New research has identified the areas in the Western hemisphere where climate change may have the greatest impacts on amphibians. Alongside traditional methods to predict shifts in geographical ranges, it mapped species with particularly restricted ranges and identified areas most likely to receive less precipitation in the future.

Richer countries have more resources for gathering biodiversity information, creating a biased view of the worlds' species and their distribution. However, a new study argues that there are other reasons why some countries are underrepresented in global biodiversity databases, with low numbers of English speakers, large distances from the database host and low security acting as key barriers to data collection.

Planting a variety of crop species in rotation in agricultural fields increases the diversity of soil microbes below ground, recent research has found. This in turn positively affects soil organic matter, soil structure and aids the healthy functioning of the soil. The researchers say that rotational diversity can help farmers to grow crops in a more sustainable way that promotes soil stability.

UV treatment does not always turn hazardous water pollutants into harmless substances. Recent lab tests suggest that the toxicity of the antibiotic linezolid to microorganisms appeared to increase post-treatment. This research did find, however, that UV treatment successfully reduced the antimicrobial activity of four other antibiotics tested, plus four artificial sweeteners.

Environmental pollution is putting amphibians and reptiles at risk, yet these animals are not included in regulations regarding the environmental risk assessment (ERA) of pesticides. The extent to which other species already used in pesticide toxicity assessment (including fish, birds and mammals) can serve as effective surrogates is currently under debate. This study conducts a systematic review of the available literature. The results reveal a positive correlation between toxicity recorded on fish and aquatic amphibians, but indicate that birds and mammals are generally not good surrogates for reptiles and terrestrial amphibians. Moreover, some chemical-dependent trends were detected, with a number of insecticides found to be more toxic to amphibians or reptiles than to potential surrogates. These findings highlight an urgent need for further research to reduce uncertainties and contribute to future policymaking regarding the protection of amphibians and reptiles from potentially harmful pesticides.

Anthony Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn says he does not want to stage the world heavyweight champion's next defence of his title behind closed doors.

Saudi Arabia is now indicating it's determined to do whatever it takes to support an oil price recovery.

While wildfires burn Oregon's Columbia River Gorge, volunteers are eager to help rebuild it.

Just imagine floating high above the city in a clear-bottomed swimming pool. Or not.

The U.N. ambassador is considered a top candidate for secretary of State, but her stock in the firm behind the Keystone XL oil pipeline has raised eyebrows.

The Columbia space shuttle disaster in 2003 killed all 7 of its crew members, but a box of roundworms managed to survive the shuttle's disintegration.

Sure, it's backed by Apple's Tim Cook. But would you spend $300 on a shower apparatus?

Antique bulbs create retro vibe but also are the most-energy guzzling option for restaurants.

Located a stone's throw from a light rail station and a host of ethnic restaurants and public amenities, Dwell Development's Columbia Station is a green micro-c

Amphibians are reliable indicators of changes in ecosystems and are valuable in medical research.

We asked Carla Hall, Mayim Bialik, Andy Richter, Izabella Miko about their Earth Day plans.

Mexican president proves himself a visionary with a sense of humor at the Cancun Climate summit.

Cartagena, Colombia's Caribbean port city, might not enjoy the name recognition of Bogota or even Medellin, but it has many of the features of a bona fide mains

You can help save amphibians in your neighborhood by creating an appealing backyard oasis for them.

Products containing antimicrobials are almost always more hazardous than their traditional counterparts and tend to be loosely regulated.

Pablo Escobar’s legacy of mayhem continues by way of a thriving population of giant African mammals.

The sea has a dead zone the size of Texas, and it's growing bigger every year because of sewage and fertilizer flowing into the waters.

Guide to choosing a budget safari, what to look for, how to make your money go further, and how to avoid common pitfalls.

A woman with commitment phobia always feels insecure and vulnerable when it comes to marriage. She wants to postpone the decision; is often confused and does not know how to get out of the relationship.

There are some men who make women feel very lovable and desirable. They lavish love and gifts on them, and make them feel very special.

More like this Twitter This is a great source for more. See this reference for more. Keywords: Nj party rentals, Birthday party rentals, Backyard party, Wedding rentals nj, Wedding rentals nj, Party rentals.

The post If You Need Grand Ambiance, a Sailcloth Tent for Your Next Party May Make Sense appeared first on RSS News Feed.

Dr. Vigneswaran has been endorsed by Marquis Who's Who as a leader in the cardiothoracic surgery field

As more companies learn of the high-quality, attractively metal cable glands and accessories from HJSI Connector the manufacturer's sales are being made into new countries. The latest breakthrough was a large order delivered to a client in Saudi Ara

Season 1: Ep. 1: Lessons We Must Learn From 1918 Influenza Pandemic? A Wake-Up Call for Our Generation!

Colombian born actor Daniel Colt (Pareja) will be on the big screen this weekend as he stars in Roadside Assistance, a short film being debuted at the Los Angeles 48 Hour Project Film Festival.

Herbiar announces the launch of its Organic Castor Oil. Made up of the best quality natural ingredients selected carefully to bring the best to the customer. Rich in nutrients, it helps to restore the health and beauty of hair and skin.

Herbiar presents its natural Advanced Lash High Definition Waterproof Mascara black, composed of high-quality natural ingredients which are carefully selected after extensive research and consideration.

Bid Desk Publishes Online List to Help Consumers Create Healthier Work from Home and Homeschooling Spaces

Columbia attorney Mark Evans encourages drivers and lawmakers alike to improve Missouri's poor record on road safety.

The need for effective public transport is greater than ever in the 21st century. With countries like China and India moving towards mass-automobility, we face the prospects of an environmental and urban health disaster unless alternatives are found--it is time to move beyond the automobile age.

But while public transport has worked well in the dense cores of some big cities, the problem is that most residents of developed countries now live in dispersed suburbs and smaller cities and towns. These places usually have little or no public transport, and most transport commentators have given up on the task of changing this: it all seems too hard.

Transport For Suburbia: Beyond The Automobile Age (London: Earthscan, 2010) argues that the secret of European-style public transport lies in a generalizable model of network planning that has worked in places as diverse as rural Switzerland, the Brazilian city of Curitiba and the Canadian cities of Toronto and Vancouver. It shows how this model can be adapted to suburban, exurban and even rural areas to provide a genuine alternative to the car, and outlines the governance, funding and service planning policies that underpin the success of the world's best public transport systems.

Getting To Know ArcGIS Desktop (Redlands, Calif.: ESRI Press, 2010) introduces principles of GIS as it teaches the mechanics of using ESRI’s leading technology.

Key concepts are combined with detailed illustrations and step-by-step exercises to acquaint readers with the building blocks of ArcGIS Desktop including ArcMap, for displaying and querying maps, ArcCatalog, for organizing geographic data, and ModelBuilder, for diagramming and processing solutions to complex spatial analysis problems.

Its broad scope, simple style, and practical orientation make this book an ideal classroom text and an excellent resource for those learning GIS on their own.

The factors affecting the economic viability of high speed rail lines include the level of expected riders, costs, and public benefits, which are influenced by a line's corridor and service characteristics.

High speed rail tends to attract riders in dense, highly populated corridors, especially when there is congestion on existing transportation modes.

Characteristics of the proposed service are also key considerations, as high speed rail attracts riders where it compares favorably to travel alternatives with regard to door-to-door trip times, prices, frequency of service, reliability and safety.

In High Speed Passenger Rail: Viability, Challenges And Federal Role (New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2010), a strategic vision for high speed rail is offered, particularly in relation to the role that high speed rail can play in the national transportation system, clearly identifying potential objectives and goals for high speed rail systems and the roles that federal and other stakeholders should play in achieving each objective and goal.

The recently enacted Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 will likely increase the federal role in the development of high speed rail, as will the newly enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

This book consists of public documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.

Joan Williams, professor and the founding director of the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law, says that it's extremely difficult for organizations to rid their workforces of the unconscious biases that can prevent women and minorities from advancing. But it's not so hard for individual managers to interrupt bias within their own teams. She offers specific suggestions for how bosses can shift their approach in four areas: hiring, meetings, assignments, and reviews/promotions. Leaders who employ these practices, she argues, are able to embrace and reap the advantages of diversity, even in the absence of larger organizational directives. Williams is the author of the HBR article "How the Best Bosses Interrupt Bias on Their Teams."

Qatar to exit Opec amid tension with Saudi Arabia

Asked whether Indians are being targeted abroad, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi said, "One cannot make such a general statement."

The number of Indians who left during the grace period till October-end is 1,34,281, the Indian Embassy here said in a statement.

Around 1,500 blue collar workers from Tamil Nadu are among those who are using the amnesty to come back to the country.

The talk will be sometime the morning of Wed 6 May in this seminar. Title: Some statistical issues in the fight against coronavirus. Abstract: To be a good citizen, you sometimes have to be a bit of a scientist. To be a good scientist, you sometimes have to be a bit of a statistician. And […]

We conducted an experimental study of infection, transmission, and persistence of a nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPV) of Douglas-fir tussock moth (Orgyia pseudotsugata) to better understand mechanisms determining the efficacy of the virus when it is used as a microbial control agent. In a field experiment, we quantified infection rates of larvae exposed to either Tussock Moth Biocontrol-1, the strain currently used for control by the U.S. Forest Service, or a wild-type strain isolated from a natural population. We first allowed each pathogen to decay on experimental branches for 0, 1, or 3 days before allowing uninfected larvae to feed on the branches, and then we fit both a generalized linear model and an epidemiological model of virus transmission to the infection data. Longer decay of the NPV resulted in lower infection rates, but evidence that overall virus transmission differed between wild and pesticide isolates of NPV was weak. The short persistence time of the virus suggests that it does not last long on foliage, in turn suggesting that application of TM Biocontrol-1 must be carefully timed to ensure maximum mortality.

The distribution of a forest decline of yellow-cedar (Callitropsis nootkatensis (D. Don) Orsted) has been documented in southeast Alaska, but its occurrence in British Columbia was previously unknown. We conducted an aerial survey in the Prince Rupert area in September 2004 to determine if yellow-cedar forests in the North Coast Forest District of British Columbia were experiencing a similar fate as in nearby Alaska. Numerous large areas of concentrated yellow-cedar mortality were found, extending the known distribution of the decline problem 150 km south of the Alaska-British Columbia border. The forests with the most concentrated tree death occurred at 300 to 400 m elevation, frequently on south aspects. The appearance of these forests including proximity to bogs; mixtures of dying, recently killed, and long-dead trees; and crown and bole symptoms of dying trees were all consistent with the phenomenon in southeast Alaska.

None of several types of chemotherapeutants applied before inoculation (antibiotics, metallic salts, systemic fungicides) prevented infection of sugar pine seedlings by white pine blister rust. DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) did not enhance the action of any material with which it was applied.

MUSIC BUSINESS WORLDWIDE and the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER are both carrying reports on rumors that SAUDI ARABIA's PUBLIC INVESTMENT FUND is making an offer to buy WARNER MUSIC GROUP. The fund … more

It has recently been shown that word embeddings encode social biases, with a harmful impact on downstream tasks. However, to this point there has been no similar work done in the field of graph embeddings. We present the first study on social bias in knowledge graph embeddings, and propose a new metric suitable for measuring such bias. We conduct experiments on Wikidata and Freebase, and show that, as with word embeddings, harmful social biases related to professions are encoded in the embeddings with respect to gender, religion, ethnicity and nationality. For example, graph embeddings encode the information that men are more likely to be bankers, and women more likely to be homekeepers. As graph embeddings become increasingly utilized, we suggest that it is important the existence of such biases are understood and steps taken to mitigate their impact.

The standard training algorithm in neural machine translation (NMT) suffers from exposure bias, and alternative algorithms have been proposed to mitigate this. However, the practical impact of exposure bias is under debate. In this paper, we link exposure bias to another well-known problem in NMT, namely the tendency to generate hallucinations under domain shift. In experiments on three datasets with multiple test domains, we show that exposure bias is partially to blame for hallucinations, and that training with Minimum Risk Training, which avoids exposure bias, can mitigate this. Our analysis explains why exposure bias is more problematic under domain shift, and also links exposure bias to the beam search problem, i.e. performance deterioration with increasing beam size. Our results provide a new justification for methods that reduce exposure bias: even if they do not increase performance on in-domain test sets, they can increase model robustness to domain shift.

Vision-and-Language Navigation (VLN) requires an agent to follow natural-language instructions, explore the given environments, and reach the desired target locations. These step-by-step navigational instructions are crucial when the agent is navigating new environments about which it has no prior knowledge. Most recent works that study VLN observe a significant performance drop when tested on unseen environments (i.e., environments not used in training), indicating that the neural agent models are highly biased towards training environments. Although this issue is considered as one of the major challenges in VLN research, it is still under-studied and needs a clearer explanation. In this work, we design novel diagnosis experiments via environment re-splitting and feature replacement, looking into possible reasons for this environment bias. We observe that neither the language nor the underlying navigational graph, but the low-level visual appearance conveyed by ResNet features directly affects the agent model and contributes to this environment bias in results. According to this observation, we explore several kinds of semantic representations that contain less low-level visual information, hence the agent learned with these features could be better generalized to unseen testing environments. Without modifying the baseline agent model and its training method, our explored semantic features significantly decrease the performance gaps between seen and unseen on multiple datasets (i.e. R2R, R4R, and CVDN) and achieve competitive unseen results to previous state-of-the-art models. Our code and features are available at: https://github.com/zhangybzbo/EnvBiasVLN