Thanks to Mark and Dawn Hungerford, our intrepid cavers/archaeologists, who explored the interior of Belize in May 2011 and took these excellent pictures.

Urges Mr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to get relevant countries to work collectively under coordination from India to impress upon Israel to give up its illegal occupation, surrender its settler-colonial policies, work towards a one-state solution.

In Nirmal district, Telangana, a man was captured on video crossing a collapsed bridge by sliding down a pipe from one end to the other. The footage shows the individual making his way across the gap, using the pipe as a makeshift bridge to reach the other side, with water flowing beneath the structure.

The collapse has left local residents and commuters stranded.

Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday rode Kerala's longest zipline in a bid to boost tourism in landslide-hit Wayanad. His visit to the zipline situated at the Karapuzha dam site came a day before Wayanad went to bypolls to decide his sister and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's fate in the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency.

The deal that seems too good to be true probably is.

Christmas is just a few weeks away, and if you’re planning to work on some fun DIY projects—the earlier you do it, the better. Getting an early start on your holiday DIY projects comes with a long list of benefits, and here are five reasons why it’s always a good idea. More Time The earlier […]

As we cruise into the future of electric vehicles (EVs), the buzz around solid-state battery technology is getting louder and more electrifying. Imagine a world where EVs charge faster than your smartphone, drive huge distances, and are safer than your gran on a Friday night. That’s the promise of solid-state batteries, a technology that’s poised to supercharge the EV revolution. Solid-state batteries are like the cool new kids on the block, set to replace the lithium-ion batteries we’ve come to...

The post The Solid State Battery Race: Who’s Going To Win? appeared first on The Red Ferret Journal.

Nos últimos tempos, a América Latina experimentou um rápido crescimento no uso de CTV, graças à ampla variedade de conteúdo e à expansão das plataformas de streaming de vídeo. Embora na América Latina o consumo tenha crescido consideravelmente, atingindo mais de 150 milhões de espectadores, o equivalente a 41% da população digital latino-americana, quando olhamos para os cortes de consumo por país, identificamos grandes lacunas na região, que representam oportunidades de crescimento em cada país.

For many, the holidays can be a stressful time when it comes to reconnecting with family members. Join Christian this week as he explores some things to keep in mind as we interact with family over the holidays.

Chaplain Sarah and Fr. Adrian discuss the painful reality of grief during the holidays, and ways to carry that grief into the feast of the Nativity of Christ.

The chat room was hopping tonight as Fr. Nick and Dr. Roxanne talk about how to deal with difficult relationships during this holiday season. They couldn't get to all the questions and their prepared remarks so look for part two on January 9, 2018.

Why does it matter that our God came down to earth and took on flesh? Elissa discusses using the Jesse Tree and other means to teach our children about the Feast of the Nativity.

Fr. John addresses the uncertainty in Byzantium following the death of Constantine and then the consolidation of Christianity shortly after that.

Padre Nicholas predico sobre los requisitos de ser un líder de Cristo. Como San Ignacio dio su vida y predicó que nuestra líder en la iglesia es el Obispo, como nuestro obispo Metropolitan Antonio. (1 Cor. 12:27-13:8) Fr. Nicholas preached about the qualities of a leader in Christ. Giving the example of how St. Ignatius gave his life and preached about our leader in the Church who is our bishop Metropolitan Antonio. (1 Cor. 12:27-13:8)

When Jesus came as The Gift to the world as a stranger, He encountered politics, and it was politics that ultimately killed the Gift. In Houston Texas, politics once again kills the Gift of Christmas.

Supporting another's self-destruction is not a compassionate or morally neutral act.

The online fashion firm is mulling whether to offload its brands as sales remain under pressure.

Boss Chris Kempczinski says sorry for the outbreak as the burger giant faces flagging sales.

Weymouth Town Council says it has made 23 December a free parking day to help last-minute shoppers.

When Microsoft announced it was rebranding its phone hardware as “Microsoft Lumia”, it hinted that there might be a new phone on the way, with the Nokia Conversations blog post quoting Senior VP Tuula Rytilä as saying “we are looking …

Desde que puse en marcha este sitio, he usado WordPress. Todavía me queda mucho que aprender, pero desde hace un tiempo me […]

He tenido tiempo de ver algunas charlas de la WordCamp Valladolid 2020 que me perdí en su momento. Algo bueno tenía que […]

Due to information technologies the problem we are facing today is not a lack of information but too much information. This phenomenon becomes very clear when we consider two figures that are often quoted: Knowledge is doubling in many fields (biology, medicine, computer science, ...) within some 6 years; yet information is doubling every 8 months! This implies that the same piece of information/knowledge is published a large number of times with small variations.

Just look at an arbitrary news item. If considered of some general interest reports of it will appear in all major newspapers, journals, electronic media, etc. This is also the problem with information portals that tie together a number of large databases.

It is our contention that we need methods to reduce the huge set of information concerning a particular topic to a number of pieces of information (let us call each such piece an "essay" in what follows) that present a good cross-section of potential points of view. We will explain why one essay is usually not enough, yet the problem of reducing a huge amount of contributions to a digestible number of essays is formidable, indeed is science fiction at the moment. We will argue in this paper that it is one of the important tasks of computer sciences to start tackling this problem, and we will show that in some special cases partial solutions are possible.

1. Ottawa businesses brace for possible Canada Post strike before the holiday season  CTV News Ottawa
2. Tougher work conditions for postal workers at the heart of labour dispute, union says  The Globe and Mail
3. Ottawa businesses worry about potential postal disruption  CBC.ca
4. Calgary workers 'ready to go' if Canada Post, CUPW unable to reach agreement by Friday: union president  Calgary Herald
5. ‘Feeling the pinch’: Potential postal strike may be first of many, Manitoba prof says  Global News Toronto

In this paper, a second-order sliding mode adaptive controller with finite time stability is proposed for trajectory tracking of robotic systems. In order to reduce the chattering phenomenon in the response of the variable structure resistant controller, two dependent sliding surfaces are used. In the outer loop, a kinematic controller is used to compensate the geometric uncertainty of the robot, and in the inner loop, the proposed resistive control is used as the main loop. On the other hand, considering the dynamic uncertainty and disturbance of the robot, an adaptive strategy has been used to estimate the uncertainty limit during the control process in order to eliminate the need for basic knowledge to determine the uncertainty limit in the resistant structure. The proposed control method demonstrates significant enhancements in performance, with the linear velocity error improving by approximately 80%, leading to a more accurate and responsive system.

This research aims to establish a valid and accurate measurement scale and identify consumer-driven characteristics for minimalism. The study has employed a hybrid approach to produce items for minimalism. Expert interviews were conducted to identify the items for minimalism in the first phase followed by consumer survey to obtain their response in second phase. A five-point Likert scale was used to collect the data. Further, data was subjected to reliability and validity check. Structural equation modelling was used to test the model. The findings demonstrated that there are five dimensions by which consumers perceive minimalism: decluttering, mindful consumption, aesthetic choices, financial freedom, and sustainable lifestyle. The outcome also revealed a high correlation between simplicity and well-being. This study is the first to provide a reliable and valid instrument for minimalism. The results will have several theoretical and practical ramifications for society and policymakers. It will support policymakers in gauging and encouraging minimalistic practices, which enhance environmental performance and lower carbon footprint.

This paper presents a validation research of seven Digital Learning Domains (DLDs) and sixty-five performance statements (PSs) as perceived by students with experience in learning via ICT. The preliminary findings suggest a statistical firmness of the inventory. The seven DLDs identified are Social Responsibility, Team-based Learning, Information Research and Retrieval, Information Management, Information Validation, Processing and Presentation of Information, and Digital Integrity. The 65 PSs will enable a teacher to identify the level of competency the learner has in each DLD, thus identifying students’ strengths and weaknesses that must be addressed in order to facilitate learning in the current era. As can be concluded from the findings, most of the participants evaluate themselves as digitally literate with regard to the basic information research and retrieval skills, validation and information management. But when it comes to PSs that require complex decision making or higher order thinking strategies, it seems that a large number of participants lack these skills. Also, social responsibility and digital integrity domains are perceived as known by the participants but not very well taken in terms of pro-active action to enforce appropriate digital behavior, or avoiding illegally obtained music or movies.

The purpose of the study is to identify influential factors in the use of collaborative networks within the context of manufacturing. The study aims to investigate factors that influence employees’ learning, and to bridge the gap between theory and praxis in collaborative networks in manufacturing. The study further extends the boundary of a collaborative network beyond enterprises to include suppliers, customers, and external stakeholders. It provides a holistic perspective of collaborative networks within the complexity of the manufacturing environment, based on empirical evidence from a questionnaire survey of 246 respondents from diverse manufacturing industries. Drawing upon the socio-technical systems (STS) theory, the study presents the theoretical context and interpretations through the lens of manufacturing. The results show significant influences of organizational support, promotive interactions, positive interdependence, internal-external learning, perceived effectiveness, and perceived usefulness on the use of collaborative networks among manufacturing employees. The study offers a basis of empirical validity for measuring collaborative networks in organizational learning and knowledge/information sharing in manufacturing.

Aim/Purpose: The aim of the present paper is to present a Noise Decision (ND) scale. First, it reports the development and validation of the instrument aimed at examining organizational factors that have an influence on decision-making and the level of noise. Second, it validates this rating scale by testing its discriminant and convergent validity with other measures to assess decision-making qualities. Background: According to the literature, the concept of noise is the unwanted variability present in judgments. The notion of noise concerns the systematic influence to which individuals are exposed in their environment. The literature in the field has found that noise reduction improves the perception of work performance. Methodology: The first study involves the development of a scale (composed of 36 items) consisting of semi-structured interviews, item development, and principal component analysis. The second study involves validation and convergent validity of this scale. In the first study, there were 43 employees from three medium-sized Italian multinationals. For the second study, a sample of 867 subjects was analysed. Contribution: This paper introduces the first scale aimed at assessing noise within individuals and, in the organizational context, within employees and employers. Findings: Results show that the estimated internal reliability for each of the ND subscales and also the correlations between the subscales were relatively low, suggesting that ND correctly measures the analyzed components. Furthermore, the validation of the psychometric qualities of the ND allowed for the assertion that the influence of noise is present in the decision-making process within the context of work environments, validating the initial hypotheses. Recommendation for Researchers: This paper aims to improve theory and research on decision-making; for example, by providing a possible implementation for scales for evaluating decision-making skills. Furthermore, detecting and limiting noise with a systematic method could improve both the quality of decisions and the quality of thought processes. Future Research: Given the measurement of ND, the study can be a starting point for future research on this topic. Since there is no literature about this construct, it would be necessary to spend more time researching, so that the topic becomes clearer. System noise has been tested by some researchers with a “noise audit,” which means giving the same problem to different people and measuring the differences in their responses. Repeating this kind of audit in conjunction with the ND in a specific work environment could be helpful to detect but also measure the influence of noise.

Background and Objective: In response to the challenges of poor mapping outcomes and susceptibility to obstacles encountered by indoor mobile vehicles relying solely on pure cameras or pure LiDAR during their movements, this paper proposes an obstacle avoidance method for indoor mobile vehicles that integrates image and LiDAR data, thus achieving obstacle avoidance for mobile vehicles. Materials and Methods: This method combines data from a depth camera and LiDAR, employing the Gmapping SLAM algorithm for environmental mapping, along with the A* algorithm and TEB algorithm for local path planning. In addition, this approach incorporates gesture functionality, which can be used to control the vehicle in certain special scenarios where “pseudo-obstacles” exist. The method utilizes the YOLO V3 algorithm for gesture recognition. Results: This paper merges the maps generated by the depth camera and LiDAR, resulting in a three-dimensional map that is more enriched and better aligned with real-world conditions. Combined with the A* algorithm and TEB algorithm, an optimal route is planned, enabling the mobile vehicles to effectively obtain obstacle information and thus achieve obstacle avoidance. Additionally, the introduced gesture recognition feature, which has been validated, also effectively controls the forward and backward movements of the mobile vehicles, facilitating obstacle avoidance. Conclusion: The experimental platform for the mobile vehicles, which integrates depth camera and LiDAR, built in this study has been validated for real-time obstacle avoidance through path planning in indoor environments. The introduced gesture recognition also effectively enables obstacle avoidance for the mobile vehicles.

Despite the extensive research into the effects of reputation, virtually all of this research has examined the effect of one type of reputation on one or more specific outcomes. In this study we ask the question: How do the reputations of analysts, CEOs, and firms individually and jointly affect firm outcomes? To answer this question we focus on a context where reputations are particularly relevant - changes in analyst recommendations and the effect of those changes on stock market reactions. Our study makes contributions to the growing reputation literature by being one of the first studies to recognize and measure how the market accounts for multiple reputations. Further, we argue and find that the reputations of different actors interact with each other when determining particular firm outcomes. We find that different actor's reputations influence the reactions of observers.

This rather difficult read introduces the programming language FSM and the programming platform DrRacket. The author asserts that it is a convenient platform to design and prove an automata-based software

Given a life extension, the Quezon Huskers hope to complete their recovery when they tackle the Batangas City Tanduay Rum Masters in a Game 3 decider for the South Division crown at 7 p.m. Thursday

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Ah, the holidays—where buying gifts online should be about finding the perfect ugly sweater, not losing your credit card info to some sleazy scammer. But beware, the ''card declined'' scam that is on the rise and poised to play Grinch this season. ...

In the initial six months, Khurshid’s relatively inexperienced government faced some tough challenges.

Kashmiris will not give up their demand of right to self-determination, say participants

We are proud to present a new video tutorial on Camera Slideshow, a popular jQuery plugin.

The post JS Animated. How to change Camera slider speed, effect and other options appeared first on Template Monster Help.

This tutorial shows how to manage slider options in Shopify template.

The post Shopify. How to manage slider options (speed, effect, autoplay) appeared first on Template Monster Help.

This tutorial shows how to change the slider image rotation speed in JS Animated templates. The slider, usually used in the JS Animated templates is called TM_Slider and as any other jQuery based slider it has various settings. Let’s see …

The post JS Animated. How to change slider speed appeared first on Template Monster Help.