Do you have a content-rich WordPress website that you believe will help boost your business profits? Developing a feature and content-rich website is definitely the first step, but you cannot increase your conversions if you have not maximized the engagement on your website. You need to continually work on expanding and improving user engagement so...

Each year in the spring (April – June), an increase in the turbidity of drinking (potable) water occurs at Grand Canyon National Park. Turbidity has no health effects.  https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/info-2009-04-01-turbid.htm

https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/seasonal-increase-in-water-turbidity-at-grand-canyon-national-park.htm

On December 28, during the peak of the holiday season, a sobriety safety checkpoint was conducted in Grand Canyon National Park. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/2012-01-10_checkpoint.htm

Grand Canyon National Park is proposing to increase entrance fees into the park. The single vehicle entrance fee would change from $25 to $30 for a seven day pass. The park’s annual pass would increase from $50 to $60. The current rate of $12 per individual or motorcycle would increase to $15 per individual and $25 for a motorcycle. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/proposed-fee-increase.htm

Effective June 1, 2015, Grand Canyon National Park will increase park entrance fees and the cost of overnight backcountry permits. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/grand-canyon-announces-fee-increases.htm

Warmer, drier weather has led to increased fire activity on the Fuller Fire. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/fuller-fire-increased-activity.htm

The Obi Fire slowly increases in size as firefighters near Cape Royal and begin to scale back on backfiring operations. Temporary road and trail closures are still in effect. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/obi-fire-slowly-increases-to-10-067-acres.htm

Grand Canyon National Park implemented Level 2 water conservation measures on Wednesday, October 3, due to a series of breaks in the Transcanyon Waterline. This morning Water Utility staff at the park responded to another pipeline break. Additionally, attempts to pump water beyond Indian Garden yesterday failed. Park staff are currently assessing the situation and attempting to resolve the problem as quickly as possible. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/grand-canyon-nat-pk-prepares-for-potential-increase-in-water-conservation-methods.htm

The Ikes Fire moved into the northeast portion of the planning area that has a history of little to no fire activity in over two decades. This wildfire is consuming heavy fuel accumulations on the forest floor and is helping ensure the ecosystem will be healthier and more resilient in the future. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/ikes-fire-promotes-healthy-forest-regeneration-as-fire-activity-increases-20190807.htm

The Ikes Fire is approximately 3,289 acres, 42% contained, and has 89 resources assigned. The natural caused lightning fire is being utilized to fulfill its natural role within a fire-dependent ecosystem. The lightning-caused wildfire is actively burning within a 7,785-acre planning area. https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/ikes-fire-moves-across-landscape-as-containment-increases-20190816.htm

Tanner Howe, a singer-songwriter from Huntington Beach, hoped that his performances would brighten up isolating neighborhoods—and he was 100% correct.

The post Musician Uses Truck Bed to Play Drive-By Concerts for Friends in Quarantine – and the Video is Incredibly Heartwarming appeared first on Good News Network.

Land use and climate change are two key factors with the potential to affect stream conditions and fish habitat. Since the 1950s, Washington and Oregon have required forest practices designed to mitigate the effects of timber harvest on streams and fish.

October 2012—When you hear the word “ecosystem,” what comes to mind? A forest? A river, maybe? Well, how about a city? It turns out, the green spaces in our urban areas can offer a range of ecosystem services, just like forests and rivers. Station scientists are working to better understand cities as ecosystems and demonstrate how nearby nature provides important benefits and services. (4:19)

Over half (56 percent) of America's forests are privately owned and managed and provide a vast array of public goods and services, such as clean water, timber, wildlife habitat, and recreational opportunities. These important public benefits are being affected by increased housing density in urban as well as rural areas across the country.

Conservation of biodiversity serves a number of human needs, including maintenance of ecosystem services that are critical to the sustainability of all life. Effective biodiversity conservation will require better landowner incentives for restoration and protection of ecosystems. Many services produced from healthy, functioning landscapes are not well recognized in current conservation incentive structures, including sequestering or storing carbon in trees and soil, providing fish and wildlife habitat, filtering water, and reducing damages from natural disasters. Most existing incentive programs pay landowners to protect and restore a specific service rather than the suite of services produced from well-functioning ecosystems.

Mule deer populations in central Oregon are in decline, largely because of habitat loss. Several factors are likely contributors. Encroaching juniper and invasive cheatgrass are replacing deer forage with high nutritional value, such as bitterbrush and sagebrush. Fire suppression and reduced timber harvests mean fewer acres of early successional forest, which also offer forage opportunities. Human development, including homes and roads, is another factor. It is this one that scientists with the Pacific Northwest Research Station and their collaborators investigated in a recent study.

Calls have been made for a zero tolerance policy against threats in essential stores

AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA's MARKETPLACE and EDISON RESEARCH have released new polling data showing Americans' increasing economic anxiety due to the pandemic. In the annual survey, 69% of … more

The nine-year-old was playing for Glentoran 2011s before football was suspended in Northern Ireland

Listen in as I use two calculators to track the difference in numbers of infections over a short period of time, depending on how many people each infected individual infects on average.

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

DALLAS, March 20, 2020 — As hospitals, health professionals and healthcare systems, governments and leaders work to reduce community spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. and protect the most vulnerable individuals, the American Heart Association offers...

AHA COVID-19 newsroom   DALLAS, April 3, 2020 — COVID-19 is prompting widespread questions and concerns about the heightened risk for those with heart disease and stroke survivors.   The American Heart Association, the world’s leading nonprofit...

Research Highlights: People who reported work-related stress were more likely to be hospitalized for treatment of peripheral artery disease compared to those who did not report work-related stress. Work-related stress, or job strain, refers to...

Research Highlights: Using genetic analysis, researchers found higher alcohol consumption increased risks for stroke and peripheral artery disease (PAD). Studies using genetic analysis don’t rely on observational data, which often use self-reported...

Watch my video about the incremental approach—the cheapest, smartest, and easiest way to build a website (and a business!) One thing that’s always annoyed me about contract web design and development is this idea that you can actually pay for a finished product to be delivered within a particular time frame. Nothing actually works this […]

Installing an SSL certificate on your domain is an essential step you should take to secure your WordPress site and now with Let’s Encrypt you can get one for free.

I'll admit I was late to the HTTPS party.

But post Snowden, and particularly after the result of the last election here in the US, it's clear that everything on the web should be encrypted by default.

Why?

0. You have an unalienable right to privacy, both in the real world

There’s nothing better than finding a new design tool that will make your life a million times easier. After all, we all want to get our work done as quickly and efficiently as possible, and if there’s a tool for that, then I want it. And I did find some tools that I absolutely love […]

Read More at 5 Incredible Free Tools For Designers That You Need To Try

No one can deny that UX (user experience) is the foundation of any website. This is the main reason why many website owners always look for ways to improve it. Some even spend a lot of money on design because of it. So, what is UX design exactly? And what is the difference between user […]

Email is your post powerful marketing channel when used well. Your visitor’s inbox is a perfect opportunity for you to capture attention, communicate important updates and invite readers back to your site for increased visibility. The stats on email marketing effectiveness say it all – top marketing specialists and service providers tell us that email […]

The post Best Email Marketing Tips to Increase Engagement & Subscribers appeared first on Web Designer Wall.

Creative interactions call for creative measures - numerous extensions reduce, minimize or dilute the frustration of the customers and resolve issues quickly without the customer support team need....

American Geophysical Union (AGU) Press Release A new study finds human-caused global warming is significantly increasing the rate at which hot temperature records are being broken around the world. Global annual temperature records show there were 17 record hot years … Continue reading →

In this paper, we work on intra-variable handwriting, where the writing samples of an individual can vary significantly. Such within-writer variation throws a challenge for automatic writer inspection, where the state-of-the-art methods do not perform well. To deal with intra-variability, we analyze the idiosyncrasy in individual handwriting. We identify/verify the writer from highly idiosyncratic text-patches. Such patches are detected using a deep recurrent reinforcement learning-based architecture. An idiosyncratic score is assigned to every patch, which is predicted by employing deep regression analysis. For writer identification, we propose a deep neural architecture, which makes the final decision by the idiosyncratic score-induced weighted average of patch-based decisions. For writer verification, we propose two algorithms for patch-fed deep feature aggregation, which assist in authentication using a triplet network. The experiments were performed on two databases, where we obtained encouraging results.

We present results showing the capability of concrete-based information processing substrate in the signal classification task in accordance with in materio computing paradigm. As the Reservoir Computing is a suitable model for describing embedded in materio computation, we propose that this type of presented basic construction unit can be used as a source for "reservoir of states" necessary for simple tuning of the readout layer. In that perspective, buildings constructed from computing concrete could function as a highly parallel information processor for smart architecture. We present an electrical characterization of the set of samples with different additive concentrations followed by a dynamical analysis of selected specimens showing fingerprints of memfractive properties. Moreover, on the basis of obtained parameters, classification of the signal waveform shapes can be performed in scenarios explicitly tuned for a given device terminal.

This paper proposes a fully automated atlas-based pancreas segmentation method from CT volumes utilizing atlas localization by regression forest and atlas generation using blood vessel information. Previous probabilistic atlas-based pancreas segmentation methods cannot deal with spatial variations that are commonly found in the pancreas well. Also, shape variations are not represented by an averaged atlas. We propose a fully automated pancreas segmentation method that deals with two types of variations mentioned above. The position and size of the pancreas is estimated using a regression forest technique. After localization, a patient-specific probabilistic atlas is generated based on a new image similarity that reflects the blood vessel position and direction information around the pancreas. We segment it using the EM algorithm with the atlas as prior followed by the graph-cut. In evaluation results using 147 CT volumes, the Jaccard index and the Dice overlap of the proposed method were 62.1% and 75.1%, respectively. Although we automated all of the segmentation processes, segmentation results were superior to the other state-of-the-art methods in the Dice overlap.

Public key encryption with equality test (PKEET) allows testing whether two ciphertexts are generated by the same message or not. PKEET is a potential candidate for many practical applications like efficient data management on encrypted databases. Potential applicability of PKEET leads to intensive research from its first instantiation by Yang et al. (CT-RSA 2010). Most of the followup constructions are secure in the random oracle model. Moreover, the security of all the concrete constructions is based on number-theoretic hardness assumptions which are vulnerable in the post-quantum era. Recently, Lee et al. (ePrint 2016) proposed a generic construction of PKEET schemes in the standard model and hence it is possible to yield the first instantiation of PKEET schemes based on lattices. Their method is to use a $2$-level hierarchical identity-based encryption (HIBE) scheme together with a one-time signature scheme. In this paper, we propose, for the first time, a direct construction of a PKEET scheme based on the hardness assumption of lattices in the standard model. More specifically, the security of the proposed scheme is reduces to the hardness of the Learning With Errors problem.

Homomorphic encryption (HE) allows direct computations on encrypted data. Despite numerous research efforts, the practicality of HE schemes remains to be demonstrated. In this regard, the enormous size of ciphertexts involved in HE computations degrades computational efficiency. Near-memory Processing (NMP) and Computing-in-memory (CiM) - paradigms where computation is done within the memory boundaries - represent architectural solutions for reducing latency and energy associated with data transfers in data-intensive applications such as HE. This paper introduces CiM-HE, a Computing-in-memory (CiM) architecture that can support operations for the B/FV scheme, a somewhat homomorphic encryption scheme for general computation. CiM-HE hardware consists of customized peripherals such as sense amplifiers, adders, bit-shifters, and sequencing circuits. The peripherals are based on CMOS technology, and could support computations with memory cells of different technologies. Circuit-level simulations are used to evaluate our CiM-HE framework assuming a 6T-SRAM memory. We compare our CiM-HE implementation against (i) two optimized CPU HE implementations, and (ii) an FPGA-based HE accelerator implementation. When compared to a CPU solution, CiM-HE obtains speedups between 4.6x and 9.1x, and energy savings between 266.4x and 532.8x for homomorphic multiplications (the most expensive HE operation). Also, a set of four end-to-end tasks, i.e., mean, variance, linear regression, and inference are up to 1.1x, 7.7x, 7.1x, and 7.5x faster (and 301.1x, 404.6x, 532.3x, and 532.8x more energy efficient). Compared to CPU-based HE in a previous work, CiM-HE obtain 14.3x speed-up and >2600x energy savings. Finally, our design offers 2.2x speed-up with 88.1x energy savings compared to a state-of-the-art FPGA-based accelerator.

Methods and systems are provided that apply cavitation to a grain-based liquid medium processing stream of an oil separation process in order to achieve increased yields. Ultrasonic sources can be used in generating the cavitation. Typically, the oil processing system is a downstream process of an alcohol (such as ethanol) production facility utilizing a dry grind, a modified dry grind or a wet mill alcohol production process.

This invention relates to a process for polymerizing ethylene comprising contacting ethylene and optional comonomers with a catalyst system comprising an activator and a transition metal compound represented by the formula: ##STR1## Wherein R1 and R2 are independently hydrogen or a group having up to 100 carbon atoms, Cp1 is a bulky ligand; Cp2 is a bulky ligand or a heteroatom optionally bound to a C1 to C50 hydrocarbyl group, n is the valence state of the transition metal, Tm is a Group 3 to 10 metal, and each X is independently an anionic leaving group.

This invention relates to a method for increasing thermal stability of fuel, as well as in reducing nitrogen content and/or enhancing color quality of the fuel. According to the method, a fuel feedstock can be treated with a solid phosphoric acid catalyst under appropriate catalyst conditions, e.g., to increase the thermal stability of the fuel feedstock. Preferably, the fuel feedstock can be treated with the solid phosphoric acid catalyst at a ratio of catalyst mass within a contact zone to a mass flow rate of feedstock through the zone of at least about 18 minutes to increase the thermal stability of the fuel feedstock, along with reducing nitrogen content and/or enhancing color quality.

Mechanisms are provided for offloading a workload from a main thread to an assist thread. The mechanisms receive, in a fetch unit of a processor of the data processing system, a branch-to-assist-thread instruction of a main thread. The branch-to-assist-thread instruction informs hardware of the processor to look for an already spawned idle thread to be used as an assist thread. Hardware implemented pervasive thread control logic determines if one or more already spawned idle threads are available for use as an assist thread. The hardware implemented pervasive thread control logic selects an idle thread from the one or more already spawned idle threads if it is determined that one or more already spawned idle threads are available for use as an assist thread, to thereby provide the assist thread. In addition, the hardware implemented pervasive thread control logic offloads a portion of a workload of the main thread to the assist thread.

There is described herein a superconducting segment and method of making same comprising one or several layers with very high electrical resistivity, acting as a current flow diverter when the current transfers from the superconductor to the stabilizer. The purpose of this current flow diverter is: i) to increase the contact resistance between the superconductor and the stabilizer, by reducing the contact area, and ii) to force the current to flow along a specific path, so as to increase momentarily the current density in a specific portion of the stabilizer. The consequence of i) and ii) is that heat generated at the extremities of the normal zone is increased and spread over a longer length along the superconducting segment, which increases the NZPV and thus, the uniformity of the quench.

The present invention relates to a method for increasing L-methionine productivity and organic acid productivity. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method which involves adding a mixture containing methyl mercaptan and dimethyl sulfide at a appropriate ratio to O-acetyl homoserine or O-succinyl homoserine and to an enzyme having an activity of converting methionine precursor into L-methionine, so as to perform an enzyme reaction, to thereby improve the conversion rate of L-methionine and organic acid from the L-methionine precursor, and thus increasing L-methionine yield as compared to conventional method.

A method for encrypting data on a disk drive using self encrypting drive is provided. The method includes encryption of data chunks of a computing device. The method further includes associating the encrypted data chunks with encryption key indexes of the computing device. Moreover, the method further includes receiving the encryption key indexes for given logical block addresses of the data chunks. The method further includes determining the encryption keys to be used to encrypt the data chunks based on the encryption key indexes of the data chunks to the disk drive.

A method begins with a processing module obtaining data to store and determining whether substantially similar data to the data is stored. When the substantially similar data is not stored, the method continues with the processing module generating a first encryption key based on the data, encoding the first encryption key into encoded data slices in accordance with an error coding dispersal storage function, and storing the encoded data slices in a dispersed storage network (DSN) memory. The method continues with the processing module encrypting the data using an encryption key of the substantially similar data in accordance with an encryption function to produce encrypted data, compressing the encrypted data in accordance with a compression function to produce compressed data, storing the compressed data when the substantially similar data is stored.

A system is disclosed comprising multiple sets of client computers each client computer having installed thereon an application program The application program comprising client computer specific log-in information, a database system coupled to the set of client computers via a network. The database system having a log-in component for logging-in the client computers, and being partitioned into multiple relational databases each one of which is assigned to one set of the sets of client computers. Each database further storing encrypted data items, each data item being encrypted with one of the user or user-group specific cryptographic keys, the key identifier of the cryptographic key with which one of the data items is encrypted being stored in the database as an attribute of the one of the encrypted data items. The log-in component comprising assignment information indicative of the assignment of the databases to the set of client computers.

Steroid compounds having increased resistance against metabolism and increased water solubility are disclosed, together with methods for their production. These substances are suitable for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals for the treatment of steroid related or steroid induced CNS disorders and for use in methods of prevention, alleviation or treatment of such disorders.

A way to formulate prasterone to both increase its oral bioavailability, and decrease the variability of its oral bioavailability. In contrast to the approach taught by the prior art, the instant approach is amenable to scale-up to commercial scale. Further, the resulting product is amenable to analysis using standard, known quantitative analytical techniques; thus, unlike the prior art approach, the instant approach may be used to manufacture a product in conformity with applicable regulatory standards.