Category Archives: Evolution

In June 2020, and after several years of experimentation, I brought to market a lure called the MAL Lure. This lure was intended to fill a gap where standard presentations fell short, especially during the summer months.

There was once a time when, as a full-time professional fishing guide focused on the year-round pursuitof white bass, I just dreaded the summer months.

This tough fishing would persist right up until turnover, typically in mid to late October.

Through the years, Ive been successful in eliminating unproductive water and getting white bass to biteduring the summer months by making myself become well-versed in interpreting all forms of sonar, andby covering water quickly and efficiently via downrigging.

Still, during those times when downrigging led me to concentrations of white bass, be they located onbottom or suspended, I was hard-pressed to catch more than just a handful immediately after quicklytransitioning from a horizontal approach to a vertical approach.

Slabs, spoons, soft plastics and jigs generated a spurt of initial interest, followed by a very predictable,frustrating shutdown.

I bought some Do-It lead molds and started making my own custom horsehead jigs, complete with theircharacteristic, underslung, spinning blade. That experiment was largely unsuccessful due to my luresslow sink rates, but I did walk away observing that the jigs small spinning blades were a definite triggerfor white bass.

Several summers ago, I decided to venture outside the box to try to crack the code on warm waterwhite bass. I tried doing things on my home waters that no one else was doing. I also traveled to

Queensland, Australia, to fish for Australian bass with professional fishing guide Matthew Langford onLakes Boruma and Somerset during the Australian summer to check out some of the approaches theAussies had come up with using heavy metal tactics for suspended summertime fish holding above thethermocline.

Next, I made my own modified tailspinners. This kept the spinning blade feature of the horsehead jig,but added more weight. I also tried to engineer out of my tailspinners some of the flaws I noted inthose tailspinners already on the market, namely the tendency for the hook to catch on the line or thespinner shaft, and for the blade to spin lazily.

I enjoyed great success with these tailspinners, but I noted that my clients did not do nearly so well onthem as I did. As I analyzed this, I noted that many did not have the fish-fighting experience needed tokeep hooked fish on the hook as the fish was transferred from the water into the boat; we lost way toomany fish during that transition for my satisfaction.

Additionally, many clients had trouble getting and keeping my tailspinners blades turning as needed toattract fish in the first place. So, now I had an effective lure, but it was not user-friendly.

This led me to begin experimenting with inline spinners. I experimented with making my own spinnerswith brass bodies, lead bodies and tungsten bodies, and after many iterations, found something I felthad both fish-catching potential and user-friendly attributes.

I introduced a few clients to the lure and they did very well with it. Then, I began to keep these custom-made versions tied on for general, daily use by all of my clients, including kids and rookies. No one hadany difficulties catching white bass on these lures during the tough summer months. I was amazed atthe results.

Since I had no desire to get into lure production, I brainstormed about how I might have these luresmade to ensure a continuous supply of these for my business. I assumed it was a long-shot actually, Iassumed it was rejection just waiting to happen, but I called the Mepps lure company of Antigo,Wisconsin.

Mepps spinners were the closest in appearance and construct to the effective prototypes I haddeveloped. I worked with them to take characteristics and components from several of their existing

products to form a new product which was deadly for white bass.

Last year, in December, as the water temperature fell to 58, the magic of the MAL Lure all but ranout. The speed at which the lure had to be moved to get the spinner spinning around the lures wire

shaft was too fast for cold-blooded, lethargic fish.

I knew two things for sure first, that a spinning blade is an ultra-attractive feature so far as white bassand hybrid stripers are concerned, and second, that the slab -- a shad-shaped hunk of lead - has puttens of thousands of fish in my boat in the winter months. I wondered what might happen if I combinedthese two powerful entities.

Long story short, this curiosity gave rise to the newest cold-water bait now on the market, introducedand made public this week.

That bait is the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab. This combines a classic, shad-shaped lead body with a smallwillow-leafed spinner blade which is affixed to the lures treble hook using a tiny swivel bonded to thehook.

This bait comes in three sizes: 3/8 ounce, 5/8 ounce, and 3/4 ounce. The baits come powder-coated fordurability in either white or chartreuse.

Most of my field-testing was done last winter in January and February once the water fell into the 50s.

The Bladed Hazy Eye Slab produced extremely well then, and continued to do so even after the severewinter storm took water temperatures into the mid-40s. I have already begun keeping my rods riggedwith these slabs on my boat for times when fish get too finicky to chase hard after the MAL Lures.

On Wednesday, the last 30 of the 100 fish my clients landed were landed on the Bladed Hazy EyeSlab.

In mid-January last year, just before the Tuff-Man Series championship event was to take place, I guidedone of my clients to a 38-plus-pound, five-fish limit of largemouth bass on Stillhouse, all of which werelanded on the standard Hazy Eye Shad -- proof positive that largemouth bass congregate in deep waterin the winter and strike slabs despite the lure being more closely associated with white bass and hybridstriped bass fishing.

I count on the lures I have tied onto the rods I carry on my boat to make my clients successful. Theselures have earned a place on my boat from this time of year right up until the water temperature nips at60F once again in the spring.

If you are like me, you want to see and hold a new lure in your hands before buying it, mainly so you canget a sense for its shape, weight, profile, etc., and see how the fine-tuning which went into the creationof this bait makes it different from a standard slab. These are all things which photographs just cannotconvey. For this reason, Dean Thompson has kindly put on display a full lineup of these new baits atTightlines Premium Fishing Tackle on Business Highway 190 in Killeen.

I also have these available online at http://www.WhiteBassTools.com. Just as necessity truly is the mother ofinvention, I believe fine-tuning inventions is the father of success.

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BOB MAINDELLE: The evolution of lures for the cold-water season - The Killeen Daily Herald

Ive seen this sculpture since I was a kid and have loved it.

It suddenly disappeared with the construction of McGregor Square, and it needs a new home.

The Evolution of the Ball, designed by Colorado artist Lonnie Hanzon, stood outside the left field gate at Coors Field for years, welcoming fans as they approached a pedestrian bridge over 20th Street on their way into the ballpark. It was the gateway to Coors Field for people like myself, the routine ballpark travelers on RTD light rails walking in from nearby Union Station, or the ballpark connoisseurs that soaked in the magic of Coors Field from the outside in.

The Evolution of the Ball was a staple until it wasnt.

When McGregor Square was constructed, the sculpture was forcedly removed. The City of Denver mandated that a fire lane be placed on the north side of the new 13-story development, meaning the Evolution of the Ball had to go. We have not seen the $100,000-plus sculpture since removal, and fans like myself are forced to reminisce on a key ballpark feature that is now a thing of the past.

I seriously think the only thing missing from All-Star Week was this sculpture.

Where can we preserve the artistic integrity? The pedestrian walkway in left field was as much of a welcome as anywhere with this art behind it. Unless the sculpture is distastefully plastered right behind the Player statue at home plate, there arent many more locations around the park where it can serve its original purpose as a gateway.

Where can it go from here? Thanks to the help of Apple Maps, computer screenshots and creative brainstorming, heres our preliminary options. (Well likely need Mr. Hanzons blessing for any of these sites, but hopefully well be able to see it before long.)

The designated Rockies-sponsored parking lots at Coors Field are beyond right-center field, lining the train tracks that lead out of Union Station to the northeast. If a gateway to the ballpark is what this sculpture is intended for, placing this monument just outside of the centerfield gate is a surefire way to make sure baseball fans walk underneath it again. It might get pushed too close against the brick of Coors Field, but some parking lot remodeling could make this a fitting reality.

I must admit that my five-year-old self fell in love with this sculpture for how playful and fun it looked. If it served as a gateway to the left-field playground at Coors Field, it stays close to the original placement, serving a kid-friendly purpose, and its arguably more visible than it was in the first place.

Let it be known that this sculpture was intended for Coors Field and Coors Field only.

but

The Evolution of the Ball could find a poetic new placement at the aptly-named arena across Lower Downtown. Theres currently a huge concrete walkway outside Ball Arena where this sculpture could go, and its arguably perfect if the baseball future of this sculpture has passed.

They would probably need to replace the bronze baseball atop the sculpture, however, and this alone will have Rockies fans like myself feeling a certain way.

The mini-diamond near the center of this aerial photo is a kids field on the first base side of the concourse. Just to the right of it is a gate that welcomes fans to Colorado spring training, and a small walkway leads people through the Rockies backfields and batting cages and into the stadium itself. Its about as close as you can get to the original feeling youd get walking into Coors Field with the statue in front of you.

The Evolution of the Ball is not exactly designed to fit the southwest architecture of Salt River Fields, so it might look a little out of place in Scottsdale. (That doesnt make it any less cool, though.)

The Rockies originally announced that Double Angel Ballpark would house their alternate site operations in April 2021 to accommodate the delayed minor league season. The decision was eventually reversed and the club moved the operation to Salt River Fields, where Rockies players could easily play games against other MLB affiliates at spring training sites.

Maybe the complex in Parker is fit for a delayed thank you, in the form of one of the most gorgeous art installations on the planet.

There is an entrance to Double Angel Ballpark that would be a perfect place for a give-back. In the same youthful spirit of cherishing that sculpture like I did when I was a kid, what better way to commemorate this installation than placing it at some amateur fields?

Now its time for the more somber, less-optimistic headlines of the day: its time to imagine Jon Gray in something other than purple.

Mike Petriello of MLB.com takes a deep look into Grays home and road splits; while they are near-identical at first glance, Grays third time through the lineup in Denver is a little less favorable than elsewhere. If hes to take on duties as a workhorse elsewhere, a new team could be getting even more of Gray later in games than they first bargained for.

The reality is also sinking in that Nolan Arenado swiped a Gold Glove away from Denver this time around, and the related offseason discussion has now ensured. Our friend Noah Yingling of Rox Pile covers defensive stats and voting guidelines, all while analyzing how and why Ryan McMahon was left without some hardware.

Surprise Saguaros 4, Salt River Rafters 3

It was a rather forgettable day for Rockies prospects in the Arizona Fall League on Monday. Matt Dennis took the start for the Rafters and allowed three earned runs in three innings, letting up four hits in his 56 pitches. Colorado hitters were a combined 2-for-9, while Willie MacIver and Ryan Vilade each recorded a single.

The Rafters and Saguaros only played seven innings due to available pitching, and the game lasted a blazing one hour and 41 minutes.

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when youre commenting. Thanks!

Originally posted here:

Colorado Rockies news: The Evolution of the Ball needs a new home - Purple Row

We live in an age with a steadily decreasing number of polymaths. Its difficult enough to be skilled and learned in one particular art form or discipline; having multiple high-level talents is even more of a challenge. Yet the career of Tom Ford has demonstrated how seemingly disparate areas of focus can converge in one persons life. Ford made his name as a fashion designer, but has branched out into more and more areas over the years everything from a line of watches to directing acclaimed films.

This month brings with it the publication of Tom Ford 002, a new book documenting his work since 2005. Air Mail recently published the books introduction, which was written by Graydon Carter who did the same for Fords first book and offers an inside look into what its like to spend time with Tom Ford.

Carter covers a lot of ground here. Regarding Fords launch of the fashion brand Tom Ford, Carter observed, Im not sure whether [Ford] would call this a second act or a third act. Either way, its been a hell of a triumph.

But there are also more insightful moments, such as Carter addressing the nature of Fords professional success. People think success is a giant wave of blithe happiness, Carter wrote. In Toms case, its that, certainly but its also the result of an almost otherworldly attention to details big and small.

Its a theme that Carter returns to again and again over the course of his introduction while also giving a sense of Fords own aesthetic choices in different aspects of his life. Its a fascinating look at a singular polymath.

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Tracing the Constant Evolution of Tom Ford - InsideHook

"We made a shot."

Those were head coach Quin Snyder's parting words following Utah's 110-98 victory over visiting Atlanta on Tuesday night.

Although the words were said to evoke laughter which they did there was also a smattering of truth and respectful sarcasm to his statement.

Just hours before Snyder walked out of that presser with a smile on his face, he sat in the same chair and answered the same questions he's been asked for weeks from media members regarding the state of Utah's offense.

Perennially one of the top three-point shooting teams in the league, the Jazz had gotten off to a shockingly slow start this year. Utah was sitting at 26th in the league, shooting the deep ball at 31.8% nearly seven percentage points lower than last season.

But in the face of all those questions before tipoff, the customarily reserved Snyder opened up about his thoughts of Utah's offense.

"I understand the responsibility to write about the narrative of our three-point shooting," Snyder said pregame. "I don't think there's anyone on our team that redid their shot over the summer. So I would expect, at least on some level, that we start making more shots."

Rather than ending the conversation there, Snyder took it a step further as to why he wasn't concerned about when Utah's shots were going to start falling.

"To me, what's an interesting story, our offense is ranked No. 2 in the league," he added. "If you gave me what would probably be a three-point percentage in the bottom five last year and a No. 2 offense, I'd probably take the No. 2 offense with poor shooting."

As if fulfilling a prophecy, the Jazz had one of their best shootings night of the season against the Hawks on Tuesday night.

Utah shot 39.5% (15-for-38) from beyond the arc, their second-best percentage on the year. Six different players knocked down a three-pointer, with four of them knocking down at least two.

"It gives you life," Donovan Mitchell (27 points, 5-for-11 from deep) said postgame about the team finally knocking down some shots.

Following the victory over the Hawks, Utah currently has the No. 2 offensive team in the league. They scored 122 points per 100 possessions against Atlanta, putting them 0.1 away from the top spot.

"I want to be bold how we play. ... We got a lot of guys that can make shots," Snyder said. "We have a guy that got 49 (points) last year against Denver with a couple guys out. I don't know where you'd rank Bojan (Bogdanovic) on the scoring ladder, but we've got a lot of guys that can be a leading scorer on a different night."

Utah's ascension up the three-point ladder began to take shape in 2017 when Mitchell and Royce O'Neale joined the team. They made an immediate impact, both shooting 34% or better from beyond the arc.

But the actual percentage change came in 2019 when Utah added Bogdanovic, Mike Conley, and Jordan Clarkson, each shooting above 36% from three-point territory.

That change in 2019 allowed the Jazz to climb the rankings and finish that season as the NBA's top three-point shooting team, jumping from No. 12 to No. 1. Utah continued its torrid shooting last year, finishing fourth in three-point percentage the only team to rank in the top-five from the past two seasons.

With expectations set high this year, Snyder and the Jazz aren't backing down from them. They're finding ways to continue to push the envelope and keep Utah as the most efficient team in the league.

"Our focus will continue to be ways to get incrementally better. We'll continue to try to prepare for the shots that we're going to get for something that's been a big part of what we do," Snyder said.

But ever the perfectionist, Snyder wasn't willing to concede Tuesday night's performance as the big breakthrough fans were hoping for. Instead, he ended his press conference with six words that will keep the fire burning for the players when it comes to making shots.

"Not as many as they (Atlanta) did."

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Utah's Offensive Evolution Thrives From Beyond The Arc | Utah Jazz - UtahJazz.com

November 11, 2021

The human genome is littered with selfish genetic elements, which do not seem to benefit their hosts, but instead seek only to propagate themselves.

These parasites of the genome can wreak havoc at the cellular level by distorting sex ratios or causing harmful mutations, and can even lead to a species extinction. But, as researchers at the University of Rochester report, species evolve mechanisms to fight back.

In a new paper published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, Daven Presgraves, a University Deans Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Rochester, and Christina Muirhead, a computational biologist and population geneticist in Presgravess lab and the first author on the paper, present further evidence of an evolutionary arms race within organismsand the mechanisms at play in this arms raceto combat selfish genetic elements.

We have found that an evolutionary arms race has led to a proliferation of meiotic drive genes on the X chromosome and suppressor genes elsewhere in the genome, Muirhead says.

The researchers studied the genomes of three closely related species of Drosophila (fruit flies). Fruit flies share about 70 percent of the same genes that cause human diseases and are similar to humans on the molecular level. Because fruit flies have such short reproductive cyclesless than two weeksscientists can create generations of the flies in a short time. These key characteristics make the insects ideal models for learning more about human genetics.

The researchers discovered that each of the species of fruit flies they studied has 5 to 12 meiotic drive genes on the X chromosomes. The meiotic drive genesa type of selfish genetic elementcheat by getting into more than the typical 50 percent of offspring in the next generation. This allows the genes themselves to spread rapidly through a population.

The meiotic drive genes that the researchers studied are related to a meiotic drive gene called Doxdistorter on the Xwhich is found on the X chromosome and kills Y chromosome-bearing sperm. The researchers called their newly discovered genes Dox-like, or Dxl for short. The Dxl genes produce a protein called a histone that disrupts normal DNA packaging in Y-bearing spermatidsimmature male sex cellsleading to sperm death. Killing Y-bearing sperm means that subsequent generations will have mostly daughters and few sons.

The Dxl genes work only to propagate themselves, however, and dont realize that this may lead them on a path that could eventually take their host speciesand themselvesto extinction.

The drive genes get an evolutionary advantage by killing Y-bearing sperm, Presgraves says. But the individuals carrying the drive genes suffer reduced fertility, and the population becomes increasingly female-biased, risking eventual extinction.

Dxl genes skew sex ratios to increase the rate at which they get passed on, but the researchers uncovered another surprising dynamic. The species of Drosophila they studied have evolved a defense against the selfish genetic elements. This defense comes in the form of genes that are duplicates of the Dxl genes, but with an important modification. Much like the mythical Trojan Horse, the duplicate genes masquerade as Dxl genes, but contain a stealthy weapon. Instead of expressing Dxl proteins, the genes express small RNAs that silence the Dxl genes via RNA interference.

The research is further evidence that microscopic evolutionary arms races are taking place within organisms: selfish genetic elements evolve to benefit themselves, and the rest of the genome evolves suppressors to quell them. The selfish genetic elements then evolve to overcome the suppressor, the suppressor has to evolve to keep pace, and so on.Similar repetitive gene copies like the Dxl genes that selfishly bias sex ratios are common to the X and Y chromosomes of great apes and humans, Presgraves says. These are just one line of evidence that evolutionary arms races have important consequences for genome evolution.

Evolutions new era

Selfish genetic elements were dismissed as anomalies when they were first described nearly a century ago. Now, Rochester biologists are exploring the roles the elements play in inheritance, aging, speciation, and evolution.

What makes a species different?

Rochester research points to the presence of selfish genes, whose flow among species may dictate whether two species converge or diverge.

Tags: Arts and Sciences, Daven Presgraves, Department of Biology, research finding

Category: Science & Technology

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More evidence of an evolutionary 'arms race' between genes and selfish genetic elements - University of Rochester

Fiona Goodall/Getty Images

Team New Zealand and Britannia will be looking to build on the success of the foiling AC75s in the next America's Cup.

Expect evolution rather than revolution when the new protocol for the next Americas Cup is released on Wednesday.

Having missed the deadline to announce the venue for the 37th edition of the famous regatta, defender Team New Zealand and Sir Ben Ainslie's challenger of record Britannia, wont want to miss the deadline for the release of the key document they have been thrashing out for the last eight months.

Its a vital piece of paperwork that lays down the rules and parameters and comes with the competition well positioned for a much-needed period of consolidation.

INEOS Britannia

World champions Mercedes come on board for AC37

After years of design switches that included ushering in the foiling era to sports oldest trophy, there is an agreement to remain with the radical AC75 monohulls for the next two editions.

READ MORE:* The U-turn that led Tom Saunders to world Laser title* America's Cup: The genius behind Team NZ signing Nathan Outteridge* America's Cup teams forced to open doors* America's Cup: Little logic as New York throw their toys out of the cot

The boats captured the imagination of the sailors and the public for their debut in Auckland last summer and continuity is a key for the Cup to prosper.

Thats why the protocol will be more about refinement than reinvention.

After having just four teams involved last time, there is a real need to encourage new syndicates. Prospective outfits have been waiting on the details in this vast document before committing to a costly challenge for the Auld Mug.

Dave Rowland/Getty Images

Team New Zealand will outline the rules for their defence of the America's Cup.

It will be fascinating to see how they interpret the protocol and who decides to jump on board for yachting's wildest ride.

Some of the big moves in the protocol have already been signalled - the retention of the class with a limit of one new boat in this cycle; tougher nationality rules to limit crew poaching; separate youth and womens regattas to be run in conjunction with the main event; these will be sailed in new 40-foot foiling monohulls that can also be used for testing and development.

Dont expect the venue to be revealed on Wednesday, nor the specific dates for the challenger series or the America's Cup match. There is likely to be a broad time frame indicated for these to be confirmed in.

Look for a more streamlined administration of the Cup with one event authority handling it, hopefully reducing the tensions between the defender and challenger of record that increased as Auckland 2021 wore on.

With an eye on cost containment and allowing new teams to catch up, there could be restrictions over allowing existing teams to sail their current full-sized Cup boats during the next year.

The America's Cup knows it has a good product - an event steeped in history that is also at the cutting edge of sailing technology and the protocol will look to reflect and enhance that.

There is a need to maximises its profile better, especially after the restrictions the global Covid pandemic wiped out build-up regattas last time.

Expect that to be rectified in this cycle as sponsors and billionaire backers look for more bang for their bucks with increased exposure.

Excerpt from:

America's Cup: Evolution rather than revolution will define new protocol - Stuff.co.nz

Having kicked off the horror franchise, it was nice for OG fans to see the original Candyman Tony Todd pop up in the reboot. Making him a part of the reboot tied both stories together in many ways. Todd haunted the minds of horror fans for decades especially when repeating the characters name. The sequel expanded on the original themes with a 2021 lens. After taking part in said sequel, the horror icon gave his thoughts on the franchises evolution since the original film premiered three decades ago.

Keeping the spirit of the original Candyman grounded the reboot with Tony Todds finale message. After initially not part of the sequel, Todd eventually hopped aboard. It seemed like he enjoyed his time on the film and how it turned out. The original film touched on some heavy themes, which director Nia DaCosta expounded on in the reboot. The Candyman icon gave Gizmodo his thoughts DaCosta evolving the series with her installment.

Well, I think its summed up in Nia DaCostas brilliant interpretation and Colman Domingos line that Candyman is not a he, Candymans the whole damn hive. And I think thats the newest [take], that its not an isolated incident of only one Black man being unfairly ridiculed and tortured and lynched and vilified, castigated. It can happen to anybody, it doesnt have to be an African American. It can be any person that is ostracized and struck down before theyre able to reach their full potential, whether it be artistically, intellectually, or whatever. And I think thats fantastic.

Nia DaCosta got the seal of approval from Tony Todd, and thats what matters. Thankfully, Todd agreed with DaCosta taking certain themes and making them universal. It allowed Candyman to evolve from a vengeful figure to a symbol of the marginalized. Despite only popping up at the end, Todd wasnt too hung up on screen time and more about the vision.

Well, I was trained that there is no such thing as a small moment. Whatever moment you have, [make it] have a hammer-like impact. So I was shooting something else in South Africa and I got a call from Jordan. We talked at length and he explained his vision to me, and I totally agreed with it.

Of course, it was Jordan Peeles idea to have Todd pop up at the end. As Tony Todd put it, the final moment left an impact on moviegoers given the films reception. Todds moment brought all the plotlines together after teasing the horror icon the entire film. So, Candyman served his purpose in the bigger vision.

Hopefully, the reboots success will lead to more Candyman and Tony Todd in the coming years. While fans wait on sequel news, they can watch Candyman on Prime Video.

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Candyman Icon Tony Todd On Fantastic Way The Franchise Has Evolved - CinemaBlend

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) Recently, the National Science Foundation awarded Biosphere 2's Landscape Evolution Observatory a $3.5 million grant to study how life grows in certain landscapes, particularly those impacted by fires or volcanic eruptions.

The Landscape Evolution Observatory or LEO is the world's largest laboratory experiment in the interdisciplinary Earth sciences and it's dedicated to understanding complex ecosystems. After years of planning, construction started in 2011 and took about 15 months to build.

Over the last five years, the scientists have observed how landscapes change without plant life other than moss and microbes. Now, the grant will allow the team to grow plants and make it a more complete ecosystem.

"It's a new laboratory where we can learn how to built ecosystems from scratch," Scott Saleska, University of Arizona and LEO's director, said. "There's nothing growing on it now but we just recieved a $3.5 million grant to help put life on LEO."

Saleska said the experiment helps shed light on the impacts of climate change on our ecosystem, especially in terms of water. He said the experiement helps them understand how landscapes work which will help us learn how to restore damaged landscapes.

"The idea is that this will give us the science to restore landscapes to recover mill tailings to mines and to deal with desertification and all the problems that are buffeting our globe from climate change," Saleska said.

Because LEO allows scientists to watch an ecosystem grow from scratch, Saleska said it's the key to fundamental science and fixing the future.

Leo consists of three steel 100 foot long structures inside glass domes at Biosphere 2 filled with crushed basalt rock, armed with over 1,800 sensors for observation. It mimics watershed in the natural world, which is the area of land where all water that drains goes to the same place like a lake or stream.

We have rainfall sprinklers on here that create rain and one of the great fundamental questions for putting life on Leo or life on the planet is water," Saleska said. "And it's about learning how life interacts with water especially as water becomes more limited, as it is happening in Arizona because of climate change."

The new research will bring insight into the effects of the changing climate on the landscapes and even help tell astronauts how to grow crops on Mars. ----

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Grant awarded to Landscape Evolution Observatory at Biosphere 2 - KGUN

Hindsight is 20/20. When asked how the smart cities movement has changed in the past five years, many city leaders describe how an early exuberance for the potential of new smart city technologies may have distracted them from their primary concern: the residents, their perspectives and their needs.

Five years ago, the smart cities movement was not focused on people, said Portland, Oregon,Smart City PDX Manager, Kevin Martin, in response to several questions from a recent Smart Cities Dive survey of the smart cities movement over the past five years.It was focused on technology that was oversold and that communities werent asking for, he said.

That technology-first approach "largely failed"because cities were not trusted stewards of data and technology, especially in underserved communities, Martin said. Also, cities lacked policy processes and systems that support the increased use and collection of data that new technologies provided, he added.

Portlands smart cities approach has changed since then, according to Martin. "Its been a satisfying evolution, from focusing on technologies like autonomous vehicles to developing more comprehensive, just approaches to becoming a digital city, in partnership with Portland communities,"he said.

Local leaders from other major U.S. cities also said in the survey that they have shifted the focus of their smart city initiatives over the past five years from implementing the newest technologies to prioritizing the needs of their community and its residents. Some of those new priorities include finding smarter ways including with new technologies to meet those needs while safeguarding residents privacy. Sparking a lot of that change was the COVID-19 pandemic, which surfaced inequities, especially around digital access, and highlighted the need for governments to transform.

The U.S. smart cities movement to date has been marked by high-profile projects that havent always come to fruition, including Sidewalk Labs Toronto development and Replicas work in Portland, Oregon. Other major technology players have also apparently lost some steam: Early smart cities enthusiast and tech giant Cisco announced at the end of last year that it was foldingone of its main smart cities software platforms.

In recent years, the sense of what innovation looks like has evolved, noted JenSanders, executive director of the North Texas Innovation Alliance, which is also part of the larger National Smart Coalitions Partnership.

"The movement and coined term of 'smart cities' was very focused on the big audacious vision,"and the way people described that vision, it "often came in the form of things like self-driving and self-flying cars and other flashy representations,"she wrote in an email interview.

Even those who saw value in such efforts are realizing now where they may have fallen short.

Five years ago, the focus on new technology generated new data streams that helped inform various problems cities were facing, but it was difficult to justify the technologys cost, said Linda Gerull, executive director of San Franciscos technology department and the citys chief information officer. It was not used in a way that delivered new service, she said.

"While these technologies were exciting, there was a hollowness to the topic because [they] did not completely address the challenges and needs of residents,"said Gerull.

Vendors drove the "first wave"of the smart cities movement, selling new hardware and software that they said would make cities smarter, said Debra Lam, managing director of Georgia Techs Smart Cities and Inclusive Innovation initiative. It created an unnecessary "tech arms race,"she said.

When pursuing these technologies, many cities were not starting with a problem first, said Lam. "They were kind of thinking, heres the solution, and trying to figure out how this would fit in the city, versus starting with the problem and thinking about what the most appropriate technologies would be in their wider toolkit,"said Lam.

Cities are now finally starting to select interventions and projects from a menu of available technologies that are based on local conditions and concerns, said Jennifer Clark, professor and head of Ohio State Universitys city and regional planning section within its College of Engineering. As that thinking has shifted, cities have boosted their in-house smart city expertise, allowing local leaders to focus more on using the technology to address the needs of the city and its residents, said Lam.

Smart city companies, Clark added, are also recognizing the complexity of the smart cities market and the realities of building and managing public-private partnerships.

On the more everyday scale of city operations, technology innovations have yet to meaningfully address certain city challenges, including illegal dumping, neighborhood blight and flood monitoring, according to Houston Mayors Office of Innovation Director Jesse Bounds.

And if smart city innovations require residents to interact with government via technology, todays greater awareness of the depth of the digital divide indicates the progress cities still need to make on that front. Its "difficult to talk about smart cities"when many residents dont even have access or the ability to use a computer or the internet, Bounds said in response to the survey.

"There are lots of novel solutions that would work in an ideal lab-type environment, but nothing feasible at scale,"he said.

Today, the "digital cities"concept is now widely used to describe modernizing and transforming city services and systems, providing better accessibility to residents, and viewing service from an equity perspective, San Franciscos Gerull said. It also places cybersecurity and data privacy as its cornerstones.

The core elements of a smart city, Sanders with the North Texas Innovation Alliance said, are rarely visible to the average person walking down the street. However, she said, people can experience the impacts of those investments in their daily lives, such as shortened commute times, faster 911 responses or lower incidence of asthma.

"This is why starting with the simple and, in many cases, the 'unsexy' technologies is what creates the building blocks toward full value,"she said. "With the anchor infrastructure, governance and functionality covered, the public sector can get to a risk/innovation balance of 'pragmatically flashy'."

Karen Lightman, executive director of Carnegie Mellon Universitys Metro21: Smart Cities Institute, noted that some of the most transformational changes cities can make today stem from simply breaking down silos of information, often stored in archaic ways, and making data open and accessible.

Some cities are communicating their more modest goals and efforts as well as the resident-first approach they are taking.Lightman pointed to the city of Bostons Smart City Playbook as a leading example of how a city has strived to define and communicate how it will interact with vendors and potential technologies.

Kris Carter, co-chair of the Boston Mayors Office of New Urban Mechanics, elaborated on that approach. During the past five years, the city has "reframed innovation as care,"he said in his survey response. Bostons smart city efforts are "not about moving fast and breaking things'but rather as an exercise in care caring for, caring with, caring about,"Carter said. He also said the city has moved to "not worship efficiency because a city is not a stream of data; its people, and sometimes the social fabric of a city is lost with a singular focus on process improvement."

The city of Orlando has also reoriented its approach. In 2019, it started developing its first smart city master plan, which it has since reframed as plans for a "Future-Ready City."The city is now in the process of implementing short-term strategies the plan outlines related to better defining the digital divide, partnering with the entrepreneur community, testing out food recovery logistics platforms, and other efforts, said Future-Ready Director Michael Hess in response to the survey.

Once led by vendors and their priorities, smart cities are now defined by city governments and their priorities, said David Edinger, Denvers chief information officer.

Denver now is focusing on "less than a handful"of smart initiatives to avoid spreading its resources too thinly, said Edinger in response to the survey question. This includes an initiative that aims to improve air quality near schools and a data hub project that Edinger considers "the backbone of future efforts."

Washington, D.C. also shifted its smart city focus in recent years from technology to how it trains and prepares its employees, residents and businesses so they can all have a fair shot in the digital age, the citys Office of the Chief Technology Officer said in a statement in response to the survey.

The smart cities concept has become more holistic, according to Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, moving beyond the implementation of technology to encompass meaningful community engagement, fluid communication capabilities, eliminating waste, sustainable environmental practices, the smarter use of resources and a better quality of life.

But the shift to that new approach has also been a challenge for many in the space.

"While the concept of smart cities is becoming more familiar, it remains a new concept for many practitioners,"said Gallego in her survey response. "It is challenging to ensure practitioners understand the comprehensive approach and holistic thinking necessary to achieve a truly smart city."

The COVID-19 pandemic shattered the normalcy of city life, closing stores and restaurants, emptying out offices and commuter trains, and sending hordes of delivery drivers dashing through the streets. It forced cities to reassess their priorities and challenged city leaders to become more inclusive in their planning.

Some shortcomings became apparent when cities turned to technology for their COVID response. Dallas quickly learned it had a language problem, for example. "While translation services have been made available for some resident-facing city services, the pandemic and the shift to more prevalent use of digital communication led to an increased need for a wider variety of language access,"said Amanda Nabours, IT architect for the city of Dallas, in response to the survey.The city subsequently created a map that details the most commonly spoken languages in each ZIP code, enabling Dallas to expand the availability of translation services and materials.

The pandemic also laid bare the limitations of technology in underserved communities.The chief innovation officer for San Antonio, Brian Dillard, said in response to the survey question that it "created more urgency around issues like the digital divide, data governance, digital infrastructure and community co-creation."

That was echoed by Jeanne Holm, deputy mayor of budget and innovation for the city of Los Angeles. "The pandemic changed the way Los Angeles provisioned its services and heightened its focus towards equity, especially surrounding issues of internet access and connectivity and digital literacy,"she replied to the survey.

"What COVID did around internet access is that it made the inequities impossible not to see,"said LaVonna Lewis, associate dean of diversity, equity and inclusion at the University of Southern California Sol Price School of Public Policy. Schoolchildren suddenly forced to attend classes online may not have had internet access at home, or they had service that couldnt support siblings and working parents all attempting to be online at the same time.

Some cities were hit hard by the downturn in tax and other revenues as businesses shut down, tourism all but stopped and conventions were called off. "The federal intervention very much helped the cities, but it's harder when your tax base is not strong to begin with,"said David Sloane, a professor in the Department of Urban Planning and Spatial Analysis within the Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California.

Finding funds for smart city projects became a "limitation"as cities imposed drastic budget cuts, said Philadelphia Smart City Director Emily Yates in response to the survey.

Detroit Chief Information Officer Art Thompson also said in his survey response that "financial challenges will continue to be challenging as we look to provide more information."

Like other parts of the tech sector, the smart cities movement is "maturing,"Ohio State Universitys Clark said. The shift, she said, is partially due to pushback from citizens groups against specific interventions, like data-gathering smart streetlights, and large-scale integrated smart development projects like the discontinued Sidewalk Labs initiative in Toronto.

"Today, community engagement and trust are essential to setting smart cities priorities when adopting tools and processes designed for communities,"Clark said.

One issue with this "techlash"is that it has spurred views of technology that are "very extreme one way or the other,"said Lightman. "What I worry about is this idea that all facial recognition is bad. And it's this very black and white thinking,"she said.

On the connected and autonomous vehicle front, for example, regulatory changes and the heavy lift of consensus-building have slowed progress, noted Tampa, Florida, Smart Mobility Manager Brandon Campbell in response to the survey.Were still seeing advances, but five years ago, the industry may have had overly optimistic aspirations for the timeline of the technologys maturation, he said.

Portland is now also focused on rebuilding trust and applying basic justice principles to its smart city work, said Martin. It is developing new policies with various underrepresented communities that provide a foundation for its use of its data and technology, such as policies that ensure surveillance technology, machine learning and artificial intelligence do not harm civil rights and liberties, he said.

"We think that [the process of rebuilding trust] starts with community engagement, policy development, and new systems to govern data and technology, said Martin. Digital justice demands more transparency, accountability, and access to resources, literacy, information and decision-making in technology and information."

Change is coming also as a result of the pandemic. Previously, said LAs Holm, the citys "smart city focus was more towards technologies versus who can access the technologies and understand how to use [them]."

In Philadelphia, where a quarter of the population is at or below the federal poverty level, "Equity and inclusion are critical to all SmartCityPHL pilots and projects,"according to Yates.

But USCs Lewis cautioned that what planners may want might not be what city residents want or see value in. "If they're not the things that they want, or they're not educated on how [initiatives] may be responsive to some of the things that they want, then there's a disconnect, and we've got to deal with that disconnect,"she said.

San Antonios Dillard concurred. "The pandemic has made smart city approaches that center on peoples needs even more urgent."

Cailin Crowe contributed reporting to this story.

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Smart city evolution: How cities have stepped back from a 'tech arms race' - Smart Cities Dive

Chevron Corporation (CVX) is priced at $115.85 after the most recent trading session. At the very opening of the session, the stock price was $113.80 and reached a high price of $114.305, prior to closing the session it reached the value of $114.23. The stock touched a low price of $113.59.Recently in News on November 3, 2021, Trial Lawyer Majed Nachawati Appointed Co-Lead Counsel in Litigation Over Weed Killers Links to Parkinsons Disease. Consolidated lawsuits in California seek justice for those exposed to paraquat. You can read further details here

Chevron Corporation had a pretty favorable run when it comes to the market performance. The 1-year high price for the companys stock is recorded $116.21 on 11/10/21, with the lowest value was $83.89 for the same time period, recorded on 01/04/21.

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Price records that include history of low and high prices in the period of 52 weeks can tell a lot about the stocks existing status and the future performance. Presently, Chevron Corporation shares are logging -0.31% during the 52-week period from high price, and 42.97% higher than the lowest price point for the same timeframe. The stocks price range for the 52-week period managed to maintain the performance between $81.03 and $116.21.

The companys shares, operating in the sector of Energy managed to top a trading volume set approximately around 4207810 for the day, which was evidently lower, when compared to the average daily volumes of the shares.

When it comes to the year-to-date metrics, the Chevron Corporation (CVX) recorded performance in the market was 35.26%, having the revenues showcasing 13.19% on a quarterly basis in comparison with the same period year before. At the time of this writing, the total market value of the company is set at 220.06B, as it employees total of 47736 workers.

During the last month, 17 analysts gave the Chevron Corporation a BUY rating, 2 of the polled analysts branded the stock as an OVERWEIGHT, 13 analysts were recommending to HOLD this stock, 0 of them gave the stock UNDERWEIGHT rating, and 0 of the polled analysts provided SELL rating.

According to the data provided on Barchart.com, the moving average of the company in the 100-day period was set at 103.63, with a change in the price was noted +8.82. In a similar fashion, Chevron Corporation posted a movement of +8.23% for the period of last 100 days, recording 10,132,732 in trading volumes.

Total Debt to Equity Ratio (D/E) can also provide valuable insight into the companys financial health and market status. The debt to equity ratio can be calculated by dividing the present total liabilities of a company by shareholders equity. Debt to Equity thus makes a valuable metrics that describes the debt, company is using in order to support assets, correlating with the value of shareholders equity The total Debt to Equity ratio for CVX is recording 0.27 at the time of this writing. In addition, long term Debt to Equity ratio is set at 0.27.

Raw Stochastic average of Chevron Corporation in the period of last 50 days is set at 98.91%. The result represents improvement in oppose to Raw Stochastic average for the period of the last 20 days, recording 96.10%. In the last 20 days, the companys Stochastic %K was 80.19% and its Stochastic %D was recorded 78.29%.

Bearing in mind the latest performance of Chevron Corporation, several moving trends are noted. Year-to-date Price performance of the companys stock appears to be pessimistic, given the fact the metric is recording 35.26%. Additionally, trading for the stock in the period of the last six months notably improved by 3.09%, alongside a boost of 41.60% for the period of the last 12 months. The shares increased approximately by -0.44% in the 7-day charts and went down by 4.98% in the period of the last 30 days. Common stock shares were driven by 13.19% during last recorded quarter.

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Chevron Corporation (CVX) is primed for evolution with the beta value of 1.27 - The InvestChronicle