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text:
Q: Cifra de vigenere  private static void algoritmo(String input, String chave, Boolean b)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Digite a mensagem: ");
        input = Console.ReadLine();
        Console.WriteLine("Digite a chave: ");
        chave = Console.ReadLine();
        input = input.ToUpper();
        chave = chave.ToUpper();

        if (b)
        {
            // para cada caracter da entrada, com exceção do espaço, converterá para valor ascii
            for (int contaCar = 0; contaCar < input.Length; contaCar++)
            {
                if (input.Equals(" "))
                {
                    output += input;
                }
                else
                {
                    char carTex = (char)input[contaCar];
                    output += carTex;
                }
            }
            Console.WriteLine(output);
            // para cada caracter da chave, com exceção do espaço, converterá para valor ascii
            for (int contaCar = 0; contaCar < chave.Length; contaCar++)
            {
                if (chave.Equals(" "))
                {
                    codeKey += chave;
                }
                else
                {
                    char asciiChave = (char)chave[contaCar];
                    codeKey += asciiChave;
                }
            }
            Console.WriteLine(codeKey);
            // agora que a mensagem está transformada em ascii(output) assim como a chave (codeKey),
            // deverá ocorrer a codificação
            for (int i = 0; i < output.Length; i++)
            {
                for (int j = 0; j < codeKey.Length; j++)
                {
                    code = ((codeKey[j] + output[i]) - 65) % 26;
                }
            }
            Console.Write(code);
            Console.ReadKey();
        }

O objetivo seria fazer com que cada caractere da chave recebesse seu valor ASCII e retornasse como um array pra eu poder fazer algumas operações de soma entre cada valor ASCII de cada caractere. Por exemplo: valores ASCII da palavra "nome": [65, 67, ...] e valores ASCII da chave "cade": [65, 67, ...], assim eu somaria os valores de mesmo índice de array.
Como eu posso fazer para o output e do codeKey sair com os valores ASCII da entrada?

A: Demorou pra eu entender o que o código deveria fazer. Agora gostei da brincadeira  e fiz o que deveria ter sido feito.
Separei a parte de interface do algoritmo, dei nomes melhores para tudo.
Eu falei na pergunta anterior que para o algoritmo não precisava do ToUpper(), usei só na interface por conveniência.
Idealmente deveria ter um método para cifrar e outro para decifrar. Isso eu não arrumei. Tem como aproveitar esse código para decifrar, só muda a fórmula.
Só um laço basta. Na verdade um aninhado no outro não produziria o resultado esperado.
Já filtrei os caracteres que são aceitos e promovi para maiúsculo dentro do laço para ganhar velocidade.
Pesquisei qual era a fórmula correta e apliquei. Não garanto que está feito da melhor maneira, mas isso também é uma pseudo-criptografia.
using static System.Console;

public class Program {
    public static void Main() {
        int escolha = 1;
        while (escolha != 0) {
            WriteLine("ESCOLHA UMA OPÇÃO");
            WriteLine("-----------------");
            WriteLine("1-Encriptar");
            WriteLine("2-Decriptar");
            WriteLine("0-Encerrar");
            WriteLine("-----------------");
            if (!int.TryParse(ReadLine(), out escolha) || escolha < 0 || escolha > 2) {
                WriteLine("Opção inválida");
                continue;
            }
            if (escolha != 0) {
                WriteLine("Digite a mensagem: ");
                var mensagem = ReadLine();
                WriteLine("Digite a chave: ");
                var chave = ReadLine();
                WriteLine(mensagem.ToUpper());
                WriteLine(chave.ToUpper());
                WriteLine(CifraVigenere(mensagem, chave, escolha == 1));
            }
        }
    }
    private static string CifraVigenere(string mensagem, string chave, bool flag) {
        if (flag) {
            var codigo = "";
            for (int i = 0, j = 0; i < mensagem.Length; i++, j++) {
                char c = char.ToUpper(mensagem[i]);
                if (c < 'A' || c > 'Z') continue;
                codigo += (char)((c + char.ToUpper(chave[j % chave.Length]) - 2 * 'A') % 26 + 'A');
            }
            return codigo;
        }
        return ""; //até criar o decript
    }
}

Veja funcionando no ideone. E no .NET Fiddle. Também coloquei no GitHub para referência futura.

A: Cabeçalhos private void Decifra(string cifra, string chave)
 private void Decifra(string cifra, string chave){
            var mensagem = "";
            for (int i = 0 ; i < cifra.Length; i++)
            {
                char c = char.ToUpper(cifra[i]);
                if (c < 'A' || c > 'Z')
                {
                    continue;
                }
            char cha = char.ToUpper(chave[i % chave.Length]);
                mensagem += (char)((26-(cha%65-c%65))%26+65);
            }
        c.Text = mensagem;

    }

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Paper Menu >>
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International Journal of Geosciences, 2011, 2, 195-203
doi:10.4236/ijg.2011.23021 Published Online August 2011 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ijg)
Copyright © 2011 SciRes. IJG
Web-Based Spatial Decision Support System and
Watershed Management with a Case Study
Yanli Zhang1, Ramanathan Sugumaran2, Matthew McBroom1, John DeGroote2,
Rebecca L. Kauten3 Paul K. Barten4
1Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, USA
2Department of Ge ography, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, USA
3Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources, Des Moines, USA
4Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA
E-mail: zhangy2@sfasu.edu
Received May 7, 2011; revised June 12, 2011; accepted July 21, 2011
In order to maintain a proper balance between development pressure and water resources protection, and also
to improve public participation, efficient tools and techniques for soil and water conservation projects are
needed. This paper describes the development and application of a web-based watershed management spatial
decision support system, WebWMPI. The WebWMPI uses the Watershed Management Priority Indices
(WMPI) approach which is a prioritizing method for watershed management planning and it integrates land
use/cover, hydrological data, soils, slope, roads, and other spatial data. The land is divided into three catego-
ries: Conservation Priority Index (CPI) land, Restoration Priority Index (RPI) land, and Stormwater Man-
agement Priority Index (SMPI) land. Within each category, spatial factors are rated based on their influence
on water resources and critical areas can be identified for soil conservation, water quality protection and im-
provement. The WebWMPI has user-friendly client side graphical interfaces which enable the public to in-
teractively run the server side Geographic Information System to evaluate different scenarios for watershed
planning and management. The system was applied for Dry Run Creek watershed (Cedar Falls, Iowa, US) as
a demonstration and it can be easily used in other watersheds to prioritize crucial areas and to increase public
participation for soil and water conservation projects.
Keywords: Web-Based SDSS, Watershed Management, GIS
It is well understood that clean water is one of the essen-
tial elements of sustainable development. The watershed
is the natural water resources un it widely recognized as a
fundamental geographic unit for measuring and analyz-
ing the relative health or co ndition of th e landscap e [1 ,2].
However watershed degradation is a common phenome-
non around the world that directly results in poor water
quality. For example, the state of Iowa assessed streams
whose designated uses are water supply, recreation,
wildlife, and aquatic life harv esting in the years 2000 and
2001. It was reported that 34% of them were threatened
and 38% were impaired, which means any one of its as-
sessed uses was not met. For assessed ponds, 64% were
threatened and 33% were impaired [3]. At a national
level, in the Water Quality Inventory, USEPA [2] re-
ported that about 40% of assessed river and stream
lengths, 46% of assessed lake areas, 51% of assessed
estuarine areas, and 78% of assessed Great Lakes shore-
line lengths did not meet water quality standards.
Watersheds are also important from an ecological per-
spective. As water flows over the ground and along riv-
ers, it can pick up nutrients, sediment, and other pollut-
ants, which are transported to the outlet of the basin.
These pollutants can negatively impact ecological proc-
esses within the watershed, as well as the receiving water
body. Hence, scientific watershed management is critical
to protecting water resources and ecosystems.
Watersheds are characterized by meteorological, sur-
face water and groundwater, as well as physical and bio-
logical factors functioning within the context of natural
and human disturbance regimes. The flow, quality, or
timing of water within a watershed is influenced by these
Y. ZHANG ET AL.
factors [4]. Watershed management decision-making is
inherently complex because it integrates biophysical
sciences, socioeconomic information, simulation models,
and expert judgment. Decision makers can benefit from
scientific and user friendly decision support systems
(DSS) that allow them to better understand and evaluate
alternative management approaches.
2. Decision Support System and Application
Decision support systems (DSS) are a specific class of
computerized information systems that support deci-
sion-making activities. In general, DSS are interactive
computer-based systems and subsystems intended to
assist decision makers' use of communication technolo-
gies, data, documents, knowledge and/or models to iden-
tify and solve problems and make decisions [5]. A DSS
should help with formulating alternatives, accessing data,
using models to evaluate alternatives, displaying, and
interpreting results [6]. Th ere is a wide range of spatially
distributed information on characteristics of watersheds,
such as soil, land use/cover, topogr aphy, strea ms, zoning,
etc. For this reason, DSS used in watershed management
are correspondingly classified as spatial decision support
systems (SDSS). The Geographic Information System
(GIS) is considered a generator for SDSS [7] because of
its power and efficient functions to store, retrieve, ana-
lyze, manipulate, and display large volumes of spatial
digital data and to create maps. In the last 20 years, gov-
ernment agencies, academic institutions, and consulting
firms have developed many SDSS for watershed man-
agement that utilize GIS for modeling watershed proc-
esses, data management, and other purposes. These
SDSS, such as WAMview [8], WARMF [9], WAWER
[10], and SWAT [11] are good references for future DSS
Watershed management requires cooperation between
federal, state, and local stakeholders to integrate bio-
physical and socioeconomic processes [12]. In a recent
national random digit dial survey, the vast majority (83%)
of participants said that the public should play a more
prominent role in environmental management from
serving on advisory boards to actually making manage-
ment decisions [13]. Public participation in the forest
planning process, especially in small groups, can help
reduce the number of appeals and can help managers in
identifying the concerns of local residents early in the
forest planning process [14]. A bottom-up approach that
involves stakeholders at the beginning of a planning
process with a SDSS could be more efficient. Barten and
Ernst [15] pointed out that watershed management re-
quires the sustained involvement of a broad set of stake-
holders. People and organizations that are actively in-
volved in the process from the ou tset are more willing to
make a substantial commitment of time and resources to
ensure successful implementation of water quality im-
provement plans. However, many SDSS require expen-
sive and complex GIS software whose use requires spe-
cialized professional knowledge by well trained staff.
Thus, the sophisticated nature of GIS-based SDSS often
excludes many potential stakeholders or the public who
would otherwise benefit from them. Fortunately, due to
the rapid development of distributed computing tech-
nologies and high speed Internet, available GIS software
products already enable people to share not only spatial
datasets but also advanced geoprocessing functions
across the Internet. In other words, GIS software can
now be centralized in application servers and web serv-
ers to deliver GIS capabilities to many users over net-
works. Correspondingly, SDSS is moving to a new
web-based version era and there are many articles and
books relating the development of Web-based SDSS
since year 2000 [16-19]. When compared to traditional
computer based SDSS, web-based SDSS have many ad-
vantages. According to Power [5], Paz et al. [6], Miller
et al. [12], Peng and Tsou [16], Rinner [17], Sugumaran
et al. [18], Wang and Cheng [19], Dymond et al. [20],
and Choi et al. [21], these advantages include:
1) Centralized control over model and data, which
means lower costs for hardware, software, distribution,
maintenance, and training, as well as greater efficiency
in model improvement and data update, especially for
models using real time info rmation , such as water qua lity
monitoring;
2) Global and easy accessibility, which means users do
not need professional GIS knowledge, training, or ex-
pensive and complex hardware/software;
3) Platform independence.
These advantages allow and encourage stakeholders
and the public to access and participate in the planning
and decision-making process, which can impact the qual-
ity of their lives. Additionally, interactive, web-based
SDSS can:
1) Greatly improve communication and coordination
between and among decision makers, stakeholders, and
the public. Any potential problems or conflict can be
found at the earliest stage;
2) Be easily transferred to and implemented for other
watersheds;
3) Play a demonstration and educational role to the
public in environmental conservation, modeling science,
GIS, and other areas;
4) Improve public awareness of the existence of spa-
tial digital data and scien tific models.
Recognizing these advantages, a number of web-based
models have been developed to support watershed man-
Y. ZHANG ET AL.197
agement. These models vary in focus areas and complex-
ity. Sugumaran et al. [22] built a Web-based Floodplain
Advisory Tool (WFAT) to visualize and retrieve data to
support floodplain management in St. Charles County,
Missouri. Utilizing remote sensing and GIS data, a user
could query and display different flood plain related data
layers and determine the elevation of a land parcel and
its location with regards to the Federal Emergency Man-
agement Agency (FEMA) 100-year flood plain. Engel et
al. [23] used L-THIA (Long-term Hydrologic Impact
Assessment) web DSS to evaluate how land use changes
impact long term hydrology and nonpoint source (NPS)
pollution in a watershed. The L-THIA used the National
Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) curve number
technique. To assess the potential effectiveness of best
management practices (BMP), Miller et al. (2003) de-
veloped a prototype spatial web-DSS for rangeland wa-
tershed management which integrated water quality,
livestock management, and economic concerns. Sugu-
maran et al. [18] designed a web-based environmental
DSS (WEDSS) to prioritize local subwatersheds in terms
of environmental sensitivity using multiple criteria.
WebL2W is a model that predicts hydrologic and eco-
nomic effects and fish habitat quality based on user de-
fined land use development s cenarios [20].
Overall, the rapid development of internet and GIS
provide an opportunity to integrate state-of-the-art tech-
nology with new modeling systems to create online deci-
sion support tools for decision makers. This study de-
scribes the development of a Web-based SDSS, Web-
WMPI, which is based on the Watershed Management
Priority Indices (WMPI) approach [15]. The WebWMPI
provides tools for prioritizing and ranking critical areas
within a watershed that influence water resources, as-
sisting decision makers and other stakeholders to under-
stand their watershed, and for investigating measures to
protect water quality and quantity.
3. Watershed Management Priority Indices
Nonpoint source pollution from agriculture and urban
and suburban development accounts for more than 60%
of the impairment in U.S. waterways, including many
drinking water sources [24]. Nonpoint source pollution is
the cumulative effect of poor land use and natural re-
source management. Bhaduri et al. [25] found that an
18% increase in urban or impervious areas resulted in an
estimated 80% increase in annual av erage runoff volume
and estimated increases of more than 50% in annual av-
erage loads for lead, copper, and zinc in the Little Eagle
Creek watershed (Indianapolis, IN). At present, under
prevailing development pressure, more and more people
are aware of the necessity for water conservation. Also,
land conservation and pollution prevention have proven
to be cost effective strategies [26]. Nevertheless, water
conservation, or watershed protection can be a vague and
limitless task. Where and how to start watershed man-
agement in order to have the maximum environmental
benefits are common questions raised by foresters, plan-
ners, environmental protection organizations, and com-
munities. A practical and efficient watershed analysis
tool is needed to help people answer these questions.
There are many reasons for environmental degradation
of watersheds, but the most important reason is the im-
proper utilization of watershed resources, among which
land use allocation and practices are the key issues be-
cause water is naturally accumulated from the land sur-
face. For the purpose of conserving water resources, the
landscape features that significantly influence water re-
sources include forestland s, wetlands, natural grasslands,
steep slopes, riparian area, and land with erodable soils.
However, these landscape properties are spatially dis-
tributed and intermixed with each other. How to effec-
tively combine, analyze, and interpret information on
these landscape properties is a challenge and decisions
must be made about where to spend limited resources
and how to best prioritize land parcels or areas for con-
servation, restoration, or other treatments to improve
water quality. The identification of areas that have been
degraded or impaired by human activities as well as
those that favorably influence water quality is the pri-
mary objective of watershed an alysis.
Ian McHarg pioneered the basic concept of overlay
analysis of ecological, hydrological, and other environ-
mental data in 1969 [27-29]. At that time the overlay
work was done with transparent maps. This method has
been widely used in planning, natural resources man-
agement, and other fields. GIS makes it more rigorous
and objective and also makes it possible to undertake
large and more complex projects. From 2001 to 2004,
The United States Environmental Protection Agency
(USEPA) Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water,
the Trust for Public Land (TPL), University of Massa-
chusetts-Amherst, and the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service cooperated in the
Source Water Stewardship Project. Our team developed
a new GIS analysis approach called WMPI (Watershed
Management Priority Indices), which is used to identify
and classify areas and activities that positively or nega-
tively influence source water quality in watersh eds based
on the overlay theory [15]. The procedure uses raster
overlay and creates three indices broadly representing the
principal uses or conditions of land: 1) forests and wet-
lands that positively influence water quality, 2) agricul-
ture and barren land that negatively in fluence water qual-
ity, and 3) residential, commercial, and industrial areas
that need specific management strategies. They are
named the Conservation, Restoration, and Stormwater
management priority indices (CPI, RPI, and SMPI) land,
respectively. Appropriate management activities can be
adopted for each category. For example, forest land with
a high CPI value would be a top candidate for protection
and enhancement measurements to prevent further deg-
radation, such as conservation easement if funds are
available; construction or restoration of riparian forest on
agricultural land and strict BMPs could be used for high
RPI score areas. Similarly for high SMPI value areas,
construction of infiltration systems, bio-cells, or storm
water ponds could be suggestions. Also, WMPI analysis
results can be used with water quality da ta. If heavy met-
als are the primary cause of water quality degradation,
then managers need to work on areas with high SMPI
scores. If nutrients are the main water quality problem,
working on some of the critical RPI areas would help to
reduce agricultural pollutants.
Spatial data needed for the overlay process are avail-
able from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), USDA,
state GIS data clearinghouses, and other agencies. Within
WMPI, the potential influence of each land cell on water
resources is represented by the total score generated by
ranking and combining all the input layers. The detailed
WMPI calculation process has four steps. First, land
use/cover is classified into three categories: CPI, RPI,
and SMPI. Second, each cell of ev ery input GIS layer, or
land property, is assigned a high (3), intermediate (2),
low (1), or not applicable (0) value, based on its influ-
ence on water quality. Using a soil input layer as an ex-
ample, a cell with sandy soils would be assigned a value
of low (1) while another cell with silty soils should have
a value of high (3). Third, each input layer will be multi-
plied by its assigned weight. This allows the user to ad-
just the relative importance of each layer. Finally, all of
the input layers will be spatially overlain or added to
calculate the total score for each cell. Cell values in the
resulting layer reflect all of the input bio-physical prop-
erties. For example, a site which has forest cover, steep
slopes, silty soils, and is located adj acent to a water body,
would receive high scores for conservation in relation to
other sites. By contrast, a level, sandy site, far away from
the stream network would have low scores. This ap-
proach accounts for all of the possible combinations of
soil, land use/cover, and location characteristics and am-
plifies the difference among diverse areas. The default
cell value assignments were based on literature review.
For example, soil data were used to develop a permeabil-
ity profile and depth to seasonal high water table layers
as surrogates for the likelihood of overland flow and
NPS pollutant loading. In the case of riparian areas, the
30-meter proximity to water body corresponds to the
100-foot buffer zone recommended by USDA or man-
dated in some state regulations for riparian management
WMPI approach has been used successfully to evalu-
ate the four watersheds in the Source Water Stewardship
Project (Barten and Ernst 2004). The relatively complex
calculation procedure makes it difficult to be widely used.
To automate the four calculation steps, WMPI was de-
veloped as one part of the Watershed Forest Manage-
ment Information System [31] which is a SDSS in the
form of an ArcGIS (version 9 and above) extension. It
has friendly graphical user interfaces and allows the user
to make decisions based on his/her knowledge and un-
derstanding of the model. Extra factors, such as imper-
vious area, flood plains, aquifer protection areas, buffers
of contaminated sites, biodiversity, and channel migra-
tion zones, can be added easily into the analysis. The
WMPI approach has several advantages when compared
with other models. Required data are easy to access and
process. It is not site specific. It is raster cell based and
has more detailed results than subwatershed based mod-
els. Also it is based on the state-of-the-art software, Ar-
cGIS 9.
4. WebWMPI Design and Development
To exploit the advantages of web-based SDSS as dis-
cussed in a previous section, WMPI has been moved to
an on line version. WebWMPI is based on the cli-
ent/server model in which clients send requests to ser-
vices running on a server and receive appropriate infor-
mation in response (Sugumaran 2004). In a very similar
interface mode to the local version, WebWMPI was de-
veloped with Arc GI S Se rver, Active Server Pages (ASP),
Java Script, and Visual Basic .NET. It is designed as a
server-side SDSS or a thin client architecture and its
structure is shown with Figure 1. A Client-side SDSS
approach was not adopted because it would require the
installation of ArcGIS software to the users' computer. A
thin-client SDSS can be thought of as moving the user
interfaces from a local computer based DSS to the users'
web browser. The client/server used here has a three
tiered configuration consisting of: Tier 1: web browser;
Tier 2: IIS (Internet Information Services) web server
and GIS server; and Tier 3: data. The information flow is
as follows: 1) the user initiates a request by manipulating
tools, textboxes, and buttons on the web browser, 2) the
IIS web server passes the requests to the GIS server to do
the processing such as spatial data access, vector to raster
conversion, reclassification, and overlay. 3) the GIS
server creates map images based on the geographical
data and passes to the IIS web server, 4) IIS formats the
Figure 1. WebWMPI Architecture and transaction.
output into HTML pages and serves the content to the
client's web browser, and 5) the web browser displays
the results and supports further user interaction.
WebWMPI consists of a data system, a model, and
user interfaces. The system provides dynamic web forms
allowing interaction b etween th e user and the server. It is
envisioned that local, state, and federal agencies along
with non-profit watershed associations could be the po-
tential users of this system. The users could then demon-
strate and pass on information derived from the system to
a wider audience through meetings and public participa-
tion. The advantages of the system are that it is simple
and straightforward, and does not require expertise in
GIS applications, but rather just the use of a web bro wser
and some knowledge of watershed biophysical processes.
5. WebWMPI Application
Dry Run Creek watershed (Cedar Falls, IA) was selected
as the demonstration area for WebWMPI. It has an area
of 61.5 km2 (15,197 acres) and 47 km (29.2 miles) of
streams. According to the Iowa DNR land cover classi-
fication of 2002, 37 .7 km2 (9,3 16 acr es) or 61 .3 % of lan d
area are in agriculture, 13.3 km2 (3287 acres) or 21.6%
are in developed area, such as residential, commercial,
industrial, and roads, and only 10.5 km2 (2595 acres) or
17.0% are considered as natural areas, such as water,
wetland, forest, and unmanaged grasslands. Dry Run
Creek watershed has been subject to urban development
over time and its water resources are facing serious
problems. In 2002 and 2004, Dry Run was listed in
Iowa's Section 303(d) list as category 5b waters, which
means the watershed is impaired by unknown reasons
and is in need of the establishment of a Total Maximum
Daily Loading (TMDL)[32]. In order to prevent further
water degradation and improve water quality within the
watershed, Dry Run Creek watershed needs a scientific
analysis of its water related bio-physical resources. The
successful application of WebWMPI on Dry Run Creek
watershed could provide a "proof of concept" to other
impaired water systems.
All of the original spatial data were collected from
Iowa DNR. Topographical data in the form of a 30-meter
resolution DEM was used to delineate the watershed
boundary and to derive slope data. Land cover is for the
year 2002. Other data included were a road network, the
Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) database, rivers,
National Wetlands Inventory data, and water bodies.
Users can access WebWMPI at
http://geotree2.geog.uni.edu/webwmpi (verified on May
1, 2011) and Figure 2 shows the main interface. There
are general GIS functions like zoom in, zoom out, layer
turn on/off, and identify on the map interface to let users
check available spatial informatio n of the watershed. The
two buttons with watershed symbols on the toolbar are
WebWMPI specific tools. One is for watershed delinea-
tion. When the user selects this button and clicks a point
on the map, a watershed will be delineated assuming that
point is the outlet of a watershed. The WMPI button in-
vokes the WMPI analysis interfaces (see Figure 3).
The user needs to go through all interfaces to set up
WMPI parameters. The first interface is used for input
layer selection and to define the analysis boundary. Users
just need to check those layers that would be used in the
analysis. The weight is a number that is used to multiply
by the corresponding layer rankings. In contrast to pair-
wise comparison or rating, the weight is used to adjust
the relative importance among input layers and allows
the user to make exp licit trade-off decisions. The second
interface is used to classify land use/cover types into CPI,
RPI, and SMPI categories and to assign a value based on
their potential impact on water quality. Default values
Figure 2. WebWMPI home page.
Figure 3. WebWMPI user interfaces.
are assigned as a reference but can be changed. For ex-
ample, forest land can be set to CPI with a score of three
because in general it positively influences water quality.
The server uses the information entered in the second
interface to classify land use/cover data into three rasters
based on this setting. Users can exclude some land cate-
gories by not assigning them to one of the three indices.
The third interface is for parameter setting, such as
buffer width and slope classification intervals. In the last
interface the output format is selected. The entire range
of CPI, RPI, and SMPI can be displayed, or the 70th, 80th,
and 90th percentile of corresponding PI categories can be
calculated automatically. An optional output is a chess-
board which can be used to divide the watershed into
small areas for management purpose. Last, users just
need to click the analysis button and wait until the web
browser displays the results of the analysis.
Figure 4 shows an example analysis result for Dry
Run Creek watershed based on our default parameter
settings. Within the map, the symbology for CPI, RPI,
and SMPI are green, orange, and red, respectively. The
darker the color, the higher the score is. Management
priorities could be given to those areas with the highest
scores after field assessment. Until now, the coordinator
of Dry Run Creek watershed has used the WebWMPI to
identify hot spots to bu ild stormwater retention pond and
to restore stream bank. The tool has been used to demon-
strate those hot spots in local watershed management
meetings involving the public. BMP suggestions were
provided to land owners having lands with critical areas.
With cadastral data, a zonal analysis could be used to
identify critical parcels.
Figure 4. WebWMPI analysis result for Dry Run Creek
Watershed (Cedar Falls, IA, USA).
The example application of WebWMPI used a small
local watershed. However, WebWMPI has a flexible
analysis scale as the analysis boundary is selected by the
user and there is a watershed delineation function. With
the proper data and hardware preparation, it could be
expanded to county, state, or regional level depending on
the analysis boundary selection. In other words, WebWMPI
can be considered as a hierarchical SDSS. For example,
if the server is populated with state wide data, users
could identify critical areas at the state level or at the city
level based on the analysi s bo un dary setting.
There are potential disadvantages to the application of
Web-based SDSS. These systems provide greater poten-
tial for wide use among not only academic and regula-
tory organizations but other stakeholders such as public
interest groups. This introduces the possibility of misun-
derstanding or mis-application of the modeling system.
Questions like how to prevent the model from being
misused or misinterpreted and others like security prob-
lems should be kept in mind for all web-based SDSS
designers. The WebWMPI system has been used so far
for academic demonstration purposes and for use with
local Dry Run Creek watershed stakeholders. When the
model is released for wider use stricter access controls
would be put in place. These would include the require-
ment of a login id that would be provided by the
WebWMPI application manager upon registration by the
user. The use of the system would be monitored by the
WebWMPI managers. In addition, extensive help sys-
tems and tutorials are p rovided to guide the user through
application of WebWMPI. Finally, in the future, when
the outputs are prov ided as downloadab le datasets, all of
the input parameters will also be provided with any
analysis results.
Using the dynamic information delivery capabilities of
web technology, the WebWMPI, a web-based watershed
management SDSS, has been designed to support water-
shed decision-makers and to provide information about
the critical areas within a watershed that influence water
resources. With friendly user interfaces, it can achieve
the purpose of making watershed conservation knowl-
edge accessible to stakeholders and the public who may
have limited GIS or watershed science knowledge and
providing them a tool to evaluate different management
scenarios.
At present, WebWMPI does not incorporate social or
economic factors, such as land ownership. However, this
does not preclude the application of WebWMPI in pre-
dominately private owned watersheds. For example,
WebWMPI analysis result could provide recommenda-
tions for conservation easement purchasing of parcels or
for zoning regulations. Nonetheless, adding social and
economic factors to WebWMPI would be one potential
future development direction. Other possible develop-
ment of the WebWMPI model may include, but is not
limited to, archiving analyses for users to let them re-
trieve previous results, data download, adding hydro-
logical analysis, cost-benefit analysis, improving visu-
alization through three dimensional techniques, soil ero-
sion calculation, linking to real-time water quality moni-
toring system (pollution indication), and providing BMP
suggestions for the management of critical area.
The work done so far for the WebWMPI has illus-
trated the great advantages of a web-based SDSS in soil
and water conservation project. Compared with the ap-
plication of desktop WMPI in the four watersheds of the
Source Water Stewardship Project (Barten and Ernst
2004), WebWMPI attracted and allowed more stake-
holders to investigate watershed conditions. Also Dry
Run Creek watershed coordinators have used it as a re-
mote assessment tool without concern for GIS software
and locally stored datasets. At the same time, its devel-
opment highlights potential future directions of web
SDSS, online geoprocessing, or web-based GIS service.
These directions could include:
1) Adoption of new technologies, such as Ajax which
allows partially refreshing web pages and makes web
applications smaller, faster and more user friendly.
Timely response is the key factor to attract and maintain
web users. However, geoprocessing with large datasets
normally takes time. Presently, it takes 1.5 minutes to
finish the analysis with the most complex parameter set-
tings for WebWMPI with Dry Run Creek watershed
data;
2) Allowing users to upload data for an analysis. At
present, most GIS services, including WebWMPI, can
only provide functions with server-side data. In the fu-
ture, accepting users' data for analysis will be one poten-
tial direction if multi- spatial data validation can be done
quickly with artificial intelligence; and
Another direction is the potential to combine other
online tools developed by separate organizations. One
successful example is Shi et al.'s model [33], which in-
tegrates Michigan State University's Digital Watershed
and Understanding Your Watershed Systems and Purdue
University's Online Watershed Delineation Tool and
L-THIA across the web. This kind of integration can
avoid duplicated efforts and will promote the develop-
ment and application of SDSS at all levels.
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Copyright ? 2006-2013 Scientific Research Publishing Inc. All rights reserved.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Thread: Fishing any ideas ?
Here's a list of fishing lakes and prices around Chiang Mai , it will give you a clue to the price range for all the lakes.
have a beer and watch what happened when Deputy Dawg tried to get the better of a Catfish ..
You have to check out if that spot you where you saw the catfish was next to a temple. There are some areas near temples where they feed fish to make merit and fishing is prohibited.
bugger the fishing, i will take that bird on the end with a dodgy knee, might get a discount i've got a dodgy left knee lol !! wow, she's been eating more than "street food" where was this photo taken, ???


APG is a private school situated at Capital Governorate Manama, Khamis, Kingdom of Bahrain. Driven by passion to provide quality education to Bahraini children, Mr. Mohammed Moosa Al A'ali founded APG in June 1996, bearing the national reflection of Bahrain as the Pearl of the Gulf. Since then, Mr. Al A'ali embarked on successive projects to propel the growth of APG, which now offers IGCSE and IBDP at a fair cost to over 1,200 Bahraini and non-Bahraini children who share a common genuine desire and strong capability to meet the school's high standards. APG is successfully run by a Bahraini School Principal, Mrs. Ebtisam Saeed Al-Zeera, who believes that the learner is the center of the learning process and that all other decisions and activities are built around the integral development of the learner.


text:
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Patrick Macnee has died.
ScarletSherlock June 25, 2015 Uncategorized 0 Comments
Sad news – Patrick Macnee has died.
According to a statement on his website, the Avengers actor passed away today, with his family by his bedside. He was 93 years old.
Macnee was best known for playing the internationally recognized, charmingly elegant, quintessentially English, and slightly mysterious character of John Steed in the 1960s' British television series, The Avengers. Patrick Macnee, along with co-stars Ian Hendry, Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg, Linda Thorson, Joanna Lumley, and Gareth Hunt, created a unique identity that has reverberated for nearly half a century. The pioneering television series aired throughout the 1960s, and The Avengers became known for its progressive approach to feminism, the female stars being more than a match for Steed…and a plethora of "diabolical master minds." The programme was also known for its creative team's interest in stories about cutting-edge technology,
In addition to The Avengers, Macnee also appeared on Broadway in "Sleuth," in addition to films like A View to a Kill and The Howling. He also appeared in the original Battlestar Galactica and The Love Boat.
In 1991 he played Dr. Watson alongside Sir Christopher Lee in Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady, with Morgan Fairchild as Irene Adler. The story, about Holmes and Watson's adventures in "retirement," did well enough in the ratings for the duo to follow up a year later with Incident at Victoria Falls, this time featuring Jenny Seagrove as Lillie Langtry. He also played Watson alongside former James Bond Roger Moore in Sherlock Holmes in New York.
Macnee also played Sherlock Holmes himself in a tv movie called The Hound of London.
Though most people will remember him for his work in The Avengers, Macnee was a versatile stage and screen actor who also wrote his memoirs and contributed to several other books. His third wife
Baba Majos de Nagyzsenye preceded him in death, in 2007. He leaves behind 2 children and one grandchild. He will be missed.
Patrick Macnee as John Steed in The New Avengers, alongside Joanna Lumley and Gareth Hunt.
Tagged actors, obituaries, Patrick Macnee, Sir Christopher Lee
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Here's the Full Transcript of Mic's Interview With Joe Biden on Campus Sexual Assault
By The Mic Team
On Friday, April 8, Mic sat down with Vice President Joe Biden in Boulder, Colorado, to discuss It's On Us, the initiative he has spearheaded to combat sexual assault on campus. Mic correspondent Antonia Hylton asked Biden about the strategy underpinning It's On Us, criticisms of the program, the 2016 race and more. Read more about bystander intervention and watch our video featuring one survivor's story here.
You can watch the full recording of our interview below, followed by the transcript:
Mic: Thank you so much again, Mr. Vice President, for joining me today. It's such a pleasure to get to speak with you.
Joe Biden: It's an honor to be with you.
You have been fighting violence against women for decades —
JB: Yes.
— and your current initiative, It's On Us, asks students and their peers to step forward and speak out when they see behavior or interactions that could be dangerous. Why is this your current approach to campus sexual assault?
JB: Well, you know, when I wrote the Violence Against Women Act 22 years ago, we actually had great success. Violence against women has come down 67%, more people are reporting. But I had a woman who helped me write that, a woman named Cynthia Hogan, a great lawyer. She's now with the NFL, since that halfback grabbed his wife out of a elevator by the hair. And they decided they got to get in the game, no pun intended.
And I said, and I brought, the president allowed me to bring the Violence Against Women Office inside the vice president's office with the support and help of the Attorney General. And so I said, "Let's find out what's going on." And she went over, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics, who keeps crime rates — she came back with a devastating piece of information. Women between the ages of 14 and 24 — we've made no progress. One in four on college campuses were being raped back then, or assaulted, the same way now.
And so that's when I decided we had to change things. And what I did was, I did virtual town meetings with a lot of colleges and students as well as high school students, and I asked a question. I said, "If we could do anything to change the circumstances on campus, what would it be?" I expected them to say, "More lighting, lighting in parking garages, more campus cops." You know what the number one thing was? "Get men involved."
And that's when it started. And that's when I went to the president, we agreed we'd start this program called It's On Us and in the meantime what we've done is we've gotten hundreds of celebrities and athletes and movie actors to get engaged in saying, "One's too many."
I just did the NAACP — the NAACP, I'm so associated with, the NAACP, uh, excuse me — the National Collegiate Athletic Association, in the Sweet Sixteen and I went down for the Final Four and was interviewed by all the announcers there who wanted to talk about the message to send out to college students.
So, I'm convinced if we keep this up we can begin to change the culture on campuses, so that women are no longer blamed.
You know, one of the saddest things I learned holding those hearings was that women tend to blame other women who are raped. Women tend to hold themselves, ask themselves the question, "What did I do?"
There is never a circumstance where a woman's assaulted — never — where it's her fault. The only time a man ever has a right to raise his hand to a woman is in self defense. Period.
But this culture of ours is upside down. We've got to change it. Just as we've begun to change the culture — your generation, the millennials — have changed the culture on LGBT issues. You've literally changed the culture, and rapidly. We can do the same thing, where a woman no longer asks a question, "What did I do?" Or no judge or prosecutor ever says, "What were you wearing? Did you have on a bra?" It's irrelevant. It's irrelevant.
So, I actually just graduated from college. Not even a year ago, and that statistic you mentioned, that 1 in 4 women will be assaulted during their time there always sticks with me. But also that only 6% of college presidents right now acknowledge that rape is an issue on their campus.
JB: That's right.
How do you react to that and what do you think explains that disconnect?
JB: The disconnect is, they know it's happening. But they're afraid it will hurt their reputation, their institutions, their competitive edge.
And that's why Arne Duncan, the former secretary of education, came to the president and me and said, "I've got an idea. Let's use Title IX." All those colleges get hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid. There's now 117 major institutions under investigation, for not taking it seriously.
I'm about to call another meeting, have college presidents come back to Washington, tell me what they're doing. Actually challenge them not to show up. It's their responsibility. They have an obligation. It's a little bit like I said today — and I know I'm going to get criticized for saying this — a corporation that doesn't want to let it be known that they allow a toxin to seep into the water supply. This is a toxin on college campuses. Universities can do something about it.
They can have on-campus rape counsellors. They can have on-campus instructions to help people. They can put together an environment where a woman has a chance to come and say what happened to her, to let her make the choice of what she wants to do, but to give her guidance and counselling in the process.
But they don't. And the reason is, what happens if, at XYZ University, they find out that there are X number of women assaulted every year on the campus? It's immoral. It's wrong. They have an obligation.
Some critics of It's On Us actually feel that, as it is, the campaign doesn't do enough to call out rape culture and ask for that cultural change, that —
JB: They don't listen to me.
— that relying on bystanders won't lead to that institutional disruption. What do you say to that?
JB: Well, I say, the institutional disruption is the cultural problem. The cultural problem is — it's like when I wrote the Violence Against Women Act, no organization would support it. Not one women's organization. Nobody. It took years to get it moving. You know why? Well, everybody knew this dirty little secret was going on, but it was inherent in our culture.
Look, the first woman I interviewed when I was, I knew I had to sort of pull the mask back on this dirty little secret. There was a lovely woman named Marla Hanson, a model in New York City. She had an efficiency. She wanted a one bedroom apartment. She lived in an upscale apartment complex. The landlord kept hitting on her. So she was going to leave.
She got a phone call on location saying that she wanted to, he said, "Look, if you meet me in the restaurant bar" — in the building, where she lived — "I'll sign a contract for a one bedroom." So she showed up. He hit on her again. She got up and left.
The coward hired two thugs. She walked out and they slashed her face with razors.
I asked her, "What did your mother say?" She said, "Why were you in a bar?" What did your girlfriends say? "Well, you were in a bar. How short was your skirt?" That's a sick culture.
You know where the phrase "rule of thumb" comes from?
I think I do.
JB: In the late 1300s, common law in England, a woman was a chattel, a piece of property like cattle. But so many women were being beaten to death by their husband, the English common law court said, "A husband can no longer beat his wife with a rod bigger than the circumference of his thumb." It's part of our culture.
So you mentioned the story of Marla, and I'm curious if there's another specific story that maybe stands out to you, that maybe transformed the way you look at this issue. Or guided your, the way that you set up It's On Us.
JB: Well, there is one. There was a lovely young woman who became an advocate. By the time she testified she had been an advocate for four years. She went to a small college, a Catholic school, just north of the University of Pittsburgh.
And it was during her orientation period, and the last day of orientation, before school began on Monday. There was a big bonfire because they had. They didn't play football, but they had a soccer team. And she went to the bonfire with all her friends, you know, to cheer on the team. And a young man — he was an upperclassman, I don't know what year he was — who dated a friend of hers back home said, "I'll walk you back to your dorm." He said, "But I've got to stop at my dorm to get a coat."
She stopped with him. He pulled her into the room and he raped her.
I'll never forget what she said. She said she ran back to her dorm, ran upstairs, took all her clothes off, went in the bathroom and took a — it sticks in my mind — a scalding shower. That was her phrase.
She said, "I put a towel around me and I'm sitting on the end of my bed in my room. My resident advisor came in and said, 'What happened?'" She said, "I told her and she looked at me and she said, 'You've been raped,' and I looked back at her and said, 'No, I wasn't. I knew him.'"
Where the hell does that come from? "No, I wasn't, I knew him."
The way to change the culture is the same way we change the culture of LGBT. The same way we changed the culture 10 years ago, five years ago.
Even in the city of Washington, or out here, a group of businessmen could be sitting down having lunch and a gay waiter could come up with a lisp and one of the wise guys say, "I'll tell you what I'll have," everyone would remain quiet because they thought they, you know, they didn't want to — today, they'd say, "What the hell are you doing, man? Leave." That's how you change the culture.
It is never, never, never the woman's fault. And I get asked, "How will I know when there's success?" There will be success when not a single woman has been abused ever asks herself, "What did I do?"
Some advocates have said that a quick way that we could start making some concrete changes in the culture would be to consider banning fraternities where a disproportionate number of these assaults occur. Do you think that in order to put an end to rape culture, that we need to consider banning fraternities or other single-sex organizations?
JB: No, but here's what we have to do. The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department is investigating, now, patterns and practices of abuse. The civil rights cause of action. If fraternities engage in that, yes, they should be banned. Not all fraternities do that. Anything, any school that's engaged in a pattern and practice of allowing sexual assault to take place, turning a blind eye, should be held accountable under the civil rights laws of the country.
Well, but let's take Harvard for example, where I went to school. Forty seven percent of the women in my graduating class who interacted with single-sex social organizations reported, by the time that they graduated, they had been sexually assaulted. Do you think that that indicates a specific and localized crisis?
JB: Well, I think it indicates that there's a real problem at Harvard, and it's the responsibility of the president of Harvard University and the administration to go in and investigate it and if it's occurring and they can show that, get rid of the — get rid of those fraternities on campus that are engaged in it.
Let's shift gears to look at some of the other recent issues that some people are saying contributes to a culture that disrespects women. Just the other day, Donald Trump and his campaign tried to discredit a reporter who said that she had been assaulted. He has made fun of Megyn Kelly, Carly Fiorina, Heidi Cruz. What does it say about us when the Republican frontrunner, Donald Trump, speaks about women so regularly in this way?
JB: I'll tell you what it says about Donald Trump, is Donald Trump — it matters what people say. It matters what your leaders say. It matters. Words matter. And the public should hold them accountable. And how they vote. He could be a Democrat. He could be a liberal Democrat and say it. He should be held accountable — by voting no.
It matters what people say. It matters what they do. Their conduct matters. That sends a message to tens of thousands of young men and women who think it's appropriate to do that, to say that.
Well, to be fair, Donald Trump isn't the only person who has said some divisive things —
JB: Of course he isn't.
— about women lately. Sen. Bernie Sanders actually just said that Hillary Clinton isn't qualified to be president.
JB: That's totally different.
Some are saying, though, that that's a sexist remark.
JB: Look, they're both totally qualified to be president. They both get in a fight. Campaigns do this. It's like saying, you know, "She's dead wrong" or her saying, "He's dead wrong" on an issue. You cannot, you cannot argue that — if he said, "She's not qualified because she's a woman. She's not qualified because —"
Well, do you think she's held to a higher standard? Because she is a woman?
JB: No, I don't think she's held to a higher standard. This country's ready for a woman. There's no problem. We're going to be able to elect a woman in this country.
Would you like to see us elect a woman in this country?
JB: I would like to see a woman elected.
Staff, off-camera: That's it.
JB: No, no, no, that's all right, I'd like to see — no, no, I don't mind if, it's no problem. I'm not getting into that rabbit — I'm not —
I'd like to ask one more question as well.
JB: The president and I are not going endorse because we both, when we ran said, "Let the party decide." But gosh almighty, they're both qualified. Hillary, Hillary's overwhelmingly qualified to be president.
My last question for you, Mr. Vice President. When you announced in the Rose Garden that you would not be running for president, you mentioned that you and your family would continue to fight on a number of issues pertaining to the dignity of the American people. How are you going to continue the fight against sexual assault?
JB: Well, I'm going stay engaged in this fully, whether I set up an independent foundation, whether I work through some universities that talk to me, or an independent foundation, I'm going stay engaged. This has been the passion of my career. I've done a lot of other things in my career, but, you know, when I first started speaking on this no one wanted to talk about it. Nobody wanted to talk about it.
It's the single most important thing that I can do domestically, and I'm going to continue as long as I have a breath in me. And no matter what you think, no one ever doubts I mean what I say. Sometimes I say all that I mean, but I never say anything I don't mean.
I'll be involved in this until I take my last breath, because there's too many beautiful, bright, decent, honorable young men and women who are being victimized. And people are turning a blind eye. They're turning a blind eye. We have an obligation.
We're going be judged as a culture, as much as we treat this issue as anything else that happens to us 10, 20, 30, 50 years from now. And that's why I'm doing it internationally. I wrote an international Violence Against Women Act. that's why the president and I are making conditional what kind of aid we give based on whether or not a country allows genital mutilation, honor killings. There is no justification at all — cultural, religious or otherwise — for denying a man or woman their basic human rights. As long as I have a breath I'm not changing, since I was 22 years old. Nothing's changing.
Thank you so much for your time today, Mr. Vice President. I so appreciate it.
JB: Thank you.


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Matt Craig | NCAA.com | February 27, 2017
The best social media moments of the week
The past week held plenty of surprises, and I'm not just talking about what happened at the Academy Awards on Sunday night. It was the final week of college basketball's regular season, and social media was in peak form heading into postseason play.
As always, there were funny videos, touching moments and incredible occurances. And yes, there was a connection to the Oscars.
Here are the 5 best social media moments of the week.
5 | Miami had quite a week, as they strengthened their March Madness resumé with huge wins over Virginia and Duke. While the action on the court was good, the postgame celebrations were outstanding. After the Virginia game, coach Jim Larrañaga headed to the locker room for a dance party, in which the 67-year-old coach proceeded to show off all the groove he's got. As the tweet says, it was indeed lit.
Locker room is lit. pic.twitter.com/8uN6NDQP1q
— Canes Hoops (@CanesHoops) February 21, 2017
4 | The same goes for Syracuse, which picked up a crucial home win over Duke on Wednesday as they hope to receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. It helps, of course, that they had over 30,000 fans inside the Carrier Dome to support them. And after the game, the flood of orange seemed to go for as far as the eye can see.
Just a little party with 30,331 of our closest friends...
#CuseMode pic.twitter.com/M9BKa2vVy1
— Syracuse Basketball (@Cuse_MBB) February 23, 2017
3 | The national anthem before every game is a staple of the pregame ritual, though it ordinarily lacks a little creativity or flair. That wasn't the case before Tuesday night's SEC matchup at the University of Arkansas. Joe Everson not only sung the national anthem but simultaneously painted a depiction of the famous Iwo Jima flag raising--upside down! The performance climaxed with the red and white stripes being painted while he held the word, "brave" in a moment of unrivaled patriotism.
2 | Mahershala Ali is set to become a big star in Hollywood, after his performance in Moonlight earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. But did you know that Ali went to school at Saint Mary's College? Or that he came there on a basketball scholarship? I bet not. And though Ali gave up basketball, which at this point looks like the right choice, Saint Mary's gave him a shout out on Facebook after his Oscars' victory.
1 | What could beat an Oscar-winning performance? How about a proposal at mid-court of Indiana's assembly hall after a senior night celebration. Indiana senior Collin Hartman grabbed the microphone after the Hoosiers' 63-62 win over Northwestern, before eventually taking a knee. The surprise on his now-fiancé's face was priceless, as Hartman's teammates completely lost it on the sidelines. It was a moment no one in the building will soon forget.
Watch it https://t.co/RUv2SBqfft
— Indiana Basketball (@IndianaMBB) February 26, 2017
When does the 2019 college football season start?
Since Clemson beat Alabama in January, we've all been wondering the same thing: When does the 2019 college football season start?


Kevin McNamara: Private Pilot check ride passed!
Kevin (seen on the right in the baseball cap immediately after passing his flight test) finalized his training with his Private Pilot check ride just one day before his birthday. As a very academic and kinesthetic learner, Kevin was able to finish his training while retaining his skills to high levels of proficiency. Attention to detail, thorough planning, and overall natural-born skills of handling aircraft, machines, and tools allowed him to master the aircraft. After transitioning from a previous Cessna 172 G1000 aircraft at Clear Air Aviation, LLC, Kevin demonstrated his ability to apply quality flying skills to this different kind of airplane for his check ride preparation (i.e. Piper Cherokee.) Kevin is ambitiously rebuilding his very own Cessna 152 airplane in pursuit of his A&P aircraft mechanic's license. He plans to use his personal plane for recreational flying as well as continuing his training towards an instrument rating.
Awesome job Kevin! We have gained an invaluable aviator and asset to the aviation community.


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Horse RacingHorse
Filly dies following collision at Churchill Downs
3733dJay Privman
Bama LB: Tide's best still better than Clemson's
4hAlex Scarborough
Price responds as spat with Eckersley resurfaces
Angels' Ramirez suspended for drilling Marisnick
Green, first black player on Red Sox, dies at 85
Passan: 10 things to watch in the two weeks prior to the MLB trade deadline
13hJeff Passan
Why things don't look good for Tiger and other big Open questions
2dESPN.com
Rory or the field? Our experts make their picks for The Open
How Dos Anjos' volume could be the difference against Edwards
1dRichard Mann
The legend of Pacquiao continues against a dangerous, younger Thurman
6dNigel Collins
Djokovic rules, Serena falls short: What we learned at Wimbledon
14hPeter Bodo
Fatal morning accident raises questions
Jay Privman
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A gruesome accident involving two unraced horses Monday morning at Churchill Downs resulted in the death of one of the horses, delayed workouts for several runners in the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby, and prompted discussion over whether too many horses are being allowed on the track immediately after the mid-morning renovation break.
The accident involved Dr. Rap, a 3-year-old colt trained by David Carroll, and Rasberry Kiss, a 2-year-old filly trained by Ken McPeek. Dr. Rap was adjacent to the starting gate, which is positioned at the top of the stretch during training hours, when he threw jockey Tony Farina and sped straight down the stretch. He crashed into Rasberry Kiss, who was standing inside the sixteenth pole amongst a large group of horses who were about to begin gallops. They crashed in a sickening thud and initially lay entangled.
Both horses were removed from the track in horse ambulances and transported to equine clinics in Lexington, Ky. There was a 25-minute training delay to remove the two stricken horses.
Rasberry Kiss, who was sent to Rood and Riddle, was euthanized due to her injury, a broken hip, based on the recommendation of Rood and Riddle's Dr. Larry Bramlage, McPeek said.
Dr. Rap was being evaluated at Hagyard-Davidson-McGee clinic for an injury to his right shoulder, Carroll said. Carroll said X-rays were clean.
"He either has nerve damage or a severe bone bruise," Carroll said. "If they say he'll never race again but can be a show horse, I'll take that."
Exercise rider Larry Lague, a former jockey who was on Rasberry Kiss, was going to have X-rays to see if he had broken a foot, McPeek said. Farina was not injured.
There were about 10 Derby and Oaks horses on the track at the time of the incident.
Both Chocolate Candy, with jockey Mike Smith, and Join in the Dance, ridden by Angel Cordero Jr., were in the midst of their works when the horn sounded, signaling a loose horse. Both horses completed their drills.
"Fortunately, it was isolated to the outside," said Todd Pletcher, the trainer of Join in the Dance. "It could have been worse. There were a lot of high-caliber horses out there working in a short amount of time."
Pletcher said he thought it might be wise for Churchill Downs to close the track earlier for the renovation break and then allow only Oaks and Derby runners on the track for the first few minutes after the track re-opens.
"This morning's incident is the perfect opportunity for Churchill Downs to realize they need to do this," Pletcher said. "Just for 10 minutes after the break. It would be a great idea. It would be great for the Oaks and Derby horses and safer for the horses of every caliber."
Jim Gates, general manager of Churchill Downs, said Pletcher's idea is "not something we'd be opposed to in the future."
"We have never gotten together and discussed this specifically," Gates said. "People work horses every day, and trainers have their own personal preferences. Some like to work early, some like to go after the break. But after what happened this morning, I suspect we will have discussions. We are always looking to make the Derby horses more comfortable."
Although Derby horses like Friesan Fire and Pioneerof the Nile got in their works just before the accident, Rachel Alexandra, the heavy favorite for Friday's Kentucky Oaks, had her work affected by it.
Just as jockey Calvin Borel was ready to have Rachel Alexandra break off nearing the half-mile pole for the filly's final prerace workout for the Grade 1, $500,000 Oaks, the loud horn signaling a loose horse sounded. Borel alertly eased his mount toward the outside fence, gathered her up, and eventually rode her back to a gap and off the racetrack.
Some 30 minutes later, Rachel Alexandra drilled a half-mile in a bullet 46.40 seconds.
"Calvin actually was getting in a few fast strides there before the horn went off," trainer Hal Wiggins said. "We walked her back, loosened the girth, and just walked her around the barn for a while. You really worry about a horse tying up [cramping] in a situation like that, but she's got such a good mind on her, she was walking around there like nothing had happened. Her disposition helped her a whole lot.
"I was a lot more upset about it than she was."
- additional reporting by Marty McGee


This little sewing cabinet and basket were a curbside cast off. I was looking for a project that was a bright color with some flowers.This piece is a little different style than I normally do, but i new knew this piece would be perfect. After a good cleaning I painted the piece with Country Chic paint. One of the drawer was beyond fixing so I turned it into a shelf and added the white washed basket. I decoupaged a $$ Tree napkin on the drawer front. The tin container was to shiny for me, so I aged it and added some bright flowers. I really like out it turned out.


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Q: img.empty() error while using yolov4-custom-functions repository I trained my YOLOv4-tiny model. I want to crop and save object pictures which are detected by YOLOv4-tiny model. I'm using yolov4-custom-functions repository for this. The error is:
If ymin is 0.0, than it says:
> (venv) C:\Users\Isinsu\Desktop\crop\yolov4-custom-functions>python
> detect.py --weights ./checkpoints/yolov4-416 --size 416 --model yolov4
> --images ./data/images/bobin1.jpg --info Object found: bobin, Confidence: 0.99, BBox Coords (xmin, ymin, xmax, ymax): 178.0, 0.0,
> 1796.0, 1348.0
>
> (venv) C:\Users\Isinsu\Desktop\crop\yolov4-custom-functions>python
> detect.py --weights ./checkpoints/yolov4-416 --size 416 --model yolov4
> --images ./data/images/bobin1.jpg --crop Traceback (most recent call last):   File
> "C:\Users\Isinsu\Desktop\crop\yolov4-custom-functions\detect.py", line
> 146, in <module>
>     app.run(main)   File "C:\Users\Isinsu\Desktop\crop\venv\lib\site-packages\absl\app.py",
> line 308, in run
>     _run_main(main, args)   File "C:\Users\Isinsu\Desktop\crop\venv\lib\site-packages\absl\app.py",
> line 254, in _run_main
>     sys.exit(main(argv))   File "C:\Users\Isinsu\Desktop\crop\yolov4-custom-functions\detect.py", line
> 121, in main
>     crop_objects(cv2.cvtColor(original_image, cv2.COLOR_BGR2RGB), pred_bbox, crop_path, allowed_classes)   File
> "C:\Users\Isinsu\Desktop\crop\yolov4-custom-functions\core\functions.py",
> line 57, in crop_objects
>     cv2.imwrite(img_path, cropped_img) cv2.error: OpenCV(4.6.0) D:\a\opencv-python\opencv-python\opencv\modules\imgcodecs\src\loadsave.cpp:801:
> error: (-215:Assertion failed) !_img.empty() in function 'cv::imwrite'

It just happens when ymin is 0.0. Otherwise it works for pictures. btw it's not about path, I controlled that for many times. It reads the other pictures in the same directory but not this one. I tried with other pictures with cutting them and making their ymin=0 and then it gives the same error.
SOLVED!
I deleted +5 and -5s in the line 52 in core/functions.py as follows and it worked:
cropped_img = img[int(ymin):int(ymax), int(xmin):int(xmax)]


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Movie of the Week: 'The Florida Project'
April 8, 2021 April 8, 2021 Jeff Mitchell
With the Oscars arriving this month (April 25), we're looking back at films and performances that the Academy missed. Director Sean Baker's "The Florida Project" was our #1 film of 2017, but it sadly wasn't nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. Thankfully, the Academy nominated Willem Dafoe for Best Supporting Actor, however, he lost the gold statue to Sam Rockwell in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri". We love Rockwell in that film but feel that Dafoe's restrained performance – as a manager of a budget apartment complex called The Magic Castle, ironically sitting in the figurative shadow of Walt Disney World – was the best supporting actor performance of the year!
Bobby (Dafoe) not only shepherds the hotel, collects rent, and enforces the rules, but he carries another full-time job by playing a surrogate friend and mentor (when he can) to his tenants, and a godparent of sorts to Moonee (Brooklynn Prince), a six-year-old girl who is usually left to her own devices.
"The Florida Project" – "Childhood means simplicity. Look at the world with the child's eye – it's very beautiful." – Kailash Satyarthi, a children's rights and education advocate.
"These are the rooms we're not supposed to go in, but let's go anyway!" – Moonee (Brooklynn Prince)
Families from all over target Orlando, Fla. as a vacation city, because of its famous theme parks, and Disney's Magic Kingdom shines as its crown jewel. According to a June 1, 2017 The New York Times article, 20.4 million people visited the Magic Kingdom in 2016, and although "children of all ages" enjoy the park, it is really an enchanted place for kids.
The Magic Castle – splashed in purple and yellow – also resides in Orlando, but this is not a lush Disney attraction. It is an extended stay hotel that sits among fast food joints and discount gift shops, and for many of its residents, they struggle to make ends meet. Although this community accommodates temporary tenants who may arrive, pay rent for a few weeks and leave for a more permanent place, others stay – sometimes for years – as an unending alternative to living on the street.
Director Sean Baker and screenwriter Chris Bergoch – who worked together on "Tangerine" (2015) and "Starlet" (2012) – explored the budget hotel concept and actually won a grant to research and visit them. With "The Florida Project", they are raising awareness of budget hotel communities on the big screen.
The film stars 6-year-old Moonee (Brooklynn Prince) and her young mother, Halley (Bria Vinaite), who live at The Magic Castle. Halley – an early 20-something who sports large tattoos and cops an attitude against authority – occasionally scrapes together an income by selling perfume in parking lots of nearby resorts. Sometimes she gathers enough cash to cover the weekly rent – for their hotel room with a queen size bed that fills up most of the space – but other weeks, she needs to improvise. Feeding Moonee an irregular diet of pizza and free waffles (courtesy of her friend, Ashley (Mela Murder)), this mother and daughter are not living in 2017 America, but existing.
Well, they are existing, but when Moonee is left on her own, which is very, very often, she becomes an explorer, an explorer of a childlike interpretation of her world as a vast playground, as the meaning of Satyarthi's aforementioned quote dances across the big screen. Moonee and her friends Scooty (Christopher Rivera) and Jancey (Valeria Cotto) trek all over the concrete, suburban sprawl (and an occasional grassy field), as Baker strategically places his camera, opens up the lens and captures the artificial, confectionary beauty that these kids notice, but adults ignore, while speeding to work or running errands on Route 192.
In one particularly effective sequence, the three kiddos take little steps across large, expansive parking lots towards their ice cream haven, as they walk by Orange World's giant half-orange roof and a 30-foot magician's face sitting on top of a business simply named Gift Shop. Baker layers these smile-inducing visuals with the youngsters' childlike banter and their various negotiations, as Moonee, Scooty and Jancey converse like the "South Park" kids, but with much less cursing, more harmless sass and added intentions of satisfying their collective id. Jancey is the least audacious, while Moonee leads the charge, whether its digesting a Costco-sized jar of jelly and a half loaf of bread or visiting a group of nearby cows for an ad hoc safari trip.
Modern-day, suburban parents – who routinely schedule playdates – could be aghast by the lack of daily supervision, but 30-somethings, 40-somethings and baby boomers might reminisce when their parents said at 9am on a Saturday, "Go play outside and be home for dinner."
Fortunately, The Magic Castle's manager, Bobby (Willem Dafoe), also unofficially works as a caretaker, watching Moonee and the other kids who live there, as they run around the property. Although Halley truly loves Moonee, she does make terrible choices as a parent. Bobby fits into Baker and Bergoch's narrative as an effective and respected anchor versus the carefree decisions emanating from Halley and Moonee. Through a couple understated, revelatory moments, we learn that Bobby has not endured 50+ years of an easy life, and in small, daily ways he almost seems to be subtly repairing past mistakes by caring about and/or expressing empathy for his tenants.
In a recent interview, Dafoe said, "('The Florida Project') is one of those films that makes you look at your relationship to other people and what your responsibility is, and the quality of your life is going to be colored by how you treat other people…..You'll be a more content person when you look at the person across from you and know that you got to help each other."
Dafoe's comforting and principled performance should earn him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, and he, Prince and Vinaite all deliver authentic work here. Baker shot his film at a real budget hotel (yes, named The Magic Castle), and the three leads seamlessly fall into their roles as a manager and two residents, as if they have worked/lived there for years. Due to her age, Prince has one previous film credit on her resume, and "The Florida Project" is Vinaite's first movie. In fact, in a stroke of genuine luck and out of the box thinking, Baker found Vinaite on Instagram.
While Moonee offers adorable, aw, shucks scenes and oodles of kid humor, Vinaite's Halley carries the hardship of adulthood, as if an 800 lb. gorilla is throwing its dead weight on her back. This pressure and a lifetime of heartache surrounded by poor role models have resulted in Halley embracing caustic slices of arrested development and horrible judgment, and Baker and Vinaite fully display the unpleasant, and sometimes heartbreaking choices that this mother makes.
Baker spoke with the Phoenix Film Festival, and he said that his mixture of tones is deliberate.
"The whole film (contained many) contradictions, a lot of clashing with adult and childlike content. The whole movie is that," Baker said.
He added, "I think the whole film is about a balance between the two worlds, because it's about two worlds. It's a whole other world right outside the Magic Kingdom, so I am always trying to have a clash."
This clash alternates between entertaining (although mischievous) kid humor and acidic realities of poverty, so "The Florida Project" throws its audience on a roller coaster ride of highs and lows, and sometimes, through the use of music or when Moonee and Halley are paired up on a perfume-selling spree, these contrasting themes reach the screen simultaneously.
For millions and millions of people in this country, a painful cycle of poverty regularly snares them on a cruel merry-go-round, but – thankfully – through a child's eyes, any present environment can be transformed into a playground. Baker and Moonee found beauty at The Magic Castle and all along Route 192, but will these moments of wide-eyed adventure last for these kids? Perhaps, but kids grow up.
As poet and playwright Seamus Heaney said, "I think childhood is, generally speaking, a preparation for disappointment."
⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Image and Trailer credits: A24
Movie of the Week, Movies at Home, ReviewsBrooklynn Prince, Sean Baker, The Florida Project, The Florida Project Oscar Snub, Willem Dafore
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