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By Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University Cooperative Extension, Entomology
They may be little but they can be mighty.
They are scales, one of the most insidious insect pests affecting landscape plants in Colorado. They are tiny, typically inconspicuously colored and largely immobile. They spend their lives quietly removing sap from trees and shrubs.
Several important scale insects, however, can cause serious damage, causing dieback of branches and occasionally killing the plant.
Cottony maple scale
Scales are close relatives to the more familiar aphids. The main difference is the presence of the plate-like scale covering, a waxy material secreted through pores on the back. This covering gives the insects substantial protection from the environment, as well as from many of the control sprays we might want to use. Because of this, scale insects often are one of the more difficult pests to manage.
Dozens of scales can occur. The knowledgeable gardener will become familiar with a few important ones.
Oystershell scale
The most significant of these pests is the oystershell scale, so named because it resembles a minute oyster attached to the bark of trees. Aspen, ash, lilac, cotoneaster, willow and poplars are among the many plants in the region highly susceptible to this insect. Oystershell scales kill, often because of the increased susceptibility to disease caused when the scales sap the plant's vigor.
Oystershell Scale
European elm scale chronically occurs as a pest of the American elm. Anyone who's ever parked an automobile beneath an elm tree and returned to find small droplets of sticky honeydew on the car, knows how European elm scales work.
European Elm scale
Pine and spruce can be affected by two common scales. Pine needle scale is an elongate, white insect that attaches itself to the needles of the spruce and several pines, notably mugho. This insect, occurring in great numbers the past few seasons, has resulted in premature needle drop on pine and spruce.
A more recently introduced pest in the state is the pine tortoise scale, a "soft" globular-shaped scale that occurs on the twigs of Scots pine and a few other pine species. Pine tortoise scale also produces large amounts of sticky honeydew, which attracts nuisance visits by yellowjackets and honeybees.
Pine needle scale
Control of scales
If scales are damaging your plants, you might need to take several approaches to control. For oystershell scale on small trees and shrubs, a simple and highly effective practice is to gently scrape the scales off the trunks and branches with a soft, plastic scrub pad. Once dislodged from the protective covering, the eggs soon die.
Eggs under scale insect
Horticultural oils also are useful for controlling many scale insects. These are specialty oils refined to allow their use on plants and are sold in many garden centers under various trade names. "Dormant oil," "supreme oil," "superior oil" and "spray oil" are among the descriptions. Mixed with water to a 1 to 3 percent dilution, the oils cover the insects and smother them. Most oils are used during the dormant season, but some of the newer oils allow use after leaves have emerged. (Uses and precautions are on the label of each product. Read carefully before use.)
A well-timed "crawler spray" often is the most effective way to control scales. Newly hatched scale insects are called crawlers because during this brief period they are unarmored and mobile. In this state, they are susceptible to sprays of most insecticides. Common crawler treatments include Sevin, Orthene, malathion, insecticidal soaps and horticultural oils.
Lechanium scale crawler
The trick is properly timing the treatment because the crawler period is brief and soon is followed by the secretion of the protective scale covering. Below are some general guidelines to help you know when crawlers emerge in the Denver Metro area:
Pine needle scale Late April to early May (with a second generation in mid-to-late July)
Oystershell scale Mid-to-late May
Pine tortoise scale Early-to-mid June
European elm scale Mid-to-late June
Each season can differ, however, and crawler emergences varies across the state. The best way to determine emergence is by sampling infested plants. Do this by shaking branches that contain living scales and eggs over a piece of paper; examine for the presence of minute crawlers. Alternately, on some plants, you can capture crawlers by placing a piece of double-sided sticky tape on the branch.
Photographs of lechanium scale, pine needle scale, oyster scale, scale eggs, crawler and cottony maple scale by Judy Sedbrook
Photograph of European Elm scale courtesy of Curt Swift.
Contact Us | Disclaimer | Equal Opportunity
© CSU/Denver County Extension Master Gardener 2010
888 E. Iliff Avenue, Denver, CO 80210
(720) 913-5278
E-Mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Date last revised: 01/05/2010


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The fun begins after the ballots for the awards are cast, the votes tallied, and the envelope opened. Award the winner a Quart-sized Platinum Tin – it's like a statuette, only tastier!
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subset: commoncrawl


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The summer months are bank account drainers around here, whether we want to save or not. Between endless activities requiring convenient meals, costly outdoor excursions and kids that seem unable to stop eating, I have been searching for ways to save. In my most recent column for the GateHouse News Service, I share my best tips on how you might do the same.
Check out the column and the associated video!


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0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
This wasn't that kind of cheese. I think they asked me for a member card when I went in, but when I told them I just wanted to look around, they let me. It was several years ago, so my memory is a little fuzzy.
There is a whole world of wholesale distributors that sell everything from shoes to diamonds....and they all exclude the public.
If Restaurant Depot wants to limit their sales potential and turn off prospective wholesale clients, I don't care.
Like I said, they need me infinitely more than I need them, but their stupid exclusive policy has already blown it forever with me.
No, they don't.
I've spent a lot of time composing a reply to several of the previous posts, but I've decided not to post it because there's really no point. Y'all have made up your minds, even though you haven't given it any real thought. If Restaurant Depot wants to limit their sales potential and turn off prospective wholesale clients, I don't care. Like I said, they need me infinitely more than I need them, but their stupid exclusive policy has already blown it forever with me. If they're smart, someone from their company is scouring the internet right now, precisely to find this thread and others like it so they can better understand who constitutes their market and what their market wants from them.If anything, this thread has shown that there are a lot of people who want to buy what RD offers, without asking them to break up the quantity. But RD refuses to sell it. Good for them.
"like which prospective supplier has already treated me as if my business matters to them"The first lesson you learn in sales is to qualify your customers. To them, you are NOT a prospective customer, as you do not meet their qualifying criteria. That part I understand. I didn't understand that criteria when we began discussing it, but the tax issue alone is enough for them to strictly limit their clientele to existing retail business owners/employees. Their target market is small Mom and Pop restaurants to whom the food service giants can't/do not have an interest in servicing..
Perhaps you dont understand what I've been saying because you assume my stance is based on something personal or emotional, as has been stated more than once. Apparently people here think I want Restaurant Depot to change their policy to suit my needs, which is the farthest thing from the truth. In reality, I dont care if they change their policy because their policy will never affect me.But you made this topic anyway,and is saying they should see you as the next possible successful Papa Johns that is some day going to need their business,but does not recognize you right now as suchMost of you seem to be looking at this from the perspective of an awestruck consumer who has only recently seen the inside of a foodservice warehouse for the first time, which apparently makes you assume Im looking at it from the same perspective. But Im not. One of the ways Im looking at it is through the eyes of a prospective small business owner who will someday have to choose suppliers, based on things that matter in business, like which prospective supplier has already treated me as if my business matters to them, even if Ive never bought anything from them. Another way Im looking at it is through the eyes of a successful small business owner who has no time to look at the pretty warehouse or drive to the pretty warehouse, or shop at the pretty warehouse, or check out with the cashier, or load my purchase into my non-refrigerated automobile, or drive back from the pretty warehouse with a dangerously loaded, non-refrigerated automobile, or unload and stock my purchase. Im also looking at it from the perspective of someone at the top of the distribution company; someone who wants the company to be as profitable as possible. Not just profitable today but also profitable in the long run.As before,we,I,or etc have understand where you are coming from...what do you expect RD to do in the meantime?What if you died tomorrow and never open up that successful business you hope to have someday?If you do not like RD policies,you do not have to shop there nor bash them,you can deal with other suppliers as well.The comparisons to diamonds and auto auctions are apples and oranges. If some regular Joe approached wholesalers, serious about buying the standard quantity of either diamonds or cars, the wholesaler would sell to him because its not about who he is; its about whether he can or will buy the quantity thats for sale. The main (or only) reason it doesnt happen is because there arent many consumers who have the resources or the desire to buy a stash of diamonds or a couple truckloads of used cars. No one sells to a market that doesnt exist.You may be right there...but the point I was making,there are markets for both wholesalers and private parties.One requires tax and business ID,the other does not.The markets are set up for both.You can be a serious buyer off the street with no Business ID,tax or license info and you might get someone that deals with wholesale to sell to you once.But you will not be allowed to start buying at their auctions simply because you might someday be a everyday buyer.You still need to get the paperwork done before you can shop or bid there.If I expected RD to rip open a 50-pound bag of flour and sell me 10 pounds of it, that would make your arguments valid, and everything Ive said in this thread would be total BS. But thats not what Ive said. RD and Walmart will both be gone in the not-too-distant future, and its not because I dont shop there. Every day, people come to realize that the hassles of shopping at Walmart outweigh the money they might save by shopping there. The novelty is wearing off, and it will continue to wear off until there is no more Walmart. The same thing will happen with RD. Their top executives already know it will happen, but theyre milking it for every cent they can make before it finally does happen.All businesses come and go...very few stay around for decades...Not sure what the point is..I have already stated before,in agreement,that these businesses make enough money not to worry about someone that want them to do it differently,or wants to boycott them.On the other end of the spectrum, In-N-Out Burger will be around for years to come, through good economies and bad, although on a smaller scale than Walmart or Restaurant Depot. Why? Because In-N-Out Burgers business model functions in harmony with the law of supply and demand.Interesting,I have never eaten at one,nor is there one anywhere near my home.I guess you could have just said McDonalds??Look, I really dont care how RD does business. what??? Yes you do,then what the heck are we talking about then?I simply asked a few questions, first of all because I suddenly realized RDs policies seemed stupid to me, but also because I had recently wasted some of my valuable time looking through their web site for an answer to a question Im sure they get asked more than enough to justify publishing it on the front page of their web site. I asked the questions because Im always trying to figure out how things work, independent of the societal and economic rules our civilization has created, which operate on premises contrary to all the rules of nature. I asked the questions because the quality of posts on these boards impressed me enough to suspect I might receive some quality feedback.I was pretty sure most of us answered you...it sounds as if you did not hear what you wanted to hear,we did not answer you?I thought all the feedback was quality and not personal!Unfortunately, my questions still have not been answered. Or maybe I already knew the answers, but I just wanted to find out if anyone had any good hypotheses that I may not have already considered, or at least explanations that would make me think a little deeper than I already had. But basically all the responses so far have been in line with the common knowledge that has essentially destroyed the global economy.What does global economics have to do with this topic anyways?If no one wants to respond with a well-thought-out response to the questions I asked, Id like the thread to die. But if people are going to keep replying with the assumption that I meant something I didnt mean, Ill probably keep responding.
I went and got a DBA for 20 bucks and got my RD card.
Grimaldi,Our of curiosity, what are the prices on those items?


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September 17, 2013
Garth Linkey
Stories this photo appears in:
Police department gains five, but loses another new officer
Aggressive campaign finally fills vacancies – and boosts staffing by almost 20 percent
After years of trying to fill vacancies, the Payson Police Department's aggressive ad campaign last year brought in dozens of applicants, resulting in six new officers.
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In the heart of Boynton Beach's industrial district, wedged in between Sherwin-Williams and Boynton Beach Marble & Granite, sits one of South Florida's best-kept brewing secrets. Due South Brewing Co. is a workingman's brewery. More working brewery than bar, it's industrial and downright homey; if you can find the place, saddle up at the bar and take a sip.
Opened in May, Due South was largely a fortunate accident. "Originally, I didn't even like beer; I thought all beer was like Coors Light," says Mike Halker, owner and brew master of Due South, whose visit to a local home-brew shop in North Carolina helped set a course for Due South. "I initially went to buy a wine-making kit for my wife, but they sold me on making beer. They put a bunch of beers in front of me to taste and I was like, 'Wow, I didn't know beer could taste like this.' It was an education."
Due South Brewing is an outlier when it comes to South Florida watering holes. An expansive, open warehouse, the brewery is right at home in the rough-at-the-edges location. As a working brewery, Due South is more of a manufacturer with a taproom then bar with a side of brewery—a "production facility," as Halker likes to call it. But the earthy aroma of mash, hops and barley overwhelm the metallic tinge of industry of the area.
Due South is on a steady clip, producing close to a dozen beers, from Belgium-style saisons and blonde ales to deep and brooding stouts. Halker specializes in "drinkable beers," the type of brews that make for an easy transition from macro to micro consuming.
"These are the types of beers I like to drink, refreshing beers at 4.5 to 6 percent ABV," Halker says from behind the bar, topping off a Cat 3 IPA—a beer he "brewed for me." It sits at 6.1 percent ABV and has a citrusy bitterness that reveals the complexity of the recipe's five-hop blend.
The fermenting and brightening tanks are on a constant rotation, maximizing space and capacity (there are more tanks on order), with four core beers: Category 3 IPA (6.1 percent ABV), Caramel Cream Ale (5 percent ABV), Florida Blonde (4.2 percent ABV) and Southern Saison (5.6 percent ABV) are always on tap. Specialty beers, produced on a rotating schedule, include some heavy hitters like Category 4 IPA (7.7 percent ABV), Category 5 IPA (8.8 percent ABV) and the pitch-black Mariana Trench Imperial Stout (a whopping 9.6 percent ABV); flavored specialties like the Raspberry Blonde (4.2 percent ABV), Honey Vanilla Wheat (4.8 percent), Roasted Cocoa Stout (6.1 percent ABV), Café Ole Espresso Porter (5.7 percent ABV) and Isle of MaGourdo (5 percent ABV); and specialty sips Oktoberfest (5.4 percent) and Southbound Brown (5.6 percent ABV).
At 15,000 square feet, Due South is expansive. Ninety percent of the space is open, half of which is filled with fermenting and holding tanks, palettes of grain, barley and hops as well as kegs stacked four to five high. The other half is for the natives: a patio area with a corn-hole arena, a large walk-in fridge/keg room and a taproom. There is an additional tap room/bar area equipped with air conditioning and televisions, but the open patio area is by far the spot to be. And where there seems to be empty space, Halker has plans for that, too.
"Expansion is coming," he says. "The culture down here is growing. And everyone likes beer straight from the tap."
Due South is helping to fill Florida's brewing void. On the national level, there is a 10-mile rule of thumb: On average, there is a brewery within 10 miles of a residency. In Florida, it's a bit embarrassing to estimate the home-to-brewery ratio, but things are changing. And those winds of change start with a quality beer. Due South's beers can be found at more than 90 bars and restaurants in South Florida, and the requests keep coming. The goal is to regulate "growth to maintain the logistics of keeping everyone happy," Halker says. It's as much a practice of keeping the business on track as it is a practice in craftsmanship: "We don't want to lose that creativity," he says.
Due South producies a new beer every two weeks, reprising recipes from Halker's home-brew days and creating new ones. "I'm working on things I've never brewed before," he says.
A trip to Due South is as much an education in beer as it is a good time. The bar maidens can pour a decent brew, with just the right amount of head, while the beer is served at the right temperature. Beyond that, Due South is about community—not just within Boynton Beach but the craft brew community as well. "The community comes in, and we can educate. It is something that has been missing," says Halker, who is also the acting head of the Florida Brewers Guild, a consortium of Florida breweries that aims to educate the public about Florida's brewing industry and create a network of support. "We're just glad to be a part of the craft brew community."
Every Friday and Saturday, Due South opens the parking lot for local food trucks to feed the growing crowds gathering for great brews. Due South beers are available at the Boynton Beach brewery and various bars and restaurants throughout Florida, although cans might be hitting the shelves in near the future. In the meantime, for those looking to bring some Due South flavor home, 32-ounce ($6-$7) and gallon ($22) growlers are available at the taproom.
Taproom hours
- Tuesday-Thursday: 12-10 p.m.
- Friday-Saturday: 12-11 p.m.
- Sunday: 12-10 p.m.
2900 High Ridge Rd. #3
Boynton Beach, FL 33426
- Between Sherwin-Williams and Boynton Beach Marble & Granite, only noticeable from the parking lot.


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Postangiography patients who complete cardiac rehabilitation have reduced risk of mortality or hospitalisation compared to non-completers
- Heart Research Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Correspondence to
: Dr Rosemary Higgins
Heart Research Centre, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Box 2137, Post Office, VIC 3050, Australia; rosemary.higgins{at}heartresearchcentre.org
Commentary on:
Implications for practice and research
Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) underutilisation remains as a problem and requires action.
CR needs to be funded as a standard component of cardiac care.
Strategies to enhance CR attendance in women and elderly patients need to be tested.
Flexible models of care are needed to enhance the reach of CR services.
CR is a multidisciplinary, multimodal health intervention. CR comprises exercise training, health education, behavioural counselling and self-management support. Programmes provide a springboard for secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease.
This study makes a sound contribution to the body of evidence supporting CR as an integral component of cardiac care. It addresses some limitations …


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Winnable Battles Progress Report
The Winnable Battles listed below aren't CDC's only health priorities, but they are areas where dedicated focus can quickly achieve good results.
CDC's Winnable Battles programs are evidence-based, cost-effective ways to tackle these health challenges. We have set goals and established key indicators to measure our progress, and the below links provide you with a progress report of our work.
Together with our partners, we are having a positive impact on health by focusing on what works now. We've made progress in most areas, but still have more to do to meet our 2015 goals.
Dr. Tom Frieden
Download the complete Winnable Battles 2010-2015, Progress Report 2014 [1.35MB]
Factsheet [PDF 402 KB]
Reduce tobacco use – Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of disease, disability and death in the U.S.
Factsheet [PDF 158 KB]
Improve nutrition, physical activity, obesity – More than 72 million adults and 12 million youth in the U.S. are obese.
Factsheet [PDF 453 KB]
Improve motor vehicle safety – Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death among Americans ages 1–54.
Factsheet [PDF 420 KB]
Reduce teen pregnancies – The U.S. has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy of any developed nation in the world.
Factsheet [PDF 177 KB]
Prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) – 1 out of 20 hospitalized patients contracts an HAI.
Factsheet [427 KB]
Reduce new HIV infections – More than 1 million people in the U.S. live with HIV; some 50,000 new infections occur each year.
Factsheet [PDF 539 KB]
Ensure food safety – foodborne diseases sicken 1 out of 6 Americans each year.
- Page last reviewed: November 21, 2013
- Page last updated: November 21, 2013
- Content source:


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In today's In-House column, "Don't Be An SEO Alien," Rob Kerry has some practical advice for in-house SEOs, and it doesn't have to do with following Best Practices.
Related reading
What exactly is a marketing cloud, and do you need one?
The term 'marketing cloud' has gained significant traction in the last few years as major software companies have sought to monetise the growing importance of technology for marketing teams.
Five most interesting search marketing news stories of the week
This week, Google has been spotted testing a new user ratings feature in film and television search results; the National Football League has rowed back its heavy-handed social media policy...
Workplace by Facebook: a reality check
There's been an excessive amount of one-sided conversation around Workplace by Facebook recently, generated by those who perhaps don't understand the company communications landscape as well as they should
Five most interesting search marketing news stories of the week
This week, we've got a special on stories about advertising and mobile, with a look at mobile ad viewability from our regular mobile columnist Andy Favell, and the news that Snapchat video ads are generating less than three seconds' viewing time on average.


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Hi all,
Many of you know that I have started a new online tea business. [Moderator edited, see post below for link]
The site is really new and I am still evolving it so I would appreciate any feedback on the look and feel of the site. I have received some great feedback from a number of folks and have tried to evolve it within the limitations and constraints that hosting it through amazon creates.
Thanks in advance for all of your thoughts and ideas.
Best regards,


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Haleakala the Fast Way
Unearthing adventure on Maui's 10,000-foot volcano
Photo by Eddie Gianellon
Seattle was gray every morning and I wanted out. I needed some tropical sun. With a pint of microbrew and a world atlas showing only topography—no borders or language barriers—I scanned for inspiration. Starting at the equator and working north, my eyes landed on a small group of islands in the Pacific. Tight contour lines jutted straight up from the ocean; it looked as though I might be able to run through the jungle and into the alpine on the same day. Matching the longitude and latitude, I landed on a name that surprised me: Maui, Hawaii.
At first, Maui didn't excite me like other adventures I'd tackled, like riding a bicycle across the southern tier of Asia or down the length of Patagonia. Hawaii didn't have the challenges that usually drew me to such far-flung places—remoteness, language barriers, dirty water or an unstable government. But I'd reached a point in trail races where finishing first or second didn't inspire me like it used to, and no one had reported a Fastest Known Time (FKT) yet on proboards.com for the 18-mile ascent of the island's prominent volcano, Haleakala.
I bought the cheapest airfare I could find and began training. Loading up my bicycle, Bob trailer, camping gear, La Sportivas and three pounds of quinoa—which I collectively called Tuktuk—I headed for the sun.
I spent the first few days running the upper section of the route and riding Tuktuk around the island. The morning of my planned attempt, I woke anxious after bad sleep on a full moon. After a two-hour bike ride from my camp to the trailhead, I started my run, eager to explore this rare place that offers so many microclimates and such constant grade within one run.
The lower half of the route crosses private ranch land, a maze of wild pig trails with sporadic signposts hidden by jungle grass. Within 30 minutes, I went from running to power hiking, then gasping for breath up steep doubletrack paved with fist-sized lava rocks. At 4000 feet, I spotted a herd of goats spread across the route on a distant knoll.
Suddenly, two distant white dots started barking and moving fast in my direction. Several months prior at a race in Colorado, experienced mountain runners had warned me that high-country ranchers use big, white, Burmese-mountain dogs to protect herds of livestock.
I hopped off trail and into a gully, but within seconds, two snarling dogs stampeded into the gully after me. I sprinted for a tree and scrambled up to a branch, waiting there until they lost interest and wandered off. My effort for the day was thwarted. I retreated to the Kaupo general Store at the base to do some more research on how to handle the dogs.
The store owner, a lean woman about five feet tall with leathered skin and loose clothes hanging on her narrow shoulders, offered to call the sheep rancher. Punching numbers with her thumb, she disappeared into a back office.
When she came back, she leaned a shoulder on the doorjamb and told me, "just don't try to steal any goats and you'll be fine."
I thanked her and committed her image to my memory, adding it to the list of characters I'd met since arriving on the island: Justin, an Olympic-caliber runner and Maui local who chased down goats to sell on Craigslist, a group of long hairs from a nearby tent-beach community and a friendly crew of marijuana farmers who'd taken me snorkeling.


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Very well made!
By coliebear
from Clinton, ms
About Me Educator, Parent
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Comments about Educational Insights Alphabet Beanbags:
My three year old received this for Christmas and has really been enjoying practicing his letters with them. They are very well made and seem like they will last a while. Good product for a preschooler!
Bottom Line Yes, I would recommend this to a friend
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Fun Unique Learning Activity We LOVED!
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About Me Aunt
I was really happy with the Alphabet Bean Bag product. The Alphabet Bean Bags are made with great quality and have awesome embroidery on the bean bags! I can tell that the bean bags will last for a long time. I really love the fact that the alphabet bean bags comes with a drawstring bag for easy cleanup and storage! My niece had a lot of fun with the Alphabet Bean Bags. She is 3 years old and this is perfect for her to start working on her alphabets before she starts preschool so she can get a head start! We love that there are 7 fun activities on the activity guide included so we can have hours and hours of learning fun! All around a great product and we definitely recommend this product to everyone!
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Shipping was super fast and Educational Insights always has great friendly service. The product arrived safely and was packaged with great care! A++ shipping!
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The following bibliography has been generated by bringing together all references provided by our content partners. There may be duplication.
- Banks, R. C., R. W. McDiarmid, and A. L. Gardner. 1987. Checklist of Vertebrates of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and Canada. Resource Publication, no. 166. 79
- Ducrocq, S., Y. Chaimanee, V. Suteethorn, and J. J. Jaeger. 1998. The earliest known pig from the upper Eocene of Thailand. Palaeontology 41:147-156.
- Groves, C. P. and P. Grubb. 1993. The suborder Suiformes. Pages 1-4 in: W. L. R. Oliver, ed. Pigs, Peccaries and Hippos, IUCN, The World Conservation Union, Gland.
- Liu, L. P., M. Fortelius, and M. Pickford. 2002. New fossil Suidae from Shanwang, Shandong, China. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22(1):152-163.
- McKenna, M. C. and S. K. Bell. 1997. Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. Columbia University Press, New York.
- Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 16, 2011 at http://animaldiversity.org. http://www.animaldiversity.org
- Pickford, M. 1986. A revision of the Miocene Suidae and Tayassuidae (Artiodactyla, Mammalia) of Africa. Tertiary Research 7:1-83.
- Randi, E., V. Lucchini and C. H. Diong. 1996. Evolutionary genetics of the Suiformes as reconstructed using mtDNA sequencing. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 3:163-194.
- Wilson, Don E., and DeeAnn M. Reeder, eds. 1993. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, 2nd ed., 3rd printing. xviii + 1207
- Wilson, Don E., and DeeAnn M. Reeder, eds. 2005. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, 3rd ed., vols. 1 & 2. 2142
- Wilson, Don E., and F. Russell Cole. 2000. Common Names of Mammals of the World. xiv + 204
- d'Huart, J. P. and W. L. R. Oliver. 1993. Review of priorities of conservation action and future research on Afrotropical Suids. In: Pigs, Peccaries and Hippos. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. W. L. R. Oliver, ed. IUCN/SSC, Gland, Switzerland.
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European Commission, UN Environment step up cooperation to protect the world's oceans 20/12/2016 00:00:00
Mushrooming Cooperation 05/12/2016 00:00:00
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UNEP (L) with H.E Rashid Ahmed Bin Fahad, UAE Minister of Environment and Water (R)at the Conference on Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE)
Your Excellency Rashid Ahmed Bin Fahad, Minister of Environment and Water
Esteemed colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,
On behalf of the United Nations PAGE partners, I would like to first express my deep appreciation to the Government of the United Arab Emirates - and especially to His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Minister Rashid Ahmed Bin Fahad - for graciously hosting the inaugural PAGE conference; allowing countries to exchange experiences and create opportunities for a more prosperous and sustainable world.
Almost two years ago, at Rio+20, more than 190 nations gave the green light to an inclusive Green Economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication.
The Partnership for Action on Green Economy, or PAGE, is a direct response to the call made in paragraph 66 of the Rio+20 Outcome document for cooperation within the UN system to assist countries in their transitions to a green economy. It is an inter-agency initiative founded by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). More UN agencies continue to support this effort, and we hope to soon announce the UN Development Programme (UNDP) as a fifth partner.
By taking a country by country approach, PAGE will catalyze up to 30 national economies between now and 2020, and thus contribute to the global transition to a sustainable future for all. The Partnership has the potential to help countries improve human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities in line with their own national development priorities.
In this context, I would like to salute the efforts of the donor community - Finland, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Sweden and Switzerland - who collectively managed to raise well over US $11 million in support of PAGE activities at the national level.
Today, countries such as Burkina Faso, Peru, Mauritius, Mongolia, and Senegal are set to boost their economies through a shift of investment and policies towards a new generation of assets that include clean technologies and resource efficient infrastructure, green skilled labour, well-functioning ecosystems, and good governance. Such a transformation will pay significant dividends in social, environmental and economic terms.
In the wake of the global financial crisis, it has become increasingly evident that generating growth and prosperity can and must be achieved within the ecological boundaries of a resource-constrained world.
Lifting the world's 1.2 billion poorest to a life of dignity will require financing, innovation, technology transfer and capacity building, along with effective governance and mutually beneficial partnerships at all levels.
UNEP research suggests that an investment scenario of allocating 2 per cent of global GDP to greening economic sectors will produce a higher global GDP within 10 years, compared to a business-as-usual scenario.
A package of green investments - coupled with policy reforms that are aimed at making growth socially inclusive - offers economically viable options to reduce poverty and hunger, and address challenges of climate change and degradation of natural resources, while simultaneously providing new and sustainable pathways to economic development and prosperity.
The share of the poor in global GDP is marginal and is reduced with the erosion of natural capital. The share of the bottom 40 per cent of the population in global wealth remains less than 5 per cent. It is this segment of humanity which overwhelmingly lives on small farms, coastal areas and around forests, and depends on natural capital for their livelihoods, nutrition, health, employment, income, wealth creation opportunities as well as a safety net.
Degradation of natural resources creates a poverty trap, which leads to a reinforcing loop of further degradation and worsening poverty.
Natural capital is essential for sustainable economic development and accounts for a quarter of wealth created in low income countries.
Any reduction in natural capital stocks negatively affects the well-being of the poor disproportionately and leads to growing inequalities.
The dominant consumption pattern of affluent societies is a major stress on natural resources. According to a report by the International Resource Panel, total resource use grew eight-fold, from 6 billion tonnes in 1900 to 49 billion tonnes in 2000. By 2050, humanity could devour an estimated 140 billion tonnes of minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass per year - three times its current appetite - unless economic growth is "decoupled" from natural resources consumption.
Financing the Green Economy
The World Economic Forum estimates that an investment in infrastructure of approximately US$6 trillion annually is needed over the next 16 years to deliver a low-carbon economy. Of this, nearly US$1 trillion is over and above the business-as-usual trajectory.
Weeks ago, UNEP launched an Inquiry into policy options for guiding the global financial system to invest in the transition to a green economy.
The inquiry aims to engage, inform and guide policy makers, financial market actors and other stakeholders concerned with the health of the financial system and its potential for shaping the future economy. Ultimately, it will lay out a series of options for advancing a sustainable financial system.
While much of the world's private capital is locked up in carbon-intensive investment across the developed world, developing country investment in a low carbon future is on the rise. Clean energy investment originating from non-OECD countries soared from US $4.9 billion in 2004 to US $72.6 billion last year, peaking at US $257 billion in 2011.
Fiscal Policies
Fiscal policies are of particular importance in a green economy transition and governments have a variety of fiscal instruments at their disposal: taxing fossil fuel use or emissions in different sectors, reforming energy subsidies that promote wasteful and environmentally harmful economic activity, and supporting clean technology and sustainable production with the help of fiscal incentives. .
Constructive fiscal measures can reflect environmental externalities through full cost pricing of energy and transportation services. They can also provide a significant source of new revenue:
Confronted by a fiscally constrained world, fiscal policy reforms might appear to be a daunting challenge to a green economy transition. Yet, it has been observed in the past that external crises - be they fiscal, economic or environmental - may speed up policy reform.
But in order to promote green and more inclusive growth, the design of fiscal policies should consider potential social impact on low income households. Strengthening social safety nets when applying fiscal policy reforms would not only increase social and political acceptability of fiscal reforms but could also contribute to an equitable and fair transition to a green economy.
Energy Subsidies
Globally, the cost of energy subsidization is high and accounts for a significant part of GDP annually. Petroleum subsidies alone, for instance, amounted to US $200 billion in 2011.
It is estimated that removing US $500 billion of fossil fuel subsidies could boost the global economy by around 0.3 per cent. In addition to the potential fiscal benefits, the removal of fossil fuel subsidies in developing and emerging economies could reduce global GHG emissions by 6 per cent in 2050.
When considering that out of the US $409 billion spent on fossil-fuel consumption subsidies in 2010, only US $35 billion, or 8 per cent, reached the poorest income quintile (the bottom 20 per cent), energy subsidies appear to perform poorly as a means of supporting the incomes of poor social groups.
Environmental Taxes
Environmental taxes are an effective and, if appropriately designed, efficient tool for environmental policy. They can also be leveraged to generate private financing. Evidence shows that fiscal instruments have helped increase green investment. Carbon taxes could direct investment towards cleaner technologies and encourage energy efficiency.
Green Trade
The Rio+20 conference identified international trade as an engine for development, sustained economic growth and the transition to a greener economy.
Many developing countries are well positioned to gain from mainstreaming sustainability considerations in their trade-driven growth strategies, including through the export of certified commodities in the fisheries, forests or agriculture sectors, increased investments in sustainable production and supply chains, or the expansion of eco-tourism.
For example, the Bio-trade sector in Peru has grown by 20 per cent in the last five years - generating significant revenue and promoting sustainable development, while simultaneously supporting pro-poor development.
The Green Economy transition opens up new opportunities for regional and global trade. For example, the global market in low-carbon and energy efficient technologies is projected to nearly triple to US $2.2 trillion by 2020.
UNEP is working with partners to provide demand-driven policy advice, technical assistance and capacity-building to countries who wish to use international trade as an engine for a green economy transition.
Opportunities Across Developing Economies
South-South Cooperation can deliver environmental capacity building and technology support to developing countries and regions in the South that wish to make a transition to a green economy.
Drawing on shared economic, environmental and social aspirations, South-South Cooperation helps identify solutions to today's sustainable development challenges, as well as deliver new ideas and resources to advance the global transformation to an inclusive green economy.
Around the world, the Green Economy transformation is already underway:
Around the world, we are seeing a multiplicity of approaches and pathways to design and build greener economies.
To support such efforts, we need to remove barriers and to enable poor and vulnerable groups to participate in, contribute to and benefit from the transition.
For a credible and systematic transformation to take place, supportive policies, institutional and governance reforms and targeted investment at the local, national and global levels need to be put in place and scaled up as part of national development planning, based on national priorities.
The first ever UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) will take place in Nairobi this June as the highest level global platform for policy making feeding directly into the UN General Assembly, with a focus on the Sustainable Development Goals and the Post-2015 Development Agenda, including sustainable production and consumption.
I would like to invite you to engage with UNEA and use the platform to further action on the Green Economy.
With civil society, policy makers, government and the business sector under one roof, there is no better forum to build on the momentum created by the Dubai inaugural PAGE conference.
Once again, I thank the Government of the UAE for hosting this important event at this critical moment in time. I would also like to seize the opportunity to congratulate the UAE for its efforts to implement the UAE's Vision 2021 and the Green Growth Strategy, which it launched two years ago following the Rio+20 conference.
This first PAGE conference is a timely event and one that I hope will foster greater understanding and cooperation, expand the PAGE partnership and set a Green Economy pathway towards sustainable development and poverty alleviation.
Thank you.


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This Week In Celebrity Real Estate
For many, having David Bowie in your bedroom would be decoration enough. But Iman, the Somali-born former model who has been married to the musician for more than two decades, has a passion for interior design. "My husband calls me a chic hoarder," she says. "Even back when I was a model, when the other girls were going to nightclubs, I'd go to flea markets to buy textiles." Her first bedding collection, available at Bed Bath & Beyond and Macys.com, includes ikat-print linens, indigo pillows, and block-print coverlets inspired by her global finds. "Yves Saint Laurent taught me that a home can feel transporting," says Iman, who also designs fashion, cosmetics, and home fabrics. "Every room should remind you of your travels."
This fragrance takes me to theItalian Riviera. I mix the body lotion with a bit of the body oil after I come out of the bath.
This Week In Celebrity Real Estate


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Incorporating science into home gardening
Blanketing a home garden in pesticides poses a clear risk to the humans and animals who dine on it. But when the garden is compared to a human immune system, another problem becomes apparent: Just like antibiotics, pesticides wipe out the "good bugs" with the bad. These helpful predators and parasitoids are called natural enemies and they help to naturally control pests like aphids and caterpillars. Certain plants attract natural enemies and/or deter pests all together and can be used in place of harmful chemicals.


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The horticulturalist who rescued Plymouth
For most Americans, Thanksgiving is, as the name suggests, a time of giving thanks. But it is also a time when we commemorate the success of the Pilgrims; the separatists who came here from England to establish the Plymouth colony.
It is generally believed that the Pilgrims, upon their arrival in the "NewWorld," easily adapted to life on the Massachusetts coast; that they were readily able to build homes in the wilderness, raise a plentiful harvest of good crops, and find abundant fish and game. By all accounts, that was not the case.
Upon arrival, in mid-November of 1620, the Mayflower set anchor near the tip of Cape Cod, at what is now Provincetown. The passengers – some English Separatists, some indentured servants – were indeed thankful, even jubilant. But they were not prepared. It was far too late in the year for planting and they had not brought sufficient food to last them until spring. They knew nothing about the plants and animals of this unfamiliar land and, although they were able to find some game, soon realized it would not be enough to take the 102 passengers and crew of 25 through the winter.
Accounts from that time state that in their explorations, the passengers found stores of corn, beans and dried fish at a burial site, which stood among the remains of an Indian village at Provincetown. The travelers took the food and then sailed on to what is now Eastham, where they raided similar burial sites, stealing whatever food they could find. It was there, at what is now called First Encounter Beach, that the Nauset tribe, offended by such violations, defended themselves and their culture against the English settlers, forcing them out. Only then did the Mayflower sail on to Plymouth Harbor.
That winter was a terrible one for the settlers. Without homes, they were left with little choice but to spend the bitter cold months of January, February and March aboard ship, in the cargo holds below the crew's quarters. By the end of the ordeal, contagious disease – pneumonia, scurvy, tuberculosis -?had taken the lives of nearly half of the passengers and crew.
In April of 1621, the crew of the Mayflower set sail from Plymouth to return to England. The surviving passengers remained behind, establishing the Plymouth colony on a site where the Wampanoag Indian village of the Pawtuxet (or Patuxet) tribe once stood. And it was there that Tisquantum, a Pawtuxet Wampanoag Indian, the last of his kind, befriended the Pilgrims and, even though he had been horribly mistreated by the English as a boy, eventually chose to live among the Plymouth colony settlers and to teach them about the land they had settled and the skills they would need to master if they were going to stay alive. Without him, the Pilgrims would almost surely have perished. In fact, if it weren't for the assistance of this aboriginal horticulturalist and naturalist, and the willingness of other Native Americans to provide aid and teach the European settlers how to survive, it is probable that Plymouth would have been nothing more than a footnote in history.
The story of Tisquantum begins during the summer of 1605. British sailors, under the command of Captain George Weymouth, who had been commissioned by a colonial entrepreneur, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, kidnapped Tisquantum, along with four other Native American boys and brought them to England. In his diary, Weymouth wrote, "we used little delay, but suddenly laid hands upon them. . .For they were strong and so naked as our best hold was by their long hair on their heads."
Once in England, Tisquantum remained in the care and custody of Captain Weymouth. It is assumed that Weymouth taught the Native American boy to speak English. For reasons unknown, Weymouth called Tisquantum Squanto, an abbreviation of his true name. Squanto, as he came to be known, shared his knowledge of the New World and, when a fleet of two ships returned to the coast of Massachusetts in 1614, served as an interpreter under the command of Captains John Smith and Thomas Hunt.
Squanto served his Captains honorably but was betrayed by Hunt, who had his men kidnap some 20 young Pawtuxets and seven Nausets. They were taken to Malaga, Spain, where Hunt attempted to sell them, and Squanto, into slavery. Many were sold before Hunt was foiled by a group of Franciscan monks, who took custody of those that remained in order to, according to a report by Gorges, "instruct them in the Christian faith, disappointing this unworthy fellow of the hopes of gain he conceived to make by this new and devilish plot."
The kidnappings so infuriated the native tribes living along the New England coast that they no longer welcomed European traders. Their rage culminated in the burning of a French ship in 1617. Much of the crew was killed and, by some accounts, the Nauset enslaved the others.
Around the same time, the Spanish monks were visited by an Englishman who agreed to take Squanto back to England where he was placed in the care of Sir John Slaney, a wealthy merchant who had Squanto accompany him as a guide and translator on an expedition to Newfoundland. There, Squanto was recognized by Captain Thomas Dermer, who wrote to Gorges, affirming that he had "found Gorges' Indian." Dermer took Squanto back to England once more, where Gorges, in hopes of renewing trade with the Pawtuxet and Nauset tribes, arranged for an expedition back to Pawtuxet, where Squanto would be allowed to remain.
They dropped anchor in 1619. It is impossible to imagine what Tisquantum felt when he found out that, since he had last returned to his home, a plague – the great plague of 1617 to 1618, most likely smallpox, tuberculosis, yellow fever, or a combination thereof -?introduced by European explorers, had taken the lives of everyone in his tribe. Tisquantum was the last of the Pawtuxets. The plague was responsible for the deaths of no less than a third and, by some accounts, as many as 90 percent of the indigenous people of southern New England.
Tisquantum lived among the remaining Massasoit Wampanoag until late March of 1621, when he learned from Samoset -?an Abenaki who had learned some English from explorers fishing near Monhegan, a small island 10 miles off the coast of what would become Maine, and who had approached the Plymouth colony settlers just a few days before – of the settlers who were establishing a colony on the site where his village once stood. Tisquantum set out to meet with them.
That spring and summer, he assisted the colonists in their negotiations with native leaders. But it was, perhaps, through his horticultural skills and knowledge of the region's natural resources that he proved himself indispensable to the colonists' survival.
The colonists had planted wheat that they had brought with them from England, but it did not grow. Tisquantum came to their aid, showing them how to grow corn from seed provided by native friends. And he taught the English how to increase their food production by utilizing fish and the remains of fish as fertilizer for their crops. He informed the English about edible berries and other wild edible fruit: where they could be found and how they could be cultivated. He led them to areas of the forest abundant with game, and to brooks, ponds, bays and coastal areas teeming with fish. He initiated them in how to fish using traps.
More and more settlers arrived. And, in the fall of 1622, Tisquantum negotiated with the Indians of what is now Chatham Harbor for provisions for the colonists to get them through the oncoming winter. But upon leaving, Tisquantum 'fell sick of Indian fever.' Within a few days, he was dead.
In his journal, Governor William Bradford wrote about Tisquantum: "He directed them how to set their corn, where to take fish, and to procure other commodities. Squanto continued with them, was their interpreter, and was a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation."
It is said that before he died, Tisquantum asked Governor Bradford to bestow certain possessions as gifts to his friends in Plymouth and to pray for him so that he could go to the Englishmen's God in Heaven. He was long remembered by the Plymouth colonialists and is not forgotten to this day.


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Women's ASICS® Ready-Set™ Short Sleeve :: This can be worn as a base layer during winter months, or all by itself in spring and summer. Its textured mesh construction pulls moisture away from your body, keeping you comfortable no matter what.
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SanDisk Corp., one of the world's largest producers of NAND flash-based devices, this week introduced special Secure Digital (SD) memory cards designed specifically for the latest cameras that can record video in 4K resolution (3840*2160 and similar). The new SanDisk Extreme PRO SDHC/SDXC UHS-II cards boast with performance comparable to that of entry-level SSDs.
Professional cameras used for shooting movies in ultra-high-definition resolutions utilize proprietary solid-state drives that boast with enhanced performance and reliability. Such drives are too expensive and not really convenient for consumers. Therefore, developers of NAND flash interfaces and memory controllers created UHS-II standard as well as UHS Speed Class 3 (U3) spec specifically to enable high-speed memory cards capable of high-speed writing.
The new SanDisk Extreme PRO SD UHS-II cards offer up to 250MB/s write speeds for continuous burst mode shooting and transfer speeds of up to 280MB/s for maximum workflow efficiency. In order to take advantage of those speeds, users will need new cameras compatible with UHS-II specification.
"Camera manufacturers are rapidly introducing camera models for both consumers and professionals that are capable of higher burst rates and 4K video capture. Accordingly, memory card technology must move at a similar pace to provide users with the substantial performance required to take full advantage of these features. The higher levels of performance delivered by the new SanDisk Extreme PRO SD UHS-II card will help ensure that photographers, videographers and filmmakers are able to take advantage of the full capabilities of new professional-grade cameras," said Christopher Chute, research director of worldwide digital imaging at IDC.
Optimized for the next generation of high-end DSLRs and pro video cameras that support the UHS-II standard, the SanDisk Extreme PRO SD UHS-II card delivers the uncompromising results that professional photographers demand. Fast write speeds of up to 250MB/s allows users to take high-resolution images, such as RAW and JPEG, in succession. In addition to industry-leading read and write speeds, the card offers the highest video performance available for sustained video capture of 30MB/s (U3), allowing capture of cinema-quality 4K, 3D and Full HD videos.
Additionally, SanDisk introduced its Extreme PRO SD UHS-II card reader/writer, the world's first SDHC/SDXC UHS-II-compliant memory card reader/writer, with USB 3.0 interface with up to 500MB/s bandwidth.
SanDisk Extreme PRO SDHC/SDXC UHS-II cards are available for preorder on www.sandisk.com now, with worldwide availability in April in 16GB to 64GB capacities carrying MSRPs of $119.99 to $299.99. The SanDisk Extreme PRO SDHC/SDXC UHS-II Card reader/writer is also available for preorder online, with worldwide availability in April at an MSRP of $49.99.
SanDisk Extreme PRO memory cards are tested for durability under extreme temperature conditions and backed by a lifetime limited warranty. The cards also include a one-year downloadable offer for RescuePRO Deluxe media recovery software, which helps photographers recover their images in case of accidental deletion.
Tags: SanDisk, 4K, UHD, SD, Secure Digital, SDHC, SDXC, NAND, Flash


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Homepage with submission
Submission website: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tamd-ieee
Website for Table of Contents, Abstracts & Authors' emails: http://research.microsoft.com/~zhang/IEEE-TAMD/
Date of Publication: September 2012
Link to IEEE: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/tocresult.jsp?isnumber=6298011&punumber=4563672
(Previous issue: Vol. 4, No. 2, June 2012)
Abstract: Impact Factor 2.310. IEEE TAMD Outstanding Paper Award approved by the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society, but pending IEEE's final approval.
Full Text from IEEE: PDF (84KB); Contact the author by email for a copy.
Abstract: As robots become more common in our daily activities, im-proving human–robot interactions (HRI) and human–computer interfaces (HCI) is becoming increasingly important. Despite considerable progress in this relatively newfield, very few re-searchers have paid sufficient attention to how the brain, cogni-tion, and underlying biological mechanisms are crucial for the success of such interactions.
Full Text from IEEE: PDF (96KB); Contact the author by email for a copy.
Abstract: Time and space are fundamental to human language and embodied cognition. In our early work we investigated how Lingodroids, robots with the ability to build their own maps, could evolve their own geopersonal spatial language. In subsequent studies we extended the framework developed for learning spatial concepts and words to learning temporal intervals. This paper considers a new aspect of time, the naming of concepts like morning, afternoon, dawn, and dusk, which are events that are part of day-night cycles, but are not defined by specific time points on a clock. Grounding of such terms refers to events and features of the diurnal cycle, such as light levels. We studied event-based time in which robots experienced day-night cycles that varied with the seasons throughout a year. Then we used meet-at tasks to demonstrate that the words learned were grounded, where the times to meet were morning and afternoon, rather than specific clock times. The studies show how words and concepts for a novel aspect of cyclic time can be grounded through experience with events rather than by times as measured by clocks or calendars.
Full Text from IEEE: PDF (1372KB); Contact the author by email for a copy.
Abstract: Humans are very efficient in learning new skills through imitation and social interaction with other individuals. Recent experimental findings on the functioning of the mirror neuron system in humans and animals and on the coding of intentions, have led to the development of more realistic and powerful models of action understanding and imitation. This paper describes the implementation on a humanoid robot of a spiking neuron model of the mirror system. The proposed architecture is validated in an imitation task where the robot has to observe and understand manipulative action sequences executed by a human demonstrator and reproduce them on demand utilizing its own motor repertoire. To instruct the robot what to observe and to learn, and when to imitate, the demonstrator utilizes a simple form of sign language. Two basic principles underlie the functioning of the system: 1) imitation is primarily directed toward reproducing the goals of observed actions rather than the exact hand trajectories; and 2) the capacity to understand the motor intentions of another individual is based on the resonance of the same neural populations that are active during action execution. Experimental findings show that the use of even a very simple form of gesture-based communication allows to develop robotic architectures that are efficient, simple and user friendly.
Full Text from IEEE: PDF (1338KB); Contact the author by email for a copy.
Abstract: One of the foundations of social interaction among humans is the ability to correctly identify interactions and infer the intentions of others. To build robots that reliably function in the human social world, we must develop models that robots can use to mimic the intent recognition skills found in humans. We propose a framework that uses contextual information in the form of object affordances and object state to improve the performance of an underlying intent recognition system. This system represents objects and their affordances using a directed graph that is automatically extracted from a large corpus of natural language text. We validate our approach on a physical robot that classifies intentions in a number of scenarios.
Full Text from IEEE: PDF (1075KB); Contact the author by email for a copy.
Abstract: Game theory has been useful for understanding risk-taking and cooperative behavior. However, in studies of the neural basis of decision-making during games of conflict, subjects typically play against opponents with predetermined strategies. The present study introduces a neurobiologically plausible model of action selection and neuromodulation, which adapts to its opponent's strategy and environmental conditions. The model is based on the assumption that dopaminergic and serotonergic systems track expected rewards and costs, respectively. The model controlled both simulated and robotic agents playing Hawk-Dove and Chicken games against subjects. When playing against an aggressive version of the model, there was a significant shift in the subjects' strategy from Win-Stay-Lose-Shift to Tit-For-Tat. Subjects became retaliatory when confronted with agents that tended towards risky behavior. These results highlight the important interactions between subjects and agents utilizing adaptive behavior. Moreover, they reveal neuromodulatory mechanisms that give rise to cooperative and competitive behaviors.
Full Text from IEEE: PDF (1789KB); Contact the author by email for a copy.
Abstract: Robots should be capable of interacting in a cooperative and adaptive manner with their human counterparts in open-ended tasks that can change in real-time. An important aspect of the robot behavior will be the ability to acquire new knowledge of the cooperative tasks by observing and interacting with humans. The current research addresses this challenge. We present results from a cooperative human-robot interaction system that has been specifically developed for portability between different humanoid platforms, by abstraction layers at the perceptual and motor interfaces. In the perceptual domain, the resulting system is demonstrated to learn to recognize objects and to recognize actions as sequences of perceptual primitives, and to transfer this learning, and recognition, between different robotic platforms. For execution, composite actions and plans are shown to be learnt on one robot and executed successfully on a different one. Most importantly, the system provides the ability to link actions into shared plans, that form the basis of human-robot cooperation, applying principles from human cognitive development to the domain of robot cognitive systems.
Full Text from IEEE: PDF (2059KB); Contact the author by email for a copy.


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Elite's ezCinema Plus is the deluxe version of our popular ezCinema floor pull up screen. Instead of a support rod, it utilizes its unique "Scissor" Cross Spring Mechanical Hardware (CSMH) design that allows the operator to simply pull up the screen to its desired position and leave it there. Standard Traveling Shoulder bag for additional protection is included.
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Frederick Douglass Library brings history to life
The Frederick Douglass Library adds to the university's Black History Month offerings in February with an exhibit, two lectures and a read-in for students.
"UMES Drama Productions Through the Decades," opens with a reception on Monday, Feb. 11 at 2 p.m. in the Jessie Cottman Smith Exhibit Room. The collection of photos and memorabilia "revisits the early days of the Princess Anne College Dramatic Aces Club to the present UMES Drama Society productions," said Jennifer Neumyer, special collections and outreach librarian. Visitors, she said, can take a "behind the scenes" look at the history, the images and the props.
The show will remain on display through May 9. Special Collection hours are Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Evening hours are by request.
The first lecture, "Roots of the Morgan State vs. UMES Rivalry," takes place at 3:30 p.m. in the library's auditorium on Thursday, Feb. 14. Local historian Eric Jodlbauer explores the historic ties between the two schools starting with the founding of UMES as a preparatory school to Morgan.
Jodlbauer will discuss the "roots of the athletic rivalry as it evolved through the political rivalry." He will cover "its genesis in 1948, when the schools played two games, to the solidification of the annual athletic rivalry during the 1957 Maryland Classic." In more recent history, he will touch on the 1973-74 basketball season, where both schools shared the regular season title and UMES "ultimately defeated Morgan in the MEAC tournament and was invited to the National Invitational Tournament."
"Civil War on Race Street: The Civil Rights Movement in Cambridge, Md," is the second lecture scheduled on Tuesday, Feb. 19 at 12:30 p.m. Peter Levy, who holds a doctorate from Columbia University and a bachelor's from the University of California, Berkeley, is the guest lecturer. Levy has written numerous publications on the civil rights movement.
Levy will lecture on the movement in the Dorchester County town which he describes as "home of one of the most vibrant locally-based struggles for racial equality in the United States." The movement, he said, catalyzed by the arrival of the freedom riders in 1962, expanded in '63 and '64 under the leadership of Gloria Richardson. He describes her as "one of the most prominent and one of the few female civil rights leaders in the nation."
Students can enjoy the African-American Read-In on Tuesday, Feb. 26, from 8 a.m. to midnight. The featured book is "the Warmth of Other Suns" by Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson. The book explores the decades-long migration of blacks fleeing the South in search of a better life in cities to the north and west. Books from other black authors are also available. Prizes will be awarded.
Call 410-651-7696 for more information on events at the Frederick Douglass Library.


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Union J GLASGOW - Tickets
300 Sauciehall Street, G2 3JA GLASGOW
Don't miss Union J on tour!
More information ...
When & where?
For me and others!
EVENTIM Community
Price overview
VIP includes:
General Admission Ticket Meet & greet with Union J
Selfie with Union J Signed poster
VIP Pass Early Entry
VIP doors at 5.30PM
Ages 8+ (Under 14s with adult)
Doors 7:30pm To book Super VIP Upgrade contact sales 08442491000
Only valid with an existing genral admission ticket.
Best Seat Booking
You select the price – we select the best available seats
- Information for ticket selection.
- * The price to attend the event, where displayed, includes the ticket price plus, where applicable, booking fee and Venue Restoration Levy. Additional per transaction charges, ranging from £2.50 for standard mail to £12.50 for Secure International Delivery apply.
O2 ABC Glasgow
seating chart booking
Event Info
After finishing up as semi finalists the 4 boys went on to have chart success with 4 top 10 UK Official Chart singles and their first album selling over 100,000 copies hitting the charts at #6 in 2013. In 2014 the boys released their most successful single to date 'You Got It All' which hit the charts at #2 sending the boys on a whirlwind sold out tour across the UK selling over 40,000 tickets! In 2016 George Shelley & the band partied ways with the band officially announcing in The Sun the newest member, former Stereo Kicks member Casey Johnson. Now Jaymi, JJ, Josh & Casey are set for their first official tour together as a 4 this Autumn with tickets on sale now!
Expect to hear all your favourites plus new music from the 4 piece as they go on to the next chapter of Union J.
Union Jstars, from 2 Fan reports
London - Eventim Apollo
OMG IT WAS PERFECT from George Shelleys wife, 26/04/14I EVENTUALLY SAW MY BABIES IN CONCERT AND THEY ALL SAW MY BANNER AND WAVED AND DID HEARTS IT WAS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE AND THEY WERE FRICKING AMAZING
London - Hammersmith Apollo
AWESOME EVENT! from Lisa Cane, 31/12/13Seeing Union J was my first ever gig and is defiantly the best highlight of my year:). It was so amazing just being able to see them in person and up close, defiantly never going to forget that!. Everyone was so nice and friendly that it made me and my sister feel safe and part of their J-Cat family. Everything was so memorable and we will never forget how nice it was to actually see Union J. Me and my sister was still talking about how much we loved it still days after we watched it. We are hoping to go see them again in 2014 and every year they are playing because it was such an amazing experience and we would defiantly love to experience it all over again:).
About this Artist
Artist Biography
Union J finished fourth during series 9 on The X Factor, and were the most popular act on social networks.Union J are Jamie Hamblett (JJ), George Shelley, Josh Cuthbert, Jaymi Hensley.Union J say: "We're four normal down to earth guys who love to sing." Jaymi, Josh and JJ auditioned for The X Factor as a three piece called Triple J and got through ...
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