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Adidas has today unveiled its SS17 Parley swim range made from Parley Ocean Plastic and featuring up-cycled ocean plastic made from used fishing nets and debris intercepted in coastal areas and converted into technical yarn fibres such as EconylÂ®, a recycled Polyamide yarn.
EconylÂ® regenerated materials offer the same high quality and performance as the material (Nylon 6) usually found in wider swim apparel, but with the additional environmental benefits of using regenerated waste.
Telling the story of its unique composition, the adidas Parley swim collection launches with two distinct designs: a wave print that references the source of its fabric, and a Parley inspired graphic. Uniting form with performance-focused function, both designs are finished with adidasâ€™s unique Infinitex+ Pulse and flat lock seams, enabling the range to be 100% chlorine resistant for endless training support and the highest level of comfort.
Already making waves to reduce the environmental footprint of its products, the Parley swim range is the latest addition to adidasâ€™s wider swim portfolio that reflects the brandâ€™s commitment to developing and implementing sustainable fabrics at scale. 50% of all adidas swim apparel is made from recycled material with 76% of adidas pool collection incorporating recycled polyamide.
“This has been a passion project for everyone involved, from the first ripple of an idea through to the moment we first saw the transformation of debris into the performance fabric launched today,” said Tim Janaway, General Manager of adidas Heartbeat Sports.
“Created with the ethos â€˜from the oceans, for the oceansâ€™, the Parley swim collection represents our dedication to consistently deliver swim products that protect that waters in which we perform. As one of the leading sportswear brands in the world, it is our responsibility to be the guardians of the spaces of sport and this range is testament to the part we can – and should- all play to safeguard the oceans for future generations.â€
The SS17 Parley swim range will be available online from February 1st on adidas.com/swimming and in adidas stores worldwide starting at 30 EUR for men and 50 EUR for women RRP.

domain: sports


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Brexit is over, as we all know, and while the referendum is non-binding, it still comes as something of a shock. Why would the majority of voters in the UK decide to leave the EU? Why vote against self-interest?
The Remain faction made a rhetorical mistake early on, and stuck by it. They appealed to economic efficiency. By joining and remaining in the EU, the UK (and its neighbors) would, they argued, benefit from lower transaction costs of all sorts. Life would be easier and better because of the economic efficiencies – the movement of goods and people around the EU, for instance, and the managing of cross-border business deals would encounter far fewer frictions if the UK remained than if it exited. Case closed.
For many, though, that argument clearly fell flat. It not only ignores history, social institutions, and heritage, it diminishes and often dismisses them. Arguments rooted in economic efficiency cannot trump (if you’ll pardon our using that term) appeals to emotion.
It reminded us of the lesson Uber learned when it tried to convince riders that surge pricing was a good idea. This is what Uber used to have to say about surge pricing.
Uber rates increase to get more cars on the road and ensure reliability during the busiest times. When enough cars are on the road, prices go back down to normal levels. It’s important to know that you’ll always be notified in big, bold print if surge pricing is in effect. When rates are more than double, the surge confirmation screen also requires you to type in the specific surge multiplier to ensure you understand what rates to expect.
On its face, surge pricing is a good idea, or at minimum an economically sensible one. By raising the price of a ride during peak demand, Uber gets more drivers on the road, matching supply with demand. But when unexpected events – like a shooting or hostage crisis – raised prices dramatically during an emergency, appeals to “supply and demand” were the last thing that angry customers wanted to hear even if what Uber was saying happened to be true (that higher prices would have gotten more drivers to site of the shooting and provided more safety).
But appeals to rational economic principles fall flat in the face of intense emotion. When you know there’s someone with a gun in your neighborhood, you really don’t want to confront higher prices in your ride app; it upsets you to think that a company is profiting from it. When UK voters are frightened into demanding tighter border controls amidst an international migration crisis, it’s not useful to hear from economists that immigration is typically good for everyone in the longer run.
The Remain faction eventually got the message, and began appealing to the UK’s historic role in leading Europe, but it was already too late. Gordon Brown’s “leader not a leaver” video – filmed in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral, destroyed by the Nazis and preserved as a monument to European peace — was right on the mark. But when your best plea comes from one of the least popular Labour governments ever, that’s a new kind of problem.
Brexit may be a disaster (although we still have to see what Parliament decides to do, and if the EU offers the UK better terms to get them to stay), but it’s also a useful reminder. When your opponents flawlessly employ the principles of change management – even if only by accident – you’d better have something better than appeals to efficiency up your sleeve.

domain: politics


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Biochar (BC) application to soil suppresses emission of nitrous- (N2O) and nitric oxide (NO), but the mechanisms are unclear. One of the most prominent features of BC is its alkalizing effect in soils, which may affect denitrification and its product stoichiometry directly or indirectly. We conducted laboratory experiments with anoxic slurries of acid Acrisols from Indonesia and Zambia and two contrasting BCs produced locally from rice husk and cacao shell. Dose-dependent responses of denitrification and gaseous products (NO, N2O and N2) were assessed by high-resolution gas kinetics and related to the alkalizing effect of the BCs. To delineate the pH effect from other BC effects, we removed part of the alkalinity by leaching the BCs with water and acid prior to incubation. Uncharred cacao shell and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) were also included in the study. The untreated BCs suppressed N2O and NO and increased N2 production during denitrification, irrespective of the effect on denitrification rate. The extent of N2O and NO suppression was dose-dependent and increased with the alkalizing effect of the two BC types, which was strongest for cacao shell BC. Acid leaching of BC, which decreased its alkalizing effect, reduced or eliminated the ability of BC to suppress N2O and NO net production. Just like untreated BCs, NaOH reduced net production of N2O and NO while increasing that of N2. This confirms the importance of altered soil pH for denitrification product stoichiometry. Addition of uncharred cacao shell stimulated denitrification strongly due to availability of labile carbon but only minor effects on the product stoichiometry of denitrification were found, in accordance with its modest effect on soil pH. Our study indicates that stimulation of denitrification was mainly due to increases in labile carbon whereas change in product stoichiometry was mainly due to a change in soil pH.
Citation: Obia A, Cornelissen G, Mulder J, Dörsch P (2015) Effect of Soil pH Increase by Biochar on NO, N2O and N2 Production during Denitrification in Acid Soils. PLoS ONE 10(9): e0138781. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0138781
Editor: R. Michael Lehman, USDA-ARS, UNITED STATES
Received: May 7, 2015; Accepted: September 3, 2015; Published: September 23, 2015
Copyright: © 2015 Obia et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Data Availability: Data have been deposited to Dryad (doi:10.5061/dryad.m8q78).
Funding: This work was funded by Norwegian Research Council project FRIMUF No. 204112 awarded to JM and Norwegian University of Life Sciences PhD internal financing to AO, with co-funding from Norwegian Research Council FriPro project No. 217918 awarded to GC. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Denitrification, the microbially mediated, stepwise reduction of nitrogen oxides to N2 via nitric oxide (NO) and nitrous oxide (N2O) , is the dominant pathway returning reactive nitrogen to the atmosphere. NO and N2O are gaseous intermediates of denitrification which, once escaped to the atmosphere, have adverse effects on plant and animal health , stratospheric ozone  and the radiative balance of the Earth . About 45% of the total terrestrial N2O emissions can be attributed to nitrogen (N) cycling in agriculture , making denitrification a primary target for greenhouse gas abatement .
Numerous studies have shown that biochar (BC), a biomass pyrolysis product originally devised for carbon (C) sequestration and soil amelioration [7–10] suppresses N2O emissions ( and references therein) alongside with increasing crop production [12–14]. Only few studies have reported that BC leads to increased N2O emissions [15, 16]. Thus, BC appears to be a promising agent to mitigate N2O emissions from agroecosystems, but the mechanisms mediating the suppression are unresolved. Various mechanisms have been proposed, such as increased N2O reductase activity at raised soil pH , increased electron flow to N2O through BC-mediated electron shuttling , reduced rates of denitrification through competition for electrons , direct sorption of N2O , improved soil aeration  and immobilization of ammonium or nitrate through adsorption or enhanced soil cation/anion exchange [15, 21, 22]. Other proposed mechanisms are ethylene production by BC resulting in temporary inhibition of nitrification  and microbial N immobilization due to the presence of labile organic carbon in BC . Increased N2O emission after BC application has been attributed to high N content in certain BC such as that made from poultry manure [16, 22].
Most BCs are alkaline owing to their ash content, causing release of base cations, and alkaline properties of organic functional groups . Biochar addition to soils neutralizes soil acidity and may increase the cation exchange capacity (CEC) and base saturation, depending on the intrinsic properties of the soil and the BC [26, 27].
Soil pH strongly controls the N2O/(N2O+N2) product ratio of denitrification. This has been demonstrated for pure cultures of denitrifying bacteria  and for soil denitrifying communities [29–33]. The likely reason is that low pH prevents the assembly of functional N2O reductase (N2OR), the enzyme reducing N2O to N2 in denitrification [29, 34]. Since BC is generally alkaline, increased N2OR activity due to pH rise could be one of the major mechanisms behind the observed suppression of N2O emission in BC treated acid soils. If so, N2O suppression by BC would be mainly a “liming effect”.
The objectives of the present study were to evaluate the role of BC-induced pH change on NO and N2O net production in soil denitrification. Although, NO is an important regulator in many biological processes including denitrification [35, 36], only few BC studies have addressed NO . We carried out ex situ denitrification experiments in closed bottles with two acidic agricultural soils from Indonesia and Zambia. We applied increasing doses of two types of BC strongly differing in amount and type of alkalinity and studied the responses of soil pH, overall denitrification rate and gaseous reaction products (NO, N2O, N2). To shed light on the role of soil pH, we removed alkalinity from the BCs through leaching with water and acid prior to incubation in a second experiment. In a third experiment, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) was used as an alkali analogue to study the effect of pH per se in the absence of BC. Furthermore, the NO and N2O suppressing effect of BC was compared to that of uncharred feedstock. The denitrification kinetics were studied in stirred soil slurries in helium (He) atmosphere, using a high-throughput incubation robot which monitors oxygen (O2), carbon dioxide (CO2), NO, N2O and N2 at high temporal resolution . Stirring ensured homogeneous soil slurries and equilibrium of gases between headspace and liquid phase. Unlike previous studies, our investigations were carried out under fully anoxic conditions, preventing confounding effects on denitrification NO and N2O production by other N-cycling processes.
Materials and Methods
Soils and biochars
Acidic, sandy loam Acrisols were sampled at Lampung (Sumatra, Indonesia; 05°00.406' S; 105°29.405' E) and Mkushi (Zambia; 13°36.264′ S; 29°29.768′ E) in October 2012 and April 2013, respectively. The soils were sampled from private lands with permission of the owners during the dry season and stored air-dried. Selected soil and BC properties are presented in Table 1. Different N-forms in soils and BCs were not considered. The NH4+ content was deemed irrelevant because our main experiments were under anaerobic conditions ruling out nitrification. The added ample amount of NO3- would override any sorption effect and denitrification and its product stoichiometry, are not sensitive to small differences in NO3- availability .
The BCs were prepared from rice husk and cacao shell, two common agricultural wastes in Lampung, Indonesia. The two BCs differed in extent and type of alkalinity (Table 1); cacao shell BC had a lower ash content but a ~10 times higher CEC than rice husk BC. The exchangeable cations of cacao shell BC were dominated by potassium (K). Overall, cacao shell BC had a ~5 times higher acid neutralizing capacity (ANC) than rice husk BC (217 vs 45 cmolc kg-1) .
The BC pyrolysis conditions, taken from Hale, Alling , can be found in Description A in S1 File. Since the BCs were not produced in the laboratory, thermogravimetric analyses (TGA) was used to estimate the pyrolysis temperature, indicating that this was between 400 and 500°C. In short, during the TGA, the temperature was stepwise increased up to 900°C, and weight loss was monitored. The weight loss profile was then compared to three temperature series of laboratory-generated BCs where pyrolysis had taken place at an exactly measured temperature. Weight loss and high to low temperature weight loss ratios of our BC samples both showed pyrolysis temperature of 400–500°C.
The BCs used in this experiment were either untreated or leached with water or acid. Leaching of the BCs to partly remove their alkalizing effect before use in the experiments was done on the size fraction ≤ 2 mm. For leaching, columns of 5 cm diameter and 30 cm length were filled with BC. The columns were fitted with tubing at the inlet and outlet and filter paper (0.45μm) was placed on both ends of the column. Biochars were first leached with demineralized water at a 1:50 (BC:water w/w) ratio with a flow rate of 70–80 ml hr-1 for 4 days to produce “water-leached” BC. After removing part of the BC from the column (water-leached), leaching continued with 0.05 M HCl at a 1:10 (BC:acid w/w) ratio with a flow rate of 20–30 ml hr-1 for 1 day to produce “acid-leached” BC. During the leaching, water and subsequently HCl were pumped through the vertical columns from the bottom upwards. Pumping stopped temporarily when leachate appeared on the top of the column and resumed after 2 days (in the case of water) or 1 day (in the case of HCl). A peristaltic pump was used to control the flow rate. Both water- and acid-leached BCs were oven-dried at 40°C for 3 days resulting to a moisture content of 13 and 6%w/w, respectively. Prior to mixing with the soil, the BCs (both untreated and leached) were ground and passed through a 0.5 mm sieve. Despite possible release of fresh materials after grinding of leached BCs to ≤ 0.5 mm, the pH measured in soil-leached BC slurries before incubation (Table 2) was lower than in slurries with untreated BC, hence satisfying the purpose of reducing or removing alkalizing effect of BC. Cations, anions and dissolved organic C removed by leaching with water and acid, respectively, can be found in S2 File.
Air-dried soils were saturated with water and equilibrated to 5 kPa suction in a sand box (Eijkelkamp Agrisearch Equipment, Giesbeek, The Netherlands) over a 5 days period. Controlled pre-wetting was done to accommodate for the flush of microbial activity commonly observed upon rewetting of dry soil . For the incubation assays, approx. 10 g sand box equilibrated soil was placed in 120 ml serum bottles together with a magnetic stirring bar. Treatments included BCs (untreated and leached) and uncharred cacao shell, the latter to assess the effect of the feedstock alone (in Lampung soil only), at doses of 0, 1, 2, 5 and 10% (dry weight basis). Weight losses during leaching were implicitly corrected for since the same weights of the treated chars were used. To investigate if the effect of BC on denitrification and its gaseous reaction products was merely a pH effect, another set of experiments was run with Lampung soil in which soil pH was manipulated by adding 0.35, 1.25 and 1.80 ml of 0.1M NaOH prior to anoxic incubation. Dose of NaOH was decided based on the alkalizing effect of BC, e.g. 1.8 ml 0.1M NaOH was equivalent to 10% untreated cacao shell BC in Lampung soil. All treatments were prepared in triplicate. In preparation of soil slurries, 30 ml of a 2 mM KNO3 solution were added to the bottles thereby providing ample NO3- for denitrification. After the amendment, the effective pH values in the soil slurries were measured by a pH meter (Orion 2 Star, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Fort Collins, CO, USA) after 0.5 hour of oxic stirring. Thereafter, bottles were tightly closed with rubber septa and aluminum crimp seals and flushed with He (99.999%, AGA Industrial Gasses, Oslo, Norway) by alternately evacuating and He-filling the bottles 5 times using an automated manifold. This was done under constant stirring to achieve close to fully anoxic conditions. Measurements of pH in the slurries were repeated at the end of the incubation. An oxic incubation was carried out independently to check for BC-induced toxicity or stimulation of microbial activity (measured as O2 consumption) (Figure A in S3 File).
Incubation and data collection
All incubations were carried out in a water bath at 20°C (which is within optimal range for microbial activities ) under constant stirring to maintain equilibrium of gases between the soil slurry and the bottle headspace. We used a robotized incubation system similar to that described by Molstad, Dörsch  to monitor the kinetics of O2 depletion, CO2 production and N-gas accumulation (NO, N2O, N2) during denitrification. The system consists of a water bath connected to a cryostat, placed under the robotic arm of an autosampler (Combi Pal, CTC, Switzerland). The water bath can accommodate up to 30 stirred bottles which are pierced repeatedly (here five-hourly) by the hypodermic needle of the autosampler which is connected to a peristaltic pump transporting the gas sample to a gas chromatograph equipped with various detectors and further to an NO-chemiluminescence analyzer. Details of the incubation system and gas analysis can be found in Description B in S1 File.
Rates of gas production and consumption were corrected for sampling loss and dilution as described by Molstad, Dörsch . Maximum induced denitrification rate was calculated as the slope of the steepest part of the accumulation curve given by the sum of all N-gas products. The N2O/(N2O+N2) product ratio was calculated as the area under the curve of N2O divided by the area under the curve of NO+N2O+N2 . As a cut off, the maximum accumulation of N2 was used, usually coinciding with the complete exhaustion of N-oxides in the bottles. In the instances where N-oxides were not exhausted, the accumulation curves were integrated over the entire experimental period. As a measure of NO net production in denitrification, maximum dissolved NO (nM) was calculated from headspace concentrations, using Henry’s law.
Statistical analysis was carried out using the R software . Progression of denitrification was inspected by plotting cumulative N-gas and CO2 production as well as depletion of residual O2 over time. Maximum induced denitrification rates for each of the amendment type across its doses were subjected to one-way ANOVA and mean values of the doses were separated using Tukey’s Test at 5% significance level to establish statistically significant differences between BC doses.
To identify the possible factors explaining the effect of the amendments on maximum induced denitrification rate, N2O/(N2O+N2) ratio and maximum NO production, analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) were carried out. Firstly, ANCOVA was used to assess the effect of different types of untreated BC and doses, which was then followed by inclusion of BC leaching (untreated, water-leached and acid-leached) and effective pH in the statistical model as explanatory variables. Secondly, ANCOVA was used to separate the effect of labile C and other factors in BC on rate, N2O/(N2O+N2) ratio and maximum NO production by comparing charred and uncharred cacao shell. Furthermore, the effect of labile C and pH increase after adding BC on rate, N2O/(N2O+N2) ratio and maximum NO production were separated by comparing uncharred cacao shell and NaOH treatments using ANCOVA. pH, being an important explanatory variable for BC effect on N2O/(N2O+N2) ratio and maximum NO production, its values at the beginning and end of incubation are also presented.
Effect of biochar on soil pH before and after anoxic incubation
The addition of BC increased the pH of both soils (Table 2). The dose-dependent pH rise was more pronounced in Mkushi soil than in Lampung soil, reflecting the weaker buffer capacity (lower CEC) of the former (Table 1). Biochar from cacao shell and rice husk differed vastly in alkalinity and thus in its alkalizing effect on soil. For instance, addition of 1% (w/w) cacao shell BC to Lampung soil increased the soil pH by 2.3 units, whereas adding the same amount of rice husk BC resulted in only 0.2 units pH increase. Carbonate contributed a large part to the alkalizing effect of cacao shell BC as shown by high CO2 concentrations immediately following mixing the BC with acid soils (Fig 1).
Shown are averages of three incubations; error bars denote SE. Approximately 6.1 μmol NO3--N g-1 was added to 9.8 g soil in the bottles. Note the differences in the scale of y-axis.
Water leaching removed 159 cmolc of base cations kg-1 (S2 File) from cacao shell BC and reduced its pH(H2O) from 9.8 to 9.6. Additional leaching with acid removed another 61 cmolc of base cations and reduced its pH(H2O) to 8.0. For rice husk BC, water leaching removed 15cmolc kg-1 base cations and reduced the pH from 8.4 to 8.2. Acid leaching removed an additional 19 cmolc kg-1 and effectively acidified the BC (pH 2.5). In terms of mass, leaching with water and acid removed materials of approx. 65 and 14 mg g-1, respectively, of cacao shell BC and 7 and 5 mg g-1, respectively, of rice husk BC, and increased the surface area of BC (Table 1). For both BCs, base cations, in particular K+, removed by sequential water and acid leaching exceeded ammonium acetate exchangeable amounts (Table 1). The leaching treatment removed a significant part of the alkalizing effect of both BCs in soil (Table 2) and it may have changed other properties of BC. The cacao shell feedstock increased soil pH only modestly compared to its BC, if applied at an equivalent dose of mass (Table 2).
Anoxic incubation of soil slurries caused an increase in soil pH from initial values between 4.0 and 9.8 to final values between 5.4 and 9.9 (Table 2). In control soils and acidic soil-BC slurries, the pH increased more strongly than in alkaline slurries. This increase in pH can be attributed to denitrification (an alkalizing process), continuous release of cations from the BCs and exchange reactions during stirring.
Kinetics of denitrification
Fig 1 and Figure B in S3 File show the kinetics of N-gas production and consumption together with the depletion of residual O2 (after He-flushing) and cumulative CO2 production (total inorganic carbon) in response to addition of untreated BC to Lampung and Mkushi soil, respectively. Controls (no BC addition) showed transient NO accumulation, instantaneous N2O net production and measurable N2 production after ~100 hours of incubation. Maximum NO accumulation was one order of magnitude greater in the Lampung soil (0.3–0.5 μM, Fig 1) than in Mkushi soil (0.05 μM, Figure B in S3 File).
Both BCs suppressed the net production of NO and N2O and increased N2 production, but cacao shell BC (Fig 1; lower panel) stimulated overall denitrification (measured as total N2 accumulation) more than rice husk BC (Fig 1; upper panel). With cacao shell BC doses > 2%, N2 production reached a plateau after slightly more than 100 hours incubation, indicating that all N-oxides were exhausted. In this case, cumulative N2 production roughly balanced the sum of initially present total soil N and added NO3-. Biochar also shortened the time needed to detect measurable N2 production (except in the 10% cacao shell BC addition to Mkushi soil), indicating earlier induction of N2O reductase (N2OR) activity in the presence of BC. In Lampung soil, the suppression of NO and N2O and stimulation of N2 as well as CO2 production was dose-dependent irrespective of BC type. In Mkushi soil, 2% cacao shell BC addition stimulated complete denitrification resulting in high production rates of N2 and practically eliminated N2O accumulation (Figure B in S3 File). However, with further increases in the dose of cacao shell BC, slurry pH increased up to pH 9 in this weakly buffered soil and maximum NO accumulation and N2 production decreased, indicating inhibition of denitrification at high pH. N2O suppression with concomitant increase in N2 production was also seen in the NaOH treatments of Lampung soil (Figure C in S3 File) and in incubation of BC in 2 mM KNO3 without soil (Figure D in S3 File). In contrast, uncharred cacao shell stimulated overall denitrification strongly, while suppression of N2O was small (Figure C in S3 File).
Water-leached rice husk BC caused only a modest decline in pH and resulted in denitrification kinetics similar to those with untreated BC in Lampung soil (compare Fig 1 and Figure E in S3 File). By contrast, addition of acid-leached rice husk BC reduced soil pH, but left the net production of N2O and overall N-gas largely unchanged when compared with the control soil (Figure F in S3 File). Unlike acid-leached rice husk BC, acid-leached cacao shell BC retained some of its N2O suppressing effect in Lampung soil (Figure F in S3 File) in line with its remaining alkalizing effect. However, the N2O suppressing effect of water or acid-leached cacao shell BC was non-linear with maximum suppression already reached at 2% BC. At higher doses of leached cacao shell BC, no further N2O suppression occurred and we observed biphasic kinetics in particular of NO accumulation showing two peaks during incubation (Figures E and F in S3 File).
Table 3 shows maximum induced denitrification rates for Lampung and Mkushi soil amended with rice husk and cacao shell BC, uncharred cacao shell and NaOH. In Lampung soil, addition of more than 2% untreated cacao shell BC significantly increased denitrification rates compared to the control (P˂0.05), whereas rice husk BC did not. Water- and acid-leaching of the cacao shell BC removed most of the stimulating effect. Higher doses of acid-leached rice husk BC caused a small but significant decrease in denitrification rate in Lampung soil (P˂0.05). In Mkushi soil, only 2% untreated cacao shell BC stimulated denitrification whereas leached BC did not. This contrasts findings from aerobic incubations, which showed clear stimulation of respiration by all doses of untreated BCs in both soils (Figure A in S3 File). NaOH also stimulated denitrification (Table 3) but to a much lesser extent compared to untreated cacao shell BC and uncharred cacao shell despite similar increases in soil pH (Table 2).
Possible factors contributing to the BC effect on net N2O and NO production and denitrification rate
Linear model ANCOVA showed differences in the response of denitrification product ratio (N2O/(N2O+N2)), maximum NO accumulation and denitrification rate to BC type (rice husk or cacao shell) and dose, total C content (at onset of the experiment) and pH of the slurry (Table 4). In particular, BC type was a very important factor (p = 0.000). Doses were also important (p = 0.000 for denitrification product ratio and maximum NO accumulation; p = 0.01 for denitrification rate). Upon incorporation of BC leaching (untreated, water- and acid-leached BC) and pH as factors in addition to BC type and doses in the analysis, N2O/(N2O+N2) ratio, maximum NO accumulation and denitrification rates were significantly affected by all the factors at p = 0.000 (except the effect of BC dose on denitrification rate, which was at p = 0.003). Several interaction terms between factors were also significant (p<0.05).
ANCOVA also showed that total organic C (either as cacao shell or as its BC) added to the system was important in determining denitrification rate (p = 0.006) and maximum NO accumulation (p = 0.000) but not N2O/(N2O+N2) ratio (p = 0.41). In addition, a comparison of treatments with uncharred cacao shell, providing significant amounts of labile C, and NaOH, without addition of labile C, showed the strong influence of labile C on denitrification rate (p = 0.000) but not on N2O/(N2O+N2) ratio (p = 0.06). In this comparison, pH significantly affected both denitrification rate and N2O/(N2O+N2) (p = 0.000).
NO accumulation and N2O/(N2O+N2) product ratios
Increasing doses of both untreated rice husk and cacao shell BC, as well as NaOH, caused maximum NO accumulation to decrease (Fig 2 upper panel). Corresponding doses of leached BC reduced suppression of maximum NO accumulation. Acid leaching of rice husk BC entirely eliminated the suppression of NO accumulation. Uncharred cacao shell had weaker effect on suppression of NO accumulation than corresponding doses of cacao shell BC whether leached or not. Maximum NO accumulation decreased asymptotically with increasing pH to trace levels at pH > 6.5 (Fig 2 lower panel). The NO accumulation rate was greatest at the beginning of the incubation reaching maximum values within 72 hours (Fig 1 and Figures C, E and F in S3 File), except in Mkushi soil with > 5% cacao shell BC (Figure B in S3 File). Here NO accumulation gradually increased throughout the incubation period.
The N2O/(N2O+N2) product ratio decreased with increasing doses of untreated BC (Fig 3 upper panel). Rice husk BC addition to Lampung soil resulted in a decrease of the N2O/(N2O+N2) ratio with increase in dose, reaching values below 0.1 at 10% BC addition (Fig 3A1). Adding the same amounts of cacao shell BC to Lampung soil suppressed the denitrification product ratio much more strongly; reaching low product ratios already with 1% addition and increasing the doses did not have additional benefit in suppressing N2O. Cacao shell BC with its strong alkalizing effect was more effective in suppressing N2O than its feedstock at equivalent doses of mass (Fig 3B1). Thus, the strong effect of cacao shell BC compared to that of rice husk BC on the N2O product ratio could be linked to its strong alkalizing effect, resulting in greater soil pH increase at equivalent doses (Table 2, Fig 3). Due to its strong alkalizing effect, no N2O/(N2O+N2) data are available for cacao shell BC-amended Lampung soils in the pH range 4.8–6.6 (Fig 3B2). Therefore, our data do not allow a direct comparison of pH-related effects of the two BCs. In Mkushi soil, the N2O/(N2O+N2) ratio was reduced to zero even at the lowest dose (here 2%, which increased soil pH to 8.3; Fig 3C). A 10% cacao shell BC addition to Mkushi caused high, but uncertain values of product ratio probably due to suppression of overall denitrification activity (Figure B in S3 File). Thus, our data for BC-amended soils indicate that the N2O/(N2O+N2) ratio decreased from close to 1 at pH < 4 (no induction of N2OR activity) to close to zero at pH > 6 (sufficient induction of N2OR to prevent significant net production of N2O).
Addition of NaOH also decreased net N2O production (Fig 3D). In the pH range 4 to 7, the relationship between pH and N2O/(N2O+N2) product ratio had a significantly smaller slope for NaOH-amended- than for BC-amended soils but similar to that of uncharred cacao shell (Table 5).
Applying water-leached rice husk BC to Lampung soil resulted in a similar relationship between N2O/(N2O+N2) ratio and dose (or pH) as observed in soils with untreated rice husk BC (Fig 3A). Addition of acid-leached rice husk BC, which had lost all its alkalizing effect, resulted in large N2O/(N2O+N2) product ratios independent of BC dose (Fig 3A). Water and acid leached cacao shell BC decreased the N2O/(N2O+N2) ratio at low dose (2%), albeit less than untreated BC. At higher doses of leached BC, the ratios were relatively high compared to those of in response to untreated cacao shell BC additions at similar doses (Fig 3B).
N2O reduction to N2, which requires functional N2OR, only occurred after dissolved NO concentrations decreased to values ≤ 100 nM (Fig 1). In addition, N2O reduction only occurred at soil pH ≥ 5. At pH ≥ 5, e.g. after the amendment of rice husk BC at 5%, N2OR activity started immediately at the beginning of incubation (Fig 1). For soils or soil-BC mixtures with initial pH < 5 (e.g. treatments with 1–2% rice husk BC), denitrification driven alkalization, increasing pH to ~5 had to take place before induction of N2OR activity was observed. Initial delay in N2OR activity caused high accumulation of N2O in acidic soil or soil-BC mixtures.
Effect of biochar on NO, N2O and N2 production and denitrification rate
Addition of untreated BCs to the two acidic Acrisols in this study suppressed the net production of both NO and N2O during anoxic incubation (Fig 1), which is in line with previously reported studies ( and references therein). Here we show that this suppression went along with increase in N2 production, suggesting increase in the activity of N2OR  due to alkalization .
Leaching of the BCs except for water-leached rice husk BC reduced or eliminated the effect of NO and N2O suppression (Figs 2 and 3), indicating that some of the BC constituents removed by leaching (S2 File) contributed to the suppression. Base cations and carbonates (shown by the high amount of CO2 released upon mixing of acidic soil with BC—Fig 1) were the major constituents removed by leaching, thus causing a decrease in alkalizing effect. Suppression of NO and N2O production in response to the addition of NaOH indicated that pH is an important factor contributing to the suppression. A recent study reported loss of alkalizing effect together with a loss in N2O suppression due to field aging of BC , suggesting that N2O suppression by BC might be a transient effect connected to the transiency of its alkalizing effect.
The N2O/(N2O+N2) product ratio decreased when the initial soil pH increased from pH 4 to 6 in response to the addition of BC (Fig 3). The rise in pH through addition of BC or NaOH removed the impairment of N2OR, typically seen at low pH [29, 33, 49]. The relief of this impairment through pH increase is similar to what has been reported for denitrifying pure cultures and for soils from long-term liming experiments in which raised pH stimulated N2OR and reduced N2O production or emissions [28, 29, 31, 33]. This direct effect of pH was attributed to a threshold pH above which functional N2OR is assembled [29, 31]. In this study, we found a threshold of pH ≈ 5 for the induction of N2OR based on the timing of N2 production onset (Fig 1), amount of accumulated denitrification intermediates (Fig 1) and pH at the beginning and end of incubation (Table 2). This threshold pH is close to threshold pH values for N2OR induction around pH 6, observed through detection of measurable N2 in earlier anoxic studies [29, 32]. The greater decrease of the N2O/(N2O+N2) ratio with increasing pH in rice husk BC-amended soil compared to that of previously published data [29, 32] and results from the NaOH-amended soil (Fig 3D and Table 5) suggest that BC has a somewhat stronger effect on the suppression of N2O than explained by pH alone. However, the effectiveness of N2O suppression seems to depend on the timing of induction of N2OR, which is controlled by the alkalizing effect of BC. Denitrification-driven alkalization contributed to induction of N2OR if the threshold pH for N2OR induction was not achieved by the BC alkalizing effect alone. Recently, Harter, Krause  reported an increased relative abundance of nosZ genes encoding for N2OR during 80 days of incubation after BC addition to soil, which is in line with the increased activity of N2OR observed in this study.
Only few recent studies have reported BC effects on NO production. Recently, Nelissen, Saha  reported a decrease in NO production similar to this study. The driver behind NO suppression by BC appears to be similar to that underlying N2O suppression because the two gases decreased with increasing doses of untreated BCs in a similar fashion (Fig 1). The concentration of the two gases increased initially and reached a peak before decreasing, although in all cases, NO reached the peak earlier than N2O. Low NO concentrations in BC- or NaOH-amended soils (Fig 1 and Figure C in S3 File) were likely due to the pH-increasing effect (Table 4), which prevents chemical decomposition of NO2- to NO [51, 52], leaving only enzymatically produced NO to accumulate. Higher NO production in Lampung compared to Mkushi soil was probably due to higher microbial activities producing nitrite, part of which was decomposed chemically to NO at low pH. Our data also suggest that induction of N2OR is linked to low NO concentration, as N2OR activity was not initiated before NO concentration dropped to values below 100 nM. NO has been proposed to play an important role in the regulation of denitrification enzyme regulation , but little is known how reactive gaseous N species like NO react with BC.
In general, both aerobic and anaerobic respiration were stimulated by BC addition to soil (Fig 1 and Figure A in S3 File). Suppression of anaerobic respiration was only found at high doses of cacao shell BC added to Mkushi soil resulting in soil pH values > 9 (Figure B in S3 File). Anoxic incubation of untreated BC in 2 mM KNO3 solution without soil revealed that BC themselves carried out some denitrification activity which was expressed when residual O2 was fully exhausted (Figure D in S3 File). Interestingly, no N2O accumulated, suggesting full N2OR induction at high pH. Denitrification activity was clearly greater with rice husk (pH 8.4) than cacao shell BC (pH 9.8). This might reflect the inability of the denitrifier community to thrive when too much BC is added driving soil pH to high values at which NO2- may accumulate to toxic levels . Additionally, the osmotic effect of salts due to high dose (10%) BC in poorly buffered Mkushi soil may have inhibited microbial activity. Other than at high dose, our BC did not have any direct inhibitory effect on microbial activities such as shown for BC-mediated ethylene production .
BC is a complex material, which may alter many soil variables besides pH. In particular, BC increased bioavailable carbon (C) (Figure D in S3 File; residual O2 was consumed and CO2 was produced during incubation of BC without soil) [55, 56] and nutrients (S2 File) which could stimulate microbial growth  and affect the regulation of denitrification. Addition of bioavailable C clearly affected denitrification rate as seen after adding uncharred cacao shell (Tables 3 and 4), but it did not affect the product ratio (Table 4). The decrease in product ratio with increase in BC dose applied was better explained by pH increase than by C-addition in our ANCOVA. The contribution of bioavailable organic C and/or nutrients of cacao shell BC to increased denitrification rates is clearly seen when comparing cacao shell BC treatments with NaOH treatments at similar soil pH.
Leaching of BC, which mimics field aging, affected both its alkalinity and surface chemistry (Table 1 and S2 File). Changes to BC surface chemistry may occur through alterations of surface functional organic groups. The leaching experiments showed that certain BC types such as cacao shell BC may be more resistant to aging presumably through release of base cations and secondary carbonation, which would explain the relatively minor effect of acid leaching on cacao shell BC’s alkalinizing effect (Table 1 and S2 File). Denitrification experiments with leached cacao shell BC did not show ordinary dose response. Instead, higher doses of leached cacao shell BC resulted in conspicuous biphasic NO kinetics with two peaks in Lampung soil, a delayed peak of N2O production as well as delayed production of N2 by either enzymatic or chemical pathways (Figures E and F in S3 File) . This went along with higher N2O/(N2O+N2) ratios at high doses as compared with untreated BC (Fig 3B). This may point at some chemical interaction of newly exposed BC surfaces with denitrification intermediates. Initially, leached cacao shell BC may have acted as electron sink [11, 18], competing with denitrification reductases for electrons. However, there was no indication of chemical reaction such as sorption and desorption between BC and N-compounds in an anoxic incubation of BC (untreated or leached) without soil (Figure D in S3 File).
Factors determining NO and N2O suppression by biochar
In this study, we found that the pH effect of BC in acid soil played a major role in the suppression of both NO and N2O under anoxic conditions. However, any extrapolation of our data beyond acidic soils needs to be done with caution. Cayuela, Sánchez-Monedero  also observed reduced N2O/(N2O+N2) ratios during N2O peak emission in wet soils amended with brush BC but a direct pH effect was not clearly captured probably because of the small pH increase (0.1 pH units). Instead, Cayuela, Sánchez-Monedero  could show that the observed reduction in N2O/(N2O+N2) ratios were positively correlated to the buffer capacities of the added BC. Earlier, Yanai, Toyota  had concluded that suppression of N2O emissions (which they believed originated from denitrification) by BC was not the result of changes in soil chemical properties. Cayuela, Sánchez-Monedero  and the present study clearly show that BC can affect the soil chemical properties with consequences for the product stoichiometry of denitrification. In this study, we used controlled anoxia with direct quantification of N2 production to study the effect of BC on denitrification stoichiometry. Yanai, Toyota  did not separate N cycling processes and their study could have been confounded by nitrification, an acidifying process, as suggested by the decrease in pH at the end of their incubations. We did not account for dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) in this study; however, it is unlikely that this process played a major role as we recovered the added nitrate quantitatively as N2.
The steeper slopes of N2O/(N2O+N2) versus pH in BC treatments compared to NaOH and uncharred cacao shell treatments (Table 5) indicate that some other factors may have contributed to the suppression of N2O in addition to the pH effect. The similarity of the slopes for uncharred cacao shell and NaOH suggests that stronger suppression of N2O by BC was not due to cacao shell itself or to labile C but to some other BC property. Biochar redox behavior (electron shuttling), where the electron-conductance of BC serves as a catalyst in denitrification as suggested by Cayuela, Sánchez-Monedero  could be one of these factors. The reduction or elimination of BC suppression of N2O after leaching of BC in this study raises questions about how leaching affects electron shuttling and how important electron shuttling is, in suppressing N2O.
This study is the first of its kind assessing BC effects under full denitrification conditions, simultaneously quantifying NO, N2O and N2 production at high temporal resolution. We found compelling evidence that BC strongly suppresses relative NO and N2O net production from denitrification in two acid soils, resulting in a reduced propensity for NO and N2O emissions. Increase of soil pH by BC addition was identified as a major factor mediating this suppression. NO suppression was linked to less chemical decomposition of NO2- to NO due to pH increase. N2O suppression on the other hand was in accordance with the notion that raising pH in acid soils greatly stimulates N2OR activity resulting in more complete denitrification with N2 as the dominating end product. Other factor(s) contributing causally to the observed increase in N2OR activity cannot be excluded and need further testing.
S1 File. Description of biochar production, incubation system operation and gas chromatograph detectors.
Biochar production (Description A). Incubation system operation and gas chromatograph detectors (Description B).
S2 File. Constituents removed from BC through leaching.
Constituents removed from BC through leaching with water and strong acid (HCl) (Table A).
S3 File. Mean oxygen consumption during oxic incubations and kinetics of gas production (N2, N2O, NO, CO2) and consumption (O2) during anoxic incubations.
Mean oxygen consumption in BC amended soils during oxic incubations (Figure A). Denitrification kinetics and CO2 and O2 concentrations in incubations of Mkushi soil amended with untreated cacao shell BC (Figure B). Denitrification kinetics and CO2 and O2 concentrations in incubations of Lampung soil amended with uncharred cacao shell (upper 2 panels) and 0.1M NaOH (lower 2 panels) (Figure C). Denitrification kinetics and CO2 and O2 concentrations in anoxic incubations of 2.36 g BC without soil in 30 ml 2mM KNO3 (Figure D). Denitrification kinetics and CO2 and O2 concentrations in incubations of Lampung soil amended with water-leached rice husk BC (upper 2 panels) and cacao shell BC (lower 2 panels) (Figure E). Denitrification kinetics and CO2 and O2 concentrations in incubations of Lampung soil amended with acid-leached rice husk BC (upper 2 panels) and cacao shell BC (lower 2 panels) (Figure F).
We thank Dr. Sarah Hale, NGI, for the support during leaching of the BCs and Dr. Shahid Nadeem, NMBU, for his technical support during the incubation experiments. David Rutherford (US Geological Survey, Denver, CO, USA) is gratefully acknowledged for performing the TGA analyses. We also thank Jeremy Selby at Mkushi, Zambia and the Indonesian Soil Research Institute (ISRI) at Bogor, Indonesia for making soil samples available for the project.
Conceived and designed the experiments: AO GC JM PD. Performed the experiments: AO PD. Analyzed the data: AO PD. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: AO GC JM PD. Wrote the paper: AO GC JM PD.
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domain: chemistry


after working several months in a metal casting company, I am raising money to fix my Vespa. although initially difficult. but my determination to fix my willingness to make it look like the old standard.
after the paint, I thought to extend my motor vehicle registration in order not to ticket the police hehe … (Unfortunately the motor is good).
and the results were quite makes my heart happy.


text:
View:-Mahalaxmi Station, temple and race-course
Mahalaxmi Station is the 6th down railway station from Churchgate on Western Railway Line of Mumbai Suburban Railways. The three major landmarks in the area are the Mahalaxmi Temple, Haji Ali Dargah and the race-course. The station is very important as it is the nearest station to Worli, and also to the Byculla Station of the Central Railway.
Back to:-Mumbai Suburban Railways

domain: geography


text:
Located in northern California, Lassen Volcanic National Park is a fascinating place full of natural wonders. The park is best known for being the location of Lassen Peak, which is the largest plug dome volcano in the world.
Long before Europeans arrived in North America, there were many Native Americans who called the area home. It has been reported that they knew about the peak and that it was full of fire and water waiting to explode. Throughout the 19th century, there were reports that the volcano erupted, however, it wasn't until 1914 when explosions were accurately reported. Lasting until 1921, the eruptions destroyed houses and resulted in the area being designated as a national park.
Weather at Lassen Volcanic National Park tends to stay on the cooler side. During the short summer season, temperatures can get up into the 80s, but only for a short time. No matter what time of the year you visit in your motorhome, you can expect the temperature to be near or below freezing at some point during your stay.
There are many recreational activities for you to enjoy, including hiking, birding, boating in the summer and sledding, skiing, and snowshoeing during the winter. If it isn’t already, Lassen Volcanic National Park should definitely be on your list of places to visit in your RV. There is so much to see and do, and when traveling on your own terms you’ll get to experience it all in the best way possible.
Bringing your RV (whether it is a rental or your own) is a great way to explore and experience Lassen Volcanic Park, even if you are new to RV camping. Few things are better than heading back to your rig after a long day out and about in the park. There are five RV-friendly campgrounds for you to choose from, and the peak season at Lassen Volcanic Park is during the summer months.

domain: travel


text:
Wexford's George hopes song video will go viral
former Mayor George Lawlor says his newly-released Facebook recording of the late Tom Williams' composition of 'Cuchulainn's Son', has already had several thousand views from throughout Ireland and across the world.
'I was doing it for myself privately and hadn't any intention of releasing.. then I spoke with my good friend Liam Bates, who I did Lord of Love with, about the possibility of doing an orchestral arrangement,' said George, whose vocal talents are well recognised in his hometown.
He said he went to Liam's studio in Grange, Kilmore, and when he he heard 'how good the orchestration was and how brilliantly he had done' he decided it deserved a wider audience.
The next step was a call to Ted Moran, formely of Highwind Media, who created the video footage.
'I also recorded Boolavogue which I'll be releasing further down the line,' said George.
He said that since being released last Tuesday (January 3), it had thousands of views, from all over Ireland and as far afield as Australia and the USA. Tom Williams wrote 'Cuchulainn's Son' in honour of the late Wexford hurling great Nickey Rackard. You can watch and hear the recording at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zInKWfztHbQ&sns=em

domain: artistic


The specter of Higher Place hangs over battery-swap efforts at present, however de Souza says Ample’s strategy addresses points that sank earlier iterations of the expertise.
For a third-party firm like Higher Place or Ample to achieve floor, it should discover a option to be appropriate with autos hitting the highway. However getting automakers to converge on a battery is a problem: firms are more and more selecting completely different battery designs and chemistries for various fashions.
Ample’s answer is a modular system. Slightly than take the entire battery out directly and screw on a contemporary one, the startup plans to suit a number of smaller packs right into a battery body. This cuts down on the price for equipment wanted to maneuver batteries, for the reason that items are smaller, de Souza says.
And crucially, the modular design might make it simpler for automakers to signal on, de Souza says. Ample’s imaginative and prescient is for car makers to ship their automobiles with an empty house the place the battery must be. Ample can then construct an envelope for that particular car and plug in as many modules as will match.
The variety of modules may be personalized each to the scale of the car (a compact automobile will maintain fewer than a big SUV) and to driver wants—somebody would possibly set up only a few modules for every day driving however load up when occurring a protracted journey, de Souza says.
To this point, Ample’s swapping stations are appropriate with two car fashions which have the corporate’s particular batteries put in: the Nissan Leaf and the Kia Niro. In response to de Souza, the system works with 13 car fashions, although no different automaker companions have been introduced.
Some specialists are skeptical that even this altered imaginative and prescient of battery swapping is sensible. “I feel battery swapping is unlikely to be the first method that we handle batteries for the overall car fleet,” says Jeremy Michalek, a professor of engineering and public coverage at Carnegie Mellon College.
Each make and mannequin of electrical car on the highway at present has a special battery design, form, and chemistry. Swapping requires standardization, and even when modules can present some customization, they’d nonetheless be a significant constraint for automakers. “Placing the identical measurement modules into completely different autos could be very limiting,” he says.


text:
Google is planning a significant growth in New York City, in line with a report within the Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper reported Wednesday that the corporate plans so as to add area for greater than 12,000 extra New York employees. The Journal cited nameless individuals acquainted with the plans.
The paper stated Google has New York actual property offers within the works that may give it room for practically 20,000 employees. Those embrace shopping for or leasing a 1.three million-square-foot constructing within the metropolis’s West Village neighborhood as a consequence of be accomplished by 2022.
A Google spokesperson stated the corporate had no touch upon the Journal report. The reported growth of Google’s workforce would nearly match the 25,000 workers that Seattle-based Amazon is reportedly contemplating bringing to New York’s Long Island City as a part of its personal extremely publicized seek for new workplace places.
Amazon would additionally reportedly add one other 25,000 jobs to a location in Crystal City in northern Virginia close to Washington, D.C.
New York and Washington, like different main cities with current clusters of extremely educated employees, analysis universities and different profitable know-how corporations, are more and more in demand as corporations like Google and Amazon increase.
That creates a optimistic suggestions loop that advantages these municipalities and concentrates alternative in ways in which danger leaving different elements of the nation behind.

domain: news


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The largest life-affirming pregnancy conference in the world kicks off just days from now in Louisville, Ky.
Heartbeat International’s 52nd Annual Pregnancy Help Conference opens April 26 following a prelude in-depth day of training in multiple areas of pregnancy help.
A premier event for the pregnancy help movement, Heartbeat’s annual conference offers opportunities for pro-life leaders to connect and learn and take the fruits of their experiences there back to their pregnancy help ministries across the world.
The first Conference since Roe v. Wade was overturned is taking on the theme of “Breakthrough.” Heartbeat International is poised to inspire and encourage pregnancy help servants to perform the crucial, life-affirming work that they do.
“Much has happened since last year’s conference,” said Tracie Shellhouse, vice president of Ministry Services for Heartbeat International. “We witnessed a breakthrough last June as the Dobbs decision sent shock waves throughout the U.S. and around the world.”
“The overturning of Roe brought pregnancy help into the spotlight domestically and internationally, making us the targets of misinformation, censorship, threats, and vandalism,” Shellhouse said. “It also gave us a bigger platform to share the truth of our good works!”
The Conference includes workshops and keynotes from speakers in the pregnancy help movement with unique perspectives, and the immersive, in-depth training day includes continuing education options.
Heartbeat’s Conference also dedicates time to spiritual connection, with worship, personal prayer time, Mass, and Confession available. Attendees have the opportunity for fellowship, community, and forming lasting relationships.
“Heartbeat's annual conference is more than just a source of phenomenal source of information and education for the pregnancy help community,” said Heartbeat International President Jor-El Godsey. “It is always a place of affirmation, inspiration, and even restoration, for those who are laboring in the mission field created by abortion.”
Tweet This: Heartbeat's annual conference is more than just a source of phenomenal source of information and education for the pregnancy help community
The Heartbeat International Conference is designed for ministry leaders, staff, board members, and volunteers of life-affirming pregnancy help organizations, as well as professionals in medicine, counseling, social work, and education.
Conference presentations are geared for all levels of experience - from basic, to intermediate, to advanced.
This year Heartbeat is hosting both in-person and virtual conferences.
The in-person Conference offers access to 120-plus, seven inspirational keynotes, plus product demonstrations and the pre-Conference in-depth training opportunities. The virtual Conference offers access to 50-plus virtual workshops and social networking with other attendees. Both experiences provide access to the virtual Conference offerings prior to the event. In-person Conference workshops are available for purchase afterward as well.
Conference tracks include client care, client marketing, critical conversations pertaining to key topics in the pregnancy help movement, fundraising, maternity housing, leadership, medical advancement, spiritual care, staff matters, and current trends.
Demand for the registration to the Conference has been significant and Heartbeat is making accommodations for overflow attendance.
“As the largest network of pregnancy help organizations in the world, we span the globe, sharing our common mission,” Shellhouse said, “and yet we are individually deep as we serve thousands of communities with different needs through unique services, programs, and methods.”
Shellhouse said the unity of Heartbeat and the pregnancy help community exemplifies 1 Corinthians 12:4-6.
“We have different gifts, but the same Spirit is our source,” she said. “We have different methods, but we serve the same Lord. God works differently through each organization and person to fulfill his life-saving work through us all.”
Godsey and Shellhouse said the first Conference since Dobbs and the overturn of Roe is the perfect time to rejuvenate and reload the pregnancy help movement.
“For the first time in 50 years, the Heartbeat conference will be held without the control of Roe v. Wade,” Godsey said. “While still celebrating that victorious moment, the wake of that decision has brought a median client increase of more than 10% seeking pregnancy help.”
“The demise of Roe has only brought more need to those we serve, making it more important than ever to gather together to encouragement and envisioning,” said Godsey.
“Big Abortion is fighting against us, and yet we are growing, and our impact is increasing,” Shellhouse said. “Why? We stand together, and we can do all things through Him who strengthens us! (Philippians 4:13)”
“God makes us strong,” she said. “With strength from the Lord, we will continue to experience Breakthrough!”
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages Pregnancy Help News.


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Flamingos in the house
4 Walls In a refined, rather sober room, we dare to twist the atmosphere with a wallpaper with flamingo patterns. This one, proposed by 4 Murs, is both punchy and elegant, with its background of a pretty mouse gray. In the blink of an eye, your room is transformed and in full trend.
Gold and pink: Miami is chic!
Bloomingville Miami is also pink, gold and shiny. Here, we like the very elegant side of brushed brass, associated with a pale pink imbued with softness. The silver polka dot cushions bring a touch of glossy reflections to perfection! For a feminine and brilliant atmosphere.
The ocean as a backdrop
4 Walls Mint blue, lagoon style, is also a favorite shade in the Miami Beach trend. So we gladly cover a section of wall with this shade of water and use pastel for accessories. Result? A colorful, invigorating and graphic atmosphere in the living room.
Just in touch!
Urban Outfitters The Miami look is also adopted in spikes, like here with a cushion printed with banana leaves. This task of green blends perfectly in an environment that plays on the palettes of cream, ivory and white. It brings a touch of exoticism without overdoing it. We love !
The iconic pineapple
H&M Home In the Miami trend, we do not forget the pineapple! This geometric fruit has become an emblem and we see it everywhere, in all forms. H & Home integrates it with us with a pretty candle hidden in a golden container, shining with a thousand lights. A candlestick in the shape of a palm tree, unusual, will also find its place in an interior so Miami.
Fun (and birds) in the pool
Urban Outfitters When we say Miami, we obviously mean a villa with a pool. If you are lucky enough to have them at home, it is imperative to invest in fun buoys, in the shape of swans or flamingos (and why not pineapple!), Under penalty of being completely next to it of THE summer trend. Because Miami is also, and above all, party, fun and carefree.
Pure juice cups
Urban Outfitters Around the pool, we drink cocktails or fresh juices but especially not in traditional glasses. This year, we are opting for cups with integrated lids and straws that throw them away. We love this watermelon proposed by Urban Outfitters which will quickly become the emblem of holidays placed under the sign of idleness.
A cactus in the decor
Goodnight Light (FLEUX) Another iconic element of the Miami trend: the cactus. It is available in many decorative objects, like the cactus lamp, this one being produced by Goodnight Light. Associated with some exotic textiles with plant prints and yellow (again!), It will be totally in tune.
Bloomingville As for tableware and linen, this summer we opt for pretty palm prints. The drawn sheets become graphic and breathe a breath of poetry around the table. The color code remains the same with the bottom line, mint, pale pink and yellow.

domain: design


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by Chris Bahn
Posted 5/23/2013 03:41 pm
Updated 2 years ago
Two of the state's biggest universities on Thursday approved tuition increases for their flagship campuses.
The University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees approved a 3.5 percent increase in tuition and fees for its Fayetteville campus beginning with the fall 2013 semester. Meeting on the same day, Arkansas State University's board approved a 3.3 percent increase for its main campus in Jonesboro.
At UA, the move brings the average price of undergraduate in-state tuition and fees to $7,818 for two full semesters (30 credit hours). The UA calls the increase the "second smallest percentage hike in at least 18 years" and said it represents an average increase of $246 per student.
At ASU, the increase represents an average increase of $165.
At UA, the tuition increase includes a new student fee of $1.25 per semester hour to support university libraries. At ASU, students will see the academic excellence fee rise by $2 per credit hour and a new facilities fee of $3 per credit hour.
Chancellor G. David Gearhart said increased funding from the state Legislature helped keep the tuition hike low.
"We have to thank the General Assembly for the first significant increase in state funding for higher education in seven years, and Gov. Mike Beebe, who recommended the appropriation increase," Gearhart said. "We are committed to keeping tuition as low as possible, to maintain a balance between affordability and high quality. We can accomplish that most effectively when we receive this kind of support from the state."
Additional funding was needed, Gearhart said, to help fund salaries for faculty and staff. Salary increases is the "highest priority" for the additional funding.
"While we have made some progress on the average salaries of our tenured faculty, we remain below the average of our peer schools in the Midwest and Southeastern Conference for the higher faculty ranks of professor and associate professor," Gearhart told the board. "We stand to lose our best faculty if we can’t continue our momentum and reach our goal of being above average in faculty compensation."
At ASU, the university's new budget will provide 3 percent raises for faculty and 2 percent raises for classified and non-classified personnel.


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Activated Art Walk
To celebrate the opening of the Matagarup Bridge, the gang at Activate Perth, with assistance from the Department of Transport, City of Perth and The WACA, have developed an activated art trail experience for people walking to and from the city to Optus Stadium.
The EyeJack App was co-created by digital media and mixed-reality artist, Sutu, in Roebourne, Western Australia.
Using the EyeJack app, our Activated ArtWalk allows you to experience the convergence of art, animation and augmented reality (AR) by simply using your mobile and walking from the Forrest Place iCity Kiosk, down Hay Street to the Matagarup Bridge in East Perth.
Take the Activated ArtWalk and along the way you’ll discover incredible activated artworks from local, national and international artists and animators including work from WA’s Peter Farmer, James Giddy, Alexander Hare and Roebourne based AR/VR artist, SUTU.
How to participate in the FREE Activated ArtWalk:
- Download the EyeJack app from the App Store or Google Play (it’s FREE!)
- Once installed on your smartphone or tablet device, open the EyeJack app and find the Activated ArtWalk (Perth) event to download the event pack (approx. 120Mb)
- Need to know where to go? Download the ArtWalk route map below and start walking!
- Look out for the pavement stickers (see picture below) along the route to indicate where the activated artworks are located
- When you come across an activated artwork hit the ‘Launch AR’ button in the EyeJack event to view the artwork in all its activated, animated, augmented reality glory (and make sure your phone is not on silent!)
All day, every day
iCity Kiosk, Murray St, Perth WA 6000
Perth WA 6000


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The question, “Who has right to participate in the Lord’s supper?” is a controverted issue among Sabbath keepers today.
Almost all the fallen churches make no distinction between members and non-members on this point. Outsiders – Protestants, Pentecostals, Catholics or Spiritualists – who wish to participate in the communion together with church members, are welcome.
A similar practice, sad to say, has also been introduced among Sabbath-keepers who profess to be giving the threefold message to the world. When the ordinances are celebrated, visitors from other churches are invited to participate. This liberal stand in behalf of open communion is based on misinterpreted Spirit of Prophecy statements, which will be discussed further down. Read the rest of this entry

domain: sociology


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Surplus Asset Management
Davis Group is pleased to announce the next monthly online consignment auction. Contact M Davis Group to consign your surplus equipment and realize maximize conversion of your idle assets.
Non-Beverage Industries logos/trademarks are copyright to their respective owners and do not constitute an endorsement of Beverage Industries
© 2017 A Beverage Industries Company

domain: economics


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» Alfa Romeo
» Aston Martin
» Car Wallpaper
» Land Rover
» Mercedes Benz
» Rolls Royce
Sharing its platform with the Chrysler minivans, the CUV was inspired by the 1999 Chrysler Pacifica and 2000 Chrysler Citadel concept cars.
Chrysler marketed the Pacifica as a “sports-tourer", building the vehicle at the Windsor Assembly Plant, alongside the long-wheelbase minivans from early 2003 through November, 2007.
Notably, the Pacifica was the first jointly engineered product of the 1998 Chrysler-DaimlerBenz "merger of equals". Chrysler developed the vehicle in 30 months at a cost below $1 billion.
Pacifica's offered a towing capacity of 3,500 pounds. The CUV's were equipped with "Autostick" transaxles, Chrysler's version of a manually controlled automatic transmission and two engine choices: a 4.0 liter V6 SOHC 6-speed transmission, or 3.8 liter V6 OHV 4-speed. Other features include five-link rear suspension, self-leveling rear shock absorbers, and variable assist rack-and-pinion steering.
Third row seating was optional on the Pacifica. Front row seats featured an eight-way power driver seat and four-way power passenger seat on all standard Pacificas. The Limited and Touring included a ten-way power seat for the driver. The Pacifica came with a seating preference memory system that also controlled mirrors and pedals. Seats were available with stain and odor resistant fabric on all seats and six different fabric designs.
Cargo space was 79.5 cubic feet with second and third rows are folded. All Pacifica models came with AM/FM radio along with CD player and a seven speaker, 200-watt audio system. Limited models came with a year subscription of Sirius satellite radio, 6-disc DVD player capable of playing MP3, DVD audio, DVD video, DVD-R and DVD-RW discs, and an eight-speaker audio system. Standard models included dual-zone manual temperature control while the Limited and Touring offered automatic temperature control system. Limited and Touring models offered an available navigation system (unusually located inside the instrument cluster), along with an optional rear-view camera. A hands-free communication system was also available.
Chrysler 200C - Chrysler Akino - Chrysler Aspen - Chrysler Classic - Chrysler Crossfire - Chrysler Firepower - Chrysler Imperial - Chrysler ME 4-12 - Chrysler Nassau - Chrysler PT Cruiser - Chrysler Sebring - Chrysler 300 C
Check out the Chrysler Pacifica wallpapers and Chrysler Pacifica Pictures (pics) collection below:


Public library to offer free lunches
GALWAY — The Galway Public Library, 5264 Sacandaga Road, will offer free lunches to children younger than 18 at 1 p.m. each Monday, Thursday and Friday from July 9, to Aug. 24, in partnership with the Captain Youth and Family Services, according to a news release.
The library’s summer reading program includes presentations by Brookside Museum, the Tang Museum, Wilton Wildlife Preserve and Park and the Wildlife Institute of Eastern New York’s Silent Wings raptor program. Registration is required at the library or (518) 882-6385. Adults as well as children are encouraged to enter to track their reading for prizes. More information and a complete listing of programs, is available at http://www.galwaypubliclibrary.org/summer-reading/, the news release stated.


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Whenever many people think of a direct loan, they probably think about a bank – the initial direct lender. But banking institutions reduce their direct financing task following 2008 crisis that is financial. It is still feasible to obtain an installment loan from a bank, but you’ll generally face an intricate application procedure, strict underwriting demands and a long watch for unsecured loan approval. You have been aware of other installment loans direct loan providers, but read ahead for more information on your option with LoanNow.
Numerous borrowers that are desperate financial emergencies wind up obtaining instant approval loans from payday loan providers. They often wind up regretting it in the long run.
The temporary respite evaporates they need to repay that money in full within weeks as they realize. Numerous borrowers are stuck right back in identical situation after this kind of short period. In reality, in line with the CFPB, four out of each and every five loans that are payday either rolled over or renewed. Each renewal is sold with a brand new group of charges combined with the initial stability and high-interest prices. Borrowers find yourself with instant approval loans – however with very lending that is unfavorable. Continue reading LoanNow: Better Installment Loans from the Direct Lender


Boyle zoning maps now online
Published 7:00 pm Sunday, July 9, 2017
Development and construction planning is getting a little easier in Boyle County thanks to the addition of online zoning maps.
The maps were developed for Danville-Boyle County Planning and Zoning by the Bluegrass Area Development District, Director Paula Bary said.
“They’re on the Boyle County website — boyleky.com — which hopefully is going to especially be helpful for surveyors, engineers, appraisers, real estate agents,” Bary said. “So it hopefully is going to be helpful for a lot of people.”
Bary said BGADD completed the maps a few months ago, but they weren’t ready at that time to be publicly distributed.
“We’ve just kind of been using them internally in the officer just to make sure there were no adjustments,” she said. “And we have made a couple adjustments to them since we’ve been practicing with them, so hopefully they are ready for public use now. You’ll have to input an address if you’re looking up property zoning.”
P&Z Chair Jerry Leber said incoming P&Z Director Steve Hunter, who is slated to replace Bary on Aug. 1, has already been putting the maps to good use, reviewing them for his own education.
“He’s already on the job, so to speak,” Leber said.
Bary said there is a disclaimer with the online zoning maps — by law, the only official map is a physical one kept in the P&Z office. Boyle County IT Director Bill Nichols helped put the maps on the county’s website and added the disclaimer so people know the maps are not legally binding, she said.
“He’s been very helpful in helping us update our website, get our applications online,” she said.
The applications and other P&Z info online is a response to growing demand for online accessibility, Bary said.
“Now I think people just expect that,” she said. “People want to do research on their own and pretty much everything is at their fingertips.”
While the P&Z office doesn’t have the staff to provide so many online services, it has gotten help from Nichols, the Danville IT department and BGADD to help make it happen, she said.
“We still like to talk to a customer just to make sure that they have the information they need. But if you’re out of tow or you’re looking for information, hopefully now it’s easier to find it online,” she said. “… We still welcome the phone calls if somebody needs help or wants filling out an application … we’re still here to help.”


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Adapting an old trick used for centuries by both metalsmiths and pastry makers, a team of researchers at MIT has found a way to efficiently create composite materials containing hundreds of layers that are just atoms thick but span the full width of the material. The discovery could open up wide-ranging possibilities for designing new, easy-to-manufacture composites for optical devices, electronic systems, and high-tech materials.
The work is described this week in a paper in Science by Michael Strano, the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor in Chemical Engineering; postdoc Pingwei Liu; and 11 other MIT students, postdocs, and professors.
Materials such as graphene, a two-dimensional form of pure carbon, and carbon nanotubes, tiny cylinders that are essentially rolled-up graphene, are “some of the strongest, hardest materials we have available,” says Strano, because their atoms are held together entirely by carbon-carbon bonds, which are “the strongest nature gives us” for chemical bonds to work with. So, researchers have been searching for ways of using these nanomaterials to add great strength to composite materials, much the way steel bars are used to reinforce concrete.
The biggest obstacle has been finding ways to embed these materials within a matrix of another material in an orderly way. These tiny sheets and tubes have a strong tendency to clump together, so just stirring them into a batch of liquid resin before it sets doesn’t work at all. The MIT team’s insight was in finding a way to create large numbers of layers, stacked in a perfectly orderly way, without having to stack each layer individually.
Although the process is more complex than it sounds, at the heart of it is a technique similar to that used to make ultrastrong steel sword blades, as well as the puff pastry that’s in baklava and napoleons. A layer of material — be it steel, dough, or graphene — is spread out flat. Then, the material is doubled over on itself, pounded or rolled out, and then doubled over again, and again, and again.
With each fold, the number of layers doubles, thus producing an exponential increase in the layering. Just 20 simple folds would produce more than a million perfectly aligned layers.
Now, it doesn’t work out exactly that way on the nanoscale. In this research, rather than folding the material, the team cut the whole block — itself consisting of alternating layers of graphene and the composite material — into quarters, and then slid one quarter on top of another, quadrupling the number of layers, and then repeating the process. But the result was the same: a uniform stack of layers, quickly produced, and already embedded in the matrix material, in this case polycarbonate, to form a composite.
In their proof-of-concept tests, the MIT team produced composites with up to 320 layers of graphene embedded in them. They were able to demonstrate that even though the total amount of the graphene added to the material was minuscule — less than 1/10 of a percent by weight — it led to a clear-cut improvement in overall strength.
“The graphene has an effectively infinite aspect ratio,” Strano says, since it is infinitesimally thin yet can span sizes large enough to be seen and handled. “It can span two dimensions of the material,” even though it is only nanometers thick. Graphene and a handful of other known 2-D materials are “the only known materials that can do that,” he says.
The team also found a way to make structured fibers from graphene, potentially enabling the creation of yarns and fabrics with embedded electronic functions, as well as yet another class of composites. The method uses a shearing mechanism, somewhat like a cheese slicer, to peel off layers of graphene in a way that causes them to roll up into a scroll-like shape, technically known as an Archimedean spiral.
That could overcome one of the biggest drawbacks of graphene and nanotubes, in terms of their ability to be woven into long fibers: their extreme slipperiness. Because they are so perfectly smooth, strands slip past each other instead of sticking together in a bundle. And the new scrolled strands not only overcome that problem, they are also extremely stretchy, unlike other super-strong materials such as Kevlar. That means they might lend themselves to being woven into protective materials that could “give” without breaking.
One unexpected feature of the new layered composites, Strano says, is that the graphene layers, which are extremely electrically conductive, maintain their continuity all the way across their composite sample without any short-circuiting to the adjacent layers. So, for example, simply inserting an electrical probe into the stack to a certain precise depth would make it possible to uniquely “address” any one of the hundreds of layers. This could ultimately lead to new kinds of complex multilayered electronics, he says.
This paper “describes a rather unique and creative way to make composites using large area graphene films,” says Angelos Kyrlidis, research and development manager for graphenes at Cabot Corporation who was not involved with this work. He adds, “This work assembles the composites from chemical vapor deposition graphene, where a very high aspect ratio can be obtained, while still maintaining many of the features and properties of the single layer graphene. … It would be quite interesting to evaluate in a broader range of polymers, such as thermosets and also other thermoplastics.”
The research was supported by the U.S. Army Research Office through the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies at MIT.


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EDGEWOOD, Ky. -- The Northern Kentucky Department of Health is cracking down on a different type of underground operation -- the home-based cookie selling business.
"We are looking into a handful of home-based cookie selling businesses as a result of a complaint to the Health Department from a citizen," Emily Gresham Wherle, the health department spokeswoman said.
Home-based baked goods has grown into a large business in the Tri-State and beyond. Essentially, someone bakes cookies, cakes, cupcakes, etc., then markets those goodies -- typically on social media -- for sale. The problem is, these makeshift "businesses" don't have proper permits, according to the health department.
"If a person is going to bake goods from his or her home and advertising or marketing them to the general public, then the food must be produced in a permitted kitchen which is separate and for business, not personal use, per Kentucky law," Wherle said.


Semi-Supergroup Dust Moth Shows Ample Promise On Debut EP Dragon Mouth
With debut EP Dragon Mouth, semi-supergroup Dust Moth, boasting mega-producer/engineer/mixer Matt Bayles on keys (he was also the former keyboarder for Minus the Bear btw) and Narrows/These Arms Are Snakes guitarist Ryan Frederiksen, has fashioned a nice little collection of lush, moody soundscapes that create thick atmospheric vibes yet stick to largely traditional song structures.
After a luscious ambient intro track that sounds like interstellar trains pulling into an ethereal space station, the band cleverly leads with their best song, the catchy, hard-hitting, and (mostly) feel-good, Summer-breeze-on-your-face jam “Cusp”, which I listened to about twenty times (and sang along in my head another fifty) before I even confirmed that I was reviewing this EP. The opening chords get me every time, majestic guitars and keyboards singing triumphantly like they’re introducing the gods on Mount Olympus… and as soon as standout vocalist Irene Barber (also of XVIII Eyes) enters the picture with her calm, lilting yet assertively confident voice you know you’re in for something truly special.
Unfortunately the entire EP doesn’t quite hold the same level of power, but this first song is by far my strongest contender for favorite track of the year so far; something about it feels so enveloping and inviting in the verses, yet with the perfect amount of tension in alternating parts to remind you that this band has ferocious intelligence and knows how to use it. When the head-bopping low-end synth part comes in, you gotta wonder where they’re going next…..back to the gorgeous first part, and around we go again. Such a spectacular song, I wish I wrote myself.
But what else would one expect from Bayles? This is the guy who helmed seminal albums by Mastodon, Isis, Botch, Harkonen, Norma Jean, and many more. Needless to say, if you’re a true fan of heavy music you have undoubtedly heard plenty of this man’s work. And let’s not downplay the involvement of Ryan Frederiksen; he continues to slay riffs with Narrows (along with Dave Verellen from Botch), but if you haven’t heard Frederiksen’s former band These Arms Are Snakes you should check that catalog out immediately and mourn that you will never get to see its frenetic, pummeling live show. (What ever happened to TAAS’ excellent drummer Chris Common, by the way? Oh, there he is running his own studio in El Paso, slaying the production end of some amazing albums! I’ll never forget Vince drunkenly drooling over Common’s kit skills one SXSW several years back, that was too funny…)
The real superstar here, however, is vocalist Irene Barber, who blends together elements of Chino Moreno (harmonically), Julie Christmas (texturally), PJ Harvey (melodically and timbre-wise), Mlny Parsonz (gutturally), and adds flavors of her own distinct style to create a truly captivating performance. This is a sensational singer I will certainly be keeping a close eye on.
Dragon Mouth’s subsequent track, the moody, pouty “Selector,” offers a slinky yet rich mid-album jam that again features Barber’s silky dulcet tones and bears very strong (almst too-strong) comparison to PJ Harvey while offering some vague elements of a dirtier Vangelis. On “Casual Friends,” Frederiksen adds some textures straight out of TAAS, but despite those moments seeming slightly unoriginal (Can one bite off one’s own style? I guess Lamb of God’s been doing that for a while now…) they fit right in and sound at home amongst the sonic terrain Bayles has created, both on the production end and via his keyboard stylings, which amply fill in the sonic space often left lacking by guitar-only bands. This track really demonstrates Barber’s love of Deftones, or at least Chino’s vocal style, since every melody in this song basically sounds like something Moreno would sing. So while this particular jam certainly couldn’t be called the most original track on Dust Moth’s EP, it still carries quite a brooding weight to it nonetheless.
Second-to-last track “Months” attacks with the most force and displayed technique, but Barber’s Julie Christmas-esque yelps unfortunately brought me out of the parts they appeared in, happening in the right places but once again seeming kind of unoriginal.
Final track “Redbone” feels like the most pensive and reflective song on the EP, and this one again highlights some truly fantastic singing by Barber, as well as the craftsmanship and emotive strength this band has the ability to portray. There’s cinematic feeling oozing out of every word/guitar chord/tom hit… and again Bayles nicely fills up the open space with angelic harmonizing synthesizers. It’s the perfect end to this EP, offering a deeper mood of exploration than earlier and serving as the perfect flip-side introspective closing track to sunny opener “Cusp” — it’s almost as if our heroine/narrator initially flung herself with optimistic abandon into the world only to learn several dense life lessons leading up to the EP’s climax; there is a bittersweet tinge of pain in the chorus’ vocal melody that cuts heart-wrenchingly deep. Maybe one day we can somehow get Barber on a track with Royal Thunder’s Mlny Parsonz for a darkly damaged dynamic duo of dames…
As with most supergroups, Dust Moth may not be too prolific due to scheduling and other obligations — which these guys certainly have in spades. But I hope some touring and a full-length isn’t too far behind. This group shows tremendous promise and the songs that sound completely original are certainly among the best I’ve heard this year so far.


Since the Seattle Supersonics have been gone from the greater Northwest it seems that city hasn’t been the same. Things may be changing soon. The city of Seattle is trying hard to get a team back in the Key Arena and some of entertainments finest stars are backing the idea. Hip-Hop star Macklemore and bay area legend Magic Johnson are at the top of that list. Check out this video below as Seattle fans show as why they need their beloved SuperSonics back.
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