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Are you interested in learning more about the bioeconomy, bioproducts, and bioenergy?
You've come to the right place! Our Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are free, self-paced online courses that will introduce you to the growing bioeconomy sector. We will continue to add more MOOCS as they become available.
The MOOCS will give you a general overview of the bioeconomy. However, if you'd like to explore these topics in more detail, we encourage you to take our 3-credit courses for degree and non-degree seeking students through the Department of Forest Biomaterials at NC State.
To access the MOOCS:
- Go to _URL_
- Create a login account
- Search for the course title (e.g. "Sustainable Bioeconomy" or "Biomass Conversion")
- Select "Enroll Me"
Instructors: Dr. Richard Venditti and Shana McAlexander
The Sustainable Bioeconomy course examines the current and future opportunities and challenges of bioproducts and bioenergy in society. This course explores relationships between society's economic demand for inexpensive energy and products and our responsibility to produce these products in environmentally and socially responsible ways. Students explore a range of bioproduct categories including biofuels, virgin and recycled paper and wood products, and advanced biomaterials. A panel of instructors from multiple disciplines and bioeconomy stakeholders will share their diverse perspectives and experiences in the bioeconomy. Students will learn about careers available in the growing bioeconomy sector and the knowledge and skills necessary for these jobs.
Instructors: Dr. Ronalds Gonzalez and Antonio Suarez
This course examines the evolution of the global bioeconomy and major drivers behind its growth while providing detailed business and financial training. By understanding the forces behind the growth of the bioeconomy, students can identify features in products and services that can potentially capture value (profit) in this sector. The course provides basic to complex conversion economics and financial concepts as well as business tools for non-financial trained students. At the end of the course, students will be capable of analyzing and screening opportunities for profit while promoting the adoption of bio-based products and thus meet the growing demand for sustainable goods.
Instructors: Dr. Sunkyu Park and Joe Sagues
The term biomass encompasses any renewable, organic material of recent biological origin, such as trees, crops, agricultural and forestry residues, and municipal solid waste. The course will cover the fundamental concepts of industrial biomass conversion processes such as aerobic fermentation, anaerobic digestion, pyrolysis, and gasification. The course will require basic math and chemistry skills. You should expect this course to: Illuminate the current and emerging technologies for creating sustainable products from renewable biomass resources; Examine the basic chemistry of biomass resources and their conversion to valued products such as fuels, plastics, and fibers, to name a few; Introduce concepts critical to industrial process design, modeling, and techno-economic analysis; Highlight careers available in the growing bioeconomy sector and the knowledge and skills necessary for these jobs.
Instructors: Dr. Yuan Yao and Dr. Richard Venditti
Societal needs always have a consequence with regards to the environment. The efficient use of the world's resources is key to sustainability. Several options exist when trying to determine which method best serves mankind and its environment. Life cycle analysis (LCA) methods offer a systematic approach to providing guidance in these decisions. Mastering LCA techniques is an integral part of a student's preparation for a career that is professionally, environmentally, and socially responsible. This course is an overview of the various aspects of conducting and interpreting an environmental life cycle analysis on a product or service. Students will learn how to construct a life cycle analysis goal and scope, a life cycle inventory, a life cycle assessment, and an interpretation. Skills in the critique and communication of a life cycle analysis will be developed. The course will have an emphasis on systems thinking. The course is targeted for students in with a background in science or engineering.


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Creating awareness and understanding
Enhanced public awareness and understanding of race discrimination and cultural sensitivity are essential to the elimination of racial discrimination and promotion of racial equality. Hence, Hong Kong Unison offers talks and workshops to the general public, schools, vocational training institutes and universities while staging public education campaigns to raise awareness.
- Talks and Workshops
- Public Education Campaigns

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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We see white stockings in the earlyand mid-19th century, but they subsequently disappeared for a few decades. Suddenly at the turn-of the 20th century we see girls and younger boys wearing first white long stockings and then white knee socks. Knee socks began to replace long stockings beginning in the 1910s. Boh white stockings and white knee socks were often worn with strap shoes or sandals. Significant differences existed between countries for reasons we do not undrstand. Boys wearing white knee socks were much more common on the Continent than wither Britain or America. White knee socks were worn in America and Britain, but mostly by girls. White knee socks seem especially common in France and Germanyand were worn by both boys and girls.
White knee socks began to appear about the turn of the century. I have seen advertisements for white socks of various lengths in store catalogs during the late
19th century, but have seen few actual photographs of boys wearing them with knee-length pants until after the turn of the century. Many of the boys wearing dresses, however, were photographed with white socks--usually
ankle length. Until the turn of the century boys mostly wore
over-the-knee stockings for dress occasions. Even after the turn-of-the century over the knee stockings were often worn with knee pants and knickers and were more common than kneesocks. Throgh the 1910s, thre-quarter length sovks were more common than jneesocks, but were generally replaced during the 1920s. tiockings In some countries such as Germany they were even worn with shorts. Boys after the turn-of-the centuruy began wearing white knee socks with Fauntleroy suits, although long white stockings were more common. Often they were worn with strap shoes. After World War I knee socks of all descriptions became more common with the increasingly popular short pants. Conventions for wearing
white knee socks, however, varied greatly from country to country.
Great differences exist in the conventions for wearing white kneesocks. These differences exist among countries. In some countries like England,
white kneesocks were considered suitable for young children and girls. Little English boys wore them, but rarely school-age boys. On the continent, white
kneesocks were more commonly worn by boys. There were also different institutiions and activities in which white kneesocks were worn. Choirs and schools often used them in school uniforms. After World War II, they were commonly worn by Japanese schoolboys.
White kneesocks currently have a dressy look. They were worn, however for both dress wear and for play. The use of white kneesocks differed somewhat from country to country. Small boys still in dresses might wear white stockings for socks in the late 19th century, but once breeched they almost always wore dark stockings. After the turn of the century, white stickings and socks were worn by boys after breeching--although the age varied. While white kneesocks could be worn with for both play and dress outfits, often dark stockings were considered more suitable for especially formal occasions.
Erly kneesocks were often made from a bulky materail. Some were knitted at home. This was much less true for white kneesocks. This is because white kneesocks wre often worn for more formal dresswear--at least by boys. Hosiery for formal wear was commonly more sheeer than hosiery for every day wear.
White knee socks were often made to come to the knee without the extra material for turn over top cuffs.
We have noted boys in several countries wearing white knee socks. They were more common in some countries than others. There are substantial differences betwwn the conventions for wearing white knee socks among different countries. Knesocks for example were very common in Britain. Knee socks were perhaps more commonly worn in Britain than any other country. yet boys rarely wore knee socks. They were much more common for girls. We see both boys and girls wearing knee socks in Germany. We also see both boys and girls wearing white kneesocks in France. Similar patterns were observeable in Belgium. Knee socks were commonly worn by American boys in the 1920s and 30s, but they were commonly patterened knee socks. White knee socks were much more common. Our information on many countries is more limited at this time. These conventions have varied over time.
Various insitutions such as schools or youth groups have employed white kneesocks as part of their uniforms or costumes. Schools in various countries were the most common. Many European choirs also outfitted the boys wearing short pants in white kneesocks. Some youth groups have also used white kneesocks. This was particulartly true of the Young Pioneees, but the Scouts and other youth groups have employed white kneesocks as part of formal dress uniforms. We also note white kneesocks being used as part of band uniforms and dance costumes.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main knee socks page>]
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Cloth and textiles] [Clothing styles] [Countries] [Topics]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Satellite sites] [Tools]
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Virtaul Hard Disk (VHD) is basically a file format that contains complete structure of a hard disk. It is a virtual machine hard disk that can reside on a native host file system encapsulated within a single file. It is used to store virtual operating systems, their related program files and it acts like a proper hard disk. Now, you won't need any third party tools to create and attach VHD, Windows 7's Disk Management comes with an option to create, attach and detach the Virtual Hard Disks instantly.
To create Virtual Hard Disk in Windows 7 go to Start menu, right click Computer and choose Manage.
Now to create VHD, click Disk Management and choose Action > Create VHD as shown in following screenshot.
A dialogue box will be loaded where you can make necessary settings for creating VHD, specify location, size and virtual hard disk format (it could be dynamically expanding or Fixed size).
Click OK and VHD will be created and it will be displayed in Disk Management along with other disks.
Now the last step is that you will need to attach it in order to make it functional You can do so from Action > Attach VHD, browse and specify the.vhd file which you created in above mentioned step and click OK to attach it to your system.
Thats all, now you can use the virtual disk without any fuss. Enjoy!

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


text: One of the most unexpected results from the Mars Global Surveyor mission was the discovery of strong, spatially variable remanent magnetization in the crust. The peak intensities of the crustal magnetizations on Mars are an order of magnitude greater than typical for Earth rocks at spacecraft altitude. However, the crust within the younger impact basins does not preserve any magnetization above the detection limits and may suggest that shock waves generated during impact events demagnetized large sections of the Martian crust. The timing and generation of the dynamo on Mars places fundamental constraints on the thermal evolution of the planet. Therefore, the magnetic signatures in the crust and in meteorites place important constraints on the evolution of Mars. However, interpreting the complex patterns in the Martian crust (below) requires a better understanding of the effect of shocks on magnetization.


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The often-overlooked Burning of the Bridge diorama does an effective job of explaining the Civil War Battle of Wrightsville and the subsequent burning of the Susquehanna River bridge connecting Wrightsville and Columbia in late-June 1863. It's located in a former post office at 124 Hellam Street and is open from 1-4 p.m. Sundays until Oct. 28. After that visit, stop by the Historic Wrightsville Museum. (See another photo of a reenactment of sorts of the burning of the bridge below.) Also of interest: Battle of Wrightsville – Rare photograph of the battlefield
Much has been written about the bold move by a Hanover businessman to purchase the old Electric Map familiar to generations of visitors to Gettysburg.
Scott Roland plans to display the map as an attraction in Hanover, where it will appear with another exhibit showing the Battle of Hanover.
That's a wonderful project on the eve of the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. It's sure to draw people to Hanover, site of an often-overlooked cavalry clash that resulted in 300 dead, wounded and missing military men in blue and gray.
It gives an opportunity to remember another map or diorama explaining the other major battle on York County soil — the Battle of Wrightsville.
Along the old Lincoln Highway in Wrightsville sits a small building, a former post office.
Today, it houses Historic Wrightsville's Burning of the Bridge diorama.
The exhibit, complete with sound and light show, does an effective job interpreting the Battle of
Wrightsville and the subsequent burning of the covered bridge that stopped the Confederate advance possibly to Harrisburg and Philadelphia.
"The story told by the narration is one of adventure and history," a description of the diorama at historicwrightsvillepa.org states.
If the diorama in Wrightsville models the overall battle, 'Bridge Burner' volunteer Chuck Storm lights firewood on one of the old bridge supports in the Susquehanna River in a past reenactment of the burning of the covered bridge. That support actually held the bridge that was burned in 1863 to stop the Confederate advance.
Other neat stuff from all over ….
Challenged intersection: Something that came across in the reporting on the now-demolished Rocky Ridge Motel. The Glen Rock exit off of Interstate 83, site of the old motel, is known as a "failing intersection", meaning its late 1950s-vintage ramps and exits don't meet the modern standards of an interstate.
A bike brand: This weekend is Bike Night, Harley's open house and the White Rose Thunder event at the York Expo Center. These events surely reinforce the connection of York with two-wheel motorized bikes. Background: Check out these photos and stories about Harley-Davidson in York and Harley's new plant tour – From frame to 'final dress'
Blog post of the day: Yorkblogger June Lloyd writes about the just-released Journal of York County Heritage, a publication of the York County Heritage Trust.
Forum of the day: An Exchanger is reflecting on York's newstands, past and present. Join in the conversation.


they're closer to sports. Games become an intense, straight competition, pitting players' brains against each other. Right there it shows how luck (or in this case, the absence of luck) creates a very specific feel to a game.
Good examples of games without any luck are classics such as Chess or Go. There are also plenty of modern board games with no luck, like Puerto Rico, Caylus (they both have a minimal amount of luck in the initial tile order), or Hive.
It's interesting that a lot of abstract games tend to have no luck, and the more thematic a game gets, the more they seem to rely on luck.
Are You Feeling Lucky?
Having some amount of luck in a game can be very beneficial for most kinds of board games. It accomplishes many things:
 1. Keeps things varied from game to game
 2. Keeps players feeling they have a chance to win even if they're not currently ahead
 3. Removes pressure from winning players ("If someone beats me, it's because they had a lucky streak")
 4. Makes players who didn't win feel they stand a chance next time they play ("next time I'll catch a break and I can win!")
Points 2, 3, and 4 all encourage more people to play the game and feel they're competitive at it, even if they didn't win (and even if they're not really competitive). One of the best examples of this is poker: Everybody feels they can do great at poker, if only they get good cards. In reality, this is not true in the long term, but poker introduces plenty of luck that it really is true in the short term.
A consequence of all those points is that having some amount of luck allows players of different skills to participate in the same game and enjoy it equally. For games that rely on having multiple people looking to play it, it can be a big factor.
Types of luck
For games that choose to add some luck element, there's a whole range of amounts and types of lucks they can use for different effects. Unfortunately, it's also possible to mix the wrong type of luck with a given game feature and create a frustrating experience instead of an enjoyable one.
 - Post-action luck. This is luck introduced after the player has made a decision and executed an action. It can be in the form of flipping a coin to see if you unlock a chest, or rolling a dice to see if your armies invade a territory.
 - Pre-action luck. Pre-action luck consists of the random events that happen before the player performs an action. The player is able to take them into account and make a decision based on them.
 - Hidden information. Hidden information is the third kind of luck. I was a bit hesitant to include it as its own category first, but it seemed different enough from the other two to warrant being listed on its own. Hidden information refers to things that are known only to some players and will affect other players or the game scoring.
Dice troyes
Post-action luck
OK, I'm going to say it: I'm not a fan of post-action luck. The player has already made its action and the outcome is random (even if it's based on a probability curve the player is aware of, like rolling 3 six-sided dice). Since it doesn't add to the choices the player has, it's mostly uninteresting. This is the kind of luck that can add a bit of spice to an otherwise boring game, it doesn't do much to make the game more interesting.
When used incorrectly, this kind of luck is extremely frustrating. The player can feel they chose the "best" action, but they rolled double 1s and their move backfired on them. Sure, there was some tension knowing that could happen, but was it really fun? Maybe the first time or two, but probably not long term.
While I typically really don't like this kind of luck in my games, there are some situations in which even I will add it can add some interest to the game.
The first case is when the player can choose to perform one action or another, being aware of the different probability curves for both actions. For example, you can roll a single die and deal that damage to an enemy, or you can roll two dice, but if you roll two 1s, your character gets hit instead. In a situation like that, even though it's still post-action luck, the player was presented with a meaningful decision ahead of time and had to weight the risks and rewards of both options.
The second case where post-action luck can work is when the action is repeated many times over the course of a game. That way, the outcome of each individual action in themselves is not game-breaking, and all the actions will eventually add up to the average over the course of the game. Luck in this case introduces a bit of noise and slight excitement without affecting things much.
This is a good situation to combine with the ability for players to slowly change their probability curves over the course of the game. That way, they can increase their chances of success for an action as the game progresses, presenting the player with a way to feel more powerful. This is often used in RPGs and video games.
Having some kind of post-action luck that affects the outcome of an action can also give players hope that they can do something, even if those chances are small. Otherwise, without any luck involved, they would see the situation is hopeless and lose interest in the game. At the same time, having that luck element makes predicting every possible outcome nearly impossible, so it encourages players to make a decision without spending a long time figuring out an ideal outcome.
Finally, another situation where post-action luck isn't always a bad thing is in very short games. I love King of Tokyo even though it's a complete dice fest with lots of post-action luck. Even if you get some really bad dice rolls, a game maybe only lasts 10-15 minutes, so it didn't feel like a complete waste of time. On the other hand, losing a 4-hour game to a dice roll can be extremely infuriating.
The dark side of post-action luck is the human addition to random rewards, which is the reason why gambling or slot machines are so popular. Games can exploit that human quirk to their advantage and hook players in a game that would otherwise not be very interesting or fun.
A very meta post-action luck is buying "booster packs" of collectable card games (like Magic The Gathering). Purchasing the cards is the action, and the luck happens when you open it and see which random cards were in the pack. As most ex-Magic The Gathering players can attest, this can be extremely addictive.
Pre-action luck
This type of luck can add just as much randomness as post-action luck, but creates a very different feel for the game. Since the random event happens before the player action, even if you didn't get the ideal outcome you were hoping for, you can choose to do the best action given your situation.
To illustrate the difference, consider power-ups in a first-person shooter. You open the door to one room and there's a mysterious gift package power-up. You have no idea what it is, you pick it up and… it turns out it was health. Maybe that's great because you were low in health. Or maybe you were maxed out and it was useless. That's post-action luck.
Alternatively, imagine you open that door and you see 3 power-ups side by side. You see what they're going to give you (health, ammo, or a new weapon). As soon as you take one, the others go away. Maybe neither one of them is exactly the ideal, but you can make a decision and pick the best one for your situation. That's pre-action luck.
In board games, Stefan Feld is the master of pre-action luck. A lot of his games involve some kind of luck mechanism that limits your actions. For example, in The Castles of Burgundy or Bora Bora, you roll dice, and the numbers on those dice determine which actions you can take.
Without going that far, just about any games that involves drawing cards from a deck and having a "hand" of cards uses pre-action luck. The cards you're dealt are the pre-action luck, and then you have to do the best you can with those cards.
An extreme type of pre-action luck is initial game layout. That happens only a single time during the game, and before players make any actions, so it has the potential to affect the full course of the game. Even players who are adamantly opposed to luck in games, are often willing to accept game setup randomness because it can be fully taken into account during the game without any surprises.
Pre-action luck isn't as common in games as post-action luck, but it could be used just about anywhere that post-action luck is used. Consider the classic situation of a character attack some monsters and rolling a set of dice that determine whether he hits and how much damage it does. We could change that into pre-action luck by having players roll the dice (either all at once or separately), and having the dice restrict the options of what they can do. For example, low rolls on one dice could indicate that they can only do an attack close to the ground, while high rolls means they can attack flying enemies. Then the player can choose which of those actions to take, or maybe he can instead take a defensive stance or run away.
The main downside of pre-action luck is that it can extend every player action. The more it's used, and the more possible choices it presents to the player, the longer the game might take, so it's best to


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The Shy Scarecrow Lesson Plan
- Grades: PreK–K, 1–2
About this book
Subject Area: Language Arts
This engaging, rhyming book tells the story of Rags, the Shy Scarecrow, who overcomes his fear of crows. Illustrations by Benrei Huang beautifully capture the emotions felt by the scared scarecrow.
Children will develop language and literacy skills when reading this high-interest story written in rhyming and emergent text.
Read the title of the story to the children. Invite them to predict what the story will be about. Encourage the children to discuss why being a shy scarecrow might be a problem.
The _______ Scarecrow: Using Descriptive Words
- Chart paper
- Drawing paper, pencils, and crayons
- On the top of a sheet of chart paper write The_____ Scarecrow. Engage the children in a brief discussion about the story The Shy Scarecrow. Ask the children to think of other words that could also describe the shy scarecrow. Then ask the children to think of words that describe the scarecrow after he got his new hat. Record their responses on chart paper. Tell the children that words which describe things and give us more information about things are called descriptive words (or adjectives), like shy or brave and tall and small.
- Ask the children to close their eyes and imagine another type of scarecrow. What kind of scarecrow would it be? Invite the children to think of words to describe their scarecrow. Record their "descriptive words" on chart paper. Encourage the children to think of all the types of words that can describe their scarecrow like height, weight, color, emotions, behavior, etc. Review the descriptive word list with the children.
- Explain to the children that they will each choose one or more of the descriptive words from their list and draw a picture of a scarecrow that matches their chosen words. Give the children the suggested art materials.
- Provide the children with additional drawing paper or sentence strip paper to write or dictate information about their scarecrow. Ask the children to use descriptive words to tell about their scarecrow.
- Invite all of the children to share their scarecrow drawings during group time. Encourage the children to work together to think of other words to describe each other's drawings.
- Chart paper and marker
- Explain to the children that you will reread The Shy Scarecrow to identify all the rhyming word sets on each page of the story.
- Write the rhyming word sets on a sheet of chart paper, leaving space in between each set.
- After all of the sets has been identified, review the list with the children. Ask the children to think of other words that rhyme with each word set. Some children may enjoy making up silly words that rhyme. Record the children's rhyming words to expand each word set.
- Review the list periodically to see if the children can think of more rhyming words to add.
- Choose a few rhyming words and invite the children to try to write a short poem.
Other Books About Scarecrows
By Cynthia Rylant
A peaceful and beautifully illustrated story about a scarecrow who appreciates his quiet life and relationship with nature.
The Lonely Scarecrow
By Tim Preston
The story depicts a gentle scarecrow who desires friends, but his frightening face scares everyone away. Not until a winter storm does his luck change when he is transformed into a jolly snowman. Will his luck remain?
The Little Scarecrow Boy
By Margaret Wise Brown
A heartfelt story about the loving relationship of a scarecrow family and the young scarecrow boy who wants to be like his father.
Other Books by Mary Packard
My Messy Room (My First Hello Reader! Series)
Fall Leaves (My First Hello Reader! Series)
I'm a Firefighter (My First Hello Reader! Series)
Teaching Plan written by Risa Young.


2𝑐/𝐷𝑎𝜋2𝜙Pr2/Pr1𝑀,𝑞=𝑞𝑐.(39) The Takens-Bogdanov bifurcation point occurs when the neutral curves for Hopf and pitchfork bifurcation meet and only a single wave number is present, namely, 𝑞𝑜=𝑞𝑠=𝑞𝑐. If 𝑞𝑐>𝑞sc then for all 𝑞<𝑞𝑐 the first instability to set in is an oscillatory convection. The asymptotic values of 𝑞𝑐 and 𝑞sc for large Chandrasekhar number (𝑄) are𝑞𝑐(𝜙Pr2𝑀Pr1)𝑄𝜋2(𝑀ΛPr1+1/𝜙)1/4,𝑞sc𝑄𝜋4𝑀2Λ1/6.(40) From the monotonic dependence of 𝑞𝑐 and 𝑞sc on 𝑄, we may conclude that for Pr2>𝑃r1, there exists a 𝑄(Pr1,Pr2,𝑀,Λ,𝜙,𝐷𝑎) such that for 𝑄<𝑄(Pr1,Pr2,𝑀,Λ,𝜙,𝐷𝑎) the onset of first instability will be stationary convection at pitchfork bifurcation while for 𝑄>𝑄(Pr1,Pr2,𝑀,Λ,𝜙,𝐷𝑎) it will be oscillatory convection at Hopf bifurcation. 𝑄(Pr1,Pr2,𝑀,Λ,𝜙,𝐷𝑎) and for 𝑄=𝑄(Pr1,Pr2,𝑀,Λ,𝜙,𝐷𝑎), we have𝑅ct=𝑅oc𝑞oc=𝑅sc𝑞scbut𝑞oc𝑞sc,(41) above condition (41) gives codimension-two bifurcation point. However, there is no simple formula to give 𝑄(Pr1,Pr2,𝑀,Λ,𝜙,𝐷𝑎) at the codimension-two bifurcation point by assuming 𝑅 as an independent variable, such kind of interesting result is not available in Chandrasekhar [2]. In Figures 1 and 2, each solid line stands for stationary convection (pitchfork bifurcation) and dotted line stands for oscillatory convection (Hopf bifurcation). In Figures 1 and 2, we have showed the effect of several physical parameters, like 𝑄, Pr1, Pr2, Λ, 𝑀, 𝜙, and 𝐷𝑎 on the onset of both stationary convection and oscillatory convection when a physical parameter increases for the remaining fixed parameters, the onset of instabilities increases, that is, the onset of stationary convection and oscillatory convection inhibit when a parameter increases with the remaining fixed parameters.
Figure 1: Numerically calculated marginal stability curves are plotted in (𝑅,𝑞)-plane for Pr1=1, Pr2=1.5, 𝐷𝑎=1500, Λ=0.85, 𝜙=0.9, and 𝑀=0.9, (a) 𝑄=104, (b) 𝑄=106, (c) 𝑄=108, and (d) 𝑄=1010, then the onset of stationary convection and the onset of oscillatory convection increase (stationary convection represented by solid lines and oscillatory convection represented by dotted lines).
Figure 2: Neutral curves for the stationary bifurcation (solid lines) and for the Hopf bifurcation (dashed lines) near the codimension two point for 𝑄=2000, 𝐷𝑎=1500, Λ=0.85, 𝜙=0.9, Pr1=1, and 𝑀=0.9, (a) Pr2=1.27, (b) Pr2=1.3, (c) Pr2=1.35𝑥-axis wave number, 𝑦-Rayleigh numbers 𝑅𝑠,𝑅𝑜.
4. Onset of Stationary Convection at Supercritical Pitchfork Bifurcation
4.1. Derivation of Two-Dimensional Nonlinear Ginzburg-Landau Equation Using Newell-Whitehead [19] Method
In this section the evolution of a general pattern is developed by means of a multiple scale analysis used by Newell and Whitehead [19]. A small amplitude convection cell is imposed on the basic flow. If this amplitude is of the size 𝑂(𝜖) then the interaction of the cell with itself forces a second harmonic and mean state correction of size 𝑂(𝜖2) and then in turn drives an 𝑂(𝜖3) correction to the fundamental component of the imposed roll. A solvability criteria for this correction yields the one-dimensional nonlinear Ginzburg-Landau equation of the complex valued amplitude 𝐴(𝑋,𝑌,𝑇) of the imposed disturbance with real coefficients. To simplify the problem we assume the formulation of cylindrical rolls with axis parallel to 𝑦-axis, so that 𝑦-dependence disappears from (19). The 𝑧-dependence is contained entirely in the sine and cosine functions, which ensures that stress-free boundary conditions are satisfied. We use the expansion parameter 𝜖 as𝜖2=𝑅𝑅sc𝑅sc.(42) For the values of 𝑅 close to threshold value 𝑅sc that is, 𝜖1, the structure of the slow length scales will be insensitive to 𝜖, but a slow modulation in space and time is possible by making use of the band of the unstable solutions and linear growth rate is likely to saturate due to nonlinear effects. This behavior can be analyzed by writing solutions of (9)–(12) in power series 𝜖 as𝑓=𝜖𝑓0+𝜖2𝑓1+𝜖3𝑓2+,(43) where 𝑓=𝑓(𝑢,𝑣,𝑤,𝜃,𝐻𝑥,𝐻𝑦,𝐻𝑧) with the first approximation is given by the eigenvector of the linearized problem:𝑢0=𝑖𝜋𝑞sc𝐴(𝑋,𝑌,𝑇)𝑒𝑖𝑞sc𝑥,𝑣cos𝜋𝑧c.c.0𝑤=0,0=𝐴(𝑋,𝑌,𝑇)𝑒𝑖𝑞sc𝑥𝜃sin𝜋𝑧+c.c.,0=1𝑀𝛿2sc𝐴(𝑋,𝑌,𝑇)𝑒𝑖𝑞sc𝑥,𝐻sin𝜋𝑧+c.c.𝑥0=𝑖𝜋2𝑀𝑞sc𝛿2sc𝐴(𝑋,𝑌,𝑇)𝑒𝑖𝑞sc𝑥,𝐻sin𝜋𝑧c.c.𝑦0𝐻=0,𝑧0=𝜋𝑀𝛿2sc𝐴(𝑋,𝑌,𝑇)𝑒𝑖𝑞sc𝑥,cos𝜋𝑧+c.c.(44) where 𝛿2sc=𝜋2+𝑞2sc, here C.C. stands for complex conjugate, 𝑒𝑖𝑞sc𝑥sin𝜋𝑧 is the critical mode for the linear problem at 𝑅=𝑅sc and 𝑞=𝑞sc. The complex amplitude 𝐴(𝑋,𝑌,𝑇) depends on the slow variables 𝑋, 𝑌, 𝑍, and 𝑇 to be scaled by introducing multiple scales𝑋=𝜖𝑥,𝑌=𝜖1/2𝑦,𝑍=𝑧,𝑇=𝜖2𝑡,(45) and these formally separate the fast and slow dependent variables in 𝑓. It should be noted that the difference in scaling in the two directions reflects the inherent symmetry breaking of instability which was chosen here with wave vector in 𝑥-direction. The differential


Tue Sep 4 15:24:03 EST 2007
> From: bingblat from goaway.com.au> Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2007 18:10:44 +1000> To: n=
eur-sci from magpie.bio.indiana.edu> Subject: [Neuroscience] Re: why did humans =
grow a bigger neocortex?> > > "Randolph" wrote in message> =
news:13din4dartu9223 from corp.supernews.com...> > Incorrect, many animals engag=
e in very complex behaviors in order to kill> and maim. And yes they even d=
o it just because they can.=20
the following is a part of my communication with my good friend Glen:I am s=
orry arriving so late in to discussion... >BTW, there have not been many t=
hat have taken "spontaneity" seriously. With a few making rather fundamen=
tal input into the problem. Would work of Llinas et al considered as within=
 this context? The concept of thalamocortical system (TCS) has probably a l=
ot to do with the "spontaneity", especially what they described as "interna=
l functional nodes" generated in TCS also in the absense of any sensory inp=
ut. Neurons in TCS are described as having intrinsic resonance capability, =
although "independent" they are facilitated by arousal mechanisms (Steriade=
 et al; Curro Dossi et al). Sensory input only modulates gamma-frequency di=
scharge activity from these neurons (Varela et al). There was an interestin=
g follow up to 2006 pubication re: cruelty pehnomenon: just bear with me, t=
he point is at the end=20
Cruelty=92s rewards: The gratifications of perpetrators and spectators.
BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN SCIENCES (2006) 29, 211=96257.One response, from Ralf-=
Peter Behrendt, produced following insights:=20
=93pain=94 and =93blood=94 are unlikely to represent rewards
for the sake of which the animal kills=20
predation is an intrinsic instinctual
drive that =96 once set into motion and energised =96 has to run its
course (according to drive theory), as opposed to it being something
done for the sake of enjoying a reward (hedonism) or
instrumentally to achieve a certain end (teleology). [That explains the poi=
nt they are making in the latest Mr.Brown with Keving Coestner _ killing is=
 only a relief of the pressure to act, a post-action phenomenon, doing almo=
st nothing to the nature of the drive; here you go - spontaneity of one typ=
e of a killer; how do you like that? it's the actors face at the very end o=
f the feature... total loss and helplessness while praying to "make it - th=
e drive - to go away"... - kk]=20
McDougall (1924), for whom instincts were central to behaviour,
argued comprehensively against hedonistic theories of behaviour.=20
It can be argued that it is the suppression of aggression in the
process of cultural evolution =96 not enjoyment of cruelty per se =96
that became =93a primary driver of the modern entertainment
industry=94 (sect. 1.1.3). People are likely to enjoy media cruelty
for the same reason that they show an incessant interest in scandals
involving the downfall of people in society, where there is no
role to play for =93blood, pain, and death.=94 Impulses of intraspecific
aggression that are culturally suppressed can find transient relief
also in humour (laughter as a sudden relief of inhibited aggression,
according to Lorenz [1963/2002]), but once the cultural
inhibitory framework is removed (including through =93moral disengagement=
intraspecific aggression becomes disinhibited and
can manifest in actual acts of cruelty.=20
Enjoyment of media cruelty is not reinforced by
=93emotional circuits=94 adapted to predation, but represents transient
relief from culturally determined inhibition of aggression. An interesting =
topic, Glen! One more comment: I think it would be much more effective if o=
ne would replace the term "spontaneity" for "perseveration", as in external=
/internal modulation refractory continuation of "emitting" a behavior. Kons=
100=92s of Music vouchers to be won with MSN Music
More information about the Neur-sci mailing list


text:
Q. How many times did God feed the Israelites quail in the wilderness?
A. Twice Exodus 16:13; Numbers 11:31
16:13 So it came about at evening that the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.
11:31 Now there went forth a wind from the LORD and it brought quail from the sea, and let them fall beside the camp, about a day's journey on this side and a day's journey on the other side, all around the camp and about two cubits deep on the surface of the ground.
The first time the Israelites grumbled for food, God tolerated their grumbling and simply fed them. Things were different the second time. God had just finished consuming with fire some of them for complaining (Numbers 11:1). Others had the nerve to complain again and even express ingratitude for the manna He had been providing them (:4-6). He gave them their meat, but "While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very severe plague" (:33). God is a patient God, but His patience has its limits. Don't put Him to the test and find out what they are.
Have a great weekend in His service!


text:
Making Communicative Language Teaching Happen
Making Communicative Language Teaching Happen is the first title in a professional series of Foreign Language Teaching Methods texts. Written by well-known and respected teachers and researchers in the field of Second Language Acquisition, Making Communicative Language Teaching Happen addresses important questions such as what it means to teach communicatively, what are proper roles of input and output in the classroom, how do learners read and write in a second language, and what approaches to testing and evaluation are appropriate for the communicative classroom. Making Communicative Language Teaching Happen begins by defining communicative language teaching and proceeds to explore its underlying assumptions, to examine the roles of teachers and learners, to discuss theoretical and research issues relating to it, and to offer practical suggestions. A Student Manual accompanies the text.
Specifications of Making Communicative Language Teaching Happen
|Author||James F. Lee, Bill Vanpatten|
|Number Of Pages||250|
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Krka river is one of the most typical streams in Dolenjska region and is the only Slovene river that forms tufa in its riverbed. The valley of Krka river is a unique symbol of Dolenjska with its inseparable intertwining of natural and cultural heritage. It is emphasized by the disappearing legacy of bygone water-mills, preserved wooden bridges, numerous castles and settlements on its banks; Novo mesto
was formed around one of the most distinctive of its bends. The river is distinguished by natural conservation as it provides refuge for numerous animal and herbal species. Of special importance are karst springs which contain endemic species of subterranean animal life, in addition to that Krka is among richest Slovenian rivers fish
wise. Great diversity is also distinctive of amphibious animals and aquatic bird species. There are many affluxes of Krka in vicinity of Novo mesto. The most dynamic and picturesque of streams are the ones that flow from Gorjanci, especially Klamfer stream that outfalls into Težka voda; on the right bank there is Lešnica, which forms an interesting breakthrough gorge just below Stari grad castle. There are also many smaller streams like Rateški potok, Toplica and Žerjavinski potok which carry great habitual importance due to their state of natural preservation. Local community is aware of significance of Krka river and its preservation and thus it was protected by law in 1969. Tours: pathways along the streams are in abundance and easy to find, Krka is suitable for boating.


text:
- Makoto Ohsaki, Kyoto University
- Sigrid Adriaenssens, Princeton University
- Ruy Pauletti, University of Sao Paulo
- Yohei Yokosuka, Kagoshima University
Form-finding methods for designing architectural shell structures and tension membrane structures were developed and studied independently of the structural optimization and shape optimization in various fields of mechanics. However, these approaches have recently been combined to establish new trends of computational structural design. Computational geometry and discrete differential geometry also play key roles to incorporate various methods in computer graphics, computer-aided geometric design, and combinatorial geometry, into structural shape design. On the other hand, some new methods in computer graphics utilizes mechanical approaches.
This minisymposium aims at bringing together researchers working on various aspects of computational structural design for architecture and civil engineering. Topics of interest for this minisymposium include, but are not limited to the following:
- Shape optimization of curved surface structures and long-span structures.
- Discrete differential geometry for representation of geometrical properties.
- Mechanics-based method for shape design and morphology of surfaces.
- Machine lerning approaches to shape and topology design and optimization.
- Graphical methods for design of latticed structures, tensile structures, and masonly structures.
- Design and construction methods using additive manufacturing and robotics.
- Design methods for special structures such as tension structures, long-span structures, tensegrity structures, and membrane structures.


text:
What is this?
This is a step-by-step guide to help you update your web presence.
Who is it for?
This guide is for any department staff looking to update their web presence on education.nsw or a standalone website.
How to use it
Keep referring back to this guide as your project progresses to help keep you on track. We recommend completing each step in order.
Checklist for updating your web pages
How to prepare your team before beginning work on updating your web content.
Prepare to get started
1. Inform the Digital Experience Design team
You will have expert support from the department's digital services team. You should contact them and involve them in your project at the very beginning. They are you go-to for best practice advice.
Digital Experience Design will ensure you have additional support from department staff and put you in touch with your content strategist or project manager.
You will have help with running the workshops and training required to complete your web transformation project in line with best practice and department standards.
2. Define roles and responsibilities
Creating and managing content is a complicated process that brings together a number of different skills. Keep in mind that these roles might represent one person each, one person serving several roles, or several people sharing responsibility for one area.
If you don't have the right internal resources to fill these roles, make sure you allocate budget to outsource them - at least for the initial project.
Your content team is made up of staff within your business unit. They will be responsible for the creation, maintenance and governance of your content. It's important that you train-up or recruit for these skills.
Subject matter expert/s (SME/s)
- Responsible for accuracy of content.
- Coordinates information and feedback from SME.
- Adds content.
- Makes approved editorial changes.
- Empowers team to make decisions about content.
- Makes final decisions about the site and has ultimate responsibility for publishing content live.
These are the people you will need to manage this specific project of updating your web presence. You can find them in your business unit or hire an external third party. Talk to digital services for advice.
- Creates project plan including assigning roles and responsibilities.
- Locates external resources if necessary.
- Runs regular meetings with content team and record minutes of decisions made.
- Responsible for seeking approvals from director or above before go-live.
- Responsible for keeping digital services and relevant department experts outside the business unit involved in the project.
- Writes or creates content with accessibility in mind from the beginning.
- Ideally should be experts in content creation rather than subject matter.
- Responsible for proofreading and quality control of content.
- Conducts structural editing as well as copyediting, keeping accessibility in mind.
- Ideally would not be the same person as content author or subject matter expert.
- Checks content for accessibility, copyright compliance.
3. Book in training and read guidelines
Now that you have assigned roles, it's important to ensure everyone has the skills necessary to proceed.
Before you start writing your content, it's important for your writer, approver, sub-editor, editor, and subject matter expert (if they are going to write content) complete the training.
Lay a good foundation for your content by defining your audience, conducting an audit and developing an information architecture.
Conduct workshops and research
1. Define your audience
- Read: Put the user first.
- Can you and your team use the user personas and decide together who your audience is?
- Contact your content lead to run a workshop to assist you with defining your audience. If you don't know who your content lead is, go back to step 1 of prepare to get started.
2. Audit your content
- Coordinate a content audit among subject matter experts and content owners.
- Determine verdict for each page: keep, revise or retire.
3. Develop your new information architecture (IA)
Follow these steps to plan, write and approve content for your web pages.
Plan and create your content
1. Create a content plan
- Map your existing content to your new information architecture (IA).
- Any changes to your IA must first be approved by digital services.
- Create an IA and content plan (XLSX 31.35KB) detailing audience, messages and responsibilities for each page. Make sure this is available to the whole team in your shared drive you created earlier. If you have not yet created your folder structure, refer to step 4 in prepare to get started.
- Assign content to specific individuals to revise or write from scratch.
- Determine reasonable key dates and deadlines that the team agrees on.
2. Inform your stakeholders of changes
- Before making any changes to your site put in place change messaging to keep your users and stakeholders informed.
- Email _EMAIL_ for help from the team.
3. Write and revise your content
- Read the content guidelines and write or revise content according to your content plan.
- Create a Word document (or google docs or similar) for each page. Use the content page template (DOCX 40.03KB) and complete the approvals checklist in the template.
- Conduct regular meetings to track progress according to deadlines and address any issues that arise.
4. Edit your content
- The sub-editor conducts a structural edit in the Word document saved in the shared folder structure.
- Liaise with the content owner and subject matter experts to discuss any major changes.
- Where possible, test the content with the intended user or the closest equivalent to that user.
5. Gather content approvals
- The project manager coordinates approvals for all content.
- Document approvals in Word template, saved in the shared folder structure.
- Communicate any requested changes with content authors/editor.
Follow these steps to create your content in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM), the department's content management system (CMS).
Build your new web presence
After you have created your content and collected approvals, it's time to build your new web presence.
You must complete the relevant content management system (CMS) training before beginning these tasks.
- Adobe Experience Manager how-to guides
- Adobe Experience Manager training via My PL (staff only)
- Squiz Matrix training (staff only)
1. Create new web section
2. Load your content
- Editor or nominated content loader uploads approved content to CMS.
- The majority of your content will be presented as text on a standard content page. Familiarise yourself with all the options available and follow this checklist for creating your web pages.
3. Copy edit your content
- Sub-editor checks the copy against content guidelines and the content style guide and makes changes within the CMS.
4. Get approvals in the CMS
- During the initial project, the approver signs off content that is ready for final reviews by the digital services team.
- During business as usual, the approver completes final review and publishes content live.
Digital services will conduct testing and final reviews to make sure your content meets legal and best practice standards.
Review and final approvals
1. Conduct pre-go-live reviews
- Contact _EMAIL_ to request a final review. The review covers:
- user experience and accessibility
- total quality assurance
- design and brand compliance
- content (high level)
- Your section will be locked down during this time (approximately 2 weeks).
- You will be given a report detailing all changes required for each page.
2. Make pre-go-live changes
- Content author/s address all critical and serious changes before go-live.
- Document all changes in the report, saved in the shared folder structure.
- Digital Experience Design will verify changes have been made.
3. Final proofread
- Sub-editor conducts final proofread.
4. Final approvals
- Project manager seeks final sign-off from all senior stakeholders.
- Document decisions in project folder.
- Business unit implements communication plan.
Use these guidelines to maintain your content after it has gone live on the website.
Go live and maintain
1. Go live
The digital services team will publish your approved section.
2. Maintain your content
Plan to continuously improve your content, conducting a new content audit at least every 6 months to ensure your content is fresh.
3. Archive outdated content
Follow the Digital Transformation Agency's advice to archive and record your content on a regular basis.
Helpful resources to build your website.


text:
Interactive data visualizations are an exciting way to engage and inform large audiences. They enable users to focus on interesting parts and details, to customize the content and even the graphical form, and to explore large amounts of data. At their best, they facilitate a playful experience that is way more engaging than static infographics or videos.
Several ideas and concepts of interaction design for data visualizations are presented in this post, using 11 examples from the web. The overall concepts featured include:
The Basics: Highlighting and Details on Demand Making More Data Accessible: User-driven Content Selection Showing Data in Different Ways: Multiple Coordinated Visualizations Showing Data in Different Ways: User-driven Visual Mapping Changes Integrating Users' Viewpoints and Opinions
Visit the complete article for numerous links, useful visuals and specific details on how to understand, implement and evaluate interactive design elements used in data visualization design.


text:
Using a Bayesian model to jointly estimate the flaw size distribution and the pod functionCenter for Nondestructive Evaluation Conference Papers, Posters and Presentations
Document TypeConference Proceeding
ConferenceReview of Progress in Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation
AbstractIn this paper we extend previous work by the authors to jointly estimate the flaw size distribution and the POD function from simulated field inspection data. Similar to our previous work, we assume that when a crack is above a detection threshold, both the signal amplitude and the flaw size are recorded. For a signal that is above the noise floor, but below the detection threshold, only the amplitude is recorded. At all other locations we know only that the signal is below the noise floor, i.e. left censored. Now our model allows different airplanes to have different crack growth rates, and the distribution of crack growth rates is to be estimated from the data. To estimate the parameters of the model, we use a Bayesian formulation that provides a convenient structure for estimating the plane‐to‐plane differences. The Bayesian formulation also allows the use of prior information based on knowledge of physics or previous experience with similar inspection situations. For example, there may be useful information about crack growth rates and about the slope in the amplitude and crack size relationship. Use of such information can importantly improve estimation precision.
Copyright OwnerAmerican Institute of Physics
Citation InformationM. Li, William Q. Meeker and P. Hovey. "Using a Bayesian model to jointly estimate the flaw size distribution and the pod function" Kingston, RI(2009)
Available at: _URL_


Products tagged with: Parenting
Understanding your child's Design can show you how to nurture their unique strengths and gifts, and how to offer them proper guidance. By guiding children to understand and trust themselves, parents can remind them of their uniqueness and reduce the power of conditioning, bringing more ease and awareness to their lives.


text:
Starting Over: Stepfamilies
What happens to children when parents remarry? Just as with children of divorced and never-married parents, the picture is complicated. When mothers remarry, the family's financial status may improve, which in turn increases the quality of services and educational opportunities available to the children. However, some groups of children experience greater benefits from remarriage than others. For example, living with a stepfather can increase a boy's chances of finishing high school, attending and graduating from college, and finding subsequent job opportunities. If the stepfamily remains stable over many years and provides appropriate care for the children, it can have a positive effect on children's intimate relationships when they reach adulthood. If children are able to maintain good relationships with both biological parents and stepparents, they can end up with even more access to parenting resources than children with continuously married biological parents (Amato, 1999a; Hetherington et aI., 1998; McLanahan, 1999; Wallerstein et al., 2000).
Most stepchildren seem to have reasonably positive views of their stepfathers. Close relationships between stepchildren and stepparents have positive effects on children's academic achievement and psychological well-being, and introducing a stepparent even in adolescence can be beneficial to children's adjustment (Amato, 1999a; Buchanan et aI., 1996; Hetherington & JodI, 1994). In general, stepparents can have a positive impact on their stepchildren's lives.
But step families also present special challenges. Although remarriage has the potential to increase financial security, there is also the risk that it may worsen children's financial circumstances. Some experts point out that remarried parents, particularly remarried fathers, may feel pressure to provide first for their new spouse's children from a prior marriage or for biological children they have with their new spouse. As a consequence, these parents may decrease financial and/or emotional support to their biological children from a previous marriage, especially if these biological children do not live with them (Wallerstein et al., 2000).
© ______ 2009, Allyn & Bacon, an imprint of Pearson Education Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The reproduction, duplication, or distribution of this material by any means including but not limited to email and blogs is strictly prohibited without the explicit permission of the publisher.
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Praspel and the Realistic Domains
Praspel (PHP Realistic Annotation and Specification Language) is a formal specification language for PHP. It is based on the Design-by-Contract paradigm and uses preconditions, postconditions, invariants etc. Specifications are written in the comments of the PHP code. Praspel is used for manual, automated or automatic software validation and verification.
This language is inspired by JML but the difference is in the way to specify the data. PHP is dynamically and weakly typed. To specify the data, Praspel relies on realistic domains: Structures allowing to validate and generate data, with the ability to compose them to represent more complex data. Realistic domains are implemented in the Hoa\Realdom library.
Data generators
A contract can be used to automatically generate unit tests. A test is constitued of 2 parts: Test data, and an oracle. Test data are crucial since it must reflect "realistic" data as much as possible, and being to generate data at the limits is also very important. Realistic Domains is an answer to this problem by being able to generate integers, reals, strings (based on regular expressions or grammars for instance), arrays (based on a constraint solver) or objects, for the PHP language types. Thus, it is possible to combine these realistic domains to generate more sophisticated data (like dates, object models etc.).
Contract Coverage Criteria
The contract language can be evaluated to validate and verify data manipulated by the program on one hand. On the other hand, we have algorithms able to automatically generate test data from a piece of a contract. In order to ensure whether the contract is correctly covered, we have defined several contract coverage criteria.
Thus, we are able to generate unit test suites satisfying these contract coverage criteria, and thus ensuring that generated unit test suites reflect all the behavior expressed in the contract.
Research papers
This language is the result of several research papers, journals and PhD thesis.
Learn more.
With Composer, to include this library into your dependencies, you need to require hoa/praspel:
$ composer require hoa/praspel '~1.0'
For more installation procedures, please read the Source page.
$ composer install
Then, to run all the test suites:
$ vendor/bin/hoa test:run
For more information, please read the contributor guide.
The hack book of Hoa\Praspel contains detailed information about how to use this library and how it works.
To generate the documentation locally, execute the following commands:
$ composer require --dev hoa/devtools
$ vendor/bin/hoa devtools:documentation --open
More documentation can be found on the project's website:
Getting help
There are mainly two ways to get help:
Related projects
The following projects are using this library:


text:
Managed Service for PostgreSQL lets you use network and local storage for database clusters. Network storage is based on network blocks, which are virtual disks in the Yandex.Cloud infrastructure. Local storage is organized on disks that are physically located in the database host servers.
When creating a cluster, you can choose between the following storage types:
- Standard network storage (
network-hdd): The cheapest option for servers with relaxed read/write performance requirements.
- Fast network storage (
network-ssd): A middle-ground solution. It's slower than local storage, but unlike local disks, it ensures data integrity if Yandex.Cloud hardware goes down.
- Fast local storage (
local-ssd): The fastest disks. The size of the local storage can only be incremented by 100 GB.
Local storage features
Local storage doesn't provide fault tolerance for data storage and affects the overall pricing for the cluster:
- Local storage doesn't provide fault tolerance for a single-host cluster: if a local disk fails, the data is permanently lost. Therefore, when creating a new Managed Service for PostgreSQL cluster using local storage, a 3-host fail-safe configuration is automatically set up.
- You are charged for a cluster with local storage even if it's stopped. Read more in the pricing policy.


text:
Arslaan Khan is a lead mentor at Kings School in Wolverhampton. He also sits on the Mosaic Black Country delivery group. He is an IT European Manager for Fujitsu.
Arslaan puts his heart and soul into his mentoring commitments over at Kings School, devising personal development plans for his mentees and setting up a World of Work Visit for them to a local business.
The fruits of his perseverance through challenges with school logistics and fellow mentors commitment on the programme were showcased at the Black Country Launch where five of the young mentees spoke about their experiences – significant increases in their confidence, how to work towards achieving their goals and improvements to their school experiences like making new friends.
Arslaan Khan's support proves to be invaluable to the development of Mosaic's newest region, the Black Country, and his mentoring success is a shining example of what a difference one person can make to the Mosaic movement and the impact on young people. Arslaan is a deserving winner of the Hero of the Month.
The principles our Heroes embody are:-
- A passion for helping young people to realise their potential
- Commitment to Mosaic and the people Mosaic aims to help
- An appreciation of the value of different perspectives
- Inspirational people who motivate others through their example, whilst remaining humble
- Reliable individuals who understand the power of positive thinking


How should I keep my chocolates?
All filled chocolates in our chocolate gift boxes are best kept at 12c. At this temperature they will last for more than 8 weeks. Do not keep your chocolates above 20c. If keeping them in the fridge make sure they are wrapped, or that the chocolate box is kept airtight with clingfilm and keep away from strongly odoured items. Bring them up to room temperature before eating for the best flavour.
Although we do recommend that filled chocolates are best eaten within 2 weeks as this is when their flavour is at it's best.
Do you ship internationally?
Yes we ship everything but to the following countries:UK offshore (N.I, Isle of Wight etc), Ireland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Belgium.
Please see our delivery page for more information.
 - Is the percentage of cocoa solids an indicator of good chocolate?
 - In short, no. Whilst it does tell you the overall cocoa mass within a chocolate, it doesn't tell you anything about the flavour. A single origin chocolate with 65% cocoa solids can have way more flavour, complexity and length than a mass produced one at 85%. Flavour is affected by the type of cocoa bean(s) used, the area they were grown in, what plants were grown alongside them, how they were fermented, how the bean was roasted and how long it was conched for, along with many other esoteric factors.
 - We use a variety of chocolates in our gift boxes, our milk chocolate is 40%, whilst our dark chocolates ranges from 65% to 85%.
 - What is ganache?
 - Ganache is the filling in chocolates that is traditionally made with a mixture of chocolate, cream and sometimes butter. But the problem with that method is that cream and butter mask flavours. Just think about how you dull down the spices in a curry if it's too hot – by adding cream or yoghurt. The same things happens when you add it to chocolate, it dulls all those beautiful top and bottom notes that make up a great chococolate. So we've developed our very own method of making ganache that doesn't mask any of the flavours and gives a multi-layered, very clean taste experience. How do we do it? Ah, that's the secret bit, but it's all 100% natural.
 Do you really make all your own chocolates?
 Yes, all of our chocolates are handcrafted in house. The moulds are invidually hand decorated before we shell, fill, then cap the moulds. So you can be confident when purchasing one of our chocolate gift boxes that all our chocolate are truly artisanal.
 What is an artisan chocolatier?
 Firstly a chocolatier is someone who makes filled chocolates, chocolate creations and other confectionery from chocolate, whereas a chocolate maker is someone who makes chocolate from cacao beans. An artisan chocolatier is generally considered to be a chocolatier whose chocolates are handmade using top quality ingredients, no preservatives and produces a high quality product in both terms of look and taste.
 How do chocolatiers differ from standard chocolate retailers?
 Chocolatiers generally produce chocolates in small batches with a high degree of human skill involved as oppossed the mechanised chocolate production used by most large scale chocolate retailers. In addition to this a chocolatier is more likely to be focused on the quality of the chocolate and it's origin. Working with small batches allows the chocolatier to bring inviduality and subtle nuances to the chocolate that would be unachievable in large scale mechanised production.
 What is salted caramel chocolate?
 The term salted caramel is applied to many forms of caramel where any type of salt has been added. Whilst salted caramel has become popular over the last 5 years or so in the UK, it is not a new fad. In fact for centuries in Brittany, salted caramel sweets were made with sea water, giving them a salty note. Some people wonder at the wisdom of adding salt to caramel, but once they have tried it they soon realise that salted caramel is one of the true pleasures in a gourmet's life. The salt acts as a nice counterbalance to the sweetness of the caramel.
 Check out our range of salted caramel chocolates.
 What are our most popular chocolates?
 Without a doubt our most popular lines are the Ultimate Chocolate Gift Box, any of the Salted Caramel gift boxes and our Truffle Club Subscriptions.
 The Ultimate Chocolate Gift Box, as the name suggests, delivers some of our most distinct flavoured chocolates, with our favourites be the Award Winning Muscovado Salted Caramel and your choice of 3 truffle boxes and 3 chocolate bars. The perfect way to spoil someone (or yourself).
 The Salted Caramel gift boxes collections feature all 3 of our Salted Caramels, the Muscovado with Maldon Sea Salt, the Traditional with Fleur de Sel de Camargue and the unique Palm Blossom & Himalayan Sea Salt.
 Our truffle club subscription - each month you'll receive a different flavour of our handcrafted truffles. Some months will feature special edition flavours only available to Truffle Club members. Our truffles are designed and created by our head chocolatier, a triple Academy of Chocolate Award winner.
 Where do you get the cacao from that you use to make your chocolates?
 Our chocolate is sourced from a number of countries around the world. Most of our milk chocolate comes from Ghana and Java, whereas our dark chocolate comes from Madagascar, Cuba, Mexico & Peru. When selecting the chocolate we look for distinct character with the flavour profile as well as good body and lenght of flavour.
 What are the key inspirations for your chocolates?
 Inspiration is a strange thing and can come from anywhere. We might be eating a piece of fruit and get a note of something else within the flavour that sets me off thinking. It could be something visual that sets me off thinking, like the contrast of cherry blossom of a lawn that leads me to think about what "green" flavours might pair well with cherry. It could the the subtle nuanced flavours savoured within a glass of rum that lead me to a new chocolate recipe. And sometimes I am lucky enough to just wake up with a new idea in my head.....that's what happens when you are an obessed chocolatier.


For various reasons, on the web, we sometimes need more than one image to share the same space. A common way to do this is to rotate the image, so that each fetch of the page will grab a different image from the one before it. is a program to manage image rotation. Simply place all of the images you want in a directory, edit so it knows what directory you want to use, and use the following HTML:

You can download the source or see it in action by hitting reload and watching the space below.
"The Space Below"
rotbanner demo
On our site, we've chosen to use the space to highlight the importance of a browser-independent web and Open Source software that we use. Additionally, we have a few images there to draw attention to some of the hardware in use here.
Matt Curtin
Last modified: Mon Dec 14 08:38:07 EST 1998


Relearning How To Make Meaningful Connections
With loneliness on the rise, Susan McPherson has written a book about connecting
During the pandemic, Americans have been experiencing unprecedented levels of loneliness. Now that the world is reopening again, many are excited to take the world by storm, but hesitant about what it will mean to connect with people in-person again.
So, we reached out to Susan McPherson, author of the new book, The Lost Art of Connecting, for some insight. Interestingly enough, McPherson thought of her thesis far before the pandemic began. In the last five years, she's noticed the isolating impact of social media on people and their relationships — and wanted to give people a roadmap back to fulfilling, lifelong relationships.
Below, McPherson explains the importance of meaningful connections, either personal or professional, and has some advice on making them.
KCM: So, why is connecting a lost art?
Susan McPherson: Let me give you a little background because the book was originally conceived almost four years ago, long before the pandemic. I grew up in a household where my parents were both serial connectors. Every morning at the breakfast table, I would literally vy for space for my bowl of cereal because they would have the five local newspapers spread out. They'd be clipping and cutting articles and then going to their respective manual typewriters and typing, "Thinking of you, cousin Harry, or thinking of you colleague Joan, or thinking of you former student Elizabeth."
In the last five to 10 years, it became painfully clear to me is that as a society, we were basically measuring the success of our quote unquote connectivity with others by the number of followers, clicks and likes, versus the actual meaningful action and changes and impact that happens when you are really meeting people and building relationships. So the original thesis for the book was: How do we get back to building meaningful connections and not this numbers game of trying to just get as many LinkedIn followers as possible?
What are some of the important benefits of deep, meaningful relationships?
I founded my company at age 48. I'm now 56, and 95% of the business has been inbound. That has been directly tied to all the people I met in my twenties and thirties and forties.
When you're helpful to others, and you need help in your life, people will come. At some point in time every one is going to need help, support and connections. If anything, this past year, we learned how isolating it can be to have no connections. Seeing our meaningful connections over Zoom, FaceTime and other digital outlets, is what has gotten us through it.
Additionally, what I have found in my life is that I have become more efficient as I've made more connections, because it means I don't have to do the heavy lifting. I actually can refer people to others who may be better suited to help them out.
Could you take us through what you learned in your research by giving us key tips done for people hoping to cultivate more meaningful relationships?
So in the first phase, you actually first ask yourself: What does a meaningful connection mean to you? A meaningful connection to you might be very different than what it is to me. That's first and foremost, and the next part is you want to think about what type of community you want to build around you. This community is going to help you meet your goals over the next four years, four months, maybe even four weeks. And how are you going to ensure that that community doesn't just look like you or sound like you?
Then in the next phase, we get into the "ask phase" of building meaningful connections. You learn how to ask others questions so you can find out what's important to them. Then comes the "do phase." In this phase, you take what you've learned about the person, and follow through and support them.
How's "connecting" different from traditional networking?
In the book, I make a big delineation between the two. Networking is very transactional. Meaningfully connecting is a reciprocal relationship, and I'm sure you have many relationships in your life that cross over from personal to business. They are the people who show up in good times and bad, but sometimes you can also go years without talking to them.
As we near an end of the pandemic, I know a lot of people have very rusty social skills right now! What advice do you have for anyone who might be really anxious to jump back into the real world to meet new people and connect?
Firstly, it's good to recognize we're not going from zero to 100. It's going to be a slow process. I liken it to riding a bike. When you first get back on it after a season off of it, you likely feel out of practice. But after a few blocks, you usually feel like, "I've got this!"
If you're going to a new gathering, a rule of thumb I have is you should challenge yourself to meet three new people, learn three new things and share three things.
This interview has been edited and condensed.


3 Terms, definitions and conventions ToC Previous Next
3.1 Terms and definitions ToC Previous Next
For the purposes of this document the terms and definitions given in OPC 10000-1, OPC 10000-2 and OPC 10000-3 as well as the following apply.
3.1.1 CertificateDigest
a short identifer used to uniquely identify an X.509v3 Certificate.
Note 1 to entry: This is the SHA1 hash of DER encoded form of the Certificate.
3.1.2 DataEncoding
a way to serialize OPC UA Messages and data structures.
3.1.3 DevelopmentPlatform
a suite a tools and/or programming languages used to create software.
3.1.4 Mapping
specifies how to implement an OPC UA feature with a specific technology.
Note 1 to entry: For example, the OPC UA Binary Encoding is a Mapping that specifies how to serialize OPC UA data structures as sequences of bytes.
3.1.5 SecurityProtocol
ensures the integrity and privacy of UA Messages that are exchanged between OPC UA applications
3.1.6 StackProfile
a combination of DataEncodings, SecurityProtocol and TransportProtocol Mappings
Note 1 to entry: OPC UA applications implement one or more StackProfiles and can only communicate with OPC UA applications that support a StackProfile that they support.
3.1.7 TransportConnection
a full-duplex communication link established between OPC UA applications.
Note 1 to entry: A TCP/IP socket is an example of a TransportConnection.
3.1.8 TransportProtocol
a way to exchange serialized OPC UA Messages between OPC UA applications
Previous Next


text:
|© UNICEF OPT/2011/KS|
|A nurse is conducting a post-natal home visit in Gaza.|
By Catherine Weibel
GAZA, Occupied Palestinian Territory, 1 June 2012 – Every year, an estimated 1,600 babies die in the first four weeks of life in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Most of these newborns deaths could be prevented if mothers and newborns's health was systematically evaluated, and if young mothers received advice on how to best care for their children.
To improve newborn survival, UNICEF has revitalized a post-natal home-visit programme for new mothers and infants in the Gaza Strip. Last year, nearly 5,000 home visits were supported, reaching more than 3,000 high-risk pregnant women in Gaza with technical and financial support from UNICEF.
Problems facing young mothers
"The idea is to visit mothers during the first crucial days of their babies' lives, to provide a safety net for mothers and newborns at risk," said Sawsan Hamad, the Director of the Mother's Health Department at the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Post-natal home visits are conducted by nurses and midwives who visit each mother three times, with the first visit taking place immediately after birth. During the visits, they promote and support exclusive breastfeeding, detect any health problems in either the mother and newborn, give advice about safe infant care, increase awareness about the benefits of spacing pregnancies, and promote immunization of the newborns.
In Gaza, many women marry at a young age and bear children shortly thereafter, despite the harmful health effects of teenage pregnancies. Following home visits, more than a third of the Gaza mothers were found to be anemic. Ten per cent of mothers, and 2 per cent of newborns, were referred to a health center for further follow up.
|© UNICEF OPT/2011/KS|
|Last year, more than 3,000 high risk pregnant women in Gaza were visited at home in the first crucial days of their babies' lives.|
Another problem is short birth spacing; according to the 2006 Palestinian Family Health Survey, more than a quarter of Palestinian women give birth at intervals shorter than 18 months, and among women between ages 15 and 19, this number was more than a third. During home visits, half of the women said their pregnancies were unwanted and resulted from a missed opportunity for birth spacing. The nurses and midwives visiting the mothers at home provided counseling about appropriate birth spacing methodologies.
Eager for advice
Icelandic nurse Margret Hafsteinsdottir, a UNICEF technical advisor, participated in many post-natal home visits to see how the programme could be strengthened. All the mothers she met were eager for advice, no matter how many children they already had.
"I remember a 38-year-old mother who had just given birth to her 14th child. She and her 15-year-old daughter were pregnant simultaneously, and consulted together at the clinic," Hafsteinsdottir said. "The mother told me she wanted all her children to marry young, to move out of the family house and start having children immediately because this is what she did, and because it is a practical way of making room for the younger children in her crowded house." During the visit, the mother told Hafsteinsdottir that 14 children were more than enough, and that she would get sterilized.
Post-natal visits are especially crucial for teenage and first-time mothers. "I remember a very unsecure teenager who was discharged from the hospital only one hour after the delivery, because the maternity ward was too crowded, and who did not receive any education on breastfeeding," Hafsteinsdottir said. The girl, who did not know how to breastfeed, ended up bottlefeeding her newborn formula.
But the post-natal home visit programme also showed that three-quarter of the mothers exclusively breastfed their baby. The programme is helping to encourage this practice.
"One mother, who was giving up on breastfeeding her twins because she didn't realize she could breastfeed them both at the same time, changed her mind after our visit," Hafsteinsdottir recalled. "Just a little support makes all the difference."


text:
The Effectiveness of Radio Direction Finding for EVA Navigation in Situations of Low Visibility
MDRS Crew 186 Journalist
Determining one's position is a fundamental problem encountered in engineering. On Earth it is possible to use the constellation of GPS satellites to accurately pinpoint your position relative to a location where you would like to go. This capability does not currently exist on Mars, nor will it be likely to exist when humans first set foot on the planet. The difficulty of localizing an astronaut's position relative to a location of interest is amplified in conditions of low visibility such as night or an unexpected dust storm. The resulting disorientation could greatly imperil any astronaut caught unprepared in such circumstances.
The purpose of this research was to explore how a disoriented astronaut might use radio signals to guide them to a target while on EVA. The core concept is to have the astronaut carry a radio antenna whose sensitivity is directional. Meanwhile, a navigation beacon at the target broadcasts a radio signal in all directions. If the astronaut is unable to locate their query by traditional means they can use the directional radio to determine the direction of the transmitting beacon, and therefore the direction they must walk to reach it.
Figure 1: Searching for the direction of maximum signal.
Prior to the mission I assembled a 3-element handheld Yagi antenna from schematics researched on the Internet. The particular design uses foldable elements made from steel tape measure and originated with Joe Leggio for use in amateur radio foxhunts [Leggio, 1993]. This design is lightweight and easy to stow due to the foldable elements. A coaxial cable with an SMA adapter allows the antenna to be plugged into virtually any portable ham radio.
The transmitter beacon is a commercial handheld ham radio with no special modifications. I created an audio file of a Morse signal toning the phrase, "This is the MDRS amateur navigation beacon crew 186", and broadcast this signal from the beacon by connecting an iPod playing the audio file to the radio with an aux cable. In each test of the navigation experiment the radio beacon was located at the habitat and the Morse signal was broadcast at regular intervals by having a crewmember simply hold down the transmit button. A crewmember on EVA would then attempt to use the Yagi antenna to locate the direction of maximum signal and thereby the bearing to the habitat. The beacon was transmitted on the low power setting of the beacon radio (approximately 2.5 Watts) at a frequency of 146.565 MHz.
The Yagi antenna was used to aid EVA navigation on a total of four EVA's, two of which were dedicated exclusively to testing its effectiveness. On the first two tests I followed a road on the outward trek and then attempted to follow the navigation signal along a straight line back to the habitat. This took me through unfamiliar terrain but did not adequately represent conditions of low visibility. On the later two tests I gave the antenna to a crewmember unfamiliar with amateur radio and covered the upper two thirds of their helmet with a cardboard visor. This restricted their vision to approximately 5 meters and prevented them from using landmarks to help them locate the habitat. Supporting members of the EVA then led the "lost astronaut" volunteer at least 2 kilometers from the habitat and monitored their safety as they attempted to return to the habitat using the radio alone.
Figure 2: Preparing the lost astronaut before EVA.
The first two tests of the navigation antenna were useful for understanding its performance. The accuracy of the antenna in locating the direction to the beacon generally improves with distance. This is because close to the beacon the signal is strong enough to saturate the receiver even along its insensitive axis. The beacon signal therefore appears to originate from all directions. At greater distances the beacon signal is weak and careful pointing of the antenna may be required to receive it at all. At a distance of 4 kilometers the accuracy of the antenna in determining the bearing to the habitat appeared to be better than 10 degrees. This was reduced to over 90 degrees when within a kilometer of the habitat and worse still when even nearer.
During the tests I found that the poor accuracy of the antenna near the transmitter could be mitigated in the following way. The antenna is least sensitive to incoming signal along a direction parallel to the receiving elements. By searching instead for the direction of minimum signal I could deduce that the beacon was located at a right angle to my current pointing direction. This provided acceptable accuracy at sub-kilometer distances.
On the tests with the cardboard visor limiting the astronaut's vision the difficulty of navigating by natural senses alone was professed by the arcing paths participants took prior to and in between broadcasts of the navigation beacon. In fact, on the final test the mock "lost astronaut" walked a complete circle with a radius less than 100 m in between two broadcasts of the beacon. To limit the drift of the astronaut's path it was necessary to decrease the intervals between the beacon transmissions to a nearly continuous broadcast. In both tests with the cardboard visor the astronaut was able successfully navigate to within 500 meters of the habitat despite limited knowledge of their initial position and orientation.
I also note that the surrounding terrain did not appear to have a significant detrimental affect of the performance of the antenna, but this has been difficult to quantify.
Figure 3: Scanning to find the bearing to the hab.
The navigation experiments of MDRS Crew 186 suggest that a handheld directional antenna is a simple and effective means of EVA navigation in low visibility conditions. However, the current set up has several limitations which are noted below.
The current means of searching for the direction of maximum signal provides only the direct bearing to the transmitter beacon. As was found in several of the tests, following a direct path to the beacon is not always possible due to intervening terrain. The user is then on their own to determine an appropriate detour and this may act to further their disorientation. Additional information may be required beyond that provided by a directional antenna in order to navigate successfully.
At distances close to the transmitter the technique of searching for a direction at right angles to the directions of minimum signal proved satisfactory in our experiments. However, because there are always two such directions the astronaut is at risk of following a path directly away from the beacon instead of towards it. This is possible when receiving along the sensitive axis of the antenna as well, but is less likely because the signal strength received by the back lobe of the antenna is generally much weaker compared to the front. Instead of searching for the direction of minimum signal, a better solution would be to attach an attenuator between the antenna and receiver so that the astronaut can reduce the received signal when close to the beacon.
Finally, the rapid drift of participants from their initial heading in between broadcasts of the beacon suggests that either the navigation beacon should be broadcast continuously or astronauts should have some way of preserving their orientation while walking. The later option is desirable because terrain, weather, or the need to handle equipment may temporarily prevent the signal from being received. On Earth an obvious solution is to mark the desired bearing on a compass and follow it accordingly, but this will not work on Mars due to the lack of a global magnetic field.
Figure 4: Finding the habitat using its radio beacon.
Leggios, J. (1993), Tape Measure Beam Optimized for Radio Direction Finding, _URL_
I would like to thank Geoffrey Andrews, Jennifer Pouplin, and Cesare Guariniello at Purdue University for their assistance fabricating and testing the Yagi antenna prior to the mission.


the Direct Distance Dialing (DDD) telephone network. When a DDD call is originated, the calling number is identified as an integral part of establishing the connection. This may be done either automatically by ANI in ESS, or in some cases, by an operator asking the calling party for his telephone number. This information is entered on a tape in the Centralized Automatic Message Accounting (CAMA) office. This tape also contains the number assigned to the trunk line over which the call is to be made. The information relating to the call contained on the tape includes the called number's identification, time of origination of the call, and if the called number answered the call. The time of disconnect is also recorded. The various data entries with of the call are correlated to provide billing information for use by the caller's telephone company's accounting department. The typical Blue Box user usually dials a number that will route the call into the telephone network without charge. For example, the user will very often call a well-known INWATS (toll-free) number. The Blue Box user, after gaining this access to the network when somebody picks up and in effect, "seizing" control of the line, operates a key on the Blue Box which emits a 2600 Hertz (cycles per second, abbreviated as Hz) tone. This tone causes the switching equipment to release the connection to the INWATS customer's line. The 2600 Hz tone is the signal to the switching system that the calling party has hung up. In fact though, the local trunk on the calling party's end is still connected to the toll network. The Blue Box user now operates the "KP" (Key Pulse) key on the Blue Box to notify the toll switching equipment that switching signals are about to be emitted. The user then pushes the "number" buttons on the Blue Box corresponding to the telephone number being called. After doing so, he/she operates the "ST" (Start) key to tell the switching equipment that signaling is complete. If the call is completed, only the portion of the original call prior to the operation of the 2600 Hz tone is recorded on the CAMA tape. The tones emitted by the Blue Box are not recorded on the CAMA tape. Therefore, because the original call to the INWATS number is toll-free, no billing is rendered in connection with the call. The above are the steps in a normal operation of a Blue Box, but they may vary in any one of the following ways: A. The Blue Box may include a rotary dial to apply the 2600Hz tone and the switching signals. This type of Blue Box is called a "dial pulser" or "rotary SF" Blue box. B. A magnetic tape recording may be used to record the Blue Box tones. Such a tape recording could be used in lieu of a Blue Box to fraudulently place calls to the phone numbers recorded on the magnetic tape. All Blue Boxes, except "dial pulse" or "Rotary SF" Blue Boxes, must have the following four common operating capabilities: A. It be able to emit the 2600 Hz tone. This tone is used by the toll network to indicate, either by its presence or its absence, an "on hook" (idle) or "off hook" (busy) condition of a trunk line. B. The Blue Box must have a "KP" tones that unlocks or readies the multi-frequency receiver at the called end to receive the tones corresponding to the called phone number. C. The Blue Box must be able to emit DTMF, tones used to transmit phone numbers over the toll network. Each digit of a phone number is represented by a combination of two tones. For example, the 2 is 700 Hz and 900 Hz. D. The Blue Box must have an "ST" key which consists of a combination of two tones that tell the equipment at the called end that all digits have been sent and that the equipment should start connecting the call to the called number. The following is a chart of the multi-frequency (MF) tones produced by the normal Blue Box. 700 : 1 : 2 : 4 : 7 : 11 : 2600 X 900 : + : 3 : 5 : 8 : 12 : 1100 : + : + : 6 : 9 : KP : 1300 : + : + : + : 10 : KP2 : 1500 : + : + : + : + : ST : : 700 : 900 :1100 :1300 :1500 : The "Dial Pulser" or "Rotary SF" Blue Box requires only a dial with a signalling capability to produce a 2600 Hz tone. Pink Noise Since telephone companies have such advanced equipment to detect Blue Boxes, to help avoid detection "pink noise" is sometimes added to the 2600 Hz tone. Since 2600 Hz tones can be simulated in speech, the detection equipment of the switching system must be attentive not to misinterpret speech as a disconnect signal. Thus, a virtually pure 2600 Hz tone is required for disconnect. This is also the reason why the 2600 Hz tone must be sent rapidly; sometimes, it will not work when the person called is speaking. It is feasible, though, to send some "pink noise" along with the 2600 Hz. Most of this energy should be above 3000 Hz. The pink noise will not reach the toll network, where we want our pure 2600 Hz to hit, but it will go through the local CO and thus, the fraud detectors. The Black Box The Black Box is the easiest type to build. The box stops a call from being charged to some one only if it is hooked to the line of the person being called. In the normal telephone cable, there are four wires: a red, a green, a black, and a yellow. The red & green wires are often referred to as tip (T) and ring (R). When a telephone is on-hook (hung up) there is approximately 48 volts of DC current (VDC) flowing through the tip and ring. When the handset of a phone is lifted, switches close, causing a loop to be connected (which is known as the "local loop,") between the telephone and the CO. Once this happens DC current is able to flow through the telephone with less resistance. This causes a relay to energize and signal to other CO equipment that service is being requested. Eventually, a dial tone is emitted. This also causes the 48 VDC to drop down into the vicinity of 13 volts. The resistance of the loop also drops below the 2500 ohm level. Considering that this voltage and resistance drop is how the CO detects that a telephone was taken off hook, how a Black Box works is by allowing the voltage to drop enough to allow talking, but not enough to signal to the CO equipment to start billing. To do this, a 10,000 Ohm,.5 Watt resistor is incorporated in the local loop on the called party's line. The Red Box A Red Box is a device that simulates the sound of a coin being accepted by a payphone. When a coin is put in the slot of a payphone, the first obstacle is the magnetic trap. This will stop any light-weight magnetic slugs. If it passes this, the coin is then classed as a nickel, dime, or quarter. Each coin is then checked for appropriate size and weight. If these tests are passed, it will then travel through a nickel, dime, or quarter magnet as proper. These magnets start an eddy current effect which causes coins of the appropriate characteristics to slow down so they will follow the correct trajectory. If all goes well, the coin will follow the correct path, striking the appropriate totalizer arm, causing a ratchet wheel to rotate once for every 5-cent increment (eg, a quarter will cause it to rotate 5 times). The totalizer then causes the coin signal oscillator to readout a dual-frequency signal indicating the value deposited to the Automated Coin Toll Service computer (ACTS) or the Traffic Service Position System (TSPS) operator. These are the tones emitted by the Red Box. For a quarter, five beep tones are outpulsed for 66 milliseconds (ms). A dime causes two beep tones for 33 ms, while a nickel causes one beep tone at also 33 ms. A beep consists of two frequencies, 2200 Hz and 1700 Hz. As with a Blue Box, Red Box tones can be recorded on a magnetic tape. Since any call from a payphone is originated with a "ground test," in which the TSPS operator or the ACTS computer checks for the presence of the first coin inserted into the phone, by verifying use of the magnetic, weight, and size traps, when using a Red Box, it is necessary to put in at least one coin. The Cheese Box A Cheese Box lets a normal telephone emulate a payphone. By emulating a payphone, using a blue box now becomes safe, because if the CO equipment recognizes the call as one from a payphone, it does not record it on a CAMA tape. Since a normal telephone does not have a slot to enter coins, a Red Box is needed to generate the sound of a coin dropping. V. Divertors A divertor is a special service that allows businesses to "divert" calls if no one answers after a certain number of rings. For example, a person calls a company, and nobody answers. After about three rings, a few clicks are heard, then a few fainter rings are heard. The building receiving the call has changed from


text:
Matrix Calculator applet
The matrix calculator below computes inverses,
eigenvalues and eigenvectors of 2 x 2, 3 x 3, 4 x 4 and 5 x 5 matrices,
multiplies a matrix
and a vector, and solves the
matrix-vector equation Ax = b. You can change the entries
in the matrix A and vector b by clicking on them
- Press the Invert
button to see A-1.
This requires the matrix to be nonsingular.
- Press the Eigen button to see the eigenvalues, with
an eigenvector below each eigenvalue. Note that in the case of
complex eigenvalues, only one of each complex-conjugate pair
- Press the Solve button to see the solution
of Ax=b. This requires the matrix to be nonsingular.
- Press the Multiply button to see the product
- You can keep three different matrices A, B, C and three
different vectors a, b and c.
To switch among them, click on the name and choose another one.
The buttons always operate on the currently-chosen matrix and
- The Copy button copies the latest result (if any) into
the currently shown matrix or vector.
An inverse matrix will be copied into the current matrix.
For the result of Eigen, the three eigenvectors are copied
into the columns of the current matrix. In the case of complex
eigenvalues, the real part of a complex eigenvector is copied into
one column and the imaginary part into the next column.
For the result of Solve, the solution vector is copied into
the current vector.
- Click on 5 x 5 to change the matrix and vector sizes.
Note that this sets all entries of the matrices and vectors to 0.
This applet uses the
JAMA linear algebra package.