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Overview of the International Cancer Screening Network
The International Cancer Screening Network (ICSN) is a voluntary consortium of countries that have active population-based cancer screening programs and active efforts to evaluate and improve the processes and outcomes from cancer screening in practice. The ICSN includes efforts to evaluate cancer screening for a number of cancers where screening has been demonstrated to be effective, including breast, colorectal, cervical, and lung. These programs can be national or subnational in scope, and established or pilot-based. Administered by the Applied Research Program of the US National Cancer Institute, the consortium was established in December 1988 as the International Breast Cancer Screening Database Project during an international workshop involving representatives from 11 countries. The consortium has since grown to encompass 33 countries, and holds biennial meetings. In the interim, the specific activities are moved forward through working groups.
The initial purpose of the ICSN was to generate a database for the evaluation of screening mammography programs. In 1997, the group decided to shift its focus from creating a common database to collaborative efforts aimed at understanding how to:
In keeping with this realignment of purpose, in 1997 the group changed its name to the International Breast Cancer Screening Network. As work of the group grew to encompass colorectal and cervical cancer screening, it was renamed the International Cancer Screening Network.
The ICSN is dedicated to collaborative research aimed at identifying and fostering efficient and effective approaches to cancer control world-wide through population-based screening. It does not address efficacy or use clinical trial data. Participation in the ICSN is open to any country that has initiated a population-based cancer screening program.
The current co-chairs of the ICSN include Dr. Rachel Ballard-Barbash, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA, Elsebeth Lynge, M.Sc., Institute of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Prof. John Boyages, Macquarie University Cancer Institute.
Last modified: 11 Dec 2012
Maintained by the
Applied Research Program,
Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences.


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Fault-adaptive embedded software, Fermilab BTeV, RealTime Embedded Systems group
Computer Sciences | Physics | Software Engineering
This paper describes a comprehensive prototype of large-scale fault adaptive embedded software developed for the proposed Fermilab BTeV high energy physics experiment. Lightweight self-optimizing agents embedded within Level 1 of the prototype are responsible for proactive and reactive monitoring and mitigation based on specified layers of competence. The agents are self-protecting, detecting cascading failures using a distributed approach. Adaptive, reconfigurable, and mobile objects for reliability are designed to be self-configuring to adapt automatically to dynamically changing environments. These objects provide a self-healing layer with the ability to discover, diagnose, and react to discontinuities in real-time processing. A generic modeling environment was developed to facilitate design and implementation of hardware resource specifications, application data flow, and failure mitigation strategies. Level 1 of the planned BTeV trigger system alone will consist of 2500 DSPs, so the number of components and intractable fault scenarios involved make it impossible to design an "expert system" that applies traditional centralized mitigative strategies based on rules capturing every possible system state. Instead, a distributed reactive approach is implemented using the tools and methodologies developed by the RealTime Embedded Systems group.
Messie, Derek; Jung, Mina; Oh, Jae C.; Shetty, Shweta; Nordstrom, Steven; and Haney, Michael, "Prototype of Fault Adaptive Embedded Software for Large-Scale Real-Time Systems" (2005). Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Paper 121.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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Software on Quest
Below is a list of key software programs installed on Quest for general use.
This list is subject to change, and additional software not listed here may be available. For the complete list, run the command, module available. Except where noted, Modules Software Environment Manager must be used to set up your environment to use the Quest software.
- ATLAS - Automatically Tuned Linear Algebra System, compiled for non-hyperthreading and tested.
- Boost C++ Libraries - Portable C++ source libraries that work well with the C++ Standard Library.
- Charm++ - Object oriented programming language based on C++ for parallel programming.
- Cmake - A cross platform make needed by a few environments in order to build their software.
- CP2K – Open source molecular dynamics program written in Fortran 95.
- Eclipse – A multi-language integrated development environment (IDE).
- FFTW – A software library for computing discrete Fourier transforms (DFTs).
- Firefox - Web browser.
- GAUSS - Data analysis, mathematical and statistical environment based on the GAUSS Matrix Programming Language.
- git - A collaborative source code versioning system.
- gnuplot - An open source plotting program. RHEL's version doesn't contain some of the label manipulation routines that later versions have.
- Grace – A 2D plotting tool for X11 system and M*tif, designed for use on Unix.
- gsl - Gnu Scientific Library.
- HDF5 – A data model, library, and file format for storing and managing large data sets.
- KNITRO - A solver for nonlinear optimization. Programming interfaces for MATLAB, C/C++, Fortran and Java.
- LAMMPS – A classical molecular dynamics code for soft and solid-state materials.
- Lumerical Solutions FDTD – A 3D Maxwell solver for analyzing interactions of UV, visible, and IR radiation.
- A high-level technical computing language and interactive environment for algorithm development, data visualization, data analysis, and numeric computation. See Using MATLAB on Quest for more information.
- Meep – A finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation software package.
- Metis – A set of serial programs for partitional graphs, finite element meshes, and producing fill reducing orderings for sparse matrices.
- NWChem – An ab initio computational chemistry software, also including quantum chemical and molecular dynamics functionality.
- Octave – A high-level programming language used for numerical computations.
- ParaView - Data Analysis and Visualization for extremely large datasets using distributed memory resources.
- pdflib-lite - Libraries used in the creation of PDF documents.
- Perl - The ActivePerl distribution of Perl 5.14, a family of high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming languages.
– Several versions of the Anaconda distribution of Python are available. The default module, python/anaconda is for Python 2.7. python/anaconda3 is Python 3.4, while python/anaconda3.6 is Python 3.6. Other Python modules not using the Anaconda distribution are also available on Quest, but their use is highly discouraged and the modules may be removed in the future. If you use python without loading a module, you will be using the default Python installation available from the operating system; again, this is highly discouraged.
- Q-Chem – A comprehensive ab initio quantum chemistry package.
- Qt – A cross-platform application and UI framework for C++ or QML.
- Quantum Espresso – A collection of algorithms for electronic-structure calculations and materials modeling at the nano-scale.
- R - Software environment for statistical computing and graphics. Both the command line R progam (R) and RStudio Desktop (rstudio) options are available after loading R modules for versions 3.2.2 and newer. See Using R on Quest for more information.
- ROOT – A set of object-oriented frameworks to store and analyze large data sets.
- Ruby – A dynamic, reflective, object-oriented, general-purpose programming language.
- SAS - SAS is available with modules from the Education Analytical Suite.
- Stata - Stata is available after loading the stata/14 module (module load stata/14). For batch jobs, use stata-se or stata-mp; stata alone starts Stata IC. For interactive jobs where the GUI is desired, use xstata-mp or xstata-se. Stata MP is only licensed for 4 cores per instance. Please do not request more than 4 cores when using Stata MP, as the resources will be wasted.
- SQL database clients – psql, sqlite3, and mysql command line client programs are available without loading any modules.
- TeX Live - the TeX document production system.
- utilities - scripts to help manage projects, and a variety of utility programs (use module help utilities to get a list)
- Wolfram Mathematica - Symbolic computation, high-precision numerical work, graphics and visualization.
- VASP – A package for an initio quantum mechanical molecular dynamics.
- VisIt – A tool for parallel visualization and graphical analysis on Unix and Windows.
- XZ Utils - A general-purpose data compression software.
- Hypre – A library for solving large, sparse linear systems of equations.
- NetCDF – A set of software libraries and self-describing, machine-dependent data formats, supporting creation, access, and sharing of array-oriented scientific data.
- PCRE – Perl Compatible Regular Expressions library is a set of functions that implement regular expression pattern matching using the syntax and semantics as Perl 5.
- ScaLAPACK – A library of high-performance linear algebra routines for parallel distributed memory.
For information on compilers, MPI libraries, and debugging tools, see Compiling Code on Quest.


In order to reduce the cost of forged products, the forging must be performed in a closed cavity to obtain near-net or net shape parts. Additionally, the preform must be simple enough to be mass-produced. In both studies the use of process simulations has been helpful in the performance of several iterations without requiring the construction of expensive tooling. All rights reserved. Keywords: Die design; Flashless forging; Tool design 1.
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It is also used as a thermal barrier to restrict heat transfer from the workpiece to the die. Finally, the lubricant acts as a parting compound to prevent the part from sticking in the dies. The amount of time the dies are in contact with the workpiece is measured in seconds as compared to the milliseconds of drop-hammer forges. The press forging operation can be done either cold or hot. Drop-hammer forging usually only deforms the surfaces of the work piece in contact with the hammer and anvil; the interior of the workpiece will stay relatively undeformed.
By controlling the compression rate of the press forging operation, the internal strain can be controlled. There are a few disadvantages to this process, most stemming from the workpiece being in contact with the dies for such an extended period of time. The operation is a time-consuming process due to the amount and length of steps.
The workpiece will cool faster because the dies are in contact with workpiece; the dies facilitate drastically more heat transfer than the surrounding atmosphere. As the workpiece cools it becomes stronger and less ductile, which may induce cracking if deformation continues. Therefore, heated dies are usually used to reduce heat loss, promote surface flow, and enable the production of finer details and closer tolerances. The workpiece may also need to be reheated.
When done in high productivity, press forging is more economical than hammer forging. The operation also creates closer tolerances. In hammer forging a lot of the work is absorbed by the machinery; when in press forging, the greater percentage of work is used in the work piece.
Another advantage is that the operation can be used to create any size part because there is no limit to the size of the press forging machine. New press forging techniques have been able to create a higher degree of mechanical and orientation integrity.
By the constraint of oxidation to the outer layers of the part, reduced levels of microcracking occur in the finished part. Impression-die press forging usually requires less draft than drop forging and has better dimensional accuracy. Also, press forgings can often be done in one closing of the dies, allowing for easy automation. For other uses, see upset disambiguation. Upset forging increases the diameter of the workpiece by compressing its length. Upset forging is usually done in special high-speed machines called crank presses.
The machines are usually set up to work in the horizontal plane, to facilitate the quick exchange of workpieces from one station to the next, but upsetting can also be done in a vertical crank press or a hydraulic press. The standard upsetting machine employs split dies that contain multiple cavities. The dies open enough to allow the workpiece to move from one cavity to the next; the dies then close and the heading tool, or ram, then moves longitudinally against the bar, upsetting it into the cavity.
If all of the cavities are utilized on every cycle, then a finished part will be produced with every cycle, which makes this process advantageous for mass production. Lengths of stock greater than three times the diameter may be upset successfully, provided that the diameter of the upset is not more than 1.
In an upset requiring stock length greater than three times the diameter of the stock, and where the diameter of the cavity is not more than 1. This all occurs rapidly; small parts can be made at a rate of parts per minute ppm and larger can be made at a rate of 90 ppm. The main advantages to this process are its high output rate and ability to accept low-cost materials.
Little labor is required to operate the machinery. Tool life is nearly double that of conventional forging because contact times are on the order of 0. It is then descaled with rollers, sheared into blanks, and transferred through several successive forming stages, during which it is upset, preformed, final forged, and pierced if necessary. This process can also be coupled with high-speed cold-forming operations. Generally, the cold forming operation will do the finishing stage so that the advantages of cold-working can be obtained, while maintaining the high speed of automatic hot forging.
Roll forging is performed using two cylindrical or semi-cylindrical rolls, each containing one or more shaped grooves.
A heated bar is inserted into the rolls and when it hits a spot the rolls rotate and the bar is progressively shaped as it is rolled through the machine. The piece is then transferred to the next set of grooves or turned around and reinserted into the same grooves. This continues until the desired shape and size is achieved.
The advantage of this process is there is no flash and it imparts a favorable grain structure into the workpiece. Net-shape and near-net-shape forging[ edit ] See also: Near-net-shape This process is also known as precision forging. It was developed to minimize cost and waste associated with post-forging operations. Therefore, the final product from a precision forging needs little or no final machining. Cost savings are gained from the use of less material, and thus less scrap, the overall decrease in energy used, and the reduction or elimination of machining.
The downside of this process is its cost, therefore it is only implemented if significant cost reduction can be achieved. Aluminum is a common material that can be cold forged depending on final shape. Lubrication of the parts being formed is critical to increase the life of the mating dies. Main article: Induction forging Unlike the above processes, induction forging is based on the type of heating style used.
Many of the above processes can be used in conjunction with this heating method. Multidirectional forging[ edit ] Multidirectional Forging is forming of a work piece in a single step in several directions. The multidirectional forming takes place through constructive measures of the tool. The vertical movement of the press ram is redirected using wedges which distributes and redirects the force of the forging press in horizontal directions.
Adiabatic heating is used to assist in the deformation of the material, meaning the strain rates are highly controlled. Commonly used for forging aluminium, which has a lower forging temperature than steels.
Flashless forging
The process is used to produce a near-net or net shape forging. The dies make no provision for flash because the process does not depend on the formation of flash to achieve complete filling. Actually, a thin fin or ring of flash may form in the clearance between the upper punch and die, but it is easily removed by blasting or tumbling operations, and does not require a trim die. The process is therefore called "flashless forging", and is sometimes called "enclosed die forging". Enclosed dies are illustrated in Figure In some cases the lower die may be split, allowing as-forged undercuts. Split die arrangements are illustrated in Figure
Metal Forging
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Panel, inclusivity in PD
Thursday 23nd of August
16:00 – 17:00
Hasselt University, in the Old Prison
"Inclusivity in Participatory Design starts with our Conference – or Does it? Towards a plural, inclusive, diverse and intersectional conference"
One aim of the Participatory Design Conference is to be as inclusive as possible, and to increase the diversity of voices (from different parts of the world, or with new perspectives on participation) that build our field. Different strategies have been tried out to pursue this vision, such as the practitioners/industry track, exhibition track, community challenges, the David Hakken scholarship etc. Given that diversity and inclusion can still be handled better and improved, in this panel we will discuss how we can continue to work on these issues in the future. This is an issue raising panel, and the place where some planning for the future can happen.
We welcome everyone to discuss these issues and take some steps towards this goal. We will have a panel of people making short statements to provoke reflection, followed by discussion and joint formulation of proposals. Our starting points for discussion are:
- The current conference deliberately sought contributions from outside the PD community for the short papers, but reviewers found lack of PD literature, etc a reason to reject. Is PD(C) too orthodox?
- PDC is developing a culture consistent with ACM-compliance. This promotes a science model of reporting and a US American scholarship base-line. Is that the only possible model?
- Procedures for inviting / reviewing / discussing and selecting need to be attuned to the possibility of exclusion. This year a lot of "diversity" – in terms of themes and geographical coverage – was marked low by reviewers. Why were these papers at the bottom?
- How can we produce a review process that is helpful for all and still likely to include a more varied set of papers? Or should there be other tracks and ways into the conference which support people from contexts where global (North) academic priorities are not valued/taught/accessible?
- Is it worth it and would it add value to the participatory nature of the conference to arrange for live translation at future PDC venues? Should we add more submission forms (e.g. video, podcasts etc.)? Rethink language policies?
- Can we creatively devise a funding mechanism for newcomers/for people coming from underrepresented areas to attend? (e.g. 1% of the conference fees go to a pot of money for such funding options? Can we have other differentiated fee, like there is for students?)
Organizers (the PDC Diversity taskforce): Linda Tonolli (University of Trento), Giacomo Poderi (IT University of Copenhagen), Vasilis Vlachokyriakos (OpenLab Athens), Raechel Luck (Open University), Ann Light (University of Sussex) and Andrea Botero (Oulu university)


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a result. When working with the ROWS clause this must be taken into account.
Aggregates with RANGE
Lastly, adding the RANGE to the OVER clause allows you to create aggregates which go to the beginning or end of the partition. RANGE is commonly used with UNBOUNDED FOLLOWING which goes to the end of the partition and UNBOUNDED PRECEDING which goes to the beginning of the partition. One of the most common use would be to specify the rows from the beginning of the partition to the current row which allows for aggregations such as year to date.
In the example below, we are calculating the average order size over time to the current row. This could be a very effective in a trending report.
,AVG(OrderAmt) OVER (ORDER BY OrderID RANGE BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING and CURRENT ROW) as AvgOrderAmt
order by OrderDate;
As you can see, the latest versions of OVER clause supports powerful yet simple aggregations which can help in a multitude of reporting and business solutions. Up next, the last blog in the series – Analytic Functions which are all new in SQL Server 2012.


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von Heyking, A.J. Creating Citizens: History and Identity in Alberta's Schools, _PHONE_. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2006.
How does one learn to be a good citizen? A good Canadian? Creating Citizens looks at the role schools have played in creating and sustaining a sense of Canadian identify for generations of Alberta students. History and social studies classes, more than others, are designed to prepare young students for meaningful citizenship and address issues of identity by interpreting the country's and the region's past. By examining history and social studies curricula and textbooks used in Alberta schools from 1905 to 1980, author Amy von Heyking shows how these materials helped shape the ways in which Albertans have identified themselves and their place in the world around them. The complex processes of curriculum development is also explored; by clarifying how the framework of decision-making regarding school content was created, von Heyking provides valuable insights into current debates about the purpose and content of public education. By tracing the evolution of this curriculum over the course of seventy-five years, Creating Citizens gives the reader a unique opportunity to analyze the images of the nation and the region as they were taught to generations of Alberta schoolchildren.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


some of the longer and tricker theorems you come across.
 1. Any two elements \(x_\alpha \lt x_{\alpha_1}\) must contain a rational between them. Since there's only countably many rationals, we can't have a chain of uncountable length.
 2. And after looking through the paper, I'm extremely grateful I didn't try to stubbornly prove it myself.


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Art and the Creation of National Identities in Europe : Art in Colonial Cyprus In Search of Identity Before Independence
 - Cover Photo
 - Presentation speakers
 - Christos Karypiadis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
 From the beginning of the 20th century a local art emerges in Cyprus and the very few artists of the island, during the first half of the century, depict its people and its landscapes. They encounter and interact with the currents of modernism in Europe through their studies in London and Athens and produce artworks inspired primarily by the primitive environment and the everyday life of people living on the island. In painting they borrow the means of the European modernism to express their identity and their anxiety for their future. Studying and examining the work of Adamantios Diamantis, Tilemachos Kanthos, George Pol Gheorghiou, Christoforos Savva, Stass Paraschos and others from the dawn of the 20th century till the independence (1959), we can observe the artists' sincere concern about defining their place in the world, their own identity. Essentially there is an often declaration of their 'Greekness'. For instance, the artworks that refer to the revolution of 1955 against the British depict facts of the struggle with emphasis in depiction of Greek flag. But from 1900 to 1974, we see a significant number of artworks that try to give answers to questions such 'what is Cyprus?', 'where do Cyprus and its people belong?'. The identity issue remains on the front of artist's concerns.


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19 Books That Will Make You a Better IT Leader
A reading list for IT leaders
Developing your leadership skills is a necessity for IT leaders in the ever-changing business environment. The path to great IT leadership is filled with experience and exposure to diverse ideas. Reading is a wonderful way to gain exposure to diverse ideas on leadership from top executives, consultants, companies, and other kinds of leaders. From revisiting classics to keeping with the latest books in the field, the list of possibilities is nearly endless. To help you find a few of the gems worth spending your valuable time on, we put together a list of must-reads for IT leaders. Be sure to check out these 19 books if you're looking to add some new ones to your reading list.
Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
Author: Philip C Jackson
Philip Jackson's book is an exploration into the computer's mind, how it works now and how it will work as AI developments surface. In this book, you will find accessible prose discussing the capabilities and limits of computers intelligence covering technical topics including problem-solving methods, automated understanding of natural languages, robot systems, and specific artificial-intelligence accomplishments. Join the discussion on machine architecture, psychological simulation, and automatic programming as you read. Jackson seeks to discover how computers can be made to act intelligent, bridging the gap from current computer intelligence to future advancements in AI.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Business: A No-Nonsense Guide to Data Driven Technologies
Author: Steven Finlay
Steven Finlay provides a clear and comprehensive text designed for managers and businesses to understand the complicated world of AI and machine learning. You'll learn to understand and are utilizing the concepts behind these technologies and how to merge them with your business. Managers will learn to maximize profits with lower costs with the aid of AI and machine learning. This book is the newest guide to the practical application of AI concepts to increase the profitability of your company in association with new technologies. Finlay's writing is accessible to readers who don't understand AI's technical language or dense theories behind machine learning but is written so we readers can understand how it all works and how these complex technologies can work for us.
Thinking Machines: The Quest for Artificial Intelligence--and Where It's Taking Us Next
Author: Luke Dormehl
In this book, Luke Dormehl has a unique take on AI and begins by discussing the genesis of AI technologies developed in the Cold War. Dormehl points out the present existence of AI in our everyday lives—cell phones navigating us to the nearest grocery store, or even telling us what we need to buy at the store—using our comfortability with AI as the foundation for his exploration into its future advancements. You will become aware of the present impact of machine intelligence and where AI can advance. Dormehl wants to discuss the fascinating and possible fearful future of AI in our day-to-day lives.
Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies
Author: Nick Bostrom
The creation of the first super intelligent computer in Nick Bostrom's book produces an abundance of questions. What will happen when humans are no longer the most intelligent beings? Will superintelligence benefit or harm us? You and Bostrom will wrestle with thoughts on how our world would change if machines possessed dominant intelligence over us as we have enjoyed over animals. With machine learning on the rise and the competitive presence of AI looming, where will we fit on the grand scale of power? Tackle these questions and more as Bostrom explores the possible effects of AI on our future humanity and evolving intelligence. Recommended by Bill Gates.
Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Author: Max Tegmark
As technological advancements gain momentum, Artificial Intelligence becomes a hot topic of inquiry. With empowering prose, Max Tegmark pushes the conventional conversation from machines taking over the world to how our world will function with the eminent changes AI will bring. "Life 3.0" holds nothing back as Tegmark explores all the possibilities of AI to benefit our lives, without deflecting questions like, "How do we advance the abilities of AI without making human labor and intelligence obsolete?". Tegmark takes a practical approach to questions like these and guides us through the uncertainty of the human experience existing with intelligent machines. Recommended by Elon Musk.
The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our World
Author: Pedro Domingos
In this book, Pedro Domingos unveils an ambitious drive behind his hypothesis to create a universal learning algorithm capable of learning all knowledge from all time: past, present, and future. He calls it "The Master Algorithm." You will learn the essentials about the origins of machine learning before taking a metaphoric journey with Domingos as he explains both the possible creation and functionality of the Master Algorithm. With this achievement, all learning would become obtainable and all knowledge accessible. Explore how learning machines work to power our smartphones and from here generates conversation on how a universal algorithm could use data to learn all knowledge from our history to our future. Recommended by Bill Gates.
Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning
Author: Chris Bishop
Chris Bishop's new textbook is the first of its kind helping describe machine learning effectively with the application of graphic models. Learn about approximate inference algorithms, probability distribution models, and an introduction to fundamental probability theory. It is not necessary for the reader to have previous knowledge of pattern recognition or machine learning concepts. However, a comprehensive understanding of multivariate calculus and basic linear algebra is needed. Be the first to experience the Bayesian viewpoint applied to pattern recognition.
Authors: Ian Goodfellow, Yoshua Bengio, & Aaron Courville
In their book, "Deep Learning," Goodfellow, Bengio, and Courville introduce us to an innovative machine learning where computers learn through experience, rather than knowledge given. Discover how after first learning simple concepts, these computers learn to expand upon what they have learned to understand complicated concepts. In this text, you'll find relevant concepts in linear algebra, probability theory, informational theory, machine learning, and more. The authors explain and provide deep learning methods used by different businesses in a variety of industries. Gain perspective on the evolving advancements of machine intelligence starting with your comprehensive understanding of "Deep Learning."
Learning From Data
Authors: Yaser S. Abu-Mostafa, Malik Magdon-Ismail, Hsuan-Tien Lin
This book is a must-read for students or anyone wanting to know more about machine learning. These professors have collaborated to produce a complete introduction to machine learning designed to act as a short course. Learn the essential fundamentals and core topics that every student must know as you progress through "Learning from Data". Easily comprehend complex theories and data as you read theoretical and practical examples provided in clear story like prose. The authors strived to make this text instructive and applicable. Gain free access to online materials on the newest advancements in machine intelligence technology constantly updated by the authors.
Additional resource: _URL_
Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing: Behavioral and Cognitive Modeling of the Human Brain
Author: Amit Konar
Konar's book, "Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing" is a comprehensive text accessible to a broad scope of readers. In this book, you'll learn both traditional and modern aspects of AI and soft computing as you read clear, in-depth, and comprehensive text beginners can understand while exploring complicated and technical concepts. This book clearly articulates the progressing abilities of machines in knowledge acquisition, ability to reason, and more. Discover how computer brains are approaching the abilities of human brains and how advancements in AI could enable machines knowledge to surpass human intellect.
Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction
Authors: Richard S. Sutton & Andrew G. Barto
This book is a clear and accessible approach to AI gaining knowledge through reinforcement learning. Sutton and Barto introduce the fundamental aspects and algorithms behind reinforcement learning. A complete understanding of basic concepts of probability is required of the reader. Learn about the history of reinforcement learning as you trace its origins to present day applications and advancements. Explore current case studies on machine learnings process and consider the future of reinforcement learning on AI.
While the list may look challenging, keep in mind that most of the great leaders throughout time have been avid readers. When someone asked Warren Buffet the key to sucess, he pointed to a stack of books and said "Read 500 pages like this every day. That's how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it." He is reported to spend about 80% of his time reading even today. Other great examples include Bill Gates who says he reads about 50 books a year and Mark Cuban who says he reads more than three hours a day. It all starts with selecting one book!
Looking for more great books to add to your reading list on technology topics? Check out our list of books on new technologies and organizational development.
Take the Steps for Success
Ready to put these ideas into action and take your business to the next level? The experts at QAT Global are here to execute on your vision and deliver cutting-edge software to your users that leverages best practices, emerging technologies, and modern engagement models. Using an Agile software development approach with proper planning and the right people on your team will put you on the path to success. The development team at QAT Global is experienced in developing all kinds of enterprise applications and SaaS products for clients in a wide variety of industries. Put your next software project on the path to success, start the conversation with our development team today.
Interested in learning more? Start the conversation today.


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[Windell] of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories took an ancient Nixie tube based frequency counter and converted it into a clock. The unit he got his hands on is an HP model that was still in great shape. He's using an internally generated one second pulse as the clock signal, but some modifications are necessary to display time. That's because the frequency counter is base 10 and clocks use a quirky combination of base 60 and base 12.
It wasn't too much of a problem to rig up a system to track minutes and seconds. The tens digit for each is monitored by a couple of AND gates that he added to the mix. When they detect a '6′ the digit is reset and a pulse increments the next digit as the carry. This is more difficult to accomplish with the hours though. Minutes and seconds count from 0 to 59 but hours don't start at 0. Instead of over-complicating the logic [Windell] used a bit of slight-of-hand. The Nixie tubes for the hours have been rewired so that when the counter is at 0, the filament in the shape of a 1 lights up. No difference in logic, just a translation that makes them display one digit higher than the actual count.


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Characteristics of Change Agents
These individuals should be:
- Well respected among their peers
- Great communication skills
- Has a willing attitude to be trained if necessary
- Has the ability to coach and mentor other employees
- Shows empathy and is open and honest with employees
- Believes in the success of the initiative
Working with Change Agents
Once the Change Agent is chosen it is important that the Change Manager:
1. Introduce them to the Change team and staff.
2. Provide them with a background of the change initiative.
3. Outline their role, responsibilities and what is expected of them.
4. Allow the Change Agent to provide initial feedback on concerns or issues with the task at hand.
5. Let them take ownership of their responsibilities but monitor performance.
6. Invite them to meetings with the Change team.
7. Allow the Change Agent to provide feedback to the Change team on staff sentiment, successes and improvements they need to make on the change initiative.
8. Provide guidance as required and support and motivate these individuals.
9. Impress upon line management and the Change Team to publically acknowledge their contributions to the change initiative.
10. Capture lessons learnt from the Change Agent's perspective.
Working with Change Agent Networks
1. Encourage knowledge sharing in the Change Agent Network where successes and failures are shared for everyone's learning. This will help strengthen the strategy and hence the present change initiative and those in the future.
2. Utilise the Change Agent Network until the change is embedded, staff are comfortable and have adopted this new way of working i.e. Business as Usual is achieved.
Skilled Change Agents are a valuable resource to change initiatives so be sure to choose wisely, capitalise on their offerings and reward them for their efforts and contribution to the organisation.


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Seven Tasks for Seven Books
Oct 30, 2007
SEVEN TASKS, SEVEN BOOKS
While each book was awaited with great anticipation, speculation roared regarding the content of the next book. One popular theory looked at each task Harry had to endure to get the the stone in the first book, as a clue toward the subject matter of the other books.
The seven tasks have been discussed in various threads discussing Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. These threads include:
GREAT WIZARDING EVENTS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY:
CURRENT BOOK CLUB:
The Play up! Play up! and Play the game!, GOF and the 4th task to find the Philosopher's Stone discussions can be viewed in the Special Events Archives.
Other archived Book Club threads include POA and the 3rd task to find the Philosopher's Stone, Do they show how 7 PS/SS tasks match 7 books?
1.Voldemort's plan to spread chaos – Shard.
2.The mystery of the number seven – Memsylfn1


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In recent years, brownfield site developments and urban concentration projects have become more important in the context of site and regional development. The use of test planning and urban design study processes allows us to help our clients to optimize sites in terms of how they are used and developed. We employ a number of different approaches to achieve these results.
Various constraints present considerable challenges when it comes to developing sites and districts; these include spatial constraints within built-up areas, as well as planning/regulatory and environmental constraints, and a diverse range of demands from different stakeholders. In order to arrive at a mutual understanding and find solutions, there must be dialog and discussion, and the various options must be narrowed down. Test planning and urban-planning study processes are tools which aid this purpose.
We support our clients in the development of complex sites and regions through test planning and urban design study processes, specifically, through:
- Generating the substantive program content and carrying out preliminary investigations,
- Drafting proposals for the assessment board, teams, and experts, working together with our clients to configure these groups,
- Generating a final or summary report,
- Organizing and moderating workshops
- Planning and supporting the entire process.


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Representing complex narrative goal structures
competing memory-based and situational influences
Singer, MurrayRichards, Eric
This study assessed the relative contribution of situational and memory-based influences to the reader's monitoring of complex narrative goal structures. In 2 experiments, people read stories according to which 2 collaborative subgoals had to succeed for a main goal to be achieved.


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The Kingston Women's Medical College, affiliated with Queen's, was established in 1883 and ran until 1894. It was founded after disgruntled male students forced women out of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Kingston, an early incarnation of Queen's Faculty of Medicine.
The college was originally located in the west wing of Kingston City Hall and had a dissecting room just under the old building's dome. It moved to a house at 75 Union Street in 1890. The college folded for lack of students in 1894, as the small number of women studying medicine in Canada were increasingly attracted to medical schools in Toronto and Montreal.
Women were not re-admitted to medical studies at Queen's until 1943.


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and descriptions. ICF codes and descriptions of the ICF categories used in this paper.
The SF-36 is one of the most frequently used instruments for assessing generic health related quality of life. It contains a total of 36 items organised in eight different categories of scores: Physical Functioning, Role Physical, Bodily Pain, General Health, Vitality, Social Functioning, Role Emotional, and Mental Health. The scores range from 0 to 100 with higher scores indicating better health status. We used the General Health Perception score (ghp) as an outcome for predictive modeling.
We used the free statistical software R for all our computations. Both R and all mentioned packages are freely available (see ).
Handling of missing data
For the SCI data set, we excluded categories which had more than 20% values missing. This resulted in a SCI data set with 200 ICF categories (79 categories from the component Body Functions, 81 from Activities and Participation, 40 from Body Structures and 0 from Environmental Factors). Since in the CHC data set missing values were much more abundant, we only excluded a category if it had more than 50% of missing values. This resulted in a CHC data set with 126 ICF categories (32 categories from the component Body Functions, 47 from Activities and Participation, 15 from Body Structures and 32 from Environmental Factors).
In both data sets, the problem of remaining missing values was addressed by using multiple imputation assuming noninformative missingness. Multiple imputation generates m versions of the original data set, with varying missing value replacements in each version and using information from all other variables to generate the replacement. Simulation studies demonstrated that even with few generated data sets multiple imputation yielded valid results. The SCI data was imputed ten times using multiple imputation (using the option "logistic regression"), while the CHC data was imputed five times (using the option "predictive mean matching"). Different options were used, since the SCI data (after removing category e) consisted only of binary variables (see next section), whereas the CHC data consisted of categorical variables with many levels. In the next step, each of these imputed data sets was analyzed using common complete case methods as described below. For computations, we used the R-package "mice" which implements multiple imputation (see ).
Because the properties of the qualifiers are not yet evaluated sufficiently, we dichotomized the ICF categories. Each category of the components Body Functions, Body Structures and Activities and Participation was graded with the qualifiers 0 for "no impairment/limitation" and 1 for "any impairment/limitation" The categories of the component Environmental Factors were graded with 0 for "barrier/neutral" and 1 for "facilitator". In the original study generating the SCI data, only the distinction "no impairment" vs. "impairment" (in b, d, s) and "barrier", "neutral" and "facilitator" (in e) was made. Since category e was excluded as stated in the previous section, we didn't have to dichotomize the SCI data set any further.
Graphical models are susceptible to small changes in the data set leading to large variations and hence unstable results. A common method to enhance unstable procedures is to use bootstrap aggregation, which enhances the overall performance of the model building process. Bootstrap aggregation produces several models based on bootstrap replicates of the original data set. The multiple versions are then aggregated. Bootstrap aggregation can stabilize the outcome of a model and enhance accuracy. We generated 10 bootstrap replications. These 10 replications of the 10 imputed SCI data sets and of the 5 imputed CHC data sets generated 100 re-sampled SCI and 50 re-sampled CHC data sets. Bootstrap aggregation was carried out using R-programs developed by ourselves.
Depending on the specific analysis, we aggregated the results on the 50 or 100 data sets as explained in detail below and thus obtained more stable and reliable results.
Principles of graphical models
Graphical models can be thought of as maps of dependence structures of a given probability distribution or a sample thereof (see for example ). In order to illustrate the analogy, let us consider a road map. In order to be able to use a road map, one needs two given factors. Firstly, one needs the physical map with symbols such as dots and lines. Secondly, one needs a rule for interpreting the symbols. For instance, a railroad map and a map for electric circuits might look very much alike, but their interpretation differs a lot. In the same sense, a graphical model is a map. Firstly, a graphical model consists of a graph with dots, lines and potentially arrowheads. Secondly, a graphical model always comes with a rule for interpreting this graph. In general, nodes in the graph represent (random) variables and edges represent some kind of dependence.
An example of a graphical model is the Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) model. The physical map here is a graph consisting of nodes and arrows (only one arrowhead per line) connecting the nodes. As a further restriction, the arrows must be directed in a way, so that it is not possible to trace a circle when following the arrowheads. The interpretation rule is d-separation, which is closely related to conditional independence. This rule is a bit more intricate and we refer the reader to for more details.
Another example of a graphical model is the so called "skeleton" (of a Directed Acyclic Graph, see ) model. The physical map in this model is a graph consisting of dots and lines (without arrowheads). Using this model, we will use the following rules for interpreting a graph: Two nodes are connected by an edge, if and only if the corresponding random variables are dependent if conditioning on any subset of the remaining random variables. Thus, an edge indicates a strong kind of dependence and it turns out that this is useful for estimating bounds on causal effects (also called intervention effects). See for a detailed discussion of this subject.
DAG models are particularly useful for estimating intervention effects. Imagine that a causal system is represented by a DAG: Nodes represent observable variables and arrows represent direct causes. Now assume that we gather data from the causal system by observing it many times in different states and recording the values of all involved variables. The observed data will entail some dependence information among the variables. Since every DAG on the same variables also entails dependence information via d-separation, we could find the DAG that fits the dependence information in the data best. It is a basic fact of DAG models, that we usually won't be able to identify a unique DAG that fits best. Rather, we will find several DAG models that fit all equally well. These DAG models are called "equivalent". The DAGs of the equivalent DAG models have a noteworthy property: When ignoring the arrowheads, they look the same. But some arrowheads point into different directions, i.e., the direction of some edges is ambiguous. It was shown in, that under certain assumptions the unambiguous arrows in the estimated DAG models coincide with the true arrows in the underlying causal system. Thus, by estimating a DAG model and under some assumptions, we can get information about the underlying causal structure. This information is contained in the unambiguous arrows of the DAG model. However, the ambiguous arrows don't contain direct information on the underlying causal structure. Hence, estimating a DAG model from observational data gives insight into some aspects of the underlying causal structure, but other aspects will remain obscure. For this reason, it is in general only possible to estimate bounds (and not precise values) on causal effects from observational data.
For estimating (skeletons of) DAG models from observational data, we used the PC algorithm, which is explained in detail in [18,19]. In short, the PC-Algorithm makes a cleverly arranged series of conditional independence tests to transform the data matrix into the skeleton. Subsequently, the algorithm identifies the unambiguous arrows to find the equivalence class of DAG models that fit the data equally well. As independence test we used the Fisher Exact Test for marginal independencies and a simulation based test (implemented in coindep_test in the R-package vcd) for conditional independencies.
Several recent papers have tried to improve the performance of the PC algorithm (see for example [20,21] and ). Each of these algorithms can be used as an alternative to the PC algorithm in the analysis we propose.
Application of graphical models to ICF data
For visualization (i.e. estimation of the skeleton), dimension reduction and comparison of subpopulations we used the SCI data set. For the estimation of bounds on causal effects we used the CHC data set, since a clear response variable and a detailed regression analysis (see ) for comparison was available at the time of analysis.
In order to show the dependence structure of the data we used the PC-Algorithm for finding the skeleton model. The skeleton graph was estimated from the SCI data set. The resulting 100 graphs were aggregated by generating a summary graph, where the summary graph included an edge if this edge was found in the skeleton of at least 20 re-sampled data sets (the number 20 being a conservative choice that reduces random fluctuations but still keeps meaningful, but weak signals). We defined the reliability of an edge as being proportional to the number of re-sampled data sets that indicate the presence of this edge. The thickness of the edges is proportional to their reliability.
The skeleton can also be used for dimension reduction. Sometimes, a skeleton can be split up into several groups of variables, that are connected within the group, but not connected between the groups. We call such a group a "connected component". It can be shown, that variables of one connected component are statistically independent of variables of


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Libraries - Information for Parents and Carers
Your child can have their own library ticket as soon as they are born and take out up to eight books or story tapes/story CDs for free. There are no fines on books taken out on a child's ticket and no charge for accidental damage to books borrowed by children under 5. Joining the library.
Come along and find out what's on offer:
Young Readers Festival
Young Readers is an annual book festival for children and young people featuring novelists, poets, storytellers and more. It takes place in late May/June and features a week of events during half term in libraries and other venues around the city followed by a week of events for schools (to which home-educated children are welcome).
When a Book Might Help
Library staff can help you to find books about subjects which might help your child. There is a vast range of books from picture books for the very young to teenage novels which cover such difficult topics as a death in the family, the birth of a new brother or sister or health issues such as anorexia. Visit our When a Book Might Help webpage for links to books on bereavement, bullying, dyslexia, eating disorders and for books with positive images of children with disabilities.
Health and well-being The healthy books site has also been recommended by library staff as a good starting point for books on all sorts of topics from toilet training to hospital visits. _URL_
Sex Education Resources for Parents
Birmingham Libraries have also put together a list of books and resources to help you talk about sex education, body changes and relationships with your children. Including picture books for younger children to answer those difficult questions like where babies come from!
Fun with Reading
Find out about Stories from the Web, an exciting website all about books and reading. Children and young people in Birmingham can log on using a special password to gain access to lots of online games and activities. Ask at your local library for the login and password.
There are FREE story sessions and activities for children from tots to teens during most school holidays. See our What's On page for details. Each year Birmingham Libraries also join in with the national Summer Reading Challenge. Children pick up a collector's card at the beginning of the holidays and add stickers as they read books over the summer. It's a great way of encouraging children to keep reading during the long break.
Books for dads to share
Babies and children really enjoy sharing stories with their dads as well as their mums. Have a look at our great list of books to share and get some. Pop down to your local library to find out what's on offer. There are fantastic books top storytelling tips for dads for all ages and most libraries have regular story sessions for kids too.
Using the Internet Safely
Children and young people can use the internet for free in Birmingham Libraries. All computers in libraries are attached to a system which aims to filter out the most undesirable sites, for example pornography. However, no system is foolproof and children should be told to immediately leave any site which makes them feel uncomfortable and to tell a member of library staff. Children should also understand the basic rules of safety, such as never giving out personal details to anyone over the internet. Be Safe on the Net, is part of our Children's Internet Guide and gives more information.
Family Information Service
The Family Information Service is a free service for parents, carers and childcare workers providing information on childcare facilities and activities for children during the school holidays. They also provide general information and signposting to a wide range of organisations that support families. Visit their website at _URL_
Birmingham Grid for Learning
BGfL is the portal for the city's education service. The website provides lots of useful information including term dates and a schools directory as well as support with helping your child with their learning and homework.


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2. Then using the mattes, all the separate elements are put together using an Optical Printer
The Optical Printer
The Optical Printing Composite Process:
- Traditional matting, for a long time, was compositing by printing elements of different film strips onto a final duplicate film stock using an optical printer. This technique, although requires great precision, gave exceptional results and possibilities
- Firstly the action is shot against a blue or green screen. A matching camera filter blocks out the background color allowing only the action to be captured in the film.
- A high contrast film is used to get a contrasting (mask) image. This image is reversed using another high contrast film.
- The 3 film sandwich is run through the optical printer-The fresh film at the bottom, followed by the traveling matte with the background covered, on the top is the negative of the live action. The resulting combined print is the live action with a plain, unexposed background.
- Then another 3 film sandwich-The exposed film, the opposite mask, the background to be composited.
- Finally we have the positive printed composite which can be converted to a dupe negative and combined with the rest of the film reel. The process gets more and more complicated as the parts to be composited increase.
Take a look at a complex optical printing shot done for Star wars by ILM :


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What does the world look like through the eyes of a mantis shrimp? It's not a question most of us would think to ask, but a new study has given us the answer: It looks like nothing humans (or any other animals) have ever seen.
It turns out that these exotic sea critters—affectionately known to the researchers in the study as "shrimp from Mars"—can see a kind of light that, as far as we know, is not apparent to any other animal on the planet. Not only that, but certain parts of the shrimps' bodies can reflect the same kind of light, creating a signal only other mantis shrimp can see. Thanks to this phenomenon, the creatures have their own visual code—a completely private way to communicate with one another as they scuttle across the ocean floor.
A research team well versed in the ways of mantis shrimp was tipped off by a set of unusual structures within the animals' eyes. These structures use the same principles as man-made detectors built to sense circularly polarized light—a specialized kind of light used to reduce the glare off computer monitors and take clearer photographs. When the researchers poked tiny electrodes into the shrimps' eyes and directed circularly polarized light onto them, they found that the same cells responded in different ways, at times recognizing the properties of circularly polarized light.
As for what one mantis shrimp looks like to another, Tom Cronin, a biologist at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and one of the study's authors, says that "it's impossible to know."
For more information on the super-sight of mantis shrimp, see the related Discoblog post.


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by Kate-Elaine Fazekas, Kaileigh Gobeille, Kimberly Kirby and Molly Wilson
Our teaching tool is an interactive graphic organizer that categorizes, illustrates and explains the different modes and tenses of some commonly-used verbs in the French language. Developed using the cloud-based software program called Prezi, the on-line tool is appropriately designed for secondary school students registered in French Immersion as well as applied and academic Core French classes. The Prezi tool is versatile in that students can access the web presentation for general review purposes, clarification reasons or an introduction to French verbs. The primary objective of the technological tool is to assist students who struggle with comprehending what, when, why and how certain French verb tenses and modes are used in sentences; seeing as proper grammar is important in French reading, writing and oral communication. Perhaps one of the most helpful qualities of the tool is that it contains English translations and thus caters to Core French students who usually experience difficulty understanding and communicating in their second language. From a differentiated learning standpoint, the presentation accommodates students who grasp material visually, textually and kinaesthetically. Firstly, the tool is constructed as a timeline intended to graphically organize the content material in a chronological way so as to help learners visualize the purposes of different French verbs in the past, present and future. Animations and illustrations also contribute to an aesthetically appealing and engaging learning experience. Secondly, there is an abundance of text in both French and English to explain each verb tense and mode in addition to the related examples. Thirdly, the tool gives the user the ability to navigate the interface at their discretion. With full control, the student can zoom in and out of brackets and choose which verb mode and/or tense they'd like to study. Therefore, the presentation incorporates a practical element for those learners who prefer connecting with the material hands-on. To conclude, our innovative educational tool responds to the learning needs of pre-teen and adolescent students in FSL and Immersion programs.
Access our teaching tool here! –> "Les temps des verbes"
Multiliteracies Project: Praxis Paper
Connecting theoretical tenets to practice is essential in order to create and subsequently implement effective and engaging lesson plans -especially when delivering differentiated instruction aimed to meet the various learning needs of students. As is demonstrated by our Prezi presentation titled "Les temps des verbes", graphic organizers are fundamental learning tools designed to classify and communicate content material ideas in a clear and structured way. In fact, the course textbook Content Area Reading: Literacy and Learning Across the Curriculum consistently advocates the use of graphic organizers to help students grasp material more quickly and easily. As the print resource highlights, graphic organizers such as charts, tables and graphs serve to outline the important information that students learn during a lesson. In particular, the authors state that, "Outlining helps students clarify relationships. Developing an outline is analogous to fitting together the pieces in a puzzle. Think of a puzzle piece as a separate idea and a text as the whole." (Vacca, Vacca & Mraz 318) For this reason, we decided to format our online project into a Prezi timeline with the objective to illustrate verb tenses and modes commonly used in the French language.
With regard to the learning expectations stated in the Ontario curriculum, our teaching tool would most likely be integrated into a Grade 10 Academic Core French (FSF2D) lesson. However, our timeline of French verb tenses and modes could undoubtedly be used across all secondary school grade levels because it acts as a helpful review tool for all students learning French grammar. While learning the different French verb tenses and modes separately can be difficult and confusing for students (especially in the applied stream), thus our group thought that organizing the subject matter into a visually-appealing timeline would be a more holistic approach. By teaching the verb tenses and modes using context rather than strictly theory, students would better comprehend the concepts.
Furthermore, by incorporating a kinesthetic feature whereby students can zoom in and out of sections, our presentation offers students the opportunity to tangibly explore the different French verb tenses and modes and how they are used; especially with regard to the claim that "the research base for graphic organizers shows that when students learn how to use and construct graphic organizers, they are in control of a study strategy that allows them to identify what parts of a text are important, how the ideas and concepts encountered in the text are related, and where they can find specific information to support more important ideas" (318). Therefore, our Prezi teaching tool is interactive since we combine textual information with visual cues such as pictures and video clips. As it is stated in the textbook, "with new literacies, students have at their command the ability to think and learn with content not only using print but also graphics, sound, and video" (43), and this is precisely what our presentation achieves. Lastly, the presentation moves in a linear fashion that mimics how the verb tenses and modes are used with regard to real time. It is our hope that by presenting the information in this manner, students would better comprehend the material.
To conclude, our teaching tool is not only suitable for educators to use in their classrooms but could also be a public resource for learners whereby students would be given a URL and be able to conveniently access the Prezi presentation whenever necessary.
Here are the links to our formal lesson plan and the two handouts:
Vacca, Richard T., Vacca, Jo Anne L., & Mraz, Maryann. Content Area Reading: Literacy and Learning Across the Curriculum, Eleventh Edition. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc., 2013. Print.


Tag: mental imagery
Muscle Strength Is In The Mind: Just Imagining Arm Exercises Creates A Tangible Effect On The Body
Brain and brawn aren't mutually exclusive—that, in fact, they have more in common than they ever thought. In a small study recently published in the Journal of Neurophysiology, researchers found that much of muscle strength is based on brain activity, rather than on the mass of the muscles themselves. "There's a fair amount of evidence that you'll activate the same parts of the brain doing imagery as you do if you're actually doing the task itself," explained Brian Clark, a physiology professor at Ohio University and the study's lead author. "The basic thought is that the imagery is allowing the brain to maintain those connections."
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Representation of a real world situation.
The word "model" is used in many ways and means different things, depending on the discipline. For example a meteorologist might think of a global climate model, used for weather forecasting, while an agronomist might think of a crop simulation model, used to estimate crop growth and yields.
Statistical models form the bedrock of data analysis. A statistical model is a simple description of a process that may have given rise to observed data.


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What's on the school dinner menu? Keeping everyone happy is virtually an impossibility. Here we focus on school catering: meeting dietary needs in schools, but also explore how you can reduce food waste and make savings for your school
Meeting dietary needs
"We're definitely seeing an increase in requests for special dietary requirements and need to ensure that menus are tailored to align with the requests of the customer," Claire explains. Factors such as diabetes, food allergies or intolerances, as well as the dietary requirements that arise from personal, religious or cultural beliefs need to be considered.
"Communication is key so we work in partnership with the school and parents and use a comprehensive process to identify and manage special dietary requirements," Claire says. It's important to ensure the catering manager understands the dietary needs of students – whether vegan, lactose intolerant, halal or kosher – and Claire also says it's important that the catering company offers accurate information and that allergens are highlighted in recipes.
Children also need to be aware of what they are eating; "We use photo imagery – which is clearly displayed – to identify the children with intolerances. This is especially helpful with younger children," Claire adds.
Read more on school catering and building a healthier menu – for all
Reduce food waste
Have you ever considered how much food waste your school produces? According to Recycle Now the average secondary school produces 22kg of waste per pupil per academic year while, astonishingly, the average primary school student creates 45kg per academic year. And food waste costs!
How you manage this waste can result in substantial savings. The Western Riverside Waste Authority suggests creating a food waste calculator so you can weigh the leftover food from lunches, record the information and – based on the data – assess how much and why food is being wasted as well as how much money you could save if this was reduced.
"Separate out and record all your waste – studies show this nearly always reduces waste within organisations as it highlights the waste that is being produced," Nicky Whitson of PKL advises. "Review your menus asking, for example, 'Are any meals producing excess waste because they aren't popular?'" Nicky further suggests composting as a means of reducing waste and also raising awareness in school, as well as speaking to suppliers and exploring packaging reduction.
Responsibility for waste disposal lies with the schools unless – where catering is outsourced –specifically agreed by the school and the caterer. It's worth looking at cost-efficient ways of reducing the waste collection a school needs – for example, a waste digester does just this. Nicky points out these can produce soil improver or biofuel which can then be used to reduce overheads for grounds maintenance or heating.
"The aim for any caterer in the future will be to 'close the circle' – ensuring that they use as few resources as possible and making sure they 're-use' as many resources as possible," says Nicky. "Plus, for schools, it's important to set a good example for the next generation – many of whom are growing up with a good understanding of the environmental issues created by food waste."


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Our organs are vital and alive. They provide us with our sense of self, full-bodiedness, and organic authenticity. Organs are the contents within the skeletal-flesh container and carry on the functions of our internal survival – breathing, nourishment and elimination. Organs are the primary habitats or natural environments of our emotions, aspirations, and the memories of our inner reactions to our personal histories. They support our postural tone and our feelings, and give volume to our movement.
This course will include:
Initiating breath, voice, movement and touch from the organs.
Analyzing imbalances in individual organs and the organ system as a whole.
Techniques to facilitate access to and balance in the organs


Asked by: Farida Meireles
asked in category: General Last Updated: 26th April, 2020
How do you remove epoxy stone?
Use a shovel to remove the loosened epoxyand gravel from the concrete deck surface. Switch to a floorscraper to remove the gravel sections still stuck to theconcrete. Repeat the spray and removal process if only onelayer of the coating comes up.
Click to see full answer.
In this way, how do you remove epoxy from skin?
Removing Epoxy Adhesive on Skin
 1. Vinegar. You can use vinegar to remove cured epoxy adhesivefrom your skin.
 2. Acetone. Acetone is another simple, yet effective,solution.
 3. Citrus-Based Waterless Hand Cleaner. If you can find one, acitrus-based waterless hand cleaner can also do the job of removingfresh epoxy on your skin.
Also, how do you remove epoxy from tile? How to Remove Epoxy Residue From Ceramic Tile
 1. Heat the epoxy you want to remove with a heat gun on itshighest setting.
 2. Apply heat until the epoxy appears to soften, at least 30 to 60seconds.
 3. Immediately after heating the area, scrape broken-down epoxywith a plastic scraper.
 4. Clean the surface with an all-purpose tile cleaner.
Also to know, can you remove epoxy flooring?
To Remove Epoxy Flooring from Concrete. Epoxyflooring is different than epoxy paint. More than likelyit was applied by a professional and more than likely itwill need to be removed by one. The best way toremove epoxy flooring from concrete is to grind itaway.
How do you dissolve hardened epoxy?
Method 1 Using Heat to Remove Epoxy
 1. Put on gloves, goggles, and a mask. When heating epoxy, vaporswill be produced that are not friendly to your eyes.
 2. Wear clothes that cover your skin.
 3. Soak the surface in acetone.
 4. Aim a heat gun at the epoxy for several minutes.
 5. Heat small areas at a time.
 6. Scrape off the heated epoxy.
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Vitim volcanThe Vitim Plateau volcano is a vast volcanic field northeast of the Baikal Lake. Cinder cones and associated lava flows are spread over an area of about 10,000 sq km.
Introduction:Volcanism in the Vitim Plateau dates back to the Miocene. The most voluminous activity was between the Miocene and the Pleistocene. A second second phase occurred during the Pleistocene and Holocene.
Most of the volcanic centers are located in the NW part of the volcanic field, parallel to the axial part of the Baikal Rift Zone, which lies about 200 km to the west. Mantle zenoliths are found in several locations.
Source: Smithsonian Institution / GVP
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Searching for contamination is essential to the creation and delivery of safe edible products to the public. However, detecting physical intrusions in the form of these items below is similar to finding a needle in a haystack.
To accomplish responsible food production, the food and beverage industry needs accurate equipment they can trust. SRO Technology is an Australian leader in accurate and reliable food safety equipment. With a quality range of metal detectors, check weighing and x-ray detection systems to choose from, food processors can be assured their production line is free of physical contaminants.
SRO Technology specialises in designing, configuring, installing and maintaining a wide variety of instrumentation solutions, from x-ray inspection to metal detection. Our personnel understand industryand process-specific needs, and are therefore capable of delivering custom, effective food and beverage solutions.
Choosing the right inspection equipment
As a food processor, it is essential to have reliable and accurate dynamic detection systems that can ensure your production line is free of contamination. SRO Technology identifies the ideal product inspection solution for you to ensure your food production processes are as safe as possible. There are three main areas of inspection:
Mitigating risks
Globalisation and advances in technology have created a truly international supply chain. Food processors are no longer simply dealing with domestic standards but also complex and often contradictory international requirements.
A lack of quality food safety equipment, such as x-ray detection systems, can jeopardise the products and the integrity of a food processor's reputation. Yet, responsible food production can be achieved through innovative and advanced technological food safety instruments.
As a manufacturer or supplier monitoring, detecting and maintaining a hygienic and responsible food production supply chain can safeguard the quality of your products. Food contaminants of any kind can lead to serious consequences for companies due to product liability legislation.
Dynamic detection systems are essential for reducing the risks companies shoulder and mitigating the potential negative consequences.


Scratchapixel 2.0
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Introduction to Acceleration Structures
Bounding Box
The simplest method to accelerate ray tracing can't necessarily be considered as an acceleration structure, however this is certainly the simplest way to cut down render times. Each one of the grid from the teapot has potentially more than a hundred triangles: with 8 divisions, the grid contains 128 triangles, which requires a similar number of intersection test for each ray cast into the scene. What we can do instead, is ray trace a box containing all the vertices of the grid. Such box is called a bounding volume: it is the tightest possible volume (a box in that case but it could also be a sphere) surrounding the grid. Figure 1 shows the bounding boxes of each one of the 32 Bézier patches making up the teapot model.
Figure 1: bounding boxes of the Bézier patches making up Newell's Teapot.
Figure 2: bounding boxes enclosing a patch from the teapot model are tested for an intersection with a ray. Geometry contained by the bounding volumes which are not intersected by the ray can be safely rejected.
We can first test if the ray intersects this box, and if it doesn't, we know for sure that it can't intersect the geometry contained in this bounding volume (figure 2). If we can ignore the triangles from this bounding box, we save 128 ray-triangle intersection tests. Considering that many of the bounding boxes from the scene are likely to fail this test as well, overall, we can save a significant number of calls to the ray-triangle routine. If the ray intersects the bounding box though, all the triangles contained in the volume will have to be tested for an intersection with this ray. In figure 2, we can see a ray intersecting the bounding boxes of the Bézier patches making up the teapot model. Only colored boxes are intersected by the ray, and only the grids contained by these boxes will be tested for an intersection with the ray. Patches contained by the boxes which are not intersected can be safely rejected.
The following pseudocode illustrates this process:
for (each object in scene) { if (intersect(ray, object->boundingBox) == true) { for (each triangle in object) { if (intersect(ray, triangle) == true) { // the ray intersects the triangle... } } } }
Figure 3: the bounding box of the Ape model (courtesy of Kenichi Nishida).
Calculating a bounding box for an object is very simple. We can loop over all the vertices making up the mesh to find the minimum and maximum value for each of the point's coordinate (the xyz points position). These values form what we call the object's minimum and maximum extent and define the two corners of the bounding box (see figure 3). The bounding box of an object is usually computed when the object is built (for instance in the constructor of the polygon mesh class) and stored in a member variable of the object's class (each primitive type may require a different method to compute this bounding box. The bounding volume of a quadratic sphere for instance can be computed from its radius). The following code snippet from the ray tracer shows how we compute the bounding box of a polygon object (line 13). The bbox variable is a member variable of the base Object class (the code is available in the last chapter of this lesson).
class PolygonMesh : public Object { public: PolygonMesh( const Matrix44f &o2w, const uint32_t &np, const uint32_t *nv, const uint32_t *v, const Vec3f *pts, const Vec3f *nors = NULL) : Object(o2w), ntris(0), tris(NULL), P(NULL), N(NULL) {... for (uint32_t i = 0; i < maxVertIndex + 1; ++i) { objectToWorld.multVecMatrix(pts[i], P[i]); bbox.extendBy(P[i]); }... } }; template class Box { public:... void extendBy(const Vec &pt) { for (size_t i = 0; i < D; ++i) { if (pt[i] < bounds[0][i]) bounds[0][i] = pt[i]; if (pt[i] > bounds[1][i]) bounds[1][i] = pt[i]; } }... };
The rest of the code is very simple. We will use the ray-box intersection routine we have studied in lesson 7 (Intersecting Simple Shape):
uint64_t numRayBoxTests = 0; template bool Box::intersect(const Ray &r) const { __sync_fetch_and_add(&numRayBoxTests, 1);... return true; }
We use the same as with the ray-triangle intersection method to count the number of times the ray-box intersection method has been called. A global variable numRayBoxTests declared in the box.cpp file is incremented using an atomic add operation each time the box intersect method is called. The final value is printed out at the end of the render with the other statistics.
We also created an AccelerationStructure base class which behaves very similarly to an objects. It holds an intersect method looping over all the objects from the scene (line 5). We first test for an intersection between the ray and the bounding box of the current object (line 7). If the test is successful, the ray is then tested against the object contained by the box (line 9). The rest of the code is very similar to the implementation of the trace function from lesson 11. Each time a triangle is intersected, we need to update the closest distance to the intersection point (lines 10-11) and keep a pointer to the intersected object (line 12):
const Object* AccelerationStructure::intersect(const Ray &ray, IsectData &isectData) const { float tClosest = ray.tmax; Object *hitObject = NULL; for (size_t i = 0; i < rc->objects.size(); ++i) { Ray r(ray); if (rc->objects[i]->bbox.intersect(r)) { IsectData isectDataCurrent; if (rc->objects[i]->intersect(ray, isectDataCurrent)) { if (isectDataCurrent.t < tClosest && isectDataCurrent.t > ray.tmin) { isectData = isectDataCurrent; hitObject = rc->objects[i]; tClosest = isectDataCurrent.t; } } } } return (tClosest < ray.tmax)? hitObject : NULL; }
Finally we need to update the trace function. Rather than looping over all the objects from the scene, we just need to call the intersect method from the AccelerationStructure class. If this method returns a valid pointer to an object from the scene, an intersection occurred and we can set the color of the pixel with the intersected object's color:
template void trace(const Ray ray, const RenderContext *rc, Spectrum &s) { IsectData isectData; const Object *hitObject = NULL; if ((hitObject = rc->accelStruct->intersect(ray, isectData))!= NULL) = hitObject->color; else = rc->backgroundColor; }
If we render the scene we used in the previous chapter, we now get the following statistics:
Render time : 3.96 (sec) Total number of triangles : 16384 Total number of primary rays : 307200 Total number of ray-triangles tests : 129335296 Total number of ray-triangles intersections : 111889 Total number of ray-box tests : _PHONE_
Render time was reduced by a factor of about 34. Logically the ratio between the number of ray-triangle tests performed with and without this basic acceleration structure is about the same: 38. The two number are not exactly the same because of the extra time it now takes to compute the ray-box intersections (9.83 million times). However the benefits we get from using this scheme largely outweighs the additional work these tests require.
The technique presented in this chapter works well in the case of the teapot because the model contains many grids whose resolution (in terms of polygon count) is reasonably low. The ape model on the other hand, is very complex and is made of one single piece. If we were to render this object, we would only save time when the primary rays don't intersect its bounding box (which is, for a typical frame, maybe less than a third of the total number of pixels). For all the over rays, we would still have to perform an intersection test against the hundred thousand triangles making up the model. In that particular case, the bounding box method would only bring a small benefit compared to the brute force approach. It is simple and fast to implement but is clearly not adapted to all situations and for this reason it is not considered as a very good acceleration method.
The idea of using a bounding volume to accelerate ray tracing is quite old. It is hard to find exactly who and when the idea was proposed. In a paper from 1980 entitled "A 3-Dimensional Representation for Fast Rendering of Complex Scenes", the authors Ruben and Whitted already speak about the possibility of using a hierarchy of such bounding volumes for "fast" rendering (see references section at the end of this lesson).
What's Next?
In the next chapter we will present a technique presented by Kajiya and Kay in 1986 to accelerate ray tracing. This method is based on what's now known as bounding


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cell cultures and plants. More than $500 million and five years are required to build a facility for mammalian cell cultures. Using plants to produce therapeutic proteins lowers facility and production costs associated with plant-made pharmaceuticals.
One of the companies developing plant-produced antibodies estimates that this production method is 25 to 100 times less expensive than cell-fermentation methods. Standard fermentation methods can produce 5 to 10 kilograms of a therapeutic antibody per year, while this company reports that it can produce 10,000 kilograms of monoclonal antibodies per year. Using plants as factories to produce therapeutic proteins also enables researchers to develop novel and complex molecular forms that could not normally be grown in mammalian cell cultures.
Because protein-producing plants require relatively little capital investment, and the costs of production and maintenance are minimal, they may provide the only economically viable option for independent production of therapeutic proteins in underdeveloped countries.


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What is surface water management and why is it important?
Surface water management is the process of collecting, monitoring and treating surface water to help prevent flooding and pollution.
Surface water is generated by many sources including:
- Snow melt
- Any water you use outside, including washing your car, watering your lawn or emptying a pool.
Surface runoff travels in many different ways. A few examples are:
- Over land through swales and ditches
- Crossing over and beneath roads through culverts
- Captured by catch basins (square grates at the edge of the road) and carried underground within sewer pipes
The City of Hamilton regulates the quantity and quality of surface water through different methods. We mostly use stormwater management ponds. It is essential to manage surface water as it focuses on reducing flood damage and improving local water quality.
The watercourse includes:
- All ponds, streams, creeks and rivers in Hamilton
- All swales, ditches and underground pipes that carry surface water.
It is important to take certain actions to not pollute our watercourse.
Residents should obey the following guidelines to help keep our watercourse clean:
- Do not litter in or around the watercourse
- Do not drain or dispose of swimming pool chemicals and water in the watercourse
- Pick up after your dogs and pets
- Do not over fertilize or over water your lawn/garden
- Report illegal dumping to by registering a by-law complaint
Additional information about watercourses and the natural environment within the City of Hamilton, can be found through the Conservation Authority:
Municipal Drains are drainage systems that help surface water travel to the watercourse. Dykes, swales, ditches and underground pipes are a few examples of municipal drain systems. These systems have been put in place to reduce flooding.
Report a municipal drain that needs maintenance
Find out more about municipal drains
Cross culverts are structures that help surface water travel below a road, railroad, trail or similar barrier from one side to the other. Culverts play a key role in managing surface water and preventing flooding.
Report a cross culvert that is clogged and needs maintenance
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The most common way to create new files is by using a program. For example, you can create a text document in a word processing program or a movie file in a video editing program.
Some programs create a file when you open them. When you open WordPad, for example, it starts with a blank page. This represents an empty (and unsaved) file. Start typing, and when you are ready to save your work, click File in the menu bar and then click Save As. In the dialog box that appears, type a file name that will help you find the file again in the future, and then click Save.
By default, most programs save files in common folders like Documents, Pictures, and Music, which makes it easy to find the files again next time. For more information on creating new files, see Save a file.
When you no longer need a file, you can remove it from your computer's hard disk to save space and keep your computer from getting cluttered with unwanted files. To delete a file, open the folder that contains the file and then select the file. Press DELETE and then, in the Delete File dialog box, click Yes.
When you delete a file, it's temporarily stored in the Recycle Bin. Think of the Recycle Bin as a safety folder that allows you to recover files or folders that you deleted accidentally. Occasionally, you should empty the Recycle Bin to reclaim all of the hard disk space being used by your unwanted files. To learn how to empty the Recycle Bin, see Permanently delete files from the Recycle Bin.


Insert Mode
Displays the current insert mode. You can toggle between INSRT = insert and OVER = overwrite.
Click in the field to toggle the modes (except in the LibreOffice Basic IDE, where only the Insert mode is active). If the cursor is positioned in a text document, you may also use the Insert key (if available on your keyboard) to toggle the modes.
In the insert mode, new text is inserted at the cursor position and the following text is shifted to the right. The cursor is displayed as a vertical line.
In the overwrite mode, any existing text is replaced by new text. The cursor is displayed as a thick vertical line.


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San Juan is one of the few villages left around Guatemala that dyes its yarn naturally. The natural yarn process is fascinating. It is incredible that such vibrant colours can be achieved in a completely natural way.
Once picked, the natural cotton balls—which are white, khaki or coffee in color—are pulled apart so that the seeds can be removed. (pictured right) The cotton is then stretched and pounded into a rectangle in preparation for spinning it into thread.
The cotton is then handspun on a spool. One hand spins the spool while the other holds the cotton high until long strands begin to form. It is necessary to spin the cotton several times to achieve a very fine cotton thread. (pictured below)
A natural fixator made from banana leaves is used to ensure the finished yarn does not bleed as synthetic dye often does. The cotton is first dipped in the banana water then into the pot containing the boiling water and desired dye – usually depending on the hue desired, you boil the yarn for 2 – 3 hours. The final step is dipping the now naturally dyed yarn in the banana water again to fix the colour. The result; a vibrant colour that does not bleed or stain and is completely environmentally friendly.
Both muted and vivid dye colors can be achieved depending on the boiling time and the plants they are derived from, some of which include avocado, guava, carrots, basil and cinnamon. What is interesting is that often the plant or insect gives an unexpected colour.
Who would have thought that avocado dye equals pink yarn?


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Stewarding Sustainability Transformations
In the context of the world's pressing sustainability challenges this new Report to the Club of Rome presents a novel approach to navigating collaborative change in partnerships between governments, research institutions, corporations and civil society activists. With reference to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the Planetary Boundaries it introduces the theory and practice of Collective Stewardship as a management tool that respects the integrity of human and natural systems. Drawing on the work of transdisciplinary scientific scholars and seasoned sustainability practitioners, it shows how transformative change can be built on life's inherent tendency to generate patterns of vitality and resilience. This ground-breaking monograph shows workable pathways to stewarding patterns of aliveness in social and ecological systems at all levels of the global society. As a highly regarded author and expert in collective leadership, Petra Kuenkel inspires academics and practitioners alike to explore new routes towards co-creating responsible futures in the era of the Anthropocene, where the human footprint has begun to change the course of planetary evolution. She invites decision-makers, researchers, planners and social activists to become stewards of systems patterns, enhance their collaborative competencies and guide life-enhancing socio-ecological interaction at scale. The conceptual architecture the author elaborates builds transformation literacy and boils down to a practical guidance for planning and implementing interventions across all sectors of society. It helps bring about change through a deliberate combination of enlivening narratives, empowering metrics, enabling processes, multi-level governance, guiding regulations, and life-supporting innovation. This comprehensive book sets a new direction in the field of sustainability transformations and will become a foundation for planning collective action and achieving impact at scale.


Technology Interrupts Sleep: Fact or Fiction?
A recent study is flying in the face of logic by suggesting that technologies such as smartphones and tablet computers are not keeping us up at night. Tesearchers at the University of Sidney in Australia compared the average hours of sleep for people between the years 1992 and 2006. After looking over all of the data, it was found that there was no significant change in duration of sleep during that time. Overall, the average hours of sleep hovered around 8 hours and 30 minutes for each sample year. This study disproves an earlier poll that said that Australians are sleeping fewer hours than they were a decade ago. Besides the initial findings, it was also revealed that sleeping fewer hours is associated with higher level of education, higher income, longer work hours, and having 2 or more children in the home.
Source: Virtual Medical Centre


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- Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Construction at St Columb's College...
BTEC Diploma in Construction and the Built Environment
.BTEC National qualifications are undertaken in further education and sixth-form colleges, schools and other training providers, and have been since they were introduced in 1984. Their purpose, approaches to teaching, learning and assessment are established and understood by teaching professionals, employers and learners alike. They provide students with the knowledge, understanding and skills that they need to gain entry into 3rd level education or prepare for skilled employment.
The BTEC Diploma in Construction is 100% coursework and over the 2 years, students will undertake 12 units of work covering a wide range of related topics. Each unit will require students to complete a variety of tasks varying in complexity from pass level to distinction level. You will be awarded a grade in each unit and the grades achieved in the 12 units over the duration of the course will be used to determine your final award..
6 units are taught in St Columb's by Mr R Hyndman and Mr V Doherty and 6 units are taught at the NWRC.
Examples of units that will have to be studied
1 Health, Safety and Welfare in Construction and the Built Environment
3 Mathematics in Construction and the Built Environment
4 Science and Materials in Construction and the Build Environment
5 Construction Technology and Design in Construction and Civil Engineering
6 Building Technology in Construction
Final grades awarded | (Equivalent A level grade)
Pass / Pass | (EE)
Merit / Mass | (DD)
Merit / Merit | (CC)
Distinction / Merit | (BB)
Distinction / Distinction | (AA)
Distinction* / Distinction | (A*A)
Distinction* / Distinction* | (A*A*)
Quantity Surveying, Civil Engineering, Building Surveying, Construction Engineering, Urban Planning and Property Development
BTEC Students undertaking a site visit


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Maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) or maintenance, repair, and overhaul involves fixing any sort of mechanical, plumbing or electrical device should it become out of order or broken (known as repair, unscheduled or casualty maintenance). It also includes performing routine actions which keep the device in working order (known as scheduled maintenance) or prevent trouble from arising (preventive maintenance). MRO may be defined as, "All actions which have the objective of retaining or restoring an item in or to a state in which it can perform its required function. The actions include the combination of all technical and corresponding administrative, managerial, and supervision actions."
MRO operations can be categorised by whether the product remains the property of the customer, i.e. a service is being offered, or whether the product is bought by the reprocessing organisation and sold to any customer wishing to make the purchase.
The former of these represents a closed loop supply chain and usually has the scope of maintenance, repair or overhaul of the product. The latter of the categorisations is an open loop supply chain and is typified by refurbishment and remanufacture. The main characteristic of the closed loop system is that the demand for a product is matched with the supply of a used product. Neglecting asset write-offs and exceptional activities the total population of the product between the customer and the service provider remains constant.


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- AKA: Describe, Descriptive Expression, Describing.
- It can be an Informal Definition.
- A news story describing an event.
- See: Definition, Explicit Referencer, Referring Expression, Definite Description, Indefinite Description.
- (WordNet, 2009) ⇒ _URL_
- S: (n) description, verbal description (a statement that represents something in words)
- S: (n) description (the act of describing something)
- S: (n) description (sort or variety) "every description of book was there"
- 1. A sketch or account of anything in words; a portraiture or representation in language; an enumeration of the essential qualities of a thing or species.
- 2. The act of describing; a delineation by marks or signs.
- 3. A set of characteristics by which someone or something can be recognized.
- "Based on her description of X, we..."
- "Although much of his description of X is accurate..."
- "A theoretical description of the new phases of liquid 3 He.."
- (Bach, 2008) ⇒ Kent Bach. (2008). "On Referring and Not Referring." In: Reference: Interdisciplinary Perspectives." Jeanette K. Gundel and Nancy Hedberg, editors. Oxford University Press.
- QUOTE: Referring is not as easy as is commonly supposed. Much of what speaker do that passes for referring really isn't but is merely alluding or describing.