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THE WORLD WITHOUT THE INTERNET

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World without Internet
Via: OnlineEducation.net

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“OCCUPY” THE OUTDATED PUBLISHING MODEL FOR SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS

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The problem with publishing scientific articles with the traditional publishing companies is

1. Usually, the Federal government (e.g., NSF, NASA, NIH, etc.) pay for the research.
2. The University pays the salary of the researcher who writes the paper.
3. The researcher submits the paper to the publishing company and the Science Editor (usually a volunteer) finds reviewers (volunteers) to review the paper.
4. The Researcher pays the publishing company to publish his or her paper.
5. The University pays the publishing company for a subscription to access the journal article.
6. The taxpayers that paid for the research cannot access the journal article without paying for an expensive subscription.

Does something appear to be wrong with this picture?  Why do we need the publishing company??  Other than the production of hardcopy books, they really are not necessary.  And the Direct Publishing/Print on Demand movement has shown that it is possible to publish hard copy documents and make them available to a mass market.

The following links provide detailed information related to the problems with the old publishing model and ideas for moving toward more open access.

Estimate the long-term average weather conditions at any location in Puerto Rico

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Estimate the long-term average weather conditions at any location in Puerto Rico using the PRET computer program. Although the program is intended to estimate the monthly and daily evapotranspiration, you can also obtain monthly values of minimum and maximum air temperature, dew point temperature, wind velocity and solar radiation. Here are the steps:

1. Download PRET from the following link: https://pragwater.com/crop-water-use/ Background documentation is available at this site which describes the methods used to estimate the long-term weather data.
2. Install PRET on your computer.
3. Run PRET. You will see the splash screen below. Click on OK.

4. On the INPUT DATA screen, enter any crop from the drop down screen (e.g., tomato). Do not use “generic”, otherwise you will need to enter some crop coefficient information later. Enter the name of your location (e.g., Juana Diaz), enter your site latitude (e.g., 18.06) and your site elevation (e.g., 55 m). Ignore all other requested input on the page. click Next.

5. Click the icon that says “Have Program Calculate Climate Data (Applicable only for Puerto Rico)”.

6. Click on the appropriate NOAA Climate Division. For example, Juana Diaz, PR, is in Climate Division 2.

7. The next page will give you the results of the long-term monthly weather parameters for your site. If you like you can save the data to a text file.

If you have any questions, contact me at eric.harmsen@upr.edu

Eric

DISCLAIMER: The information is provided “as is”. The authors and publishers of this information disclaim any loss or liability, either directly or indirectly as a consequence of applying the information provided herein, or in regard to the use and application of said information. No guarantee is given, either expressed or implied, in regard to the accuracy, or acceptability of the information.