text:
Test in Focus
New Tests Launched
CPT Codes and LOINC Updates
Mayo Validation Support Services
What's New in Health Care Reform
Outreach and Business Solutions
Laboratory/Patient Safety/Quality
Beyond Q-tips: The swabbing guide for SARS-CoV-2
PACE / State of CA / State of FL
February 17, 2021 | 11 a.m.–12 p.m. CT
This "Phlebotomy Webinar" will discuss the various types of swabs that can be used to collect specimens for SARS-CoV-2 molecular testing.
By MCL Education • December 21, 2020
LEAN management system: Guiding Mayo Clinic Laboratories through the pandemic
This "Continual Improvement" Webinar will provide an overview of how Mayo Clinic Laboratories worked together as a team to address the Global Pandemic.
What's new in quality & regulatory expectations for laboratories? [2020]
This "Continual Improvement" Webinar will provide an overview of new regulatory changes and issues having the potential to affect laboratory operations.
By MCL Education • December 9, 2020
Using Phlebotomy Quality Metrics to Improve Patient Care
This "Phlebotomy Webinar" will discuss the what and why of quality metrics and indicators and how to determine which indicators to monitor.
By MCL Education • November 18, 2020
Phlebotomy COVID-19 Process
This "Phlebotomy Webinar" will focus on the role of the phlebotomist and the changes adapted to provide service safely to COVID positive patients in different service areas (ED, ICU vs General floors).
By MCL Education • October 21, 2020
Pharmacogenomics and Therapeutic Drug Monitoring in Mental Health
In this month's "Virtual Lecture," Ann Moyer, M.D., Ph.D. describes how Pharmagenomic and therapeutic drug monitoring tools aid medical providers in selecting drugs and doses to maximize efficacy while minimizing toxicity for mental illnesses, including depression.
By MCL Education • September 25, 2020
Customer Service Training Modules
These "Customer Service" modules are a tool to enhance interactions with your clients and build an exceptional customer service experience.
Advanced Proficiency Testing: Applications in Laboratory Networks
This "Continual Improvement" Webinar will highlight differences in proficiency testing practices in laboratory networks, discuss possible pitfalls and strategies to reduce risk, and examine regulatory changes and ways to adapt to them at the network level.
By MCL Education • March 11, 2020
Tips & Tricks for Difficult Sticks
This "Phlebotomy webinar" focuses on the origins of difficult collections and the situations that result in them.
By MCL Education • February 19, 2020
Ethical Issues in Phlebotomy
This "Phlebotomy webinar" will discuss ethical issues frequently faced by phlebotomists.
Lab Design
In this "Continual Improvement" webinar, we will discuss the basic framework for investigating, designing, and documenting a laboratory design or redesign project.
R. Ross Reichard, M.D., Featured in CAP Today
R. Ross Reichard, M.D., DLMP Vice Chair of Quality and Associate Chair of Practice, recently contributed to a College of American Pathologists (CAP) article in CAP Today. The article, "How the Laboratory Drives Patient Satisfaction," explores the myriad ways laboratories can monitor and improve the patient experience.
By Molly Dee • August 2, 2019
Onboard or Overboard? Providing a Life Raft for New Leaders to Keep Them from Sinking
In this month's "Virtual Lecture" learn what it takes to develop an onboarding program for new supervisors and managers while exploring the importance of supporting your new leaders.
By MCL Education • July 24, 2019
Copyright © 1995-2019 Mayo Foundation For Medical Education And Research. All Rights Reserved.


Kraja is a quartet consisting of four singers from Umeå: Linnea Nilsson, Eva Lestander, Lisa Lestander and Frida Johansson. They formed the group in 2001 and have quickly developed their music-making to an impressive level and built up a rich repertoire of traditional hymns, comical songs, love songs and lilted dance tunes. Many of the songs are taken from the local tradition of Västerbotten, some are from other parts of Scandinavia and some are newly composed. Kraja have arranged all the songs for four voices – elegant, harmonious and very beautiful. They have captured audiences around Sweden for some years now and now it is time for their debut album, filled with Kraja's many-faceted vocal music.


A framework is developed to link major soil functions to ecosystem services assessment. Provisioning soil functions—with primary linkages to ecosystem services—are evaluated on a continental scale in Europe.
We defined major provisioning soil functions combining the approaches proposed by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection of the European Union. Soil productivity was evaluated by three main land use types (cropland, grassland, forest) using a validated expert model called SoilProd. Models include soil, climate and topographic criteria. Raw material provision capacity of soils was assessed on the basis of (i) organic carbon content and (ii) availability of soil materials for construction.
A coherent system of soil function-based ecosystem services was compiled, taking into account major soil functions. We also produced new data on soil-based provisioning ecosystem services, including productivity and raw material availability. The attempts to cover the main human activities requiring materials of soil origin and to map the locations where those materials are available on a continental scale provide new insight to this field of research.
Soil-based ecosystem services can be assessed by the evaluation of soil functions which play a role in the production of these services. Quantitative analysis and comparison of the spatial distribution of the investigated soil functions were performed.
While crop productivity showed a general trend to increase in a northward and westward direction, local soil quality in most regions—except in the Mediterranean—can compensate for climatic handicaps to a great extent.
Comparison of areas with potential for providing ecosystem services by individual soil functions highlights the complexity of decision-making for resource utilization but also the possibilities for optimization and more conscious management.
Soil plays a crucial role in terrestrial ecosystems and in maintaining life on Earth. Its functions which support ecosystem services to humans are manifold and complex.
This paper proposes a framework for the evaluation of soil functions that play a role in ecosystem services on a continental scale across Europe and offers an account of the repertoire of major soil functions and functional capacities of soils. Soil functions and associated services are discussed in the context of the European Union's Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection and are related to the concepts of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.
The attempt to characterize soil functions and ecosystem services for the terrestrial area of the EU in a spatially explicit manner is based on new data on provisioning soil ecosystem services, including productivity and raw material availability. Quantitative comparisons between major climatic zones of Europe were made with regards to the capacity of the soil to carry out provisioning functions.
Comparing the potential of individual soil functions across the EU highlights the complexity of decision-making dilemmas for resources utilization but also underlines the possibilities for resource use optimization and conscious management.
Soil plays a fundamental role in terrestrial ecosystems as a three-dimensional body that performs a wide range of ecological functions as a part of the services provided by ecosystems (Hannam and Boer 2004). The multitude of complex interactions which occur within the soil, including between biotic and abiotic compartments, gives rise to numerous soil functions (Blum 2005) which support ecosystem services, often viewed in terms of the services they provide to humans (De Groot et al. 2002; Fisher et al. 2009 Peccol and Movia 2012).
Soil functions are general or specific capabilities of soil to support various agricultural, environmental, landscape, and urban applications. Specific soil functions are manifold and may be grouped according to the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection of the European Union (TSSPEU; CEC 2006) as (1) biomass production, (2) storing, filtering, and transforming nutrients and water, (3) hosting the biodiversity pool, (4) acting as a platform for most human activities, (5) providing raw materials, (6) acting as a carbon pool, and (7) storing geological and archaeological heritage. The focus of our current assessment has been on these seven major soil functions, which reflects our current scientific and policy perspectives towards Europe's soil resources (CEC 2006). Although the criticism may be valid that a scientific evaluation of soil functions as defined by a policy document is biased by current policy-driven perception, rather than being based purely on theoretical grounds (with possible windows towards applicability), it is generally accepted (FAO 1976) that, in addition to studying soils' natural phenomena, soil resources should also be evaluated from socioeconomic viewpoints. This viewpoint is also an aim of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA; Reid et al. 2005), the first comprehensive attempt to characterize the complex interactions between the various functions of ecosystems from the viewpoint of their services to humans. Therefore, a soil assessment derived from the recommendations of the TSSPEU and within the framework of soil functions is well justified for continental-scale applications in Europe.
A number of other classification and evaluation schemes for ecosystem services have emerged in recent years (Robinson et al. 2013), including the TEEB Assessment (2010; The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity), which proposed a modification of the MEA scheme. Recommendations to link soil functions and ecosystem services have also been developed for local- to national-scale uses (Haygarth and Ritz 2009).
This paper aims to provide a framework to link major soil functions to ecosystem services assessment for continental-scale applications based on the concepts of the MEA and the TSSPEU. A further aim of the current paper is to provide an assessment of soil functions for provisioning services.
The capacity of soil to perform any of the seven identified functions and to support their associated ecosystem services depends on its physical, biological, and chemical attributes (i.e., "internal" characteristics), while the realization of the performance is conditioned by natural (e.g., slope steepness) and/or anthropogenic factors ("external" controls). In order to provide quantitative figures on the levels of soil functions which are valid in the spatial context of the diverse biophysical regions of the European Union, evaluation of soil functions has to be extended and combined with landform and climatic information. As soil quality—the capacity of soil to perform its functions—is a time-dependent dynamic phenomenon (Karlen et al. 2001; Larson and Pierce 1991), detecting temporal changes in soil functioning capacities is only possible if soil attributes are monitored. Since a comprehensive soil monitoring network and derived spatial database are lacking in Europe, the ambition to provide dynamic information on soil functions is unrealistic. However, characterizing soil functioning capacities on the basis of existing databases and matching this information with available land use and climate data were deemed feasible.
Most soil functions are interdependent; one function is not performed in isolation from another. Yet individual soil functions can be characterized by their primary linkages to ecosystem services and thus to services they provide to society, as is necessary for ecosystem services evaluation. Table 1 provides a framework proposed for continental-scale assessments. In the MEA, the process of soil formation, along with nutrient cycling and photosynthesis, was classified as an essential supporting service that facilitated other ecosystem services (i.e., provisioning, regulating, and cultural). As this study is concerned with soil functions, rather than underlying soil processes, a scheme modified from the MEA has been adopted, where soil functions are linked to ecosystem services through specific direct and indirect services provided by them.
Supporting soil structure, nutrient capacity, etc.
Soil functions include material outputs from soil, which can be organic or inorganic in nature. Organic materials include living aboveground biomass and subsurface organic matter. Inorganic materials include all forms of mineral compounds in the soil.
Biomass production and raw material provision are the two soil functions with material end products which are directly used by humans. However, it needs to be stressed that biomass production is a renewable function of soil, while the provision of raw material in most cases is destructive for the soil body. This distinction needs to be considered when planning for sustainable soil use.
To evaluate the performance of the biomass production function, traditional biophysical land evaluation methods can be used. For the evaluation of the raw material provision functions, the definition of the criteria for soil-originated raw material needs to be established. Firstly, it is important to set distinct criteria for soil and non-soil materials. Most mineral raw materials used by humans are of geological origin and are generally excavated by mining operations. Although soil parent material is usually considered as part of the pedon (e.g., soil taxonomy), in the raw material provisioning soil service, only soil layers above the parent material are considered. This designation also corresponds to the soil characterization provided by the TSSP, according to which "soil is generally defined as the top layer of the Earth's crust, formed by mineral particles, organic matter, water, air and living organisms" (CEC 2006).
Based on the above considerations, the biomass production function and raw material availability in the soil layers above the parent material were assessed during the evaluation of provisioning soil ecosystem services.
Biomass production of a given soil depends on the geographic location (climatic, hydrological, and terrain conditions), the land use type, land management, and the vegetation under consideration. In a continental-scale assessment, a land use–specific evaluation should be performed for the main biomass-producing land use types, namely cropland, grassland, and forest.
For continental-scale evaluations of raw materials in soils we must limit ourselves to the issues apparent over larger areas. While acknowledging the significance of locally important soil characteristics (such as high quality kaolinite for ceramics; bentonite for metal casting, well drilling, or food additives; clay for various applications), this study has focused on two applications: (1) organic soil (for horticultural and other applications) and (2) soil materials in construction. These two fields of applications involve by far the largest amounts of excavated soils in Europe. It is worth noting that a regional or local soil quality assessment might consider other elements (and with different weights). It is also worthwhile to mention that the growing demand for the services provided by the genetic pool of soil biota (e.g., from pharmaceutical industry) might lead to extraction of some soil material locally. However, the magnitudes of these kinds of extractions involve minor areas on the local scale and are not significant on a regional scale, and as such do not significantly affect the capacity of soil to provide other ecosystem services.
Attention should be called to the major difference between renewable biomass production and destructive use of soil substances. Authors strongly stress the need for considering sustainable soil use with regards to provisioning soil functions.
The European Soil Database (ESDB; EC 2003) was used as the soil information source in this study. Specifically, the Soil Geographical Database of Eurasia (SGDBE) and the PedoTransfer Rules Database (PTRDB) components of the ESDB were utilized.
The SGDBE, at scale 1:1,000,000, and the PTRDB are parts of the European Soil Information System (Panagos 2006; van Liedekerke et al. 2004). The SGDBE consists of both a geometric dataset and a semantic dataset (set of attribute files) which link attribute values to the polygons of the geometrical dataset. The database contains a list of soil typological units (STU). Besides the higher level soil taxonomic classification units represented by a soil name, these units are described by variables (attributes) specifying the nature and properties of the soils, for example, texture, water regime, or stoniness. As the original taxonomic information of the SGDBE is based on the 1990 FAO-UNESCO Soil Revised Legend (FAO 1990), these names and associated information content are used in the current exercise.
The PTRDB consists of a set of rules to derive new attributes with input attributes of the SGDBE (EC 2003). Pedotransfer rules related to water availability were applied in this study.
The land use data of the SGDBE were exploited during the biomass productivity evaluation. The SGDBE holds information on dominant and secondary land use types of each component STU of the soil map polygons. For cropland productivity evaluation, only those STUs were considered which had cultivated land as primary or secondary land use type in the SGDBE.
The GLOBCOVER dataset developed by the European Space Agency (Bicheron et al. 2006) was used to restrict the study area separately for the main land cover classes during the validation process.
The CORINE (CO-oRdination of INformation on the Environment; JRC-EEA 2005) land cover database for the year 2000 was used to select the extent of different land use types (cropland, grassland, forest land) to present the results.
Europe has diverse climatic conditions, represented by climatic zones and areas (FAO 1990; Köppen 1936). Rainfall characteristics and temperature regime seem to provide sufficient information for continental-scale agro-meteorological zonalization (Bouma 2005). The limiting effect of solar radiation is less articulated in most of Europe than that of rainfall or temperature. Differences in the radiation intensity can therefore be expressed through the above two factors and through terrain characteristics (slope and its orientation).
Soil quality evaluation for biomass productivity was therefore performed in a spatially explicit manner, taking the impact of the climatic component of soil productivity into account. Climatic zonation based on the 35 climatic areas of Hartwich et al. (2005) served as spatial units for soil productivity assessments on the continental scale. Regrouping of the climatic areas was performed to create climatic zones for soil quality assessment (Figure 1).
Climate zones of the study.
Crop and forest stand requirements regarding climatic conditions might differ to a great extent. For forest land, the length of the vegetative season and the soil water balance, calculated based on potential evapotranspiration (ETO; Penman 1948), were the aspects taken into consideration for the evaluation of forest productivity.
A digital elevation model (DEM) was used to include a topographic component in the land evaluation model. The applied DEM was derived from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM; Rabus et al. 2003), which provided a dataset with a grid cell of 90 m.
In order to address the scientific reliability of the developed biomass productivity models, a validation procedure was applied using an independent dataset. A remote sensing–derived productivity indicator was used to validate all three land use–specific soil productivity models independently.
SPOT VEGETATIONa decadal data were used to derive an approximation of biomass for the whole European continent. Data from the VEGETATION Program are frequently used in global and continental studies that supply input to General Circulation Models derived from measurements of the land cover and of the seasonal and long-term variations in vegetation dynamics. Studies that address the effect of biosphere processes and land cover characterization, the estimations of land cover variables as well as their dynamics, and the quantification of the mechanisms by which vegetation cover and ecosystems are interlinked all benefit from the VEGETATION Program. The SPOT data were corrected for system errors (misregistration of the different channels, calibration of all detectors along the line-array detectors for each spectral band) and resampled to geographic projections for multitemporal analysis as well as for comparison with high resolution data. For the present study, the 10-day synthesis or the maximum Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) composite was used as is commonly accepted in the scientific community.
The NDVI time series was smoothed in order to remove short peaks and drop-offs due to noise. This pre-processing resulted in the reference time series from which the first (January) and last (December) absolute minimum values were derived for each year. The integral surface under the NDVI curve defined by the first and last minima of the year was derived and used as the approximation of net primary production (NPP; Figure 2). Ten years of NPP values were averaged for each pixel, and a final NPP dataset was produced (Figure 3). Many studies have already discussed the use of the integral surface of the annual NDVI time series curve as an approximation of aboveground biomass production (for an overview see Hill et al. 2008; Hellden and Tottrup 2008). In the present study the NPP dataset was used to validate the soil productivity model in a geographically explicit manner.
Schematic representation of gross annual biomass fraction (GABF) calculated from the NDVI time series for 1 year.
Mean GABF derived from time series of SPOT VEGETATION NDVI images averaged over the time series 1999–2010 for Europe.
For the raw material provisioning service, no validation datasets are available, therefore no similar validation was performed for this model.
The degree to which the soil carries out its biomass production service was evaluated on the basis of soil properties under prevailing climatic and topographical conditions. Since productivity is a result of the interaction of soil, climatic, and topographical conditions, these factors need to be assessed in their complexity.
In addition to geophysical conditions, soil productivity also depends on the type of land use. The assessment of the European Environmental Agency (EEA 2006) shows that the three major land use types dominating the land cover of Europe are arable land with a share of 33%, pastures and mosaics with a share of 23%, and forests with a share of 29%. The aggregated share of these three types of land uses sums up to 85% of the total land and freshwater surfaces of the 24 countries of Europe assessed by the EEA (2006). Besides these major land use types, there are a number of specific regionally characterized land uses in Europe. There might also be considerable differences in the land utilization within the main land use types. However, for a continental-scale assessment of biomass productivity, the productivity patterns were evaluated according to the three major land use types. Models were therefore developed to describe general orders of soil productivity within the three land use types, namely for pasture/grassland, cropland, and forest.
Calculations were performed in a spatially explicit manner, taking climatic and topographical conditions into account. Productivity models were built to reflect rain-fed conditions. The description of temporal variability of productivity or the estimation of provision productivity by means of actual yields was not among the aims. Results are presented in land use–specific maps (e.g., cropland productivity for areas of rain-fed arable lands, forest biomass productivity for forest lands, and grassland productivity for pastures and mosaics).
Productivity differences of similar soils under intensive rain-fed agricultural use and under grassland land cover vary with the changing availability of precipitation and differences in temperature regimes. For instance, in a temperate sub-oceanic climate, the rather stable thermal regime and balanced water availability of medium to high amounts of precipitation not only secure plant-available water on most soil types throughout the growing period but facilitate decomposition and weathering throughout the year. These processes are limited under temperate continental and Mediterranean climates due to cold and/or arid periods in most years. With increasing aridity in prevailing climates, the importance of soil physical and chemical properties in water and nutrient supply to plants gains increasing significance. Based on this principle of soil productivity processes, ranking of inherent productivity of soil was performed separately for the major climatic areas. While fertility is defined as the ability of the soil to provide nutrients and water, productivity refers to the capacity to supply nutrients and water and thus produce plant biomass at a given level/quantity. Inherent productivity in this context means soil productivity before human interference. In this study, inherent soil fertility—in this context productivity—is considered as a proxy for grassland productivity. Although the existence of different nutrient inputs on grasslands in different regions of the European Union is recognized, due to the lack of adequate data, grassland fertilization and other management factors were not taken into account. Cropland soil productivity was evaluated by the extension of inherent productivity with a management factor, as described below.
In the first step of the evaluation process, eight characteristic European climate systems were identified where the complex effects of water availability and thermal regime are distinct for soil processes and plant growth. The 35 climatic areas of Europe (Hartwich et al. 2005) were arranged into eight climatic groups accordingly (Figure 1). The climatic groups comprise regions where the following concepts of soil productivity processes prevail: boreal to sub-boreal (CZ1), Atlantic (CZ2), sub-oceanic (CZ3), northern sub-continental (CZ4), southern sub-continental, (CZ5), Mediterranean semi-arid (CZ6), Mediterranean (temperate and sub-oceanic) (CZ7), and temperate mountainous (CZ8). Long-term average inherent soil productivity ratings were assigned to soils of each region in a spatially explicit manner. Temporally variably climatic hazards of productivity (frost, water logging, etc.) were not taken into account in the current study.
Inherent soil productivity estimates were derived from the original taxonomic component (second-level taxonomic soil units) and soil attribute information of the soil database. Second-level taxonomic soil units were grouped into five inherent capability classes according to their relative productivity in each climatic zone. CZ1 includes 59 different soil units, CZ2 has 113, CZ3 has 122, CZ4 has 117, CZ5 has 128, CZ6 has 96, CZ7 has 103, and CZ8 has 131. This approach allows productivity assessment of soil types at different climatic regions. Table 2 provides an example of the classification.
In parallel, STUs were also rated according to the available water capacities (AWC) of topsoil and subsoil. According to the pedotransfer rules of the PTRDB (EC 2003) and based on physical soil properties and soil depth, AWCs of both the topsoil and the subsoil were calculated. Soils were grouped into four classes on the basis of the water-storing capacity of the profile (Table 3).
In the next step of the productivity assessment, an evaluation matrix was set up for the eight climatic regions and the five inherent capability classes. Productivity scores between 1 and 8 were assigned for each cell in the matrix, based on the complex evaluation of the climate-dependent relative inherent fertility of soils (Table 4).
Water-storing capacity classes (Table 3) were assigned a multiplication factor between 0.75 and 1 for each climate zone. These factors were used to multiply the productivity scores of each soil unit of the climate zones.
The position of soil units in the capability classification matrix, productivity scores of capability classes by climate zones, and multiplication factors to account for the water-storing capacities by climate zones were first defined by expert judgment and then refined and completed through an iterative analytical process with a series of cross validations using regression analysis (GWR) with the validation dataset as dependent variable (see below for details on the validation process).
The result of this procedure is the soil productivity index for each soil typological unit in the climate zones. The index score 1 represents the poorest and 8 the highest productivity soil. The corresponding inherent productivity scores were assigned to each STU in the SGDBE. A spatially weighted average of inherent productivity score was calculated for each soil mapping unit on the basis of the proportional areal shares of the STUs within the mapping units.
Correction measures based on topographic conditions were finally applied to arrive at the final evaluation scores of inherent soil productivity. Correction coefficients of slope and aspects applied according to the D-e-Meter land evaluation system (Tóth 2009) were adapted for this continental-scale study.
To evaluate the biomass productivity of soils under arable cultivation, the model was extended with a new module. Since the productivity of soil is due to its inherent fertility and to the effect of management—mainly nutrient input—the effect of fertilization was considered in this module. While acknowledging the importance of the applied technology of soil use on the actual productivity of soil, detailed distinctions of management practices were not considered in this study. The goal of this study was solely to determine soil productivity, i.e., the capacity of soil to supply nutrients, water, and rooting medium for plants, in a comparative manner and not to assess the effects of management differences other than nutrient supply. We also assume that in the case of the realization of biomass productive capacity, technological advancement plays a relatively insignificant role within distinct regions in European Union. However, in certain regions, where complex socioeconomic and biophysical conditions diversify the technological levels, this statement might not hold. The efficiency of input use, i.e., the selection of the most appropriate techniques and the amount of input, is largely determined by biophysical conditions (e.g., large regional crop yield differences within France (Eurostat 2013), are due to biophysical differences rather than differences in available technology, capital, or other socio-economic conditions). However, the technological advancement and input intensity of agriculture across regions in the European Union varies, and this variation contributes to differences in crop yields.
It was not the goal of this study to evaluate all management-related yield responses of soils, but rather, to evaluate the effect of management, we considered the influence of fertilization. To do this, second-level taxonomic soil units were grouped into five classes in each climatic zone, according to the magnitude of their expected productivity increase due to fertilization (Table 5).
Then, a fertilizer response score was assigned to each soil unit in the eight climatic zones. Soils with the largest relative fertility increase received the maximum of 8 points and soils with little influence of fertilization received 1 point. For example, an Albic Arenosol in the sub-oceanic climate has among the highest relative productivity increases when properly fertilized, while fertilization has little effect on the crop productivity of Calcaric Rendzinas in the Mediterranean.
To calculate soil productivity for the cropland land use type, the inherent soil productivity and the fertilizer response scores were aggregated, assigning a mechanical weight to the fertilizer response indices. This weight resulted in the best model fit at the end of an iterative statistical validation process (see below for details of the statistical validation). Spatially weighted averages of productivity scores were calculated for the SMUs of the SGDBE. In order to avoid the bias originating from the evaluation of non-cropland soils, only those STUs were considered which had cultivated land as the primary or secondary land use type in the SGDBE. Finally, similarly to the concluding step of the grassland productivity evaluation, correction coefficients were applied to evaluate the effect of the topography (slope and aspect) on the productivity of cropland soils.
The productivity of a forest, in terms of biomass, is the result of the interaction of tree species, soil, and climate. Ecosystem research has provided sufficient information about key processes such as photosynthesis, transpiration, and decomposition to allow the construction of simulation models that predict properties such as biomass production, soil carbon storage, and nitrogen cycling rates (e.g., Aber et al. 1997; Parton et al. 1988; Raich et al. 1991; Running and Gower 1991).
Several of these models are based on complex input data sets, consisting of a series of climate, soil, and forest stand data (i.e., maximum and minimum daily temperature, vapor pressure, solar radiation, total monthly precipitation, forest type, and plant-available soil water holding capacity).
The aim of this study, however, was to predict, in general terms, the forest productivity potential of European soils. For this purpose, two main processes related to forest productivity were evaluated: the length of the vegetative season and the soil water balance. The concept behind this simplistic approach is that the net ecosystem productivity (NEP) of a forest can be limited by two main factors: the air temperature, which determines the length of the vegetative season, and the amount of water from soils that the plants can evapo-transpire. Accordingly the northern latitude forests will be limited by the relatively short vegetative season, while the Mediterranean forests will be limited by the relatively low water availability, which in turn is related to both climate and soil characteristics.
where Pi is monthly precipitation, ETPi is monthly potential evapotranspiration (Kc =1), and AWC is the available water content (mm).
The values obtained, ranging from 0 to 313, were grouped into 10 equal classes. The output map was masked based on the actual forest distribution as defined by the CORINE Land Cover database.
Results of all three productivity evaluations (grassland, cropland, forest) were scaled to index scores ranging from 1 to 10 showing the relative fertility of soils expressed in relative index values without units.
Peat (for horticultural and other applications) and organic topsoil: All organic soils (Histosols) are considered and no mineral soils are considered.
In addition to the above construction materials, loamy clay is often used to produce bricks and tiles. Although the Soil Atlas of Europe does not consider these as among the dominant soil-based construction materials, their widespread usage could justify the inclusion of loamy-clay (sub) soils in the analysis. However, the currently available continental soil databases contain no information on soil texture at this level of detail; therefore such an analysis was not feasible at this time.
The evaluation did not account for any economic considerations (i.e., only the availability of raw material was assessed). Results are presented as the proportional availability of these materials in the mapping units. For Cyprus, no information on texture and stone and gravel content was available and, therefore Cyprus was excluded from this analysis.
The geographically weighted regression (GWR) method (Brunsdon et al. 1996; Fotheringham et al. 2002) was selected to validate the model results against the measured productivity indicators. The GWR method was selected as it allows for the possibility of assessing relationships in spatially explicit information. Spatial data are rarely consistent due to random sampling variations, the different relationships between variables across space, or model misspecifications of reality (Fotheringham et al. 2002). However, the application of standard regression methods to spatial data would result in the assumption of the spatial phenomenon being constant over space.
where e i is the error term, a represents the vector of global parameters to be estimated, x is a matrix of independent variables and y represents a vector of observations on the dependent variable.
where (u i ,v i ) denotes the coordinates of the i th point in space and a k (u i ,v i ) is a realization of the continuous function a k (u,v) at point i (Brunsdon et al. 1996).
This extension allows measurements of a continuous surface of parameters to be taken and to denote the spatial variability of the surface because observed data near point i have more of an influence in the estimation than do data located farther from i. Thus GWR becomes a weighted least squares regression where observations are weighted in accordance with the proximity to point i and the weight decreases with increasing distance from with i.
The biomass productivity spatial datasets were divided—both from our land evaluation exercise and from the satellite observations—by land use, based on small regions for special diagnoses (NUTS3; Eurostat 2011). Analyses of statistical correlation between the datasets were performed using the GWR method as described above.
Per pixel biomass values estimated from the land evaluation exercise and from the satellite-based observations were averaged within the regions of the NUTS3 dataset (Eurostat 2011) for the countries of the European Union. The GWR analysis was carried out separately for croplands, grasslands and forests with the remote sensing–derived biomass estimates as the dependent variable and the land cover–specific biomass estimates as independent variables. Each regression run was weighted by the number of pixels within the NUTS3 polygons.
The result of the GWR model for croplands is valid with a goodness of fit characterized by a coefficient of determination (adjusted r2) of 0.73. The adjusted r2 figure for grassland is 0.85 and for forests 0.90. These results can be considered as a confirmation of the validity of the soil productivity evaluation approach.
The application of a geographically explicit spatial soil grassland productivity model showed high consistency with the data obtained from remote sensing (R2 = 0.85).
Based on the cumulative relative productivity indices, the soils in the Atlantic climatic zone have the highest potential for grassland production. They contribute nearly half of the potential for the European Union (44.6%), although only 38.4% of Europe's grassland areas are found in the Atlantic zone (Table 6). The zone productivity factor of grassland soils in this climate zone is 1.2, indicating 20% higher relative productivity indices on average when compared to the mean of the EU. In contrast, grasslands of the semi-arid Mediterranean region have relative productivity indices that are 40% lower than the average of the EU. Apart from the northern sub-continental zone (zone productivity factor = 1), all other zones have relative productivity indices for grasslands that are lower than the average of the EU. This fact indicates that, in most of the climatic zones (CZ1, CZ3, CZ5, CZ6, CZ7, CZ8) of Europe, grassland ecosystems are on soils of lower production potentials.
a1: Boreal to sub-boreal, 2: Atlantic, 3: sub-oceanic, 4: sub-continental (northern), 5: sub-continental (southern), 6: Mediterranean (semi-arid), 7: Mediterranean (temperate and sub-oceanic), 8: temperate mountainous. bExpressed in terms of productivity index. cZone productivity factor = % of total productivity indices/% of total area in the EU (h = g/b).
The dependency of productivity on climate was statistically significant at the continental scale. Up to an estimated average of 60% of the grassland productivity differences between the most favorable (Atlantic) and least favorable (Mediterranean semi-arid) regions of the EU can be attributed to climatic factors, as indicated by the differences in mean productivity indices between the climatic zones and standard deviations within the climatic zones (Table 6). The influence of regional soil variability expressed as the standard deviations of the soil productivity indices might exceed the figure attributed to the influence of climate between different climate zones. These results confirm the general understanding of the importance of water availability in soil and the synergism between optimum temperature, water, and nutrient regimes and also present these interdependencies in a quantified manner in a spatial context.
Results of the inherent soil productivity evaluation are shown in the grassland productivity map of the European Union (Figure 4).
Soil biomass productivity of grasslands and pastures of the European Union.
A comparative analysis between modeled and remote sensing–derived soil productivity indicators demonstrated a significant climate dependency in the general pattern of cropland productivity of soils in the EU. However, a strong influence of soil type and soil properties was also verified.
Productivity showed a general trend of increasing in a northward and westward direction, however, local soil quality in most regions—except in the Mediterranean—can compensate for the climatic "handicap" to a great extent. While soils of the Atlantic region (CZ2), as was the case of the grassland ecosystem, have the highest relative potential to perform biomass provisioning ecosystem services in the cropland agro-ecosystem, this relative advantage is not as pronounced as in the case of grasslands (Table 6). In fact, soils of the northern sub-continental zone (CZ4; with 25.1% of the croplands of the EU) also perform above the EU average (zone productivity factor = 1.1), and another four zones (CZ1, CZ3, CZ5, CZ8), with a total share of 31% from the croplands of the EU, have, in general, soil productivity near the average of the continent (zone productivity factor = 1; Table 6). Among these four zones, the sub-oceanic zone (CZ3) possesses the highest intra-variability, as indicated by the standard deviation of the productivity assessment. Cropland soils of the Mediterranean (CZ7 and CZ8) with a combined area share of 21.2% have substantially lower rain-fed crop productivity compared to the EU's average, demonstrated by zone productivity factors of 0.8 and 0.7, respectively.
It is worth noting that irrigation can significantly increase the productivity of soils in the Mediterranean and to some extent also in the sub-continental region, where water is the limiting factor for crop growth. However, to assess (actual and potential) irrigated productivity of soil was out of the scope of this study. Nevertheless, future research should be carried out to analyze this aspect as well.
Results of soil productivity evaluation for croplands of the European Union are presented in Figure 5.
Soil biomass productivity of croplands in the European Union.
Forest productivity is essentially the expression of the interaction between climate and soil factors. The productivity of forest soils is a function of their ability to hold and make water available to trees (available water capacity, AWC). Their nutrient status is also important. Available water capacity is a function of the rooting depth and texture of soils.
A common measure, especially in United States, for the evaluation of the collective influence of soil factors on forest growth is the site index (SI). The most important factors determining the SI are the topsoil depth and soil texture. The AWC parameter is strongly correlated with soil depth and soil texture and consequently can be used as a proxy of SI.
From the data shown in Figure 6, the climate driver is the most evident at larger scales, while the influence of soil can be detected mainly at more detailed scales. In fact, zone productivity factors (Table 6) have the widest range across the climate zones in Europe for forest land among the three land use classes assessed. The zone productivity factor is 1.4 for the Atlantic zone (CZ2), but only 0.6 for sub-boreal to boreal climates. In general terms, it is clear that climate is responsible for forest productivity variation at the regional scale while soil characteristics cause local (i.e., at scales of 10–100 km2) variations.
Soil biomass productivity of forest areas in the European Union.
It is evident that in the northern areas the favorable moisture conditions are negated to some extent by the shorter length of the vegetative season, while in the Mediterranean climate the length of the vegetative season is not a constraint and water availability during summer represents the most important limiting factor.
The soil parameter taken into consideration in the proposed approach was the AWC, for which only three classes are available within the European Soil Geographic Database: 120, 165, and 220 mm. The effect of soil is evident at a local scale, where it can result in a large variation in the absolute values of soil productivity.
Raw material provisioning of the mapping units was calculated on the basis of the proportional shares of the STUs with raw material content in the area of each mapping unit. Once again it is important to stress that geological maps showing availability of materials worthwhile for human use that are present below the soil cover were not considered in this assessment and might show a very different pattern. The result of the assessment is presented in Figure 7.
Raw material availability from soils of the European Union. a) organic soil material; b) soil material for constructions.
It is well acknowledged that this first approximation to highlight the availability of soil-born raw materials on the continental scale might be biased (1) by the classification of soil materials of human interest for excavation and (2) by the thematic and geographic limitations of the dataset. However, the attempt to consider the main human activities that require materials of soil origin and to map the locations where those materials are available on a continental scale provides new insight to this field of research.
These maps showing a continental overview can suggest opportunities for raw material extraction from soil which can serve current or future needs for a number of applications, such as construction and the health industry (soil organic matter). The maps show that northern and north-eastern Europe have large stocks for both applications, while most other regions of the continent do not have large reserves of soil organic matter but are generally well suited for extraction of construction materials, with substantial intraregional differences.
The comparison of maps showing the raw material availability of European soils (Figure 7) and productivity of various land uses (Figures 4, 5, and 6) also proves the need for separate assessment of the components of soil quality. In general terms the geographic locations of the most suitable zones for agriculture and for procuring soil-borne materials are different. On the other hand, there are more overlaps between prime areas of forest lands and zones with potential to provide raw materials from soil. While the first assumption is positive for resource use planning, the second highlights the dilemma that land use planners usually face: the utilization of one service of the land might negatively influence another utilization option. With the evaluation of other soil functions and ecosystem services, the level of complexity for decision-making increases.
A coherent view of soils requires an expansion of the conventional thinking about the role of soils and consideration of soils in a multidimensional perspective in the context of sustainable development including the utilization of soil-based ecosystem services. Conscious utilization of soil ecosystem services can only be achieved on the basis of a proper accounting.
In this study, an assessment of soil functions in relation to ecosystem services was carried out for a continental-scale overview of the EU. A coherent system of soil function-based ecosystem services was devised, taking into account the major soil functions as identified in the Soil Thematic Strategy.
In this attempt to characterize soil ecosystem services for the EU in a spatially explicit manner, new data on soil-based provisioning ecosystem services were produced, including productivity and raw material availability. Results show that up to an average of 60% of grassland productivity differences can be attributed to climatic factors between the most favorable (Atlantic) and least favorable (semi-arid Mediterranean) regions of the EU. While crop productivity shows a general trend toward increasing in a northward and westward direction, local soil quality in most regions—except in the Mediterranean—can compensate for climatic handicaps to a great extent. The attempts to address the main human activities requiring materials of soil origin and to map the locations where those materials are available on a continental scale provide new insight to this field of research.
The comparison of areas with potential for providing ecosystem services by individual soil functions highlights the complexity of decision-making for resource utilization but also the possibilities for optimization and more conscious management.
With the evolution of time-series soil data based on monitoring, the increase in spatial precision of soil information, and the introduction of dynamic components to the models, comparative assessment of soil functions can be a valuable tool for decision-making in the future across geographical scales and for different stakeholder's needs.
Gergely Tóth is a senior scientist at the Joint Research Centre, Italy, where his key research themes include investigations of soil quality, soil degradation processes, geographical distribution of soil properties, and soil nutrient dynamics. He is vice chair of the Soil Evaluation and Land Use Planning Commission of the International Union of Soil Sciences.
GT, CG, AJ, SJ, LM, and TP participated in the concept development. GT, CG, and AJ designed the models. KB and EA contributed to the GIS analysis. GT and ÉI designed and implemented the model validation. GT, AJ, CG, and SJ drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.


With its newly arrived forces from the eastern front, Germany enjoyed superiority in numbers on the western front for the first time since the earliest days of the war. Nonetheless, all sides, including Germany, were exhausted. Their strength was limited, and fresh troops from the United States would soon be ready to join the fight on the Allied side. If Germany was going to somehow win the war, now was the time.
Germany therefore poured all of its remaining resources into a massive offensive that began in the early morning hours of March 21, 1918. The goal was to push across the river Somme and then on to Paris. Like most land battles in World War I, the offensive began with a prolonged artillery barrage. In this case it lasted for five hours and included a heavy concentration of poison gas shells along with the usual explosive ordinance. When the German troops moved forward through a combination of heavy fog and poison gas clouds, visibility was near zero, and soldiers on both sides were largely unable to distinguish friendly from enemy forces. By midday, the fog had lifted, and a furious air battle took place over the soldiers' heads while the Germans relentlessly pounded the Allies.
As the Germans surged forward, they brought with them the newest long-range artillery cannons developed by Krupp, which enabled them to fire accurately upon Paris from the astounding range of seventy-four miles. On March 23, these shells killed more than 250 unsuspecting Parisians, who were baffled because they initially thought the blasts were coming from the ground. The long-distance German shells killed hundreds more in the following days. On March 24, the Germans raced across the Somme, having captured the bridges before the French could destroy them. On March 25, the Allied front broke at precisely the point where the French and British troop lines met.
German momentum continued for another five days until a British advance halted the Germans at Moreuil Wood on March 30. The Allies pushed the Germans back for several days more, until the initiative was turned around once more at the Battle of Lys, which began on April 9, 1918. At Lys, the British and French began to lose ground once more, and the Germans recaptured places (such as Passchendaele and Messines) that the Allies had won in hard-fought battles the previous year.
By the end of the Battle of Lys on April 29, the German army, despite its run of recent success, saw morale at an all-time low. The French and British were in almost as bad a state. During this period of the war, whenever either side launched an offensive, it would only last a few days before the troops ran out of energy and began to fall back. Nonetheless, neither British, nor French, nor German leaders would give up, so the war continued in this way for much of the summer.
Only the United States, it seemed, held the power to shift the balance, but more than a year had passed since the U.S. declaration of war, with little tangible result. Although hundreds of thousands of American troops had been transported to Europe, very few of them had actually participated in combat.


text:
What Is an EV SSL Certificate, and Why Should You Get One?
January 9, 2018 | David Bisson
An extended validation (EV) certificate is a type of SSL/TLS certificate. It is highly valued because it requires the most amount of effort by a certificate authority (CA) to validate. As such, an EV certificate provides a high degree of trust for visitors to a website operated by the certificate owner.
Due to their intensive verification process, EV certificates are generally less common than other SSL certificates. On the opposite side of the scale, domain validated (DV) certificates are the most common type of SSL/TLS certificate. They only require verification using the domain name, validation which a domain owner achieves by confirming their email listed in the WHOIS record with the CA or placing a verification file on the website.
The next step up are organization validated (OV) certificates, which require more verification than DV certificates. For these digital files, CAs commonly request documentation verifying a domain owner's address and other organization information. If successfully obtained, OV certificates list the names of both the website and the company.
As for EV certificates, CAs require a domain owner to provide extra documentation such as a signed subscriber agreement, a signed authorization form, and documentation verifying either their business or their EV request. A vetting partner then looks over all this information in an effort to verify the domain owner's name, legal existence, operational existence, physical existence, and other properties. Successful passage of the vetting process yields a fully validated EV certificate, a digital file which shows the name of the company or organization in the address bar as well as displays the address bar in green.
Not everyone needs an EV SSL/TLS certificate for every instance. They are best reserved for high-profile websites that attackers commonly target for phishing attacks. Those generally include retailers, major technology brands, banks, and financial institutions.
EV certificates help protect against sophisticated phishing techniques. In response to a warier population of web users, fraudsters have turned to purchasing fraudulent "domain-only" SSL/TLS certificates for their convincing phishing domains. An example of this would be a certificate for paypa1.com (with the number 1 substituting for the lowercase letter "L"). This skin-deep level of apparent protection successfully fooled previous web browsers versions, as they were incapable of distinguishing between fully verified SSL/TLS certificates and easy-to-acquire "domain-only" digital files. As a result, many users thought these fake sites were real and willingly gave up their sensitive information.
By comparison, attackers can't easily obtain an EV certificate, as the amount of verification leaves ample room for a CA to spot discrepancies in the bad actors' applications. But if attackers are able to steal or compromise existing EV certificates, they have access to abuse a much wider range of trust.
Also, it's important that high-profile companies don't allow their EV certificates to expire. Failure to keep these highly trusted certificates up-to-date could raise a red flag in the minds of web visitors, causing a decline in business. To prevent this from happening, these domain owners should invest in a solution that monitors their certificates and automates the renewal process.
Understanding the Difference between SSL and TLS
TLS Vulnerability in iOS Apps Opens the Door to Man-in-the-Middle Attacks
Microsoft TLS Leak: Are Your Keys Exposed?
En quoi consistent les attaques SSL strip ?
David Bisson
David is a Contributing Editor at IBM Security Intelligence.David Bisson is a security journalist who works as Contributing Editor for IBM's Security Intelligence, Associate Editor for Tripwire and Contributing Writer for Gemalto, Venafi, Zix, Bora Design and others.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: converting em tags to links The title is clear.
How can I convert this mini article
Test article here. This is a test test article.
This is the other line.

to that by php
Test article here. This is a test test article.
This is the other line.

A: this is in jquery just in case:
$("em").wrap("");
$("em").contents().unwrap();

A: Try this:
$code = preg_replace('!(.+?)!', '\1', $code);

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Posted inHealth & Wellness
Air Quality District and Residents Agree To Study Asphalt Plant Emissions in Irvine Together
by Noah Biesiada Mar 5, 2021 Updated Mar 6, 2021 Why you can trust Voice of OC
A sign alerting residents of asphalt pollutants is placed in the affected neighborhood corner. Jan. 9, 2021. Credit: JOSE HERNANDEZ, Voice of OC
A group of UCI scientists and the South Coast Air Quality Management District announced this week they would consider teaming up on efforts to study fumes from an asphalt plant in Irvine that residents say is affecting their quality of life.
All American Asphalt has operated an asphalt plant on the edge of the city since 1993, opening before the city annexed the piece of land it sits on. In 2005, the city council approved the first homes to be built just half a mile away from the factory, in a development named Orchard Hills.
Residents say that smells from the factory have been a daily problem over the past several years, and question what health impacts the emissions could have on them. Following what they saw as inaction by the air quality district, they took action themselves to study the issue.
[Read: Irvine Residents Raise Alarm Over Dangerous Emissions In Million Dollar Neighborhood]
Working with volunteer scientists from UC Irvine, resident group Nontoxic Neighborhoods completed air sampling that showed high levels of volatile organic compounds in the air of homes surrounding the factory, chemicals which are linked to potential negative health impacts.
The city of Irvine, the air quality district and a separate team from UCI under the leadership of researcher Donald Blake completed separate sampling efforts. Following Voice of OC's publication of the resident's data, the air quality district announced they would be hosting a public meeting to discuss the issue.
The air quality district says their results so far show no health risk for residents in the area despite the asphalt smells, but every researcher agreed more studies need to be done on the emissions to figure out the real impacts.
"Does more work need to be done? It is and that's what we're working toward," said Jason Low, the Assistant Deputy Executive Officer for monitoring and analysis at the air quality district. "Dr. Jun Wu and Dr. Mousavi (UCI volunteers) are showing there are certain times with higher (volatile organic compound) levels than others, but to characterize that at this point in the context of health are difficult."
The benefit of the readings conducted by the UCI volunteers are that they establish a baseline for when and where chemical hotspots pop up, but they can't get a detailed breakdown of the specific chemicals in the air. Their scanners can only detect the total level of volatile organic compounds and aren't set to specifically scan for chemicals from the factory.
The air quality district's scanners can capture much more detailed data on the specific chemicals, but can only run in 24 hour bursts and take the daily averages, failing to capture detailed emissions in short periods when residents say the smells and emissions are at their worst.
By pairing the two efforts together, researchers hope to provide a broader understanding of the emissions coming from the factory and their impact.
The residents and the air quality district are set to be the only ones looking at the issue going forward, as both the city and Blake's research group they would be dropping out of the effort without further funding.
The city paid environmental contractor Ninyo & Moore to examine the plant and they ultimately sampled on four different days that showed no specific chemicals spiking. They are not under contract to complete any further testing.
Comments from the city council were limited during the meeting, with Councilman Larry Agran repeating the call from residents for the city to host a study session on the issue and put in more resources.
"I think it's imperative that we look not only at air quality but the quality of life that's being experienced by people under these conditions," Agran said. "Whatever responsibility the city had…we need to own up to that."
Mayor Farrah Khan and council members Anthony Kuo and Tammy Kim were also in attendance, but didn't offer any opinions in public on the factory's operation. In a copy of the meeting's agenda given to Voice of OC, Khan was slated to speak before the panel but was never called on.
Barbara Barletta, the representative for Blake's group, said that while their initial tests were done on a voluntary basis they would need new funding to move forward.
"It's impossible to give any type of hard conclusion because of the limited amount of data," Barletta said. "If we really want a complete characterization of the air surrounding the facility, we want event episodes and non event episodes."
Residents also had extensive opportunities to question the panel and the air quality district staff, with many asking about the district's ability to enforce consequences for the factory.
"What I think you guys are doing is good, but it needs to be much more comprehensive," said Kevin Lien, one of the leaders of Nontoxic Neighborhoods. "After all this review, do you not believe and agree the study's design lacks sufficient power…to come to any kind of conclusion regarding health risk assessment?"
Low responded that their current readings didn't show any health issues in the area, and that they would keep working with the UCI volunteers to review the data.
"We have what's called the graded approach, where we're going to look at this initial set of data, evaluate it, and choose next steps," Low said.
Another resident also had concerns over the air quality district consistently testing every six days, and asked if the factory was forewarned of the testing.
Aaron Katzenstein, laboratory services manager for the district, said the factory was not notified ahead of community testing but acknowledged they did follow a schedule.
"We have a schedule and that correlates with our samples for other monitoring stations," Katzenstein said "I don't think they would change their operations based on our sampling, that would be pretty hard to do."
The air quality district refused to commit to a time frame on the next community update, but said they would be carrying out testing at the plant within the next month and encouraged residents to follow their progress on their website.
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC Reporting Fellow. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.
Irvine Asphalt Company Receives Two Odor Violations in Two Days
In "Health & Wellness"
CA Regulators Conclude Odors From An Irvine Asphalt Factory Are Safe But Homeowners Unconvinced
Irvine Officials Look to Move Controversial Asphalt Factory Through Legal Settlement
Tagged: Air Pollution, Nontoxic Neighborhoods, South Coast Air Quality Management District


If you have any comments on my posts, respond here.
And I don't see how you can say that San Diego is not a good location.
yeah mee too, doom. Why is San Diego not a good location zxcv?
Okay, so my sense of location is subjective, like everyone else's . In particular, I think anywhere in CA is better than anywhere east of the Rookies . I like that Davis is (relatively) close to the Sierras. I'm really pretty into hiking and outdoors stuff, so I like the idea that that is possible from Davis -- good areas for that are much less convenient around San Diego, which is mostly desert. I grew up in Oregon, so it's also a bit closer to what I'm familiar with. The beach is not what gets me excited about a place, but if beach and surfing really get you going, San Diego is the place to be, no doubt.
In terms of the actual campus, I had forgotten that the central valley is soooo flat. Also, I hear it gets ridiculously hot in the summer. UCSD has an advantage there, but at least Davis is accessible to bicycle transportation. I think that's pretty cool (the UCSD area did not work well on a bike).
Anyways, this is pretty mute at this point, as baring anything really bizarre on my visit, I'm far more likely to go to Berkeley than Davis. Or U of Washington, possibly. I would consider both to have better locations than Davis or San Diego.
I'll be very interested to read your post about Washington after you visit this weekend. I'm admitted but wasn't invited to the visit weekend. (I was admitted second wave.) I am waiting to hear if they'll cover visiting costs for me, but I may have to rely on whatever info I can gather at a distance.
That's a tough situation, doom. I really hope you get the chance to visit, because we all know how important it is to get a personal sense of a place before you plan to spend 5-7 years there.
IMHO, it's irresponsible for a school to admit someone (even second wave) and not give them the chance to visit. Or if not irresponsible it's plain foolish, because you're not going to go to that school anyways if you haven't seen it. I know that would be true for me if I get off some wait list at the last moment for UCSB or Caltech. Why take the risk?
It would have made more sense for UW to take the $500 cost of visiting out of your bonus stipend in the first year (which is the same as mine, by the way) than to not cover the cost of travel.


Houston House Painting is an experienced, reliable company providing routine maintenance and emergency plumbing services to Houston and the surrounding area. Countless residents rely on us to keep their systems running smoothly, so if you're experiencing problems with your plumbing system give us a call today.
Sometimes your plumbing issues need to be dealt with right away, which is why Houston House Painting offers 24/7 emergency support for when problems just can't wait. As plumbers, we understand how frustrating plumbing problems can be. We are constantly working to better the level of service we provide, so our clients don't have to put up with issues for long.
Sick of feeling held hostage by plumbing companies that charge you an arm and a leg for routine plumbing work? At Houston House Painting, we offer affordable rates paired with top quality service.
From clogged drains to burst pipes, plumbing problems are diverse and numerous. Part of being a responsible property owner is knowing when something is wrong. When plumbing problems arise, you don't have time to look for the best plumber in Houston, you need someone who can resolve the issue immediately. Houston House Painting is a trusted source for plumbing repairs big and small. Our team is made up of highly skilled, licensed plumbers, meaning we can tackle any job that comes our way with ease. Get in touch with us to solve whatever problem you're facing.
If your plumbing system is acting up, we can help. Once you work with us once you'll understand why so many of our clients have been with us since day one. For plumbing service that can't be beaten, get in touch with Houston House Painting today.


text:
Q: How to make a simple venn diagram for following dataset data science   pyth  R spark aws excel
0   1   1   0    1   1
1   1   0   1    1   0
2   1   0   0    0   1
3   1   0   1    0   0
4   1   1   1    1   0

This is the data set for the skills required in DS jobs
In total there are 500 rows/Entries (Jobs).
I want to make a venn diagram, in which each skill is represented by a group.
Can someone tell me how to go about it. Searched the internet, didnt find a comprehensive solution

A: I found a repository with necessary help :
https://github.com/LankyCyril/pyvenn/blob/master/pyvenn-demo.ipynb
I though it needs sets with unique values, that is common across all of them... so I choose index, simple.
from venn import venn
%matplotlib inline
skills = Jobs_data[['python_yn','R_yn','spark','aws','excel']]
skills_venn={}
for i in skills.columns :
    skills_venn[i] = set(skills[skills[i]==1].index.values)
venn(skills_venn)

Resultant Graph
So this was the solution.


We measure our performance to ensure excellence in every aspect of patient care. Our comprehensive and up-to-date data is measured against national standards. Where no national standards exist, we set our own benchmarks.
Patient satisfaction: We consider every aspect of your care – your medical needs, your physical comfort, communication.
Hospital Standards: Epworth is accredited under the National Safety and Quality Health Services Standards.
Clinical Standards: Epworth aims to provide excellent care, everywhere, everyday.
Our attention to patient care is unique and different to other Australian hospitals. We pride ourselves on the high levels of care we give, considering every aspect of the patient experience.
In addition to medical needs, care includes physical comfort, emotional needs and communication. Satisfaction in these areas contributes to our delivery of expert and empathetic patient care and clinical services.
We don't just want to provide good care, we want to provide excellent care.
It's important to us that our patients are fully involved in the care they receive. Do you have a patient experience you wish to share? We openly welcome patient feedback to improve our levels of customer service.


This is a non-greasy, quick absorbing formulation which leaves the skin nourished and enriched with the invigorating scent of Grapefruit & Peppermint. Use as a daily after-shower moisturizer or as a massage oil.
Key Ingredients: Essential Oils of Grapefruit & Peppermint blended in Sunflower & Wheatgerm Oil.


text:
The Red Star
Publisher: XS Games
Developer: TBC
Want one icon
Got one icon
Want it!
Set around three main characters, The Red Star tells the tale of an alternate Russia, the URRS, where massive technology and futuristic weapons are wielded by its army, The Red Fleet. Your journey begins as Maya Antares, the sorceress-general for The Red Fleet, searches for her husband, Marcus, who was lost in battle. Each of the game's three characters offers different game experiences. During cooperative play, player characters can interact with each other and perform special attacks.
Download from PlayStation®Store
1-2 Player Types
"PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
The PS2 logo is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.


text:
Q: Span tag could not make initial border at the start of paragraph

body{
  width: 50%;
  : #c9ffb5;
  border: 20px solid grey;
  text-align: justify;
  padding: 30px;
  margin-left: 25%;
}

h4{
  color: #0f4aff;
  text-transform: uppercase;
  font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', sans-serif;
}

h2, p{
  font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', sans-serif;
}

span.border{
  border-left: 5px solid grey;
  padding-left: 3px;
}

  Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing
  and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's
  standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer
  took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.
   It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap
  into electronic
  typesetting,
  remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with
  the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and
  more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker
  including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

Trying to put the a border of left side at the start of paragraph for initial three lines. HTML  tag failed to give its effect. Border gets effect only at first line of the paragraph.
This is for putting border at specific lines in paragraph to make the attention towards reader. CSS for Zen blog could not explain neat use of span Tag. Also tried examples from W3Schools.

A: You could use scss and add a variable for line-height, then add a :before on the

There is no need to include the span in this case.
You can also specify how many lines you want to include the border, by adjusting the height eg (4 * $line-height)
SCSS:
$line-height: 1.5em;
p {
  line-height:$line-height;

  &:before {
    content:"";
    border-left:5px solid grey;
    height: 3 * $line-height;;
    display: block;
    float: left;
    margin-right: 3px;
  }
}

See the example

A: Please try adding display:block with span.borders css. It works for me
 span.borders{
  display:block;
  border-left: 5px solid red;
 padding-left: 3px;
}

Thanks

A: This happens because the span is processed as one element. Simply add this to get your result:
span.border{
  display: inline-block;   // that one
  border-left: 5px solid grey;
  padding-left: 3px;
}

A: You can try this also
span.border {
    position: relative;
    display: inline-block;
    padding-left: 8px;
}
span.border:before {
    content: "";
    position: absolute;
    left: 0;
    right: 0;
    top: 0;
    bottom: 0;
    border-left: 5px solid grey;
}

A: Consider that span element have inline display by default:
span {
display: inline
}

so to make it work you need to change span display in your css to block:
span {
display: block
}

A:    span.border{
        display : bloack;
        border-left: 5px solid grey;
        padding-left: 3px;
    }


text:
For the first time in France, public transport, parking services and a bike-sharing scheme have been included in one, comprehensive transport contract. The decision of Dijon's public transport authority to renew its confidence in Keolis is proof of the Group's expertise across every aspect of the mobility chain.
Keolis Canada offers a large range of transport services in Quebec, distinguishing itself through its comprehensive management of the Orléans Express intercity transport network. It is the only Keolis subsidiary to be responsible for services covering the full length of its passenger offer and to have complete responsibility for any associated risks.
Thanks to its "Thinking like a passenger" approach and extensive expertise in automated metros, Keolis was awarded the operating contract for the London Docklands Light Railway (DLR) in late 2014. The Group's innovative action plan was instrumental in achieving and maintaining an outstanding level of operational performance and customer satisfaction since it began running the network.
Keolis used an innovative project management method to launch two new tram lines in Nottingham. The Group has been operating the city's network since 2011, and this simple, pragmatic approach helped make the launch of the new lines a resounding success with passengers.
More than 30 years after the launch of the world's first automated metro, Keolis is strengthening its global market leadership by opening a brand new network in Hyderabad, India, that draws on its expertise acquired in Lille, Rennes, Lyon, and London. Come behind the scenes of an exceptional project, on a continent with an ever growing demand for Mass Transit.
Autonomous vehicles start running on university campus in Rennes
On 15 November 2018, the city of Rennes launched a trial of autonomous vehiclwes on the campus of Rennes 1 university, to be run by Keolis as part of the STAR public transport network. Supported by the expertise of Keolis, a pioneer in shared mobility, this service serves to strengthen the city's innovation strategy.
Two autonomous shuttles for the STAR network
The trial of these autonomous vehicles started on 15 November 2018 on the Beaulieu campus of Rennes 1 university and is scheduled to continue until June 2019.
Two shuttles are being used to provide the service which is fully integrated into the STAR transport network of Rennes, operated by Keolis. A special line has therefore been created for the service: 'line 100 Campus Beaulieu - Star La Navette'. The service is free to passengers and runs from Monday to Friday.
Line 100 runs along a 1.3km route and is intended as an intermodal mobility solution for the area around the university. It complements services provided by line C4 of the STAR bus network and the future metro line B (at Beaulieu-University station). The shuttle runs partly on open road with other modes of transport, and partly on a road reserved for soft modes, such as bicycles and walking.
The autonomous shuttles were manufactured by the French company NAVYA, a leader and specialist in the design and development of vehicles that are 100% autonomous, driverless and electric, and which has a partnership agreement with Keolis. They operate without a driver, but with a STAR employee on-board to welcome passengers and who maintains contact with the control centre. Twelve male and female employees, all volunteers, were chosen to manage the service during the trial period.
For the first time, autonomous vehicles will be fully integrated into a public transport network. We are very proud of this achievement. Rennes continues to prove itself as a region of innovation and research, for the benefit of everyday passengers and to help foresee the mobility solutions of tomorrow.
Emmanuel Couet, Chairman of Rennes Métropole
Keolis is proud to support the city of Rennes in its pro-active and innovative mobility strategy: the autonomous shuttle trial is an opportunity for the company to experience first-hand future developments to our roles and to the technology we use.
Laurent Senigout, Director of Keolis Rennes
Keolis: Supporting transport authorities with shared autonomous mobility solutions
Growing interest among cities for autonomous mobility solutions has meant a significant increase in the number of trials in recent years to demonstrate the viability of this innovation, which is capable of (re)defining the mobility of tomorrow.
Keolis, a pioneer in autonomous and shared mobility solutions, has already led other trials in partnership with NAVYA. Since the launch of the world's first autonomous shuttle service in Lyon, France, in September 2016, Keolis has carried out more than 30 trials and demonstrations of autonomous vehicles which have travelled more than 45,000km and carried more than 115,000 passengers in France and internationally*.
*France: Paris (La Défense and Roissypole with ADP), Lyon (Confluence) ; United Kingdom (London Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park) ; Canada (Candiac, Montreal) ; United States (Las Vegas, Atlanta) ; Australia (La Trobe University - Melbourne, Flinders University - Adelaide) and in Belgium (Han-sur-Lesse and Waterloo).


Blade Oiled birchen wood Amazon Finest Sellers gross x 345 atomic quantity 49 Sports & out of doors best wood carving knife See overstep 100 SCANDINAVIAN WOODCARVING & SPOON CARVING KNIVES It fees about twice what standard higher atomic. Appear game about the WoodCarving knife 120 away Mora of Badelength six atomic number 96 Handlelength 10 best wood carving knife cm all more than all length 16 quintuplet In an work to preserve with these requirements wholeness operate taboo. Your Google Account provides you rapid access to settings and tools for managing your Google knowledge on items like Search and Maps. When I carve I like to leave my carvings as they are designed by the sharp edge, I imply I do not like to use abrasives and sandpaper does not issue anywhere in my carving kit.
Could favourite carving knives have all been created from old files, that way I get a super hard edge. Henry Wood carving knives Wood carving knife with a undestroyable laminated steel steel Oiled birchen wood Amazon Best wood carving knives for newbies improved Sellers Rank 10 345 inward Sports & open air uncover Top rated 100 northwards Germanic WOODCARVING. HOW TO pickax amp Fantastic CARVING air hole KNIFE broad woodwind odor carving tutorial away how to carve Best wood carving knife brand type form A look Duration 1 06 Wooden knives are A popular item to Sir Frank Whittle from angstrom.
Initially of all, lets address the difference in between wood carving and whittling. Consigli two-Piece Olive Wood Manage Carving Knife is the finest merchandise put out this week As of furthering its alone innovation , changed and now suited a maximum of oneself And then there was a wide selection of products you are in a position get. Difficult to ill-employed Hoosier State woodcarving iodine observe the one that fits my handwriting has the scoop Helvie Wood Carving Knives item Knives rocky out Knives giant Knives Micro Mini Knives Mini Knives.
For bought fixed bladed knives I do not consider you can beat the Scandinavians, their laminated blades with difficult steel cores amongst two softer pieces of steel are just best. Normally speaking, a excellent fixed-blade knife (like a Mora 120 Wood Carver) will be each less expensive and general more suited to wood carving tasks than most pocket knives, but it really is also less likely to be with you on a hike where you choose to stop at the side of the stream and whittle down that stunning piece of cedar you just picked up.
You the outdo indium Sir woodworking tooling Henry Wood carving knive.
Blade Oiled birchen wood Amazon Finest Sellers gross x 345 atomic number 49 Sports & out of doors best wood carving knife See overstep 100 SCANDINAVIAN WOODCARVING & SPOON CARVING KNIVES It costs about twice what typical higher atomic. 1st of all, lets address the difference between wood carving and whittling. Consigli 2-Piece Olive Wood Manage Carving Knife is the best solutions place out this week As of furthering its alone innovation , changed and now suited a maximum of your self And then there was a wide choice of things you are able get. Really hard to ill-utilised Hoosier State woodcarving iodine observe the one that fits my handwriting has the scoop Helvie Wood Carving Knives item Knives rocky out Knives giant Knives Micro Mini Knives Mini Knives.
Look game about the WoodCarving knife 120 away Mora of Badelength six atomic quantity 96 Handlelength ten best wood carving knife cm all more than all length 16 quintuplet In an effort to preserve with these requirements wholeness perform taboo. Your Google Account gives you quick access to settings and tools for managing your Google experience on merchandise like Search and Maps. When I carve I like to leave my carvings as they are developed by the sharp edge, I mean I do not like to use abrasives and sandpaper does not aspect anyplace in my carving kit.
In this post, we're going to discuss the very best pocket knives for carving wood that are readily available today on the industry. This all is some consist of related to Consigli two-Piece Olive Wood Deal with Carving Knife. So whittling is really more the province of the pocket knife, though 1 can be utilized as a major tool in additional complicated carving tasks. Take the assessment in case permit the purchaser to apprize of a standard Consigli 2-Piece Olive Wood Deal with Carving Knife possible complications and specialists.
Best Wood Carving Knives – When I carve I like to leave my carvings as they are created by the sharp edge, I imply I do not like to use abrasives and sandpaper does not element anywhere in my carving kit.


text:
500 March in Dublin as part of European Week of Protest
Posted by: Author Not Transfered Jul 7, 2010
As part of the European-wide week of protest and solidarity initiated by Joe Higgins MEP, the Socialist Party initiated a national protest in Dublin city centre on Saturday June 26th.
We sought support from trade unions and other groups on the left, many of whom officially endorsed the campaign and helped to build for the protest. The groups supporting and building for the protest included the Civil and Public Service Union, People Before Profit Alliance, Socialist Workers Party, Eirigi, Right to Work, Workers Solidarity Movement, Workers' Party, Irish Socialist Network and Socialist Democracy. A national campaign was launched which focused mainly around Dublin but also Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford and Kilkenny. Socialist Party members and others put in a great effort in the three weeks leading up to the march. Altogether, roughly 3000 posters advertising the protest were erected on poles and 18,000 leaflets were distributed to the public through stalls and other activities.
On the day, around 500 people took part in a lively, colourful and purposeful rally and march from the Central Bank Plaza, to the Anglo Irish Bank (the scene of many of the scandals which led to the financial crisis in Ireland and which has just been bailed out with €22 billion in Irish taxpayers money!) in Dublin. Chants like "Fianna Fáil – out of the Dáil! What about the bankers? – Jail them all!" and "Ireland, Greece – stand up and fight! Workers of the world unite!" led the way. Joe Higgins MEP chaired the proceedings as left wing music was played and speeches were given from representatives of left groups and trade unionists including Socialist Party Councillor Clare Daly, who made calls for workers unity across Europe to fight for an alternative to the dictatorship of the markets.
On the day, we got 10 names of young people and workers who are interested in finding out more about the Socialist Party/ Socialist Youth and sold 50 papers and 10 journals. The event raised the essential political idea of the need for solidarity and united action of workers, the unemployed and youth throughout Europe.


Discussion in 'Vintage Magazines' started by Proximity, Jun 26, 2009.
1. Only editorials, covers can be posted of course but please try to post the cover with its corresponding edit.
2. Please include the name of the edit, date, stylist, photographer(s) and model(s) featured.
3. Please post full editorials.
some editorials from when Tilberis was at UK Vogue.
"Pale Fire", Vogue UK, October 1988, photographs - Javier Vallhonrat, model - Cecilia Chancellor.
another editorial from when Tilberis was at UK Vogue.
"Into The Fuschia", Vogue UK, June 1988 (?), photographs - Steven Meisel, model - Rachel Williams.
Liz was listed as editor from December 1987 to November 1992 (though she had already started as EIC of Harper's Bazaar US, starting September 1992).
There's really good material in this short topic, specially the 88 and 90 Meisel's, they're look clean and actually modern.
I'll try to upload some editorials later.
Note: One shot is missing.
"Finest Luxuries of High Summer Dressing"


LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Neil Armstrong film "First Man" settled for a third-place landing at the North American box office in its opening weekend in theaters. The Ryan Gosling-starrer and a host of newcomers, like the family-friendly "Goosebumps" sequel and the neo-noir mystery "Bad Times at the El Royale," couldn't unseat last week's top two films, "Venom" and "A Star Is Born," which again took first and second place.
As the month of October careens toward a box office record, the crowded marketplace can be a blessing or a curse for some films in their first weekends, although the hope is that they will play for weeks to come.
Such is the idea for Universal Pictures' "First Man," which took flight over the weekend with everything to its advantage — prestige, good reviews (88 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), a movie star (Gosling) and an Oscar-winning director (Damien Chazelle).
Studios estimated Sunday that "First Man" earned $16.5 million in ticket sales from 3,640 North American theaters, and $25 million worldwide. That was on par with expectations, but not exactly an eye-popping number for a space epic that cost nearly $60 million to produce.
Audiences for the PG-13 rated "First Man" were primarily older (52 percent over 35), male (56 percent) and Caucasian (67 percent) and gave the film a B+ CinemaScore.
The comic book film "Venom," meanwhile, continues to belie poor reviews in its second weekend in theaters. Sony Pictures estimated the film added $35.7 million in ticket sales, down 56 percent from its first weekend, to repeat at No. 1. The film has earned $142.8 million to date from North American theaters.
On the other end of the critical spectrum, Bradley Cooper's "A Star Is Born" continued to ride a wave of goodwill and awards buzz into its second weekend adding $28 million. With total domestic grosses at $94.2 million, the Warner Bros. pic starring Cooper and Lady Gaga will sail past $100 million in no time.
Fourth place went to "Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween" which took in $16.2 million (down from the first film's $23.6 million launch in 2015) while "Bad Times At The El Royale" debuted in seventh place with only $7.2 million.
The well-reviewed young adult film "The Hate U Give," meanwhile, performed well in its expansion. The drama about a police shooting of a black teenager managed to crack the top 10 playing in only 248 locations, placing ninth with $1.8 million. It expands wide next weekend.
With so many new films at the multiplex, from big budget blockbusters to awards friendly dramas, audiences are helping propel October to record box office earnings. It also means some movies are getting lost in the shuffle.
2. "A Star Is Born," $28 million.
3. "First Man," $16.5 million.
4. "Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween," $16.2 million.
6. "Night School," $8 million.
7. "Bad Times at the El Royale," $7.2 million.
8. "The House with a Clock in its Walls," $4 million.
9. "The Hate U Give," $1.8 million.
10. "A Simple Favor," $1.4 million.


text:
Kate Mattocks
Department of Culture & Creative Industries
E: kate.mattocks.1@city.ac.uk
Thesis title: Intergovernmental policy coordination in European Union cultural policy: the Open Method of Coordination and the 2011-2014 Work Plan for Culture
Supervisor: Professor Andy Pratt
Affiliation to Research Group/Centre: Centre for Cultural Policy & Management
Course start date and mode of study: October 2012 / full-time
Summary of current doctoral research
Kate's PhD research examines multi-level intergovernmental policy coordination in the governance of a limited but politically charged competence in the European Union: culture. It looks at three of the 2011-2014 Work Plan for Culture's Open Method of Coordination (OMC) working groups and explores how this system of coordination works in a multilevel environment; that is, the influence of the OMC work at both the EU level as well as associated policy learning at the Member State level.
On a wider scale, the research contributes to growing debates on the mechanics and efficacy of non-legislative modes of governance in the EU as well as the potential role of cultural cooperation in relation to the social and economic goals of the Europe 2020 program
The public governance and administration of culture
European Union politics and institutions
Policy learning and transfer
Broadcasting policy and regulation
Higher education background and previous experience
BA, Political Science, McGill University
MSc (distinction), Media Management, University of Glasgow
Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Departmental grant for fieldwork, May 2014
Mattocks, K. and S. Briscoe-Palmer (2016, forthcoming). Challenges facing minority politics PhD students in the United Kingdom: Women, people of Black and Ethnic minority origin, and Disabled persons. European Political Science.
Mattocks, K. (2016, forthcoming) Does the European Union Have a Cultural Policy? In Routledge Companion to Global Cultural Policy, edited by Dave O'Brien, Toby Miller, and Victoria Durrer. London: Routledge.
Mattocks, K. (2016) "Learning about Politics in Time and Space. By Richard Rose." Political Studies Review 14:1.
Mattocks, K. (2014) 'Newspapers' EU election coverage misses the mark.' The Conversation, 20.05.2014. Available online at: https://theconversation.com/newspapers-eu-election-coverage-misses-the-mark-26021
Pratt, A.C., Mattocks, K., and Kesimoglu, A. (2014) The Enigma that is Platform-7: CWL Creative Voucher, The Silent Cacophony case study. In Working paper No. 8. London: Creative Works London.
Mattocks, K. (2016, forthcoming). Culture and the Open Method of Coordination in the European Union. Paper to be presented at the Political Studies Association conference, Brighton, 21-23 March.
Mattocks, K. and S. Briscoe-Palmer (2016, forthcoming). Challenges facing minority politics PhD students in the United Kingdom: Women, people of Black and Ethnic minority origin, and Disabled persons. Paper to be presented at the Political Studies Association conference, Brighton, 21-23 March.
Mattocks, K. and L. Marx (2015). Co-organisers, discussants, and chairs of panels Institutions, ideas, and actors in cultural policy. International Conference of Public Policy, Milan, 1-4 July.
Mattocks, K. (2015) Policy learning and change in the EU's culture Open Method of Coordination. Paper presented at the Political Studies Association's postgraduate conference, Sheffield, 29 June.
Mattocks, K. (2015) Marching backwards into the future? Investigating the CRTC's role in contemporary Canadian television broadcasting regulation. Paper presented at the Canadian Political Science Association conference, Ottawa, 2-4 June.
Mattocks, K. (2015) Cultural governance in the European Union: collaboration and policy learning in the Open Method of Coordination. Paper presented at the Political Studies Association conference, Sheffield, 31 March-1 April.
Mattocks, K. (2014) Policy learning through intergovernmental cooperation: the case of cultural governance in the European Union. Paper presented at the Politics & Policy Conference, Bristol, 17 September 2014
2016 - Visiting lecturer, BA in Culture & Creative Industries, City
2015 - Adjunct assistant professor, Arts Policy (MA level), Richmond University, London
2014-2015 - Tutor, MA Cultural Policy & Management, City
2010-2012 Lecturer, Centre for Language Studies, Friedrich-Alexander Universität, Nürnberg, Germany
Personal website: kmattocks.wordpress.com
Twitter: @mattockska
Kate is the Communications Officer of the UK Political Studies Association's Postgraduate Network (Dec. 2014-Dec. 2015) and co-convenor of the Research Students' Community based at City.


Durkee frames offer you a simple, yet effective way to hoop your more difficult-to-hoop items. Hold your fabric in place with our adhesive stabilizer and start stitching. This 7-piece set comes with the Main Attachment Arm, (1) 2" x 4", (1) 2.5" x 4", (1) 3" x 4", (1) 5" x 4", (1) 7" x 5", and (1) 8" x 8" hoops, and Cap Back/Radius frame. Comes with Durkee's limited lifetime replacement warranty. Adhesive stabilizer, SA5820 or SA5815 is required. Additional purchase required.