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South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences
On-line version ISSN 2222-3436
Print version ISSN 1015-8812
S. Afr. j. econ. manag. sci. vol.16 n.1 Pretoria Jan. 2013
The role and value of water in natural capital restoration on the Agulhas Plain1
Helanya FourieI; Martin P De WitII; A Van der MerweIII
IWestern Cape Department of Agriculture, Programme: Agricultural Economics
IISchool of Public Leadership, Stellenbosch University; ASSET Research
IIIDepartment of Economics, Stellenbosch University
The Agulhas Plain is a low-lying coastal area within the Cape Floristic Region. It is heavily invaded by alien vegetation that infringes upon the sustainable supply of ecosystem goods and services provided by the native fynbos vegetation. Alien clearing and natural capital restoration is expected to recover these ecosystem goods and services and in particular to increase water availability. The study conducts cost-benefit analyses to assess whether alien clearing and natural capital restoration would add value to the Agulhas Plain through sufficiently increasing the supply of marketable ecosystem goods and services. The results indicate that the costs of alien clearing and restoration cannot be justified in the absence of water as a valued commodity. Other ecosystem goods and services included have a negligible impact on justifying costs.
Key words: invasive vegetation, water and cost-benefit analysis
1 Introduction
By reducing the resilience of indigenous biodiversity and ecosystems, invasive vegetation threatens the sustainable supply of ecosystem goods and services. The extent of the damage caused by invasive vegetation is illustrated in a report prepared for the Global Invasive Species Programme which found that invasive species impact on 33 per cent of threatened birds, 16 per cent of threatened mammals, and 28 per cent of threatened amphibians (Butchart, Chanson & Hoffmann, 2009). Climate change is expected to further worsen these impacts (Perrings, Mooney & Williamson, 2010).
Invasive vegetation is as much an economic as an ecological phenomenon: it occurs as a result of economic activity and economic incentives can contribute towards its control. Valuing the impact of invasive species requires an interdisciplinary approach that draws from an understanding of the ecological and hydro-logical processes that drive and are in turn influenced by invasive vegetation.
The economic impact of invasive species is determined by the ecosystem in question and the related ecosystem goods and services (Perrings et al., 2010). Valuation studies of ecosystem goods and services have become routine (Van Wilgen, Cowling & Burgers, 1996; Loomis, Kent, Strange, Fraser & Covich, 2000; Ricketts, Daily, Ehrlich & Michener, 2004) with some studies focussing specifically on the costs inflicted by invasive species in South Africa (De Wit, Crookes & Van Wilgen, 2001; Marais & Wannenburgh, 2008). Estimating the value of these impacts allows decision-makers to evaluate project investments aimed at clearing invasive species and restoring natural vegetation. The economic return of such projects is determined by the direct project costs and the value of the affected ecosystem goods and services.
This study tests the hypothesis that through its impact on ecosystem goods and services, invasive vegetation leads to a reduction in the economic value of natural capital at a micro level. It further argues that by investing in the clearing of invasive species and the restoration of indigenous vegetation, value can be restored to an area through increasing the supply of marketable ecosystem goods and services. The study employs cost-benefit analyses to assess the change in marketable ecosystem goods and services brought about by clearing invasive species and restoring natural capital. It places a specific focus on water as a determinant of the economic efficiency of clearing and restoration projects in the Agulhas Plain. To this end the study is arranged as follows: section 2 provides an overview of the literature on natural capital, the occurrence and management of invasive vegetation, economic complexities and markets for ecosystem goods and services. Section 3 introduces the Agulhas Plain. Section 4 describes the model, while section 5 provides a discussion of the results. Section 6 concludes with some policy recommendations.
2 Natural capital, invasive vegetation and associated economics
Ecosystem goods and services are particular features of natural capital on which humans rely for survival. Daly (1994) defines natural capital as 'the stock which produces the flux of natural resources: the population of fishes in the ocean generating the flux of fish going to the market; the forest gathering timber; the oil reserves whose exploitation provide petrol'. Daly is correct in regarding natural capital as those features of the environment that support human life, but his definition can be augmented to include ecological systems such as photosynthesis processes, the atmosphere and water cycles (Chiesura & Groot, 2003; Blignaut & De Wit, 2004) without which the stocks to which he refers cannot be maintained.
Ecosystem goods and services are often characterised by open access and lack of property rights, rendering individuals reluctant to invest in goods or services from which other users cannot be barred. This results in an absence of markets and prices that are below the actual value of the good or service. Commercial exploitation adds to the pressure, with deforestation as an apt example: as the demand for timber and fuel wood rises, carbon sequestration as one of the ecosystem services provided by trees is affected with detrimental effects to the climate of the planet.
In addition to the unsustainable consumption of ecosystem goods and services, invasive vegetation further threatens their production by damaging the resilience of indigenous ecosystems. Initial research on the subject was driven by the impact that invasive vegetation has on agriculture, but loss in biodiversity and the disturbance of ecosystem services, water supply in particular, has also attracted the attention of researchers (Le Maitre, Van Wilgen, Chapman & McKelly, 1996; Le Maitre, Versveld & Chapman, 2000; Mooney & Cleland, 2001; Carey, 2007; Wilcove, Rothstein, Dubow, Phillips & Losos, 1998).
Biological invasion results from the deliberate introduction of alien species or their unintentional displacement as a consequence of cross-border activity (Perrings, Williamson, Barbier, Delfino, Silvana, Shogren, Simmons & Watkinson, 2002). Global trade has been closely linked to the increase in the occurrence of invasive vegetation (Turpie, 2004; Levine & D'Antonio, 2003), and Bright (1999) has gone so far as to label invasive vegetation as a disease caused by globalisation.
Controlling the spread of invasive species requires '[limiting] the number of plant propagules in the long term to a level [that is] tolerable to human activities' (Groves, 1989), allowing the supply of natural capital to be maintained and to continue to provide a sustainable supply of ecosystem goods and services. The impact of invasive vegetation can be mitigated through passively or actively restoring eroded natural capital. Passive restoration refers to the removal of invasive species and leaving the veld to fend for itself, while active restoration entails direct participation in the recovery of the area. Successful restoration often requires active participation, especially in landscapes where indigenous species are unable to compete with re-sprouting alien plants, or where indigenous vegetation needs to be reintroduced to the area.
Evaluating whether the removal of invasive vegetation and the active restoration of natural capital is a value adding endeavour at a systems level depends on the direct and indirect costs and benefits incurred. This requires a valuation of the ecosystem goods and services affected by alien vegetation, described as an attempt to determine the relationship between the underlying ecosystem and the overarching economy (Aylward & Barbier, 1992). The lack of efficient prices whereby changes in the quantity or quality of an ecosystem good or service can be valued often calls for using shadow prices or other proxies to estimate the value of ecosystem goods and services (Blignaut & Lumby, 2004). A shadow price can be defined as 'the opportunity cost of products and services when the market price ... does not reflect these costs in full' (Mullins, Mosaka, Green, Downing & Mapekula, 2007). On occasion when a market for ecosystem goods and services does exist but the mechanism responsible for setting the price is influenced by distortive taxes, subsidies, quotas or tariffs, the price will not reflect the efficient price and will need to be adjusted for these distortions.
3 Study area: The Agulhas Plain, Cape Floristic Region
The Cape Floristic Region (CFR) spans 94000 km2 at the southern tip of the African continent. It is home to such a variety of fynbos species that it has been classified as 'one of the hottest' global biodiversity hotspots (Myers, 1990). Of the approximately 8 500 fynbos species, 68.2 per cent are endemic, causing Cape Flora to be acclaimed as one of the six plant kingdoms of the world (Higgens, Turpie, Costanza, Cowling, Le Maitre, Marais & Midgley, 1997).
The fynbos biome supplies a large array of ecosystem goods and services, including fynbos flowers and other fynbos products, ecotourism, and water cycling from mountain catchments. Turpie, Heydenrych and Lamberth (2003) estimate that the use (marketed and non-marketed) and existence value of the terrestrial and coastal marine biodiversity of the Cape Floristic Region amount to R10 000 million per annum, equivalent to 10 per cent of the gross geographic product of the Western Cape.
The Agulhas Plain is a low-lying coastal region that comprises 2160 km2 within the CFR, as illustrated in Figure 1. It is home to fynbos and renosterveld vegetation, both fire-prone shrubland vegetation types that thrive in the Mediterranean climate of the area (Cowling & Holmes, 1992; Rouget, 2003).
The Agulhas Plain hosts four inland towns: Stanford, Napier and Bredasdorp and Elim, as well as five coastal towns: Gansbaai, Pearly Beach, Agulhas, Struisbaai and Arniston. Most of the land on the Agulhas Plain is under private ownership and used for commercial agriculture, of which livestock grazing covers close to 50 per cent and fynbos farms account for a further 28 per cent (Heydenrych, 1999). Nine percent of the area is under conservation in nature reserves such as the Agulhas National Park, Quine Point Nature Reserve and De Mond Nature Reserve. The majority of the remaining portion of land is dryland pastures dedicated to wheat and barley production (Conradie, 2010).
The Agulhas Plain is covered by five fynbos vegetation types: Mountain fynbos, Strandveld fynbos, Grassy fynbos, Elim fynbos, and Limestone fynbos (Low & Rebelo, 1996). The fynbos ecosystem of the Agulhas Plain produces a number of products that are traded in both the formal and the informal sector, of which the flower market is the most prominent. The production systems of flower farms on the Agulhas Plain vary between farms that rely on harvesting flowers from the wild, farms that focus on flower cultivation, and a small group of farms on which a combination of the two methods are employed. The increase in demand for fynbos flowers has led to an increase in flower cultivation (Conradie & Knoesen, 2009).
The fynbos ecosystem also produces other marketable products, such as Honeybush tea, thatching reed and sour figs, and supports the beekeeping and honey production industry by providing foraging for bees. Honeybush tea is made from species of Cyclopia (Heydenrych, 1999) and is mostly harvested from Mountain fynbos, while thatching reed (Thamnochortus insignis) is harvested from Limestone fynbos. Non-landowners in particular draw benefit from Strandveld fynbos from which they harvest sour figs used for making sour fig jam.
Invasive species constrain the production of ecosystem goods and services provided by fynbos vegetation by restricting its growth or by causing changes in the cycles and intensity of fires. This study considers the three most dominant invasive tree species on the Agulhas Plain: Acacia, Eucalyptus and Pinus. Acacia Cyclops trees (commonly known as Rooikrans) were initially introduced as dune stabilisers and to provide protection (see Figure 2), while Eucalyptus species were introduced in the 1940s with the purpose of providing timber. Pinus species became established through plantations and were also planted to provide tree cover in shrublands (Richardson, 1998). Today, invasive species still provide benefits: many rural households rely on Acacia Cyclops invasions in Strandveld and Lime fynbos as a source of fuel for heating and cooking (Turpie, Heydenrych & Lamberth, 2003), while Eucalyptus trees provide a valuable source of pollination for bees.
The fynbos biome is the most heavily invaded biome in South Africa (Richardson, MacDonald, Hoffman & Henderson, 1997; Henderson, 2007). Cole, Lombard, Cowling, Euston-Brown, Richardson and Heijnis (2000) estimated that 14 per cent of Agulhas Plain was invaded with a density of above 50 per cent. In more recent work, Nowell (2010) found that this figure had increased to 31 per cent. The high degree of plant endemism, limited water supply and the prevalence of invasive species render the Agulhas Plain a priority area for restoration.
4 Method and approach
Cost-benefit analysis provides an instrument that can be used to assess the efficiency of projects dedicated to the clearing of invasive species and restoring natural capital under varying assumptions. An efficient outcome of a clearing and restoration project requires that the value of ecosystem goods and services replaced by restoration at least equals the direct project costs.
The project adopts a time frame of twenty years, based on the assumption that this is a sufficient period for changes within the ecosystem to occur, while simultaneously providing a realistic timeframe under which landowners can plan and be held accountable for land-use decisions. This study assumes post-restoration land-use activities that will ensure a stable supply of ecosystem goods and services. Following Marais and Wannenburgh (2008) and Currie, Milton and Steenekamp (2009), the study tests the impact of a range of low yet positive discount rates in the results of the project.
Ecosystem goods and services included in the model are selected according to the expected impact of alien removal and fynbos restoration on their supply, the accuracy with which changes in their supply can be valued, and whether they can be captured in a market. The model includes wildflowers and fynbos products, water supply, beekeeping, and fuel wood in the analysis, with 2010 prices used throughout. Figure 3 provides a schematic representation of the most prominent marketable ecosystem goods and services affected by alien removal and restoration.
Changes in biodiversity (often valued through ecotourism) are not included in the model due to the supposition that additional fynbos vegetation will have a negligible impact on the number of visitors to the area. The net impact of alien removal and fynbos restoration on carbon sequestration is also disregarded owing to the assumption that the change in the amount of carbon sequestered will be insufficient to allow for cost-effective carbon trading. The water released is assumed to be of adequate quality for consumption. Non-use existence values were not included in the model due to the focus on using marketable ecosystem goods and services to justify clearing and restoration costs.
4.1 Model description
The value of alien removal and fynbos restoration at a systems level (Vt) for year t is a function of the annual change in income from fynbos products (/£), water supply (Wt), beekeeping (Bt), the supply of woody biomass (Mt), and clearing and restoration costs (Ct).
The direct benefits that the fynbos ecosystem generates through focal Proteacea flowers and cones, foliage and greens used in flower arrangements, and other fynbos products such as thatching reed and honeybush is captured using net income at farm gate for each fynbos vegetation type (Turpie, Heydenrych & Hassan, 2002). Farmers in South Africa are not supported by formal subsidies, suggesting that this value estimate can be regarded as an efficient price. The study distinguishes between invaded land that has been transformed by agriculture and development, and invaded natural veld. As expected, invasive vegetation has occupied natural veld to a greater extent than veld under alternative land use. It assumes that wildflowers, foliage and greens, thatching reed and honey-bush will be harvested from invaded marginal agricultural land from which farmers receive no direct income, and not from invaded veld. This accommodates for the fact that the latter may be classified as protected or public areas from which no harvesting is allowed.
Different types of fynbos vegetation types yield varying supplies of wildflowers and fynbos products. It is assumed that the appropriate species are sown during the restoration process to allow wildflowers, honeybush and thatching reed to be harvested from restored areas. To estimate the annual change in net income from wildflowers, a veld age productivity factor that changes as the plants mature is used (Bailey, Euston-Brown & Privett, 2007). Honeybush harvests are assumed to start in the second year after restoration at an annual net income of R19.20 per hectare (Turpie et al., 2002; Agricultural Research Council, 2012). Thatching reed generates a net income of R39.67 per hectare (Turpie et al., 2002), with harvesting assumed to start four years after restoration (Jamieson, 2001; Linder, 1990).
Sour fig harvesting often takes place without the consent of landowners, but as a marketable product provided by the fynbos ecosystem it is included as a benefit in this study. Annual net income derived from sour fig harvesting is estimated as R17.90 per hectare (Heydenrych, 1999). The study assumes that sour fig harvesting could take place from all restored Strandveld fynbos and as a fast grower is available for harvesting one year after restoration (Malan & Notten, 2006). Condensed hectares of different fynbos vegetation types are used to estimate the change in net income at a systems level.
Direct project costs incurred by alien clearing and fynbos restoration is composed of the cost of initial clearing, the cost of restoration, and the cost of five follow-up clearings. Restoration costs include seed collection, seed preparation and sowing. It is assumed that initial clearing and restoration treatments are completed during the first year, and that follow-up clearings are completed consecutively during the next five years.
The model uses cost estimates of clearing high density invasion to estimate the cost of clearing the number of condensed invaded hectares on the Agulhas Plain (Marais & Wannenburgh, 2008). A hypothetical cost per hectare is calculated based on the proportion of total invasion of each of the invasive species included in the study.
The financial net present value (NPVf) estimates whether it is profitable for landowners to clear and restore their land, derived from the change in net income from wildflowers and other fynbos products (equation 2). Sour figs are excluded from this estimation since income from sour fig harvesting is not incurred by landowners. The discount rate is r.
The economic net present value incorporates into the equation the change in the supply of sour figs, the beekeeping industry, the supply of fuel wood and water. Fynbos vegetation holds foraging value for bees, while Eucalyptus forests provide pollination services that will be foregone if the trees are removed. The change in the value of honey production is based on the difference between net income at farm gate per fynbos vegetation type and the total value of pollination services provided by Eucalyptus forests on the Agulhas Plain, as estimated by Heydenrych (1999). If Bt > 0, clearing and restoration will add value to the beekeeping and honey production industry, but if Bt < 0, an opportunity cost is implied. Bees do not restrict their behaviour to farm boundaries and estimates are based on the total number of condensed invaded hectares on the Plain.
The removal of invasive trees on the Agulhas Plain implies an opportunity cost to many of the rural households. The study assumes that landowners receive no rent from invaded land, leaving the opportunity cost of fuel wood to be estimated as the average net income per hectare that rural households derive from harvesting fuel wood from densely invaded vegetation (Turpie et al., 2003). This value is extrapolated across condensed hectares of Acacia Cyclops invasion in Strandveld and Lime fynbos.
Invasive vegetation interferes with aquifers by making demands on groundwater and decreasing the amount of rainwater available to replenish the water table (Le Maitre et al., 1999). In the Western Cape, alien species account for using 15.82 per cent of the mean annual water runoff (Le Maitre et al., 2000). A lower incidence of invasive vegetation will lead to a decrease in evapotranspiration and ultimately to an increase in the supply of groundwater and surface water available. Alien clearing and restoration on the Agulhas Plain will release an estimated 82 264 050 kl of water into the hydrological system (Nowell, 2010).
The fraction of the total water released by alien clearing that will be made available as runoff and that can be collected for consumption is unclear. In addition, no studies specific to the Agulhas Plain provide estimates of the average value of water for different industries. This study opts to estimate the average value of water (pi) required to justify alien clearing and restoration at a systems level under different runoff scenarios (yi) (equation 3). The use of average value instead of the marginal value of water is based on the assumption of constant returns to scale and price-taking by consumers.
5 Results
5.1 Ecosystem goods and services
The change in annual net income from wild-flowers and other fynbos products harvested from the restored areas on the Agulhas Plain will range from R0.4 million to R1.3 million. Figure 4 illustrates that Proteacea flowers and cones from Mountain fynbos, and sour fig harvests from Strandveld fynbos hold the greatest potential for generating income.
Total clearing and restoration costs amount to R176 million, of which the restoration component comprises 21 per cent. The costs incurred during the first year account for 72 per cent of total direct costs.
As an indirect cost, the pollination services that Eucalyptus forests provide for beekeeping outweighs the foraging value of indigenous fynbos. This suggests that an annual opportunity cost of R1.37 million to the beekeeping industry will occur if all Eucalyptus forests are removed from the Plain. The additional opportunity cost of fuel wood due to the removal of Acacia Cyclops will amount to R4.31 million. Table 1 lists the range of different direct and indirect cost and benefit components.
5.2 Cost-benefit analyses
The financial net present value of clearing invasive vegetation and restoring natural capital on the Agulhas Plain ranges between -R183.5 million and -R184.5 million at the system level, depending on the discount rate assumed. This indicates that an investment to clear the entire Agulhas Plain of invasive species and restore natural fynbos vegetation will not be offset by the additional direct income that can be generated from harvesting fynbos flowers and other fynbos products.
When the impact on beekeeping, honey production and the opportunity cost of fuel wood is added, the economic net present value yields a negative return of between R224 million and R265 million.
The results suggest that the water released through clearing and restoration needs to be an economically valued commodity in order to ensure a cost-effective outcome. The availability and cost of alternative water sources determines whether the cost at which water can be made available through alien clearing and restoration is low enough to justify investment. Figure 5 summarises the outcome of equation 3 by illustrating the average value of water that will justify clearing and restoration under different discount rates in relation to runoff, and compares these values to existing costs of water on the Agulhas Plain.
The Cape Agulhas Municipality (CAM), in which the Agulhas Plain is primarily located, abstracts more than half of its water from production boreholes. An estimated 1 896 437 kl of water was supplied to towns on the Agulhas Plain during 2007/08, equivalent to 2.3 per cent of the total amount of water that is projected to be released through alien clearing. The CAM calculates the unit cost of water (water supply divided by operating costs) at R5.75 per kilolitre. This estimate includes personnel expenses, repair and maintenance costs and capital expenditure and is not an accurate reflection of the value of water in the area, but it does provide an average upper estimate of what the municipality is willing to pay for water supply. At this upper estimate of water value, 3-6 per cent of water released by alien clearing and restoration will have to be provided as consumable runoff in order for such a project to be efficient.
In 2001/02, the Municipality had a budget of R0.35 million for the development of water resources in Struisbaai. Potential boreholes in the area were estimated at being able to yield an additional 208 050 kl per annum (Overberg District Municipality, 2003). This amounts to a cost of R2.46 per kilolitre, and suggests that alien clearing and restoration could provide a lower cost alternative if more than 10-14 per cent of water released is made available as runoff in the area. A similar approach for water resource development in Bredasdorp provides a cost estimate of R1.25 per kilolitre (Cape Agulhas Municipality, 2009), where 15-28 per cent of water released will have to be made available to ensure an efficient outcome.
In accordance with Turpie et al. (2003), a comparable value for the cost of water supply is provided by the average capital and operational costs of future water supply schemes in the Western Cape. Burgers, Marais and Bekker (1995) estimate this to be R1.78 per kilolitre. Our results suggest that at consumable runoff of more than 13-20 per cent of water released through alien clearing, the latter will provide a lower-cost alternative for augmenting water supply.
Dry land crop production accounts for a large proportion of land use on the Agulhas Plain. In South Africa the National Water Accounts are increasingly regarded as one of the more accurate estimates of the average value of water per land use type (Turpie, 2004). The Accounts do not disaggregate water use by local municipality, but estimate that in the Breede Water Management Area (WMA) -in which the Agulhas Plain is located - R0.89 worth of dryland crops is produced per kilolitre of water used in dryland agriculture (Statistics
South Africa, 2009). Assuming that dryland production practices on the Agulhas Plain are similar to the rest of the Breede WMA, at least 23-40 per cent of water released through alien clearing and restoration will have to be made available for dryland crops on the Plain in order to justify the investment.
Past water scarcity on the Agulhas Plain was addressed by building dams or drilling boreholes (Cape Agulhas Municipality, 2009). This study suggests that, depending on the value of water in the Agulhas Plain, alien clearing and restoration can provide a positive return if 3-40 per cent of the water released is made available for consumption (illustrated in Figure 5). As climate change progresses and the area becomes even more water scarce, clearing and restoration will become cost-effective at lower quantities of runoff.
6 Conclusions and recommendations
Growing human societies and impending climate change is threatening the sustainable supply of ecosystem goods and services. Invasive vegetation poses an additional threat to the goods and services supplied by indigenous ecosystems. This study tests the hypothesis that alien removal and natural capital restoration may add value to invaded areas through recovering the ecosystem goods and services supplied by indigenous vegetation. It draws from ecological, hydrological and economic observations to assess the net impact that alien removal and restoration could have in the Agulhas Plain.
The results unequivocally show that the cost of clearing the entire Agulhas Plain of invasive vegetation and restoring indigenous fynbos to invaded areas cannot be justified solely based on direct financial benefits. The results further illustrate that in the absence of water as an economically valued commodity, other indirect economic impacts are unable to justify invest- ment. Preliminary appraisals of the value of water under different runoff scenarios suggest that water at a systems level is sufficiently valued to provide an efficient outcome for clearing and restoration projects on the Agulhas Plain. However, it is important to note that runoff and water values are industry and area specific. While the results indicate that alien clearing and restoration could be justified at a systems level, investment decisions should be preceded by an investigation into area specific runoff and water demand.
Payments for ecosystem services can be used as an instrument to encourage alien clearing and restoration activities. Local municipalities on the Agulhas Plain could offer landowners payments to clear and restore their land in exchange for a proportion of the water made available. In this way farming income can be augmented to the extent that it renders alien clearing and restoration financially feasible for landowners, while at the same time providing municipalities with a lower cost alternative of water supply. Alternatively, municipalities can decide to undertake clearing activities themselves in return for a proportion of the water made available, leaving landowners responsible to restore cleared land. Irrespective of the strategy adopted, payments must be designed in a way that ensures that landowners will continue to keep their land free of invasive alien vegetation. Payments would have to compensate the gap between direct project costs and improved land use.
With the rising economic value of water induced by climate change and growing demand, it is expected that alien clearing and restoration will increasingly become an economically viable land and ecosystems management strategy, and payments for ecosystem goods and services an efficient instrument with which such activities can be encouraged.
We are grateful to the Water Research Commission (WRC) - Key Strategic Area, Water Utilisation in Agriculture (KSA4) who commissioned and funded this study. The work forms part of the broader WRC project entitled, 'The impact of re-establishing indigenous plants and restoring the natural landscape on sustainable rural employment and land productivity through payment for environmental services'.
The authors would also like to extend a word of thanks to individuals who provided comments upon the presentation of previous versions of this paper.
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LENDER, H. P. 1990. The thatching reed of Albertinia. Veld and Flora, September:86-89. [ Links ]
LOOMIS, J., KENT, P., STRANGE, L., FRASER, K. & COVICH, A. 2000. Measuring the total economics value of restoring ecosystem services in an impaired river basin: results from a contingent valuation survey. Ecological Economics, 33:103-117. [ Links ]
LOW, A.B. & REBELO, A.G. 1996. Vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. Pretoria, Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. [ Links ]
MALAN, C. & NOTTEN, A. 2006. Carpobrotus edulis. Available at: http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantcd/carpobed.htm [accessed 2012-06-04] [ Links ].
MARAIS, C. & WANNENBURGH, A.M. 2008. Restoration of water resources (natural capital) through the clearing of invasive alien plants from riparian areas in South Africa: Costs and water benefits. South African Journal of Botany, 74:526-537. [ Links ]
MOONEY, H.A. & CLELAND, E.E. 2001. The evolutionary impact of invasive species. PNAS, 98:54465451. [ Links ]
MULLINS, D., MOSAKA, D.D., GREEN, A.B., DOWNING, R. & MAPEKULA, P.G. 2007. A manual for cost benefit analysis in South Africa with specific reference to water resource development. Water Research Commission Report, 305/07. [ Links ]
MYERS, N. 1990. The biodiversity challenge: expended hotspot analysis. The Environmentalist, 10:243-255. [ Links ]
NOWELL, M. 2010. Determining the hydrological benefits of clearing invasive alien plants on the Agulhas Plain. MSc, University of Stellenbosch. [ Links ]
OVERBERG DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY 2003. Water Services development plan: Cape Agulhas municipality. Draft 1, Volume 1:1-98. [ Links ]
PERRINGS, C., MOONEY, H.A. & WILLIAMSON, M.H. 2010. The problem of biological invasion In: Perrings, C., Mooney, H. A. & Williamson, M. H. (eds.) Bioinvasions and globalization: ecology, economics, management and policy. New York: Oxford University Press. [ Links ]
PERRINGS, C., WILLIAMSON, M., BARBIER, E.B., DELFINO, D., SILVANA, D., SHOGREN, J., SIMMONS, P. & WATKINSON, A. 2002. Biological invasion risks and the public good: an economic perspective. Conservation Ecology, 6. [ Links ]
RICHARDSON, D.M. 1998. Ecology and biogeography of Pinus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [ Links ]
RICHARDSON, D.M., MACDONALD, I.A.W., HOFFMAN, J.H. & HENDERSON, L. 1997. Alien plant invasions. In: Cowling, R. M., Richardson, D. M. & Pearce, S. M. (eds.) Vegetation of Southern Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [ Links ]
RICKETTS, T.H., DAILY, G.C., EHRLICH, P.R. & MICHENER, C.D. 2004. Economic value of tropical forest to coffee production. PNAS, 101:12579-12582. [ Links ]
ROUGET, M. 2003. Measuring conservation value at fine and broad scales: implications for a diverse and fragmented region, the Agulhas Plain. Biological Conservation, 112:217-232. [ Links ]
STATISTICS SOUTH AFRICA. 2009. National Accounts: Water Accounts for South Africa. Discussion Document. Pretoria. [ Links ]
TURPIE, J. 2004. The role of resource economics in the control of invasive alien plants in South Africa. South African Journal of Science, 100:87-93. [ Links ]
TURPIE, J., HEYDENRYCH, B.J. & HASSAN, R. 2002. Fynbos: A preliminary assessment of its status and economic value. In: Hassan, R. (ed.) Accounting for stock and flow values of woody land resources. [ Links ]
TURPIE, J., HEYDENRYCH, B.J. & LAMBERTH, S.J. 2003. Economic value of terrestrial and marine biodiversity in the Cape Floristic Region. Biological Conservation, 112:233-251. [ Links ]
VAN WILGEN, B.W., COWLING, R.M. & BURGERS, C.J. 1996. Valuation of ecosystem services. Bioscience, 46:184-189. [ Links ]
WILCOVE, D.S., ROTHSTEIN, D., DUBOW, D., PHILLIPS, A. & LOSOS, E. 1998. Quantifying threats to imperiled species in the United States. BioScience, 48:607-615. [ Links ]
Accepted: August 2012
1 Study coordinated by ASSET Research and funded by the Water Research Commission (Project K5/1803).


text:
It's time to refresh the tutorial journal! Added some new ones and removed those which, after some time, I found a bit misleading.
Below you'll find a list of tutorials I personally think of as the best on dA. If I have any problems with painting something I usually take a look at one of those.
Is there anything you're having troubles with? Need help looking for a good tutorial? Or maybe you'd like to see a video walk-through of me painting something?
I'm open for suggestions for what kind of tutorial/walk-through you'd like to see from me. If you're interested in anything, post your suggestions in the comments!
Poses, composition and perspective
Expressions and emotions
Colour theory, selection and mixing VS light
Blending Tutorial by acidlullaby :thumb146178

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Paypal,Payza,Perfect Money and other payment methods
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text:
Color combo poll
Color combo poll
Haven't final configured yet but I was planning on blue/tan.
Blue/tan matte
I chose white with tan interior. So what trim are you getting?
The dash is black regardless. I have a tan interior and it's just the seats, door panels, and area under the dash that's tan. Above the internal decor, it's all black. It looks pretty similar to this: http://image.automobilemag.com/f/41105242+w750+st0/Tesla-Model-S-interio...
mtlord. I forgot to say I like having the light interior contrast with the dark blue.
Sig. Red, Tan interior, Obeche wood-gloss
Forgot to mention my color. Sig Red/Tan/Lacewood.
Pearl White/Tan/Lacewood. Wife says black leather will get too hot. We're in Seattle, so I don't see it as an issue, but I go along.
green with gray interior.
Blue metalic, tan with obeche gloss
Plaid, with stripped tires, and glossy redwood with tints of spotted owl feathers……..
pearl white/tan/carbon fibre/grey wheels
pearl white/black/obeche matte
She's thinking about the trips to Florida you don't know you're taking yet.
pearl white/black/cr/grey wheels and keeping the spoiler but leaving off the front license plate
blue/gray/obeche gloss. black interior is also nice
Metallic green with tan interior. One thing I was concerned about was the tan interior looked very orange to me online (Mercedes Benz orange leather). Knowing this could be a function of viewing online, I was pleased the tan is actually tan when I test drove in DC. I expect to really like the combo when I get my car (best guess Feb 2013 now).
Another advantage of green paint...considering a license plate that says GREENx2
Black, tan/piano, dark wheels. Seemed futuristic. Get the windex and microfiber rag for the glovebox and touch free car wash ready! I can deal with it!
brown/tan/obeche matte
Black/tan and obeche gloss and standard wheels.
black/black/obeche matte
Blue/tan/carbon fiber/silver wheels
I am torn between the brown with tan interior/ silver wheels vs gray with gray or black inerior/dark wheels. Im res # 7948 so I have to decide soon. decisions....decisions.
pearl white/gray/obeche matt
Performance Sig in black black with Obeche Wood Matte. I really like the red lining coming with the black leather seats. Wheels are silver 21'
Blue, Tan and probably Lacewood when the time to configure comes.
Gray/black/carbon fiber/yellow dog.
Black/Black/Carbon Fiber/21" Gray Wheels
Pearl White, Pano Roof, Black Leather, Carbon Fiber. But I won't see this car for a looooong time - probably June/July next year. R 12136.
Pearl white/tan/matt obeche/19" wheels - would opt for the turbine style if they were available in 19s . . . a bit non-descript for that incognito effect.
Knowing that beauty is more than skin deep, I could go for just about any combination offered, with the exception of that custom pink that I've seen pictures of . . . but to each his own, eh?
Leaning toward Blue/Tan/Obeche Matte, but if I decide to spring for performance I may go with Blue/Black/CF - love the red piping.
Dolphin Grey/ Black / Carbon Fiber / perf wheel
Blue/Grey/Obeche Matte
@Osiris agree with the red trim on the black interior, looks fantastic. I'm struggling with the exterior color a little. Black feels like too safe (although I don't really love the other colors). Anyone have any aesthetic concerns with the the grey wheels? The wheels look great, but it feels like they clash with the remaining chrome finish on the exterior of the car.
Pearl White, Black, Obeche Matte.
Performance S with Pearl White/Black/Obeche Gloss/21" Grey wheels
White tan cf with dark rims. Contrast!
Silver/black(or gray)/obeche matte/standard wheels
Brown,tan,obeche gloss; I got the car - my wife got to pick
Blue, grey, carbon fibre, dark grey 21" wheels. No spoiler.
We went for the BLue/Black as well.
Pearl White, gray interior, Pano roof, silver 21".
And Lacewood!
Grey w black leather.
This is the first time I've seen the Piano Black on an actual car, and even though I previously thought it was the Red Haired Stepchild, I think it looks pretty stunning! Just trying to confuse you guys/gals that are finalizing your order. :)
White Solid, Pano Roof, Black Leather, 85kWh,Obeche Gloss, Silver 21" Wheels, Tech, and Sound Package, and someday a parcel shelf, and rear Mats.
Configuring now, thinking black/tan/cf or piano black. Silver wheels--like the contrast. Of the three finalists, wife ruled out white, and we have a blue car already, so black wins for exterior. Plus that's what I've wanted pretty much from the start, with the others bouncing in and out. Can't decide on cf or pb, and matte obeche may reenter the equation.


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Kristen Stewart: 'On the Road' AFI Screening!
Kristen Stewart shows off some tummy at the screening of her film On the Road during the 2012 AFI Fest at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Saturday evening (November 3) in Hollywood.
The 22-year-old actress wore a Balenciaga by Nicolas Ghesquière outfit and Christian Louboutin shoes to the fest, presented by Audi.
PHOTOS: Check out the latest pics of Kristen Stewart
Kristen recently talked to Moviefone about how she landed her role in the film.
"I was 14 or 15 when I first met [director] Walter Salles. I spoke to him when I was 17, I think I may have shot the first Twilight, I'm not sure – possibly I was about to go do it. At first I was talking about playing another part, so it's been a long time coming," Kristen said. "I don't know how I was able to get around that kind of energy, but to convey that I loved this thing in the way [Walter Salles] does and as soon as you get around that energy it passes between you, nothing really needs to be said. I got the job on the spot, and I drove away just vibrating. I was like, 'Are you kidding me?' Plus I was very young, I wasn't quite old enough for the part yet."
30+ pictures inside of Kristen Stewart at the On the Road screening…


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View a variety of photographic gems from around the world with this gallery of web exclusive Road Less Traveled Sightings photos shot by Chad Foreman and Joey Shigeo. Including photos of Jamie Thomas, Dane Burman, Jack Curtin, Tony Cervantes, Tom Asta, James Hardy, Jon Dickson, and Tommy Sandoval. Get your chance to win a huge package from Fallen in our Pay Day!
Once you launch the gallery, be sure to click the VIEW button in the upper right to go full screen!


text:
Tom Brady is always at the Kentucky Derby, usually in full derby-style. According to football writer Chris B. Brown who was at the tracks, it was rumored Brady put $4,700 on Orb this year. Since Orb won, this would leave Brady with about $23,500 in winnings.
There's video of Brady screaming in celebration after Orb won, so we're guessing he definitely won a bunch of money. Brady starts screaming at the 20 second mark (via Big Lead Sports):


text:
Wigan Warriors manager Shaun Wane has blasted his sides' doubters in the wake of their 30-16 Grand Final victory over Warrington at Old Trafford.
Wane's side have come in for criticism at certain points of the season and he believes completing the double has silenced many of those who doubted Wigan's ability to win trophies.
"We have had it thrown in our faces all year that we were not going to win anything," Wane is quoted in the Daily Mail as saying. "We have silenced a lot of people and I cant praise the players highly enough, particularly our captain Sean O'Loughlin."
Warrington had scored three tries in six minutes as Tony Smith's side threatened to embarrass the eventual winners.
The loss of Australian Winger Joel Monaghan - taken to hospital in a neck brace - and full back Stefan Ratchford proved crucial as Wigan raced into a lead and stormed to victory.
The win sealed the first Challenge Cup and Super League double for seven years when Daniel Anderson guided St Helens to the feat.
Victory at Old Trafford also meant Sam Tomkins signed off with another trophy under his belt as he recently sealed a world record switch to the NRL with New Zealand Warriors.
"It's unbelievable, the greatest day of my life," said Tomkins. "Coming back to win was down to desire and belief."
Write for GiveMeSport! Sign-up to the GMS Writing Academy here: https://gms.to/130seMa
DISCLAIMER: This article has been written by a member of the GiveMeSport Writing Academy and does not represent the views of GiveMeSport.com or SportsNewMedia. The views and opinions expressed are solely that of the author credited at the top of this article. GiveMeSport.com and SportsNewMedia do not take any responsibility for the content of its contributors.


text:
Scuderia Ferrari bag with twin handles
The new women's Scuderia Ferrari bag combines an understated yet elegant design with a practical and versatile attitude.
The strengths of this large bag, which exudes a racing spirit and sophisticated style, are the spacious front zipper pocket and the movable handles with rocking metal bases, which allow it to be held comfortably. The main compartment is large and contains a smaller zipper pocket. The front face is embellished by the debossed Ferrari Shield, while the Puma logo is found on the metal zipper pulls.
- External zipper pocket
- Internal zipper pocket
- Handles with metal base
- Composition: 100% Polyurethane
We offer both Standard and Express shipping: choose the service that best meets your needs at checkout.
We provide an easy return service: just ship your items back to us with a shipping service of your choice within 30 days of delivery.


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Run Time:107 minutes
Written & Directed by: George Gallo
Starring: Academy Award nominated Armin Mueller-Stahl, Trevor Morgan, Samantha Mathis, Golden Globe and Emmy nominated Ray Liotta, Academy Award nominated Charles Durning, Golden Globe and Emmy nominated Ron Perlman, Academy Award nominated Diana Scarwid, Julie Lott
Inspired by a True Story
A successful artist looks back with loving memories on the summer of his defining year, 1974. He befriends an elderly alcoholic genius painter who has turned his back not only on art, but on life. The two form what appears to be a tenuous relationship at first, between a student and master. The student wants to learn all the secrets the master has locked away inside his head and heart. But time has not been kind to the old master and his life and work have lost their meaning. Over the course of the summer the student's enthusiasm and innocence rekindles the master's artistic passion. Together, they give one another a priceless gift. The student learns to see the world through the eyes of an artist, while the master remembers how to see past the ugliness in life and once again embrace the beauty. This story is based on a real life experience.
One Master. One Student. One Summer to Dream.


text: Peter Kjellstrom wrote: > On Wednesday 28 March 2007, Mark Hahn wrote: >>>> start timer >>>> send(other,small-message) recv(first,small-message) >>>> recv(other,small-message) send(first,small-message) >>>> stop timer >>>> >>>> I'll actually see 2.4 us between the timer calls? if I understand, >>>> aggregation would only help on a streaming test. in fact, this kind >>>> of isolated RPC-like exchange is what I see most commonly. >>> Assuming you could time it with any accuracy, yes. >> that's not an issue - rdtsc is perfectly good into the tens of ns range. > > I'll have to hack together a rdtsc based mpi microbenchmark some day it seems > =) Might I suggest just passing a MPI_INT back and forth and decrementing it each time to insure that the message makes it all the way to userspace before heading back to the other node? Seems like it would allow for easier timing (with gettimeofday) and also take into account various real world effects like interrupts and schedule effects. I guess it depends if you want marketing numbers or real world numbers ;-). Additionally you might want to do this in parallel, after all few clusters let their communication layer sit idle while a single pair of nodes communicate. Additionally you might want all possible pairs to communicate to see what effect locality has, this might be especially useful for comparing interconnect layers with various fractions of backplane bandwidth and differing methods for handling contention. I've written a code that does the above, it's still somewhat raw, I've yet to add some sanity checking and command line options to avoid recompiling, both high on my todo list. I do have some data from an infinipath cluster nto post, this data set is for 4 processors per node on 64 nodes (or a 177 node cluster) each node has a single port on a 288 port IB switch: http://cse.ucdavis.edu/~bill/n64p256/band_results.txt http://cse.ucdavis.edu/~bill/n64p256/lat_results.txt They should be easy to visualize, I personally use gnuplot' splot "filename" matrix. To see 32 node, with a single process per node numbers just replace the directory name above with "n32p1". > Sorry for being unclear here. What I wanted to say was that, unrelated to 1.5 > us ping-pong on mpi I have also observed verbs level latency (ib_write_lat) > of around 1 us. And that figure is not affected by any mvapich trickery :-). Good to hear, I'll hailly source if you (or anyone else) is willing to run my benchmark.


text:
- Announcements
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Change page style:
Unstable Releases
v1.13_comm_patch1 : Patch release for v1.13_comm.
Release Date: October 10, 2014
Expires on: TBD
FOR USE ONLY WITH GMOS-S HAMAMATSU CCD DATA (until expiry date).
REQUIRES v1.13_COMM OF THE GEMINI IRAF PACKAGE TO BE INSTALLED.
READ THE INSTRUCTIONS AND NOTES FOR THE v1.13_COMM RELEASE FIRST.
- gemini_v113_COMM_patch1.tar.gz [For both IRAF 2.14 and 2.16 users]
Quick installation instructions:
- Make sure v1.13_comm is already installed, if not install it (see instructions below)
% cd /path/to/installed/gemini_v113_comm
% tar xvzf /path/to/patch/download/gemini_v113_COMM_patch1.tar.gz
% cd ~/iraf
% cl
ecl> gemini
Check that the correct version is being loaded: v1.13_comm_patch1, October 10, 2014
This patch release of the "commissioning" release of the Gemini IRAF data reduction package is being made available to assist in the reduction of the Hamamatsu data, pending the next stable release of the Gemini IRAF package. In addition, this release is to allow users to provide valuable feedback as to the status of the data reduction package for GMOS-S Hamamatsu data. Please provide any feedback, comments or questions etc., via the Gemini HelpDesk system as described in the notes below for the v113_COMM release.
This patch release includes updated gain and readnoise values for science, bright science and acquisition modes, imaging BPMs (multi-extension and mosaicked) for 1x1 and 2x2 binning, and a few minor bug fixes (some related to handling of Long Program IDs in the MOSTOOLS package). Please read the patch note (gemini_v113_comm_patch1.txt) supplied in the patch for more details. The addition of the imaging BPMs addresses some of the issues seen with gmos.gmosaic when it terminates with an error saying a file is missing.
v1.13_comm : Commissioning release for GMOS-S Hamamatsu CCDs.
Release Date: July 22, 2014
Expires on: TBD
FOR USE ONLY ON GMOS-S HAMAMATSU CCDs DATA. (Until expiry date.)
- gemini_v113_comm_iraf2.14.tar.gz [For IRAF 2.14 users]
- gemini_v113_comm_iraf2.16.tar.gz [For Ureka IRAF 2.16 users]
- gmoss_fix_headers.py [Required]
Quick installation instructions:
% mkdir gemini_v113_comm
% cd gemini_v113_comm
% tar xvzf gemini_v113_comm_iraf
% cd ~/iraf
% vi loginuser.cl
- Add these lines and save:
reset gemini=/your/path/to/gemini_v113_comm/
task gemini.pkg=gemini$gemini.cl
% cd ~/iraf
% cl
ecl> gemini
Check that the correct version is being loaded: v1.13_comm, July 22, 2014
Run the Python script
gmoss_fix_headers.pyon the data you downloaded before doing anything with the data. You will need Python and pyfits or astropy. If you are using Ureka, you are good to go.
% gmoss_fix_headers.py --files="*.fits" --destination=/path/to/fixed_outputs/
This "commissioning" release of the Gemini IRAF data reduction package is being made available to assist in the reduction of the Hamamatsu data.
WARNING: This package is NOT fully vetted, and it is still, like the instrument, being commissioned. Unless you know exactly what you are doing and your program objectives allow it, do NOT use this package to draw scientific- quality measurements.
WARNING: DO NOT USE for anything but GMOS-S Hamamatsu CCD data. If you wish to reduce other types of Gemini data, please use the stable release, v1.12. It can be downloaded as a tar file from our website, or if you are using Ureka (>v1.0), that is the version already packaged in it.
Please read the release note (gemini_v113_comm.txt) included in the package's tar file.
Here is a summary of the known remaining issues.
Step 1 is to run the script "gmoss_fix_headers.py" on the datasets. Some critical header keywords are assigned wrong values. If you do not run this script, the Gemini IRAF package will not work properly.
You will need Python and either the "pyfits" or "astropy" module installed. If you are using Ureka, you already have everything you need.
To run the script:
% gmoss_fix_headers.py --files="*.fits" --destination=/path/to/fixed_outputs/
Gains and full well:
The values used in the package are not the final values but they should be very close to the them.
Read noise:
The values used in the package for read noise are from lab measurements, before the CCDs went on sky.
Bad Pixel Masks (BPMs):
The BPMs are NOT available at this time for the GMOS-S Hamamatsu data.
Quantum Efficiency (QE):
The coefficients to correct for variations in QE with wavelength and across the chips have NOT been calculated yet. QE correction is effectively NOT AVAILABLE at this time.
The default values for the overscan fitting and correction are NOT ADEQUATE. You will have to fit the overscan section in INTERACTIVE mode (fl_inter, inter, or ovs_flinter, parameter depending on the task), or inspect the overscan section ahead of time to find the appropriate fit parameters. See the release note (gemini_v113_comm.txt) for a list of the parameters related to overscan fitting.
We are working on finding the best defaults to avoid having you do all this work, but that investigation is not completed yet.
Example scripts:
The examples in the Gemini IRAF package should work fine with the new data. The reduction steps are the same as with the old data. BUT DO REMEMBER to run the "gmoss_fix_headers.py" script BEFORE you run any IRAF script. (The examples are located in gmos$doc/ and can be accessed with the "gmosexamples" task.)
Getting Help:
To get help with this commissioning package, please file a HelpDesk ticket under the "Gemini IRAF" category and request that the ticket be elevated to Tier 2 (Gemini staff) right away. This will ensure that the request gets to our developers. The Tier 1 NGOs are not currently in a position to help you with this commissioning data reduction package.
On behalf of the Data Processing Software Group, good luck! and please do let us know how the package behaves. Remember, this is still under development and we are providing the software early to help with your with quick-look assessment of your data. A beta and/or stable release will be issued in a few weeks.


text:
Thanks Steve, but I was looking for a link to the new BootLoader from ButterFly/AVR Develpment team. They also wrote a new one.
But thank you anyhow for your help.
Thanks Steve, but I was looking for a link to the new BootLoader from ButterFly/AVR Develpment team. They also wrote a new one.
But thank you anyhow for your help.
Okay, sorry. I will look around. I remember seeing the announcement from Atmel.
How about the 13th post down from the top of the ninth page of this thread. Sorry, I don't know how to do the hyperlink (or whatever it is called) thingie. If that doesn't work try a search on member "eieland" (without the quotes). He/she only has 13 posts so it shouldn't be but so hard to find that post.
Okay, thanks Steve, I Just downloaded it.
That would be back on the previous page, page 9. Have a look near the very bottom for the post.
- Dean :twisted:
... or, at the excellent Smiley's Butterfly 0x940C error summing-up, here: https://www.avrfreaks.net/index.p...
Dear RetroDan, the latest release is the "ButterflyBoot v1.1L.hex", which has the Lock-bits writing feature enabled.
There have not been any misbehaviour reports yet...
Okay, I have ButterFly locked up again!
Please, no Flames this time!
I'm trying to be helpful...read on.
I'm either the owner of some very "touchy" BFs or my setup here is problematic. The DB9-DB9 cable I am using is rather long and looks fairly thin so I don't think there's much sheilding. I have four computers side-by-side and at times the monitors interfere with each other, so there's a lot of EMF. I also have Flourescent Lights which make some circuits go crazy. So to put a fine-point in it -- I glow in the dark.
This seems to point to the possibility that garbled xmission of data is probably the main culprit. I get a lot of BF lock-outs.
I don't know much about fuses and locks yet, but as promissed I am going to enter the data as read from a "locked" ButterFly using Dean's excellent ButtLoad program loaded into another ButterFly. (I have not setup my STK500 yet).
I hope you find this information useful and would appreciate feed-back
Entering programming mode... OK!
Reading fuses... 0xFF, 0X98, 0xE2... OK!
Leaving programming mode... OK!
LOCKBITS: (These are the ones shown with a check-mark)
[v] Mode 1: No Memory Lock Featured Enabled
[v] Application Protection Mode 3: LPM & SPM prohibited in app sec
[v] Boot Loader Protection Mode 1: No lock on SPM and LPM in Boot Loader
(No other Lockbits show checkmarks)
[v] Brown-out detection disabled
[v] JTAG Interface Enabled (JTAGEN=0)
[v] Boot Flash section size=1024 words @ $1C00
[v] Boot Reset vector Enabled (def addr=$0000)
[v] Int RC Osc; Start Time 6 CK + 65 ms
** In Addition Fuse Marked "Serial Program Downloading (SPI) enabled (SPIEN=0)
is filled-in with grey color and a RED Question mark[?}
(No other Fuses appear to be checked-off)
Which are the problematic Fuses/LockBits?
I would imagine:
[v] Application Protection Mode 3: LPM & SPM prohibited in app sec
That's stopping the bootloader from writing new data to the application flash space. When you unlock the Butterfly, can you follow the sequence I posted earlier, loading in the bootloader into ButtLoad's storage and then reprogramming the locked butterfly via that? I'd be interested to see if it works...
- Dean :twisted:
PS: ISP fuse is disabled (gray box) because you cannot use the ISP interface to disable itself for safety reasons.
Okay what I did was restore the locked ButterFly to the original program that was shipped with these units when new, then went into AVRISP and read the Fuses and LockBits and the only difference appears to be with the LockBit:
[v] Application Prot Mode 1: No Lock on SPM....
So it would appear that this LockBit took the Functioning ButterFly from App Protection Mode 1 to App Protection Mode 3.
Is that inline with everyone's assumptions?
I'm to "burn" GeoLoad Version 1.1(L) from Giorgos Next and test it.
Okay Giorgos. The ButterFly locked up after just a few attempts.
I seem to have the "perfect" setup for making these things fail.
I just re-read the setting with AVRISP and the only change again appears to be
the change in LOCKBITS from Mode 1 (No Lock) to Mode 3 (LPM & SPM prohib...)
I hope you find this info useful. Is there anything else I can do to help you nail-down the problem?
I also noticed that it had "problems" starting my little program.
Is there a difference in the start-up sequence between GeoLoad and Original Software BootLoader? I'll try to describe... with original SW after I loaded my program I hit nailed RESET pin and press Joystick and my program starts no problem.
With the GeoLoad V11(L)I would have to RESET CHIP several times and press Joystick up before I could get program to start up.
Please understand that I am in no way complaining at this point, I'm only trying to be helpful. If you would prefer we could take this to private mail(?)
Dean I am trying to locate those instructions.
Also, is there anything else I can do before I restore this locked BF?
If all I'm using is the PC Serial/DB9 and the UART set-up as described in the ButterFly Documention using "AVR Prog" there is no way that any of these BootLoaders should allow me to change any of the fuses or lock-bits, on my own correct?
Hi RetroDan. I was going to ask you what bootloader did your Butterfly have, during the lock-up, but you have already answered this to me!
Of course I use a different approach! Let me look at this, though I have not received yet my Butterfly unit, to experiment on the real hardware. Until then, you can use the failsafe "ButterflyBoot v1.1.hex" firmware, that does not have the Lock-bits writing feature enabled.
I guess that we should continue the debugging at the dedicated enhanced Butterfly bootloader thread: https://www.avrfreaks.net/index.p...
Thanks for the feedback,
If it is any help what I did was dump the contents of "Locked" ButterFly which has your GeoLoad v1.1L and my little program to a Hex file (45K) would that be any help to anyone? Can you re-load it and disassemble it to see what the problem might be?
You say the previous GeoLoad V1.1 has the writing feature totally disabled? Okay I'll try that one next.
If the FLASH-dump has been generated using the bootloader, it is useless bacause a locked FLASH will report pseudo-random memory contents.
The dump was done using Dean's ButtLoad acting as an AVRISP device connected to the problem ButterFly. Would that HEX dump be of any use?
If not, can I unlock something to get a better HEX Dump?
Have you used an ISP programmer to load the older version of the bootloader from: http://www.siwawi.arubi.uni-kl.d...
And, if you did load that bootloader did the failure give you the 0x940c in the error message?
Older BootLoader? No Sorry, let me explain...
When this problem first appeared and I was down to my last functioning (and unused)
Butterfly I used the SAVE PROGRAM feature inside AVR Prog and dumped it's contents to a HEX file then went out on the Internet on my wild escapade looking for a solution; which after a few days led me here. I did NOT want to screw-up my last remaining BF.
So after getting Dean's ButtLoad program into the "Virginal" ButterFly (as that was the only one I could still program) he was kind enough to walk me through the procedure of reprogramming the "Locked" BFs by using the AVRISP feature of his software.
Since that time, whenever a BF "Locked" I would grab this "Extra" BF with ButtLoad on it and quickly re-program it using the HEX dump from the Virgin BF. I did NOT switch to the older BootLoader.
Now that there are 2 more BootLoaders: Giorgos' ASM version and the "Official" new version from AVR -and- since I seem to some "quirk" in my setup here that seems to be able to force these things to fail on a regular basis, perhaps it's an excellent way to test-out these new versions.
I'm trying Giorgos' GeoLoad 1.1 version at the moment. If it lasts more than a day, then I would declare it a success as even on the best of days, I seem to be able to get a failure within a few hours and sometime after just 2 or 3 "burns."
I hope this information is useful and if anyone thinks it will spark another flamewar, I'd be glad to move to private mail.
Just a small point but you also have an STK500 don't you? Rather than trying to juggle the Butterflys wouldn't it just be easier to ISP all three back to default (but maybe with Giorgos' new bootloader) using the STK500 ?
I would appreciate it if you could get the old bootloader from: http://www.siwawi.arubi.uni-kl.d... and download it to your failing Butterfly using Dean's ButtLoad and see if that older bootloader is also failing. The reason I ask is that this is the way I've been recommending that folks fix their 0x940c problem and it was the basis for Atmel's decision to change the bootloader on the next batch of Butterflies. If you do have a case where this fix doesn't work, then we need to know if your situation is a special case or if we haven't actually solved the problem. I suspect that yours is a special case since I've put the old bootloader on a number of Butterflies and not had the 0x940c problem return.
Also, in these more recent failures you've experienced, did you get the 0x940c error?
Cliff, been so busy playing around with ButterFlies (they really are cool!) that I just have not got around to setting the STK500 up, but I will.
Smiley, Okay now I understand. Good thinking. I seem to have an unusual situation here so lets make the best of it.
BTW - I have just had a version of Giorgos' GeoLoad 1.1 FAIL on me.
The error is 0x6246 instead of the 0x940c
Just for the sake of clarity, that means that BOTH the Giorgos' BootLoaders have failed.
The 1.1 version AND the 1.1(L) version.
I will next try following the above link and try the older version of the BF/BL next.
Smiley, I need help.... I see three BootLoaders at that link.
1) ABR ButterFly BootLoader - Code port to avr-gcc
2) AVRPROG (AVR910) compatible BootLoader
3) BootLoader compatible with STK500
Geez, there's all sorts of version at that link.
I really want to help if I can. How about you UPLOAD the exact version you want me to test as a HEX file right here and now(?)
That way if it fails there will be no confusion about which one I was actually using.
Sound good?
He it is.
If AVRFreaks is still having the download naming problem it may appear as index.php, just rename it bfboot.zip and opent it.
Okay I just DL'd it.
I have been using the NEW Official BootLoader from AVR and I have been unable to make it "Lock-Up."
I will switch to this "Smiley" Version right now.
BTW - DL Files are renamed index.
If the new version works, then we have our solution, no need for further tests.
Oh Geez, thanks, after I just switched....
Okay, I will revert to the NEWEST version of the OFFICIAL BootLoader.
And continue testing that one.
BTW - So far neither the "Smiley Version" or the Newest Version have failed yet.
Hello guys,
I just ordered my BF today from digikey, I will take some time to see if I can have the same problem as RetroDan... Also I was thinking about an application similar to the ButtLoad, but instead of using the serial com, I was thinking using I2C. We'll see.
This thread is marvellous.!!! I really like it.. I have been learning alot form just this one... :wink:
I forgot to mention that I also ordered the BF carrier... seem to be a handy tool... do you think that I should order another BF, in case that fail?.. well I also ordered the STK500 so I guess would fix the lock-up problem, if it appears!
Just my personal opinion... I think for the price you'll probably wish you'd ordered two ButterFlies.
To use an old Retail Term "One to show and one to Go!"
Or if you're more a computer hacker "Always have a Backup!"
If something's not working, you can always determine
if it's a hardware problem by switching one-for-the-other.
Just a thought, for the price of a few burgers.
I'm delighted to see that this thread has inspired you. My fear was that it would scare people off.
As far as extra Butterflies, I personally do all my development with at least one Known-Good-System (KGS) sitting next to my System Under Development (SUD). Then if I come to a real puzzler, I can revert to the SUD which with Butterflies this is especially good in isolating a problem to the PC or the cable or the Butterfly. If something still works on the KGS but not on the SUD then I've put a fence around the problem (usually).
The real trick is getting the KGS working first. Some folks have had a regular nightmare getting started with the Butterfly in that you have so many things that can go wrong. Is it Brays terminal set up wrong?
Is it an odd RS-232 cable?
Is it the way you've soldered the DB-9 connector to the Butterfly?
Is it the Butterfly hardware? Is it the Butterfly software?
Are you just cursed and need to get a job at McDonalds?
It seems 99% of the folks get the Butterfly going right off, and the other 1% just get driven nuts by something that turns out to be very simple (like forgetting to check the CRLF box on Brays). Of course some of those 1% start off nuts, which may explain a few of the problems I've seen.
Also the Butterfly Carrier is an excellent way to make the Butterfly more robust and easier to expand. I use it in several professional development projects.
Good Luck,
I agree, to get going the first time can be a struggle unless you just happen to luck into
getting everything perfect the first time. And there a few gotcha's like me pressing, but NOT holding down the joystick button in centre position to get AVR prog to see the device.
Musta' made 1/2 dozen cables before I figured it out. But then again...
*** Of all the things I've lost.... I miss my MIND the most! ***
Dan, the sequence is:
1) Start ButtLoad
2) Enter STORAGE MODE instead of AVRISP MODE
3) Program in the bootloader of your choice into STORAGE MODE. The Butterfly does *not* have to be connected to the target at this time.
4) Exit STORAGE MODE, connect ButtLoad to the target. Enter PROGRAM AVR mode.
5) Select DATA ONLY from the list. You should see "PRG>D" shown on the display briefly before a sucess message.
You can use STORAGE MODE just as it was the target (including fuses, EEPROM and lockbytes), and then download them to the actual chip at a later date via PROGRAM AVR. I've never tried it with a bootloader before, so i'm interested to see if it works.
- Dean :twisted:
Hello guys,
I just ordered my BF today from digikey, I will take some time to see if I can have the same problem as RetroDan... Also I was thinking about an application similar to the ButtLoad, but instead of using the serial com, I was thinking using I2C. We'll see.
This thread is marvellous.!!! I really like it.. I have been learning alot form just this one... :wink:
You mean I2C data in, serial data out? I could add in that to ButtLoad, but I currently have the restriction of codespace - any more code and i'll start encroaching onto the bootloader's space and thus prevent those with bootloaders from running my code. I was actually thinking about removing Direct Dataflash support from ButtLoad to free up space, since that feature will probably never be used and can be replicated via the AVRISP mode's SPI COMMAND feature and clever computer software anyway.
- Dean :twisted:
Here what I tried Dean.
I connected ButterFly with ButtLoad to PC via serial DB9.
I disconnected the 2nd ButterFly.
I then I downloaded various BootLoaders into the ButtLoad BF's memory.
The I disconnected the ButtLoader from the PC and connected it to 2nd
BF via ISP port.
Not knowing what I was doing, most of the time I think I selected ERASE before
I tried to reprogram problem BF, because most of the options said things like Data ONLY and EEPROM only and the problem is with the Fuses/LockBits(?)
Anyhow all I ever got was Sync-Errors. So as of right now I can't say one way or the other if it works. Seems strange that same connections will allow me to reprogram problem BF from AVR Prog but not from ButtLoad. I do intent to try again after I get feed-back from you on procedure. You say I only use the Data Only Option without Erasing
Anyhow, I can say with a fair amount of certainty that the new "Official" bootload from AVR seems to be extremely well behaved. I have not had a single problem in about 60 burns so far today and the failure rate prior that was about 1/10 to 1/20 burns.
So I hope that are shipping new BFs with this new version.
The storage mode, being unique to ButtLoad, seems a little temperemental. I've found that in any cases cycling the power to both the target and ButtLoad will clear up the sync error but I havn't had time to track down the problem in-depth. I'll be leaving for a two week holiday to China with my family on Tuesday, and so will be unavaliable during that time.
Yes, DATA ONLY is all you need, as it performs an erase automatically. DATA ONLY programs the target with the program data stored in ButtLoad's memory, EEPROM ONLY programs just the EEPROM stored in memory, and the LOCK and FUSE settings program in the respective stored lock and fuse settings from ButtLoad's memory.
See if the power cycling fixes the problem. If not, i'll see if I can set some time aside today to check it out on my end and see if I can see what's causing the sync errors in some cases.
- Dean :twisted:
Okay will do!
Next time I try I will make sure both ButterFlies have been Freshly Reset and I will just use the Program Data Only Option.
Perahap, to make your program more robust, just skip the error checking and just go ahead with the "burn" anyway. I don't imagine it will harm anything will it? That might save you some valuable programming space and if it fails to burn another chip the guy is going to check his cables, etc anyway.
Just a thought.
Enjoy your trip!
PS. Still no problems with new AVR ButterFly BootLoad.
What I was thinking is to design a "mini"-buttload with the capabilities similar to ButtLoad "STORAGE MODE", so the user will store the firmware into the dataflash(using AvrStudio), then the user will carry the BF to a given location, and use the "ISP MODE" to change the firmware of the failing product, but the "ISP MODE" that I will use is using the I2C protocol instead of the SPI protocol... obviously this implies that the "product" needs to have a bootloader that understand I2C...
Well, I am still brain storming this idea... thanks for the inspiration.
Hi. Don't miss the latest "ButterflyBoot v1.2.hex" enhanced Butterfly bootloader firmware release.
With power management (down to 40% of the power consumption of the Rev1.1 and the official ATMEL's firmwares) and an improved programming engine, that probably eliminates the 0x940C bug.
Get it here: https://www.avrfreaks.net/index.p...
Can anyone Confirm if the new ButterFlies are being shipped with the new Bootload software?
BTW - what are they going to do (if anything) about the ones sitting on suppler shelves?
CAN WE PLEASE LET THIS THREAD DIE AND DO ALL FURTHER POSTS ON THE 0x040c ISSUE WHERE IT CAN DO SOME GOOD?
PLEASE PUT FUTURE 0x940c ERROR POSTS ON:


text:
Reset everything:
echo | tee set_*
echo 0 | tee tracing_enabled tracing_max_latency
Trace fsyncs:
trace-cmd record -g '*fsync*' -p function_graph -s 10000 -b 10000
Makes a nice small log only of the fsyncs on your system. Good to check what's waking up your hard disk. The low frequency (-s) effects your system less and the large buffer (-b) makes sure no tracing data is lost.
Trace somemodule:
echo '*somemodulename*' > set_ftrace_filter
e.g. echo '*ext4*' > set_ftrace_filter
or echo :mod:e1000e > set_ftrace_filter
Switch tracing on/off when a certain function is called:
echo bad_inode_create:traceoff > set_ftrace_filter
Check IRQ Latencies:
echo do_IRQ > set_ftrace_filter
echo function_graph > current_tracer
echo 1 > events/irq/irq_handler_entry/enable
Check for code areas where IRQs are disabled
echo irqsoff > current_tracer
Trance a certain function, e.g. sys_read:
echo sys_read > set_graph_function
Enable events:
echo 1 > events/enable -> all echo
or echo 1 > events/sched/enable -> just some,
sched > set_event -> the same command
"available_events shows what events are available"
Further Filtering on an by event basis:
echo "prev_state == 0" > events/sched/sched_switch/filter
Stack Tracing:
echo 1 > /proc/sys/kernel/stack_tracer_enabled
cat stack_trace
Don't trace locks:
echo '*lock*' > set_ftrace_notrace
Ftrace on oops:
echo 1 > /proc/sys/kernel/ftrace_dump_on_oops
sysrq-z -> get the dump
Trace a command:
trace-cmd record -o fgraph-events.dat -e sched -p function_graph \
ls -ltr /usr > /dev/null
"-f : filter
-O : option
-g : same as echoing into set_graph_function
-l : same as echoing into set_ftrace_filter
-n : same as echoing into set_ftrace_notrace"
Trace via network:
trace-cmd listen -p 5678 -d
trace-cmd record -N host:5678 -e all
Disable all tracing:
trace-cmd reset
And if that's all unclear or not enough, try to catch one of Steve's presentations and check his slides.
And if you wonder why in his slides he likes to use 'cat | head' instead of just 'head', here's his answer to that: Most of these tools are not efficient with non-linear reads. So cat is slower to type, but works faster as it forces a linear read.
And feel free to post your favorites!


text:
Light, Book, Medium and Bold, each in Roman and Italic.
For prices, use the menu above to choose the kind of license you need.
Gotham 1 & 2, together at a $69.00 savings. Contains the complete range of weights in Gotham's regular width: sixteen styles from Thin to Ultra, each in roman and italic, and featuring tabular figures, fractions, and symbols.
Try adding fewer fonts, fewer styles, or configuring the fonts with fewer features.


text:
"Shallow content" provides little value to users and offers low utility based on the intent of the query. However, technically this type of content is not considered spam by Google because it does not violate Google Webmaster Guidelines. Google provides information about creating websites and thin content but, thus far has provided little if any official documentation about shallow content. Until recently, shallow content fell between teams internally at Google. In order to address the influx of shallow content that resulted from Google Caffeine, Google launched "Panda." Google Panda is a holistic approach for addressing site quality at scale algorithmically. The quality signals used by Google Panda were derived from answers to questions about site quality. According to Google, these questions were created by a Google Engineer whose last name is Panda and answered by Google's little known Evaluation team. While there is no way of knowing how Google Evaluators answered Panda's questions, those with an in depth understanding of related research have a pretty good idea.
In order for answers to Panda's questions to be incorporated by Google as algorithmic quality signals and used for rankings, Google would first need to tie these answers to specific site elements and/or data. Since any algorithm can be gamed, Google is not going to talk about specific element or data signals used for rankings. With that being the case, Google designs algorithms to scale with present data as opposed to possible data. According to Google, by doing so, they are able to draw reliable inferences from actual evidence in data. In fact, Google could draw signals from a wide variety of present data sources both on-site and off. In addition, Google could combine present data to draw inferences about data not present. This data could be weighed differently depending on the type of site, query, location, presence of other signals as well as any number of countless other data variables. As a result of the level of complexity involved, "algorithm chasing" could prove quite difficult in the future.
Improving site quality from the user's perspective is the best way for sites negatively impacted by Google Panda to recover. According to Google, "high quality content is content that you can send to your child to learn something." By raising standards for producers and driving progress in terms of content quality, Google Panda will increase the quality expectations of users over time. In order to successfully acquire and convert traffic from organic search channels moving forward, marketers, webmasters and site owners will need to understand, employ and embrace best practices for developing quality content. With that in mind, a number of web professionals clearly still do not understand the meaning of "quality content." The purpose of this post is to help those individuals who are not quality or search experts to increase their level of knowledge in these areas.
The examples of Panda's questions published by Google focus on quality, authority, credibility and trust. Fortunately when it comes to content evaluation, authority, site credibility and trust, there is no shortage of research available. I've been researching these topics for years and can say that Panda's questions closely align, as they should, with published research in related areas. For example, the standard used by librarians to evaluate content quality was developed by William Katz and the dimensions for assessing authority was developed by Peter Wilson. In addition to quality evaluation and authority, other Panda questions focus on trust and credibility. These questions align with research by BJ Fogg. In addition to evaluation, authority, trust and credibility, quality content also possesses certain technical characteristics according to Google and W3C. I'll touch on just a few of these topics below and try to tie them together into specific actionable items for improving quality.
Content Authority:
Author identification is the first step in terms of determining authorship and in turn authority. In order for an author to be perceived by users as an authority on a specific topic, users must first be able to identify the author's identity and then recognize the author's expert qualifications.
Types of Authority:
- Personal authority - author
- Institutional authority - publisher
- Textual authority - document
- Intrinsic plausibility authority - text
When authors provide certain qualifications related to a specific topic, users may perceive the author as an authoritative source of information on a specific topic. That "Authority" increases the perceived value of content in the minds of users. Authority is also used by search engines in a wide variety of ways and on a number of levels. In fact, Google recently began displaying author information in search results. According to Google, displaying author information in search results "helps users discover great content." By displaying author information in search results, Google helps users to identify authors and that is the first step in terms of the authoritative content discovery process.
Just like print, authors should provide qualifications related to their specific topical area(s) of expertise. In addition to being recognizable to users, authors should provide this data in a way that is clear to search engines. To accomplish both goals, bloggers for example could create a "bio" page outlining their credentials and qualifications. By including a link to their bio page from each article, blog authors could help to establish perceived authority. In order for Google to key in on these elements and fully associate author information with a page, authors should link their bio page to their Google+ profile page using the appropriate mark up which includes the
rel=author parameter. In order to help fully verify authorship, authors should consider linking from their Google+ citations to their bio page and/or verifying their address via their Google+ profile page.
Institutional authority comes from the reputation of the publisher. In addition to
rel=author, Google also supports the
rel=publisher parameter which confirms a website is the publisher of a Google+ page. Including both parameters in the same page is perfectly fine to do as well, even though doing so may currently result in an error according to Google's Rich Snippet Tool.
Also important to note, the importance of evaluation is based on the perceived significance of negative consequences that could result from having the wrong information. For that reason, providing obvious expert qualifications for medical related content is critical.
Site Credibility:
Authority also goes a long way in terms of establishing credibility. Credible websites have a high percentage of up-time, are easy to use, easy to navigate and have high PageSpeed. They look professional based on the purpose of the site, make verifying content accuracy easy and provide physical contact information. Finally they demonstrate concerns about users and user information. For example they include a privacy policy and provide secure pages when sensitive data is requested. Credibility is the sum of expertise plus trustworthiness according to Fogg. There are four types of credibility and each could be translated into quality signals used by search engines.
Types of Credibility:
- Presumed credibility which is based on beliefs. Brand names or .edu sites could be signals of presumed credibility to search engines.
- Earned credibility is another type of credibility and it is based on previous experiences. Search engines could derive earned credibility quality signals from on-site ratings and reviews as well as third party ratings and reviews about a website, company or product.
- Surface credibility is the third type of credibility and is based on face value. Surface credibility signals could include overall site design, the presence of trust icons and PageSpeed.
- Reputed credibility is another form of credibility. Reputed credibility signals could be derived by search engines from off-site references, citations or inbound links from other websites.
Content Purpose:
It is critical for content to fulfill a unique purpose, otherwise site content may be considered to have no purpose and therefore be considered low quality.
"Certain actions such as cloaking, writing text in such a way that it can be seen by search engines but not by users, or setting up pages/links with the sole purpose of fooling search engines may result in removal from our index."
- Google
Poor quality content purpose signals could include:
- pages with lots of words saying little
- pages with no purpose
- pages whose sole purpose is advertising or affiliate income
- blocking Archive.org
Content Scope:
In terms of scope, the purpose of each page should align with the scope of the website as a whole.
"It's important for webmasters to know that low quality content on part of a site can impact a site's ranking as a whole. For this reason, if you believe you've been impacted by this change you should evaluate all the content on your site and do your best to improve the overall quality of the pages on your domain. Removing low quality pages or moving them to a different domain could help your rankings for the higher quality content."
- Google
Poor quality content scope signals could include:
- pages that don't appear to align with the purpose of other pages
- irrelevant content
- less than extensive information
- duplicate content
- general information
Content Reliability:
Uptime, accessibility and functionality can all be quality indicators.
Poor quality content reliability signals could include:
- site outages
- lack of functionality
- 404 pages that don't return a 404 error
- slow PageSpeed
Content Relevancy:
Content should be relevant to the user's query based on the intent of the query.
"One of the most important steps in improving your site's ranking in Google search results is to ensure that it contains plenty of rich information that includes relevant keywords, used appropriately, that indicate the subject matter of your content."
- Google
Poor quality content relevancy signals could include:
- "CLICK HERE" anchor text
- high impressions with low clickthrough rates (CTR) in Google Webmaster Tools
- high bounce rates
- irrelevant links
- relevant content that is irrelevant based on searcher intent
- targeting on high value keyword terms
Content Recency:
Content should be kept up to date and/or updated frequently depending on the purpose of the website.
"A frequently updated site encourages people to return - as long as your content remains relevant and engaging. A useful post once a week is better than low-quality content published daily. A great idea is to search Google for subjects of interest in your field. If you can't find a good answer, create a blog post about the subject - chances are that other people are searching for the same thing."
- Google
Poor quality content recency signals could include:
- old copyright dates on pages
- lack of byline dates in posts
- lack of modified dates in pages
- lack of support for If-Modified-Since
- software needing updates
- expired content
- out of date XML Sitemaps
- expired product feeds
Content Format:
Visual elements should align with the purpose of a site and not interfere with content. Site design should convey an appropriate level of professionalism and images should be original and high quality based on the purpose of the site. When ads appear, they should not interfere with content or user interaction with content.
"Provide high-quality content on your pages, especially your homepage. This is the single most important thing to do. If your pages contain useful information, their content will attract many visitors and entice webmasters to link to your site. In creating a helpful, information-rich site, write pages that clearly and accurately describe your topic. Think about the words users would type to find your pages and include those words on your site."
Poor quality content format signals could include:
- page layouts with excessive advertisements
- Ad placement in the way of content
- keyword stuffed footers
- duplicate stock photos
- lack of contrast between text and background color
- images without dimensions
- missing ALT attributes
- poor quality code code
- bad TITLE elements
Content Arrangement:
Content should always be presented in an ordered and orderly fashion. Navigational elements should make it clear to users where they are within the site architecture. Sites should include navigational breadcrumbs with delimiters and links that accurately reflect site hierarchy.
"Users know good content when they see it and will likely want to direct other users to it. This could be through blog posts, social media services, email, forums, or other means. Organic or word-of-mouth buzz is what helps build your site's reputation with both users and Google, and it rarely comes without quality content.
- Google
Poor quality content arrangement signals could include:
- breadcrumbs without delimeters
- sites without a clear hierarchy
- image based navigational elements
- sites without an HTML site map for users
- too many links on a single page
- island pages
Content Treatment:
Content should be unique, factual, accurate, objective, use proper spelling and grammar. Both sides of a story should be presented when possible and with as little bias as possible. Unbiased content, reviews and rankings help increase perceptions of trustworthiness. According to Google "70% of Americans look at product reviews before making a purchase" and "the worldwide average for product reviews is a 4.3 out of 5.0."
"We looked at a variety of signals to detect low quality sites. Bear in mind that people searching on Google typically don't want to see shallow or poorly written content, content that's copied from other websites, or information that are just not that useful."
Poor quality content treatment signals could include:
- bias
- poor spelling
- bad grammar
- inaccurate information
- factual errors
Additional Content Quality Resources:
- Google tips for Bloggers
- Library of Congress Business Services
- UNC Content Evaluation
- Introduction to IR
- UCLA Evaluation
- EPA Quality Evaluation
- Baylor Content Evaluation
- W3C Quality tips
- W3C Quality Guidelines
- W3c Quality Tools
- Google Blog Post on Quality Content
- Google Browser Tool
- BJ Fogg Presentation on Credibility
- Google Webmaster Guidelines for Content Quality