Banksy droped off an art piece that is inspiring the world with its superhero nurse theme, in gratitude to NHS Southampton General Hospital in England.

The post Banksy Drops Off Superhero Nurse Artwork at Hospital in UK With a Thank You Note appeared first on Good News Network.

Kroger, which is the largest supermarket chain in the US by revenue, has now given their employees two different bonuses for their work during the pandemic.

The post Hourly Workers at Largest Grocery Chain in US Are All Getting ‘Hero Bonuses’ for Their Service Amid COVID-19 appeared first on Good News Network.

For two hours on Sunday mornings, all Sam's Club stores will be open to first responders and hospital workers—no membership required.

The post Sam’s Club is Offering ‘Hero Shopping Hours’ to Healthcare Workers Regardless of Memberships appeared first on Good News Network.

Queensland has recorded its third day of zero cases this week but authorities warn the virus has not been eradicated and more cases are expected.

With the incredible efforts we’ve seen from healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, it feels appropriate that the World Health Organisation has made 2020 the Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

The Malheur model for fire-caused delayed mortality is presented as an easily interpreted graph (mortality-probability calculator) as part of a one-page field guide that allows the user to determine postfire probability of mortality for ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws.).

A CSS3 Random Heroes game, animated sprites using no images.

Forest managers are seeking practical guidance on how to adapt their current practices and, if necessary, their management goals, in response to climate change. Science-management collaboration was initiated on national forests in eastern Washington where resource managers showed a keen interest in science-based options for adapting to climate change at a 2-day workshop. Scientists and managers reviewed current climate change science and identified resources vulnerable to expected climate change. Vulnerabilities related to vegetation and habitat management included potential reductions in forest biodiversity and low forest resilience to changing disturbance regimes. The vulnerabilities related to aquatic and infrastructure resources included changing water quality and quantity, the risk to roads and other facilities from changes to hydrologic regimes, and the potential loss of at-risk aquatic species and habitats. Managers then worked in facilitated groups to identify adaptations that could be implemented through management and planning to reduce the vulnerability of key resources to climate change. The identified adaptations were grouped under two major headings: Increasing Ecological Resiliency to Climate Change, and Increasing Social and Economic Resiliency to Climate Change. The information generated from the science-management collaborative represents an initial and important step in identifying and prioritizing tangible steps to address climate change in forest management. Next would be the development of detailed implementation strategies that address the identified management adaptations..

In the mid-1990s, forest managers on the Malheur National Forest were concerned about their prescribed fire program. Although they have only a few weeks of acceptable conditions available in the spring and fall, they were worried that spring-season prescribed burning might be exacerbating black stain root disease and having negative effects on understory plants.

Two series of single and stereo photographs display a range of natural conditions and fuel loadings in sagebrush with grass and ponderosa pinejuniper types in central Montana. Each group of photos includes inventory information summarizing vegetation composition, structure, and loading; woody material loading and density by size class; forest floor depth and loading; and various site characteristics. The natural fuels photo series is designed to help land managers appraise fuel and vegetation conditions in natural settings.

The HCR (Harvest Cost-Revenue) Estimator is engineering and financial analysis software used to evaluate stand-level financial thresholds for harvesting smalldiameter ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws.) in the Southwest United States. The Windows-based program helps contractors and planners to identify costs associated with tree selection, residual handling, transportation of raw materials, and equipment used. Costs are compared against total financial return for regionally based market opportunities to arrive at potential net profit. Information is used to identify per-acre cost thresholds, for contract appraisal, and for prioritizing project planning for wildfire fuel reduction treatments and forest restoration efforts.

Scientists have had little information about how prescribed fire and cattle grazing—common practices in many Western ponderosa pine forests—affect plant abundance and reproduction in the forest understory. Pacific Northwest Research Station scientists began to explore how these practices affect vegetation in a five-year study of postfire vegetation in eastern Oregon ponderosa pine forests where cattle have been routinely pastured from late June or early July through early to mid August. For this area of eastern Oregon, they found that excluding cattle grazing during peak growing season increased native plant cover and grass flowering capability in ungrazed areas compared to grazed areas. Because vegetation was measured prior to releasing cattle on the land, the study's results tend to reflect lasting grazing impacts rather than simple consumption.

In dry, open coniferous forests of the montane West, stand-replacing wildfires and land use activities alter the composition and abundance of native grasses and forbs by degrading the habitat and accelerating the invasion of exotic annuals. On these lands, native forbs and grasses delayed or prevented from recovery by natural processes may require intervention through supplementary seeding. However, effective seeding of native plants requires that their seed traits and the potential outcome of the seeding be better understood.

CHRIS OLIVIERO has returned to ENTERCOM as SVP/Market Manager for the NEW YORK cluster, News WINS-A, News WCBS-A, Sports WFAN-A-F, Alternative WNYL (ALT 92.3), AC WNEW (NEW 102.7), Country … more

Statement Highlights: High cholesterol, at any age, can increase a person’s lifetime risk for heart disease and stroke. A healthy lifestyle is the first step in prevention and treatment to lower that risk. The 2018 guidelines recommend more detailed risk assessments to help health care providers better determine a person’s individualized risk and treatment options. In some cases, a coronary artery calcium score can help determine a person’s need for cholesterol-lowering treatment, if their risk status is uncertain or if the treatment decision isn't clear.

An overwhelming majority of websites incorporate the “hero image” design pattern. This is where a large, visually impactful image is used at the top of the page along with key messaging to emotionally engage the target audience. As one of the first elements one sees, the actual imagery used is often subject of attention during […]

The post Does the hero image matter? appeared first on Psychology of Web Design | 3.7 Blog.

Even in highly “improved” places like Iowa, nature still has a few secrets, and I got to steal a peek at one last week. Having fished with great blue herons most of my life, I have long...

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Dubuque woman who helped her boyfriend and another person buy heroin that later led to a fatal overdose was convicted Thursday in federal court. Jacqueline M. Birch, 23,...

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Dubuque woman who helped her boyfriend and another person buy heroin that later led to a fatal overdose was convicted Thursday in federal court.

Jacqueline M. Birch, 23, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of aiding and abetting the distribution of a controlled substance.

During the plea hearing, Birch admitted she knew that another person was going to illegally distribute a drug last May, and she aided in that distribution.

Evidence at a previous hearing showed that Birch drove her boyfriend, Mateusz Syryjczyk, 29, of Rockford, Ill., and another person, not identified in court documents, to a residence in Dubuque on May 27. Birch and the other person went into the residence and bought heroin from a dealer. The three drove to a hotel in Dubuque and all used the heroin.

The other person began to overdose in the room, but Birch and Syryjczyk didn’t immediately call 911, according to evidence. Over many hours, Birch occasionally would perform CPR on the person to restore some breathing function, though the person never regained consciousness.

Eventually, Birch and Syryjczyk decided to call 911, and Syryjczyk took the remaining drug paraphernalia from the room to prevent law enforcement from finding it, according to court documents. Birch and Syryjczyk also made false statements to police about the cause of the person’s condition.

Court documents showed the overdose victim died at the scene. An autopsy later determined the cause of death was use of heroin, fentanyl and valeryl fentanyl.

Syryjczyk previously pleaded to misprision of a felony and remains free on bond pending sentencing.

Birch faces up to 20 years in federal prison, a $1 million fine and supervised release for life following her prison term.

Sentencing will be set after a presentencing report is prepared.

The case was investigated by the Dubuque Drug Task Force and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Chatham.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com

By Lauren McCauley Common Dreams Even scientists who question findings say ‘we ignore James Hansen at our peril.’ Dr. James Hansen, the former NASA scientist who is widely credited with being one of the first to raise concerns about human-caused … Continue reading →

Zero UI is about removing everything that comes between users and their devices, about making the interaction easier, seamless, more direct. Does it sound to you like a concept from a science-fiction...

An overwhelming majority of websites incorporate the “hero image” design pattern. This is where a large, visually impactful image is used at the top of the page along with key messaging to emotionally engage the target audience. As one of the first elements one sees, the actual imagery used is often subject of attention during […]

The post Does the hero image matter? appeared first on Psychology of Web Design | 3.7 Blog.

In this paper, we discuss Cameron-Liebler sets in Hamming graphs, obtain several equivalent definitions and present all classification results.

This paper considers the distributed nonconvex optimization problem of minimizing a global cost function formed by a sum of local cost functions by using local information exchange. We first propose a distributed first-order primal-dual algorithm. We show that it converges sublinearly to the stationary point if each local cost function is smooth and linearly to the global optimum under an additional condition that the global cost function satisfies the Polyak-{L}ojasiewicz condition. This condition is weaker than strong convexity, which is a standard condition for proving the linear convergence of distributed optimization algorithms, and the global minimizer is not necessarily unique or finite. Motivated by the situations where the gradients are unavailable, we then propose a distributed zeroth-order algorithm, derived from the proposed distributed first-order algorithm by using a deterministic gradient estimator, and show that it has the same convergence properties as the proposed first-order algorithm under the same conditions. The theoretical results are illustrated by numerical simulations.

Starting from the Hamiltonian formulation of ${cal N}{=},2$ supersymmetric Calogero models associated with the classical $A_n, B_n, C_n$ and $D_n$ series and their hyperbolic/trigonometric cousins, we provide their superspace description. The key ingredients include $n$ bosonic and $2n(n{-}1)$ fermionic ${cal N}{=},2$ superfields, the latter being subject to a nonlinear chirality constraint. This constraint has a universal form valid for all Calogero models. With its help we find more general supercharges (and a superspace Lagrangian), which provide the ${cal N}{=},2$ supersymmetrization for bosonic potentials with arbitrary repulsive two-body interactions.

This paper addresses the problem of identifying the graph structure of a dynamical network using measured input/output data. This problem is known as topology identification and has received considerable attention in recent literature. Most existing literature focuses on topology identification for networks with node dynamics modeled by single integrators or single-input single-output (SISO) systems. The goal of the current paper is to identify the topology of a more general class of heterogeneous networks, in which the dynamics of the nodes are modeled by general (possibly distinct) linear systems. Our two main contributions are the following. First, we establish conditions for topological identifiability, i.e., conditions under which the network topology can be uniquely reconstructed from measured data. We also specialize our results to homogeneous networks of SISO systems and we will see that such networks have quite particular identifiability properties. Secondly, we develop a topology identification method that reconstructs the network topology from input/output data. The solution of a generalized Sylvester equation will play an important role in our identification scheme.

We derive finite rational formulas for the traces of cycle integrals of certain meromorphic modular forms. Moreover, we prove the modularity of a completion of the generating function of such traces. The theoretical framework for these results is an extension of the Shintani theta lift to meromorphic modular forms of positive even weight.

The paper proves the Riemann Hypothesis.

We study a problem concerning parabolic induction in certain p-adic unitary groups. More precisely, for $E/F$ a quadratic extension of p-adic fields the associated unitary group $G=mathrm{U}(n,n)$ contains a parabolic subgroup $P$ with Levi component $L$ isomorphic to $mathrm{GL}_n(E)$. Let $pi$ be an irreducible supercuspidal representation of $L$ of depth zero. We use Hecke algebra methods to determine when the parabolically induced representation $iota_P^G pi$ is reducible.

Given a standard graded polynomial ring over a commutative Noetherian ring $A$, we prove that the cohomological dimension and the height of the ideals defining any of its Veronese subrings are equal. This result is due to Ogus when $A$ is a field of characteristic zero, and follows from a result of Peskine and Szpiro when $A$ is a field of positive characteristic; our result applies, for example, when $A$ is the ring of integers.

This paper proposes a faceted information exploration model that supports coarse-grained and fine-grained focusing of geographic maps by offering a graphical representation of data attributes within interactive widgets. The proposed approach enables (i) a multi-category projection of long-lasting geographic maps, based on the proposal of efficient facets for data exploration in sparse and noisy datasets, and (ii) an interactive representation of the search context based on widgets that support data visualization, faceted exploration, category-based information hiding and transparency of results at the same time. The integration of our model with a semantic representation of geographical knowledge supports the exploration of information retrieved from heterogeneous data sources, such as Public Open Data and OpenStreetMap. We evaluated our model with users in the OnToMap collaborative Web GIS. The experimental results show that, when working on geographic maps populated with multiple data categories, it outperforms simple category-based map projection and traditional faceted search tools, such as checkboxes, in both user performance and experience.

We study heterogeneous $k$-facility location games. In this model there are $k$ facilities where each facility serves a different purpose. Thus, the preferences of the agents over the facilities can vary arbitrarily. Our goal is to design strategy proof mechanisms that place the facilities in a way to maximize the minimum utility among the agents. For $k=1$, if the agents' locations are known, we prove that the mechanism that places the facility on an optimal location is strategy proof. For $k geq 2$, we prove that there is no optimal strategy proof mechanism, deterministic or randomized, even when $k=2$ there are only two agents with known locations, and the facilities have to be placed on a line segment. We derive inapproximability bounds for deterministic and randomized strategy proof mechanisms. Finally, we focus on the line segment and provide strategy proof mechanisms that achieve constant approximation. All of our mechanisms are simple and communication efficient. As a byproduct we show that some of our mechanisms can be used to achieve constant factor approximations for other objectives as the social welfare and the happiness.

[In the second part of his series, a Zone Leader begins the process of using Heroku for the very first time. In this article, he walks through the new account process, then performs the necessary setup of a database and RESTful API for use with the application built for a family member.]

In the "Moving Away From AWS and Onto Heroku" article, I provided an introduction of the application I wanted to migrate from Amazon's popular AWS solution to Heroku. While AWS is certainly meeting the needs of my customer (my mother-in-law), I am hoping for a solution that allows my limited time to be focused on providing business solutions instead of getting up to speed with DevOps processes.

In the "Moving Away From AWS and Onto Heroku" article, I provided an introduction of the application I wanted to migrate from Amazon's popular AWS solution to Heroku.  Subsequently, the "Destination Heroku" article illustrated the establishment of a new Heroku account and focused on introducing a Java API (written in Spring Boot) connecting to a ClearDB instance within this new platform-as-a-service (PaaS) ecosystem.  My primary goal is to find a solution that allows my limited time to be focused on providing business solutions instead of getting up to speed with DevOps processes.

Quick Recap

As a TL;DR (too long; didn't read) to the original article, I built an Angular client and a Java API for the small business owned by my mother-in-law.  After a year of running the application on Elastic Beanstalk and S3, I wanted to see if there was a better solution that would allow me to focus more on writing features and enhancements and not have to worry about learning, understanding, and executing DevOps-like aspects inherent within the AWS ecosystem.

By learning from a MERS outbreak in 2015, South Korea was prepared and acted swiftly to ramp up testing when the new coronavirus appeared there. Meanwhile, the U.S., plagued by delay and dysfunction, wasted its advantage. By Stephen Engelberg, Lisa Song and Lydia DePillis ProPublica…

Dwight Yoakam has always been the personification of country-cool, and he's bringing his killer band, hiccuping vocals, rootsy style and predilection for unexpected covers to Spokane in September. Perhaps best known for his devotion to the "Bakersfield sound" and his past collaborations with Buck Owens, Yoakam has always straddled the line between country and rock.…

Put pictures of 1975-era Aerosmith and 1995-era Guided By Voices next to each other and you probably wouldn’t think the bands have anything in common.…

The present invention provides a process for preparing a compound of formula (VI) or a salt thereof, the process comprising: (i) reacting 4-methoxyphenyl acetone with an amine of formula (VIII) under conditions of reductive amination to produce a compound of formula (II) or a salt thereof, wherein there is no isolation of an imine intermediate formed during the reductive amination; (ii) condensing the compound (II) or the acid addition salt thereof with an α-haloketone of formula (III) to produce the compound of formula (IV); (iii) reducing the compound (IV) to a compound of formula (V); and (iv) reducing the compound (V) to the compound of formula (VI), wherein the reduction is carried out in the presence of either (1) a hydrogen donating compound in the presence of a hydrogen transfer catalyst; or (2) ammonium formate using a hydrogenation catalyst, wherein R1 and R2 are independently optionally substituted arylalkyl, and Hal is selected from chloro or bromo.

A branched hetero polyfunctional polyoxyalkylene compound represented by the following formula (1): wherein Z represents a hydroxyl group-removed residue of pentaerythritol or dipentaerythritol, OA1 and OA2 represent an oxyalkylene group having 2 to 4 carbon atoms, L1, L2 and L3 represent an alkylene group or an alkylene group that contains an ester bond, a urethane bond, an amide bond, an ether bond, a carbonate bond, a secondary amino group or a urea bond, X and Y are different from each other and represent a functional group capable of a chemical reaction; m and n are an average number of moles of the oxyalkylene group added, m represents 5 to 1,000, n represents 0 to 1,000, and p, q and r represent 0 or 1; and s1 is an integer of 2 or more and s1+s2=4 or 6.

The invention relates to polyglycol ether-free, polyglycerol partial ester-based sulphosuccinates, the preparation thereof, and the use of these in cosmetic formulations and also in cleaning compositions in the industrial and domestic sector and formulations comprising these sulphosuccinates.

Heterocyclic compounds of formula (I) useful as imaging probes of Tau pathology in Alzheimer's disease are described. Compositions and methods of making such compounds are also described.

The present invention relates to compounds of formula (I) wherein X1 to X5, Y, Z1 to Z3, and R have the meaning as cited in the description and the claims. Said compounds are useful as JAK inhibitors for the treatment or prophylaxis of immunological, inflammatory, autoimmune, allergic disorders, and immunologically-mediated diseases. The invention also relates to pharmaceutical compositions including said compounds, the preparation of such compounds as well as the use as medicaments.

The present invention provides a compound useful as an agent for the prevention or treatment of a sex hormone-dependent disease or the like. That is, the present invention provides a fused heterocyclic derivative represented by the following general formula (I), a pharmaceutical composition containing the same, a medicinal use thereof and the like. In the formula (I), ring A represents 5-membered cyclic unsaturated hydrocarbon or 5-membered heteroaryl; RA represents halogen, alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, carboxy, alkoxy, carbamoyl, alkylcarbamoyl or the like ; ring B represents aryl or heteroaryl; RB represents halogen, alkyl, carboxy, alkoxy, carbamoyl, alkylcarbamoyl or the like; E1 and E2 represent an oxygen atom or the like; U represents a single bond or alkylene; X represents a group represented by Y, —SO2—Y, —O—(alkylene)—Y, —O—Z in which Y represents Z, amino or the like; Z represents cycloalkyl, heterocycloalkyl, aryl, heteroaryl or the like; or the like.

Injection molded articles and process of forming the same are described herein. The processes generally include providing a polyolefin including one or more propylene heterophasic copolymers, the polyolefin having an ethylene content of at least 10 wt. % based on the total weight of the polyolefin; contacting the polyolefin with a polylactic acid and a reactive modifier to form a compatiblized polymeric blend, wherein the reactive modifier is produced by contacting a polypropylene, a multifunctional acrylate comonomer, and an initiator under conditions suitable for the formation of a glycidyl methacrylate grafted polypropylene (PP-g-GMA) having a grafting yield in a range from 1 wt. % to 15 wt. %; and injection molding the compatibilized polymeric blend into an article.

The present invention relates to novel heterocycle-substituted diphosphonic acids, and the pharmaceutically-acceptable salts and esters thereof, in which the diphosphonate-substituted carbon atom moiety is attached to a carbon atom in a nitrogen-containing six membered ring heterocycle, preferably a piperidine ring. The heterocycle-substituted diphosphonic acid compounds have the general structure: ##STR1## wherein Z is a nitrogen-containing six membered ring heterocycle moiety selected from piperidinyl, diazinyl and triazinyl; m, n and m+n are from 0 to 10; Q is a covalent bond or a moiety selected from oxygen, sulfur or nitrogen; and R1, R2, R3 and R4 are substituent groups.The present invention further relates to pharmaceutical compositions containing these novel compounds. Finally this invention relates to methods for treating or preventing diseases characterized by abnormal calcium and phosphate metabolism by utilizing a compound or pharmaceutical composition of the present invention.

A durable ambient light curable waterproof liquid rubber coating with volatile organic compound (VOC) content of less than 450 grams per liter made from ethylene propylene diene terpolymer (EPDM) in a solvent, a photoinitiator, an additive, pigments, and fillers, and a co-agent and a method for making the formulation, wherein the formulation is devoid of thermally activated accelerators.

A system and method for detecting, filtering, prioritizing and reporting shared memory hazards are disclosed. The method includes, for a unit of hardware operating on a block of threads, mapping a plurality of shared memory locations assigned to the unit to a tracking table. The tracking table comprises initialization information for each shared memory location. The method also includes, for an instruction of a program within a barrier region, identifying a potential conflict by identifying a second access to a location in shared memory within a block of threads executed by the hardware unit. First information associated with a first access and second information associated with the second access to the location is determined. Filter criteria is applied to the first and second information to determine whether the instruction causes a reportable hazard. The instruction is reported when it causes the reportable hazard.

Process for producing silica-comprising dispersions comprising a polyetherol or a polyether amine, which comprises the steps of (i) admixing an aqueous silica sol (K) having an average particle diameter of from 1 to 150 nm and a silica content, calculated as SiO2, of from 1 to 60% by weight and a pH of from 1 to 6 with at least one polyetherol (b1) and/or polyether amine (b2) based on ethylene oxide and/or propylene oxide and having an average OH or amine functionality of from 2 to 6 and a number average molecular weight of from 62 to 6000 g/mol,(ii) distilling off at least part of the water,(iii) admixing the dispersion with at least one compound (S) having at least one at least monoalkoxylated silyl group and at least one alkyl, cycloalkyl or aryl substituent, where this substituent may have groups which are reactive toward an alcohol, an amine or an isocyanate in an amount of from 0.1 to 20 μmol of (S) per m2 of surface area of (K), where steps (i) and (iii) can be carried out simultaneously or in succession in any order, (iv) optionally adjusting the pH of the silica-comprising dispersions obtained to a value of from 7 to 12 by adding a basic compound, where step (iv) can also be carried out between steps (ii) and (iii).

Disclosed and claimed herein are hybrid silica aerogels containing non-polymeric, functional organic materials covalently bonded at one or both ends to the silica network of the aerogels through a C—Si bond between a carbon atom of the organic material and a silicon atom of the aerogel network. Methods of their preparation are also disclosed.