text:
Environmental Assessment / Formal Process
According to the Environmental Assessment Branch in Halifax, this is what the Environmental Assessment is supposed to be:
- Environmental Assessment (EA) is a planning and decision making tool
used to provide sustainable development by protecting and conserving the environment.
- It is an information gathering process used to identify and assess the potential environmental effects of undertakings prior to their development.
- It is also a process that provides the public with an opportunity to contribute to the decision making process.
The Environmental Assessment follows a regulated process consisting of a Pre-registration Phase and a Registration Process.
- The Pre-Registration phase is also called information gathering process. This phase takes one year and more. The proponent collects information and shares it with the Environmental Assessment Branch as well as with the local Department of Environment for review by sending Draft Reports before receiving their final "ok" to register the undertaking with a Final Report. At this point of "pre-approval" the public has not been involved.
- The Final Report must be registered at the Environmental Assessment Branch in order to start the formal EA Registration Process:
The EA Registration process must be completed over a 50 day period after registration. A 30 day period for Public Comments starts with the registration of the Final Report. A decision by the Minister of the Environment marks the end of the 50 day period.
The formal EA Registration process for Alva's quarry extension project in Georgeville with dates and documents can be found below:
Link to EA Branch website with all above documents: _URL_
Incorrect information has been provided by Alva Construction with their registration documents (application). This means wrong input was given before the decision was made by the Minister. Involved government authorities failed to do their job and correct this information. This resulted in an ill-informed (instead of well-informed) and therefore unbalanced / unfair decision by the Minister. Here is what went wrong:
- Wrong input re production levels and truck traffic: False information was provided by the proponent with the EA Registration documents (application) in regards to production levels and truck traffic. Instead of correcting this "mistake", government authorities in charge of this process officially disbursed this false information to other departments, authorities and the General Public. They continued to do so after they were given notification of their mistake and they haven't admitted to any wrongdoing to date.
- Wrong input re neighboring land use: False information was provided by the proponent with the EA Registration documents (application) in regards to the neighboring land use. While Alva describes other quarries in the near vicinity of their project site - there are none. The application also describes low residential development in the area while it misses to mention an adjacent residential development with 13 lots and more than 40 additional residential properties in waterfront and water view subdivisions within less than 1 km radius.
- Wrong input re Public Involvement: False information was provided by the proponent with the EA Registration documents (application) in regards to involvement of stakeholders. Alva states that stakeholders had been informed about the extension project many months prior to their application. This was simply not the case - nor was the general public informed at any time prior to that point.
- Flawed process. While the law requires that proponents have to inform the public during the pre-registration phase about a proposed quarry extension project exceeding an area of 4 ha, the Environment Assessment Branch allows proponents to exclude the public from this most important information gathering process.
The law requires an "early involvement" of the public during the pre-registration phase. The Environmental Assessment process as practiced in Nova Scotia today allows the proponent to exclude the public from this most important information gathering process.
The practice has changed after a large quarry extension project was rejected in 2007 in Digby Neck due to public concerns. Stantec Inc. who prepares most EA registrations as environmental consulting company for proponents' writes a standardized phrase in almost all EA Registrations after 2007 saying that information bulletins have been sent to stakeholders within a certain radius and as a result of that no comments have been received.
It is unimaginable that information bulletins had really been sent out after 2007 when no comments of stakeholders had been received since then. It is "hard to swallow" that government authorities allowed this to happen since 2007 without consequences for proponents. Worse: When government officials were notified by stakeholders that - contrary to what was said in the registration documents - information bulletins had not been sent by the proponent, they replied that they wouldn't know whom to believe.
The EA Branch and people in charge of this process did not stay neutral. They didn't take concerns of the public seriously - instead they've acted as advocates of the proponent all the way through this process.
Conflict free decision opportunity was on the table, but missed:
Representatives of Alva Construction communicated consistently through the media such as newspapers (Chronicle Herald, The Casket), radio (the Hawk, and CJFX Antigonish) and TV (CBC news) as well as to the general public (Northumberland Fire Hall meeting) and government representatives (Councilor Mary MacLellan,
Director of DOE Paul Keats, Manager of the Environmental Branch in Halifax,
Peter Geddes) that they will keep production levels and truck traffic where they
have been in the past.
Residents of the affected area have expressed numerous times and in many submissions that they could live with the status quo in regards to production levels and truck traffic. This was confirmed by a
Community Health Impact Assessment,
which was provided to the Minister before the approval was issued.
A conflict free decision could have been easily achieved at this point by simply restricting production levels and truck traffic to the status quo. The Minister missed this opportunity and the opportunity to impose an alternate dispute mechanism which the law allows. Instead he provided Alva or whoever may own the quarry in the future, with a carte blanche allowing an increase in production levels and truck traffic far beyond 1,000%.
Wrong input (incorrect information) and a flawed process can only result in wrong output (ill-informed decision).
The Minister approved Alva's quarry extension project based on wrong information and therefore failed to put adequate restrictions - such as limitation on size and production levels - in place.
Had the public been informed during the information gathering process (pre-registration phase) wrong information could have been corrected before providing the proponent with green lights to register for EA (= "pre-approval") resulting in a well informed and potentially conflict free decision.
Our Ask (solution):
We are asking the Minister to require ALVA Construction, to maintain their production level per the status quo, as practised today and over the past ten years and limit the EA approval to land excluded by the 800 meter blasting setback.


Why Use a Spiky Ball?
Have you ever tried to give yourself a foot massage when your feet are unbearably achy? If so, you'll know that it's difficult because the angle that your feet and hands meet is quite limiting and often the strength of our fingers is minimal. So, what do you do? Many people have found success by using a spiky ball to massage their achy feet. This blog post will tell you what you need to know about spiky balls, why you need to start using them and how to use them.
What is a spiky ball?
Spiky balls are beneficial tools most often used by physical therapists and now more frequently by athletes, to perform self-therapy on varying muscles of the body and to shorten recovery time. Often spiky balls will be used on the feet to help treat tight arches, achy heels and plantar fasciitis. Spiky balls are balls that come in varying sizes from lacrosse size to golf ball size, covered in small rounded spikes. The firmness of the balls also varies depending upon the location of where the ball is to be used.
Why use a spiky ball?
Using a spiky ball to address your aches and pains is very convenient, can be used just about any where and they are great at getting to those tough to reach muscles! The spikes on the ball trigger pressure points on the feet that send a message to the pain receptors in the brain, thus resulting in temporary relief. Massaging your feet with the spiky ball encourages blood flow to the area, which in turn breaks down painful adhesions (tears) in the plantar fasciitis and helps to speed up the healing process. They are also great at reducing muscle tension in your calves, reducing edema in pregnant women and providing some relief to those with flat feet.
How to use a spiky ball?
When addressing plantar fasciitis, stand or sit with the ball under your arch. Roll the ball from your heel up to your toes with medium pressure. Repeat this motion back and forth several times. This is a great technique for runners to use as well! When the pad of your feet or your heel are particularly sore, use firm pressure and make small side to side motions with the ball.
Remember, self-massage with a spiky ball isn't a permanent pain relief solution but rather an effective temporary solution. Use it as part of a healing regimen in combination with icing, stretching and orthotic inserts (if needed) for long-term results. If you are still experiencing foot pain when practicing these methods at home, schedule an appointment with your podiatrist today!
While we don't carry spiky balls in office, you can purchase them locally at Fleet Feet Santa Rosa or on Amazon!
Important Note: If you start to experience pain that does not subside or increases following use of the Spiky Ball please do not continue with these exercises until you have spoken with your podiatrist.


San José State University
Department of Economics
Thayer Watkins
Silicon Valley
& Tornado Alley
The e-System Notation of Tensor Analysis
E-systems can be vastly generalized beyond the case used here but let us start with indices i,j and k ranging from 1 to 3. First the notion of a permuation of the indices must be considered and the even-ness or odd-ness defined. A permutation of 123 is any rearrangement of the numbers such as 213 or 321. An odd permutation is one that can be achieved with an odd number of transpositions. For example, 213 can be achieved from 123 by transposing the 1 and 2. If the 1 and 3 in 213 are transposed then the result is 231 and thus 231 is an even permutation of 123.
Now the 3x3x3 array eijk can be defined as
eijk = 0 if i=j, j=k or i=k
eijk = +1 if ijk is an even permuatation of 123
eijk = −1 if ijk is an odd permuatation of 123
A primary use of e-systems is for operations concerning determinants.
In conventional notation the determinant of matrix A whose elements are { aij} is expressed as
|A| = ΣjaijCof(aij)
where Cof(aij), the cofactor of aij, is obtained by evaluating the determinant of the submatrix formed by deleting the i-th row and j-th column of the matrix A and multiplying by (−1)i+j. For a 3x3 matrix A the cofactor of a11 is (−1)2[a22a33−a12a21. For higher order matrices the formula for the cofactor of an element is impossibly complex.
The determinant in term of e-systems is a marvel of simplicity. It is
|A| = Σi,j,k,p,q,r eijkapiaqjark
where in tensor analysis, because of the repeated indices,
the Summation sign Σ is understood and not displayed
|A| = eijkapiaqjark
Thus mathematical manipulations, such as taking the derivative of a determinant, are easy to express.
The generalization of e-systems to the case in which the indices range from 1 to n is obvious.
(To be continued.)
HOME PAGE OF applet-magic
HOME PAGE OF Thayer Watkins


Main Menu
Explore More
The All-Boys Advantage
Our comprehensive academic program features a college preparatory curriculum designed specifically to improve educational results for the Servite student. As specialists in boys' education, faculty use teaching strategies that address learning styles specific to boys. Servite's classes, faculty, and learning materials work together to create an environment where students can retain and apply information, explore interests and passions, and enjoy the learning process. Outcomes-focused learning methods, qualified and dedicated faculty and counseling staff, and rigorous honors and advanced placement offerings consistently result in superior standardized test scores (see below) and graduates accepted at the most reputable colleges in the country every year.
We are very proud of the academic success of our students represented by outstanding ACT and SAT scores along with consistent college acceptances at the most reputable universities in the world. Co-educational scores include data reported from male and female students. The most accurate comparison to Servite would only include male scores.
With a student-teacher ratio of 20 to 1, students benefit from small class sizes. Faculty are caring and knowledgeable professionals who help students develop the knowledge and skills to succeed in an increasingly interdependent, technology-based world, while developing the virtues of Faith-filled leaders. Teachers ensure students understand the content of every course and transition smoothly from one grade level to the next. Students are prepared for college through core, elective, honors, and advanced placement classes that teach them to think independently, logically, and creatively.
Servite is the ideal learning environment to ensure male students live up to their potential in every way. We educate boys in light of their spatial, visual, active learning style and natural affinity for subjects like abstract mathematics and science. By stressing the importance of subjects like literature, languages, history, art, music, film, drama, and the visual arts, Servite develops well-rounded students who find their innate creativity and imagination while developing communication skills and building upon strengths and interests. Boys often learn best through activity with material presented in small portions. Thus, a typical coed classroom that favors verbal and auditory learning can put an active boy at a disadvantage. Servite's schedule, class times, and teaching plans allow students to stay active and comprehend material in the most relevant ways.
Course Catalog
Our Departments


Have More Philanthropic Impact
How Can GreatNonprofits Help Foundations To Improve Effectiveness
How do you know which of your grantees are having an impact on the ground? What are beneficiaries, volunteers and other donors saying about your grantees? What do the people served by your grantees think are the strengths or the the areas for improvement of your grantees? Don't want to wait until the end of year multi-year grant to learn how things are going? Get early feedback on what's going on on the ground.
Ensure that your philanthropy is having direct impact on the ground
GreatNonprofits provides constituent feedback from a variety of people important in the community you work in:
Beneficiaries served by nonprofits
 - Volunteers
 - Board Members
 - Donors
How it works:
1. Tell us what kind of nonprofits you are interested in:
 - by issue
 - by geography
 - by names
2. GreatNonprofits will conduct outreach and collect feedback of the constituents served by the nonprofits. Outreach will be done by email and social media
3. GreatNonprofits assessment tools provide you with custom insights. Receive summary and detailed feedback on the nonprofits you've specified.
Who Else Uses GreatNonprofits Feedback?
GreatNonprofits feedback is used by community foundations, private foundations and individual donors and volunteers.
To find out how you can quickly and cost-effectively be more effective in your philanthropy by using constituent feedback, contact GreatNonprofits.


text:
According to Anne-Marie Anthony, Director of Research at the CNRS (The National Centre for Scientific Research) in 1982: "Towards the Upper Paleolithic era, 10,000BC, modern man was born and became sedentary at which point pottery became a family activity. The firing techniques of the period involved polishing and smoking the surface of the clay. The polishing was done using smooth pebbles before the clay was fully dried. This technique "sealed" the surface and rendered the vessels relatively impermeable."
Today we continue this ancestral method of firing here in the Dordogne, "the home of prehistoric man", at a place known as "Peyrelevade" which means "standing stone".

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


Ever wonder where the American culinary classic meatloaf really came from? Would you believe the dish can be traced back for centuries? The meatloaf has European origins; meatloaf of minced meat was mentioned in the famous Roman cookery collection Apicius as early as the 5th century.
Patties or "loaves" of minced meat, mixed with a variety of ingredients, are part of many culinary histories. Germans hid boiled eggs inside meatloaf, the Romans enjoyed theirs made with wine-soaked bread, spices, and pine nuts, Medieval Europe served it mixed with fruit, nuts and seasonings. Sometimes it was served hot, or wrapped in ham, or served cold with sauces, or was found jiggling in layers of gelatin. From the beginning, meatloaf showed us how much potential we have for the re-invention of food.
Leave a Reply
You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change )
Google photo
Twitter picture
Facebook photo
Connecting to %s


text:
Recoding the Matrix: How Maestral Leveraged a Traditional Structure to Develop a New Approach to Learning", authored by our US Head of Business Development, Frank Torres, drew a sensible analogy between Mistral's Practice Groups (PGs) and Chapters and Guilds of Spotify. In this article, PGs were defined as follows:
Since the publish date, the post has inspired curiosity and raised questions about how the PGs generally compare to classical departments as organizational units.
This article, apart from organizational aspects, aims to address PGs' technical perspectives too, so that readers can get clearer insights into what PGs stand for and how they fit into building and sharing knowledge at Mistral.
Practice Groups Overview
Staying close to the Spotify comparison, Mistral Practice Groups represent a unique intersection between Chapters and Guilds. Like Chapters, PGs are formed around shared competencies, and like Guilds, they are fully open to all employees.
What really separates PGs from classical departments in organizational and technical terms?
Google Dictionary (Oxford Languages) defines a department as
A division of a large organization such as a government, university, or business, dealing with a specific area of activity.
Although Practice Groups resemble classical departments in some respects, a high degree of flexibility and ad-hoc ephemeral nature are the key differentiators that make us agile and competitive as an organization in every aspect.
Whatever their form, size, function, or established processes, departments still represent traditional, conservative organizational structures.
As such, departments suit well any administration, they recall and refer to the traditional leadership styles, rigid protocols of communication and decision making, i.e., the traditional leadership styles dating back to the "industrial era". Overall, they are characterized by inflexible communication channels, the sluggish pace of delivery, and often unnecessarily sizeable hierarchies too.
It is little to say that exactly those characteristics bring avail and frustration to many IT organizations that want to stay competitive in the ever-changing tech markets. They cry for organizational changes and re-structuring. Mistral sympathized from the early days and wanted to build a faster-moving, and continuous flow of relevant pool of knowledge potential available in a lickety-split, right here and nowPGs were established.
Mistral Practice Groups Characteristics and Activities
Mistral continuously explores specific tech-related topics and areas, and with PGs, it is possible to generate and share the knowledge within the company. Depending on the specific topic/area, PGs may be either short/long term groups, small, medium, or large multi-functional teams.
On that account, the organizational style dubbed Practice Groups was established, serving us as mini hubs of excellence — not as a substitute for classical departments, but rather as an innovative form of teams' organization.
What makes PGs unique is their capacity to be assembled on an ad-hoc basis, do the work, and disband them, once the goals and objectives are reached.
Research, certification (part of the Technology Partnerships initiative), Learning Path design, (part of the Professional Development Plan initiative), progress monitoring meetups, reporting, and monthly newsletters cover the range of main activities aiming at continuous education of people and overall standardization of business processes.
Each PG is led by a Lead, has one or multiple Advisors, with as many members, goals, and objectives as needed. PG Leads are responsible for planning, organizing, and steering various annual and quarterly activities.
PG Advisors assist Leads, support PG members, and the overall organization of groups and activities.
Employees take part (membership) in at least one Practice Group, but depending on their interests and preferences, they can join other Practice Groups too. (Employees can leave groups as well, in case they show no more interest.)
Continuous education is a cornerstone of Mistral's growth, and only through PGs, it is available to everyone in the organization. Be it days or week-long workshops, weekly Lunch & Learn sessions (some sessions being open to the public, too), or events with external guests and lecturers, the schedule is available through the public PG calendar. In addition to the calendar, timely announcements precede each session, so everyone is informed about the events.
Mistral's primary PGs are:
- Product & Project Management
- Design (UI/UX)
- Data Science & Analytics
- Quality Assurance
There are also certain subgroups dubbed "secondary" on account of being organized around more specific topics and areas. For example, Backend PG has several subgroups organized around programming languages such as C#, Java, Rust, and GoLang, while Ruby disbanded because of the low market demand. On the other hand, subgroups such as SQL and Python represent the intersection of interests of both Backend and Data Science & Analytics PGs. Some of the disbanded PGs are also Blockchain and IoT (Internet of Things) — but only temporarily.
PGs set the foundation for capability development at Mistral, and as such, they enable organic growth and expansion of knowledge and skills within the organization. Mistral has found a way to battle-test and optimize its approaches, overcome obstacles, and converge applying various product and software development methodologies in a way that best fits both specific, domestic needs and international market demands.


text:
Jafaripanah, Mehdi, Al-Hashimi, Bashir and White, Neil M.
Design Consideration and Implementation of Analog Adaptive Filters for Sensor Response Correction.
At 12th Iranian Conference on Electrical Engineering (ICEE2004), Mashhad, Iran,
11 - 13 May 2004.
This paper has shown that it is possible to perform effective response compensation of sensors using analog adaptive filter techniques. The case is illustrated by showing how the response of a load cell can be improved to speed up the process of measurement. The load cell is a sensor with an oscillatory output in which the measurand contributes to the response parameters. Thus, a compensation filter needs to track variation in measurand whereas a simple, fixed filter is only valid at one specific load value. It has been shown that the state-variable biquadratic filter provides an accurate and flexible sensor and adaptive compensation filter models. To allow a practical implementation of the adaptive techniques, a novel piecewise linearization technique is proposed in order to vary a floating voltage-controlled resistor in a linear manner over a wide range. Simulation and experimental results are presented, thus showing the viability of the proposed techniques.
Actions (login required)


Kinesthetic Activity – Human Box and Whisk-ers Plot
I emphasized that there are 5 syllables so you need 5 points. I had the students hold up their fists and then count off with their fingers while saying, Box and Whis-kers Plot over and over, and over.
After going over vocabulary and doing some easy examples, I had the students access their own measurement data located in our Google Spreadsheet. My students always care more (and remember more) about anything if it has something to do with them.
We have two sections of 6th grade. For homework I assigned the students to make TWO box and whiskers, one for each section of the class.
The next day in class I put students plots up on the Elmo to compare the heights of each class. They love showcasing their work and comparing the two sections.
We then did a kinesthetic activity by making a human box and whiskers plot.
 1. I had all of the students line up from shortest to tallest.
 2. I asked then what points we plotted first (extremes) and had those student step forward.
 3. Then, we found the median and had that student step forward.
 4. I asked the shorter end, "Who are you?" and they yelled, "The lower set of data!" and then we found the lower quartile and had that student step forward. I did the same thing with the upper quartile.
In one class the numbers worked out and we did not have to average any two students to find the quartiles. In the other class, it did not, so we had two students stand in a line. We joked that we added them up and split them into two. ("I'll stand on your head. No, you can stand on my head!") It was fun!
Students enjoyed the human box and whiskers plot. They got to move around plus it was very visual. With the numbers taken out, I feel like some students really understood what was going on instead of just marking off numbers looking for the median.
Next year… I am going to use something (yarn maybe?) so we can actually "box" the students into their quartiles and make the whiskers. I could also cut out construction paper "dots" for the students who step forward to hold. This would also be a cute instructional iMovie starring the students.
13 thoughts on "Kinesthetic Activity – Human Box and Whisk-ers Plot
 1. What a great activity. I've always thought box and whisker plots were kinda weird and reviewing them was boring. Lining kids up is a great way to really show the data, love it!
 - So funny you say that. I took FOUR semesters of Prob/Stats in undergrad and grad school AND worked in Market Research for two years and never studied, used, or even saw a box and whiskers plot. Thus, I didn't even teach it last year. However, the powers that be included it in the Common Core so I am complying this year. In my opinion, if Excel can't make it, then it's not a great graph! 🙂
 2. I did a similar activity this year with my high school class, but instead of using heights, I gave a bunch of students print outs with the names, ages, and photos of Justin Timberlake's girlfriends (randomly chosen celebrity with many exes). They lined up by age and then I gave the minimum a Mr. Potato Head (a toy for the kid), the maximum got a mumu and old lady wig, the median got a pan balance witha 50 yd line on it, and the box I outlined with yarn. It worked out well because he was rumored to have dated Mila Kunis, so we started with her out, then added her in to see how it shifted the points and what shifted. In one of the sections we extended it by adding in a bunch of points towards the minimum to see how that shifted the 5 points and that worked out well. Using the yarn made it easy to emphasize that 50% of the data fell inside the box when I had all the people touching yarn step forward, and the people without step back.
 3. OMG!!! This is the cutest thing I've ever seen! I'm such a huge advocate of kinesthetic lessons. Students remember these lessons far longer than by just sitting in a classroom and taking notes and such. Thank you for thinking out of the box on this one! 🙂
 4. Pingback: Foldable for Linear Relationships and Graphing « My Teaching Journey
 5. Pingback: Finding Math Education Blogs | Why Believe in Educational Oblivion?
 6. Pingback: Using Human Box Plots to Teach 7th Grade Variability | powersfulmath
 7. Pingback: MAD Estimation180 | trigotometry
What do you think?
You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change )
Google photo
Twitter picture
Facebook photo
Connecting to %s


text:
The keyhole gardens are the brainchild of humanitarian charities and missionaries for use in impoverished countries with poor soil, bad weather, and starving people. At least one organization teaches the schoolchildren how to construct the gardens from available recycled materials and to care for the vegetables. The schools then have nutritious vegetables for lunches. The children are encouraged to build a keyhole garden at home to educate their parents, thus enabling families to feed themselves. Advisers visit with the families to trouble-shoot garden problems.
Keyhole Garden Concept
The Keyhole Garden concept is brilliantly simple. A circular raised bed has a center compost basket that distributes nutrients to the surrounding lasagna-style garden bed. A small pie-slice section of the bed is used for easy access to the center compost basket forming the keyhole design (click the sketch on the left for larger image).
Kitchen and garden waste, along with household gray water, are added to the center basket. The soil bed layers are slightly sloped away from the center to aid water and "compost tea" distribution. As the materials decompose, soil, composting materials, and amendments are added to the bed in later growing seasons.
Keyhole Garden Benefits
Keyhole Garden Construction
This is not a comprehensive how-to. If you would like detailed information to construct a Keyhole Garden, please follow the links provided at the end of this article, otherwise, refer to the Cross-section View A-A at left (click for a larger image).
The following is a list of recurring points made for the garden design to work efficiently. Use whatever materials you may have at your disposal that will allow the best result to be achieved.
- Drainage: Rocks, broken tiles or pots, rusty cans, twigs, small branches, or old critter bones can be used for the bottom drainage layer.
- Compost Basket: A tube, 1' to 1-1/2' (.5 meters) in diameter and tall enough to extend well above the center of the bed, can be fashioned from anything that will allow water to pass through into the surrounding bed like chicken wire, fencing, or sticks (think in terms of a woven basket). Supports to hold the basket in place, such as strong branches, boards, or rebar, and wire or strong twine to hold everything together, also, will be needed.
- Outer Border Walls: Anything that will contain the soil could be used: stones, bricks, or blocks can be stacked into place; boards or branches could be driven into the ground; sand bags or old tires could work as well.
- Planting Bed Fill: Use the same materials as for a lasagna garden, or compost pile, such as cardboard, paper, manure, leaves, straw, hay, old potting mix, or wood ashes, then finish the surface for planting with top soil.
- A cleared level area no larger than 6-1/2' (2 meters) in diameter is the maximum size for a Keyhole Garden. A larger diameter bed may suffer from a lack of water near the outer wall of the bed (from the compost basket), and plants close to the center may be difficult to reach.
- The cutout area of the keyhole should be wide enough to allow easy access to the compost basket when adding materials, removing compost, or making basket repairs if needed. Positioning the cutout on the North side of the circular garden would use the dark space of the bed that would not receive full sun, thus leaving all the sunny sides for planting.
- All the layers added to the bed should slope downward to the outer border wall. The slope helps direct moisture from the compost basket out into the bed.
- The outer border wall can be as high as needed for the comfort of the gardener and the amount of sourced materials. The top surface of soil should stay below the outer walls to contain rainwater and prevent the soil from running off.
- Other Considerations:
- A roof can be made to deflect excessive rain from the compost basket or to conserve compost moisture during drought.
- Trellises could be installed to support cloches for weather protection.
I have been gathering information and materials to construct a Keyhole Garden for a garden project next year. I was so excited by the design idea that I decided to share the information now, instead of waiting until I could build one to write about later. I hope I have provided a potential new garden concept for others to consider as well.
- Texas Co-op Power: Keyhole Gardening: Unlocking the secrets of drought-hardy gardening, by G. Elaine Aker; Issue: February 2012
- Valhalla Project: videos and photos
- Send-A-Cow: Keyhole Gardens and many other great frugal gardening ideas


toxology (täks-älə-jē)
Happy National Archery Day!
I've been on my school's Varsity Archery team for two years now and find the sport highly challenging, yet relaxing. Our team qualified for the State tournament this year for the first time in school history! Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus, the competition was cancelled.
The Greek word for bow is toxon. The ancient Greeks often shot poison arrows at enemy troops. When Rome conquered Greece, the Romans adopted toxon into Latin. However, the meaning of the word changed – in Latin, toxon came to mean poison.
Very rarely, the Greek definition of toxon appears in English. So far, I've only encountered two words that have retained the meaning – toxophilite and toxology. You can read my post about the word toxophilite here.
Toxology is the study of archery and projectiles. The word comes from the Greek word toxon meaning bow and -logy meaning study of. Toxology is commonly confused with the word toxicology, which uses the Latin meaning and refers to the study of poisons. In fact, many familiar words in English use the Latin meaning of toxon.
Stay tuned for another tricky homonym pear pair soon!
-tara (tarə)
Hello everyone! As I study for the 2017 Scripps National Spelling Bee, there are certain words that naturally catch my attention. I am particularly intrigued by words that contain my name. I didn't realize that tara could be found in so many words originating from different languages.
Tarantism (tarənˌtizəm) is an uncontrollable urge to dance, and tarantella (tarənˈtelə) is an Italian folk dance. Both these words are named after Taranto, a city in Italy. A taradiddle (tarəˈdidəl) is a small fib. No one knows where this word originates from, but it was first used around 1796.
One of my favorite words is taramosalata (tärəˌmōsəˈlä-tə). This is a Greek fish spread and it originates from Greek. A tuatara (tüəˈtärə) is a large reptile commonly found in New Zealand. This word originates from Maori, a Polynesian language.
The word tarantara is an imitative word that mimics the sound of a bugle. This is actually a variation of the Latin word tantara (tanˈtarə).
Tara means star not only in Sanskrit, but also in many other Indian languages, such as Hindi and Telugu. So there you have it, a post all about my name! I hope you enjoyed this post and I hope you will indulge my narcissism especially since I recently celebrated my birthday!


text:
On the Convergence of Model Free Learning in Mean Field Games
PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRTIETH AAAI CONFERENCE ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND THE TWENTY-EIGHTH INNOVATIVE APPLICATIONS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CONFERENCE
Learning by experience in Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) is a difficult and exciting task, due to the lack of stationarity of the environment, whose dynamics evolves as the population learns. In order to design scalable algorithms for systems with a large population of interacting agents (e.g., swarms), this paper focuses on Mean Field MAS, where the number of agents is asymptotically infinite. Recently, a very active burgeoning field studies the effects of diverse reinforcement learning algorithms
... or agents with no prior information on a stationary Mean Field Game (MFG) and learn their policy through repeated experience. We adopt a high perspective on this problem and analyze in full generality the convergence of a fictitious iterative scheme using any single agent learning algorithm at each step. We quantify the quality of the computed approximate Nash equilibrium, in terms of the accumulated errors arising at each learning iteration step. Notably, we show for the first time convergence of model free learning algorithms towards non-stationary MFG equilibria, relying only on classical assumptions on the MFG dynamics. We illustrate our theoretical results with a numerical experiment in a continuous action-space environment, where the approximate best response of the iterative fictitious play scheme is computed with a deep RL algorithm.


text:
Mark Perry has posted some interesting comparison of how prices have plummeted between 1958 and 2012 when measured in terms of the hours of work required to purchase items. He concludes that today's consumer working at the average wage of $19.19 would only have to work 26.6 hours (a little more than three days) to earn enough income ($511) to purchase a toaster, TV and iPod. The equivalent products (in terms of their basic function, not their quality) would have required 4.64 weeks of work in 1958. In short, the "time cost" of these items has massively declined by 86% in less than 5 decades.
Similarly, Perry calculates that measured in the amount of time working at the average hourly wage to earn enough income to purchase a washer-dryer combination, the "time cost" of those two appliances together has fallen by 83%, from 181.8 hours in 1959 to only 31 hours today.
What if we applied this kind of analysis to health care? The results are quite interesting. In 1958, per capita health expenditures were $134. This may seem astonishingly small, but it actually includes everything, inclusive of care paid for by government or private health insurers. A worker earning the average wage in 1958 ($1.98) would have had to work 118 hours-nearly 15 days-to cover this expense. By 2012, per capita health spending had climbed to $8,953. At the average wage, a typical worker would have to work 467 hours-about 58 days.
In short, while time prices for other goods and services had shrunk to less than one quarter of their 1958 levels, time prices for health care had more than quadrupled!
Of course, health care in 2012 is vastly different and greatly improved compared to what was available in 1958. But the same can be said of other goods and services (Perry, for example, is comparing the cost of an iPod to 4-speed automatic record player).
This simple comparison reminds us of three basic truths. In general, private markets tend to produce steadily lower prices in real terms (e.g., in worker time costs) and steadily rising quality. This is exactly what we observe for goods such as toasters, TVs, iPods, washers and dryers. In contrast, while the quality of health care unequivocably has risen since 1958, real spending on health care has climbed dramatically. This isn't an apples-to-apples comparison insofar as the bundle of goods and services that constitute health care is also much larger today than in 1958. In contrast, even though the quality may be better, a washing machine in 2012 is still a washing machine. If we were willing to rely more on markets in medicine, we might be able to harness the superior ability of Americans to find good value for the money to produce results more similar to other goods.
Second, over time, we as a nation have been able to afford more health care precisely because the time cost of other goods and services has declined. For the same number of hours worked, workers can enjoy the same standard of living even as they allocate more of their working time to purchasing health care. There is nothing wrong with this. The only issue is whether we are getting good value for the money when we buy health care. With only 11 cents of every health dollar paid directly out-of-pocket, I think most of us can honestly say "no."
Anyone who is skeptical on this point should do the following mental experiment: if I promised to pay 89 percent of the cost of your groceries, would what you buy be different? Most students I ask freely concede that they would buy things they would not otherwise buy and might well pay higher prices even for things they would have bought anyway. The difference between the cost of your weekly groceries when you buy them with your own money (say, $100) and what you spend when someone else is paying most of the bill (say, $150) is not pure waste. There is some added value to you from those extra groceries. But that value cannot exceed the added cost else you would have bought them on your own in the first place. The difference between that added cost and your own estimate of the added value is what an economist would call waste. According to the Institute of Medicine, we wasted about $765 billion in health care in 2009-about 30 percent of all spending.
Finally, this rate of increase is not sustainable. The time price of health spending cannot quadruple again over the next half century, else the average worker is likely to experience a decline in his or her real standard of living (i.e., what can be afforded after paying for health care). To paraphrase the former president of AEI, "we cannot make health care affordable by picking each other's pockets." The sooner policymakers recognize this basic truth, the sooner we can get on a path towards sustainable growth in health care expenditures.
 As well, one could argue that the average worker does not purchase the average per capita amount of health care since there are all sorts of cross-subsidies created by private and public insurance as well as U.S. tax policy. But at the end of the day, today's health spending is financed by today's workers, so if anything, the very rough picture I've provided is overly optimistic. On a per worker basis, total U.S. health spending this year will amount to $21,280, which would require an average-paid worker 1,108 hours of work to finance (and even more when taxes are taken into account). In reality, there are few U.S. workers who have to devote more than half a year to bankrolling their health care. The average hourly earnings figure I am using is only for production and nonsupervisory employees in manufacturing. Many other workers, including those in management and entrepreneurs, do not earn an hourly wage. And the costs of government-financed health care-which now accounts for more than 60 percent of health spending-tends to be borne more by those with the highest incomes.
 In fairness, when health economists have tried to measure the real prices of health treatments such as for heart attacks, they sometimes have found these have declined, though not nearly as rapidly as the decline in prices for goods and services analyzed by Perry.
 The original quote, from Christopher DeMuth, was "we cannot all grow wealthier by picking each other's pockets."

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


text:
Preparation Tips for Last Minute SSC Selection Post 2020
This post is also available in: हिन्दी (Hindi)
Staff Selection Commission (SSC) is recruiting for Selection Post 2020 Phase VIII. There are more than 1000 vacancies available for this post. If you are appearing for this exam, then beginning the preparation right now is crucial. This article about SSC Selection Post Preparation Tips will help you align your approach method as per the subjects and the easy tips will optimize your preparation level.
SSC Selection Post Selection Procedure 2020
The selection process is based on 2 stages –
- Written exam in Computer Based Mode (Objective type multiple choice questions)
- Skill Test.
SSC Selection Post Exam Pattern 2020
SSC Selection Post Selection is based on Written Exam in a Computer Based Mode that consist of Objective Type Multiple Choice Questions.
|Subjects||No. of Qs||Max. Marks||Duration|
|English Language||25||50||60 minutes|
|General Awareness (GA)||25||50|
SSC Selection Post Preparation Tips
You cannot master this subject in a day. To score well in this section you need consistent practice. If your preparation is strong then you can score more marks as compared to Quant, Reasoning and English.
- Regularly read newspapers and magazines to learn new words and improve your reading.
- You need to learn at least 10 new words daily with meaning and its usage.
- Learn all the basic grammar rules and improve your comprehension skills.
- Use flash cards which make learning and remembering new words easy.
- Additionally, solve as many previous year papers as possible.
- Give mock test to self analyse your preparations.
- Attempt/Solve: English for Competitive Exams Modules, Testbook English Quiz, English Stack Exchange, Word Power Made Easy Capsules
- Read Newspapers, Books if possible regularly. Try to read newspaper daily for an hour to gather all the latest information.
- You can also refer magazines, school books and journals.
- Try to focus on topics like Culture, History, Indian Constitution, Geography, General Polity, etc
- Watch news channel, this will help in improving your knowledge of international events, and important activities.
- Keep yourself updated on the recent current affairs that took place in recent six months. You can also read current affairs magazines published for government jobs.
- Solve GK quizzes, previous year papers, and mock test.
- Study on the latest events or changes that took place in the country (related to sports, politics, finance, budget, etc.)
- Attempt/Solve: Current Affairs App, Static GK, GK Quiz,Current Affairs Capsules,Current Affairs Quiz,
- If you are good at Mathematics then this could be your topic to score more marks. However, for those who are not so good in this section need lot of practice.
- This section is time consuming, therefore do not waste time on the sections that you cannot solve during the exam.
- Understand the questions carefully, and avoid rushing while solving the problem.
- The main topics to focus on are Ration and proportion, Averages, SI and CI, Speed, time and distance, time work, Mensuration, Discount.
- Attempt/Solve: Testbook Quant, Testbook Quant Quiz, Math Shortcut Tricks,mock test
This section is scoring and can fetch you lot of marks in the exam. Therefore, focus more while preparing and understand the basic concept or idea before solving these questions.
- Learn all the topics that come under this section like Coding-Decoding, Blood relations, Difference and Similarities, Arithmetic Reasoning and Number Series, Analogies, etc.
- As this subject is less time consuming, therefore, prepare all the topics that come under this section.
- You can also study the topic as per weight age and allot proper time accordingly.
- Make sure that you are practicing more to ace this subject.
- Always ensure to review all the topics after you finish.
- Use smart tricks, short and quick methods for solving this section with accuracy and speed.
- Attempt/Solve: Testbook Reasoning, Testbook Reasoning Quiz
General SSC Selection Post Preparation Tips
- Know the syllabus and exam pattern in and out. Go through the entire syllabus and understand each topic well.
- Collect the required study materials from a proper source. Online reference books can also be studied.
- Prepare a proper time table to study, and spend ample time on each subject.
- Make sure you are solving all the questions with speed and accuracy.
- Try to solve questions faster and with accuracy. For that you need to practice very hard.
- Accuracy and Speed is important during exam. Therefore, make sure you practice more to ace this topic.
- Attempt mock test and solve previous year papers, this will help you get familiar with all kinds of questions, exam pattern and difficulty level.
- Time management is crucial. Since you have to solve 100 questions in 60 minutes, therefore, make the most of your time.
- Don't spend too much time in a particular question, as the number of questions is more & you have limited time.
SSC Selection Post Phase 8 Syllabus
Before starting preparation for any competitive examination, one need to be well versed with the syllabus. The point in knowing the syllabus is to segrgate all the important topics which you should put more focus on, by doing that you increase your chances in acing any examination. Read our article on SSC Selection Post Syllabus to plan out your exam prep.
Start practicing for your Competitive Exam Today.
Join us for more queries and discussions.


text:
The working temperature of optical transceivers affects all the parameters of optical transceivers. If the ambient temperature of the optical transceiver changes, the operating current of the optical transceiver will vary with temperature. At the same time, the parameters of the optical transceivers change, which affects the normal transmission of optical transceivers. Today, we mainly talk about the causes of too high or too low temperature on optical transceivers and its impact.
What Is the Normal Temperature of Optical transceivers?
Because the type and brand of the optical transceiver are complicated, the temperature of modules corresponding to different optical transceiver temperature levels are different and the temperature specifications defined by the supplier are different, whether the temperature of optical transceivers is abnormal or not needs to be considered according to these factors. Before we use the optical transceiver, it is best to check the vendor's definition of the temperature profile of the optical transceiver so as to reduce the number of problems caused by abnormal optical transceiver temperature.
Optical transceiver temperature mainly includes three levels: commercial grade, extended grade, industrial grade. The following is a detailed description of these three temperatures:
|Temperature Grade||Abbreviation||Temperature Range|
|Commercial temperature range||COM||0 ~ + 70 ℃|
|Extended temperature range||EXT||-20 ~ 85 ℃|
|Industrial temperature range||IND||-40 ~ 85 ℃|
Three Reasons That Affect the Temperature of Optical Transceivers
1. The Poor Quality and Workmanship
If you use the optical transceivers with poor quality and workmanship, then the phenomenon of abnormal temperature of the optical transceivers is more common. Because the function of such optical transceivers is instable, heat dissipation is also relatively poor. In order to reduce the temperature anomaly and unnecessary discard, we advise to use the optical transceivers with better function, quality and workmanship.
2. The Harsh Application Environment
Optical transceiver operating environment is in the data center, computer room or interchanger. If the optical transceivers are used in other environments, the change of the ambient temperature will inevitably change the temperature of the optical transceiver, thereby affecting its optical power and optical sensitivity. If the application environment of optical transceivers is harsh, then we advise to select the optical transceivers with industrial temperature or extended temperature.
3. The Use of Second-hand Optical Transceivers
The temperature of new optical transceivers is usually at 0-70 ° C and many second-hand optical transceivers are inaccessible. And the second-hand optical transceivers cannot operate normally in high-temperature or low-temperature conditions. Therefore, we advocate the use of new optical transceivers.
What Are the Impacts of High or Low Temperature on Optical transceivers?
If the optical transceiver temperature is too high or too low, it will affect the function of the optical transceiver and make the communication data appear faulty. The optical transceivers will alarm if its temperature isn't in the normal range. If the optical transceivers are in a bad situation, interchangers will send data continuously. The optical transceivers will not send / receive data from the beginning until it is recovered to normal operation.
1. The Impact of Too High Temperature on Optical Transceivers:
If the operating temperature of optical transceivers is too high, the optical power of optical transceivers will become larger and the receiving signal will be faulty, and even the optical transceiver will be burned. As a result, the optical transceivers cannot work normally. In this case, DDM function should be added. You can select temperature control system for real-time monitoring and compensation to ensure that the optical transceiver extinction ratio and luminous power stable, to ensure the normal operation of the optical communication system.
2. The Impact of Too Low Temperature on Optical Transceivers:
Generally speaking, as long as optical transceivers are not exposed to the harsh environment below 0℃, the temperature will not be too low. It is better not to use the optical transceiver in the condition of too low temperature, as this may cause the function of the optical transceiver to be unstable.
How about the Temperature of Gigalight's Optical Transceivers?
As one of the most top-rated optical transceiver vendors in China, Gigalight complies with the temperature grade standard that the industry requires, and will meet the customer demand for temperature. In addition, all optical transceivers will undergo a high and low temperature burn-in test prior to shipping to test the temperature to ensure the quality of the products.


Special Features
Employment Background Checks - UK vs Australia
Background Checks The trend is clear. Australian businesses are increasingly looking to pre-employment background checks as the perfect tool to ensure workplace safety and prevent future problems. As police checks are fast becoming commonplace in Australia, it is worth examining how other countries are tackling this sensitive issue. Take, for instance, the United Kingdom a country with a long democratic tradition - what sort of criminal record checks are allowed under British law?
Types of British pre-employment checks
British employers have various types of pre-employment checks at their disposal. A company can ask for a comprehensive background check on a prospective employee, which will include a verification of the past five years employment record, credit checks going back six years, identity checks, right to work in the UK checks as well as a character reference, which can be obtained from a previous employer.
On top of that, an employer can ask for a criminal record check, but only for a limited number of positions.
What is a DBS?
In the United Kingdom, verification of an individual's criminal record can only be performed only through the Disclosure and Barring Service, which is why what Australians refer to as a national police check over there is called a DBS check.
There are three different types of DBS checks available.
1. Basic DBS check:
As the name says, it is the most basic of the criminal record checks available in the UK. It is also the only one individuals can run on themselves. The information contained in such checks is limited.
When a Basic DBS check is run, it will only list unspent convictions. Just as in Australia there's the Spent convictions scheme, the British have a rehabilitation law. Under this law, certain minor offenses committed when a person was young will be eliminated from their criminal record after a few years so that the individual concerned has a higher chance of getting a good job.
Background Checks 2. Standard DBS:
Such checks can be carried out when a person applies for a job that implies certain responsibilities. For instance, someone seeking employment in a financial institution, the courts, the prison system, or something similar will have to submit to a Standard DBS.
The information which can be disclosed is more detailed and will include both spent and unspent past convictions.
3. Enhanced DBS
The most complex background check available in the UK is in many ways similar to the Australian Working With Children check. As a matter of fact, Enhanced DBS checks are required for British people applying for any job that implies working with children in any capacity, but also for jobs related to caring for vulnerable adults.
As part of the verification, an enhanced DBS check includes searching the applicant's name against Barred Lists. Such lists include the names of people who are barred from holding sensitive jobs under a court order.
Continuous monitoring
Under British law, it is illegal for an employer to ask for a criminal record check if the
position does not qualify for such a verification. Also, employers need to have the applicant's consent before ordering a DBS. In the UK, as well as in Australia you can obtain a criminal record check using the services of an online agency.
Employers can also opt for an updated DBS, which basically alerts the company if a new conviction has been added to the employee's criminal record after the moment the check was performed. On the other hand, for sensitive jobs, British employers are allowed to order DBS checks on their employees at regular intervals.
Copyrights © 2021 Inspiration Unlimited eMagazine
Have something to share? Drop us a line below!
Top Read
Of The Month
A Notebook That Lasts Forever And A Gifting Idea That is Priceless


text:
The Earth Dragon embodies the very spirit of the Earth itself. It is said that this beast is able to spring forth from the ground wherever it chooses, and is a protector of all the creatures and natural places of the world.
- Scientific Name: Draco terra
- Characteristics: This elemental spirit dragon is spreading its wings, which are covered in stars to signify the night sky. Its scales shimmer like the surface of the sea and two branch-like horns sprout from its head, along with a leafy frill. Its gnarled legs and feet symbolize the roots of the great trees of the Earth that have stood for hundreds of years.
- Size and Color: The Earth Dragon is a little over 5 inches long, and stands 6 inches tall to the top of its wings. It's a bit larger than a ceramic coffee mug. This hand-painted dragon figure features pearlescent blue and green scales on its body, with darker blue wings accented with yellow stars, brown for its tree-like horns and legs, green for the leafy plant-like portions of its head, and light brown for its underbelly.
- The Earth Dragon is part of the Dragons collection
- All of our products are Non-toxic and BPA free


text:
For more than 100 years miniature ocean liners, paddle steamers and battleships captured the imagination of generations of children, creating a sense of adventure and excitement. At a time when Britain was the worlds great industrial and maritime power toy boats were as fascinating to children as computer games are today.
In May 2010 the National Maritime Museum
(NMM) launches Toy Boats. The exhibition features over 100 toys, games, catalogues and photographs to reveal how the craze for all things maritime drove toy companies to make toy boats of every size and description.
The exhibition explores the range of toy boats made by European manufacturers from 1850 to 1950, a period marked by rapid advances in maritime technology. As nations raced each other to build bigger and better ships, toy makers were swift to exploit the publicity and follow-up with toys that captured the spirit of these famous vessels. The methods used in toy-boat propulsion varied from twisted rubber bands and clockwork springs to fired-up burners producing steam, and early batteries. The show traces these developments through toy boats made by celebrated toy makers in Europe including Gerbrüder Bing, Marklin, Radiguet, Bassett-Lowke, Hornby and Sutcliffe.
Late 19th-century town planning introduced new parks with decorative ponds and fountains, which gave children a space to play with toy boats. This, along with the increase in family seaside holidays, created an appeal which inspired toy makers to compete in creating finer and more sophisticated ships, which also appealed to adults as collectors curios. Germany was the market leader and famous for quality tin toys which were exported around the world. Gerbrüder Bing, the worlds largest toy company, employed over 5000 people in its Nuremberg factory. France was Germanys biggest competitor with companies such as Radiguet renowned for making elegant beautifully finished vessels.
The exhibition looks at the way toy boats were marketed through advertising, packaging and catalogues. The advent of department stores, and their use of large plate-glass shop fronts, offered a new way to showcase merchandise and entice customers.
Archive film footage shows Ron McCrindell, a toy boat enthusiast who has amassed one of the finest collections in the UK, sharing his passion for these miniature vessels.
Kristian Martin, curator of the exhibition said: These miniature boats are a glimpse into a bygone era when every town had a boating lake and children learnt about Britain as a maritime nation through toy boats. They also tell of a rapidly changing world and the developments in technology in childrens toys.'


Tinkerers Unite! How Parents Enable Kids' Creativity
The Battlefort: Brothers Noah and Jacob take a break from engineering with some recreational gun play near their cardboard-box stronghold.
Rich Addicks for The Wall Street Journal
Like a lot of boys, Jacob and Noah Budnitz like to build things. And they like to take things apart.
First it was Bristle Blocks, then Tinkertoys. They went through Legos—lots of Legos. But now, Jacob, age 10, and Noah, age 8, have graduated to other types of building materials: Doorknobs, alarm clocks and telephones. Plastic bottles and cardboard boxes. Scotch tape. Duct tape. Keys without locks, locks without keys.
One thing they don't use? Directions.
When the boys use imagination and whatever they find at hand to create something, their mother, Tina Budnitz, calls it tinkering. Their latest project was the "Cricketnator 5000," a contraption for feeding Noah's pet bearded-dragon lizard, Spikey.
The invention moves live crickets through a bath of calcium powder (for proper lizard bone growth) and into the lizard's tank, where they meet their fate—and the boys don't have to touch the crickets.
To Read the Full Story
Continue reading your article with
a WSJ membership
View Membership Options


text:
School of Visual Communication Design
Kent State University
Jessica Barness is an Assistant Professor in the School of Visual Communication Design at Kent State University. Barness' creative work is in both print and screen design, exploring how language and behavior are reshaped in interactive contexts. Her current research interests include visual translation, glitches, aesthetics and rhetoric in graphic design.
A (Dis)Connected Twenty-Six is a digital interface that transforms a user's typed word into an array of audio-visual 'ingredients' for screen-based collage. Situated at the intersection of design, interactive artwork and writing, this interface is a stage for a performance of translation, transforming letters of the alphabet into a curated collection of images and sound. Morse code – with its ability to be read, seen, heard and spoken – is used here in a modular way to form the project's foundation.
The user begins by entering a word of their choice, which prompts a display of stylized Morse code on screen. When rolled over, the Morse code dashes and dots launch images and sound, and can be dragged and positioned anywhere on the stage. Clicking on a button within each Morse code letter translates the media one final time back to typographic letterforms. Images layer visually according to the syntax of the user's word. The user experience is both indeterminate and determinate: modular elements may be continually rearranged on screen, or a configuration captured at any time by printing the collage.
The project presents an opportunity for user-‐oriented performance that is also social; the making of each collage is an imaginative act of discovery, and is visible to others during its creation. It references the past (Morse code) as a way to examine possibilities of the future (interactive 'writing'). By literally using language and code, it offers a glimpse at the ways writing and audio-visual activity can come together in an unusual production of media-rich artifacts.


text:
From Oaxaca, Mexico, at a meeting of the Animal Behavior Society
Minuscule gardeners that grow fungus for food may be the first ant species that scientists have discovered to have no power of sexual reproduction. Several lines of evidence suggest that the species Mycocepurus smithii consists only of females that produce daughters from unfertilized eggs, says Anna Himler of the University of Texas at Austin.
Even standard ant reproduction has some asexual aspects. Worker ants typically don't reproduce but care for the offspring of their queen. The queen lays both fertilized and unfertilized eggs, the latter turning into males.
Scientists already knew of five unusual ant species that produce females from unfertilized eggs, says Himler. In these species, however, occasional males still appear.


How to engineer reliable software
Yet another article about TDD.
Ten artykuł jest również dostępny w języku polskim na LinkedIn.
This article is made from the lightning talk that I have presented to my work colleagues.
Test Driven Development
How to engineer reliable software.
How many vulnerabilities can three lines of code introduce
Random code in the IDE :)
You have started working on a new project. And from time to time when you are reading the code in the repository you have this (hard to define) feeling. Feeling that something is wrong. So you are going deeper into the code and start playing with it.
Let's have a look at the following piece of code that I have discovered. It was like this:
router.get('/image/:url', (req, res) => {
This code had one job: download image(hosted on another website) and sent it to the user on our domain (
For example, when you would go…
Mateusz Niezgoda
Software engineer _TAG_ _TAG_
Get the Medium app


text:
is increasing research evidence that organizational performance is
affected by governance practices and key factors in the organizational
context, culture and dynamics. Boards in the private, public and voluntary
sectors are devoting increased attention to ensuring that their approach
to governance adds value to the organization and improves its overall
whether this is in search of private profits or
Synergy Associates uses the following definition of governance as a starting point for its work with boards:
"Governance is the:
- dynamic interaction between persons, structures, processes and traditions
- that support the exercise of legitimate authority in
- providing sound leadership, direction, oversight and control of an organization
- to ensure that its purpose is achieved and that
- there is proper accounting for the
- (ethical) conduct of its affairs
- (efficient) use of its resources and
- results of its activities."
Synergy Associates offers Boards of Directors of Non-Profit organizations, Crown Agencies and private businesses the opportunity of a facilitated 'introspective review' of their governance structures and practices. Reviews of the performance of boards, committees, board and committee chairs, directors and CEOs in the nonprofit, public and private sectors, are customized to their current mandates.
The reviews consist of three basic components that may be used individually or in combination:
- Online administration of one of the following:
- Governance Self-Assessment Checklist
- Board Effectiveness Quick Check
- Board and Organizational Culture Assessment
- 'Key Documents Review'
- 'Key Informant Interviews'
The online surveys may be supplemented with additional items related to past performance on critical aspects of the board's mandate (e.g. strategic planning or risk management) or other major initiatives for which the board has responsibility within the context of its governance mandate
A. ONLINE SURVEYS
- 'Governance Self-Assessment Checklist'
The 'GSAC' or 'Checklist' was developed to assist Boards and Chief Executive Officers/Directors General in examining key aspects of governance within their own organizations. These include such dimensions as Board Structure, Board Responsibilities, Board Development and Management, Decision-making Processes and Organizational Culture. A 'Checklist' review would require board members and senior staff to complete the Checklist (approximately 35 minutes).
- The Board Effectiveness Quick Check is a 16-item instrument that measures board effectiveness. It has been validated by published research (Non-Profit Management and Leadership journal, Spring 2005) to correlate very strongly with the larger 146-item 'Governance Self-Evaluation Checklist', with independent judgments of board effectiveness and with overall organizational performance. It tests the following items using a six-point rating scale:
- Board orientation
- Board direction for planning/priorities
- CEO evaluation
- Financial stability
- Clarity of board/CEO roles
- Efficient resource utilization
- Board credibility
- Board commitment to mission and values
- Board compliance with policies/roles
- Level of conflict
- Board/CEO relationships
- Crisis/risk management capability
- Meeting management
- Decision-making processes
- Balance between stability and innovation
- Accountability practices
- Board and Organizational Culture Assessment
This 32-item checklist evaluates board and organizational culture on seven dimensions using a six-point rating scale:
- Role Clarity and Compliance
- Motivation and Commitment to Quality
- Communications and Decision-Making
- Learning Environment
- Trust and Teamwork
- Personal Satisfaction
- Director's Duties
Individual items in this instrument have been validated by published research to correlate with high-performance organizations based on research by the Gallup organization, the Hauser Institute at Harvard University and research on the Governance Self-Assessment Checklist. However, the instrument as a whole has not been research-validated.
B. Key Documents Review
consists of a review of 'Key Documents' such as Bylaws, Governance
Policies, Strategic or Business plans, and financial and operational
audits. We recommend that this be combined with either or both a 'Checklist'
review and/or 'Interviews' since organizations seldom work in practice
exactly as they appear on paper.
with a representative sample of board members, senior staff, workforce
representatives and other key stakeholders or shareholders. Informants
will be identified in consultation with the Board or Governance Committee Chair and Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director.
A more comprehensive governance audit provides an additional review of governance processes assessed against governance best practices. This includes a review of documented governance policies, informal practices, minutes of recent board meetings, strategic plans, board work plans, annual reports, financial statements and website content.
A 'Full Governance Review' will examine the importance of factors such as the relationship between the process for selecting your Board and its responsibility to account to its stakeholders. It will consider such factors as Governance Structure; Board Responsibilities; Financial Circumstances; Governance and Management Practices; Organizational Size and Developmental Stage; Clarity of Roles and Objectives; Adequacy of Information, Performance Monitoring and Accountability Systems; Transparency and Effectiveness of Decision-Making Processes; Leadership Capacity; Organizational Effectiveness; and, Adaptability and Flexibility.
The principles used for reference are those commonly accepted by organizations such as the OECD, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Agency, the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Canadian Comprehensive Audit Foundation. These are:
- Ethical Conduct
- Responsible Stewardship
- Participation or Engagement of Stake/Shareholders
AND FOLLOW-UP CONSULTATIONS
are then analyzed and consolidated into an interpretative report with
recommendations. This highlights areas that respondents and our own
analysis have identified as particular strengths
that require attention. A more comprehensive review process will,
of course, result in a more comprehensive report. A draft of the report
is offered to the Board Chair and CEO/DG prior to final editing to
ensure that it is validated by their own perceptions. Follow-up consultation
is available to assist in interpretation and implementation strategy.
board members and senior management reflect upon their knowledge
of important aspects of their organization's structures and practices
as well as their own 'value added' contributions.
is a non-threatening, 'asset-based' self-reflective process that
will generate creative and constructive approaches to your enterprise.
will aid your board in identifying strengths and weaknesses in important
dimensions of governance and organizational stewardship and in establishing
priorities for aspects that may require attention.
will gain confidence in those things that work well in your organization
and know which may need a bit of your attention now and in the longer
process will stimulate and focus thoughtful discussion amongst board
members and their CEO/DG.
is very much a self-evaluation process in which your organization
will be given an opportunity to see its own reflection in a 'Governance
will be negotiated with each organization on an individual basis and
will be sensitive to the resources of the organization as well as
to its size, complexity and a number of other factors.
Governance Review' is normally advised. However, partial reviews using
only one or two of the techniques may satisfy your immediate needs.
The cost will depend on the volume of material that must be reviewed,
the number of interviewees, travel time and other expenses.


text:
For many years it was believed that each mature microRNA (miRNA) existed as a single entity with fixed endpoints and a'static' and unchangeable primary sequence. However, recent evidence suggests that mature miRNAs are more 'dynamic' and that each miRNA precursor arm gives rise to multiple isoforms, the isomiRs. Here we report on our identification of numerous and abundant isomiRs in the lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) of 452 men and women from five different population groups. Unexpectedly, we find that these isomiRs exhibit an expression profile that is population-dependent and gender-dependent. This is important as it indicates that the LCLs of each gender/population combination have their own unique collection of mature miRNA transcripts. Moreover, each identified isomiR has its own characteristic abundance that remains consistent across biological replicates indicating that these are not degradation products. The primary sequences of identified isomiRs differ from the known miRBase miRNA either at their 5'-endpoint (leads to a different'seed' sequence and suggests a different targetome), their 3'-endpoint, or both simultaneously. Our analysis of Argonaute PAR-CLIP data from LCLs supports the association of many of these newly identified isomiRs with the Argonaute silencing complex and thus their functional roles through participation in the RNA interference pathway.
Recommended CitationLoher, Phillipe; Londin, Eric R; and Rigoutsos, Isidore, "IsomiR Expression Profiles in Human Lymphoblastoid Cell Lines Exhibit Population and Gender Dependencies." (2014). Computational Medicine Center Faculty Papers. Paper 4.


text:
Benefits of Tannic Acid Glycerin Gum paint:
- Treats Gingivitis:
- The astringent and antiseptic properties of Tannic Acid Glycerin Gum Paint treat gingivitis. It is a hemostatic (stops bleeding) that prevent gum bleeding and helps in strengthening gums. It reduces gum inflammation, heals wounds, refreshes breath and kills bacteria in the oral cavity.
- Treats mouth ulceration:
- Tannic Acid Glycerin Gum Paint treats a mouth ulcer that occurs on the mucous membrane of the oral cavity.
- Treats Tooth ache :
- Tannic Acid Glycerin Gum Paint treats toothache. A toothache is pain that occurs within a tooth or the surrounding gum.
- Treats Dental plaque:
- Tannic Acid Glycerin Gum Paint is killmicroorganisms in the bio film. It kills the harmful bacteria can reduce the degree of
- Tannic Acid Glycerin Gum Paint is a mild antiseptic used in the mouth to help relieve minor mouth irritation (like due to canker/cold sores, dentures, orthodontic appliances).


text:
Wastewater Plant History
The City of Fresno initiated its first sewer system in 1891 with the construction of a 24-inch outfall sewer to a 40-acre 'sewer farm' located southwest of Fresno, east of the existing treatment facility. The acreage proved to be inadequate for the town and an additional 40 acres was purchased to increase capacity. The sewage was used for irrigating alfalfa crops. Eight septic tanks were constructed in 1907 to provide partial treatment of the sewage prior to land spreading and irrigation.
By 1910 Fresno's estimated population was 25,000, necessitating an expansion of the 'sewer farm' to meet the treatment needs of this burgeoning society. A major expansion began in 1909 with the purchase of an additional 812 acres and the construction of another 24-inch outfall sewer running parallel to the original outfall. This expansion is the current site of the Regional Wastewater Reclamation Facilities.
Expansion of the Sewer Treatment Plant kept pace with the demands of the City. In 1917 a 60-inch outfall sewer and eight additional septic tanks were constructed. An additional 500 acres of adjacent land, made available by dairies forced to vacate by the State Health Department due to sewage overflow onto their properties, were rented. This system proved inadequate resulting in an odor and fly nuisance.
In 1922, the City Council recognized the dire situation and commissioned a study, to recommend a solution to the sewage crisis. The study recommended lowering the groundwater elevation to increase percolation capacity. This would allow water to be extracted and used on local water irrigation systems. Construction began on nine extraction wells in 1924. The project was successful and temporarily solved the sewage crisis.
Sewer Farm Management began a new enterprise in 1933 to raise cattle feed (mostly alfalfa) irrigated by treated sewage. This operation ended in 1960 due to cost constraints. A major new treatment plant, Plant 1, was constructed in 1947 to provide primary treatment to sewage prior to continued land disposal and local irrigation. This plant consisted of a Headworks, Primary Clarifiers, Anaerobic Digester, and Sludge Drying Beds. The City's increasing population required the construction of a second plant, Plant 2, in 1958.
In 1966, the City of Fresno was designated as the sewering agency for the local metropolitan area and assumed the role of developing a long-range, area-wide wastewater treatment and disposal plan. An engineering report recommended a five-stage program to meet long-range metropolitan needs. In 1970 construction began on the first stage of the wastewater treatment facility improvements. Due to odor problems from excessive winery wastes, the City set limits on winery waste discharge until a separate system was developed.
In 1972 the Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) imposed sanctions on the Treatment Plant because of past odor problems. New waste discharge limits were issued which required a higher level of treatment.
As a result, the Treatment Plant underwent major construction to meet RWQCB requirements. In 1975 a biological secondary wastewater treatment process was added to Plant 1. Additional anaerobic digesters and sludge drying beds were constructed which increased the treatment and disposal capacity to 46 MGD on 2,000 acres. A separate winery waste collection, transport, and disposal facility was also constucted to help the Treatment Facility meet RWQCB requirements. 1976 saw the addition of a flotation clarifier and trickling filter to Plant 2.
In an effort to reuse the raw material coming into and created by the facilty, a cogeneration facility was built to use the methane gas produced by the anaerobic digesters to partially meet the plant's energy requirements.
In February of 1996, the RWQCB adopted a cease and desist order requiring the facility to increase capacity to meet demands. A major project that included the rehabilitation of the existing facilities, a new headworks, biosolids dewatering equipment, and additional process units to increase capacity were already under construction. The new facilities came online in the fall of 1996 with an increase in capacity to 68 MGD. By the time the 68 MGD project was started up, the flow to the plant was already in excess of 70 MGD. Another phase of expansion to increase capacity to 80 MGD began immediately after the 68MGD project was started up. The 80 MGD expansion was completed in February of 1998.


Combustion Chemistry
The Combustion Chemistry Program, under the principal sponsorship of the Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Sciences, seeks to reveal the key chemical processes that underlie the complex mechanisms of combustion. The program emphasizes determining rates and mechanisms of chemical reactions, characterizing molecular structure and energetics, and developing full descriptions of chemical composition and evolution of combustion systems.


text:
Deep North and Other Travel Sketches (trans. 1967)
18th century
- Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689–1762) – known for the letters she wrote during several trips abroad, which were important for later female travel writers. These letters include:
- Turkish Embassy Letters – letters describing her life as an ambassador's wife in Turkey, important as one of the earliest discussions of the Muslim world by a woman
- Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
- Gulliver's Travels (1726, amended 1735, a satiric parody of the genre)
- Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
- Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)
- Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
- Thomas Jefferson Travels: Selected Writings, _PHONE_ – record of Jefferson's travels in France, Holland, Germany and Italy, included in his Complete Works with selected portions in various collections of his writings.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1743 – 1832)
- Italienische Reise (1816–1817)
- Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797)
- A Short Residence in Sweden (1796)
- Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (1796)
- Jippensha Ikku (1765–1831)
19th century
- Johann Gottfried Seume (1763–1810)
- Spaziergang nach Syrakus (1803)
- John Quincy Adams (1767–1848)
- Letters on Silesia: Written During a Tour Through That Country in the Years 1800, 1801 (1804)
- Lady Hester Stanhope (1776–1839) – the first modern "Holy Land" archaeologist, also a memoirist:
- Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope as related by herself in Conversations with her Physician (1846)
- Travels of Lady Hester Stanhope, forming the Completion of her Memoirs narrated by her Physician (1847)
- Sir Henry Holland, 1st Baronet (1788–1873)
- Travels in the Ionian Isles, Albania, Thessaly, Macedonia, &c., during the years 1812 and 1813 (1815)
- Georges Clemenceau Au Pied du Sinaï (1898; new ed. 2000). (Travels in Jewish Europe down to Palestine by the future French Prime Minister and WWI leader).
- James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851)
- Gleanings in Europe: Switzerland (1836)
- Gleanings in Europe: The Rhine (1836)
- Gleanings in Europe: England (1837)
- Marquis de Custine (1790–1857)
- Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia (1838)
- Heinrich Heine (1797–1856)
- Reisebilder (1826–33), Harzreise (1853)
- Frances Trollope (1779–1863)
- Washington Irving (_PHONE_)
- Isabella Frances Romer (1798–1852)
- A Pilgrimage to the Temples and Tombs of Egypt, Nubia and Palestine in 1845–6 (1846)
- Flora Tristan (1803–1844)
- Peregrinations of a Pariah (1838)
- Promenades in London (1840)
- Karl Baedeker (1801–1859), German publisher whose company set the standard for authoritative guidebooks for tourists
- Rifa'a el-Tahtawi (1801–1873), Egyptian traveler to France
- Takhlis al-Ibriz fi Talkhis Bariz ("An Imam in Paris: Account of a Stay in France by an Egyptian Cleric (_PHONE_)", 1834)
- George Borrow (1803–1881)
- Susanna Moodie (1803–1885)
- Roughing it in the Bush (1852)
- John Lloyd Stephens (1805–1852)
- Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia Petræa and the Holy Land (1837)
- Incidents of Travel in Greece, Turkey, Russia and Poland (1838)
- Incidents of Travel in Central American, Chiapas and Yucatan (1841)
- Incidents of Travel in Yucatan (1843)
- Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)
- Journey to America (1831–1832)
- Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875)
- The Improvisatore (1835)
- Charles Darwin (1809–1882)
- The Voyage of the Beagle (1839)
- Alexander Kinglake (1809–1891)
- Eothen (1844)
- Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
- Herman Melville (1819–1891)
- Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) left travel notes and letters, including:
- Flaubert in Egypt: A Sensibility on Tour (publ.1972) letters
- Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913)
- The Malay Archipelago describes eight years exploring Indonesia and other islands
- Henry Walter Bates (1825–1892)
- The Naturalist on the River Amazons (1863) describes 11 years in the Amazon rainforest
- Mary Anne Barker (1831–1911)
- Station Life in New Zealand (1870)
- A Year's Housekeeping in South Africa (1880)
- Isabella Bird (1831–1904) published more than a dozen books on her global travels, including:
- The Englishwoman in America (1856)
- The Hawaiian Archipelago (1875)
- The Golden Chersonese and the Way Thither (1883)
- Korea and her Neighbours (1898)
- The Yangtze Valley and Beyond (1899)
- Fran Levstik (1831–1887)
- William Morris (1834–1896)
- Icelandic Journals (1911)
- Mark Twain (1835–1910)
- John Burroughs (1837–1921)
- Fresh Fields (1884)
- William Dean Howells (1837–1920)
- Certain Delightful English Towns (1906)
- Henry James (1843–1916)
- Joshua Slocum (1844–1909)
- Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)
- Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919)
- Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail (1888)
- Through the Brazilian Wilderness (1914)
- Pandita Ramabai (1858–1922)
- Pandita Ramabai's American Encounter: The Peoples of the United States (1889)
- Prince Bojidar Karageorgevitch (1862–1908)
- Enchanted India (1898)
- Mary Kingsley (1862–1900)
- Travels in West Africa (1897)
- J. Smeaton Chase (1864–1923)
- Yosemite Trails (1911)
- California Coast Trails (1913)
- California Desert Trails (1919)
- Nellie Bly (1864–1922)
20th century
- Nagai Kafu American Stories (being diaries of his travels through America, first published in Japanase as Amerika monogatari, 1908), modern ed., Columbia University Press, 2000.
- Octave Mirbeau (1848–1917)
- La 628-E8 (1908)
- Jelena Dimitrijević (1862–1945)
- Letters from Niš Regarding Harems (1897)
- Letters from Salonica on Young Turk Revolution (1918)
- Letters from India (1928)
- Letters from Egypt (1929)
- The New World, alias: In America for a Year (1934)
- Daisy Bates (_PHONE_)
- Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (1867–1951)
- Across Asia from West to East in _PHONE_ (English trans. 1940) – explorations by Czarist spy who would later become President of Finland.
- Norman Douglas (1868–1962)
- Old Calabria (1915)
- Gertrude Bell (_PHONE_)
- Persian Pictures (1894)
- Syria: The Desert and the Sown (1907)
- André Gide (1869–1951)
- Voyage au Congo (1927)
- Le retour de Tchad (1928)
- Retour de l'U. R. S. S. (1936)
- Retouches â mon retour de l'U. R. S. S (1937)
- Ernest Peixotto (1869–1940)
- Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953)
- The Path To Rome (1902) – a ramble by foot from central France to Rome in 1901.
- W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965)
- On a Chinese Screen (1922) – vignettes of China in the '30s from the master of the short story.
- Yone Noguchi (1875–1947)
- Isidora Sekulić (1877–1958)
- Pisma iz Norveške / Letters from Norway (1914)
- D. H. Lawrence


text:
gescheidle is pleased to present a new installation by Heather Cox. Originally from northwest Indiana, Heather now lives and works in New York. Her work is quirky, seductive, and often characterized by precisely-crafted objects that involve repetition and shifting scale. The viewer's physical approach is often accompanied by curiosity, confusion and moments of recognition. "What is that?" is the common refrain. Heather's work is designed to act as a catalyst for these momentary thresholds.
Phalanx is a floor installation of spooky, exoskeletal creatures. Composite images of the artist's head and hands are folded into thousands of small paper sculptures. Eyes open and eyes closed, this amphibious population is on the move. A raised walkway allows the viewer to navigate the hordes. Below, the crab-like forms reproduce and create their own interactive eddies. This tidal army is confrontational. En masse, the creatures suggest both physical and psychological invasion.