 flexible systems that allow for replacing one class or component with some other ones that provide similar functionalities. As an example, some other institutions or individuals may have developed a soil or a plant class/component that we would like to use in our system. In this way knowledge can be transferred easier, collaboration among scientific institutions and/or individuals will be better, and the time for developing a new system will be shorter.
In the case of the Kraalingen approach, the conceptual model shows that entity classes are in association with each other. The collaboration between classes in the conceptual model reflects the fact that plant grows in soil and processes occurring in plant and soil are impacted by the weather conditions. Class Plant has an association with class Soil; both classes are tightly coupled to each other. The Plant class définition has an attribute of type Soil that is a reference to an object created from class Soil. The situation is similar in the Soil class definition; an attribute of type Plant, defined in class Soil, is a reference to an object of type Plant. Objects Plant and Soil are tightly linked together; none of the objects can be reused separately. The same can be said for the case of each of Plant or Soil classes in relation with class Weather. Objects created from classes Plant, Soil, and Weather form a monolithic system, none of its composing objects can be used separately. Figure 8-25 shows the direct links between the above mentioned classes.
In order to make the system flexible and extendable, hardwired associations between classes should be avoided and interfaces be used instead. As we have previously mentioned, the use of an interface is similar to providing a plug that can be used by any class that implements the same interface. The modified class diagram for the Kraalingen approach is shown in Figure 8-26.
As shown in Figure 8-26, the hardwired associations among classes have been replaced with associations between a class and an interface. Therefore, the attribute soil in the Plant class definition is of type ISoil, which is the type of the interface that defines the behavior needed from class Soil. Therefore, any class that provides similar behavior to class Soil can be used in the system, provided that it implements the interface ISoil. Classes implementing the same interface can be used as a substitute to each other. By replacing the association Plant-Soil with the association Plant-ISoil, we have created the possibility to use any other Soil class that may have a different implementation of the required behavior but it can be used in the system because it implements the interface ISoil. The same reasoning could be applied to the associations Soil-Plant, Plant-Weather, and Soil-Weather.
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ISoil
Figure 8-26. Classes have associations with an interface.
ISoil
Figure 8-26. Classes have associations with an interface.Today, I’m going to show you how to resize a JORD Wood Watch. I’m hoping this comes in handy if you ever need to adjust the size of your wood watch band. The folks at JORD were kind enough to send me my watch pre-sized. I needed to adjust it because I rounded up a bit too much from my self-measurement and didn’t feel like sending it back or going to a jeweler to have it done. I wanted to wear it right away!
You don’t need any special skills to do this–just some patience and a small screwdriver set. You’ll also need a towel or thick microfiber cloth to place your watch on. I worked on my watch on the cloth that JORD provided in the packaging, but in retrospect, I would recommend something a little thicker. I was being REAL careful and working slow.
Because my watch had already been sized, I only needed to remove one wood link to make it fit. See how one side had five links and the other had six? I chose to remove one of the links from the side with six to keep the watch as symmetrical as possible.
Note that I didn’t remove the wood link attached to the clasp.
The pins holding the links have a push lock. It’s fairly easy to press the pin out once you insert the proper sized screwdriver.
See how the pin pops out the other side?
Gently pull on the pin and the two pieces will separate. Make sure not to lose the tiny piece that I call a “top hat”!
After you remove the wood link and its pin, set it aside. I repeated the process for the pin to its left so I could reassemble the watch. Hopefully the second time will be even easier!
Slide the pin through the links to connect them and carefully put the tiny top hat in place.
I didn’t get a picture of the next step because it takes 2 hands! With one screwdriver, hold the tiny top hat in place while you push the long pin from the other end with another screwdriver. You’ll feel a definitive click as the two pieces come together. Mine was acting up so I ended up carefully tapping the pin side while holding the top hat in place.
Once the pins are locked together they will be sunken into the holes. If your pin is still flush with the wood, it hasn’t been properly seated yet. Below is an example of a properly seated pin.
That’s it! Not too difficult at all. You might want to save your links in case you ever need them.
Now that my watch is perfectly sized, it fits wonderfully! I like my watches to sit right at the wrist and it really is a custom fit. I love the feel of the natural wood–mine is the Fieldcrest Series in Dark Sandalwood. It’s so versatile and matches everything in my wardrobe.
The giveaway is still running until tomorrow! Fill out an entry form here and you will be entered to win $100 towards one of these beautiful timepieces. Hurry! This contest ends Sunday, February 12th at 11:59pm CST. Good luck to everyone!AUSTRALIA’S shooting star dollar has shot a hole in rural sector morale.
Despite good seasonal prospects, farmer confidence is deflating as exports fail to deliver much farmgate price value because our high flying dollar is hovering uncompetitively above parity with the US exchange rate.
Faltering farm commodity prices in the past five months – particularly in the grain trade – have also hit farmer confidence hard.
“Not surprisingly farmers are becoming more concerned with the strong Australian dollar’s knock-on effect on the competitiveness of our exporters,” said Rabobank’s rural general manager, Peter Knoblanche.
NSW farm supplies retailer Greg Rout summed up the mood saying farmers were “a bit disillusioned and frustrated with the way prices are going against them at the moment”.
Although farmers have emerged from the past decade’s drought with plenty of soil moisture and stored water supplies, Rabobank’s latest quarterly rural confidence survey results are dipping into negative territory.
Producers who now expected farming conditions to deteriorate in the year ahead outnumbered those who saw improvements, according to Rabobank’s findings.
Mr Knoblanche said about 28 per cent expected the farm economy to worsen in the next 12 months, compared to 20pc just three months ago.
“Mixed farmers tend to be happier than the grain-only guys but most people are still spending cautiously,” said CRT retailer Mr Rout, who owns Central West AgriCentres at Parkes, Forbes and Peak Hill.
According to Rabo only about 30pc of farmers expected an improved business performance or higher incomes in the coming year – down from about 39pc in December.
About 55pc tipped business performance to be the same.
It’s study of about 1200 farmers Australia-wide found 40pc of those expecting farm economic conditions to slide primarily blamed the dollar and 32pc nominated falling commodity prices.
Although it dipped last week well below recent highs around the $US1.07 mark, the seemingly bullet-proof Aussie dollar was again back above $US1.05 early this week and forecasters tip it will stay strong against the US greenback for at least a year.
However, while Rabobank expected strong investment into Australia would keep the dollar to be above parity “for the foreseeable future”, Mr Knoblanche believed it would soften by mid year on the back of a strengthening US currency and lower terms of trade.
The high exchange rate’s competitive advantage for machinery importers helped drive a burst of machinery investment last year, but newly-elected Tractor and Machinery Association (TMA) chairman, Steve Wright, believed a lower dollar would be best for the farm sector’s long term health.
“Buyer inquiry levels are generally still strong and I think the low dollar will help make 2012 a strong year for machinery sales, but buying commitment has definitely eased lately,” Mr Wright said.
“The dollar’s taken the shine off farm returns and grain prices are not as good as farmers are wanting to see before they commit to ordering new gear.
This is just one of many reasons why your humble blogger has advocated voting for the KAP.
Because Katter’s Australian Party is the only political party in the nation (that I know of) that has demonstrated a firm willingness to take on the clueless blinkered ideologues in the Treasury and the RBA, in order to follow the lead of other “advanced” economies such as Switzerland and Norway, and directly address the problem of a speculator-driven Aussie dollar hollowing out vast swathes of the Australian economy. From agriculture, to tourism, foreign education, manufacturing, and retail.
Journalist and presenter Peter van Onselen recently hit the nail