Niger is a landlocked nation in West Africa located along the border between the Sahara and Sub-Saharan regions. Its geographic coordinates are longitude 16°N and latitude 8°E, its area is 1.267 million square kilometers, of which 1 266 700 km² is land and 300 km² water, making Niger less than twice the size of France. Niger, which attained independence from France in 1960 was under military regime till 1991. On public demand Gen. Ali Saibou held multiparty elections in 1993 and soon democracy came into effect in 1993. However, political unrest was caused by Col. Ibrahim Bare who staged a coup in 1996, but he died in a counter insurgency operations by officers of the military establishment in 1999; this was followed by fresh elections for a democratic rule, Mamadou Tandja assumed power in December 1999. Tandja, who won the elections in 2004 and in 2009, wanted to bring about a constitutional amendment to extend his tenure as president. However, in February 2010, he was removed from the post of the president in a coup engineered by the military and the constitution was annulled.

Soon after, in 2011, elections were held and Mahamadou Issoufou got elected as the president and was sworn in April 2011. Niger’s problem with rebellious groups continued during 2007 and 2008. Rebellion was controlled. However, its security problems with its neighbors such as Libya and Mali have been a cause for concern Niger, with a land area of 1.267 million km2, is a land locked country, bounded with a land boundary of 5,834 km by seven countries: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali (838 km, Nigeria km. Niger is divided into 7 Regions; each department's capital is the same as its name. The national capital, comprises a capital district; the Regions of Niger are subdivided into 63 Departments. The 63 Departments are broken down into Communes; as of 2006 there were 265 communes, including communes urbaines, communes rurales centred in cities of under 10,000 and/or sparsely populated areas, a variety of traditional bodies amongst semi-nomadic populations. Some of the land in Niger is used as pasture.

There are some woodland. The table below describes land use in Niger, as of 2011. Niger's climate is hot and dry, with most of the country in a desert region; the terrain is predominantly desert plains and sand dunes. There are large plains in the south and hills in the north. In the extreme south, there is a tropical climate near the edges of the Niger River Basin. Lake Chad at the southeast corner of the country is shared between Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon. Current environmental issues in Niger include overgrazing, soil erosion, desertification, recurring droughts, endangered wildlife populations, which are threatened because of poaching and habitat destruction. Recurring droughts are a serious challenge for Niger; the 2012 Sahel drought, along with failed crops, insect plagues, high food prices and conflicts is affecting Niger causing a hunger crisis. Many families in Niger, still recovering from the 2010 Sahel famine, are being affected by the 2012 Sahel drought; the 2005–06 Niger food crisis created a severe, but localized food security crisis in the regions of northern Maradi, Tillabéri, Zinder of Niger from 2005 to 2006.

It was caused by an early end to the 2004 rains, desert locust damage to some pasture lands, high food prices, chronic poverty. Northernmost point: Tripoint with Algeria and Libya, Agadez Region: 23°31'N. Southernmost point: Benin/Niger/Nigeria tripoint, Dosso Region: 11°42'N Easternmost point: border with Chad, Agadez Region: 16°00'E Westernmost point: border with Mali and Burkina Faso, Tillabéri Region: 0°07'E Highest point: Mont Idoukal-n-Taghès, Aïr Massif, Agadez Region:2,022 m Lowest point: Niger River at Nigeria border, Dosso Region: 200 m Niger is a party to the following agreements: Niger has signed, but not ratified the Kyoto Protocol and Law of the Sea. Niger's protected areas comprise about 7.7 percent of the total land area. Six of the reserves are categorized under the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Niger possesses the following natural resources: Surrounded by seven other countries, Niger has a total of 5,834 km of borders; the longest border is at 1,608 km. This is followed by Chad to the east, Algeria to the north-northwest, Mali to the west.

Niger has short borders in its far southwest frontier and to the north-northeast. Departments of Niger List of national parks of Niger Outline of Niger Regions of Niger L. Herrmann, K. Stahr and K. Vennemann. Atlas of Natural and Agronomic Resources of Niger and Benin, "Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft", the University of Hohenheim.. Retrieved 2008-02-22

Brett Robinson is an Australian track and field athlete specialising in the 5000 metres who has competed in the World Championships. Robinson is a one-time silver medalist in the 3000 metres steeplechase and a one-time bronze medalist in the 10,000 metres in the Australian National Track & Field Championships, he is a one-time silver medalist in the 1500 metres in the Australian National Junior Track & Field Championships. Robinson's current Australian all-time rankings are listed below. Source: Robinson competed at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics in Moncton, Canada, he competed in the 1500 metres. Robinson competed in heat three and finished 3rd in a time of 3:43.67. This performance qualified him for the final. In the final Robinson finished 8th out of a field of twelve in a time of 3:44.06. Robinson was selected to compete in the 2013 World Championships in Moscow in the 5000 metres. Robinson was in the first heat and finished 7th in a time of 13:25.38. This qualified him for the final where he finished 15th in a time of 14:03.77.

Robinson has competed in two World Cross Country Championships. His first appearance was in 2009 in the junior race, he finished 46th out of 121 competitors. He made his second appearance in 2013; this time he finished 29th out of 102 athletes. 8 km || 25:47.00 || Amman, Jordan || 28 March 2009 Sources

Kiddy Grade is a 24-episode science fiction anime series produced in 2002 and created by gímik and Gonzo Digimation and directed by Keiji Gotoh. The series is distributed in North America by FUNimation Entertainment. In October 2006 news of a Kiddy Grade sequel was announced, under the working title of Kiddy Grade 2, to be animated by asread. On February 26, 2009 it was re-announced under the new title Kiddy Girl-and along with news of a new manga adaptation, Kiddy Girl-and Pure; the sequel is set 50 years after the original series and introduces two new female protagonists, Ascœur and Q-feuille. Kiddy Grade takes place in a future where the human race has expanded and inhabits a multitude of planets in the universe with fantastic technology. Unsurprisingly, crime has grown alongside technology, thus the Galactic Organization of Trade and Tariffs is formed as a sort of universal police force. Within this organization, there is a special branch known as the ES Force, consisting of twelve physically young people who possess amazing superpowers.

Each ES member operates with another as a team, the series' focus is a team of two low-level members, Éclair and Lumière. As the series progresses, they start to see the darker side of its secrets. Most of the central characters in the series are ES members of GOTT "Shadow Unit"; the Shadow Unit is a group of superpowered individuals that acts as the elite enforcement division of GOTT and hence, of the Galactic Union. Their powers are ranked by "class", of which three are named in the series: C class is the lowest, S is high, G is the highest. At the beginning of the series, it is believed that no ES member possesses G class abilities but it is revealed to be false. ES members are organized in pairs of the same class and each is issued a customized and advanced spaceship and a guard robot; the protagonists of the series are Éclair and Lumière, a C class pair of ES agents, who have a long back-story together from before joining GOTT. Their past is revealed throughout the series as they come to realize and accept it.

Their spaceship is called their guard robot is Donnerschlag. As ES members, Éclair and Lumière report directly to the chief of GOTT, Eclipse, a strict and collected woman whose orders they cannot disobey. Accompanying them in the early episodes is the Galactic Union auditor Armbrust who appears to have multiple hidden agendas. Other ES members are: Alv and Dvergr, an arrogant pair who become Éclair and Lumière's antagonists. Of note are Mercredi, Eclipse's personal assistant with a hidden agenda, Chevalier d'Autriche, the Secretary General of GOTT whose past is intertwined with Éclair's. Kiddy Grade aired on Fuji Television in Japan from October 8, 2002 – March 18, 2003; the series was produced by Gonzo. The series airs on the FUNimation Channel in both its "syndicated block" and its 24-hour channel. In 2007, the series was re-released as three movies to specific Japanese theatres; the following are the individual titles for their release dates. Ignition Maelstrom Truth Dawn Keiji Gotoh – Director Hidefumi Kimura – Scenario Megumi Kadonosono – Character design Shirō Hamaguchi – Composer Opening"Memories of the Future" by YukaEnding"Future" by Little Viking The Kiddy Grade franchise started right in the form of a series of light novels, published by Kadokawa Shoten under the label of Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko from 1 September 2001 to 1 February 2002 and collected into two volumes.

Following are other light novel dedicated to the characters of the series were published: Kiddy Grade, 3 volumes published from 1 November 2002 to 1 September 2003. The series was adapted into two manga series; the first, Kiddy Grade Reverse was made by Hiyohiyo and published in the magazine Shonen Ace of Kadokawa Shoten, before being collected in a single volume published on 1 March 2003. The second series, Kiddy Grade Versus was made by Hidefumi Kimura and Arikui Fujimaru and published in the magazine Dragon Jr Kadokawa Shoten, before being collected in two volumes published February 27, 2003 and 1 November 2003. Dong, Bamboo. "Kiddy Grade DVD 1: Peacekeeper + Artbox w/ballcap Limited Edition". Anime News Network. Coulter, Bryce. "Kiddy Grade Box Set". Mania. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Johnston, Chris. "Kiddy Grade Volume 8". Newtype USA. 3. P. 178. ISSN 1541-4817. Official website Official FUNimation KIDDY GRADE website Kiddy Grade at Anime News Network's encyclopedia

State Route 227 is a state highway in the U. S. located in San Luis Obispo County. It is an alternate route of U. S. Route 101 between Arroyo Grande and the city of San Luis Obispo, serving the community of Edna and San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport. There is an unconstructed routing from Route 1 south of Oceano to its present terminus in Arroyo Grande. SR 227 starts at Grand Ave. / Branch St. in Arroyo Grande. It travels east on Branch St. through the Village, the historic downtown section of Arroyo Grande. The route turns north onto Corbett Canyon Rd. After a short distance, the road turns onto Carpenter Canyon Rd; the route leaves Arroyo Grande, enters a more rural setting. It continues north, winding through the rolling hills. At Edna, the road’s name changes to Edna Rd; this is the location of Price Canyon Rd, a county road which goes to Pismo Beach. The route continues north and enters the city of San Luis Obispo near the airport; the road’s name changes to Broad St. The route continues north through flat, urban setting.

At South St, it turns west towards its terminus at US 101. The route turns south onto Higuera St west onto Madonna Rd, before it terminates at US 101; the southernmost portion of SR 227 is part of the National Highway System, a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy and mobility by the Federal Highway Administration. SR 227 was adopted as a state route in 1933 as Legislative Route 147, it was an unsigned highway running from LRN 2 near Arroyo Grande to LRN 2 near San Luis Obispo. In 1964 during the renumber of California state routes, LRN 147 became SR 227, became a signed route. However, except for the new route number, the highway did not change. In 1968, a southern extension to SR 1 south of Oceano was added to its definition; that extension has never been constructed. Increasing traffic on the route during peak periods, has required improving capacity on the highway; some sections of the road are located in places. Two different proposals are being considered, in which both might be implemented.

The two portions which are potential problems are the portion running through the Village in Arroyo Grande, the road between Arroyo Grande and Edna. The first proposal is to build a new road around the Village to the south; this would require a new connection with US 101. It would require a new alignment for a future connection with SR 1, if that unconstructed portion remains in the route definition; the second proposal would remove the route from Arroyo Grande. Because of the terrain between Arroyo Grande and Edna, it was proposed by the county to move the state route to another road which would be easier to expand; the proposal would move SR 227 onto Price Canyon Rd. at Edna. This would move SR 1 in Pismo Beach instead of Arroyo Grande, it is not known. Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured on the road as it was in 1964, based on the alignment that existed at the time, do not reflect current mileage. R reflects a realignment in the route since M indicates a second realignment, L refers an overlap due to a correction or change, T indicates postmiles classified as temporary.

Segments that remain unconstructed or have been relinquished to local control may be omitted. The entire route is in San Luis Obispo County. California Roads portal Caltrans: Route 227 highway conditions California Highways: Route 227 California @ AARoads.com - State Route 227

Knowledge-based recommender systems are a specific type of recommender system that are based on explicit knowledge about the item assortment, user preferences, recommendation criteria. These systems are applied in scenarios where alternative approaches such as collaborative filtering and content-based filtering cannot be applied. A major strength of knowledge-based recommender systems is the non-existence of cold start problems. A corresponding drawback is a potential knowledge acquisition bottleneck triggered by the need to define recommendation knowledge in an explicit fashion. Knowledge-based recommender systems are well suited to complex domains where items are not purchased often, such as apartments and cars. Further examples of item domains relevant for knowledge-based recommender systems are financial services, digital cameras, tourist destinations. Rating-based systems do not perform well in these domains due to the low number of available ratings. Additionally, in complex item domains, customers want to specify their preferences explicitly.

In this context, the recommender system must take into account constraints: for instance, only those financial services that support the investment period specified by the customer should be recommended. Neither of these aspects are supported by approaches such as collaborative filtering and content-based filtering. Knowledge-based recommender systems are conversational, i.e. user requirements and preferences are elicited within the scope of a feedback loop. A major reason for the conversational nature of knowledge-based recommender systems is the complexity of the item domain where it is impossible to articulate all user preferences at once. Furthermore, user preferences are not known at the beginning but are constructed within the scope of a recommendation session. In a search-based recommender, user feedback is given in terms of answers to questions which restrict the set of relevant items. An example of such a question is "Which type of lens system do you prefer: fixed or exchangeable lenses?".

On the technical level, search-based recommendation scenarios can be implemented on the basis of constraint-based recommender systems. Constraint-based recommender systems are implemented on the basis of constraint search or different types of conjunctive query-based approaches. In a navigation-based recommender, user feedback is provided in terms of "critiques" which specify change requests regarding the item recommended to the user. Critiques are used for the recommendation of the next "candidate" item. An example of a critique in the context of a digital camera recommendation scenario is "I would like to have a camera like this but with a lower price"; this is an example of a "unit critique" which represents a change request on a single item attribute. "Compound critiques" allow the specification of more than one change request at a time. "Dynamic critiquing" takes into account preceding user critiques. More recent approaches additionally exploit information stored in user interaction logs to further reduce the interaction effort in terms of the number of needed critiquing cycles.

Recommender system Collaborative filtering Cold start Case-based reasoning Constraint satisfaction Knowledge-based configuration Guided selling Systems and datasetsWeeVis Wiki-based Recommendation Environment VITA: Knowledge-based Recommender for Financial Services MyProductAdvisor Entree Dataset

Sheitel is a wig or half-wig worn by some Orthodox Jewish married women in order to conform with the requirement of Jewish law to cover their hair. Some Hasidic groups encourage sheitels; the word is derived from the German word Scheitel. The related term in Hebrew is pei'ah; this practice is part of the modesty-related dress standard called tzniut. Traditional sheitels are secured by elastic caps and are designed with heavy bangs to obscure the hairline of their wearers. More modern designed lace-front wigs with realistic hairlines or real hair are growing in popularity. In 2004, there was a degree of controversy over natural hair sheitels procured from India, it was discovered. According to Jewish law, one cannot derive benefit from anything used in what Judaism considers to be idolatry; the controversy ceased when it became clear that the hair was neither worshiped nor offered as a sacrifice to the deity, but shaven as a rite of purification, thus excluding it from the category of forbidden items.

Today, many wigs used by Jewish women come with a hechsher, indicating that they are not made with hair originating from rituals deemed to be idolatrous. In many Hasidic groups, sheitels are avoided, as they can give the impression that the wearer's head is uncovered. In other Hasidic groups, women wear some type of covering over the sheitel to avoid this misconception, for example a scarf or a hat. Married Sephardi and National Religious women do not wear wigs, because their rabbis believe that wigs are insufficiently modest, that other head coverings, such as a scarf, a snood, or a hat, are more suitable. In stark contrast, the Lubavitcher Rebbe encouraged all married Jewish women to wear sheitels, however in Torat Menachem he writes that in fact, "if she can cover her hair with a scarf, it is better she did so, but in reality we know she won't." Shpitzel Tichel