The most geographically wide spread and long-term cultural complex associated with the Lower Palaeolithic period in the Old World is the Acheulian. It is roughly dated between ca. 1.8-0.2 million years BP and commonly attributed to the hominin species Homo erectus (senso lato) [1, 2].
The Acheulian lithic technology is characterized by the production and use of flakes and flake tools, however the hallmark of Acheulian technology is known as the biface (also known as Handaxe and/or Large Cutting Tool ), a relatively large tool shaped on both faces providing evidence for manual dexterity, symmetry and prolonged use-life cycles [4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]. Other large tools such as choppers, cleavers and picks are also common in Lower Palaeolithic Acheulian sites world-wide, however bifaces represent a fossil directeur for the Acheulian cultural complex regardless of the fact that modern research have strongly indicated the variability and complexity of Acheulian lithic technology. Acheulian sites with few or even without bifaces are becoming integrated within the wider framework of the Lower Palaeolithic world [10, 11, 12, 13, 14]. Alongside bifaces, another noteworthy tool category in the Acheulian toolkit is the scraper. Scrapers are commonly defined as tools shaped on flakes with one edge modified to enable tasks other than straight-forward cutting. Scrapers appear in many Lower Palaeolithic sites and continue to be in the service of humans in later periods as well [15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20]. While scrapers are usually interpreted as wood and hide working tools, recent evidence suggest their use in butchering activities as well [21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29]. While bifaces and scrapers were the foci of attention for generations of researchers, it is becoming clear now that small tools were also part of the Acheulian tool-kit, as evident by the production of miniscule items by means of recycling in several Lower Palaeolithic sites [30, 31, 32]. It is also of note here that during the Late Acheulian some significant technological innovation also took place, such as the appearance of prepared core technologies that developed further into the characteristic Levallois technology of the Middle Palaeolithic period [2, 33, 34].
Information regarding the function of Acheulian flint tools is still incomplete, particularly concerning bifaces. There are various hypotheses regarding the role of these enigmatic tools that varies from functional meaning, such as butchering and wood working [35, 36] to symbolic and social meaning [37, 38, 39].
Ungulate species are represented at Acheulian sites across the old world, and it is evident that a variety of mammalian taxa was preyed upon by Lower Palaeolithic hominins. Proboscideans, however, are ubiquitously found at many Palaeolithic sites, both open-air and caves, throughout a period of hundreds of thousands of years . Elephants and mammoths were by far the largest terrestrial mammal available for Palaeolithic hominins, and these large animals represent a unique food package in terms of the composition of fat and meat . The methods of obtaining meat by early humans is still under discussion. While some scholars still argue that in Palaeolithic times humans were scavengers, most researchers nowadays strongly advocate hunting as the principal method for obtaining calories, based on new results of sets of analyses of the archaeological record (e.g. [41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46]). In this paper, however, we make no contribution regarding this hunting-scavenging debate but focus our attention on the use of Palaeolithic stone tools that follows the acquisition of the carcasses. Many Palaeolithic sites exhibit evidence of elephant and mammoths bones bearing cut marks indicating the removal of meat and percussion marks indicating the breaking bones for marrow extraction [47, 48, 49, 50]. In the Levant and elsewhere there are several Acheulian contexts characterized by the association of megafaunal remains and human made tools [40, 51, 52, 53], and in our opinion elephants had an important role in human diet and survival throughout the Palaeolithic [2, 40].
Data related to microwear studies focused on the investigation of Acheulean stone tools are few. However, evidence regarding the interpretation of the use of Acheulean tools and their possible relationship with processing big game comes from the studies of Keeley (1980) and Anzidei et al (2012) [54, 14]. In particular, in the work related to the British Lower Palaeolithic contexts of Clacton on Sea and Hoxne, where big game remains are present, Keeley (1980) describes several stone tools bearing both edge damage and microwear associated with meat cutting/butchering activities . Moreover, at the site of La Polledrara di Cecanibbio, characterized by the presence of hundreds of elephant remains, Anzidei and colleagues (2012) describe numerous lithic implements exhibiting use wear associable to butchering activities and hide processing . Unfortunately, the direct relation between the tools and the elephant bones remains to be demonstrated, as neither at Claton on Sea, Hoxne and La Polledrara no cut marks have yet been found on the tools.
Residue analysis has been performed on stone tools from several prehistoric contexts in order to understand the use of the tools and the materials worked [24, 35, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61]. In order to determine the molecular composition of organic residues of animal or vegetable origin gas chromatography –mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is employed. This analysis requires the extraction of small amount of the residues analyzed using, for example, the Fatty Acid Methyl Ester Technique . The Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR) analysis is often combined with more invasive techniques for the identification of archaeological residues such as resins , pigments  or organic materials [65, 66]. More recently, the micro Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR) technique which is non invasive and does not requires any chemical or mechanical pre-treatment of the samples has been successfully employed in order to identify residues on lithic items [58, 67].
However, only few such studies have been conducted on tools from very early archaeological contexts, such as the Lower Palaeolithic Acheulian. Herrygers (2002) was able to detect wood residue on Oldowan tools from Koobi Fora, this results support the conclusion drawn from use-wear analysis carried out by Keeley and Toth (1981) [57, 68]. Another example is given by Dominguez-Rodrigo et al (2001) who identified phytoliths on several handaxes from the Acheulian site of Peninj . Hardy and Moncel (2011) identified several plant and animal residues on stone tools related to the Neanderthal Middle Palaeolithic occupation excavated at the site of Payre (France) . Only few works (e.g. [58, 60, 61, 69, 70]) included a combination of both use-wear and residues analyses.
The goal of our research is to study in detail flint tools directly associated with butchered game remains from a well-preserved archaeological context at Late Acheulian Revadim. We work under the assumption that the extraordinary preservation circumstances in this context will allow the application of use-wear analysis and FTIR analysis for the understanding of the function of Palaeolithic stone tools in the Acheulian. Our research question is whether the application of residue and use wear analyses on well preserved Acheulian stone tools could shed new light on the function of the tools and the material processed in this context. Moreover, we would like to envisage the implications of such analyses on the broader understanding of human uses of both flint and animal resources in the Palaeolithic. This paper will present the results originating from the application of an integrated use-wear and residues approach, finalized to the interpretation of the use of a biface and a scraper recovered from a specific archaeological context at the Acheulian site of Revadim, Israel and associated with prey mammal bones in general and butchered elephant remains in particular.
The Late Acheulian site Revadim is located on the southern coastal plain of Israel. The site is at least ca. 500–300 thousand years old, as indicated by minimum ages retrieved by paleomagnetism analysis and uranium series dates performed on carbonate coating on flint items [48, 71, 72]. Archaeological excavations at the site of Revadim were conducted by one of us (OM) under the permission of the Israel Antiquities Authority (Permit A-41091). Four excavation seasons were conducted on the site. The last excavation season was a salvage excavation carried out in the summer of 2004 and focusing on two main areas, B and C. In area C five stratigraphic layers were identified: C1-C5, while in Area B two layers, B1 and B2, were identified.
Area B spread on 94 m² and the excavated sediments volume is 50.17 m³. The lithic assemblage includes 27,591 flint items, with an average density of 550 items per m3. Debitage, cores and shaped items comprise 17.14% of the assemblage in the area (Table 1), including 7% (n = 1988) shaped items ("tools").
Table 1. Flint assemblage of Area B, Revadim.
Thousands of animal bones were found in each layer of the site. The faunal assemblage include Palaeloxodon antiquus, Bos primigenius, Capra cf. aegagrus, Gazella gazella, Cervus elaphus, Dama cf. mesopotamica, Equus sp. among others .
Straight tusk elephant, Palaeloxodon antiquus, is the most dominant species in the faunal assemblages of Revadim, with 155 bones identified  and it's remains were found in all archaeological layers.
Some of the elephant bones were found in discrete localities identified in Area B representing, most probably, specific activity areas that were relatively well-preserved. In some of these localities the density of finds is higher than in the surrounding areas, and in other cases the localities have specific characteristics, such as special sediment or special items articulation. For example Locality 20 (southern part of Area B) have a density of 4462.5 lithic items per m³, while the findings density in the surrounding area is 1,554 items per m3. Another example is Locality 22 which is located in the northern part of Area B, and it is characterized by special items articulation as 3 bifacial tools were found close to a raw material pebble . It's worth noting that part of this localities are the result of special post depositional activities such as localities 2–3 (see  for details).
This paper will present data from Locality 21, a well-preserved fast-palimpsest that exhibits elephant remains in association with flint tools.
Locality 21 is a concentration of finds that was defined during the excavation of Layer B2 in the central part of Area B. This locality is characterized by distinctive sediment, different than its surroundings, and probably represents a genuine activity area that was covered rather quickly after it was deposited (fast palimpsest). Locality 21 is one of three find concentrations in Area B where elephant remains are found alongside flint tools (Fig. 1 and see [48, 73] for details).
Fig 1. Locality 21—elephant rib with cut marks in association with flint items (including handaxe).
Locality 21 includes 984 flint items (see details in Table 2). The density of lithic items (547 per m3) is slightly higher than the average density of findings in the entire central area in this layer (433.6 items per m3) and the excavated volume of this locality is 1.8 m3.
Table 2. Flint assemblage of Locality 21.
Flint raw material items and cores constitute a significant part of locality 21 lithic assemblage. The ratio between blanks (flakes and flake tools) and cores is 6:1, indicating non-intensive lithic production in this locality compared to other areas within the site, e.g. in layer B2 this ratio is 18:1 (see  for details).
Bifaces are rather frequent in locality 21 assemblage (n = 15) and comprise 14% of the shaped items ("tools"). In addition, two biface tips were recovered as well suggesting that biface use and/or maintenance have taken place within locality 21 (Table 3).
Table 3. Shaped items (tools) of Locality 21.
Notable faunal remains that were found in this Locality are an ulna shaft of Dama, Equus tooth, and elephant remains (two elephant ribs, vertebrae plate, and seven teeth fragments). On one of the elephant ribs cut marks were identified  (6, Table 3).
Three flint items [a flake (Sq. CG 76), a scraper (item no. 103070) and a biface (item no. 103070), housed at the institute of archaeology, Tel-Aviv University, Israel] originating from activity area Locality 21 were selected to undergo a Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR) analysis in order to underline the presence of preserved residues. The scraper and biface were selected during use-wear analyses, where all bifaces (n = 15) and all scrapers (n = 4) of Locality 21 were examined. Traces were found on 4 bifaces and one scraper, but only two out of these five tools presented both types of traces—edge removals and polish. For this reason and for general good level of preservation of these two items they were selected for FTIR analysis as carries potential residue.
One flake was chosen during use-wear analyses of all flakes (n = 29) from Locality 21, snce red dots where recognized on this flake through the metallographic microscope (technical details will be described in this section).
The method of use-wear analysis was developed in the middle of the 20th century by S.A. Semenov [74, 75]. Some researchers influenced by Semenov's research method, including Tringham and Keeley who contributed to its development [76, 77].
Tringham and Odell used a low-powered approach, concentrated on micro removals on the working edge. Keeley used a more powerful microscope and he examined polish, a method named high-power approach [76, 78, 79].
In this work use-wear analysis was conducted by using both low and high power magnification approaches . Low-power approach is generally performed utilizing a stereo microscope, and focused on the identification and description of edge damage (e.g. fractures and edge rounding), while high-power approach focuses on the investigation of polishes, striae and abrasions, visible at higher (100x and more) magnifications. [76, 78, 79].
The items analyzed were cleaned only in H2O with soap before use-wear analyses. The analysis was conducted with two different types of microscopes: an Olympus SZ-PT stereo-microscope with oculars magnification 10x and a Nikon Optiphot metallographic microscope with oculars magnification 10x and objectives 10x and 20x; both equipment were associated with a reflect light system.
The Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR) spectra of the stone tools were collected with a Bruker Optic Alpha-R portable interferometer with an external reflectance head covering a circular area of about 5 mm in diameter. The samples were placed directly in front of the objective, without preliminary treatments, and spots were selected for analysis. The analysis does not require preliminary treatment of the samples. The investigated spectral range was 7500-375 cm−1 with a resolution of 4 cm−1 cumulating 250 scans or more.
Figures reported in the following, however, show only the spectral range where infrared active absorption bands due to fundamental modes were observed (4000–375 cm−1) since no overtones or combination bands expected at higher frequencies were detected. Internal point and edges of the tools were examined in the same experimental conditions.
Here we summaries the results of use-wear and residue analyses conducted on the three flint items from Locality 21 found in association with elephant butchered bones. Each item will be presented separately, where use-wear analysis will be shown first and the residue analysis will follow.
On a flint flake made from homogeneous raw material from square CG76 (Locality 21) no diagnostic wear traces were recognized (Fig. 2). However during use-wear analysis the presence of red dots was identified. The flake is 25 mm in length, 14 mm wide and 6 mm thick.
The spectrum of the central point of the CG-76 item shows the absorption bands belonging to pure silica (Fig. 3A). The very intense peak at 1157 cm−1, in fact, is assigned to Si-O stretching mode and less intense peaks at 798 and 469 cm−1. Are attributed to O-Si-O bending modes and to O-Si-O or O-Si-Al bending respectively [80, 81]. All peaks show an up down reversal that is the restrahlung effect which, at present, is not completely explained . The spectrum of the edge on dorsal face (Fig. 3B), instead, shows a shoulder on the low frequency side of the Si-O stretching mode (∼912 cm−1) which suggests the presence of bone microresidues since it is attributable to the PO3 = stretching mode of calcium phosphate (apatite) which constitutes the bone mineral component .
Fig 3. Micro FTIR spectrum of CG 76 flake: inner point (a) showing the fundamental mode of pure silica and point on the edge on dorsal face (b) with bone microresidue (see text).
A complete small biface, most probably made on flake, was analyzed (Fig. 4). The flint raw material used is homogeneous with some internal impurities. The biface is 56 mm in length, 48 mm wide and 16 mm thick. It bears no cortex.
The dorsal face of the biface is intensively knapped by bifacial flaking, while part of the ventral face remained unshaped.
The biface is characterized by a medium degree of edge rounding, along with the presence of edge damage scars bearing cone initiations and hinge like terminations. These scars are characterized by a perpendicular orientation to the edge of the biface while their distribution over the edges is variable.
Micro wear was detected as well. Rough to smooth polishes are visible on the bifacially-shaped edges of the biface. Their extension is limited to the outer portion of the edge and its direction is perpendicular. The identification of both edge damage and micro wear features enable to define the utilization of this biface in processing medium hard material, probably hide, throughout transversal movements, which may be related to scraping (Fig. 5).
Fig 5. Polish on biface 10307.
Fig. 6 shows the micro spectra of the three points examined on the biface, as shown in Fig. 4 (An inner point 6b, a left point and a right point 6c and 6d). For the sake of comparison the spectrum of pure silica is also reported (Fig. 6B).
Fig 6. Micro FTIR spectrum of biface 10307: (a) pure silica, (b) inner point, (c) left edge, (d) right edge.
Microresidues of adipocere are detected on points b, c and d. On the right point (d) also a micro remain of bone is detected (see text).
The spectra of the central point and edges of the item show very weak bands at 1575\1538 cm−1 and 2916 and 2848. cm−1. The former doublet is confidently assigned to the C-O stretching of calcium salt carboxylate of saturated acids constituting the adipocere, a wax-like organic substance formed by the anaerobic bacterial hydrolysis of fat tissues [84, 85]. The presence of organic residue is supported by the presence of C-H stretching modes at 2916 and 2848 cm−1.
In addition, in the spectrum of the right edge, the shoulder at ∼ 912 cm−1 appears indicating, as previously discussed, the existence of bone micro residues.
A convergent scraper with steep retouch on its dorsal face was analyzed (Fig. 7). It is made on homogeneous flint without impurities. The scraper is 44 mm in length, 36 mm wide and 20 mm thick.
It is important to note that this tool is rather unique first of all because of the high quality raw material used, which is not typical for Revadim site. Furthermore, convergent scrapers are not common in Acheulian lithic assemblages as well. It seems that this tool can indicate number of use cycles which include refinement and repair of the working edges. It is possible to assume that this scraper is more similar to scrapers characteristics of the later periods in the Levant, such as the succeeding Acheulo-Yabrudian cultural complex .
The scraper is characterized by both edge damage and micro wear. Scars characterized by feather terminations are present on the tool's edge dorsal surface. These scars exhibit a diagonal unidirectional orientation and a close regular distribution. Edge rounding is present as well at a low degree (Fig. 8).
Fig 8. Edge damage on scraper 10982.
Micro wear is represented by two different types of polishes featuring a rough texture, one is characterized by a domed like topography, while the other is not as developed to allow a description of its topography. Their extension is limited to the outer edge of the tool and its direction is diagonal unidirectional. The features exhibited both by edge damage and micro wear indicate that the scraper was used to process soft and medium materials performing longitudinal motions related to a probable cutting activity. The two different types of polish present on the scraper's edge may indicate the use of the tool to process some sort of animal tissues and wood. This interpretation is given by the domed topography of one of the polishes developed on the tool (Fig. 9).
Fig 9. Polish on scraper 10982.
Fig. 10 compares the micro FTIR spectra of the inner point and the point on the edge in dorsal face of the scraper, as shown in Fig. 7.
The spectrum of the inner point (Fig. 10A) presents weak broad features at about 1660 and 1544 cm-1 and a shoulder at the low frequency side of the Si-O intense peak (∼886 cm-1). The additional presence of weak bands at 2848 and 2912 cm-1 belonging to O-H stretching suggests the presence of an organic residue probably of vegetable nature . A more precise identification is however not possible.
On the dorsal edge the afore mentioned doublet around 1500 cm−1 and the shoulder at ∼912 cm-1 indicates that the scraper had a prolonged contact with animal tissues (Fig. 10B-C).
Fig 10. Micro FTIR spectrum of scraper 10982: (a) pure silica, (b) edge point, (c) inner point.
Microresidues of organic material probably of vegetal origin are detected on the inner point (see text).
The combination of use wear and residues analyses to investigate the use of Palaeolithic tools is not widely used in archaeological research. Moreover, there are only few examples of the preservation of organic residues on artifacts originating from Lower Palaeolithic / Early Stone Age contexts [35, 56, 57, 68], and thus our finding represents an unique evidence.
Here we presented the data obtained through the analysis of both use wear and residues found on two flint tools, a biface and a scraper, from the late Acheulian site of Revadim, Israel. The implements (a flake, a biface and a scraper) were analyzed in order to investigate and define possible function of these specific types of artifacts.
The flake was selected because of its fresh surface and for the presence of red points on its' surface which may indicate some sort of residue. Unfortunately no use-traces or identifiable residue was found. Bone micro residue was recognized on this tool, and also on the biface described below; probably indicating the presence of bones micro-particles in the sediment of the site, as no use wear related to bone or hard animal materials was identified on the tools.
The biface and scraper show well preserved and clear use-wear traces, including both edge removals and polishes. The biface use traces indicate the processing of medium-hard material throughout transversal motions, related probably to hide scraping. In the case of the scraper, the traces shows attributes associated with soft or medium material processed throughout longitudinal motion. The possible interpretation is cutting of animal tissues. Another kind of polish, that could be associated with wood, was also detected.
Both tools shows residue of adipocere (animal fat) which can be related to butchering (de-skinning) activity or hide working. On the scraper, both tissues and vegetable materials residues were found.
In this work we would like to stress the importance of the data obtained by the application of an approach combining both use wear and residues analyses. The simultaneous application of the two techniques allowed us to obtain more detailed evidence regarding the use of the two most characteristics shaped stone tools of the Lower Palaeolithic period, bifaces and scrapers.
Our results allow us to speculate about the possible use of these tools in processing animal carcasses. Elephants, being the most common animal within the faunal assemblage on site, and the presence of cut marks on an elephant rib found in Locality 21, in particular, support our suggestion that these stone tools might have been used on elephant carcasses (and other game as well).
Furthermore, such direct data related to the use of Acheulian tools is overall not common, mainly due to the level of preservation of the materials coming from such old contexts. The data here presented provide clear and direct evidence for possible way of use of stone tools at Revadim, and enables a better understanding of the behaviors related to the early human groups occupying the Levant during the Lower Palaeolithic period.
S1 Fig. Location map of Revadim Quarry.
S2 Fig. Areas of excavation.
S3 Fig. Locality 21—general view.
S1 Table. Shaped items (tools) of Area B.
S2 Table. Flint assemblage of Layer B2.
S3 Table. Shaped items (tools) of Layer B2.
S4 Table. Table of edge damage attributes for both items (handaxe 10307 and scraper 10982).
S5 Table. Table of micro wear attributes for both items (handaxe 10307 and scraper 10982).
Conceived and designed the experiments: NS AZ SNC CL. Performed the experiments: NS AZ SNC. Analyzed the data: NS AZ SNC CL. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: OM. Wrote the paper: NS AZ SNC CL RB.
1. Bar-Yosef O, Belmaker M. Early and Middle Pleistocene faunal and hominin dispersals through Southwestern Asia. Quat Sci Rev. 2011; 30:1318–1337.
2. Barkai R, Gopher A. Cultural and biological transformations in the Middle Pleistocene Levant: A view from Qesem Cave, Israel. In: Akazawa T, Nishiaki Y, Aoki K. editors. Dynamics of Learning in Neanderthals and Modern Humans: Cultural Perspectives, Replacement of Neanderthals by Modern Humans. Japan: Springer; 2013. pp. 115–137.
3. Barkai R. Comment on Sharon G Acheulian giant core technology: A worldwide perspective. Curr Anthropol. 2009; 50(3):356–357.
4. Bar-Yosef O. The Lower Palaeolithic of the Near East. Journal of World Prehistory. 1994; 8(3):211–265.
5. Goren-Inbar N. The Lower Palaeolithic of Israel. In: Levy T, editor. The Archaeology of Society in the Holy Land. London: Leicester University Press; 1998.
6. Sharon G. Acheulian giant-core technology: A worldwide perspective. Curr Anthropol. 2009; 50(3):335–367.
7. Sharon G. Large flake Acheulian. Quat Int. 2010; 223–224:226–233.
8. Machin A. The role of the individual agent in Acheulian biface variability: A multi-factorial model. Journal of Social Archaeology. 2009; 9:35–58.
9. Lycett SJ, Gowlett JAJ. On questions surrounding the Acheulian 'Tradition'. World Archaeology. 2008; 40(3):295–315.
10. Zaidner Y, Ronen A, Burdukiewicz JM. The Lower Palaeolithic microlithic industry of Bezat Ruhama, Israel. L'Anthropologie. 2003; 107(2):203–222.
11. Ashton N, McNabb J, Parfitt S. Choppers and the Clactonian: A reinvestigation. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. 1992; 58:21–28.
12. Wenban-Smith FF, Allen P, Bates MR, Parfitt SA, Preece RC, Stewart JR, et al. The Clactonian elephant butchery site at Southfleet Road, Ebbsfleet, UK. Journal of Quaternary Science. 2006; 21(5):471–483.
13. Burdukiewicz JM, Ronen A. Lower Palaeolithic small tools in Europe and the Levant. Oxford:Archaeopress; 2003.
14. Anzidei AP, Bulgarelli GM, Catalano P, Cerilli E, Gallotti R, Lemorini C, et al. Ongoing research at the late Middle Pleistocene site of La Polledrara di Cecanibbio (central Italy), with emphasis on human-elephants relationships. Quat Int. 2012; 255:171–187.
15. Chazan M. Typological analysis of the Lower Palaeolithic site of Holon, Israel. Mitekufat Haeven: J Israel Prehist Soc. 2000; 30:7–32.
16. Goren-Inbar N. The lithic assemblage of the Berekhat Ram Acheulian site, Golan Heights. Paleorient. 1985; 11(1):7–28.
19. Harris JWK. The Karari Industry, its place in east African prehistory. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California at Berkeley. 1978.
20. Howell FC, Cole GH, Kleidienst MR. Isimila—An Acheulian occupation site in the Iringa Highlands, Southern Highlands Province, Tanganyika. Tervuren: Actes du IV Congre`s Panafricain de Pre´histoire et de l'Etude de Quaternaire; 1962. pp. 43–80.
21. Anderson-Gerfaud P. Aspects of behavior in the Middle Palaeolithic: functional analysis of stone tools from southwest France. In: Mellars P, editor. The emergence of Modern Humans: An archaeological perspective. Edinburg: Edinburg University Press; 1990. pp. 389–418.
22. Bisson MS. Interview with a Neanderthal: An experimental approach for reconstructing scraper production rules, and their implications for imposed form in Middle Palaeolithic tools. Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 2001; 11(02):165–184.
23. Claud E, Soressi M, Jaubert J, Hublin J-J. Étude tracéologique de l ' outillage moustérien de type Quina du bonebed de Chez-Pinaud à Jonzac (Charente-Maritime). Gallia Prehistoire. 2012; 54:332.
25. Hardy BL. Neanderthal behaviour and stone tool function at the Middle Palaeolithic site of La Quina, France. Antiquity. 2004; 78(301):547–565.
27. Preysler JB, Santafé E. Experimental approach to the function and technology of Quina side-scrapers. In: Nami H, editor. Experiments and Interpretation of Traditional Technologies: Essays in Honor of Errett Callahan. Buenos Aires: Ediciones de Arqueología Contemporánea; 2003. pp. 171–202.
28. Rots V. The functional analysis of the Mousterian and Micoquian assemblages of Sesselfelsgrotte, Germany: aspects of tool use and hafting in the European Late. Quartär. 2009; 56:37–66.
29. Rosenfeld A. The examination of use marks on some Magdalenian end scrapers. The British Museum Quarterly. 1971; 35(1/4):176–182.
30. Agam A, Marder O, Barkai R. Small flakes production and lithic recycling at Late Acheulian Revadim, Israel. Quat Int. 2014; In Press. Available on: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2014.06.070.
31. Shimelmitz R. The recycling of flint throughout Lower and Middle Palaeolithic sequence of Tabun Cave, Israel. Quat Int. 2014; In Press. Available on: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2014.08.033.
33. Nowell A, White M. Growing up in the Middle Pleistocene: Life history strategies and their relationship to Acheulian industries. In: Nowell A, Davidson I, editors. Stone Tools and the Evolution on Human Cognition. Boulder: University Press of Colorado; 2010. pp. 67–82.
36. Machin AJ, Hosfield RT, Mithen SJ. Why are some handaxes symmetrical? Testing the influence of handaxe morphology on butchery effectiveness. J Arch Sci. 2007; 34:883–893.
37. Gowlett JAJ. The vital sense of proportion: Transformation, golden section, and 1:2 preference in Acheulian bifaces. Special Issue: Innovation and the Evolution of Human Behavior. Paleoanthropology society. 2001; 174–187.
38. Pope M, Russel K, Watson K. Biface form and structure behavior in the Acheulian. Lithics. 2006; 27:44–57.
39. Kohn M, Mithen S. Handaxes: Products of sexual selection? Antiquity. 1999; 73:518–526.
41. Dominguez-Rodrigo M. Hunting and scavenging by early humans: The state of the debate. J. of World Prehistory. 2002; 16(1):1–54.
42. Demay L, Péan S, Patou-Mathis M. Mammoths used as food and building resources by Neanderthals: Zooarchaeological study applied to layer 4, Molodova I (Ukraine). Quat Int. 2012; 276–277:212–226.
43. Dominguez-Rodrigo M, Bunn HT, Yravedra J. A critical re-evaluation of bone surface modification models for inferring fossil hominin and carnivore interactions through a multivariate approach: Application to the FLK Zinj archaeofaunal assemblage (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania). Quat Int. 2014; 322:32–43.
44. Germonpré M, Sablin M, Khlopachev GA, Grigorieva GV. Possible evidence of mammoth hunting during the Epigravettian at Yudinovo, Russian Plain. J. Anthropol Archaeol. 2008; 27:475–492.
45. Germonpré M, Udrescu M, Fiers E. Possible evidence of mammoth hunting at the Neanderthal site of Spy (Belgium). Quat Int. 2014; 337:28–42.
46. Pickering TR, Dominguez-Rodrigo M, Heaton JL, Yravedra J, Barba R, Bunn HT, et al. Taphonomy of ungulate ribs and the consumption of meat and bone by 1.2-million-year-old hominins at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. J. Archaeol Sci. 2013; 40(2):1295–1309.
47. Goren-Inbar N, Lister A, Werker E, Chech M. A butchered elephant skull and associated artifacts for the Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel. Paleorient. 1994; 20(1): 99–112.
48. Rabinovich R, Ackermann O, Aladjem E, Barkai R, Biton R, Milevsky I, et al. Elephants at the Middle Pleistocene Acheulian open-air site of Revadim Quarry, Israel. Quat Int. 2012; 276–277:183–197.
49. Yravedra J, Dominguez-Rodrigo M, Santonja M, Perez-Gonzalez A, Panera J, Rubio-Jara S, et al. Cut marks on the Middle Pleistocene elephant carcass of Aridos 2 (Madrid, Spain). J Archaeol Sci. 2010; 37(10): 2469–2476.
50. Boschian G, Sacca D. Ambiguities in human and elephant interaction? Stories of bones, sand and water from Castel di Guido (Italy). Quat Int. 2010; 214:3–16.
51. Gaudzinski S, Turner E, Anzidei AP, Alvarez-Fernandez E, Arroyo-Cabrales J, Cing-Mars J, et al. The use of Proboscidean remains in every-day Palaeolithic life. Quat Int. 2005; 126–128:179–194.
52. Chazan M, Kolska-Horwitz L. Finding the message in intricacy: The association of lithics and fauna on Lower Palaeolithic multiple carcass sites. J Anthropol Archaeol. 2006; 25, 436–447.
53. Tchernov E, Kolska-Horwitz L, Ronen A, Lister A. The faunal remains from Evron Quarry in relation to other Lower Palaeolithic hominid sites in the southern Levant. Quat Int. 1994; 42: 328–339.
54. Keeley LH. Experimental Determination of Stone Tool Uses: A Microwear Analysis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 1980.
55. Anderson PC. Neolithic tools used for stripping ears from hulled cereals: An update. In: Anderson PC, et al. editors. An Interdisciplinary Focus on Plant-Working Tools. Antibes: APDCA; 2013. pp. 89–102.
57. Herrygers C. A comparative analysis of wood residue on experimental stone tools and Early Stone Age artifacts: A Koobi Fora case study. McNair Scholars Journal. 2002; 6:65–75.
61. Mazza PPA, Martini F, Sala B, Magi M, Colombini MP, Ciachi G, et al. A new Palaeolithic discovery: Tar-hafted stone tools in a European Mid-Pleistocene bone-bearing bed. J Archaeol Sci. 2006; 33:1310–1318.
62. Koirala B, Rosentreter J. Examination of prehistoric artifacts via fatty acid methl ester (FAME) techniques using modern environmental stewardship J Archaeol Sci. 2009; 36:1229–1242.
63. Matheson CD, McCollum AJ. Characterizing native plant resins from Australian Aboriginal artefacts using ATR-FTIR and GC/MS. J Archaeol Sci. 2014; 52:116–128.
65. Izzo FC, Zendri E, Bernardi AA, Balliana E, Sgobbi M. The study of pitch via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy: the case of the Roman amphoras from Monte Poro, Calabria (Italy). J Archaeol Sci. 2013; 40(1):595–600.
67. Prinsloo LC, Wadley L. Marlize Lombard Infrared reflectance spectroscopy as an analytical technique for the study of residues on stone tools: potential and challenges. J Archaeol Sci. 2014; 41:732–739.
68. Keeley LH, Toth N. Microwear polishes on early stone tools from Koobi Fora, Kenya. Nature. 1981; 293:464–465.
69. Hardy BL, Garufi GT. Identification of woodworking on stone tools through residue and use-wear analyses: Experimental results. J Archaeol Sci. 1998; 25:177–184.
70. Lombard M, Parsons I, Van deer Ryst MM. Middle Stone Age lithic point experimentation for macro-fractures and residue analyses: The process and preliminary results with reference to Sibidu Cave points. S Afr J Sci. 2004; 100:159–166.
71. Marder O, Gvirtzman G, Ron H, Khalaily H, Wieder M, Bankirer R, et al. The Lower Palaeolithic site Revadim Quarry, Preliminary finds. Mitekufat Haeven: J Israel Prehist Soc.1999; 28:21–53.
73. Solodenko N. On tools and elephants: An analysis of the lithic assemblage from Area B of the Late Acheulian site Revadim Quarry. Unpublished MA thesis. Department of Archaeology and Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv University (in Hebrew). 2010.
74. Semenov SA. Prehistoric Technology: An Experimental Study of the Oldest Tools and Artifacts from Traces of Manufacture and Wear. Archaeological Materials and Research, USSR 54. Moscow: Science Academy Press (in Russian). 1957.
75. van Gijn AL. The Wear and Tear of Flint. Principles of Functional Analysis Applied to Dutch Neolithic Assemblages. Leiben: Analecta Prehistorica Leidensia 22. 1990.
76. Keeley LH, Newcomer MH. Micro-wear analysis of experimental flint tools: A test case. J Arch Sci. 1977; 4: 29–62.
77. Tringham R, Cooper G, Odell G, Voytek B, Whitman A. Experimentation in the formation of edge damage: A new approach to lithic analysis. Journal of Field Archaeology. 1974; 1(1–2):171–196.
78. Odell GH. Lithic Analysis. New-York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers; 2004. pp. 135–196.
79. Odell GH, Odell-Vereecken F. Verifying the reliability of lithic use-wear assessments by "blind test": The low-power approach. Journal of Field Archaeology. 1980; 7: 87120.
80. Madejová J. FTIR techniques in clay mineral studies. Vib Spectrosc. 2003; 31:1–10.
81. Vaculíková L, Plevová E. Identification of clay minerals and micas in sedimentary rocks. Acta Geodyn Geomater. 2005; 2:167–175.
84. Stuart BH, Forbes S, Dent BB, Hodgson G. Studies of adipocere using diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy. Vib Spectrosc. 2000; 24:233–242.
86. Schwanninger M, Rodriguezs JC, Pereira H, Hinterstoisser B. Effects of short-time vibratory ball milling on the shape of FT-IR spectra of wood and cellulose. Vib Spectrosc. 2004; 36:23–40.


There's a lot of room for improvement in the world's transportation infrastructure, and using big data is one way to close the gap.
Viewed as a cohesive machine, the Earth's transportation infrastructure is a smoky, inefficient bumbling mess. Lots of people get where they need to go every day, but with more delays and mishaps than necessary. Airport delays alone cost the U.S. economy $6 billion annually. But a report from McKinsey and Company says that increased use of big data could save the world economy $400 billion annually without building any new infrastructure.
Using data to influence human behavior in ways that reduce strain on the world's infrastructure can be found in many replicable projects today.
Israel, for instance, uses real-time pattern recognition on Highway 1 found between Tel Aviv and the Ben Gurion Airport to adjust tolls according to traffic congestion, increasing throughput.
Brazil uses GPS data analysis to optimize its limited airspace, fitting more airplanes in the air and shortening routes, according to the report. Enabling many different airlines to share the air without wasting large swathes of unused airspace means air traffic controllers must know the capabilities and routes of each aircraft, requiring a diverse and complex set of data.
Some European railway operators use big data to make more efficient use of their track capacity. By attributing tracks and trains different speed profiles, delays can be side-stepped by allowing trains to swap positions on the itinerary. Operational innovations like these can increase railway traffic capacity by 10 percent, according to the report.
By increasing data transparency, aligning goals across organizations and reducing regulatory barriers, the report states, big data can lead to big savings for the entire world, both in money and time saved.


I spent some time today in the Wickliffe, Kentucky cemetery. I have some family buried there and went to check on the graves. After I had done that I decided I would wander around a bit and look for some names that might make good characters in a book. I started snapping photos of tombstones as reminders. I also took some photos of tombstones that were interesting for one reason or another.
As I was driving out of the cemetery I spotted another unusual tombstone and just snapped a photo from the car. Then, a few feet away, I saw the stone below. I took a photo because it was a name I had never seen before. Zathah Lee Glenn. Zathah.
Dalmus Clarence Martin was born on 2 Jul 1909 in Prague, Lincoln Co. OK. He died on 19 Jan 2004 in Salina, Saline Co. KS. Dalmus married Zathah Glenn Overstreet, daughter of Mac D. Overstreet and Mary Jane Lipe, on 15 Oct 1939 in Hutchinson, Reno Co. KS. Zathah was born on 14 Jun 1914 in Murphysboro, Jackson Co. IL. She died on 6 Aug 1990.
Okay... am I the only one who thinks it is very weird that I find an odd name in a cemetery in the county I'm from in Kentucky, google for it and the first thing I look at on the web is about a person who got married in the town where I now live, some states away? How many towns are there in the US? And they happen to have a connection to the one town where I live?
There's also a myspace page of someone with that name and they live in Wichita, less than an hour from Hutchinson, where I live. The other reference to the name online is in a cell phone forum. About the phone I carry.
I'm sure there's some mysterious, deep meaning I am supposed to divine from this, but at the moment I'm just struck by the oddness of it all.


text:
<?php if ( ! defined('OC_ADMIN')) exit('Direct access is not allowed.');

    osc_enqueue_script('jquery-validate');

    function addHelp() {
        echo '
' . __('Manage all the listings on your site: edit, delete or block the latest listings published. You can also filter by several parameters: user, region, city, etc.') . '
';
    }
    osc_add_hook('help_box','addHelp');

    function customPageHeader() { ?>

<?php _e('Listing'); ?>
            <a href="<?php echo osc_admin_base_url(true); ?>?page=items&action=settings" class="btn ico ico-32 ico-engine float-right">

            <a href="<?php echo osc_admin_base_url(true) . '?page=items&action=post'; ?>" class="btn btn-green ico ico-32 ico-add-white float-right"><?php _e('Add listing'); ?>

<?php
    }
    osc_add_hook('admin_page_header','customPageHeader');

    function customPageTitle($string) {
        return sprintf(__('Manage listings » %s'), $string);
    }
    osc_add_filter('admin_title', 'customPageTitle');

    //customize Head
    function customHead() {
        ItemForm::location_javascript_new('admin'); ?>

        <?php
    }
    osc_add_hook('admin_header','customHead', 10);

    $categories  = __get('categories');
    $withFilters = __get('withFilters');

    $iDisplayLength = __get('iDisplayLength');

    $aData      = __get('aData');
    $aRawRows   = __get('aRawRows');
    $sort       = Params::getParam('sort');
    $direction  = Params::getParam('direction');

    $columns    = $aData['aColumns'];
    $rows       = $aData['aRows'];

    osc_current_admin_theme_path( 'parts/header.php' ); ?>
<form method="get" action="<?php echo osc_admin_base_url(true); ?>" id="display-filters" class="has-form-actions hide nocsrf">
    <input type="hidden" name="page" value="items" />
    <input type="hidden" name="iDisplayLength" value="<?php echo $iDisplayLength;?>" />
    <input type="hidden" name="sort" value="<?php echo $sort; ?>" />
    <input type="hidden" name="direction" value="<?php echo $direction; ?>" />

                        <?php _e('Pattern'); ?>

                        <input type="text" name="sSearch" id="sSearch" value="<?php echo osc_esc_html(Params::getParam('sSearch')); ?>" />

                        <?php _e('Category'); ?>

                        <?php ManageItemsForm::category_select($categories, null, null, true); ?>

                        <?php _e('Country'); ?>

                        <?php ManageItemsForm::country_text(); ?>

                        <?php _e('Region'); ?>

                        <?php ManageItemsForm::region_text(); ?>

                        <?php _e('City'); ?>

                        <?php ManageItemsForm::city_text(); ?>

                        <?php _e('Email'); ?>

                        <input id="user" name="user" type="text" value="<?php echo osc_esc_html(Params::getParam('user')); ?>" />
                        <input id="userId" name="userId" type="hidden" value="<?php echo osc_esc_html(Params::getParam('userId')); ?>" />

                        <?php _e('Premium'); ?>

                        <select id="b_premium" name="b_premium">
                            <option value="" <?php echo ( (Params::getParam('b_premium') == '') ? 'selected="selected"' : '' )?>><?php _e('Choose an option'); ?></option>
                            <option value="1" <?php echo ( (Params::getParam('b_premium') == '1') ? 'selected="selected"' : '' )?>><?php _e('ON'); ?></option>
                            <option value="0" <?php echo ( (Params::getParam('b_premium') == '0') ? 'selected="selected"' : '' )?>><?php _e('OFF'); ?></option>
                        </select>

                        <?php _e('Active'); ?>

                        <select id="b_active" name="b_active">
                            <option value="" <?php echo ( (Params::getParam('b_active') == '') ? 'selected="selected"' : '' )?>><?php _e('Choose an option'); ?></option>
                            <option value="1" <?php echo ( (Params::getParam('b_active') == '1') ? 'selected="selected"' : '' )?>><?php _e('ON'); ?></option>
                            <option value="0" <?php echo ( (Params::getParam('b_active') == '0') ? 'selected="selected"' : '' )?>><?php _e('OFF'); ?></option>
                        </select>

                        <?php _e('Block'); ?>

                        <select id="b_enabled" name="b_enabled">
                            <option value="" <?php echo ( (Params::getParam('b_enabled') == '') ? 'selected="selected"' : '' )?>><?php _e('Choose an option'); ?></option>
                            <option value="0" <?php echo ( (Params::getParam('b_enabled') == '0') ? 'selected="selected"' : '' )?>><?php _e('ON'); ?></option>
                            <option value="1" <?php echo ( (Params::getParam('b_enabled') == '1') ? 'selected="selected"' : '' )?>><?php _e('OFF'); ?></option>
                        </select>

                        <?php _e('Spam'); ?>

                        <select id="b_spam" name="b_spam">
                            <option value="" <?php echo ( (Params::getParam('b_spam') == '') ? 'selected="selected"' : '' )?>><?php _e('Choose an option'); ?></option>
                            <option value="1" <?php echo ( (Params::getParam('b_spam') == '1') ? 'selected="selected"' : '' )?>><?php _e('ON'); ?></option>
                            <option value="0" <?php echo ( (Params::getParam('b_spam') == '0') ? 'selected="selected"' : '' )?>><?php _e('OFF'); ?></option>
                        </select>

        <?php osc_run_hook('filters_manage_item_search'); ?>

        <input id="show-filters" type="submit" value="<?php echo osc_esc_html( __('Apply filters') ); ?>" class="btn btn-submit" />
        <a class="btn" href="<?php echo osc_admin_base_url(true).'?page=items'; ?>"><?php _e('Reset filters'); ?>

</form>

<?php _e('Manage listings'); ?> <a href="<?php echo osc_admin_base_url(true) . '?page=items&action=post'; ?>" class="btn btn-mini"><?php _e('Add new'); ?>

            <form method="get" action="<?php echo osc_admin_base_url(true); ?>"  class="inline nocsrf">
                <?php foreach( Params::getParamsAsArray('get') as $key => $value ) { ?>
                <?php if( $key != 'iDisplayLength' ) { ?>
                <input type="hidden" name="<?php echo $key; ?>" value="<?php echo osc_esc_html($value); ?>" />
                <?php } } ?>
                <select name="iDisplayLength" class="select-box-extra select-box-medium float-left" onchange="this.form.submit();" >
                    <option value="10"><?php printf(__('%d Listings'), 10); ?></option>
                    <option value="25" <?php if( Params::getParam('iDisplayLength') == 25 ) echo 'selected'; ?> ><?php printf(__('%d Listings'), 25); ?></option>
                    <option value="50" <?php if( Params::getParam('iDisplayLength') == 50 ) echo 'selected'; ?> ><?php printf(__('%d Listings'), 50); ?></option>
                    <option value="100" <?php if( Params::getParam('iDisplayLength') == 100 ) echo 'selected'; ?> ><?php printf(__('%d Listings'), 100); ?></option>
                </select>
            </form>
            <form method="get" action="<?php echo osc_admin_base_url(true); ?>" id="shortcut-filters" class="inline">
                <input type="hidden" name="page" value="items" />
                <input type="hidden" name="iDisplayLength" value="<?php echo $iDisplayLength;?>" />
                <?php if($withFilters) { ?>
                <a id="btn-hide-filters" class="btn" href="<?php echo osc_admin_base_url(true).'?page=items'; ?>"><?php _e('Reset filters'); ?>
                <?php } ?>
                <a id="btn-display-filters" href="#" class="btn <?php if($withFilters) { echo 'btn-red'; } ?>"><?php _e('Show filters'); ?>

                <?php $opt = "oPattern"; if(Params::getParam('shortcut-filter') != '') { $opt = Params::getParam('shortcut-filter'); } ?>
                <?php $classPattern = 'hide'; $classUser = 'hide'; $classItemId = 'hide'; ?>
                <?php if($opt == 'oUser') { $classUser = ''; } ?>
                <?php if($opt == 'oPattern') { $classPattern = ''; } ?>
                <?php if($opt == 'oItemId') { $classItemId = ''; } ?>
                <select id="filter-select" name="shortcut-filter" class="select-box-extra select-box-input">
                    <option value="oPattern" <?php if($opt == 'oPattern'){ echo 'selected="selected"'; } ?>><?php _e('Pattern'); ?></option>
                    <option value="oUser" <?php if($opt == 'oUser'){ echo 'selected="selected"'; } ?>><?php _e('Email'); ?></option>
                    <option value="oItemId" <?php if($opt == 'oItemId'){ echo 'selected="selected"'; } ?>><?php _e('Item ID'); ?></option>
                </select><input
                    id="fPattern" type="text" name="sSearch"
                    value="<?php echo osc_esc_html(Params::getParam('sSearch')); ?>"
                    class="input-text input-actions input-has-select <?php echo $classPattern; ?>"/><input
                    id="fUser" name="user" type="text"
                    class="fUser input-text input-actions input-has-select <?php echo $classUser; ?>"
                    value="<?php echo osc_esc_html(Params::getParam('user')); ?>" /><input
                    id="fUserId" name="userId" type="hidden"
                    value="<?php echo osc_esc_html(Params::getParam('userId')); ?>" /><input
                    id="fItemId" type="text" name="itemId"
                    value="<?php echo osc_esc_html(Params::getParam('itemId')); ?>"
                    class="input-text input-actions input-has-select <?php echo $classItemId; ?>"/>

                <input type="submit" class="btn submit-right" value="<?php echo osc_esc_html( __('Find') ); ?>">
            </form>

    <form class="" id="datatablesForm" action="<?php echo osc_admin_base_url(true); ?>" method="post" data-dialog-open="false">
        <input type="hidden" name="page" value="items" />
        <input type="hidden" name="action" value="bulk_actions" />

                <?php osc_print_bulk_actions('bulk_actions', 'bulk_actions', __get('bulk_options'), 'select-box-extra'); ?>
                <input type="submit" id="bulk_apply" class="btn" value="<?php echo osc_esc_html( __('Apply') ); ?>" />

                        <?php foreach($columns as $k => $v) {
                            echo ''.$v.'	';
                        }; ?>

                <?php if( count($rows) > 0 ) { ?>
                    <?php foreach($rows as $key => $row) { ?>
                        <tr class="<?php echo implode(' ', osc_apply_filter('datatable_listing_class', array(), $aRawRows[$key], $row)); ?>">
                            <?php foreach($row as $k => $v) { ?>
                                <td class="col-<?php echo $k; ?>"><?php echo $v; ?>
                            <?php }; ?>

                    <?php }; ?>
                <?php } else { ?>

                        <td colspan="<?php echo count($columns); ?>" class="text-center">

<?php _e('No data available in table'); ?>

                <?php } ?>

    </form>

<?php
    function showingResults(){
        $aData = __get("aData");
        echo '

'.osc_pagination_showing((Params::getParam('iPage')-1)*$aData['iDisplayLength']+1, ((Params::getParam('iPage')-1)*$aData['iDisplayLength'])+count($aData['aRows']), $aData['iTotalDisplayRecords'], $aData['iTotalRecords']).'

';
    }
    osc_add_hook('before_show_pagination_admin','showingResults');
    osc_show_pagination_admin($aData);
?>
<form id="dialog-item-delete" method="get" action="<?php echo osc_admin_base_url(true); ?>" class="has-form-actions hide">
    <input type="hidden" name="page" value="items" />
    <input type="hidden" name="action" value="delete" />
    <input type="hidden" name="id[]" value="" />

            <?php echo osc_apply_filter('admin_dialog_delete_listing_text', __('Are you sure you want to delete this listing?')); ?>

            <?php _e('Cancel'); ?>
            <input id="item-delete-submit" type="submit" value="<?php echo osc_esc_html( __('Delete') ); ?>" class="btn btn-red" />

</form>
<div id="dialog-bulk-actions" title="<?php _e('Bulk actions'); ?>" class="has-form-actions hide">

                <?php _e('Cancel'); ?>
                <?php echo osc_esc_html( __('Delete') ); ?>

<?php osc_current_admin_theme_path( 'parts/footer.php' ); ?>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: Server side vs client side website We have to build a website and we have to chose where to manage the content, in the server (PHP or JSP) or on the client (JavaScript).
This article: http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2358775/seo-strategies-for-javascript-heavy-single-page-applications-or-ajax-sites enlighted me a bit but Im still doubting.
Good SEO is the most important thing to achieve. Can anyone relate if same SEO results are possible for the same website built client side vs server side? Spiders nowadays (Google mostly) can properly crawl pushState and its easier for the developing team to code in JavaScript than any other server-side language but we still dont know how good SEO can be with mostly JavaScript.
In case we end up doing it client-side the server will only answer AJAX calls with JSON so most work will be done on the clients. The webpage is pretty heavy on content and we would like to avoid doing it on server-side to refresh content every time...
But again, SEO is most important overall. JavaScript would manage content faster (and other benefits) but how far can it go against a server-side webpage?
Edit: please dont vote to close as opinion based, im looking for those who really experienced this and can relate based on facts, thanks.

A: There is only one real SEO issue at stake here: content accessibility. Some search engines don't execute Javascript as part of crawling and indexing. So if your content cannot be accessed with a URL defined in a sitemap without using Javascript, then such content will not be indexed and ranked.
If you don't care about such search engines, then as long as you implement pushState() and a complete sitemap.xml properly, there is no SEO difference between a server side or client side website.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Welcome back to this third assignment review.
of the creative ideas that are out there among all of you.
people are making proposals for, but how expansive their ideas are.
over the course of the semester, and how much is new to us, as well, on it.
see the assignments because many of them are in warm weather places.
it, and we would love to have some of that sunshine that's in your photographs.
about 11 of the assignments.
these because they exemplify different ideas in how to approach urban design.
And we've organized them into three groups.
We have a first group of ones which are small-scale interventions.
or one limited set of aspects of the city.
how you change urban systems.
and make quite a lot of difference to a district that they find their way through.
which are dealing with big change that can be directed by some urban design ideas.
but we wanted to show more rather than less, and let's start.
So the first of these assignments comes to us from Bismarck, North Dakota.
part of the country that's got snow at this time of the year.
But it's also a part of the country that's experiencing a huge boom in development.
they've figured out a way to exploit the oil that lies below the surface.
people are building buildings like crazy in that part of the world.
They're faceless buildings, brick, glass, other such things.
But you've seen them in every other city in the country.
the quality of places that are being created is really nonexistent.
There are plazas that are kind of empty, there are streets that have no landscape.
There are no places to stop and linger on the streetscape.
It's not winter all the year, it has nice summer months, as well.
can we do some things that are short-term things that are easy to put in place?
And make a difference, get people out using the streets.
Get people looking at the streets, and then they can come along later.
They pointed out that there are many proposals in the city for big things.
Big parks, big streetscape efforts, etc., etc.
beginning to use the city.
And so, what are the things?
There are pieces of public art that could be put in particular places in the city.
people could linger on the streets while they're grabbing a bite to eat.
>> I'd like to say something about the vending carts.
get people used to the idea that there are food places along the street.
And just an ordinary hot dog stand isn't really going to do that.
was used to illustrate it.
is you have to have a concept for more than just the physical stuff.
or let's have an international food festival.
that will then get people used to the idea.
maybe there's some of the food vendors who might want to be there permanently.
And you also need an infrastructure for food vendors.
implemented soon, and it gets people interested.
Another thing, clearly, are banners like the one that is shown in this proposal.
I think you could do more with the banner than is shown in this particular picture.
>> I agree, I agree with that.
I think these are kind of placeholders for what might be done in a city like this.
even on projected light paintings to start with.
the buildings might be something different from what they are today.
But those are short-term changes and I call them urban flux.
make a difference and get people into different habits about using public space.
a village outside of Guangzhou, a Cantonese village.
And Stefan, why don't you pick up on this one?
>> Yeah, so this is in south China, a village called Fengjian.
It's actually a very beautiful village.
It's surrounded by canals, agricultural land.
There's a lot of nice bridges that cross the canals.
As a result, there's a lot of development occurring.
Too many tourists, according to the students.
At the same time, the cars starting to infringe on these very small streets.
more of the kind of pedestrian places.
to encourage bike usage and pedestrian use.
sustainability of this village is safeguarded.
somewhat threatened by the pressures of urbanization.
including the dragon boat racing through the canals.
So the student suggests these old traditions could be somewhat stimulated.
just a project, that could actually set a new pattern for life in the city.
And this one is in Florence.
military installation which has been abandoned and is sitting there unused.
there is a potential for major change.
And so the person submitting, I think is very smart, too.
said, this could be a catalyst for revitalization for the area.
Then the question comes up, do you use the existing buildings?
And if so, what's the program for them?
may unlock opportunities which weren't there before.
So what's being proposed in this instance is to reuse the buildings.
of course it's hard to know what condition they are in.
it's a bunch of old buildings and they're in terrible shape.
one ownership was an inventory of existing buildings.
Maybe there's something that can be done with this.
will then make changes in the surrounding neighborhood.
casual recreation, sitting, other kinds of things.
many years to the public.
So those are three examples of what we might call surgical urban design.
little pieces that could actually make a big difference over the long haul.
We're now looking at a series of projects which are more systems redesign.
Redesign of streets, redesign of express ways, other kinds of systems.
And we start with one in Moscow, which is a really stellar example.
>> I'm very enthusiastic about this proposal.
there's no really a good official way of getting across.
this street which leads at the other end from a main boulevard.
And this could become an interesting and important retail street.
And to help energize it, there's an old factory.
That shows up in one of the later drawings.
This is an excellent diagram, by the way, of how this tree should work.
such as another factory building has been in Moscow.
becomes the draw that brings people along this street from the main boulevard.
finds a way to make it work much better.
you might rethink the quality of experience along that street.
Now this one is a world apart.
imagine them in very different shape.
>> So again it's a condition that is quite common in that part of the world.
So we have a relatively unplanned area, urban environment.
There's a lack of infrastructure, lack of open space.
So what this student proposes is a series of interventions.
And so, one of it would be to kind of formalize street uses.
it's kind of left open to chance.
vegetation and also places for food courts.
So here we see one rendering of food court.
also more places for people to socialize.
>> This is actually, this particular illustration is actually a railroad track.
on both sides of the track, which is really just used for trash.
So I think this is the, actually quite a smart identification of opportunities.
>> And then here, yeah.
So removing a few homes to create some open area.
not enough room to socialize, in the middle of greenspace.
So by removing a few homes, these areas as a whole could benefit.
>> So this proposal actually deals with three systems that work in that community.
then all of the small alleyways that feed to the main street.
So the next one is a big scale thinking and it's in Ho Chi Minh City.
>> Okay, I wonder what you think about the analogy with New Orleans.
wetlands and the title of this is The Essential.
It's something that must be preserved.
other vegetation was in fact protection for the city.
And when it's cut down or taken away the city loses.
which have now been completely redeveloped, are surrounding this area.
This is, perhaps, the last piece of wetlands.
It looks like it's right at the head of the River Estuary.
it seems to me almost essential what these wetlands be preserved.
That the uplands are closer to the city.
could be hardened in some way to be a form of levy's, to be a form of protection.
by which you preserve the rest of it.
protection of a major city.
inside the proposal there appears to be a way of implementing it.
other things, is like this in such a predominate location in the city is.
I think largely a psychological problem.
And the issue is that you have to get people to love wetlands.
with green spaces and trees and other kinds of things like that.
have a whole system by which they the soil in place.
but if you don't know how they work, they just look kind of ugly.
And so it's a psychological problem as much as anything else.
some things that you don't often see people looking at in detail.
It had many many ideas in it.
how do you manage and think about sound in urban areas.
Because of the kind of streets surfaces that you're moving along.
And so I just want to talk about those two things.
what kind of sounds there are in different parts of this city in different locations.
In the city, and this diagram is just a beautiful piece that shows that.
that you reduce the noise, to provide a safe place to walk.
Create a kind of experience of walking through those areas.
creates a city with a different kind of sound regime.
the places where sounds were emanating from within the city.
There are people from Somalia.
There are people from Pakistan or people from Norway.
were producing different kinds of sounds.
wanted the sounds of each of the ethnic groups to be in contact with each other.
this a street that would be closed to traffic into a kind of experiential path.
a slow lane along the way as well.
happening in relationship to each other.
said we should paint the areas being used for all of these activities differently.
that if you're doing a skateboard you need a concrete surface.
if you're walking you want something that feels good like wood as it ends.
of materials running in parallel to each other?
particularly from a large expressway which cuts right through this area.
as you see on this illustration that they submitted.
pathways would be to get to the same buildings.
And I think that would be really difficult to do in this instance.
at least automobile access for local residents.
we can't get to our house.
And then all the good aspects of this proposal just won't happen.
where the noise has been reduced or very quiet areas today.
pedestrian speed that go through these areas.
on the River Wey in Surrey.
Stephan, you want to say a few things about this?
what's fascinating also is the consideration for flood control.
adjust their rivers so it can control these floods.
this is what's happening in many other places.
happening is strategic retreat for river areas.
a lot of development, they're partially returning this to the river.
as a way to deal with floods, when it happens.
So that could be another option.
walkways, but also in tandem with the urban development around them.
of desirable place even after you created barriers in other ways to control floods.
Now the next example is in Toronto.
And it's also a waterfront but a very different scale of waterfront.
This is a large, metropolitan waterfront.
And I've been involved in this over the years.
expressway called the Gardener Expressway, which runs right along the waterfront.
it's the major way by which people get to the center of the city.
which you have to pass under in long underpasses to get to the waterfront.
And this has been A kind of question of debate in Toronto for 40 years now.
People have been talking about taking the Gardiner Expressway down.
the city, and keeping only those rail lines in that are serving commuter rails.
the approach is basically an argument you can do it incrementally.
or creating a whole new transit system.
and make it partly a park, probably in the spirit of the High Line in New York City.
But you can make it a place for park and transit.
new changes that are being proposed for the transit system in Toronto.
to the southern part of the downtown might actually make a great deal of sense.
off the roadway in various locations and what the options for that are.
then replace it by transit, starting with bus rapid transit on some of the lanes.
Then closing it to all the trucks and buses.
line on the other side.
you create a green space running in parallel to it.
Now there are lots of questions unanswered.
it doesn't say where the cars go once you've taken them off the expressway.
And that's a real issue.
very well thought through transit change, which is called the big move.
can go from almost any part of the city to another part of the city using transit.
And a lot of that is bus route transit.
in North American cities so far.
doesn't quite explain how that all fits with what is being proposed here.
needs to be solved in that context.
So I look on it with a certain amount of suspicion as a result of that.
On the other hand, it's definitely a very important urban design issue.
It's a smart choice of something to focus on.
what happens with this expressway.
keep an expressway in existence after it's lived its purpose as a roadway.
For one thing, it needs to be repaired.
You probably have to reconstruct it to be able to continue to use it in that way.
those transit lines And there was parks and open spaces.
another linear waterfront, walkway system or open space system.
And so, it actually, the High Line has huge popularity.
But it's basically a one-node place.
You can walk along it, and that's all you can do.
There are no activities attached to it, etc.
that in other places that don't have those same kinds of circumstances.
So now, let's turn to two larger visions.
of issues, and Steph, I wanted you to start with the Cuenca city in Ecuador.
We have Cuenca in Ecuador.
and the industry's still there.
other use, and they're going to have to environmentally remediate the land.
developments as well as the large stadium.
at the same time the city's also proposing sort of a riverfront restoration.
Series of public spaces and park areas.
sure that this new district will be fully integrated in the rest of the city.
as well as some of the perspectives are quite suggestive.
by these changes, but it's not really being changed.
to a much wider area, because you never have the ability to control everything.
And so this one really focuses on a series of under-used sites that can be reused.
as a recreation space, and on other strategic moves through the area.
because it actually raises a whole series of interesting issues.
This is Rio de Janeiro.
informal communities, but they're also called communities.
them because they really are communities of people on it.
spaces near these high density areas that occupying the hillsides adjacent to them.
the Rashina Favela, which is one of the largest ones in Rio De Janeiro.
which are used maybe be a couple of hundred people at a time.
and keeping a diversity of population in the city.
build them as model residential areas?
although, not particularly distinguished public space that's a part of it.
analysis of how many people could actually fit in that area and what could you do.
what do you do with the slow areas that you're decanting.
do you just let them fill up with more people, which is another kind of issue.
You had some thoughts on this too.
but the reason it's so obvious is what makes it so compelling.
just a few miles away, people are living in very, very cramped conditions.
in any kind of standard if you don't stop and look at the politics of the thing.
which is really under used in a very high density big city.
than just a housing template, you want to make a whole city out of it.
and rehouse them in much better conditions.
slum area which could perhaps be re-purposed.
cost of moving these people out.
part of the population and create new communities.
And at the same time, take the older communities and make them much better.
they're never going to give up the golf course in that community.
it would be an impossible situation.
On the other hand you look at it and say, well it is really the right thing to do.
another 11, or another 22, or another 33, and spent time on them as well.
But you're probably tired of hearing our voices by now on this session.
But maybe we just close with just a few comments, each of us.
What did we learn through these things that we saw?
the scores are being applied to your own city, your own village.
you continue to do this, maybe you convince whatever capacity.
to change the place in which you live for the better.
So it was very exciting to see and I hope you continue to do this.
of these urban design ideas, and obviously they change with the circumstances.
as you have been seeing, there are many issues that go from country to country.
I think that's a very valuable aspect of this course.
>> I think the ideas end up being quite transportable.
person who is proposing them.
or what's possible in one place may have to be done differently in another place.
it's become the new center of Shanghai.
made everybody whole as a part of the process.
of creating lively places in public where people can interact.
Those things, it seems to me are the same almost all parts of the world.
a lot less public life, as in the Middle East.
transplant ideas without thinking about what the social context of those ideas is.
So thank you for joining us for the semester.
We've enjoyed seeing your work.
designers, and good luck on your pursuits.
actually implemented over the next few years.


1) Sign up for Award Wallet. This is an online tool that manages nearly every loyalty programme you can imagine, including British Airways, Tesco, Boots, Nectar etc. You can allow it to store passwords so you never need to bother remembering them in the future, and so Award Wallet can automatically check your points balances for you. This happens typically a few times per day.
You can use the premium version free of charge for 6 months by using the coupon code "pointstobemade". (Thereafter the cost is $5 per 6 months). The difference is that you can see when your points will expire (and Award Wallet will email you just in case) so you can do the necessary actions to stop expiry.
4) Follow Flyertalk, which is usually where people report interesting points promotions, however threads can turn sour or hostile very quickly, so you've been warned!
5) Get yourself some decent points earning credit cards. A good starting place is American Express, although promotions vary wildly between countries. Some promotions require referrals from an existing cardholder, which I am always happy to provide.
More tickets for your money – Do you value more economy class trips or fewer first class trips?
8) Learn to use Matrix (especially its advanced routing language), which is a Google-owned flight search engine. It is likely to be your single most powerful tool for finding the cheapest flights. I have written a step-by-step tutorial here.
9) Have fun! It can be strenuous and bewildering to begin with, but your efforts will be rewarded very quickly- trust me!


text:
Celebrating Women in Tech
New initiative aims to support female engineers across New York City
Mar 06 2019 | By JESSE ADAMS | Photo Credit: Timothy Lee Photographers
Watch excerpts from Ursula Burns's conversation with Dean Boyce.
The talk included a lively audience Q&A.
Bloomberg CTO Shawn Edwards, Dean Boyce, Burns, Paskin, and Donna MacPhee, president of the Columbia Alumni Association.
Burns with an NYU computer science student.
Dean Boyce, Burns, and NYU Tandon Dean Jelena Kovacevic, a Columbia Engineering alum.
Gilda Barabino (center), dean of CCNY Grove School of Engineering.
Engineering skills are as fundamental to 21st century literacy as reading and writing, according to Ursula Burns MS'82, the first African-American woman to lead a Fortune 500 company. The CEO of Veon and former head of Xerox, Burns returned to campus on March 5 as part of a special night launching New York City Women in Tech (NYC-WIT), an initiative devoted to leveraging the talent of women engineers as the city consolidates its place as a global tech hub.
A mechanical engineer by education, Burns argued that one of the most powerful aspects of an engineering degree is the kind of creative thinking it fosters. "No one is born an engineer: it's a process," said Burns, who also led Change the Equation, President Obama's national program on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). "You are taught that we can get to a solution to anything through an organized, process-driven, step-by-step approach. That carries itself through everything I do."
She sat down with Mary C. Boyce, dean of Columbia Engineering, for a far-reaching conversation moderated by Janet Paskin '00JRN, workplace editor at Bloomberg. The packed gathering at The Forum in Manhattanville convened leaders from industry and government with students and alumni from engineering schools across New York City—Columbia, CCNY Grove School of Engineering, Cornell Tech, NYU Tandon School of Engineering, and Cooper Union—and Barnard College for an evening of reflection, discussion, and networking. Donna MacPhee, president of the Columbia Alumni Association, was on hand to welcome the over 400 attendees. Shawn Edwards BS'90 MS'95, CTO of Bloomberg, introduced Dean Boyce.
NYC-WIT formed last year to promote a receptive climate and broaden the engineering and technology pipeline by sharing best practices and identifying obstacles. The consortium is working to ensure that more young women are attracted to engineering and technology fields, and more women achieve career advancement with salary parity; to understand what variables impact retention; and to strategically intervene to make a significant and lasting impact for New York City women in engineering and technology.
"We have to increase the numbers in leadership positions," Burns said. "We're still paying women less money than men and we have to bring to the forefront the fundamental inequity in how women are treated in the workplace as opposed to how men are treated… Women have to be prepared to change the rules."
Fostering a more inclusive environment in engineering and technology doesn't just benefit women, the speakers noted; it also gives everyone the chance to work with a more diverse array of talent to address the key challenges of today with creative engineering solutions.
It changes the whole environment to have the presence of more women. It's great for everybody because it's bringing very different ways of thinking about problems together, about solving problems together, about what those creative next solutions will be.
Dean Mary C. Boyce
"It changes the whole environment to have the presence of [more] women," Boyce said. "It's great for everybody because it's bringing very different ways of thinking about problems together, about solving problems together, about what those creative next solutions will be."
Columbia Engineering has made remarkable progress increasing female participation in recent years, demonstrating one of the most successful track records among top-ranked engineering schools. While women make up under 25% of engineering students nationally, some 44% of the School's undergraduates are women, and 49% of the Class of 2022. Representation of women among master's students, doctoral candidates, and faculty also substantially exceeds the national average. That's true of other New York engineering schools. For instance, NYU Tandon's Class of 2022 is 43% female.
The conversation was followed by a lively reception co-sponsored by industry partners and "She Opened the Door," a Columbia Alumni Association conference. Students, alumni, and industry professionals lingered exchanging ideas and joining forces for future problem solving.
"Now is an ideal time to promote women in engineering and technology across the city as NYC rapidly emerges as a technology hub. Engineering is transforming nearly every industry sector across the city," Boyce said. "I'm delighted that all the engineering schools are represented tonight and that our industry sponsors—Bloomberg, Addepar, Google, Morgan Stanley, and Weight Watchers—are able to see the tremendous engineering talent that our schools are collectively adding to New York City."
NYC WIT Encourages Women to Pursue Engineering/Technology Careers in New York City
Apr 11 2019 | Tech at Bloomberg
Diversity Difficulties in Tech: Women Need to be Prepared to Change the Rules
Mar 06 2019 | Techonomy
Barnard Creates Pathways for More Women in Engineering in Partnership with Columbia Engineering
Oct 23 2018 | Updated May 20 2019 | Photo Credit: Asiya Khaki
Dean Boyce Moderates UN HeForShe Panel
Oct 17 2018 | By Holly Evarts
Dean Boyce at Davos: Women Have a Major Role in STEM's Future
Jan 30 2017 | By Allison Elliott

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Murphy singled to center field (0-0).
Halpin singled through the right side (0-0); Murphy advanced to second.
Bombard singled to right center (0-1 F).
Bombard advanced to second on a wild pitch.
De La Cruz singled up the middle, RBI (1-1 BS); Bombard scored.
Bisceglia singled to right center, RBI (1-1 KB); De La Cruz scored.
Bisceglia advanced to second on a wild pitch.
Warren singled to left field (2-2 KBBF).
Shea doubled to left field, RBI (1-2 BSS); Warren scored.
De La Cruz singled to third base, bunt.
Bisceglia walked (3-2 KBBSBB); De La Cruz advanced to second.
Gonzalez reached on a fielding error by ss (0-1 K).
Horton doubled down the lf line (0-0).
Bombard singled to third base, bunt (0-0); Horton advanced to third.
Peluso grounded into double play ss to 1b (2-2 BBFF); Bombard out on the play; Horton scored.
Lavanchy singled to right field (2-2 BKBF).
De La Cruz singled to right center (1-0 B); Lavanchy advanced to third.
Collins singled to center field (1-1 BF).
Collins advanced to second on a fielding error by ss, assist by p 1b, caught stealing.
Warren singled through the left side, RBI (0-0); Collins scored, unearned.
Warren advanced to second on a wild pitch.
Gibbons to p for Bruemmel.
Caggiano singled to right field (0-0).
Murphy hit by pitch (1-2 BKF).
Peluso singled to center field (2-1 BBK).
Silvestro doubled down the rf line (1-0 B).
Richards to p for Grenier.
Smith to cf for Foley.
Crowley pinch hit for Caggiano.
Gonzalez hit by pitch (1-1 KB).
Lanahan pinch hit for Murphy.


No one ever anticipates their pet getting lost or stolen, but it happens every day. Microchipping your pet is an inexpensive, easy, safe, painless and permanent way to identify your pet for its entire life. A microchip, which is about the size of a grain of rice, can be implanted under your pet's skin through a small hollow needle. Veterinarians, accredited animal shelters, rescues or humane societies who are registered and have a chip scanner will be able to identify your pet if they have been lost. The scanner will read and display the number of the microchip and you will be identified as the Owner as long as your current information is registered within the microchip database.
The primary benefit of microchipping pets is the increased chance of reunification of a lost or stolen animal with their rightful owner. Through microchipping, you can provide your pet with a lifetime ID number: an ISO standard implanted chip contains a unique and unalterable identification number – 15 digits long – and is recognized in most countries around the world. In the US, there are two other accepted forms of valid microchips that are 9-digit and 10-digit chips respectively.
Microchipping is a one-time service that helps give you peace of mind. The most widely used and trusted pet registry database is Petlink (Datamar). This is the brand microchip and service we use.
Even if your animal spends their whole life indoors, they should be microchipped! These pets are the ones that typically need the most help getting home if they are accidentally lost or get out.


text:
Emergency Medicine - 013759
⋮ Menu
Articles & Podcasts Videos Photos Back to the Top
Responding to Coronavirus
Samaritan's Purse is continuing to serve in Jesus' Name and to bring comfort to people suffering during the ongoing global health crisis. In the United States alone, more than 380,000 people have died from COVID-19, and the total number of positive cases has surpassed 23 million.
Our teams are hard at work to open an Emergency Field Hospital in Southern California in Los Angeles County, which has a population of over 10 million. An airlift on Monday, Jan. 11, brought the medical equipment needed, and tents were transported across the country by a Samaritan's Purse tractor trailer. The mobile unit of more than 50 beds is located in the parking lot of Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster.
Franklin Graham traveled to Lancaster on Jan. 13 to see final preparations before our Emergency Field Hospital soon opens.
The situation in Los Angeles County is devastating, as approximately every 8 minutes a person dies from COVID-19. More than 13,000 coronavirus patients throughout the county have died, with almost half of those deaths coming in the past two months. Of the more than 8,000 patients hospitalized, 20 percent are in intensive care.
Samaritan's Purse is also operating an Emergency Field Hospital in Lenoir, North Carolina, to support five regional healthcare systems that are reaching capacity due to rising coronavirus hospitalizations. The hospital, which opened Jan. 7, is set up on the grounds of Caldwell UNC Health Care and is staffed by our Disaster Assistance Response Team, including doctors, nurses, and other healthcare specialists.
"This is our home state, and we appreciate the frontline workers battling COVID day in and day out. We are glad that we can be there to help lift the load. Our medical team is going to help provide professional, compassionate, and quality care to every patient who is sent to us," said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan's Purse.
Our field hospitals in both Lenoir and Lancaster treat those who are COVID-positive but do not need the support of a ventilator.
The mobile unit in California is the fifth Emergency Field Hospital Samaritan's Purse has deployed since the beginning of the global pandemic early last year. Our DC-8 cargo jet airlifted disaster relief personnel and tons of medical equipment in order to open field hospitals and care for COVID-19 patients in Italy and the Bahamas. In New York City, we set up a medical facility in East Meadow in Central Park.
In addition to our Emergency Field Hospital deployments, Samaritan's Purse country offices and global affiliates have launched new efforts or adapted projects to support people who are suffering during this global pandemic. We have also partnered with organizations in more than a dozen additional countries to meet further needs.
Please pray for our teams as they demonstrate God's love to sick patients and their families. Pray for those who are suffering from the coronavirus, and that this global pandemic will soon come to an end.
Field Hospital Will Care for COVID-19 Patients in Western North Carolina
Emergency Field Hospital Opens in the Bahamas to Care for COVID-19 Patients
Central Park Hospital Stands Strong in Battle Against COVID-19
A Diary of Life and Death at Our Central Park Hospital
'I Cannot Thank Them Enough'
Italy: Caring Hands Bring Comfort During Pandemic
Field Hospital Receiving Patients New York City's Central Park
Field Hospital Opens, Receives Patients in Italy
Inside the Hot Zone: Fighting COVID-19 in the Bahamas
Hope in Cremona, Italy
Central Park Emergency Field Hospital
Combating COVID-19 in New York City
COVID-19 Airlift to Italy
Fighting Fear; Devotions with Edward Graham
In the News - Coronavirus and Fear
Cremona, Italy
Our Emergency Field Hospital is set up in the parking lot of Cremona Hospital.
We are caring for patients severely ill due to COVID-19.
Our medical team prepares to treat the first patient admitted to the field hospital.
Patients are being transferred to us from the Mount Sinai Health System.
Our team continues to pray for God's grace and strength as we care for hurting people in His Name.
A beautiful sunset in New York's Central Park.
A patient is admitted to the Emergency Field Hospital.
More than 40 patients were treated in our medical facility.
Our teams cared for patients in the Name of Jesus Christ.
Medical staff prepare to meet with patients.
Our team dons personal protective equipment before entering the patient wards.
The Lenoir Fire Department assists with set up.
You can also make a donation by mail. Send to: Samaritan's Purse, PO Box 3000, Boone, NC 28607


I've had four bottles of these Fixation IPA now; enough to know that this is right up my alley.
Fixation is an offshoot of Stone & Wood, with a focus purely on IPA. This is the inaugural Fixation IPA, with a range of other beers to follow (I believe there is a double just released).
Featuring four 'new world' hop varieties with a pale malt background, this is very much the West Coast IPA style with big hoppy aromatics and a palate that is light on the malt. Big impact, but not astringent, this is punchy and full of flavour with great length.
I'm a fan. Great to see the IBUs (65) printed on the label as well. More of that info please brewers. 4.5 stars. 6.4%. Would I buy it again? Absolutely.


text:
Q: VS 2005 professional edition x86 I am trying to install vs 2005 professional editon x86 on vista.
My machine and operating system both are 64 bit. When I start setup it shows .net framework for 64 bit. I exit from the installation. can anybody help me out?
Is it normal that 32 bit application become 64 bit on 64 bit vista and machine.

A: Whats happening is that the .NET framework prerequisite is detecting that you are on a x64 machine. Its going to install both the x86 and x64 versions of the .NET framework. You can still develop x86 applications without any issues on a x64 machine. You can also run x86 applications on a x64 machine without any issues.
And, there is no x64 version of Visual Studio 2005.

A: As far as I know, VSStudio 05 x86 will show that it will install x86 & x64 version of .NET even on 32 bit machine. But I think it does not install x64 .NET on a 32 bit machine.
What I would suggest is you go ahead & let the install run & if there are any errors(google it else) post it here at SO.


There was a 5 minutes outage in the RightScale us-4 CM dashboard. User's using the CM dashboard from 16:05 PDT to 16:10 PDT would gave received an error. The cause has been identified and we're taking steps to prevent this in the future.
Subscribe to updates for Outage in RightScale us-4 CM dashboard via email and/or text message. Whenever an update is posted, you'll receive a notification.


text:
Door Opening for Single-engine Commercial IFR in Europe
by Ian Sheppard
- September 1, 2013, 12:35 AM
TBM850 operator Voldirect is one of several operators approved for commercial flights in IMC.
Flying commercially using a single-engine aircraft under instrument flight rules (SECIFR) or at night may be taken for granted in the U.S., but it has not been possible in Europe–until now. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has cracked the door open–first for cargo operators and more recently, in the past few months, for flights carrying fare-paying passengers. It has left the decision to individual countries' regulators, however, and France and Finland have taken the lead.
Hendell Aviation in Finland billed itself as "the first [SECIFR] operator in Europe" in February this year; then, during the Paris Air Show in June, Daher-Socata announced that a TBM850 operator, Rennes, France-based Voldirect, had been approved for single-engine commercial flights in IMC under the French DGAC's derogation.
In making the announcement, the French manufacturer said, "It is the result of combined efforts involving the operator, the aircraft manufacturer and the OSAC French civil aviation inspection authority after Voldirect demonstrated a safety level equivalent or superior to [that of] all fields of operations and [deemed] mandatory [for] any airline in Europe."
A commercial aircraft operator's goal is to make the service it provides to business customers more competitive by enabling them to travel to any European destination in a single day–without waiting times, airplane changes or wasted time, for a time/cost benefit that cannot be matched by any other type of aircraft. "Voldirect makes the flexibility of business aviation available to companies that otherwise couldn't afford it," acccording to Daher-Socata.
Stéphane Mayer, president and CEO of Daher-Socata, noted that an operator such as Voldirect can now sell tickets for on-demand flights on the TBM850, providing quality, competitiveness, flexibility, performance and a small environmental footprint. Nicolas Chabbert, senior v-p of Daher-Socata's airplane division, expects that the French experience will make the EASA comfortable about adopting rules that allow SECIFR operations.
Restrictions Continue in UK
At the other end of the scale is the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which has long opposed commercial single-engine IFR operations and continues to watch the changes from the sidelines. The CAA told AIN: "Currently the UK CAA does not allow [commercial] single-engine passenger or IFR operations. These operations are not allowed under the regulations set out in EU OPS." The CAA also pointed out, "The EASA is currently engaged in a consultation on this issue and will report later in the year. We await the outcome of this process."
Canada and the U.S. already allow commercial IFR flights in single-engine aircraft.
SECIFR Rule Long Under Discussion in Europe
A little over two years ago, European regulators included the proposed SECIFR rule in the 2011-14 EASA rulemaking program, and for proponents of change this was an encouraging development. Ultimately, the European Commission (effectively the EASA's parent institution) will hand down a formal opinion for processing by the EC, which will then pass it to the European Parliament for consideration.
In the meantime, carriers have been able to conduct SECIFR cargo flights under approval by their national institutions using derogations from European rules, which recently transitioned from the old Joint Aviation Authorities soft-law rules to hard-law EASA rules. Operators in Finland, France, Greece, Norway and Spain have permitted domestic SECIFR flights by air operator certificate holders carrying only cargo under specific circumstances. The Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) failed to establish a consensus, and another opportunity was missed when the EASA said in 2008 that SECIMC/night flying would require separate rulemaking after it had handed down its opinion on the EASA operations implementing rules.
In 2007 the EASA set up an independent assessment "to identify the risks and possible mitigating factors [to ensure] that SECIMC operations do not involve more risks than multi-engine IMC operations."
Conducted by Qinetiq, that study concluded that accident rates involving fatal SECIMC/night events from all causes should be "more remote than 4 per million flight hours," a safety outlook slightly better than that for twin-engine aircraft in comparable operations. Qinetiq also concluded that fatal SECIMC/night engine-failure rates should be less than 1.3 per million flight hours and made recommendations on aircraft-certification testing, training and the need for a second pilot.
The report offered a theoretical risk assessment that, depending on "realistic assumptions," concluded there was a hypothetical possibility that the target engine-failure fatal accident rate could be shown to be achievable. Permitted SECIMC/night operations would need to be covered by "appropriate limitations on cloud ceiling and visibility, [conducted between] suitable airfields and [with consideration for] the duration of risk periods when no landing site is within gliding range."
Within Europe, certain turboprop singles have been cleared to conduct public-transport operations in day VMC for a number of years. There has been considerable commercial pressure to extend this clearance to allow operations at night and in IMC, as already permitted in the U.S. and some other countries. Before the EASA was established, the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) had conducted an extensive consultation exercise to amend the Joint Airworthiness Requirements Operations (JAR Ops1). This process culminated in notice of proposed amendment NPA Ops 29 Rev 2, circulated in June 2004. The requirements, as given in NPA Ops 29 Rev 2, would have allowed turboprop singles to undertake commercial night and IMC operations in Europe, but with more limitations than those imposed by the FAA and the authorities in other countries.
However, while a majority of national airworthiness authorities within Europe were satisfied with the proposals, a consensus could not be achieved. Consequently, when the EASA became the overarching European airworthiness authority it decided to suspend the rulemaking task and review the work done so far. It called for a full and objective risk assessment of SECIFR operations to be undertaken by an independent expert entity with no conflict of interest toward the introduction of SECIFR operations. In February 2007 the contract was placed with Qinetiq.
https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aviation-international-news/2013-09-01/door-opening-single-engine-commercial-ifr-europe
Lockheed Reverses Course On Sikorsky Coatesville Closure
Las Vegas Gateway To Receive New Hangar Complex
Thailand Moves To Streamline Regs for Aviation Companies
FedEx Steps Up To Support Grieving Family
JF-17 Thunder – Lightning Strikes Twice
Eviation's Alice To Fly This Year