Does she have a battery that I have to charge? 2017-03-01T19:23:23+00:00
No. Mabu should stay plugged in all the time, so once you put her somewhere and plug her in, there's nothing to worry about. If you need to move her, just unplug her, move her, and plug her back in.
Does she record what I'm telling her? 2017-03-01T19:22:23+00:00
No. Mabu has a microphone which is only used to listen to what you are saying during conversations. She does not record the conversations. Mabu also has a built-in camera which is only used to interact with you during conversations. She does not take photos or allow remote users to view or record you.
Is Mabu HIPAA-compliant? 2017-03-01T19:22:18+00:00
Yes, all aspects of Mabu meet HIPAA standards.
Where can I find the privacy policy for Mabu? 2017-03-31T17:53:26+00:00
Is Mabu waterproof? 2017-03-01T19:22:13+00:00
Mabu is not waterproof.
How do I clean Mabu? 2017-03-01T19:22:07+00:00
Don't let any part of Mabu, including her screen, come into direct contact with water. To clean her body, you can use a damp cloth. To clean her screen, never use any type of cleaning solvent such as Windex or other chemical agents. Use only water and a lint free, scratch-resistant cloth. You can clean her screen if necessary by dampening the cloth slightly and clean the screen using soft, even strokes.
What if my Mabu arrives damaged, doesn't turn on, or breaks? 2018-01-04T17:54:18+00:00
Please refer to your insert for who to contact with any technical support issues. If you no longer have that insert, please call Mabu's toll-free Helpdesk at _PHONE_.
What do I do if I drop her or something happens to her? 2018-01-04T17:56:53+00:00
Please refer to your insert for who to contact with any technical support issues. If you no longer have that insert, please call Mabu's toll-free Helpdesk at _PHONE_.
If I have trouble setting her up, can I call someone to help set her up? 2018-01-04T17:58:21+00:00
Please refer to your insert for who to contact with any technical support issues. If you no longer have that insert, please call Mabu's toll-free Helpdesk at _PHONE_.
How do I ship her back? 2018-07-10T17:34:13+00:00
Please refer to your insert for who to contact to ship Mabu back. If you no longer have that insert, please call Mabu's toll-free Helpdesk at _PHONE_.
Catalia Health will send a pre-paid shipping label for any patients instructed to keep the original box & packaging for any returns. Follow the power off procedure described in the "Wake Up, Restart, and Power Off" section to power her off before packaging. Put support around Mabu's head and neck. Make sure the screen is protected from scratching or abrasion.
What should I do if I'm moving, traveling, or shipping Mabu to my new destination? 2018-07-10T17:33:01+00:00
Follow the power off procedure described in the "Wake Up, Restart, and Power Off" section to power her off before packaging. Put support around Mabu's head and neck. Make sure the screen is protected from scratching or abrasion.
If you're moving to an area with a different time zone for an extended period including traveling, please notify Catalia Health so that they may update her for your new time zone. Contact them at 1-8MY-MABU (_PHONE_)


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A.Word.A.Daywith Anu Garg
charactonym (KAR-ik-tuh-nim) noun
A name of a fictional character that suggests the personality traits of that character.
[From English character, from Greek charakter (marking or engraving tool) + -onym (name).]
Example: Mrs. Malaprop in Richard Sheridan's first play, The Rivals. She was known for misusing words with humorous results. From mal- (bad) + apropos (fitting).
A related word is aptronym, a name that's especially suited to one's profession, e.g. Sally Ride, the astronaut.
"The easy-going Lovewit lives up to his charactonym; he enjoys a good
joke, and condones mischief when it is clever and profitable to
An idea is not responsible for the people who believe in it. -Don Marquis, humorist and poet (_PHONE_)
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© 2013 Wordsmith

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


The History of the Smallest Park in the World
mill ends park, portland, smallest park in the world
written by Bronte Dod | photos by Rob Kerr
At just 2 feet across and with an area of 452 square inches, a circular cement urban park sits in the middle of Downtown Portland's Naito Parkway. Mill Ends Park, recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the smallest park in the world, came about in 1948 when columnist Dick Fagan of the Oregon Journal planted flowers in a hole where city workers failed to put a light post.
mill ends park, portland, smallest park in the world
Strange happenings involve Mill Ends Park. Take the Occupy Portland movement in 2011, when someone placed plastic green army men at the park. In 2013, someone stole the park's sapling, but it resurfaced the next day. Mill Ends also caused a brief international dispute in 2014, when citizens in Burntwood, England, thought the record should be held by a park there, because it actually served as a recreation area. In the end, Mill Ends keeps its title, cementing its place in Portland's long list of popular oddities and shenanigans.
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text: Compassion is a complex skill involving both psychological (invisible) components and behavioral (visible) manifestations. In a new generation of Social-Emotional Learning programs that target compassion like Social, Emotional, and Ethical Learning (SEE LearningTM), these skills are hypothesized to both develop naturally and to be cultivated intentionally through enrichment efforts. The challenge is that few developmentally appropriate, behavioral performance-based measures of compassion exist to test the primary impact of compassion cultivation programs for school-aged students on their compassion, a primary effect hypothesized to mediate secondary-order program impacts (resilience, social-emotional wellbeing, physical health, and positive relationships) in students. Furthermore, the challenge is to create new measures in an ecologically valid manner that assesses both the underlying skills and behavioral outcomes in developing children. The model of compassion we use has implicit in it a series of developing subskills that comprise compassion across development. In the proposed study, we aim to design and test the reliability and validity of a performance-based measure of compassion for school-aged children. We will also examine the measure for sensitivity to intervention via an evaluation of the SEE Learning program. We hope that this measure is used by anyone interested in assessing compassion in children.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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Assigning the result of a Boolean calculation into a variable is no different than assigning the result of number calculations or text string joins.
The following are examples of assigning the results of comparisons into new or existing Boolean variables.
1 var timeToEat = me === hungry; 2 var affordable = price < budget; 3 passed = mark >= pass;
Assigning the results of a comparison to a Boolean variable
1 Creates a new Boolean variable timeToEat that will be true if and only if the current values in me and hungry are both the same data type and value, otherwise it will be false
2 Creates a new Boolean variable affordable that will be true if the value in price is less than the value in budget.
3 updates the existing variable pass (or creates a new global variable if it doesn't) that contains true if the value in mark and pass are equal or the value in mark is greater than the value in pass
You only need to assign the result of a comparison to a Boolean variable like this when you need to test that result in multiple places in your code. Where the result of the comparison is only needed once it is more common to test the comparison itself, rather than assigning it to a variable first.
This tutorial first appeared on _URL_ and is reproduced here with the permission of the author.


Scanning Channels on your TV
After hooking up the coax cable, your TV still won't work! You may receive the analog channels (anything under 36), but a channel scan is required to pick up the digital channels.
The channel scan process is simple, but varies between manufacturer and model.
 1. First, ensure that the TV is in Cable mode, instead of Air or Antenna (these modes are for "bunny ears," not cable TV).
 2. Some TVs will ask what kind of cable channel scan you want to do. Choose Cable STD (Cable Standard) if given the option – do no select HRC or IRC.
 3. If prompted, choose to scan for analog and digital channels.
 4. The channel scan will take approximately 5-30 minutes, depending on the TV.
 5. After the scan completes, you should see the lower quality analog channels (35 and under), and the high-quality HD channels (36.1 and up).
Here's an example of how to scan channels on an LG TV. To find more information on your specific model, simply Google search "your-model" channel scan.

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Has government expanded significantly? > Check the facts
Who: The size of the Commonwealth government 'has expanded significantly' according to the terms of reference for the National Commission of Audit.
The claim: In the preamble to the terms of reference Treasurer Joe Hockey and Finance Minister Mathias Corman said that there had not been a thorough review of the 'scope, efficiency and functions of the Commonwealth government [since 1996]. During this time the size of the Commonwealth government has expanded significantly, as has the remit of some of its activities'.
The facts: The last National Commission of Audit was in 1996. The size of the government since then can be measured using government payments or outlays using official figures. The latest available figures were published in the Economic Statement in August 2013 just prior to the election and those figures are presented in the following graph.
The finding: It is not possible to discern any significant upward trend in the graph and by this measure government is 'smaller' in 2013 than in 1996.
Discussion of evidence: Downturns in the economy tend to increase the government share in GDP since the growth in GDP itself slows down and governments tend to respond with stimulatory spending packages. For example the increase in spending in 2000-01 was rationalised in the 2001-02 budget papers in the following terms:
The government has provided a moderate stimulus in the 2001-02 Budget through targeted tax reductions, discretionary spending and by allowing the Budget to respond to the temporary slowdown in economic growth … This is an appropriate policy response to recent economic developments.
Changes in the size of the government since 1990 have reflected:
- The 'recession we had to have' during the Hawke government,
- The downturn around 2000, and
- The downturn associated with the global financial crisis beginning in 2008.


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The absorption of research knowledge by public civil servants
Abstract:The aim of this study is to revisit the major theoretical perspectives on research utilisation by public civil servants, to propose a new conceptual framework of the absorption of research knowledge by these civil servants and to provide a first empirical testing of the proposed conceptual framework. Some of the empirical findings are particularly interesting as they seem to converge with the well-known 'bounded' aspect of rational action. For example, they show a significant association between civil servants' educational level, on the one hand, and, on the other, their propensity to communicate with academic researchers and to acquire research evidence.
Document Type: Research Article
Publication date: November 1, 2009
Evidence & Policy is the first peer-reviewed journal dedicated to comprehensive and critical assessment of the relationship between research evidence and the concerns of policy makers and practitioners, as well as researchers.
- Editorial Board
- Information for Authors
- Subscribe to this Title
- Policy Press journals homepage
- Evidence & Policy fast track articles
- Ingenta Connect is not responsible for the content or availability of external websites


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By speaking swiftly, you can indicate speed, urgency or danger. By speaking slowly, you can suggest tension, finality or fear. Slowness of pace can also indicate slowness of action. And it is a good way to emphasize a word or phrase.
Note, however, that I did not list "talking swiftly to cram more words in." This is a frequent practice—people speaking at a constantly swift pace.
The typical Toastmasters speech is a maximum of seven minutes long—and strictly timed. Going over time is frowned upon and will get you disqualified in a speech contest. When members write their initial speech, it is typically nine minutes long. They then have a choice to either edit their speech down to seven minutes or talk swiftly to get it down to that length. Guess which option most choose? Yep, they choose the latter, which is what I did when I first joined the organization.
So why does it matter? Sounds communicate the literal meaning of your words, expressiveness communicates something else—an implied or secondary meaning. Expressiveness is best achieved when your words have duration. Speaking quickly limits or eliminates the lengthening of individual words, and, thus, limits expressiveness. If your sole purpose is to communicate information, and intellectual connection is your only objective, speaking quickly can be effective. (That is, if you are not speaking so quickly that people can't understand what you are saying.) If, however, you want to connect with your audience on both an intellectual and an emotional level, you will find it much more effective if you slow down to a normal pace.
You might ask, "Yes, but don't some professional speakers speak quickly? Doesn't that indicate that it is effective?" Yes, to a point. I would suggest that these speakers have found a way to introduce some expressiveness into their style; however, when I hear them, I think to myself, How much more effective could they be if they slowed down and stretched out their words?
This article was reprinted from Bill Brown's Speech Delivery Tips email series.


Reaching for Higher Ground: Youth Activism in the Mountains
Produced by Appalshop, this video tells the story of Appalachian high school students who took action against government agencies for allowing corporations to poison their water.
Questions to Consider and Discuss
 - In watching this, what do you see? What are the people doing, and why?
 - What problem or issue are they trying to address? What actions are they taking, and with what effects?
 - What next steps would you advise them to take?


text: Traditionally, medical training has focused on step-by-step instructions of new skills. However, this may result in inflexible skills, which students cannot apply to new problems. To test whether instructions focusing on external context produce more flexible skills, we taught seventeen fourth year medical students the induction of anesthesia in a human patient simulator, either by giving them step-by-step instructions of the task (list learning) or by explaining the subgoals of the task and the external preconditions for the actions (monitors and patient state) (context learning). At the end of the experiment, an unexpected complication arose, requiring the participants to reconsider the effects of their actions. Results showed no significant differences between the groups in learning performance, in complication response time or diagnosis. Possibly, the context condition still focused too much on internal knowledge structures and external cues may be even more important in skill acquisition.


%0 Journal Article %T Mesoscopic Simulation of Forced Convective Heat Transfer of Carreau-Yasuda Fluid Flow over an Inclined Square: Temperature-dependent Viscosity %J Journal of Applied and Computational Mechanics %I Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz %Z 2383-4536 %A Jalali, Ali %A Amiri Delouei, Amin %A Khorashadizadeh, Mojtaba %A Golmohamadi, A.M. %A Karimnejad, Sajjad %D 2020 %\ 04/01/2020 %V 6 %N 2 %P 307-319 %! Mesoscopic Simulation of Forced Convective Heat Transfer of Carreau-Yasuda Fluid Flow over an Inclined Square: Temperature-dependent Viscosity %K Carreau-Yasuda model %K Temperature-dependent viscosity %K Inclined square %K Lattice Boltzmann method %R 10.22055/jacm.2019.29503.1605 %X In the current study, non-Newtonian flow pattern and heat transfer in an enclosure containing a tilted square are examined. In order to numerically simulate the problem, the mesoscopic lattice Boltzmann method is utilized. The non-Newtonian Carreau-Yasuda model is employed. It is able to adequately handle the shear-thinning case. The simulation results of flow and heat transfer have been successfully verified with the previous studies. Several parameters such as Nusselt number, Drag coefficient, and Carreau number are investigated in details. Considering the temperature-dependent viscosity, it is seen that with increasing thetemperature-thinning index, the drag coefficient increases, but the Nusselt number decreases. By rotating the square obstacle, the results display that increasing the angle of inclination from zero to 45 degrees, increases both the drag coefficient and the Nusselt number. Also, the highest rate of heat transfer occur at the angle of 45 degrees (diamond); however it has a negative impact on the Drag coefficient. %U _URL_


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A team of researchers at Sandia National Laboratories has developed small, gold antennas that let IR cameras and sensors "see" clearer pictures of thermal radiation for everything from stars and galaxies to people, buildings, and items passing through security.
The team developed a nanoantenna and a detector that boost the signal of an IR camera by a factor of three and improve image quality by reducing dark current, a major component of image noise, by a factor of 10 to 100.
Thermal cameras and sensors have been around for 50 years, but the traditional design of the detector that sits behind the camera lens or a sensor's optics seems to be reaching its performance limits, according to Sandia researchers David Peters. He says that improving the sensitivity of IR detectors is important for both Sandia's national security work and for other uses, such as astronomical research.
The sensitivity and image quality of IR detectors usually depend on a thick layer of detector material that absorbs incoming heat and turns it into an electrical signal that can be collected and converted into an image. The thickness of the detector layer determines how much heat can be absorbed and read by the camera, but thick layers have drawbacks.
Nanoantenna-enabled IR detector built at Sandia National Lab on an assembled focal plane array will be used with a thermal infrared camera. The gold nanoantennas are so small they aren't visible on top of the detector array. (Courtesy: Sandia National Lab)
"The detector material is always spontaneously creating electrons that are collected and add noise to the image, which reduces image quality," Peters explains. "This phenomenon, called dark current, increases along with the thickness of the detector material. So, the thicker the material, the more noise it creates in images."
The research team's new detector design does away with the thick layers and instead uses a subwavelength nanoantenna, a patterned array of gold square or cross shapes that concentrates light on a thinner layer of detector material. This design uses just a detectors fraction of a micron thick. Traditional IR detectors are 5 to 10 microns thick.
The nanoantenna helps detectors see more than 50% of an object's infrared radiation while also reducing image distortion caused by dark current. Current detectors can only see about 25% of infrared radiation. The nanoantenna could also be part of new detectors not possible with existing technology.
"For example, with nanoantennas, it's possible to expand the amount of information acquired in an image by controlling the spectral response at the pixel level," Peters says.
The team makes the nanoantenna-enabled detectors by slightly altering the usual process for making IR detectors. It starts by "growing" the detector material on top of a thin wafer. The detector material is then flipped onto a layer of electronics that read the signals collected by the nanoantenna and detector layer. After discarding the wafer, a tiny amount of gold is applied to create a patterned nanoantenna layer on top of the detector material.
"We have proven this concept and the technology is ready to be commercialized," says Peters. " This concept can be applied to different detector types, so there's an opportunity for manufacturers to combine this technology with their detectors."

source: m-a-p/FineFineWeb


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How to: Navigate in the Object Browser
The Object Browser displays hierarchical structures within the current browsing scope in the Objects pane. You can expand structures in the Objects pane to reveal ordered lists of their members. Expanding an object also displays additional information about it, such as base classes, implemented interfaces, and available overrides.
Properties, methods, events, variables, constants, and other contained items are listed in the Members pane. Details on the item selected in the Members pane appear in the Description pane. As you select objects and members, they are added to the Object Browser's history list. For more information on the elements of the Object Browser and how they work, see.
To move from a symbol to a related symbol
Select the symbol in the Objects or Members pane.
This updates the Description pane to display related symbols, such as the parent object, parameter and return types, and default constant values.
In the Description pane, click the link to the desired symbol.
The Object Browser displays the related symbol, and this symbol is added to the history list.
To move through the history list
Click the Back (left arrow) button to go back to the previously selected symbol. You can do this repeatedly to navigate through previously selected symbols until you reach the first browsed symbol.
If you go back using the Back button and then select another symbol, all entries in the Forward part of the history list are cleared.
Click the Forward (right arrow) button to return to the selected symbol. You can do this repeatedly until you reach the currently selected symbol.
Use the Keyboard pane in the Options dialog box to assign shortcut keys to the commands View.Forward and View.Backward. You can then use these commands to navigate quickly to the next or previous item. For more information, see.
To display the definition or declaration of a symbol
Right-click on the symbol node or on the Description pane.
Choose Go To Definition or Go To Declaration from the shortcut menu.
If the symbol is defined or declared in your code, the source file opens in the Code Editor and scrolls to the definition or declaration.
If the symbol is a.NET Framework class or COM component, Go To Definition selects its node in the Objects pane, lists its members in the Members pane, and displays details on the symbol in the Description pane.


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In general, the quality of Canterbury's groundwater and surface waters is extremely high. However, industrial, agricultural, and urban development has had varying effects on the quality of all the region's water bodies. Generally, water quality declines from the mountains to the sea, reflecting the increasing intensity of land use, changes in catchment geology, and the accumulation of contaminants.
Over the past 20 years, the quality of some of the most degraded surface waters in Canterbury has improved owing to a decrease in the impact of many point-source discharges to surface waters. However, there has been a subsequent increase in discharges to land, increasing the risk of groundwater contamination. Less attention has been paid to non-point source discharges, and these are now generally having a greater effect on water quality across Canterbury than point source discharges.
The following discussion summarises the state of water quality in this region, and describes some of the main influencing factors. The water resources have been divided into 4 main groups, based largely on their geography. The discussion on the water bodies of the Plains has been further subdivided, reflecting the diversity of water types in this area.
Lakes in the high country have the highest water quality of any surface water body in the Canterbury Region. However, all the small high country streams, small lakes, wetlands and tarns are vulnerable to contamination owing to their size.
Lake Alexandrina is the only high country lake recorded as being permanently enriched (i.e., having high nutrient concentrations) and is subject to periodic algal blooms. Lake Emma (Ashburton River catchment) and Lake Grassmere (Waimakariri River catchment) are also subject to nutrient enrichment.
High stock densities in the catchments of the small lakes and tarns, stock access to water bodies, grazing in lake margins and marginal wetlands, removal of riparian vegetation, high numbers of water birds, and drainage and/or over-sowing and top-dressing of wetlands will all adversely affect water quality and habitat values of high country water bodies.
Microbiological water quality in the foothills tends to be lower than in the High Country and Intermontane Basin zones owing to the more intensive land use and a general absence of dense riparian vegetation. The upper Selwyn River is an example, with sites around Glentunnel at times exceeding microbiological water quality guidelines for contact recreation.
There is a high risk of microbiological contamination of Banks Peninsula streams owing to stock having access to streams and defecating in or near them. Incidents of stream and spring contamination by pesticides have also been recorded. Surface water contamination is of particular concern on Banks Peninsula because stream and spring water provide the main source of domestic water supply.
Lake Forsyth (Wairewa) is eutrophic and the lake is subject to frequent toxic algal blooms.
Sediment from accelerated erosion on the Banks Peninsula hills discolours coastal waters. Concern has been expressed over the possible effects of sedimentation on the local coastal fisheries and other coastal ecosystems and on the clarity of the water for diving.
The impacts of human activity on water quality are of greatest concern in the smaller surface water bodies of the Plains, and in areas with high recreational use.
The Plains sections of the foothill-sourced rivers and groundwater-fed streams tend to be particularly vulnerable to contamination owing to the intensive land uses in their catchments combined with natural low flows (e.g., parts of the Opihi River system). The groundwater-fed streams often have nitrate concentrations, reflecting the quality of the groundwater. Many of the water bodies at times also support high populations of water birds that contribute microbiological contaminants (e.g., the Ashburton River).
All the water bodies in this area receive agricultural runoff, and some also have inputs from urban drainage systems. Most streams and the drains and stock water races that flow into them, are unfenced and stock generally have unrestricted access. Environment Canterbury is currently trying to identify the type and extent of contaminants in these systems and the need to manage them.
Concern has been expressed over present and future water contamination resulting from increases in dairying, especially in small catchments and where it is combined with border-dyke irrigation (e.g., North Waitaki floodplain streams, such as the Waikakahi Stream).
Low concentrations of pesticides (e.g., simazine and terbuthylazine,) have been found in a number of water bodies in the greater Christchurch area and other parts of the region. These concentrations fall well below the water quality guidelines to protect aquatic ecosystems;. However, for one river (the L2) two different herbicides were present in concentrations exceeding water quality guidelines for irrigation use.
Reduced water quality in the lower reaches of the Waimakariri River and the smaller foothill sourced braided rivers (the Selwyn, Ashburton and Opihi) is frequently a result of point sources of contamination, such as community sewage discharges, and, in the case of the Waimakariri River, meat processing wastes. However, these impacts are compounded by the cumulative effects of upstream non-point source activities, such as runoff from adjacent land and the effects of large numbers of water birds.
Lowland lakes, coastal lagoons, and estuaries, including Lakes Ellesmere (Te Waihora), Forsyth (Te Wairewa) and Wainono Lagoon, have the highest nutrient status of any water bodies in the region owing to their location at the lower reaches of their catchments where they act as a sink for contaminants from upstream. These water bodies also receive contaminants from runoff from surrounding intensive agricultural land uses.
The main water quality issues in urban water bodies result from contaminants (sediment, nutrients and hazardous substances) carried through the stormwater systems. Stormwater is contaminated predominantly from runoff from industrial and urban areas, and from runoff from roads and paved areas. Earthworks associated with residential developments can result in substantial increases in sediment discharge, particularly in hill catchments.
Although groundwater quality within the Plains aquifers is generally very high, there are exceptions:
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Use this free printable scripture copywork for an effective and engaging way for kids to memorize and learn about scripture at home.
I have found that using scripture copywork isnʻt only useful for my kids but I do right along with them. Copying scripture is a way that I practice learning scripture myself and encourage my kids to do the same.
.This free printable scripture copywork will help kids to map out scriptures each day of the month to add to your homeschool schedule. So, it is perfect for intentional daily scripture reading at home for your kiddos.
Use these scriptures to help kids memorize scripture, to research meaning, and to discuss more about Godʻs word with your students.
Please be advised that this is LIMITED TIME ONLY freebie fo rkid sof character.
Grab more free resources to help your kids with scriptures below:
- 30 FREE Grace Scripture Printables
- Free Scripture Prayer Cards
- Family Scripture Memory Verses
- FREE Scripture Copywork for Kids
CLICK HERE for hundreds of free homeschool printables
Be sure to follow the Free Homeschool Printables and Worksheets board on Pinterest!


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- There are nuts and threads on shaft to easily connect and internal threaded shaft to connect it to wheel
- Features: 12V DC motors with Gearbox 125gm weight Same size motor available in various RPM 5kgcm torque
- No-load current = 60 mA(Max), Load current = 600 mA(Max)
These motors are simple DC Motors featuring gears for the shaft for obtaining the optimal performance characteristics. They are known as Center Shaft DC Geared Motors because their shaft extends through the center of their gear box assembly.
These standard size DC Motors are very easy to use. Also, you don't have to spend a lot of money to control motors with an Arduino or compatible board. TheL298N H-bridge module with onboard voltage regulator motor driver can be used with this motor that has a voltage of between 5 and 35V DC.
This DC Motor – 100RPM – 12Volts can be used in all-terrain robots and a variety of robotic applications. These motors have a 3 mm threaded drill hole in the middle of the shaft thus making it simple to connect it to the wheels or any other mechanical assembly.


Riots, uprisings & plots
Atterbury Plot
The Atterbury Plot (1721–1722) was a conspiracy named after Francis Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester and Dean of Westminster, aimed at restoring the House of Stuart to the throne of Great Britain.
Battle of Howe Bridge
The Battle of Howe Bridge took place on 4 February 1881 against the background of an acrimonious strike by 50,000 miners from pits on the Lancashire coalfield that was characterised by mobs of miners picketing working pits.
Five Members
Five members of parliament whom King Charles tried to have arrested in the House of Commons on 4 January 1642.
Fortescue Conspiracy
An attempt in 1558 to foretell the duration of the the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Gunpowder Plot
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was an attempt to assassinate King James I and re-establish a Catholic monarchy by blowing up the House of Lords.
Leighth Feight
The Leighth Feight was a clash between Chartists and police in Leigh in Lancashire in August 1839.
Peterloo Massacre
The Peterloo Massacre (or Battle of Peterloo) occurred at St Peter's Field, Manchester, England, on 16 August 1819, when cavalry charged into a crowd of 60,000–80,000 that had gathered to demand the reform of parliamentary representation.
Power-loom riots
The power-loom riots of 1826 took place in Lancashire, England, in protest against the economic hardship suffered by traditional hand loom weavers caused by the widespread introduction of the much more efficient power loom.
Waldegrave Conspiracy
The Waldregrave Conspiracy of 1561 was a supposed plot to kill Queen Elizabeth I and reintroduce Catholicism to England.


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Hiram Bingham III
|United States Senator
December 17, 1924 – March 4, 1933
|Preceded by||Frank Bosworth Brandegee|
|Succeeded by||Augustine Lonergan|
|69th Governor of Connecticut|
January 7 – January 8, 1925
|Lieutenant||John H. Trumbull|
|Preceded by||Charles A. Templeton|
|Succeeded by||John H. Trumbull|
|58th Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut|
|Governor||Charles A. Templeton|
|Preceded by||Charles A. Templeton|
|Succeeded by||John H. Trumbull|
November 19, 1875|
|Died||June 6, 1956
|Spouse(s)||1) Alfreda Mitchell (div.)
2) Suzanne Carroll Hill
|Children||Jonathan Brewster Bingham
Hiram Bingham IV
Charles Tiffany Bingham
Alfred Mitchell Bingham
|Alma mater||Yale University
University of California-Berkeley
|Service/branch||United States National Guard
United States Army Signal Corps Aviation Section
United States Army Air Service
Hiram Bingham, formally Hiram Bingham III, (November 19, 1875 – June 6, 1956) was an academic, explorer, treasure hunter and politician from the United States. He made public the existence of the Quechua citadel of Machu Picchu in 1911 with the guidance of local indigenous farmers. Later, Bingham served as a member of the United States Senate.
Bingham was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Hiram Bingham II (1831–1908), an early Protestant missionary to the Kingdom of Hawai'i, the grandson of Hiram Bingham I (1789–1869), another missionary. He attended O'ahu College, now known as Punahou School in Hawai'i from 1882 to 1892. He went to the United States in his teens in order to complete his education, entering Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, from which he graduated in 1894. He obtained a B.A. degree from Yale University in 1898, a degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1900, and a Ph. D. degree from Harvard University in 1905. While at Yale, Bingham was a member of Acacia Fraternity. He taught history and politics at Harvard and then served as preceptor under Woodrow Wilson at Princeton University. In 1907, Yale University appointed Bingham III as a lecturer in South American history.
Bingham was not a trained archaeologist. Yet, it was during Bingham's time as a lecturer – later professor – at Yale that he discovered the largely forgotten Inca city of Machu Picchu. In 1908, he had served as delegate to the First Pan American Scientific Congress at Santiago, Chile. On his way home via Peru, a local prefect convinced him to visit the pre-Columbian city of Choquequirao. Bingham published an account of this trip in Across South America; an account of a journey from Buenos Aires to Lima by way of Potosí, with notes on Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru (1911).
Bingham was thrilled by the prospect of unexplored Inca cities, and in 1911 returned to the Andes with the Yale Peruvian Expedition of 1911. On July 24, 1911, Melchor Arteaga led Bingham to Machu Picchu, which had been largely forgotten by everybody except the small number of people living in the immediate valley (possibly including two local missionaries named Thomas Payne and Stuart McNairn whose descendants claim that they had already climbed to the ruins in 1906). Also the Cusco explorers Enrique Palma, Gabino Sanchez and Agustín Lizarraga are said to have arrived at the site in 1901.
Bingham returned to Peru in 1912 and 1915 with the support of Yale and the National Geographic Society.
Machu Picchu has become one of the major tourist attractions in South America, and Bingham is recognized as the man who brought the site to world attention, although many others helped to bring this site into the public eye. The switchback-filled road that carries tourist buses to the site from the Urubamba River is called the Hiram Bingham Highway.
Peru has long sought the return of the estimated 40,000 artifacts, including mummies, ceramics and bones, that Bingham had excavated and exported from the Machu Picchu site. On September 14, 2007, an agreement was made between Yale University and the Peruvian government for the return of the objects. On April 12, 2008, the Peruvian government stated that it had revised previous estimates of 4,000 pieces up to 40,000.
Prior discoverers of Machu Picchu
Soon after Bingham announced the existence of Machu Picchu others came forward claiming to have seen the city first, such as the British missionary Thomas Payne and a German engineer named J. M. von Hassel. Recent discoveries have put forth a new claimant, a German named Augusto Berns who bought land opposite the Machu Picchu mountain in the 1860s and then tried to raise money from investors to plunder nearby Incan ruins. An 1874 map shows the site of Machu Picchu.
Marriage and family
He married Alfreda Mitchell, granddaughter of Charles L. Tiffany, on November 20, 1899, and had seven sons: Woodbridge (1901–1986) (professor), Hiram Bingham IV (1903–1988) (diplomat and World War II hero), Alfred Mitchell Bingham (1905–1998) (lawyer and author), Charles Tiffany (1906–1993) (physician), Brewster (1908–1995) (minister), Mitchell (1910–1994) (artist), and Jonathan Brewster Bingham (1914–1986) (Democratic Congressman). After a divorce he married Suzanne Carroll Hill in June 1937.
In 1982 Temple University Press published Char Miller's doctoral dissertation on the Bingham family titled "Fathers and sons: The Bingham family and the American mission."
Bingham achieved the rank of captain of the Connecticut National Guard in 1916. In 1917, he became an aviator and organized the United States Schools of Military Aeronautics at eight universities to provide ground school training for aviation cadets. He served the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps and the Air Service, attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel. In Issoudun, France, Bingham commanded the Third Aviation Instruction Center, the Air Service's largest primary instruction and pursuit training school. He became a supporter of the Air Service in their post-war quest for independence from the Army and supported that effort, in part, with the publication of his wartime experiences titled, An Explorer in the Air Service published in 1920 by Yale University Press.
In 1922, Bingham was elected Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut, an office he held until 1924. In November 1924, he was elected Governor. On December 16, 1924, Bingham was also elected as a Republican to serve in the United States Senate to fill a vacancy created by the suicide of Frank Bosworth Brandegee. Bingham defeated noted educator Hamilton Holt by a handy margin. Now both Governor-elect and Senator-elect, Bingham served as Governor for one day, the shortest term of any Connecticut Governor.
Bingham was re-elected to a full six-year term in the Senate in 1926.
Senator Bingham was Chairman of the Committee on Printing and then Chairman of the Committee on Territories and Insular Possessions. President Calvin Coolidge appointed Bingham to the President's Aircraft Board during his first term in the Senate; the press quickly dubbed the ex-explorer "The Flying Senator".
Bingham failed in his second reelection effort in the wake of the 1932 Democratic landslide following the Great Depression and left the Senate at the end of his second term in 1933.
During World War II, Bingham lectured at several United States Navy training schools. In 1951, Bingham was appointed Chairman of the Civil Service Commission Loyalty Review Board, an assignment he kept through 1953.
Censure In The Senate
The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee investigated an arrangement between Bingham, his clerk, and a lobbyist who agreed to pass information on to Bingham's office after executing a plan that was irregular, "even by the standards of his day." Bingham took his clerk off duty, and paid his salary to the lobbyist, thus allowing him to attend as a Senate staffer to closed meetings of the Finance Committee's deliberations on tariff legislation.
The initial ruling of the Judiciary Subcommittee was a condemnation of Bingham's scheme; but recommended no formal Senate action. Subsequently, Bingham decided to label the subcommittee's inquiry as a partisan witch hunt, provoking further Senate interest which eventually led to a resolution of censure that passed on November 4, 1929, by a vote of 54 to 22.
On June 6, 1956, Bingham died at his Washington, D.C. home. He was interred at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
- "Yale Expedition to Peru". Bulletin of the Geographical Society of Philadelphia. vol. 10. 1912. pp. 134–136.
- The trail less trampled on in USA Today by Gene Sloan, September 23


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Five Reasons Christians Should Embrace Economic Freedom
A very helpful article by Anne Bradley at The Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics.
Here's a great part, which shows the connection between our mandate as Christians to care for the poor and the importance of economic freedom as a means of enabling the poor to lift themselves from poverty:
Reason #2: We are Called to Serve the Poor
We are told in Scripture that the righteous care about justice for the poor.14 Christians believe that poverty is an affront to human dignity. Justice means enabling the poor to elevate their dignity by helping them escape the trappings of poverty. There is no other way of organizing society that has lifted more people out of poverty than global markets which are supported by economic freedom. According to a recent Brookings Report, nearly half a billion people escaped living at or below the poverty line between 2005 and 2010. Never before in history have so many found liberation from poverty in such a short time. The report goes on to say that the change is driven by the highest levels of sustained economic growth ever recorded in the developing world.15
The principles of economic freedom provide a blueprint for human flourishing. Markets consist not of a physical place, but of a mechanism of human coordination and cooperation. They bring unique individuals together to trade their time and talents in the service of others. For example, greater flourishing fostered by economic freedom ensures that poor women can open businesses without being overburdened by regulations and entry barriers that would keep them in poverty.


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Who We Are
The Byelich Foundation plans to open a self-sustaining, viable Primary School in Uganda, Africa.Â This vision came about when Matthew Byelich, a veteran of the Iraq War, volunteered as a teacher in Uganda.Â While teaching, he noticed problems in the educational system.
Being concerned, Byelich discussed the difficulties with with two Ugandan teachers, Jesse William Emuge and Michael Mujimba.Â It was agreed that a new type of school was needed in Uganda.Â Jesse and Michael have been working on the logistics of building and operating this planned school.Â They have devised a structure to fix the problem that is holding most schools in Uganda back.
The Issue at Hand
The major problem comes from the actual school system.Â For example, a passing grade is just a twenty percent.Â With this low standard, children are able to move on to the next grade without learning the material.Â Also, textbooks and other resource for educational are rarely seen in the classroom.Â Due to these difficulties, educators are not given the proper system to become effective teachers.
The key to fixing this problem is simple: we must first create a self-sustainable school and teach the teacher
s how to teach. This can be done by creating workshops, which will give the faculty different teaching tools and techniques. The instructors of these workshops will primarily be Ugandans.Â Â However, my sister, Leann Byelich, and Dave Schwind, who both have a degree in education, will be playing an active role in the schoolâ€™s development.Â Leann and Dave plan on building strong teachers by holding workshops for the teachers before the start of the new school year.
How You Can Help
You can help give the Uganda children the education system that they need and deserve by making a one time or recurring donation. Â By simply donating as little as $10 a month, we can begin to build the foundation of an efficient and effective school system.
Based on a preliminary proposal, it will take $19,500 to obtain the land and build the school.Â Another $6,300 will be needed to make the school functional.Â The fixed costs and variable costs for the first year are projected to be about $11,000.Â Basically it will cost about $36,600 to start up the school.Â In order for the school to be successful, the school has to be self-sufficient.
The Byelich Foundation Inc. has been approved to be exempt from Federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.Â Any donations or contributions to the Byelich Foundation Inc. can be a tax deductible under section 170 of the code.


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You heard right. It seems that unusual species names aren't limited to scientists' favorite rock stars or Star Wars figures—now Internet search engines are in the game. Entomologist Brian Fisher named a new species of ant, Proceratium google, in honor of the mapping program Google Earth. Fisher, who chairs the entomology department at the California Academy of
Sciences, was impressed with the support he got from the Google Earth team when he was integrating the online warehouse of ant data, AntWeb, with the search functions of Google Earth. Now scientists can plot ant habitats in three dimensions or search for ant species by location. For the record, P. google lives in Madagascar and feasts exclusively on spider eggs. Get more ant facts at antweb.org.
Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more.


William C. Evans G.E. Hilley M.L. Sorey J.D. Rogie S.L. Brantley J.L. Lewicki 2003 We evaluate a comprehensive soil CO2 survey along the San Andreas fault (SAF) in Parkfield, and the Calaveras fault (CF) in Hollister, California, in the context of spatial and temporal variability, origin, and transport of CO2 in fractured terrain. CO2 efflux was measured within grids with portable instrumentation and continously with meteorological parameters at a fixed station, in both faulted and unfaulted areas. Spatial and temporal variability of surface CO2 effluxes was observed to be higher at faulted SAF and CF sites, relative to comparable background areas. However, ??13C (-23.3 to - 16.4???) and ??14C (75.5 to 94.4???) values of soil CO2 in both faulted and unfaulted areas are indicative of biogenic CO2, even though CO2 effluxes in faulted areas reached values as high as 428 g m-2 d-1. Profiles of soil CO2 concentration as a function of depth were measured at multiple sites within SAF and CF grids and repeatedly at two locations at the SAF grid. Many of these profiles suggest a surprisingly high component of advective CO2 flow. Spectral and correlation analysis of SAF CO2 efflux and meteorological parameter time series indicates that effects of wind speed variations on atmospheric air flow though fractures modulate surface efflux of biogenic CO2. The resulting areal patterns in CO2 effluxes could be erroneously attributed to a deep gas source in the absence of isotopic data, a problem that must be addressed in fault zone soil gas studies. application/pdf en Shallow soil CO2 flow along the San Andreas and Calaveras Faults, California article


Link Search Menu Expand Document
Legal powers
See also the discussion of legal powers in our Working Paper on Text-driven Normativity.
Working definition
 1. A legal power refers to the ability of a legal subject to achieve an intended legal effect
 2. A legal power is attributed by positive law
 3. One can have a legal power to attribute legal powers
 4. All legal powers are both constituted and constrained by positive law
 5. The written or unwritten Constitution of a state attributes legal powers to legislate, administrate and adjudicate, thus calling them into existence (the constitution 'constitutes' these powers), and qualifying them (the constitution also 'regulates' these powers, e.g. by attributing them to countervailing powers)
 6. In the case of public law legal powers are constrained by the legality principle.
 7. In the case of private law legal powers are constrained by the reasonableness principle (or equity in common law jurisdictions).
 8. The attribution of legal power plays out in all domains of law:
 1. Private law, for instance, attributes to the owner of a legal good the legal power to transfer related property rights, provided specific conditions have been fulfilled
 2. Criminal law, for instance, attributes to the court the legal power to impose specified (maximum) punishments, provided the conditions of a specific criminal offence have been fulfilled
 3. Administrative law, for instance, attributes to legal subjects the legal power to object to decisions made by public administration, provided specific conditions apply
 4. International law, for instance, attributes to states the legal power to conclude treaties, subject to the constraints imposed by the sources of international law
This section's contents
This page was last updated on 13 July 2021.


Carbon/Glass and Rule of Mixtures
Maybe once a week I hear a suggestion that someone wants to slightly punch up a glass laminate with a bit of carbon. Or even a bit of Kevlar. I have even seen laminates on a roll with a small bit of carbon mixed in with the largely glass roll. It is seen like a vitamin I guess.
Bad news, it doesn't work that way. The problem is the difference between each material's stretch to failure percentage. E-glass is around 6%. Carbon is typically around1%. So, for example, if you had half of each in a laminate, when the carbon started to fail, the e-glass would be only contributing some 17% of its possible strength. Another way I have heard to visualize this is to imagine two boards several feet apart. A steel wire, and a rubber band connect them to each other. Imagine that each will fail at 100 lbs pull. The rubber band is doing nothing yet, as the steel fails and breaks.
E-glass can be laminated with carbon, if they are not both oriented in the zero degree axis for example. The carbon could be on the 0 degree and e-glass could be on the off axis. The off axis will contribute almost nothing to the strength, but will help keep the zeros in column and add some shock absorbing ability to the laminate.
3 thoughts on "Carbon/Glass and Rule of Mixtures"
 1. Is it also safe to assume that it's best to use carbon fiber in conjunction with woods (& other materials) which have the same/similar moduli of stiffness? Unless, of course, the wood will be totally encapsulated with carbon, & only be functioning as a core, not as a structural componnent of the part in question?
 1. Yes plywood works very well with carbon. Both have similar stretch to failure. Is called a live core as it also helps with the loads. I have a paper on that I will publish soon. Based on lecture I gave to SCCC Boatbuilding School.
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_USER_'s answer is correct. There is no exact closed-form formula for call prices or implied vols as a function of local vols, which is unique and ironic, given there are formulas the other way around. The closest thing to a practical exact formula, to my knowledge, is the harmonic short maturity expansion given in the answer.
However, (and this is a direct answer to your question), the so-called "sigma-zero" formula does provide an exact expression for the implied vol as a function of the local vols, although this is an implicit formula, and the evaluation of some of its terms requires a numerical implementation. Hence, this formula, despite being exact, is not directly usable in practice.
Here is the formula (this is a more general formula that also works with stochastic volatility, for local volatility, replace the conditional expectation of the local variance by the square of the local vol):
- The implied variance is a weighted average of local variances over time and spots.
- The weights are the product of the probability density (which is not known analytically in local vol models and must be computed numerically, for instance with FDM over the Fokker-Planck equation) by the gamma (computed in Black-Scholes with the resulting implied vol, making the formula implicit).
For a demonstration, please see this video: Antoine Savine, RiO2018 or access its slides on SlideShare. You may also consult my lecture notes here, slides 71-78.
Note that the sigma-zero formula was also found (but not published) by Dupire, and his demonstration is particularly enlightening, in what it comes from an analysis of hedge errors.
Despite its impracticality, this formula offers a deep intuition of how local vols combine to produce European option prices and implied vols, and it has been the basis of a vast amount of work to find more or less precise, more or less complicated practical approximations, most prominently by Blacher (see his talk on RiO 2018 on YouTube) and Gatheral (in his famous textbook Volatility Surface).
By far the simplest (but definitely not the most accurate!!) of these approximations is to note, as seen on the picture, that probability density is maximal on the spot today, whereas gamma is maximum at the strike at maturity, hence a simple approximation is to average local variances from these two points, ignoring the rest of the surface.
And this exactly is the approximation you are asking about :)


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- Høgsteinen Lighthouse, Giske. Built in 1857 and inactive since 1905 Høgsteinen stands at the end of a stone mole marking the southeast point of Godøy island.
- The round brick tower with lantern and gallery stands 36 feet/11 meters tall. It is painted white with the lantern roof painted red. This is one of the few brick lighthouses ever built in Norway, and it is protected under the Cultural Heritage Act.
- Althought lighthouse is accessible by walking the mole, and the site is open, the tower is closed.
- The island of Godøy (or Godøy) is connected to Ålesund by a series of bridges and tunnels and is part of the Giske municipality, in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway.
- It lies north-northwest of the town of Ålesund in the Sunnmøre traditional district.
- The municipality is composed of four islands: Giske, which gives its name to the municipality because of its historical importance, Vigra, which is where Ålesund's airport is located, Valderøy, where the municipal administration is located, and Godøy. There are also many smaller islands within its boundaries. The islands are connected by a network of tunnels and the Giske Bridge. The Alnes Lighthouse and the Storholmen Lighthouse are both located on islands in the municipality.
- Giske is the site of Mjelthaugen, an ancient burial place dating from the Bronze Age. The site was the location of excavations in 1847, 1867 and 1878. Giske is also the place where, according to Snorre Sturlason, Harald Fairhair had his hair cut after uniting Norway. The historic Giske church is also located on the island of Giske.
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Foreword Reviews
Making Eden
How Plants Transformed a Barren Planet
Making Eden is a sweeping history of plant evolution that demonstrates both the development and fragility of plant life.
Natural sciences professor David Beerling's book is a comprehensive evolutionary history that traces the birth and maturity of this planet's plants. Sound and alluring, it exposes readers to phenomena like the remarkable complexity of plants, the genetic commonality that enables an incredible variety of flowers, and the fascinating biological secret behind the resilience of redwood trees that flourish despite their immense size.
One of the book's key focuses is the interrelationship of plants and animals. "Our brains are wired to notice animals, not plants," Beerling writes, yet plant life is "a prerequisite for sustaining a consumer society of land-dwelling animals." He makes a strong case that plants "paved the way for the evolution of terrestrial animals, and ultimately led to the appearance of human beings." Plants were, are, and will continue to be essential to the well-being of human beings, says Beerling.
The text also addresses the negative impact that humans have on plants and the Earth in general. Growing populations and increased agricultural production have imperiled the Earth to the extent that plant species are likely to risk extinction, albeit slow extinction. This reality, in combination with climate change, suggests the need for fundamental change.
One cannot help but be humbled by the sophistication and abundance of nature and plant life promulgated on Earth. That story unfolds with beauty in Making Eden. While David Beerling is cautiously optimistic, he also argues that we must "reject the grim alternative future of sending our emerald planet back to the drab world of the distant past."
Reviewed by Barry Silverstein
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Center for Brain, Consciousness, and Cognition
Mission of the Center
The mission of the Center for Brain, Consciousness and Cognition is to delineate brain functioning during higher stages of human development.
We have focused our research on practice of the Transcendental Meditation® technique because it quickly leads to the the state of Transcendental Consciousness, pure self-awareness, and with regular practice leads to higher states of consciousness. This research program has focused on:
- Sub-stages within a Transcendental Meditation session
- Brain patterns and subjective experience of Transcendental Consciousness, or pure self-awareness free from the processes and contents of knowing, a proposed fourth state of consciousness
- Brain patterns and subjective experience of Cosmic Consciousness — the integration of Transcendental Consciousness with waking, dreaming and sleeping, a proposed fifth state of consciousness.
"If the purpose of higher education is to enable an individual to think and act successfully, then education is significant only when it enlivens the whole brain. Therefore, the level of integrated brain functioning is a reliable gauge of the success of a student's educational experience."
— Dr. Fred Travis


In Frontiers in neuroscience ; h5-index 72.0
Purpose : Recently, we developed a novel active learning framework, qVFM, to map visual functions in the visual field. The method has been implemented and validated in measuring light sensitivity and contrast sensitivity visual field maps (VFMs) of normal observers. In this study, we evaluated the performance of the qVFM method in mapping the light sensitivity VFM of simulated patients with peripheral scotoma, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and cataract.
Methods : For each simulated patient, we sampled 100 locations (60 × 60 degrees) of the visual field and compared the performance of the qVFM method with a procedure that tests each location independently (the qYN method) in a cued Yes/No task. Two different switch modules, the distribution sampling method (DSM) and parameter delivering method (PDM), were implemented in the qVFM method. Simulated runs of 1,200 trials were used to compare the accuracy and precision of the qVFM-DSM, qVFM-PDM and qYN methods.
Results : The qVFM method with both switch modules can provide accurate, precise, and efficient assessments of the light sensitivity VFM for the simulated patients, with the qVFM-PDM method better at detecting VFM deficits in the simulated glaucoma.
Conclusions : The qVFM method can be used to characterize residual vision of simulated ophthalmic patients. The study sets the stage for further investigation with real patients and potential translation of the method into clinical practice.
Xu Pengjing, Lesmes Luis Andres, Yu Deyue, Lu Zhong-Lin
Bayesian adaptive testing, active learning, age-related macular degeneration, cataract, glaucoma, perimetry, scotoma, visual-field map


The health of the Aave Protocol is dependant on the 'health' of the loans within the system, also known as the 'health factor'. When the 'health factor' of an account's total loans is below 1, anyone can make a liquidationCall() to the LendingPool contract, paying back part of the debt owed and receiving discounted collateral in return (also known as the liquidation bonus as listed here).
This incentivises third parties to participate in the health of the overall protocol, by acting in their own interest (to receive the discounted collateral) and as a result, ensure loans are sufficiently collateralised.
There are multiple ways to participate in liquidations:
 1. By using the Liquidations module in the Aave app:
 2. By calling the liquidationCall() directly in the LendingPool contract.
 3. By creating your own automated bot or system to liquidate loans.
This section will focus on (2) and (3).
For liquidation calls to be profitable, you must take into account the gas cost involved in liquidating the loan. If a high gas price is used, then the liquidation may be unprofitable for you. See the 'Calculating profitability vs gas cost' section for more details.
0. Prerequisites
When making a liquidationCall(), you must:
 - Know the account (i.e. the ethereum address: _user) whose health factor is below 1.
 - Know the valid debt amount (_purchaseAmount) and debt asset (_reserve) that can be paid.
 - The close factor is 0.5, which means that only a maximum of 50% of the debt can be liquidated per valid liquidationCall().
 - As mentioned here, you can set the _purchaseAmount to uint(-1) and the protocol will proceed with the highest possible liquidation allowed by the close factor.
 - You must already have a sufficient balance of the debt asset, which will be used by the liquidationCall() to pay back the debts.
 - Know the collateral asset (_collateral) you are closing. I.e. the collateral asset that the user has 'backing' their outstanding loan that you will partly receive as a 'bonus'.
 - Whether you want to receive aTokens or the underlying asset (_receiveaToken) after a successful liquidationCall().
1. Getting accounts to liquidate
Only user accounts that have a health factor below 1 can be liquidated. There are multiple ways you can get the health factor, with most of them involving 'user account data'.
"Users" in the Aave Protocol refer to a single ethereum address that has interacted with the protocol. This can be an externally owned account or contract.
 1. To gather user account data from on-chain data, one way would be to monitor emitted events from the protocol and keep an up to date index of user data locally.
 1. Events are emitted each time a user interacts with the protocol (deposit, repay, borrow, etc). A list of these events can be found in the Emitted Events section.
 2. When you have the user's address, you can simply call getUserAccountData() to read the user's current healthFactor. If the healthFactor is below 1, then the account can be liquidated.
The liquidations endpoint (both app and API) are currently being reworked.
The liquidations interface in the app will return soon. The liquidations API data should be double checked via getUserAccountData on LendingPool.
We have a limited API that powers, that is also publicly available. Note that there is a small delay on the API due to Redis caching to prevent server overload. The server data is fetched every 20 seconds.
 1. To access this API, send a GET request to for the main Aave market, or for the Uniswap market.
 2. Data for all the user accounts that can be liquidated (i.e. health factor < 1) will be returned as JSON. An example is below:
"data": [
"principalBorrows": "0.004465184096266527",
"currentBorrows": "0.004490492698072727",
"currentBorrowsETH": "0.004490492698072727",
"currentBorrowsUSD": "_PHONE_",
"reserve": {
"id": "0xeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee0x24a42fd28c976a61df5d00d0599c34c4f90748c8",
"underlyingAsset": "0xeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee",
"symbol": "ETH",
"decimals": 18,
"__typename": "Reserve"
"user": {
"id": "0x0086ff1cf0f7fe2bbd8e67d88da5c4e8fb528012",
"reservesData": [
"principalATokenBalance": "0.005609491180194647",
"userBalanceIndex": "1.00018336137043934501",
"redirectedBalance": "0",
"interestRedirectionAddress": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
"usageAsCollateralEnabledOnUser": true,
"borrowRate": "0.02137205634101432528",
"borrowRateMode": "Variable",
"originationFee": "0.000011162960240666",
"principalBorrows": "0.004465184096266527",
"variableBorrowIndex": "1.00088169838070560383",
"lastUpdateTimestamp": _PHONE_,
"__typename": "UserReserve",
"principalBorrowsUSD": "_PHONE_",
"currentBorrowsUSD": "_PHONE_",
"originationFeeUSD": "0._PHONE_",
"currentUnderlyingBalanceUSD": "2._PHONE_",
"originationFeeETH": "0.000011162960240666",
"currentBorrows": "0.004490492698072727",
"currentBorrowsETH": "0.004490492698072727",
"principalBorrowsETH": "0.004465184096266527",
"currentUnderlyingBalance": "0.005619017453838833",
"currentUnderlyingBalanceETH": "0.005619017453838833",
"reserve": {
"id": "0xeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee0x24a42fd28c976a61df5d00d0599c34c4f90748c8",
"underlyingAsset": "0xeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee",
"name": "Ethereum",
"symbol": "ETH",
"decimals": 18,
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"timestamp": 1598357466107
 1. Similarly to the sections above, you will need to gather user account data and keep an index of the user data locally.
 2. Since GraphQL does not provide real time calculated user data such as the healthFactor, you will need to compute this yourself. The easiest way is to use the Aave.js package, which has methods to compute summary user data.
 1. The data you will need to pass into the Aave.js method's can be fetched from our subgraph, namely the UserReserve objects.
2. Executing the liquidation call
Once you have the account(s) to liquidate, you will need to calculate the amount of collateral that can be liquidated:
 1. Use getUser


text:
QUEEN'S PARK — Mike Schreiner made the following statement after the province announced a new math curriculum:
"As the Minister unveils a Back-to-Basics math curriculum in the middle of a pandemic, I think he needs to do a better job of telling time.
I'm hearing from so many teachers that this has been the most stressful period of their careers, trying to deliver lessons at a distance while preventing their students from falling behind.
They're also planning for multiple different classroom scenarios in the fall in the absence of clear direction from the Minister about what learning will look like.
There is already enough uncertainty and instability for students and educators without adding a new math curriculum to the equation.
The content of this new curriculum might be fine, but the Minister should have waited for a much better time to release it."


text:
NASA Plans Air Pollution Flights Over Maryland on July 2
WASHINGTON -- NASA's DISCOVER-AQ air quality field campaign is scheduled to take to the skies over the Baltimore-Washington traffic corridor on Saturday, July 2, from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. EDT. The flight is part of a mission to enhance the capability of satellites to measure ground-level air quality from space.
NASA's P-3B research aircraft will fly at low altitudes over the northeast Maryland study region. The P-3B is a large, 117-foot, four-engine turboprop, carrying nine scientific instruments. It will fly as low as 1,000 feet above the ground along a route that will take it over major roadway traffic corridors. The P-3B also will make spiral ascents and descents over six locations where air-quality measurements are being made from ground stations.
Approximately 14 DISCOVER-AQ flights are planned through July when weather conditions are appropriate. NASA will announce each flight by 5 p.m. the day before the aircraft is scheduled to fly. The flights will occur between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.
DISCOVER-AQ, which stands for Deriving Information on Surface conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality, is a NASA Earth Science Division research effort conducted in collaboration with the Maryland Department of the Environment, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and several universities.
A detailed map of the P-3B's low-altitude flight path is available at: _URL_
For more information about the DISCOVER-AQ mission, visit: _URL_
Goddard Release No. 11-039-C
NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.


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What is BelSEFF?
The Belarus Sustainable Energy Finance Facility (BelSEFF) is a USD 50 million credit line initiated by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). BelSEFF provides dedicated credit lines to Belarusian participating banks for on-lending to private and public Belarusian companies. The Facility finances energy efficiency and small-scale renewable energy projects in eligible sectors.
What are the main types of projects that can be financed?
- Replacement of energy intensive production equipment and energy supply systems – compressors, boilers, ( installations of local cogeneration of electricity and heat ) in an enterprise, modernization of processes , implementation of advanced control systems of energy consumption.
- Modernization of commercial real estate facilities ( administrative , hotel, production buildings and premises, warehouses) – thermal insulation, replacement of windows and doors, heating and air condition systems, etc.
- Renewable energy sources – wind turbines (new), small hydro stations, burning of biomass for heat and/or electricity generation, production and use of biogas/landfill gas, use of geothermal and solar energy for heating and electricity production, use of heat pumps.
- Working capital for producers and suppliers of energy efficient equipment and materials – producers of energy efficient windows, thermal insulating and energy efficient construction materials, ventilation systems, .etc energy efficient production equipment ) etc.
- Investments into the creation, modernization and extension of production of energy efficient equipment and materials.
- Standard energy efficient equipment and technologies. Small loans (less than 400 thousand USD) can be approved through a simplified procedure based on the list of standard equipment and technologies ( LEME/LESI ).
What is LEME/LESI?
Small projects can be approved through a simplified procedure based on a list of standard equipment and technologies (List of Eligible Measures and Equipment or LEME / List of Eligible Suppliers and Installers or LESI). The purpose of this approach is to accelerate and simplify the approval procedure for small energy efficiency projects. LEME is a list of approved materials and equipment capable of providing at least 20% energy savings compared to the technological standards of the Belarusian market. The list includes equipment, which costs less than 400 thousand USD for a unit/package.Associated LESI list includes suppliers and installers of the equipment, which are authorized for carrying their activities in Belarus.More detailed information can be found in the section List of standard technologies being financed (LEME/LESI) .
What are the main requirements to the BelSEFF projects?
- Industry and commercial buildings projects have to achieve at least 20% energy savings per unit of output compared to the baseline as a result of the project implementation.
- Maximum increase of the capacity/productivity after replacement of the existing equipment is 2 times compared to the original capacity/productivity.
- Eligible renewable energy projects shall have a positive Net Present Value calculated over a ten-year period by using an 8% discount rate applied to the underlying cash flows denominated in hard currency.
- Purchase of second-hand equipment is forbidden unless otherwise is agreed by EBRD.
Which projects cannot be financed by BelSEFF?
BelSEFF only finances projects intended for investments into energy efficiency and renewable energy. The following are excluded even if the project relates to energy efficiency or renewable energy investments: companies engaged in the production, marketing, distribution (or similar activities) of tobacco, hard liquor, alcohol, gambling, weapons and other activities listed in the "Environmental and Social Exclusion list of the EBRD" , even though proposed projects concern energy efficiency or renewable energy.
How many projects were financed through BelSEFF so far?
As of 1 November 2017, 59 projects were financed by BelSEFF through four Belarussian partner banks for a total loan amount of almost $28.316 million. This includes 10 renewable energy projects.
What should I do if the technology/material I selected is not included in the BelSEFF List of Eligible Materials and Equipment?
The materials and equipment included on the BelSEFF List of Eligible Materials and Equipment (LEME) meet the specific energy savings and quality requirements of the BelSEFF Programme. If your preferred material or equipment is not included in our list, just send the technical data/specifications of materials/equipment and supplier details to us. We will examine/verify the equipment/material for compliance with BelSEFF requirements and, if suitable, will include them in our List.
Are there any restrictions on the country of origin of the proposed technology or equipment?
No, there are no such restrictions. The equipment can be produced both in Belarus and in any other country.
What are the loan conditions?
BelSEFF is disbursed through participating financing institutions (Participating Banks: Belinvestbank JSC , MTBankCJSC , Belgazprombank JSC , Bank BelVEB OJSC , BPS-Sberbank ). Every bank has its own internal policy for establishing clients' creditworthiness, interest rates, repayment conditions, collateral coverage, own participation etc. BelSEFF has no influence on the loan conditions offered by partner banks.
How can I apply for a BelSEFF loan?
There are two ways to apply:
- You can contact a BelSEFF partner bank, get advice on loan conditions, and fill in the necessary application forms. The BelSEFF partner banks will then liaise with the BelSEFF team to finalize your project documents.
- Alternatively, you may fill in the BelSEFF standard application form ( download here ) and e-mail it to the BelSEFF team. We will contact you and guide you through the process.
For additional information, please refer to the Application section .
Are any grants/ interest rate subsidies available for borrowers within BelSEFF?
No, the program does not provide such options.
We are not clients of any of the listed BelSEFF partner banks. Can we apply for a financing within BelSEFF?
Yes, you can. However, a loan within BelSEFF can only be provided by one of the five Belarusian partner banks. We propose you to contact the banks directly to start the negotiations. Alternatively, you can contact the BelSEFF team, we will perform a preliminary project assessment and assist you in liaising with the partner banks.
Is a major regional state controlled energy company eligible potential borrower?
The Framework does not target projects in the Power and Energy sector which is mainly state-owned. Only in exceptional cases, where the state-owned power or energy company is clearly commercially operating will it be considered for financing under the Framework.
What is the maximum project size for financing under the BelSEFF?
No individual loan for a project or a group of projects with any one borrower may exceed USD 5 million, unless otherwise expressly agreed by the EBRD. However, if a project or a group of projects exceeds USD 5 million, the Belarusian participating bank may complement the loan under the BelSEFF with own funds in order to finance such a project.
Is there a possibility to finance new facilities under BelSEFF? E.g. new logistic facility, which is to be equipped with an energy efficiency ventilation/cooling/heating equipment.
This facility is not for green field investments, thus investments in new production facilities are not included in the scope of the facility except for capacity expansion of existing production facilities. The capacity expansion should be less than double the current capacity.
Can a project include supply and installation of several items from LEME/LESI schedules, worth together more than USD 400 thousand?
Yes, in this case a borrower can opt for several loans under LEME/LESI approach or, alternatively consider a bigger single loan requiring an Energy Efficiency Assessment and potentially leading to better energy efficiency results.


The Congress in Uruguay has passed a bill allowing adoption by gay and lesbian couples to adopt children.
The legislation is expected to pass in the Senate, where the ruling party has a majority.
The Senate will vote on the bill next month.
In December 2007, Uruguay's parliament passed legislation to recognise same-sex civil unions.
The country of 3.6m people was the first nation in South America to grant such protections, although some cities and regions throughout the continent have made similar legal provisions.
The Congress passed legislation creating a civil union registry for same-sex and unmarried heterosexual couples who have lived together for at least five years.
In May Uruguay lifted a ban on gays serving in its military.
The ban was imposed under the 1973-85 military dictatorship. Under it, people with "open sexual deviations", which includes homosexuality, were banned from entering the military academies.
The ban also included homosexuality among the "mental illnesses and disorders" that legally made a person unsuitable to join the armed forces.
Gay adoption has been opposed by the Roman Catholic Church in Uruguay.
Archbishop of Montevideo Nicolas Cotugno told the Catholic News Agency:
"The adoption of children by homosexual couples is not a question of religion, philosophy or sociology. It has to do with respect for human nature itself.
"To accept the adoption of children by homosexual couples is to go against human nature itself, and consequently, it is to go against the fundamental rights of the human being as a person."


text:
Every Office and Classroom:
- Can hear the fire alarm when sounded
- Can hear the other alarms when sounded
- Can push a button on their alarm keypad by their door that will signal the alarm company to call the police or the fire department
The Following Locations:
Main office, Business Office, Plumeria Classroom, Jacaranda Classroom, Monkeypod Classroom, Banyan Classroom and Koa Classroom
- Has a portable battery/crank radio with charged batteries – if needed, tune to one of the civil defense channels noted on the back of the radio.
- Classrooms/Offices with radios are responsible for keeping their neighboring classrooms informed if possible.
- Main Office informs Maintenance and Development
- Business Office informs Ohia Classroom, Art and Library
- Plumeria informs Kukui Classroom
- Jacaranda informs WiliWili Classroom
- Monkeypod informs Nara and Kamani Classroom
- Banyan informs Mamane and 'Iliahi Classroom
- Koa informs anybody in Root Family Center (RFC)
All employees will receive instructions from the Emergency Management Team (EMT) on how parents will be contacted and what they will be told when contacted in the event of an emergency. The MOMI Emergency Management Team will instruct employees as to what information is to be released to parents.
All communication with the
media will come from the Head of School or the President of the Board of Directors.


text:
Guest post by Nana Asiedu-Ampem University College London, Master of Engineering (MENG) student, Imperial College London, Computing Degree
Psychotherapy is a form of treatment aimed at improving the mental health of people suffering from mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety disorders. These kinds of treatment usually involve a patient suffering from a mental illness discussing their feelings and emotions in a way that allows them to be better equipped to control them. This project focuses on a type of psychotherapy known as Self-Attachment Therapy (SAT) (1) with the aid of Augmented Reality (AR).
Mental illness is often linked to a person's lack of secure attachment during their childhood (e.g. uncaring and unreliable parents) which has affected their ability to form meaningful connections that can help them overcome their illness. Self-Attachment Therapy aims to help patients suffering from mental illness form a secure attachment with themselves so they become more self-reliant when it comes to controlling their emotions. The patient initially takes the role of the "adult-self" who is perceived as a primary caregiver to an imaginary child that embodies the person's "inner-child". The adult-self represents the rational part of the patient as well as their strengths. The inner-child is a representation of the patient's emotions, insecurities and vulnerabilities. It is up to the patient, who is imitating the primary caregiver for the imaginary inner-child, to comfort and show affection towards the inner-child to make them feel loved and valued. This is mainly done through the patient verbally complimenting their inner-child. Through the process of the patient comforting their inner-child, they form an important bond with them that they can use to overcome their troubles.
The project involves making an application using the Microsoft HoloLens that performs the Self-Attachment Therapy with a patient by allowing them to visually view their inner-child through a 3D avatar model. The 3D avatar will be perceived as a hologram placed in a position set by the application in the space around them. The hologram will display several key features of a child such as their face, hair and body. The patient would be able to view the emotions of the avatar as well as interact with it through speech. The avatar will initially show a sad emotion and frown, but through the interactions with the patient they can become happy and smile. This is part of the process of the patient forming a bond with their inner-child. The goal of the project is to provide a proof of concept of an application that can significantly improve the patient's engagement with SAT by using technology to make them feel more immersed in a safe environment where they can improve their mental health.
How it was implemented
The application was developed on the Unity game engine using the C# programming language to implement scripts. The app made extensive use of the Microsoft Mixed Reality Tool Kit. A 3D model of a generic child was created in Blender. It was then imported into Unity so it can be used as the holographic representation of the patient's inner-child. The model was created by a colleague who was working on a similar project that creates child models based on the patient's features.
The model has a number of animations which allows it to express various emotional states such as: happy, sad and scared. The model also has an animation that allows it to perform a dance.
SAT comprises of 4 stages that the patient has to perform to form a loving connection with their inner-child (Check the reference for more details on the stages (1)). To help the patient feel more immersed with the therapy, the inner-child was given spatial awareness on the patient's location and their surroundings. Meaning the application places the inner child in an open space in the patient's room with its shoes positioned on the floor. This was achieved by having the HoloLens scan the patient's environment using the devices many sensors and the spatial mapping library provided by the Mixed Reality Tool Kit. This allowed the application to create an internal representation of the room's floor which is used to place the inner-child on the floor. Also, 3D meshes that matched various objects in the patient's room were created (such as tables and chairs). Unity uses ray casting to test collisions with these objects within the application. This was used to avoid placing the inner-child in positions that were obstructed with objects (e.g. a clear open space in the room will be found to place the inner-child, as opposed to placing it in the middle of a table). The inner-child is also constantly turning to face the patient. These features were implemented to make the inner-child feel like a more realistic addition to the user's environment. This will make it significantly easier for the patient to perform the therapy stages.
How it will be used
Self-Attachment Therapy was developed by the project supervisor, Edalat Abbas. He created the project so he can research how well SAT works when combined with immersive technology. This project will be used in his research to help improve the process of the therapy.
Therapists will use the application with the HoloLens to help explain the process of SAT to their patients. Patients will be able to read vital information regarding the therapy through holographic boards that follow their line of sight. This will make it much easier for therapists to administer the therapy as the patient will already have access to all important information through the application itself. Initially, SAT required patients to close their eyes and imagine a younger version of themselves that embodies their imaginary inner-child was in front of them. Some patients will struggle with consistently imagining a realistic inner-child which will hinder their ability to form a meaningful connection with them. This will be a big challenge for therapists who will find it difficult to demonstrate how their patient's inner-child should look and how they should react during each stage of the therapy. However, the HoloLens alleviates these concerns from the therapist and patient by visually providing the patient with a representation of their inner-child. This makes it much easier for the patient to perform the therapy without having to constantly imagine a child they have to interact with. This will make the therapist's work much easier as they no longer have to dictate the exact action the patient or inner-child has to perform at each stage.
There is a lot of room for future extensions that will enhance the impact of the therapy. The application could make use of the Internet to allow a patient to incorporate content they enjoy with the therapy. For example, part of the therapy has the patient sing a soothing song to relax their inner-child. The Internet can be used to play an instrumental version of a song the user enjoys to help them through the process. The therapy could also benefit through the use of a more comprehensive spatial mapping process. Currently, the room is scanned once before the therapy begins. This can be updated to allow the application to scan the patient's environment in real-time providing the application with a more detailed representation of the patient's surroundings. This can then be used to augment the user's room further by adding holograms that interact with real world objects. For example, the patient could download a photo they like from the Internet and turn it into a photo frame they can place on their wall. These extensions are intended to make the experience of performing the therapy with the HoloLens more enjoying, thus improving the patient's motivation to carry out the therapy.
1: Self-attachment: A self-administrable intervention for chronic anxiety and depression _URL_


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Last Thursday I caught a showing of If You Build It, a new documentary by director Patrick Creadon.
In it, a pair of designer-activists sets up shop in North Carolina's poorest county. They teach a group of high school students with no previous architectural skills how to design and build a structure for the town. The program is called Studio H.
It had a bit of added interest for me. In a book due out in May, I wrote an article about an experimental architecture program at Auburn University called Rural Studio. The college students move into a struggling Alabama town and create buildings, often using recycled materials, for its poor residents.
Rural Studio and Studio H have a fair amount in common, including an innovative sense of design. But Studio H adds an intriguing twist, involving the townspeople directly in the process so that they're both client and creator.
Will that personal investment make a difference? And what effect will the program have on the students involved?
See showtimes for the movie HERE.


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The opportunity for Dr David Chalmers to present his findings was well received at the recent Franklin family reunion with many people hearing about his research and findings for the first time. His research and hypothesis sparked much interest by many of the older 'Franklins' who expressed a desire to visit the sites and gain first had experience of the landfall and environment.
Two years ago Bernadette Franklin and Loraine Padgham (as representatives of the Taungurung) were invited to attend the launch of the culmination of six years of research undertaken by Prof. Chalmers at his Strathbogie Ranges property.
Prof. Chalmers had been researching the unusual arrangement of stones on his property and concluded that they could have been established by the Nira Balug people (a clan of the Taungurung) to herd kangaroos up the hill, into a race, where they were trapped and separated for slaughter or breeding. He compared the 'Euroa men' rock drawings found in the Strathbogie Ranges and theorised that the rock drawings could actually depict the local Aboriginal people herding and corralling kangaroos.
Other interesting stone arrangements were shown to the group and speculation was made that one stone arrangement was in fact a calendar made in the shape of a giant bird - possibly Bunjil - with it's beak pointing eastward towards the rising sun. Through cavities in the adjacent caves, sunlight could penetrate and shine on the back wall of the cave accurately depicting the time of the year.
Continue reading "Update - Stone Secrets" »


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Scrap paper was the primary ingredient in Mme. Webster's class' fruit salad this November. The grade 6 students took the challenge of "closing the loop", using waste material to create something new. In this case, they diverted scrap paper from the recycling and used it to make new paper – in the shape of fruits including watermelon and strawberries.
To make homemade paper, students first ripped up the scraps into small pieces, before putting it in the blender with water. Once it reached a smoothie-like consistency, the mixture was filtered, and shaped into whatever their creative minds could think of. Finally, the new paper was rolled out and left to dry.
What a fun way to learn first-hand h ow old things can become new again!


text:
The Audubon Insectarium in New Orleans just bred these rare pink katydids and I find them captivating/delicious.
Pink Katydid Facts:
- The parental katydids, both pink, were brought to Audubon Insectarium during
the summer of 2008 as donations by visitors.
- The pink katydids were sent off to Cokie Bauder, Manager of Animal Collections
at the Insectarium's Insect Rearing Facility, for supervision and care.
- The pink katydids are oblong-winged katydids, Amblycorypha oblongifolia.
- This unusual katydid coloration was first written about in a scientific article in
- The first and only available scientific research paper on the genetics of this
coloration and captive breeding was conducted by Dr. Joseph Hancock and
published in February 1916.
- No scientific records appear to exist for the offspring of two pink parents. It
appears that Hancock was only able to successfully produce viable offspring from
crosses of one pink female to one green male.