Tootfinder

"How a £1.5bn ‘wildlife-boosting’ bypass became an environmental disaster"
#UK #UnitedKingdom #Environment

Plastic bag bans work, new study shows https://www.popsci.com/environment/plastic-bag-bans-working/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_content=other&utm_medium=mastodon

Plastic bag bans work, new study shows
Fees and restrictions on single-use grocery bags mean less trash enters the ecosystem.

Customize what happens when you start R: #rstats #environment

MobileGUI-RL: Advancing Mobile GUI Agent through Reinforcement Learning in Online Environment
Yucheng Shi, Wenhao Yu, Zaitang Li, Yonglin Wang, Hongming Zhang, Ninghao Liu, Haitao Mi, Dong Yu
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.05720

MobileGUI-RL: Advancing Mobile GUI Agent through Reinforcement Learning in Online Environment
Recently, there has been a surge of vision-based GUI agents designed to automate everyday mobile and web tasks. These agents interpret raw GUI screenshots and autonomously decide where to click, scroll, or type, which bypasses handcrafted rules and app-specific APIs. However, most existing methods trained GUI agent in the offline environment using pre-collected trajectories. This approach limits scalability, causes overfitting to specific UI templates, and leads to brittle policies when faced w…

A research paper published by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), though not yet peer-reviewed,
has found nearly all bee colonies suffering collapse had contracted a bee virus spread by
parasitic mites that appear to have developed resistance to the main chemicals used to control them.
Varroa mites
– equivalent in size to a dinner plate on a human body
– crawl and jump between worker bees.
If there are no infections present, they do not typically dama…

(2010) The Story Of Stuff: The Story of Bottled Water #environment #water

EPA Administrator Zeldin vowed to protect human health and the environment. His proposed budget tells a different story
https://federalnewsnetwork.com/commentary/2025/06/epa-administrator-zeldin-vowed-to-protect-human-health-and-the-environment-his-proposed-budget-tells-a-different-story/

HyperCard was magnificent. Still is.
The HyperTalk language was cool — but even cooler IMO was the way the dev environment mixed code with direct manipulation of the UI. There are lots of problems with that approach for generalized Ui development, yes, but the experience of it was magical.
Unity and the like have a similar editor structure — edit UI objects, attach code to them — but the feeling is totally different somehow.
https://mastodon.social/@ricmac/114643259120579546

Regenerating Daily Routines for Young Adults with Depression through User-Led Indoor Environment Modifications Using Local Natural Materials
Ziqun Hua, Ao Jiang, Haoling Yang, Hao Fan, Huizhong Hu, Bernard Foing
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.05729

Regenerating Daily Routines for Young Adults with Depression through User-Led Indoor Environment Modifications Using Local Natural Materials
Young adults with depression often experience prolonged indoor stays, limiting their access to natural environments and exacerbating mental health challenges. While nature therapy is recognized for its psychological benefits, existing interventions frequently require outdoor engagement, which may not be accessible for all individuals. This study explores the potential of user-led indoor modifications using local natural materials as a mental health intervention. A qualitative approach wasemploy…

"Rare butterfly hits purple patch at Sussex rewilding project"
#UK #UnitedKingdom #Butterflies

You May Use the Same Channel Knowledge Map for Environment-Aware NLoS Sensing and Communication
Di Wu, Zhuoyin Dai, Yong Zeng
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.03589

You May Use the Same Channel Knowledge Map for Environment-Aware NLoS Sensing and Communication
As one of the key usage scenarios for the sixth generation (6G) wireless networks, integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) provides an efficient framework to achieve simultaneous wireless sensing and communication. However, traditional wireless sensing techniques mainly rely on the line-of-sight (LoS) assumptions, i.e., the sensing targets are directly visible to both the sensing transmitter and receiver. This hinders ISAC systems to be applied in complex environments such as the urban low-…

Dr Turing's Imitation Game makes a sort of sad sense as a closeted gay intellectual, trying to find his people through writing letters
So, in an environment where all money decisions are made through digital communication artifacts ("pitch decks" and "presentation to the VCs")
…it makes a similar sort of sad sense that "being able to imitate digital communication artifacts" is the *only* measure of "intelligence" that matters

One more #squirrel from our visit to the #Nürnberg #zoo (for those who didn't want to visit the blog post 😉)
The blog post:

I maintain a heterogeneous MSP environment for backup which consists of a collection of sh scripts (they mostly run on FreeBSD) with (c) notes dating back to 2004, with 5 authors, 4 of whom are no longer my cow-orkers. As the unfortunate 5th, I am still doing tweaks to catch edge & corner cases >20y after the 1st author had the idea that rsync, shell, mt, & standard POSIX tools could be assembled into a decent free backup world.
Use Python. Or Go. Or even Perl.

In reversal, Trump administration will defend Biden's asbestos ban (Rachel Frazin/The Hill)
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5390585-trump-administration-epa-biden-asbestos-ban/
http://www.memeorandum.com/250708/p123#a250708p123

For those interested in a quick take on iOS clients for Mastodon, I've now used @…, @…, and @…

Bug: Scrolling Jumps to random place in feed · Issue #2217 · Dimillian/IceCubesApp
Environment: OS: IceCubesApp version: Latest iPad / iOS Description When scrolling through the timeline, the app periodically just jumps to another place than what is being viewed. It’s hard to fin...

Entropy from decoherence: a case study using glasma-based occupation numbers
Gabriele Coci, Gabriele Parisi, Salvatore Plumari, Marco Ruggieri
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.04809

Entropy from decoherence: a case study using glasma-based occupation numbers
We compute the entropy-per-particle, $S/N$, produced by the decoherence of a coherent state interacting with an environment, using an analytical open quantum system approach. The coherent state considered is characterized by occupation numbers borrowed from the glasma fields produced in the early stages of high-energy nuclear collisions. The environment is modeled as the vacuum, and decoherence arises from the interaction of the state with vacuum fluctuations. We describe the system-environment…

Differentiable High-Performance Ray Tracing-Based Simulation of Radio Propagation with Point Clouds
Niklas Vaara, Pekka Sangi, Miguel Bordallo L\'opez, Janne Heikkil\"a
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.04021

Differentiable High-Performance Ray Tracing-Based Simulation of Radio Propagation with Point Clouds
Ray tracing is a widely used deterministic method for radio propagation simulations, capable of producing physically accurate multipath components. The accuracy depends on the quality of the environment model and its electromagnetic properties. Recent advances in computer vision and machine learning have made it possible to reconstruct detailed environment models augmented with semantic segmentation labels. In this letter, we propose a differentiable ray tracing-based radio propagation simula…

Looking forward to joining the panel for the book launch of @… book 'Selected papers by Bill Hillier' this evening, 7 May at 6pm BST at the Bartlett School of Architecture, London
Join the launch event online:

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Book Launch – Space Syntax: Selected Papers by Bill Hillier. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.
Join us online for the launch of Space Syntax: Selected Papers by Bill Hillier, a landmark volume celebrating 50 years of space syntax research. This long-awaited collection reflects Bill Hillier’s transformational way of thinking about buildings and cities that influenced generations of scholars, researchers and practitioners within the built environment disciplines and way beyond – in fields ranging from archaeology and biology to physics and zoology. Edited by Laura Vaughan, John Pepon…

The Frequency Response of Networks as Open Systems
Amirhossein Nazerian, Malbor Asllani, Melvyn Tyloo, Wai Lim Ku, Francesco Sorrentino
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.04180

The Frequency Response of Networks as Open Systems
Many biological, technological, and social systems are effectively networks of interacting individual systems. Typically, these networks are not isolated objects, but interact with their environment through both signals and information that is received by specific nodes with an input function or released to the environment by other nodes with an output function. An important question is whether the structure of different networks, together with the particular selection of input and output nodes…

📣 Calling all GÉANT Project partners…
Got an idea for digital research, data transfer or secure storage solutions to support open science?
The 2025 GÉANT Above-the-Net Services Incubator is officially open for proposals!
This is your opportunity to:
✅ Develop and test your innovative idea
✅ Deliver impact to the whole community through new, shared, open-source services
✅ Help shape the future of GÉANT's Above-the-Net services portfolio
Learn more: …

GÉANT Project Above-the-Net Services Incubator: Call for Proposals | GÉANT CONNECT Online
The GÉANT (GN5-2) Project’s Above-the-Net Services incubator is looking for practical proposals around three areas of service concept investment being developed by the GN5-2 Above-the-Net Services team. These are: Digital Research Environment (DRE) Object Storage Infrastructure Data Movement Infrastructure Through the incubator, the GN5-2 project will offer person months (PMs) to project partners to develop

AI-powered Contextual 3D Environment Generation: A Systematic Review
Miguel Silva, Alexandre Valle de Carvalho
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.05449 https://

AI-powered Contextual 3D Environment Generation: A Systematic Review
The generation of high-quality 3D environments is crucial for industries such as gaming, virtual reality, and cinema, yet remains resource-intensive due to the reliance on manual processes. This study performs a systematic review of existing generative AI techniques for 3D scene generation, analyzing their characteristics, strengths, limitations, and potential for improvement. By examining state-of-the-art approaches, it presents key challenges such as scene authenticity and the influence of te…

Ban all new fossil fuel projects for a safe future! #environment

We don’t need fossil fuels to power Europe. - Greenpeace International
Fossil gas, oil, and coal are not just driving the climate crisis – they’re making Europe dependent on bullies like Putin and Trump.

Some of these numbers don't add up... Don't trust this data...
https://ggwash.org/view/99723/new-data-tool-reveals-access-to-built-environment-features-across-dc-neighborhoods

"Businesses and charities call for UK to scrap VAT on refurbished electronics"
#UK #UnitedKingdom #Technology

Day 1: Gene starts thread asking why his Thunderbird looks weird.
https://lists.debian.org/msgid-search/acb28fa6-4521-4848-ae20-7fc5b5b72a76@shentel.net
Day 3, 32 mails in: Gene works out which desktop environment he is using.

Experiment on creating a neural network with weights determined by the potential of a simulated electrostatic field
Geidarov Polad
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.02933

Experiment on creating a neural network with weights determined by the potential of a simulated electrostatic field
This paper explores the possibility of determining the weights and thresholds of a neural network using the potential -- a parameter of an electrostatic field -- without analytical calculations and without applying training algorithms. The work is based on neural network architectures employing metric recognition methods. The electrostatic field is simulated in the Builder C++ environment. In the same environment, a neural network based on metric recognition methods is constructed, with the wei…

"Meanwhile, others see signs of success. That code (actually from 2006) is still there because, well, it is still there, because its authors did not get distracted by the shiny shiny and get bogged down in another rewrite, because as manufacturers and markets came and went, the Java runtime was still there, and the bytecode could still execute."

Series B, Episode 01 - Redemption
[Flight deck]
BLAKE: Orac, why won't you give us the background to that prediction?
ORAC: Because that would invalidate the prediction.
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/201/6 B7B3

Blakes7Bot | Search
Companion site to the Blakes7Bot Twitter, Mastodon, and Bluesky accounts. Automated lines of Blakes 7 dialog. Includes a script search facility.

Fuzzy Lattice-based Description Logic
Yiwen Ding, Krishna Manoorkar
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.05833 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2506.05833…

Fuzzy Lattice-based Description Logic
Recently, description logic LE-ALC was introduced for reasoning in the semantic environment of enriched formal contexts, and a polynomial-time tableaux algorithm was developed to check the consistency of knowledge bases with acyclic TBoxes. In this work, we introduce a fuzzy generalization of LE-ALC called LE-FALC which provides a description logic counterpart of many-valued normal non-distributive logic a.k.a. many-valued LE-logic. This description logic can be used to represent and reason a…

Consumer price for mobility in 🇨🇭, 2000-2024
The report "Environment Switzerland 2018" (https://www.bafu.admin.ch/bafu/en/home/state/publications-on-the-state-of-the-environment/environment-switz…

Spatio-Temporal LLM: Reasoning about Environments and Actions
Haozhen Zheng, Beitong Tian, Mingyuan Wu, Zhenggang Tang, Klara Nahrstedt, Alex Schwing
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.05258

Spatio-Temporal LLM: Reasoning about Environments and Actions
Despite the significant recent progress of Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs), MLLMs still struggle to correctly answer prompts that require a holistic spatio-temporal understanding. Specifically, it is challenging to address prompts that refer to 1) the entirety of an environment that an agent equipped with an MLLM can operate in; and simultaneously also refer to 2) recent actions that just happened and are encoded in a video clip. However, such a holistic spatio-temporal understanding i…

As world heats up, U.N. cools itself the cool way: with water
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/environment/2025/05/13/climate-change/un-water-cooling-pipes/
🆓

As world heats up, U.N. cools itself the cool way — with water
As more and more people want to stay cool in a planet that is steadily heating up, energy experts point to this kind of water-based system as a good alternative.

More than a dozen summer camps dot the banks of the Guadalupe River and its tributaries,
a vast network of waterways twisting through the hills of Kerr County, Texas.
But many of the camps’ idyllic locales also face the danger of severe flooding,
since much of the land near the river is designated as a high-risk area by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
In the most affected area, on the upper Guadalupe River in Kerr County, at least 13 summer camps lie next to…

See how FEMA maps reveal camps’ flood risks
Many camps in the Guadalupe river region are adjacent or are partially inside high-risk flood zones, according to maps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Positive effects and mechanisms of simulated lunar low-magnetic environment on earthworm-improved lunar soil simulant as a cultivation substrate
Sihan Hou, Zhongfu Wang, Yuting Zhu, Hong Liu, Jiajie Feng
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.03044

Positive effects and mechanisms of simulated lunar low-magnetic environment on earthworm-improved lunar soil simulant as a cultivation substrate
With the advancement of crewed deep-space missions, Bioregenerative Life Support Systems (BLSS) for lunar bases face stresses from lunar environmental factors. While microgravity and radiation are well-studied, the low-magnetic field's effects remain unclear. Earthworms ("soil scavengers") improve lunar soil simulant and degrade plant waste, as shown in our prior studies. We tested earthworms in lunar soil simulant mixed with organic waste (from "Lunar Palace 365" experiment) under three magnet…

‘Legal bullying’: global protest rights on line in Dutch court case https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jul/04/protest-rights-dutch-court-case-slapps-eu-greenpeace?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Enjoying Non-linearity in Multinomial Logistic Bandits
Pierre Boudart (PSL, DI-ENS, Inria), Pierre Gaillard (PSL, DI-ENS, Inria), Alessandro Rudi (PSL, DI-ENS, Inria)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.05306

Enjoying Non-linearity in Multinomial Logistic Bandits
We consider the multinomial logistic bandit problem, a variant of generalized linear bandits where a learner interacts with an environment by selecting actions to maximize expected rewards based on probabilistic feedback from multiple possible outcomes. In the binary setting, recent work has focused on understanding the impact of the non-linearity of the logistic model (Faury et al., 2020; Abeille et al., 2021). They introduced a problem-dependent constant $κ_*$, that may be exponentially larg…

Safe Bimanual Teleoperation with Language-Guided Collision Avoidance
Dionis Totsila, Clemente Donoso, Enrico Mingo Hoffman, Jean-Baptiste Mouret, Serena Ivaldi
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.04791

Safe Bimanual Teleoperation with Language-Guided Collision Avoidance
Teleoperating precise bimanual manipulations in cluttered environments is challenging for operators, who often struggle with limited spatial perception and difficulty estimating distances between target objects, the robot's body, obstacles, and the surrounding environment. To address these challenges, local robot perception and control should assist the operator during teleoperation. In this work, we introduce a safe teleoperation system that enhances operator control by preventing collisions i…

I wonder how many people understand that good organic farming practices do not contribute to this problem?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/03/climate-species-collapse-ecology-insects-nature-reserves-…

I wonder how many people understand that good organic farming practices do not contribute to this problem?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/03/climate-species-collapse-ecology-insects-nature-reserves-…

Static Analysis for Detecting Transaction Conflicts in Ethereum Smart Contracts
Zareh Chahoki Atefeh, Roveri Marco
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.04357 https:/…

Static Analysis for Detecting Transaction Conflicts in Ethereum Smart Contracts
Ethereum smart contracts operate in a concurrent environment where multiple transactions can be submitted simultaneously. However, the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) enforces sequential execution of transactions within each block to prevent conflicts arising from concurrent access to the same state variables. Although this approach guarantees correct behavior, it limits the ability of validators to leverage multi-core architectures for faster transaction processing, thus restricting throughput.…

(2020) Want to reduce the carbon footprint of your food? Focus on what you eat, not whether your food is local #environment

You want to reduce the carbon footprint of your food? Focus on what you eat, not whether your food is local
“Eat local” is a common recommendation to reduce the carbon footprint of your diet. How does the impact of what you eat compare to where it's come from?

ASSURE: Metamorphic Testing for AI-powered Browser Extensions
Xuanqi Gao, Juan Zhai, Shiqing Ma, Siyi Xie, Chao Shen
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.05307 https…

ASSURE: Metamorphic Testing for AI-powered Browser Extensions
The integration of Large Language Models (LLMs) into browser extensions has revolutionized web browsing, enabling sophisticated functionalities like content summarization, intelligent translation, and context-aware writing assistance. However, these AI-powered extensions introduce unprecedented challenges in testing and reliability assurance. Traditional browser extension testing approaches fail to address the non-deterministic behavior, context-sensitivity, and complex web environment integrat…

From Autonomy to Agency: Agentic Vehicles for Human-Centered Mobility Systems
Jiangbo Yu
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.04996 https://arx…

From Autonomy to Agency: Agentic Vehicles for Human-Centered Mobility Systems
Autonomy, from the Greek autos (self) and nomos (law), refers to the capacity to operate according to internal rules without external control. Accordingly, autonomous vehicles (AuVs) are defined as systems capable of perceiving their environment and executing preprogrammed tasks independently of external input. However, both research and real-world deployments increasingly showcase vehicles that demonstrate behaviors beyond this definition (including the SAE levels 1 to 6), such as interaction …

Top Ocean Experts Sound the Alarm Over Growing Marine Crisis Due To Climate Change https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04062025/one-ocean-science-congress…

Top Ocean Experts Sound the Alarm Over Growing Marine Crisis Due To Climate Change - Inside Climate News
On the opening day of a global science conference, French fishery scientist Clea Abello presented research showing that marine protected areas could protect commercially valuable fisheries.

"Could you get a wind turbine in your garden? Probably not"
#Windturbines #Energy #Renewables

Could you get a wind turbine in your garden? Probably not
Rules on putting a wind turbine in your back garden could be relaxed - but how likely is this to happen?

#Wels

When you’re busy in your typical work environment:

In reversal, Trump administration will defend Biden’s asbestos ban
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5390585-trump-administration-epa-biden-asbestos-ban/

Sending “300 now, 2000 eventually” into a dynamic environment where there could easily be 10X as many hostiles is a recipe for disaster. Maybe an intentional one to generate a Reichstag Fire event.
#LosAngeles #ICEProtests

Jupiter's Auroral Ionosphere - Juno Microwave Radiometer Observations of Energetic Electron Precipitation Events: #Juno: https://astrobites.org/2025/06/05/juno_microwave_jupiter/

Imprints of Different Types of Low-Angular-Momentum Accretion Flow Solutions in General Relativistic Hydrodynamic Simulations
Indu K. Dihingia, Akhil Uniyal, Yosuke Mizuno
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.05750

Imprints of Different Types of Low-Angular-Momentum Accretion Flow Solutions in General Relativistic Hydrodynamic Simulations
Depending on the astrophysical source and its environment, the accretion flows can exhibit a variety of behaviors and characteristics in accordance with the type of solutions. We study low-angular-momentum accretion flows onto black holes using two-dimensional general relativistic hydrodynamic (GRHD) simulations to find imprints of different types of accretion solutions. Such flows, relevant to X-ray binaries and wind-fed low-luminosity active galactic nuclei, often lack sufficient angular mome…

"more than half of the world’s food production will be at risk of failure in the next 25 years"
#ClimateEmergency
https://www.

Efficient Memory Tiering in a Virtual Machine
Chandra Prakash, Aravinda Prasad, Sandeep Kumar, Sreenivas Subramoney
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.06067 https:…

Efficient Memory Tiering in a Virtual Machine
Memory tiering is the norm to effectively tackle the increasing server memory total cost of ownership (TCO) and the growing data demands of modern data center workloads. However, the host-based state-of-the-art memory tiering solutions can be inefficient for a virtualized environment when (i) the frequently accessed data are scattered across the guest physical address space or (ii) the accesses to a huge page inside the guest are skewed due to a small number of subpages being hot. Scattered or …

Direct imaging discovery of a young giant planet orbiting on Solar System scales
T. Stolker, M. Samland, L. B. F. M. Waters, M. E. van den Ancker, W. O. Balmer, S. Lacour, M. L. Sitko, J. J. Wang, M. Nowak, A. -L. Maire, J. Kammerer, G. P. P. L. Otten, R. Abuter, A. Amorim, M. Benisty, J. -P. Berger, H. Beust, S. Blunt, A. Boccaletti, M. Bonnefoy, H. Bonnet, M. S. Bordoni, G. Bourdarot, W. Brandner, F. Cantalloube, P. Caselli, B. Charnay, G. Chauvin, A. Chavez, A. Chomez, E. Choquet, V…

Direct imaging discovery of a young giant planet orbiting on Solar System scales
HD 135344 AB is a young visual binary system that is best known for the protoplanetary disk around the secondary star. The circumstellar environment of the A0-type primary star, on the other hand, is already depleted. HD 135344 A is therefore an ideal target for the exploration of recently formed giant planets because it is not obscured by dust. We searched for and characterized substellar companions to HD 135344 A down to separations of about 10 au. We observed HD 135344 A with VLT/SPHERE in t…

Indonesia’s stunning microlibraries draw young readers – in pictures | Environment | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2025/jun/02/indonesia-micro-libraries-photos

Elastohydrodynamics of 3D chemically active filaments
Matthew D Butler, Benjamin J Walker, Thomas Montenegro-Johnson, Panayiota Katsamba
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.03586

Elastohydrodynamics of 3D chemically active filaments
Active deformable filaments exhibit a large range of qualitatively different three-dimensional dynamics, depending on their flexibility, the strength of the active forcing, and the surrounding environment. For a sufficiently strong activity, the resulting forces buckle the filament into different shapes, altering its dynamic behaviour. We investigate the dynamic behaviour of elastic, chemically propelled phoretic filaments, combining two existing models; a local version of slender phoretic theo…

Trump proposes major cuts to environment agencies (Rachel Frazin/The Hill)
https://thehill.com/newsletters/energy-environment/5329710-trump-proposes-major-cuts-to-environment-agencies/
http://www.memeorandum.com/250602/p142#a250602p142

"Les alouettes et d'autres espèces d'oiseaux prospèrent dans les parcs solaires allemands, où le succès de la reproduction dépasse celui de nombreux autres habitats. Ces sites de projets photovoltaïques sont en train de devenir de précieux refuges, profitant Š la fois Š la faune sauvage et Š l'environnement environnant."
#solaire

Moir\'e-assisted charge instability in ultrathin RuO$_2$
Philipp Ke{\ss}ler, Andreas Feuerpfeil, Armando Consiglio, Hendrik Hohmann, Ronny Thomale, Jonas Erhardt, Bing Liu, Vedran Jovic, Ralph Claessen, Patrick H\"artl, Matteo D\"urrnagel, Simon Moser
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.05047

Moiré-assisted charge instability in ultrathin RuO$_2$
Ruthenium dioxide (RuO$_2$) has been in the focus of contemporary condensed matter research as a prototypical candidate material for altermagnetism. In the face of daunting evidence for bulk magnetic order despite promising theoretical predictions, it naturally suggests the focus on thin films where Coulomb interactions are dimensionally quenched and may yield a more strongly correlated environment prone to magnetic ordering. Here, we combine scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), density functio…

The polarization of strongly lensed point-like radio sources
Xinzhong Er
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.05772 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2506.…

The polarization of strongly lensed point-like radio sources
Aims. The magnetized medium induces birefringence, splitting the light into two distinct wave modes. The differing propagation speeds of the two modes result in different trajectories. Strong gravitational lensing amplifies the birefringence and introduces an additional geometric rotation on top of the Faraday rotation. We compare the geometric rotation with the Faraday rotation. Methods. We construct the lens equation for massive objects in a magnetized plasma environment, and calculate the ti…

"Meat giant profits from carbon market without halting deforestation"
#Deforestation #Environment

Meat giant profits from carbon market without halting deforestation
Since the first scientific critiques of fossil fuels, oil companies have gone from being the “wealth of nations” to “destroyers of the planet.” In financial market terms, they have become environmental liabilities. It cannot be said, however, that they have also become economic liabilities. The global carbon credit market is heating up — quite like […]

The South Coast Air Quality Management District will hold a public hearing Friday on two proposed regulations designed to limit key pollutants that form smog.
If adopted, the rules would phase out the sale of gas-powered furnaces and water heaters in the region.
Officials say the plan is crucial for reducing air pollution and improving public health, while opponents fear higher consumer costs.

Regulators seek to phase out gas-powered appliances in Southern California
The South Coast Air Quality Management District is poised to vote on regulations that would limit emissions of nitrogen oxides — the key pollutants that form smog.

Cockatoos start sipping from Sydney’s drinking fountains after mastering series of complex moves;
Experts think the clever birds learned the technique by watching people and then trying it themselves
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/20

Habitat protections at risk in proposed Endangered Species Act changes
https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/5337058-endangered-species-act-habitat-protections/

Optimal Robotic Velcro Peeling with Force Feedback
Jiacheng Yuan, Changhyun Choi, Volkan Isler
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.05812 https://

Optimal Robotic Velcro Peeling with Force Feedback
We study the problem of peeling a Velcro strap from a surface using a robotic manipulator. The surface geometry is arbitrary and unknown. The robot has access to only the force feedback and its end-effector position. This problem is challenging due to the partial observability of the environment and the incompleteness of the sensor feedback. To solve it, we first model the system with simple analytic state and action models based on quasi-static dynamics assumptions. We then study the fully-obs…

Cat Royale: An Artistic Inquiry into Trust in Robots
Matt Adams, Nick Tandavanitj, Steve Benford, Ayse Kucukyilmaz, Victor Ngo, Simon Castle-Green, Guido Salimberi, Pepita Bernard, Joel Fischer, Alan Chamberlain, Eike Schneiders, Clara Mancini
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.04970

Cat Royale: An Artistic Inquiry into Trust in Robots
Cat Royale is an artwork created by the artists Blast Theory to explore the question of whether we should trust robots to care for our loved ones. The artists endeavoured to create a `Cat Utopia', a luxurious environment that was inhabited by a family of three cats for six hours a day for twelve days, at the centre of which a robot arm played with them by wielding toys. Behind the scenes, the decision engine recommended games based on ongoing assessment of their happiness. A video installation …

The Role of Humour in Software Engineering -- A Literature Review and Preliminary Taxonomy
Dulaji Hidellaarachchi, John Grundy, Rashina Hoda
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.03527

The Role of Humour in Software Engineering -- A Literature Review and Preliminary Taxonomy
Humour has long been recognized as a key factor in enhancing creativity, group effectiveness, and employee well-being across various domains. However, its occurrence and impact within software engineering (SE) teams remains under-explored. This paper introduces a comprehensive, literature review-based taxonomy exploring the characterisation and use of humour in SE teams, with the goal of boosting productivity, improving communication, and fostering a positive work environment while emphasising …

FedFog: Resource-Aware Federated Learning in Edge and Fog Networks
Somayeh Sobati-M
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.03952 https://arxiv.or…

FedFog: Resource-Aware Federated Learning in Edge and Fog Networks
As edge and fog computing become central to modern distributed systems, there's growing interest in combining serverless architectures with privacy-preserving machine learning techniques like federated learning (FL). However, current simulation tools fail to capture this integration effectively. In this paper, we introduce FedFog, a simulation framework that extends the FogFaaS environment to support FL-aware serverless execution across edge-fog infrastructures. FedFog incorporates an adaptive …

Multipath-Enhanced Measurement of Antenna Patterns: Theory
Daniel D. Stancil
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.03639 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2…

Multipath-Enhanced Measurement of Antenna Patterns: Theory
Traditional antenna pattern measurements involve minimizing the impact of multipath propagation in the measurement environment. In contrast, this work introduces a measurement approach that uses rather than mitigates multipath propagation. This is referred to as the Multipath-Enhanced Antenna Pattern (MEAP) Measurement technique. In this respect the approach has some kinship with Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems. The advantage in the case of MIMO systems is increased capacity; in t…

‘It was our hope spot’: scientists heartbroken as pristine coral gardens hit by Western Australia’s worst bleaching event | Climate crisis | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/07/wa-coral-unprecedented-bleaching-event-ningaloo-reef

Is there a more perfect illustration of capitalism at work? https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/01/dark-roof-lobby

Global Optimization of Multi-Flyby Trajectories for Multi-Orbital-Plane Constellations Inspection
An-Yi Huang, Hong-Xin Shen, Zhao Li, Cong Sun, Chao Sheng, Zheng-Zhong Kuai
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.02943

Global Optimization of Multi-Flyby Trajectories for Multi-Orbital-Plane Constellations Inspection
The rapid expansion of mega-constellations in low Earth orbits has posed significant challenges to space traffic management, necessitating periodic inspections of satellites to ensure the sustainability of the space environment when economically feasible. This study addresses the orbital design challenge associated with inspecting numerous satellites distributed across multiple orbital planes through flybys by proposing an innovative orbital-plane-based inspection strategy. The proposed methodo…

Online Continual Learning via Spiking Neural Networks with Sleep Enhanced Latent Replay
Erliang Lin, Wenbin Luo, Wei Jia, Yu Chen, Shaofu Yang
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.02901

Online Continual Learning via Spiking Neural Networks with Sleep Enhanced Latent Replay
Edge computing scenarios necessitate the development of hardware-efficient online continual learning algorithms to be adaptive to dynamic environment. However, existing algorithms always suffer from high memory overhead and bias towards recently trained tasks. To tackle these issues, this paper proposes a novel online continual learning approach termed as SESLR, which incorporates a sleep enhanced latent replay scheme with spiking neural networks (SNNs). SESLR leverages SNNs' binary spike chara…

Texas Legislature Beats Back Assault on Clean Energy (Gabrielle Gurley/American Prospect)
https://prospect.org/environment/2025-06-05-texas-legislature-beats-back-assault-on-clean-energy/
http://www.memeorandum.com/250605/p59#a250605p59

I didn't want to let the day go without posting a photo ;-) So I just grabbed one from last year when we visited #vienna in autumn.
A bit of context can be found on the blog: https://www.

Droughts are a ‘slow-moving global catastrophe,’ report finds https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/droughts-are-a-slow-moving-global-catastrophe-report-finds/

Droughts are a ‘slow-moving global catastrophe,’ report finds
“Drought is a silent killer. It creeps in, drains resources and devastates lives in slow motion,” said Ibrahim Thiaw, executive secretary of the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification. “Its scars run deep.” A comprehensive new report released this week documents what experts call some of the most widespread and damaging droughts in recorded history, affecting […]

Sometimes {renv} just isnt enough to ensure your environment is controlled. Maybe {slushy} could be an option? https://gsk-biostatistics.github.io/slushy/index.html

"Breaching the target would ramp up the extreme weather already devastating communities around the world. It would also require carbon dioxide to be sucked from the atmosphere in future to restore the stable climate in which the whole of civilisation developed over the past 10,000 years."
This is bogus. Carbon-neutral #CarbonCaptureAndStorage is the modern perpetual…

SimLauncher: Launching Sample-Efficient Real-world Robotic Reinforcement Learning via Simulation Pre-training
Mingdong Wu, Lehong Wu, Yizhuo Wu, Weiyao Huang, Hongwei Fan, Zheyuan Hu, Haoran Geng, Jinzhou Li, Jiahe Ying, Long Yang, Yuanpei Chen, Hao Dong
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.04452 …

SimLauncher: Launching Sample-Efficient Real-world Robotic Reinforcement Learning via Simulation Pre-training
Autonomous learning of dexterous, long-horizon robotic skills has been a longstanding pursuit of embodied AI. Recent advances in robotic reinforcement learning (RL) have demonstrated remarkable performance and robustness in real-world visuomotor control tasks. However, applying RL in the real world faces challenges such as low sample efficiency, slow exploration, and significant reliance on human intervention. In contrast, simulators offer a safe and efficient environment for extensive explorat…

Protect the Arctic from deep sea mining #Arctic

Applying XAI based unsupervised knowledge discovering for Operation modes in a WWTP. A real case: AQUAVALL WWTP
Alicia Beneyto-Rodriguez, Gregorio I. Sainz-Palmero, Marta Galende-Hern\'andez, Mar\'ia J. Fuente, Jos\'e M. Cuenca
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.05958

Applying XAI based unsupervised knowledge discovering for Operation modes in a WWTP. A real case: AQUAVALL WWTP
Water reuse is a key point when fresh water is a commodity in ever greater demand, but which is also becoming ever more available. Furthermore, the return of clean water to its natural environment is also mandatory. Therefore, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are essential in any policy focused on these serious challenges. WWTPs are complex facilities which need to operate at their best to achieve their goals. Nowadays, they are largely monitored, generating large databases of historical d…

Strategies for Resource Allocation of Two Competing Companies using Genetic Algorithm
Wing Keung Cheung, Kwok Yip Szeto
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.02952 ht…

Strategies for Resource Allocation of Two Competing Companies using Genetic Algorithm
We investigate various strategic locations of shops in shopping malls in a metropolis with the aim of finding the best strategy for final dominance of market share by a company in a competing environment. The problem is posed in the context of two competing supermarket chains in a metropolis, described in the framework of the two-dimensional Ising model. Evolutionary Algorithm is used to encode the ensemble of initial configurations and Monte Carlo method is used to evolve the pattern. Numerica…

William warns ocean life 'diminishing before our eyes' #ocean

Prince William calls for protection of world's oceans in Monaco
The Prince of Wales gave a speech in Monaco hoping to drive investments to protect the world's oceans.

"Droughts worldwide pushing tens of millions towards starvation, says report"
#Droughts #Climate #ClimateChange

"Specieswatch: freshwater pearl mussel is threatened by disappearing habitat"
#Environment #Animals

This https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.01759 has been replaced.
initial toot: https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_csRO_…

ADEPT: Adaptive Diffusion Environment for Policy Transfer Sim-to-Real
Model-free reinforcement learning has emerged as a powerful method for developing robust robot control policies capable of navigating through complex and unstructured environments. The effectiveness of these methods hinges on two essential elements: (1) the use of massively parallel physics simulations to expedite policy training, and (2) an environment generator tasked with crafting sufficiently challenging yet attainable environments to facilitate continuous policy improvement. Existing metho…

Determination of Bandwidth of Q-filter in Disturbance Observers to Guarantee Transient and Steady State Performance under Measurement Noise
Gaeun Kim, Hyungbo Shim
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.02981

Determination of Bandwidth of Q-filter in Disturbance Observers to Guarantee Transient and Steady State Performance under Measurement Noise
Q-filter-based disturbance observer (DOB) is one of the most widely used robust controller due to its design simplicity. Such simplicity arises from that reducing the time constant of low pass filters, not only ensures robust stability but also enhances nominal performance recovery -- ability to recover the trajectory of nominal closed-loop system. However, in contrast to noise-free environment, excessively small time constant can rather damage the nominal performance recovery under measurement…

Hay grown for cattle consumes nearly half the water drawn from Colorado River, study finds https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2024-03-28/alfalfa-hay-beef-water-colorado-river

Hay consumes a vast share of the Colorado River's water
Much of the Colorado River's water is used for agriculture. A new study shows 46% of the water that is diverted is used to grow hay to feed cattle.

Prestigious Virginia K-8 School Hit with Civil Rights Complaint over Environment 'Hostile to Jews' (Adam Kredo/The Washington Free Beacon)
https://freebeacon.com/america/prestigious-virginia-k-8-school-hit-with-civil-rights-complaint-over-environment-hostile-to-jews/
http://www.memeorandum.com/250701/p40#a250701p40

"How can you make sure your sunscreen is 'reef safe'?"
#Suncream #Environment
https:/…

Spain records highs of 46C and France under alert as Europe swelters in heatwave https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/30/spain-records-highs-of-46c-and-france-under-alert-as-europe-swelters-in-heatwave…

‘Even if we stop drinking we will be exposed’: A French region has banned tap water. Is it a warning for the rest of Europe? https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jul/01/pfas-forever-chemicals-water-contamination-saint-lo…

"The rivers at risk of sparking a rise in superbugs"
#UK #UnitedKingdom #Sewage #Environment

The rivers at risk of sparking a rise in superbugs
New research reveals just how widespread antibacterial 'biocide' chemicals have become in UK rivers

"Spain aims to ban flushing of wet wipes, with manufacturers paying for cleanup"
#Spain #Pollution

Tasmanian leaders struggle with a basic fact: environment laws should protect the environment https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/23/tasmanian-leaders-environment-laws-protect

"Reusable cups take center stage as venues ditch single-use plastic"
#Reusables #Environment

Reusable cups take center stage as venues ditch single-use plastic
Music venues, arenas and festivals across the United States are swapping single-use plastic cups for washable, reusable ones in a growing shift away from recycling toward full-scale reuse.Anna Phillips reports for The Washington Post.In short:About 200 U.S. venues now use r.World’s reusable drinkwar...

Nationwide study finds that leaks in natural gas pipelines contribute to hazardous particulate air pollution https://phys.org/news/2025-06-nationwide-leaks-natural-gas-pipelines.html

Nationwide study finds that leaks in natural gas pipelines contribute to hazardous particulate air pollution
In March 2022, 14 residents of a four-story apartment building in Silver Spring, Maryland, were hospitalized when a gas leak from a cut pipeline caused a major explosion. Every year in the United States, there are hundreds of natural gas (or methane) pipeline leaks—caused by corrosion, equipment malfunctions, and construction activities. Methane leaks are not only dangerous; they contribute to air pollution and climate change.

Europe on alert as first major heatwave of 2025 pushes temperatures to 42C https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/28/europe-on-alert-as-first-major-heatwave-of-2025-pushes-temperatures-to-42c
…

"Samoa’s new marine spatial plan protects 30% of the country’s ocean"
#Samoa #Environment #Oceans #Conservation

Samoa’s new marine spatial plan protects 30% of the country’s ocean
Samoa, an archipelagic country composed of nine islands in the South Pacific Ocean, is on the frontline of climate change. Rising sea levels, ocean warming and acidification all pose significant threats to the country’s coastal communities. To help protect its future, the Samoan government announced June 3 that it has enacted a law establishing a […]