Robotics, Biomechanics and Rehab
Motion capture
Motion Analysis Laboratory has 18 NaturalPoint OptiTrack Flex 3 infrared cameras; which offer integrated image capture, processing, and motion tracking in a powerful, compact package. These cameras are capable of capturing fast moving objects at a sample rate of 100 Hz. By maximizing its 640 × 480 VGA resolution through advanced image processing algorithms, these cameras can track markers down to sub-millimeter movements with repeatable accuracy.
The cameras operate with the software Motive, also from OptiTrack, and we export captures to OpenSim or Matlab to develop our dynamic analyses and simulations.
Force measurement
The Laboratory includes two AMTI AccuGait force plates for the dynamic measurement of ground reaction forces and moments in space, and the displacement of the centre of pressure (COP). These force plates use Hall effect sensors to accurately measure ground reaction forces, while allowing for internal amplification and high overload protection on all axes.
Force measurements can be viewed in real time using the AMTI NetForce software for data acquisition, or directly imported to motion analysis softwares to perform inverse dynamics.
Electromyography (EMG)
We can also perform surface electromyography (EMG) measurements using a 16-channel EMG system, that consists of 2 Biometrics Datalog MWX8 and 16 surface EMG sensors SX230. The design of the system allows to measure the muscle electrical activity during contraction with little skin preparation. The quality of the signal received is excellent for both static and dynamic applications.
The system comes with a dedicated software for data visualisation and analysis. Moreover, the system can be synchronised with third party systems, such as the motion capture system or the force plates.
Pressure measurement
Measuring in-shoe plantar pressure using the Tekscan F-Scan system. This system uses flexible and thin sensors that are placed inside the shoe to capture timing and foot pressure information during a certain human motion, such as walking or running. The Datalogger VersaTek Unit allows to store the data at a sample rate up to 750 Hz.
The system comes with a dedicated software for data visualization and analysis. Moreover, the system can be synchronized with third party systems, such as the motion capture system or the force plates.
Recording and analysis of high-density electromyographical (HD-EMG)
Recording signals during static or dynamic exercises for diagnosis and rehabilitation optimization. Motor task prediction based on EMG. Decomposition of HD-EMG signals and extraction of neural information.
 - 2 EMG amplifiers with 128 channels each (EMG-USB, OT Bioelettronica, Italy).
 - Mechanical braces and torque sensors for recording of isometric contractions (OT Bioelettronica, Italy).
 - Motion tracking camera system (V120: Trio, OptiTrack, USA).
Development of surgery aid systems
 - Surgery assistance teleoperation station.
 - Multirobot system for robotic surgery.
Assistential robotics
Environment interpretation and human intention for robot assistance in daily living activities.
 - Assistential robotics laboratory.


Apply to U.S. Colleges as an International Student-Athlete
Respond to coaches' phone calls and emails to convey interest as a prospective U.S. student-athlete.
Avoid making simple mistakes that could hurt your chances of becoming an international student-athlete at a U.S. university.
Avoid making simple mistakes that could hurt your chances of becoming a student-athlete at a U.S. university.
The U.S. system for collegiate sports lacks an international counterpart. Where else can you receive a world-class education tailored around a 20-plus hours per week training schedule?
However, the competition for spots is extremely tough across the board and many prospective international student-athletes never make it all the way, often because of trivial mistakes. The following are three important steps student-athletes should take when applying to U.S. schools.
[Apply to college as an international student.]
1. Impress your future coach: While regular students simply seek academic admission, your primary contact will be with the coaches of your sport. Most international athletes need scholarships to finance tuition and living expenses, and athletic scholarships are often decided by the coaching staff alone.
Keep in mind that coaches receive interest from dozens – sometimes hundreds – of young aspiring Olympians each season. To get one of those precious scholarships you have to be extremely eager, driven and on top of things.
When making initial contact you should send a brief letter of introduction that clearly highlights your athletic achievements and future potential. You should express a desire to work extremely hard, to challenge and be challenged and to pursue an academic degree in the meantime.
You should answer every email in a timely manner, always pick up the phone when the coach calls and send required documents the day before you're asked for them. Think about it from the coach's perspective: If you can't even remember to pick up the phone or email a signed form, how are you going to make it through college in a foreign country?
2. Mind your academics: The fact that "student" comes before "athlete" is not just because it sounds better that way. It indicates that you are primarily a student and secondarily an athlete. Your balance of academic abilities and work ethic is crucial.
If you can't produce the SAT or TOEFL scores required, schools won't grant you admission, regardless of whether you have a whole box of Olympic medals stuffed under your bed.
Second, if your grades slip, you lose your eligibility to compete for your team. Poor academic performance can also be enough for your coach to lower your athletic scholarship, if you have one, or even kick you off the team.
[Learn ways to improve scores on the TOEFL.]
3. Take available majors into consideration: Given the demands that you perform in the classroom, you should carefully take into account the offered majors at the colleges you are considering. This may sound like a self-evident thing to do, but to many young internationals chasing athletic excellence, academics often place very low on the list of priorities.
Being a student-athlete is extremely demanding and getting stuck in classes that exceed your academic capabilities or interests – or both – can very easily throw you off and eat into your precious nightly recovery time.
[Avoid the mistakes new international students make.]
4. Understand the geography: So you want to go to college in Florida or California? You are far from alone.
Make sure not to limit yourself to colleges in one given region or state. Many remotely located colleges have produced world-class student-athletes. Failing to realize this may severely impact your ability to land a sizeable athletic scholarship.
Anders Melin, from Sweden, is a former collegiate swimmer for Limestone College and the University of Missouri, where he earned an undergraduate degree in finance. He is now pursuing a master's degree in journalism at New York University.


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Preparation for UAT 2014 Workshop Observing Proposal Planning Telecon
At the January 2014 workshop, we will be observing galaxies in groups that show evidence of star formation, but were
not detected by ALFALFA. This telecon will discuss background on ALFALFA and groups of galaxies.
- Write a short summary about the ALFALFA survey. What are the goals? What has been found so far?
- What is meant by large scale structure? What are groups of galaxies? Why is ALFALFA so helpful in
studying groups of galaxies?
- How are gas content and star formation related? If we found a galaxy
with star formation, would we expect it to have HI?
- How is the HI mass of a galaxy determined from an observation at Arecibo?
- What is the exposure time of an ALFALFA observation? How does the HI mass that
we detect depend on distance?
- Let's say we find a galaxy with star formation, but we don't detect it in ALFALFA.
Why might that be?
- What does "L-band" mean?
- The ALFALFA survey is using the ALFA detector. But we plan to followup group galaxies using the L-Band Wide (LBW) detector. Why don't we use ALFA?
Answers will be discussed in the First Observing Proposal Planning Telecon
Last modified: Mon Oct 28 13:45:29 EDT 2013

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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Other Common Names
None. The name "yabby" is sometimes used to refer to any freshwater crayfish species in Australia.
To 70 mm carapace length, 160 mm total body length
Capable of living in virtually any body of fresh water including rivers and other streams, lakes, dams and even some temporary waters. Yabbies are active burrowers and are very hardy, able to withstand poor water quality and long periods of drought.
If a particular water course dries up, yabbies burrow deep into the bottom until they reach moist soil, where they presumably become very quiet. The scientific name destructor refers to the yabby's habit of burrowing into levee banks and dam walls where they can cause considerable damage.
Occurs in much of South Western Queensland, central and western New South Wales, the majority of Victoria and the eastern part of South Australia.
Detritus feeder and opportunistic carnivore especially of carrion.
A very common childhood pastime is to catch yabbies with a piece of meat tied to a length of string. Adults generally use nets of various designs, depending upon location and regulation in the particular area.
Restrictions on methods of gathering yabbies, especially the prohibition of "opera house" nets and other enclosed nets for the capture of yabbies and other freshwater crayfish in rivers and streams relate more to the protection of other wildlife, such as platypus and water rats, than to any attempt to restrict the take of yabbies.
In farm dams, yabbies are usually gathered using drag nets, and this can very quickly harvest a large number.
Yabbies themselves, in the smaller sizes, make excellent bait for the larger native fish, being an important part of the diet of many species.
On the table
Yabbies are excellent eating. They can be simply boiled for a few minutes in salted water or prepared in a variety of ways. They have a very sweet meat and the claws of larger specimens are particularly succulent. Compared to spiny freshwater crayfish, yabbies have much more meat for the size of the animal, although yabbies are much smaller than crays. A feed of yabbies is one of the most delicious meals you can try.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


GeoSciML is a data model and data transfer standard for geological data - from basic map data to complex relational geological databases.
new Chinese translation of the GeoSciML v4.1 OGC documentation
 Many thanks to the China Geological Survey for their great work.
GeoSciML - current version 4.1
Previous versions of GeoSciML and GeoSciML-Portrayal
 1. GeoSciML
 2. GeoSciML-Portrayal (this is now the GeoSciML-Lite package of GeoSciML v4)
 3. Geologic Time
 4. Utilities


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In this tutorial, we will see how to create a short array with the help of short buffer.
The java.nio.ShortBuffer class extends java.nio.Buffer class. It provides the following methods:
|static ShortBuffer||allocate( int capacity)||The allocate(..) method allocate a short buffer of given capacity.|
|short||array()||The array() method returns short array based on short buffer.|
|abstract short||get()||The get() method read short value from current position and increment position..|
Capacity of short buffer : 1024
Content in shortbuffer :
Length of short buffer array : 1024
Content in short buffer array :
If you are facing any programming issue, such as compilation errors or not able to find the code you are looking for.
Ask your questions, our development team will try to give answers to your questions.


Uruguay has attracted international media and press due to the management of the pandemic, with 2417 total confirmed cases, and 51 deaths of COVID-19 by 16 October 2020. Entering the 7th month of the new SARS-CoV-2 in the country, Uruguay currently has the record of 341[1] active cases in all the territory. This number is significantly low when compared to other Latin American countries such as Brazil, Argentina and Colombia. Some international articles claim that "Uruguay is winning against covid-19"[2], "containing" could be a more appropriate word, as the communication campaign of Uruguay's Health Ministry says, "if we think we won, then is when we lose"
There is no place for triumphalism or lessons to give, because the variables that define the "luck" of each country are unique and there isn't a "one size fits all" approach. However, in this article I highlight some aspects of the management of the pandemic in Uruguay that could explain the good results (so far). Giovanni Escalante, representative of PAHO/WHO in Uruguay stated "Uruguay has a comparative advantage over other countries due to its institutional strength, democratic and civic tradition with significant credibility in its leaders, a strong presence of the State in fields such as health, social welfare, education system and regulation capacity of the private sector"[3].
A small country of 3.5 millions in South America, Uruguay looks like an oasis in the region, with Argentina and Brazil as neighbors where sadly the COVID-19 is out of control. The "new normal" life in Uruguay functions with essential services open, public transportation and hospitals operating at normal capacity and schools and universities open for in-person classes. Masks are strongly encouraged in all public spaces and protocols of hygiene and social distancing are applied.
The new president of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, had only been in office for two weeks, when on March 13th the first case was detected in Uruguay. The government immediately decreed national health emergency, suspended classes, urged the population to stay home, closed the borders and issued a communication campaign on hygiene and social distancing measures to prevent contagion. Uruguay never had a mandatory quarantine, the president was not willing to use punitive coercion, instead he used facilitation measures to minimize mobility in the country. "Uruguay had the advantage that it could observe the spread of the infection in other countries, but also the difficult situation of a government change"[4], said the Communications advisor of the Ministry of Health of Uruguay, Patricia Schroeder.
Responsible freedom "Libertad responsable
Although there was no mandatory quarantine the Uruguayans complied with the measure of staying at home (more than 90% of the population accepted the recommendation[5]). The new president pleaded for responsibility and solidarity in the use of our freedom. Why such adherence of non mandatory stay at home? From a social and behavioral science perspective, which helps explain behavior, I identified the Health Belief Model as explanatory:
Perceived susceptibility – Knowledge available of the high contagious rate made everyone vulnerable and at risk of being infected.
Perceived severity – Mass media communications showed Spain and Italy flooded hospitals and alarming high death rates of the virus.
Perceived benefits – In the first stage staying at home seemed the most effective behavioral mechanisms we could adopt to prevent the infection.
Perceived barriers – The government facilitated working at home of public entities and exhorted the private sector to do the same. Schools and social events for example where closed. The obstacles to staying at home were low.
In Uruguay, citizens complying to stay at home allowed to trace the outbreaks and to contain them. "By acting really fast we were able to completely identify and stop the transmission chain of the disease in every [outbreak],"[6] says Rafael Radi, a biochemist at Montevideo's University de la Republica leading the government's advisory group. Meanwhile the health infrastructure, scientific academy, social welfare and education systems promptly reorganized.
Strong actions which communicate
There were two actions of the government that evoked strong messages of union and confidence among the general public, these were:
 - The creation of the Coronavirus Fund drawn from public entities contributions and salaries of public workers who made over USD 1,800 monthly, including the president along with ministers and legislators who gave 20 percent of their salaries to contribute. The private sector also made voluntary contributions to this fund. A strong message of common solidarity was given, starting from the president himself.
 - Creation of Honorary Scientific Advisory Group (GACH) formed the 16th of April which constantly gives scientific advice to the Presidency for decision making. The doctors leading this group became official spokesmen for the general public giving confidence, clear conduct information and also depoliticizing the decisions made by the government.
Testing, tracking and isolatio
A solid scientific team developed a nationally produced testing kit, which allowed us to have testing available. Additionally, a lot of effort is done to track each case of positive test and trace contacts of infected individuals, isolate and test them. This is a key measure to contain the outbreaks.
Use of technology and strong Health System
According to the Health Minister Daniel Salinas, the strong infrastructure and health system of Uruguay has been decisive in the results against the coronavirus[7]. The country has a universal health system, with the integration of the private and public sector, available for everyone. The strategy applied was in-house testing, doctors treated patients at their home to avoid spread of the virus in the emergency doors.
Another advantage of Uruguay is its position as a technological hub of experts, wide connectivity and outstanding Internet penetration, which converged in the creation of the Coronavirus App (with Google and Apple's support). The first App of Latin America that has a tracing mechanism that informs about exposition to COVID-19.
Strategies mentioned above, with strong leadership, clear and transparent communication, financial and food support of vulnerable groups, demographic and technological advantages, helped to contain the virus in this small part of the world. The president, Luis Lacalle Pou, assured that "if Uruguay has COVID-19 statistics better ranked than other countries in the world, it is not because of the government. What the government did was trust its citizens. I trust them" [8], "Success is relative" and "we are with our guard up all the time," added the president. New challenges are faced every day, specially containing the dry border with Brazil. Multidisciplinary approaches and responsible freedom are crucial, behavioral change science could contribute to keep controlling this virus that has changed the world as we knew it.
Lic. Inés Besada Paullier, Montevideo, Uruguay. / Twitter: _USER_ / LinkedIn
Asociación Latinoamericana de Mercadeo Social (LAMSO) / _USER_
[1] Ministerio de Salud, Uruguay. Visualizador de casos de coronavirus COVID-19 en Uruguay. 2020. _URL_ Accessed October 16, 2020
[2] BMJ 2020;370:m3575 _URL_ September 18, 2020
[3] _URL_
[4] Schroeder, Patricia. COVID-19, ¿Solamente una crisis? Hacer empresa. April 2020
[5] _URL_
[6] _URL_
[7] _URL_
[8] Videoconference with ABC Internacional: _URL_


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Design of physical systems and associated control systems are coupled tasks; design methods that manage this interaction explicitly can produce system-optimal designs, whereas conventional sequential processes may not. Here we explore a new technique for combined physical system and control design (co-design) based on a simultaneous dynamic optimization approach known as direct transcription, which transforms infinite-dimensional control design problems into finite dimensional nonlinear programming problems. While direct transcription problem dimension is often large, sparse problem structures and fine-grained parallelism (among other advantageous properties) can be exploited to yield computationally efficient implementations. Extension of direct transcription to co-design gives rise to a new problem structures and new challenges. Here we illustrate direct transcription for co-design using a new automotive active suspension design example developed specifically for testing co-design methods. This example builds on prior active suspension problems by incorporating a more realistic physical design component that includes independent design variables and a broad set of physical design constraints, while maintaining linearity of the associated differential equations.
- Design Engineering Division and Computers and Information in Engineering Division
Co-Design of an Active Suspension Using Simultaneous Dynamic Optimization
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Allison, JT, & Han, Z. "Co-Design of an Active Suspension Using Simultaneous Dynamic Optimization." Proceedings of the ASME 2011 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. Volume 5: 37th Design Automation Conference, Parts A and B. Washington, DC, USA. August 28–31, 2011. pp. 903-913. ASME. _URL_
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You are looking at historical revision 16234 of this page. It may differ significantly from its current revision.
This extension provides a simple abstraction for defining abstract interfaces with separate implementations.
[syntax] (interface NAME DEFINITION...)
Declares NAME to be an interface that provides the definitions DEFINITION.... DEFINITION should be a value definition of the form
(define NAME [VALUE])
(define (NAME VAR...) [BODY...])
The values and bodies of the given definitions are optional and default to (void) (for value definitions) or a procedure that signals a runtime error (for procedure definitions). If a value/body is given, it provides a default for later implementations of this interface (see below).
[syntax] (implementation NAME DEFINITION...)
Defines an implementation of interface NAME. An implementation is a record structure holding the given definitions. Note that implementation returns a first-class object, in contrast to interface which is a declaration.
Each definition declared in the interface can be accessed by invoking the definition-name with an implementation as its sole argument.
(interface counter (define (counter-new)) (define (counter-inc c)) (define (counter-get c))) (define simple-counter (implementation counter (define (counter-new) 0) (define counter-inc add1) (define counter-get identity))) (let ((c1 ((counter-new simple-counter)))) (print ((counter-get simple-counter) c1)) ; ==> "0" (let ((c2 ((counter-inc simple-counter) c1))) (print ((counter-get simple-counter) c2)))) ; ==> "1" (define logged-counter (implementation counter (define (counter-inc c) (let ((c2 (add1 c))) (print "increasing counter " c " to " c2 "! is this cool or what?") c2))))
This code is in the public domain
- fixed bug related to implementation constructors exported from modules
- added missing dependency
- Initial release


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Published in Lunar and Planetary Science XXVII, pp. _PHONE_, LPI, Houston.
Introduction: Crustal processes and reactions during hydrothermal and biogenic activity result in extreme degrees of sulfur isotopic fractionation on Earth. For example, delta 34S in terrestrial sulfides ranges from -70 to +70 on Earth. In contrast, delta 34S values for sulfides from other planetary bodies that have been sampled (Moon, asteroids) show a very limited mass fractionation. The standard deviation in the bulk isotopic composition of sulfur in meteorites of all types is less than 0.1. However, the isotopic composition of sulfides in meteorites shows slightly more variability. Troilite in Orgueil, a carbonaceous chondrite, has a delta 34S of 2.6. Kaplan and Hulston showed that sulfides in enstatite chondrites have delta 34S of between +1.6 to +2.5. The delta 34S in troilite from ordinary chondrites ranges from -2.7 to +2.5. The slight fractionation of 34S into these sulfides has been attributed to nebular heterogeneity, low temperature (100°C) reactions between water and elemental sulfur, and oxidation of FeS in an aqueous environment [2,4,5]. Lunar materials exhibit a much broader variation in bulk delta 34S than has been observed in meteorites. Whereas bulk lunar rocks show variability on the order of +0.37 to +0.68, lunar soils have delta 34S as high as +9.76. These high values in the bulk lunar soils have been attributed to preferential volatilization of 32S during sputtering caused by micrometeorite bombardment. Until now, S fractionation processes on the larger terrestrial planets such as Mercury, Venus, and Mars has been only speculative. With the discovery of a possible Martian meteorite with an imprint of a Martian hydrothermal system, we can gain insights into S fractionation on another planet.
SNC Meteorite ALH 84001: ALH 84001 is a coarse-grained, clastic orthopyroxenite meteorite related to the SNC meteorite group. A hydrothermal signature is supimposed upon the orthopyroxene-dominant igneous mineral assemblage. This hydrothermal overprint consists of carbonate assemblages occurring in spheroidal aggregates and as fine-grained carbonate and sulfide vug-filling structures [7-10]. The sulfide has been identified as pyrite. Textural interpretations of shock features in the carbonates has lead to the interpretation that the carbonate-sulfide mineralization was a result of influxes of fluids during Martian hydrothermal activity.
Isotopic Analysis of Pyrite in ALH 84001: The sulfur isotopic measurements were made using a Cameca IMS-4f ion microprobe operated by a University of New Mexico-Sandia National Laboratory consortium on the UNM campus. A Cs+ primary beam was focused to a spot of between 8 and 10 µm. 32Sand 34Swere analyzed in the secondary ion beam. A S-isotope pyrite standard was analyzed in order to measure the degree of instrument-induced fractionation, precision, accuracy, and instrument drift over the period of an analytical session. The analytical precision measured on the standards is better than ±0.2, whereas the analytical precision measured on the samples is better than ±0.5. These reported precision values far exceed those reported in the literature for ion microprobe analysis of sulfur isotopes in sulfides [5,10].
Results: delta 34S values for five pyrite grains were obtained from ALH 84001. Values for the pyrite range from +4.8 to +7. These delta 34S values are 34S enriched relative to Canon Diablo troilite. Based on the 2-sigma precision, there are real isotopic differences among pyrite grains.
Discussion: Sulfur isotopic characteristics of sulfides are constrained by a large number of variables, such as the sulfur isotopic characteristics of the hydrothermal fluid, temperature, pH, and fO2. The stability field of pyrite also influences the range of expected delta 34S values of the pyrite. Therefore, although sulfur isotopic systematics provide some information concerning the hydrothermal system, they are best used in conjunction with other data (mineral stability, other stable isotopes). In comparison with sulfides from other meteorites, the delta 34S of the pyrite from ALH 84001 is enriched in 34S. This signature implies that the planetary body represented by ALH 84001 experienced processes capable of fractionating S isotopes that were not functional on asteroidal bodies represented by chondrite and achondrite meteorites.
As was noted previously, the terrestrial delta 34S exhibits a wide variability. In particular, the large negative values in terrestrial delta 34S has been attributed, in many cases, to the bacterial reduction of sulfate to sulfide. The positive delta 34S measured in the ALH 84001 pyrite therefore suggests that the sulfur in this hydrothermal sulfide was not processed by bacteria in a manner analogous to terrestrial processes.
The positive delta 34S measured in the ALH 84001 pyrite may be attributed to several different processes that may be functioning on the Martian surface or in the shallow Martian crust:
Model 1: Assuming that the delta 34S in the fluid was essentially 0, the pyrite may be enriched in delta 34S by pH, temperature, and fO2 conditions during precipitation. The pH and the fugacity of oxygen may be approximated using the delta 34S data presented here, delta 13C data on the carbonates, a relatively low Sigma S, a temperature of precipitation of ~100°C and the coexistence of pyrite and carbonate. Making these assumptions, precipitation occurred in a reduced and moderately alkaline environment with the dominant sulfur-bearing species in solution being HS-. At higher temperatures (~700°C) as suggested by [7,9], the delta 34S of pyrite in the stability fields of carhonate + pyrite will not have values that approach +5 to +8.
Model 2: The above interpretation makes the assumption that the delta 34S in the fluid was equal to 0. At more acidic conditions than suggested above (but at the same reducing conditions), delta 34S will not be strongly fractionated during pyrite precipitation from an aqueous solution. Therefore, under these conditions, the pyrite will approximate the delta 34S in the fluid. There are several potential processes that can generate positive delta 34S in the fluid under these pH and fO2 conditions: (2a) Previous isotopic studies of SNC meteorites indicated that the present Martian atmosphere is isotopically heavy in O, C, N, and H. Therefore, it is perhaps not surprising that other stable isotopes in the Martian atmosphere such as S should also be isotopically heavy. (2b) Alternatively, it has been documented that during lunar regolith formation and evolution, the bulk delta 34S increases. Therefore, impact-generated hydrothermal system models as suggested by may result in the preferential volatilization of 32S relative to 34S during impact. (2c) Assessments of Martian soil mineralogy based on both Viking XRF measurements and SNC documentation have suggested that phases such as clays, Fe-oxides, carbonates, and Caand Mg-sulfates will be stable in the oxidizing Martian environment [i.e., 15]. It is expected that under such weathering environments, particularly with the stabilization of sulfates, 34S should be enriched in water-soluble components (Caand Mg-sulfates) in the soil. Leaching of the 34S-enriched water-soluble minerals in Martian soil produced by processes 2a,b,c will result in a positive delta 34Sfluid. Model (2a,b,c) implies that the source for the sulfur is rather shallow and that this groundwater-hydrothermal system is in isotopic communication with processes occurring at the Martian surface. Under this second model, the temperature of precipitation cannot be constrained by the sulfur data.
Conclusions: Our data indicates that the sulfur isotopes 32S and 34S in the sulfides in meteorite ALH 84001 have been fractionated to a greater extent than what has been documented in other meteorites. This, in itself, is another piece of information that links this orthopyroxenite to a planetary body that has experienced processes not present on chondrite and achondrite parent bodies. Mineralogical data suggests that the alteration assemblages were deposited under reducing conditions and that SO42- was not a dominant species in the solution. Therefore, the extent of sulfur isotopic fractionation during pyrite precipitation from the hydrothermal solution was moderate, at alkaline conditions (delta 34Sfluid < delta 34Spyrite), to minor at low pH conditions (delta 34Sfluid = delta 34Spyrite) This suggests two different models for the generation of positive delta 34S in the pyrite. If the pyrite precipitated at low temperature (100°-150°C) reducing conditions and high pH (<9), a delta 34Sfluid equal to 0 would precipitate pyrite with delta 34Spyrite between 5 and 8. Under more acidic conditions, the delta 34Sfluid will be equal to that of the pyrite. This


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How do you spell Hannukah?
in botany, brownish or yellowish cluster of spore-producing structures (sporangia) usually located on the lower surface of fern leaves. A sorus may be protected during development by a scale or flap of tissue called an indusium. In rust and smut fungi, a sorus is a spore mass produced on the leaf of an infected plant. Reproductive structures called sori also occur in various species of marine algae. See also spore.


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by Gary Vey
Imagine, if you will, that a team of archaeologists in the year 6000 AD are excavating an "ancient" landfill from the 20th Century. In 4000 years most of the paper and even plastic has degraded, but a few aluminum cans remain recognizable, their painted labels long gone. By chance, a scrap of paper is found, crumpled and preserved in aluminum foil. It is meticulously cleaned and subjected to the most sophisticated scans which reveal the following text:
2 rolls TP
2 cans spaghettios
1 bag of fritos
1 box of cheerios
1 gal. milk
Would scientists be able to translate this text and place it in its correct context as a casual, unimportant grocery list? Maybe. Maybe not.
There is an excellent chance that "English" will have been replaced by some other dialect and even a greater chance that the function and need for a grocery list will be hard to understand.
Such is the dilemma in our attempts to understand the Phaistos Disk.
The disk is made from a 6 inch plate or disk-shaped piece of clay. It has been decorated with 241 stamped pictures on both sides in a spiral pattern, then baked to make it relatively hard and permanent.
The disk was discovered in 1908 in what was believed to be a storage area in the buried high Minoan palace at Hagia Triada on the Greek Island of Crete. [ Right: It was found among other artifacts that have been dated to the beginning of the Neo-palatial period, making it about 3600 to 3700 years old.] Today it is one of the most celebrated pieces in the Iraklion Archaeological Museum.
Other pieces found at this location have inscriptions in Linear A, a still unknown language of which there are multiple examples, but the Phaistos Disk is unique in that no other examples of these symbols have yet been found anywhere.
According to mythology, Phaistos was the seat of king Radamanthis, brother of king Minos. It was also the city that gave birth to the great wise man and soothsayer Epimenidis, one of the seven wise men of the ancient world.
Excavations by archaeologists have unearthed ruins of the Neolithic times (3.000 B.C.). During the Minoan times, Phaistos was a very important city-state. Its dominion, at its peak, stretched from Lithinon to Psychion and included the Paximadia islands. The city participated to the Trojan war and later became one of the most important cities-states of the Dorian period. Phaistos continued to flourish during Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic times. It was destroyed by the Gortynians during the 3rd century B.C. In spite of that, Phaistos continued to exist during the Roman period. Phaistos had two ports, Matala and Kommos.
The actual palace of Phaistos has been largely excavated and reveals great staircases, a theatre and perhaps storerooms of what might have served as a museum. Since the disk was found in such a storeroom there is conjecture that it may, in fact, be much older than the palace.
Examination of the disk reveals that it contains a total of 45 distinct symbols which are often repeated for a total of 241 times. Scrutiny of the symbols shows that they were made from stamps which were impressed in to the damp clay in a spiral pattern, from the center outward. At some point the inscriber misjudges the space or makes corrections and the stamped images slightly overlap (see A & C above) -- revealing that they were made from left to right. Other times the inscriber seems to forget to complete the "word" and adds symbols at an angle (see B above). The symbols are also grouped with lines that divide them into what is thought to be words.
Another feature researchers have noticed is that some of the symbols have a thin line or "ticks" extending downward from the impression. This happens 16 times on the disk and it has been suggested that this denotes a person's name or a numerical word.
To be a language, it would be necessary for the symbols to represent either an actual object being depicted or a sound value which would form a word. Many scholars doubt that the pictures are actual representations of the object (i.e. a symbol of a fish meaning the word "fish".) Instead, they think the images function like hieroglyphics and have a sound value.
The fact that there are 45 distinct symbols suggests that the sound values differ from the collection of some twenty or more consonants and the five or six common vowels. Instead, they suggest that the unknown language used symbols to represent consonant and vowel combinations, such as "Va," "Ve," "Vi," "Vo." etc.
Because some series of symbols repeat themselves, some people have proposed that the text is a poem, hymn or even a prayer. Some have seen it as a curse. Other scholars doubt that the disk is actual writing and suggest that it may be a child's game or some riddle that will never be understood in its correct context. For example, how would future archaeologists interpret a contemporary Monopoly board?
Perhaps the best and most thorough research yet published on the "language" of the Phaistos Disk is that of Rev. Kevin Massey and his twin brother, Dr. Keith Massey (Mysteries of History!!Solved!!, ©2000 by Massey Electronic Publishing). In this publication they compare the symbols of the disk to historical linguistics, such as Linear B and Cypriotic and Byblic, and make a strong case for linkage. Further, they claim to have deciphered the phonetic values of the symbols and to have successfully translated the text using a ancient Indo-European language.
Showing the "tick marks" that differentiate the beginning of some words.
Their results strongly suggest that the 16 words that began with the thin line or "tick mark" were,in fact, numbers. Their conclusion is that the Phaistos Disk, like many examples of cuneiform, are mundane inventory lists, viewed many millennia later out of context.
Are they correct? Only further research and confirmation will tell for sure. Until then, the mysterious disc will continue to mystify historian buffs and doubless instigate many more strange theories.
Editor's Note: You might also enjoy December 21,2012: Doomsday? and The Mysterious Stone Spheres of Costa Rica and The 2300 Year Old Computer on Viewzone.com.
Back to Viewzone


Gary Payne Interview
Finding C-level Talent
Family-owned Businesses
The Gary Payne Interview was conducted by the editors of the Family Business Experts, the web organization for the Family Business Institute. FBE: Why is it a good idea for a Family-Owned Business to use a Retained Executive Search firm when outside leadership is needed?
Gary Payne: First, the primary advantage that an Executive Search firm should be able to bring to a family-owned business is a search process that will ensure that your business is hiring the BEST candidate, not just a SUITABLE candidate or the best candidate in your Rolodex. As you move forward from generation to generation, statistics show that survivability percentages decrease dramatically. The best way to mitigate this risk to the family-owned business is to ensure that you are getting the absolute best fit available for your critical need.
FBE: What are some good questions that we can ask a Search firm to ensure they can deliver on the best candidate for my company's critical outside the family leadership need?
Gary Payne: Some good questions to ask an executive search firm to ensure they provide quality service include:
1. Is the firm accredited by the AESC? (Association of Executive Search Consultants)?
2. Does the firm have written, clearly articulated and consistently executed search processes that you fully understand?
3. What is the firm's successful delivery or completion rate? Offer acceptance rate?
4. Does the firm track its performance? Retention rate?
5. Few executive placements fail occur because of an inappropriate resume. Most fail due to a misalignment of other critical success factors such as contribution, culture, character, attitudes, behaviors and aspirations. How do they assess these factors?
6. Does the firm conduct comprehensive primary research? Do they depend primarily on databases and informal networks?
7. How many personal contacts will be made and who specifically will make them?
8. How many of your competitors are off limits to the search firm?
9. Does the firm include specific performance expectations in its search spec?
10. Does the firm utilize structured interviewing? Who will conduct the interviews?
11. Who conducts reference checks? When? How many? In what format?
12. Who conducts background investigations and in what manner?
13. How long will the search take?
14. Who specifically will be doing the work?
15. Is the firm flexible and capable of customizing my specific engagement?
FBE: What are the critical success factors that determine whether an executive will be successful in a family business?
Gary Payne: As we have refined and developed our Search Process, we have evaluated over 3000 searches performed by other search firms. Rarely is there not a match of the resume with the job description.
However, The Harvard Business Review reports that research indicates that the Retention Rate of Executive hires, across all industries at the two year mark, is an astoundingly low 54%.
The reason for this low retention is not the resume match. In our research, Executive failure typically is attributable to mismatches in factors such as Culture, Values (Family and Corporate), Mission, Valued Behaviors, Political environment, upfront understanding of family involvement/leadership in the business, leadership attributes, management abilities, the opportunity both now and in the future, specific performance expectations, the location of the opportunity… the works!
Therefore, you must have a specific methodology and process to make sure all of these key factors are addressed specifically.
FBE: How does your process ensure that these factors are addressed appropriately?
Gary Payne: The first step in the our Search Process, which truly sets the stage for a successful search, is the Needs Assessment Phase.
During this phase, a number of critical pieces of information is gathered which is critical for the Search firm to focus on during the search.
At the most basic level, information on the company's mission, vision, strategy and most current initiatives are developed.
Then, the issue of culture would be developed - questions such as the current morale within the company, marketplace perception of the company, an understanding of the behaviors that are valued by the family, how does the family stakeholders view humility, what style of leadership is valued, etc.
This information is then developed in order to tailor the specific candidate questionnaire which each candidate will document and fill out. This allows the search firm to see how each candidate specifically addresses issues that are unique and specific to the family-owned business.
Next, the Search firm will interview the candidate in person, often several times, addressing these factors in detail. If the candidate is chosen as a potential finalist candidate, one of the most important aspect of the qualification process is performed – the 360 degree reference check with 2 each of the candidate's prior superiors, peers, and subordinates.
We tailor the specific reference questions specifically to the information which was gathered during the Needs Assessment phase.
In almost every case, the results of the 360 degree reference checks require us to revisit specific issues with the candidate which need to be addressed.
If the candidate makes it to a finalist stage, a 30-40 page document will be delivered for each candidate with information on work history, the results of the candidate questionnaire form, specific results of the 360 degree reference checks (anonymous) which also includes a rating of the candidates attributes which are compared to a self assessment as well as the client's rating of importance of various attributes.
All of this information is of critical importance to ensure that family stakeholders and others are able to conduct the most efficient and effective interviews possible to determine fit.
Our process has led to a 92% retention rate of executive placements at the 2 year mark as opposed to an industry average of 54%.
To achieve these results takes a commitment to the process and focus on the critical success factors developed up front with the family-owned business.
FBE: How do you assess a candidate's ability to effectively operate within the specific culture of the family owned business?
Gary Payne: First, during the initial stages of a search, a clear understanding and picture of the culture of the business must be established, including the personalities of active family members as well as other executives within the business.
In addition, behaviors that are valued within the family and corporate culture must be understood, especially how humility is viewed.
Our process uses from three to four specific methods to qualify culture and personality fit. One is through a series of specific tailored questions during the Candidate Self Evaluation questionnaire stage. Candidates are asked to document specific examples of how they have handled environments and situations that are similar to that found in the Family Business.
Second, specific questions around culture are addressed during the 360 degree reference checks of two each of superiors, peers, and subordinates.
Third, the candidate is asked specific questions in the personal interview process to give examples that are pertinent to the Family Business' culture.
And, finally, for some searches, we will do a personality profile test for final verification of fit.
FBE: Do you handle leadership needs only in the U.S. or do you have capability internationally?
Gary Payne: Approximately 30% of our work is for executive leadership opportunities outside the U.S. For one, our firm has offices overseas in Singapore and China.
We are affiliated with Transearch which provides us access to over 60 Retained Search firms throughout the world, all of which have been evaluated for quality of services and customer satisfaction.
In addition, our Search Process is designed to source and qualify candidates using a specific strategy that our clients are intimately involved in helping to develop – for example, who are the highly regarded competitors from whom we should be sourcing candidates from, etc.
Because the Search Process is developed and agreed to with client input, there is no stone not unturned as to how we source quality candidates for each search.
FBE: How does the search for an outside board member differ from a hired executive employee in a family owned business?
Gary Payne: In essence, the process to ensure the right fit for a potential outside Family Business Board Member is very similar to that which we use for other leadership/executive searches. Industry experience, background, culture fit, sensitivity to family issues, performance expectations, etc., are all critical factors to ensure the Family Stakeholders get the right value from the services of the Board Member. These are in addition to the experiences and background that the potential Board Candidates would bring to the firm.
If you have a question you would like to ask Gary Payne - please use our ASK THE EXPERT form!
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In my earlier post, we saw different ways in which we can use Gomobile. In this post I'll try illustrating how to incorporate Gomobile into a mobile application using the bind command.
 1. Ensure that you've setup Go and Gomobile in your machine
 2. Install NDK (If you are generating a Android library)
Three Step Recipe
Step 1 - Write a Go Package
 1. Create a go package in $GOPATH/src/$username/gomobile_contact
 2. Create the following files
In the above linked files I've made a network request, parsed the response and unmarshalled it into a Contact object and returned the first Contact's name. This is an example of a simple business logic component that can be written in Go and ported as a library.
Step 2 - Generate libraries
Use the following commands to generate libraries for iOS / Android applications
 gomobile bind --target=ios _TAG_
 gomobile bind --target=android _TAG_
Step 3 - Import library into Application
Gomobile generates _URL_ for Android and.Framework for iOS
Import the packages into your application and call the FetchContactName() method which returns the first contact's name.
Voilà! You've succesfully generated a library using Go and integrated into your application :)


text:
July 20, 1998 GAINESVILLE ---Chemists at the University of Florida are perfecting ways to take industrial waste and turn it into new medical compounds that have the potential to significantly reduce the cost of some prescription drugs.
The chemists use bacteria that occurs naturally in soil to transform harmful chemicals like benzene, found in oil and oil products, into useful compounds that can be turned into drugs.
"We can transform environmentally unfriendly chemicals into something friendly and useful," said David Gonzalez, a chemistry research assistant at UF.
In a process known as?Green Chemistry,' chemists feed the chemical or industrial waste to the bacteria Pseudomonas putida in the lab. The bacteria consumes the waste, leaving behind valuable compounds. The process reduces environmentally unfriendly and costly wastes that might otherwise end up in the soil.
The bacteria was discovered in the 1960s at the University of Illinois, with research continuing at the University of Texas and the University of Iowa. At UF, chemist Tomas Hudlicky has worked with chemical applications for this process since the late 1980s and leads the research.
"You actually have to pay to get rid of the waste," Hudlicky said. "But if you convert the waste into something with a high value attached to it... then you're actually making money on the waste product itself."
Gonzalez said some drugs extracted from plants can only be obtained in small amounts. Green Chemistry methods allow pharmaceutical companies to prepare the drugs in a laboratory as well as preserve the environment, he said. In most cases, synthetic drugs are preferable to natural drugs because quality control is better and they have a more predictable response among patients, said Randy Hatton, co-director of the Drug Information and Pharmacy Resource Center at UF College of Pharmacy.
Writer: Kristen Vecellio, _EMAIL_
Source: David Gonzalez, _PHONE_, _EMAIL_
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University Of Florida.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.


March 4, 2003
in General Interest
The Curta Calculator circa 1947.
Major components of the machine are: the carriage that can be moved to Six different positions for multiplication and division; the number transmission mechanism; the ten's carry mechanism; and the result and counter dials.
This precision calculator that weighs eight oz performs addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, squaring, cubing, and square root operations. The number set is transferred to the result dial once for each turn of the operating handle while the revolution counter records the number of these turns.
Automatic devices prevent errors from mishandling. For instance, if one turn too many is made, it can be eliminated by a turn of the handle with the axis in the other position (subtracting instead of adding).
Capacity of the machine is 8x6x11 places. Eight place digits can be set for addition or subtraction; six place multipliers can be used; and maximum results of eleven places can be obtained.
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text:
Bejeweled Blitz, is a popular matching game. Within the space of one minute, you must make as many matches as you can of gems (3 or more) of the same color. There are several things that can be done to increase your score as well as eliminate more gems. The items that help achieve this are called Power Gems, and there are two types, the Flame and the Star. The following tutorial will teach you how to get both.
1. Opening the appTap the Bejeweled Blitz icon on your chosen device. You can also play on Facebook if you choose.
2. PlayingTap Play to start the round. Remember, you can start making matches even before the timer starts.
3. Flame gemIn order to get the Flame Gem, you must match 4 of the same color gem by sliding up, down, left, or right in order to get 4 matching gems together. Slide the Flame Gem in line with 2 other gems of the same color and a 3 x 3 grid of gems will disappear.
4. Star gemFor this type of Power Gem, you will need to match 5 gems of the same color in a T or L pattern. This creates a Star Gem. Match the Star Gem to 2 or more gems of the same color. This eliminates all gems in the row and column that the Star Gem was in.


text:
Asian Pollution Fuelling North American Storms
Satellite images show that the north Pacific Ocean has recently become much cloudier, particularly during winter. Over a large portion of the ocean, between latitudes 30 north and 50 north, the area covered by deep convective clouds increased by 20 to 50% in a decade. These tall, thick clouds head for North America's west coast where they forcefully release large dumps of precipitation.
The changing cloud patterns observed over the Pacific between 1984 and 2005 do not correspond to natural patterns generated by sea surface temperatures, El Niño or East Asian winter monsoons. Nor are the same changes appearing with cloud cover over the north Atlantic. Instead, scientists have traced the cause to human activity in Asia.
Besides documenting a dramatic change in Pacific cloud cover, satellites have also measured soot and sulphur dioxide levels in the atmosphere over Asia. As a consequence of expanding industrialization discharge of these air pollutants has risen sharply, particularly in the last ten years. For instance, sulphur dioxide emissions over eastern China have climbed each decade by 35%. The pollutants peak during winter when most coal burning occurs.
Scientists link the increase in airborne particles from Asian countries with the recent intensification of the winter storm track that travels west across the northern Pacific. The particles released over Asia and carried westward on prevailing winds cause clouds to form differently. When aerosols are present, clouds produce smaller water droplets that they retain longer. The storm clouds end up holding more precipitation and developing stronger convection.
The strengthened Pacific storm track not only means more vigorous winter storms pounding the west coast of North America. Scientists note that the implications of this finding are even broader-reaching. The magnitude of the changes to clouds is so vast that it alters general global circulation patterns. Additionally, these more energetic storms can carry heat and air pollutants farther north, thereby accelerating warming in the Arctic.
Renyi Zhang, Guohui Li, Jiwen Fan, Dong L. Wu and Mario J. Molina. 2007. Intensification of Pacific storm track linked to Asian pollution. PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. 104(13): 5295-5299.


AMD's Jaguar Microarchitecture
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Instruction Set Extensions and uop Format
Roughly speaking, Bobcat was designed to be compatible with AMD's Barcelona, which is a slightly awkward target. While virtualization and SSSE3 is fully supported, Barcelona and Bobcat have the SSE4A instructions, which is a subset of SSE4.1 as found in Intel's Penryn as well as several additional instructions for handling misaligned data accesses.
In comparison, Jaguar is much more modern and presents a cleaner software interface. Jaguar has full compatibility with SSE4.1, SSE4.2, the 256-bit AVX extensions, as well as 16-bit FP conversion. AVX also adds 3-operand register addressing for both 128-bit and 256-bit AVX instructions. In addition, Jaguar offers AES, carry-less multiplication (CLMUL) and bit-manipulation (BMI) instructions along with big-endian move (MOVBE) and leading-zero and pop-count instructions. That being said, Jaguar is not fully software compatible with Bulldozer as it is not necessary for the target markets. For example, the new FMA instructions are useful for HPC workloads, whereas Jaguar is primarily targeted at low-power consumer notebooks and consoles.
Instruction Decoding
Conceptually, the instruction decoding for Jaguar and Bobcat resembles the K8, with some modifications. Jaguar and Bobcat can decode two x86 instructions per cycle. Like AMD's earlier Barcelona and Bulldozer designs, the variable length x86 instructions are decoded into fixed length but relatively complex micro-operations (COPs) that are tracked by the control logic. The actual COPs can map to multiple µops executed by the hardware. A single COP is capable of performing a read from memory, an ALU operation, and a write to memory, but most COPs map to one or two µops.
Not only is the x86 ISA variable length, but the extensive use of prefixes makes it impossible to determine the location of the op code ahead of time. Barcelona and K8 derivatives pre-decoded instructions and marked instruction length, and cached this information in the L1I and L2. This approaches improves frequency, but also adds complexity by requiring additional storage, a separate slower pre-decode pipeline, and checking logic. Jaguar and Bobcat are narrower cores, with lower frequency targets than the K8 and derivatives, which simplifies decoding considerably. So AMD's architects chose to eliminate marker bits and handle the variable length instructions directly, eliminating complexity in the front-end.
Instruction decoding in Bobcat and Jaguar starts in the fourth cycle and overlaps with the latter part of the fetch pipeline. Decoding was four stages in Bobcat, but the Jaguar team added an extra stage to achieve higher frequencies.
Figure 3. Jaguar and Bobcat instruction decode
Figure 3. Jaguar and Bobcat instruction decode
The decoders access the oldest 16B IBB entry, and the first 6B of the subsequent IBB entry. The first two stages handle pre-decoding and instruction length decoding. Bobcat uses a single stage for the actual instruction to COP decoding, while Jaguar uses two to boost frequency. Pairs of instructions are typically decoded from the oldest IBB entry. However, in some cases the first instruction will end the oldest 16B IBB entry; in that scenario, reading the extra 6B from the next entry eliminates most pipeline bubbles.
Like the K8 and derivatives, the vast majority of x86 instructions decode into a single COP (sometimes described as a fastpath single) given the powerful format. However, some instructions are cracked into two COPs (a fastpath double). One of the biggest differences between Jaguar and Bobcat is the classes of instructions that are fastpath singles versus doubles.
Both Jaguar and Bobcat can execute vector instructions that are wider than the underlying vector execution units. Bobcat was designed with 64-bit vector units, but has support for a variety of SSE instructions. Jaguar is a significant step forward and has 128-bit vector units, but supports AVX.
Mirroring AMD's approach to SSE2 with the early versions of the K8, both designs handle this mismatch by cracking the longer vector instructions into two COPs. The key difference is that Jaguar offers full performance for SSE instructions, which are the de facto standard in x86-64.
Microcoded instructions are fairly rare in most programs – a typical case is complex system instructions for power management and state management. The other use of microcode is handling classes of instructions where dedicated hardware is simply not available. For example, some of the SSE4.2 string instructions and cross-lane AVX instructions are microcoded in Jaguar.
The decoding stages for Jaguar and Bobcat also incorporate a side-band stack optimizer, which AMD first introduced with Barcelona. Instructions such as CALL, RET, PUSH, and POP implicitly modify the stack pointer, creating long dependency chains. The stack optimizer splits the stack pointer into two dedicated registers, a base register and a delta register. The stack pointer manipulations are all performed on the delta register by a dedicated ALU in the front-end and the two registers are synchronized as needed. This eliminates µops from the out-of-order machine and improves IPC.
The last decoding pipeline stage for both Jaguar and Bobcat packs two COPs, assigning them to lanes based on execution unit restrictions and writes them into an instruction queue. The instruction queue can hold ~6-8 entries and absorbs any delays due to stalls later in the pipeline.
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Multimedia Framework Overview
This chapter provides an overview of the Multimedia Framework, and covers:
Multimedia architecture
The Multimedia library architecture is modular, meaning that it consists of units that can be interchanged with each other to provide only the functionality you need. In addition, because it uses the Addon Interfaces library to define its standard interfaces, you can write new components (such as codecs), and easily incorporate new components written by QNX or third parties as they become available, in some cases without having to recompile your application.
A filter is the basic building block of the Multimedia framework. Multimedia Filters:
To process a multimedia file, your application uses only the filters it needs to get the multimedia data, process it, and send it to a target device. We classify filters based on their specific task. A filter can be a:
Reads data from a source. Examples are audio card readers, data stream readers, and video capture card readers.
Parses a stream of data into component parts. Examples are MPEG bitstream parsers, WAV format parsers, and AVI format parsers.
Decodes compressed or encoded data. Examples are mpeg audio & video decoders, and divx decoders.
Encodes raw data into a specific format. Examples are mpeg audio & video encoders.
Sends data to a destination. Examples are audio card writers, video output writers, and output file writers.
A filter is a generic object. Its functionality is determined by the way it processes data, and the interfaces it implements. A Multimedia library interface defines the set of methods that the library expects filters of a specific type to have. For example, all filters must implement the create and destroy methods defined in the AODeConstructor interface so that the library can create and destroy them, while only filters that read data from a source need to implement the MediaReader interface. The implementation of an interface is declared as a structure of pointers to implemented functions in a defined order.
Each filter can have multiple input and output channels, so if you have a file format that's interleaved with more than one data stream, you can have as many output data channels as the input data stream contains. This is how the MPEG System parser works, for example -- it parses MPEG System data into two streams, video and sound. An MPEG System encoder filter works the opposite way; it has separate input channels for sound and video, and one output channel.
We already provide a number of filters written for the Multimedia framework, but if you need a new one, you have to write only the decoder, parser, or other filter that hasn't already been written. Because the multimedia architecture uses a "plugin" framework, each filter component can easily be integrated (plugged in) with existing filters.
To use the Multimedia library, your application sets up a graph, an abstract object that encapsulates the multimedia filters needed to process a multimedia stream. A graph is stored as a MmGraph_t structure. It's built and destroyed at run time by the player application, and is specific to a particular media stream. Your application adds to the graph all the filters required to process multimedia data from source to destination.
If you know the specific filter required to process the multimedia stream, you can add it to the graph by name. However, a more flexible approach is to use functions that query the library and find the best filter for the data. In this way your application can handle any media type that the library's filters can handle, and use any new filters added to the library without being recompiled.
In the example below, six filters are used to read, parse, decode, and present an MPEG media stream. Each filter has an input channel and at least one output channel, except for special purpose "media reader" and "media writer" filters, which are at the beginning and end of the filter chain.
Multimedia graph example
Multimedia graph example.
In the filters we provide, multimedia streams are synchronized by the audio stream, if present. In the MPEG example above, the writer filters don't communicate directly. Instead, they use the audio writer filter MediaClock interface to the Multimedia library (all filters have hooks to the library) to determine the correct media time. In this way, the video writer continuously checks its media time against the audio writer, and synchronizes its playback accordingly.
QNX components
The Multimedia library includes filters provided by QNX Software Systems that support the multimedia formats listed in the table below. You can write your own filters, or obtain filters from third parties to handle additional formats.
Note: Some filters are available only with the Multimedia Technology Development Kit.
Format Filter(s) Mimetype
MPEG-1 (audio), audio/mp1, audio/mp2, audio/mp3, audio/mpeg
MPEG-1 (video), video/mpv
MPEG-1 System (audio and video), video/mpeg
AU (audio format) audio/x-au, audio/x-basic
IFF (audio format) audio/x-iff
AIFF (audio format) audio/x-aif
AVI (file format, parser filter only, no codec support) audio/x-avi
OGG (open source audio format), audio/x-ogg
WAV (audio format, most versions supported) audio/x-wav
MIDI (audio format)* audio/midi
* The MIDI filter requires a configuration file, midi.cfg, that defines the mapping of MIDI programs to instrument files. See the MIDI Configuration File appendix for more information.
For more detail about each of the filters included with the Multimedia library, see the Multimedia Filter Reference chapter.
The Multimedia library offers these benefits:
Extending functionality
You may want to extend the Multimedia Framework's functionality by writing filters for various media types not handled by the QNX-provided components. The chapter on Extending the Multimedia Framework covers this subject in detail, and shows examples of writing a parser and decoder.
Note: The source for the QNX-provided filters, as well as the source for the Addon Library and Multimedia library, are available in the Multimedia TDK. You require this TDK to write your own filters.


RACI Matrix
Business Analyst / Project Manager in Orange County, California
RACI matrix roles and responsibilities
The RACI matrix clarifies responsibilities and ensures that all project tasks have someone assigned to do them. It is created before commencement of any project, and updated as needed throughout a project. The matrix helps identify where a project will fall short on resources before work begins and highlights key decision points along the way.
 - Consulted: People or stakeholders who need to give input before the work can be done and signed-off on. These people are "in the loop" and are active participants throughout the project.
 - Informed: People or stakeholders who need to be kept "in the picture." They need updates on progress or decisions, but they do not need to be formally consulted, nor do they contribute directly to the task or decision.
Below is a RACI matrix I created for a fictional eCommerce website for a Pet Store.
RACI Matrix


Take the 2-minute tour ×
The tachyonic string mode in perturbative bosonic string theory indicates that the "vacuum", flat Minkowski $\mathbb{R}^{25,1}$, is not really a vacuum. What is conjectured about tachyon condensation in this theory? Do we expect the theory to have a vacuum? Is there any way the condensate might generate fermions dynamically?
[Edit] Since Chris Gerig asked for more background: Tachyons, sadly for Star Trek writers, are typically an indication that the state you think is the vacuum of your system is, in fact, not the vacuum. This is because you can act on the ground state with a tachyon creation operator and get a new state with lower energy. For example, the Higgs potential is $$V(\phi) = \frac{1}{2}\lambda (|\phi|^2 - c^2)^2 = -\lambda c^2 \phi^2 + \frac{\lambda}{2} \phi^4 + const$$ If you do perturbation theory around $\phi_0 = 0$ instead of around one of the true minimum $\phi_0 = C$, with $|C| = \mu^2$, you'll find the creation operators in $\phi_{pert} = \phi - \phi_0$ create tachyons, with negative mass-squared $m^2 = -\lambda c^2$. Create enough of these tachyons, and you'll turn the state $|\phi_0 = 0\rangle$ which you thought was the vacuum into one of the true vacua $|\phi= C\rangle$.
Bosonic string theory in 26d has tachons: the most basic closed and open string excitations, created by vertex operators with no derivatives. So it's a natural question to wonder about: what state do we get if we add tachyons to the false perturbative vacuum? Does this process converge? This is a pretty hard question to answer, since in bosonic string theory we don't have SUSY-protected quantities that we can compute to check our predictions. Which is why I asked what had been conjectured.
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Please give us more background to this question. – Chris Gerig Jun 24 '12 at 18:16
1 Answer 1
up vote 5 down vote accepted
These are several rather different question.
First, bosonic string theory in $d=26$ has both open string tachyons and closed string tachyons. The open string excitations are attached to D-branes. In particular, open strings that can live everywhere are excitations of a spacetime-filling D25-brane. The list of these open string excitations includes a tachyon. This open string tachyon is a sign of instability of the D25-brane with respect to the complete annihilation of the D25-brane. It's a violent process but the released energy only goes like $1/g_{closed}$, proportionally to the tension of the affected D-brane, which is smaller – for a small $g_{closed}$ – than the energy densities of order $1/g_{closed}^2$ which occur in closed string processes.
The difference of potential energies before (local maximum of the potential) and after the tachyon condensation was conjectured by Ashoke Sen to coincide with the tension of the D25-brane. It has been verifified by various informal proofs as well as very sophisticated and mathematically rigorous proofs in open string field theory, especially cubic string field theory where the most complete steps towards the quantitative understanding of the tachyon condensation was achieved by Martin Schnabl.
The understanding of the closed string condensation is much less clear. Most likely, there doesn't exist any nearby local minimum and the potential for the closed string tachyon is unbounded from below in all directions, signalling a neverending instability that destroys the spacetime beyond repair.
Whether there are fermions in bosonic string theories is a different issue. One may mention type 0 string theory in $d=10$ – which are naively as purely bosonic as the $d=26$ string. However, it was proved by Shiraz Minwalla and pals that one may find fermionic solitons in those theories:
There are also papers claiming to find a dynamical process that interpolates between bosonic string theory and superstring theory. They require some time-dependent configurations, however. A time-dependent tachyon is a part of the picture, if I remember well. See e.g. this paper by Simeon Hellerman and Ian Swanson and other papers by the same authors (and followups and references):
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Thanks for the detailed answer, Lubos. – user1504 Jun 24 '12 at 19:27
'...the potential for the closed string tachyon is unbounded from below in all directions...' Why is this most likely? It seems like it would be really hard to get a trustworthy description outside of a tiny neighborhood of the perturbative vacuum. – user1504 Jun 24 '12 at 19:29
Dear user, for the open strings, we actually have a description that is valid "everywhere", at distances from the perturbative vacuum that are of the same order as the order at which totally new terms start to change the behavior (eg full D-brane annihilation). For the closed strings, we don't have any string field theory that fully works so it's harder. Still, there exists neither a good description where the local minimum could be nor what it could physically mean. Bosonic string theory is simple enough to conjecture that such special structures such as new stationary points are not there... – Luboš Motl Jun 25 '12 at 9:34
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How to restain furniture darker
How to restain furniture darker
How do you darken already stained wood?
To darken the wood without altering it drastically, choose a darker version of the existing color; for example, add depth to light walnut with polyurethane tinted with dark walnut. Dip a tapered paintbrush in the polyurethane and apply a thin coat on the furniture until the brush runs dry.
Can you stain over stain to make it darker?
Can you stain over already stained furniture?
If the wood you are refinishing already has a clear protective finish, you need to test for adhesion before applying PolyShades®. A few simple rules to keep in mind: PolyShades® will work over stained wood (meaning it does not have a clear protective finish ) or wood topcoated with a polyurethane-based finish.
How can I lighten wood stain without sanding?
Do you have to remove old stain before restaining?
You might be interested: Who buys used furniture in tampa
How can you tell if a stain is dry?
Do you have to remove old stain before restaining furniture?
Can you stain a lighter color over a darker color?
If you try to apply a light – colored stain on top of an existing dark finish, you will not notice much difference. To completely alter the color of the wood's finish, remove the existing paint using an oil based solvent. Once you have removed the original finish from the wood, you can add a lighter color stain.
How do you Restain a wood table?
Step 1: Clean the Surface. Use gentle soap and water to remove dirt and oils from the table's existing finish. Step 2: Apply Stripper. If the table is painted or varnished, you'll need to strip the surface. Step 3: Clean With Mineral Spirits. Step 4: Sand Table Surface. Step 5: Apply Stain. Step 6: Apply Finish.
How do you stain wood that has already been stained?
For a deep stain, leave the stain on the wood for 5 to 10 minutes before wiping it off with a cloth. For a lighter stain, wipe the surface immediately after application. Allow the stain to dry for 24 hours before applying the topcoat of your choice.
You might be interested: What is distressed furniture
How can I darken wood furniture without stripping it?
Step 1: Lightly Hand Sand. Using a light grit sanding block, lightly hand sand the entire surface of the wood piece that you would like to darken. Step 2: Clean Wood. Clean your entire piece thoroughly using a mild cleanser. Step 3: Apply Dark Gel Stain. Apply the gel stain using a chip brush. Step 4: Seal.
How can I darken my oak cabinets without stripping?
Coating Selection Polyurethane stain blends are available in the most-common wood stain colors. They are applied over the old finish, and aren't designed to soak in, so you don't have to sand or strip off the polyurethane. Another option is oil-based paint, but its opacity can mask the wood grain.
How do you stain dark brown wood?
Combine some steel wool and white vinegar in a mason jar and allow to sit for a few days. The vinegar and steel wool will have a chemical reaction. When applied to the tea treated wood, the vinegar will immediately start to oxidize the tannins in the wood and turn the wood dark.
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In signal processing, noise is generally considered a problem to be dealt with as compared to a positive thing to be used. Stochastic Resonance (SR) is a phenomenon that can change this perception. In this, we begin with a nonlinear bi-stable system. This is a differential equation x'(t) = U'(x(t)) that has two stable steady-state solutions, separated by a non-stable steady-state solution. A typical example is the nonlinear Langevin equation given by U(x) = ½ax2 – ¼bx4. This has stable steady-state solutions at x = ±(a/b)½and a non-stable steady-state solution at x = 0. We also need a periodic signal y(t) and 0 mean white Gaussian noise ξ(t) with variance σ2. We use these two signals as forces exciting the differential equation, i.e.
x'(t) = U'(x(t)) + y(t) + ξ(t)(1)
When properly tuned, i.e., with the appropriate choices of a > 0, b > 0, and σ2 > 0, the signal x(t) found as the solution of (1) will have periodic components at the same frequencies as y(t), but with more energy. What is going on is that x(t) is jumping between the two steady-state domains of attraction. The periodic excitation given by y(t) causes the domains of attraction to increase and lose their ability to attract solutions. And, if y(t) is too powerful as compared to a function of a and b, the bi-stability of the system is lost, and the solution will have a reduction of energy at the frequencies of interest. In the absence of the periodic signal, or if the noise overpowers the periodic signal, x(t) will jump at random times with a given rate depending on a, b, and σ2. When these two phenomena occur together at the appropriate intensities, we achieve the desired resonance. In this case the domains of attraction are fluctuating in sync with y(t), and the noise causes x(t) to jump between them in such a way as to create the increase in power at these
SR shows significant promise for applications in signal processing. It can be used for extracting weak signals from noisy environments. This lends easily to many applications where we are limited in what we
can do to a signal by how noisy the signal is. Signals that previously would have been considered lost could now be extracted and processed without problems.
To learn more about Stochastic Resonance, check out the following links:


Video-in video-out
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 (Redirected from Video In Video Out)
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Video In Video Out (VIVO)
Vivo splitter cable.jpg
A 6-connector VIVO splitter cable. From left to right: S-Video In, Component Pb out, Component Pr out, Component Y out/Composite out, Composite in, S-Video Out
Type Analog video connector
Manufacturer Various graphics card manufacturers
Width 10
Hot pluggable Yes
External Yes
Video signal At least up to 1080p
Pins 9
Connector Mini-DIN 9
MiniDIN-9 Diagram.svg Pseudo miniDIN-9 Diagram.png
VIVO port using standard (left) and non-standard (right) Mini-DIN
Video in video out (usually seen as the acronym VIVO and commonly pronounced vee-voh), is a graphics port which enables some video cards to have bidirectional (input and output) analog video transfer through a mini-DIN connector, usually of the 9-pin variety, and a specialised splitter cable (which can sometimes also transfer analog audio).
VIVO is found on high-end ATI and NVIDIA computer video cards, sometimes labeled "TV OUT". VIVO on these graphics cards typically supports composite, component, and S-Video as outputs, and composite and S-Video as inputs. Many other video cards only support component and/or S-Video outputs to complement VGA or DVI, typically using a component breakout cable and an S-Video cable. While component-out operation supports high-definition resolutions, it does not support the HDCP standard which would be required for official HDTV support as set out by the EICTA.
A graphics card with VGA, VIVO and DVI outputs
Some practical uses of VIVO include being able to display multimedia stored on a computer on a TV, and being able to connect a DVD player or video game console to a computer while continuing to allow viewing via a TV monitor. VIVO itself, however, can not decode broadcast signals from any source, and so, like HDTV sets without tuners and composite monitors, additional equipment is required to be able to show broadcast TV programs.
Some manufacturers enable their version of the VIVO port to also transfer sound.
The VIVO output on graphics cards is often not used by those who have no need to connect their computer to a TV. Also, there can be issues in software supporting the use of VIVO ports.
A computer using VIVO must have software that can handle an input signal. For example, in the case of Nvidia GeForce series 6 and 7 video card users this means downloading Nvidia's WDM drivers.
Additionally, On Windows XP computers that use GeForce video cards with Scalable Link Interface (SLI) mode enabled, using a TV to display part of the desktop via VIVO is disabled, just as dual-monitor mode is disabled. Confusingly, however, some distorted images may be visible on a properly-connected VIVO-driven television display at boot-up due to the fact that prior to the OS loading the display driver, the video bios might initialize outputs that are then unavailable once the OS takes over and the driver loads into SLI mode.
See also[edit]
External links[edit]


Home » Health » 6 Alarming Symptoms of Low Potassium Levels in the Body
6 Alarming Symptoms of Low Potassium Levels in the Body
You may not be that familiar with the potassium deficiencybut you definitely should. Potassium is a highly important mineral for the proper functioning of the overall human body. However, some symptoms of low potassium levels in the body can be alarming for your health.
As we have mentioned before, potassium is very important for the proper functioning of the muscles including the heart.
Almost 98% of the potassium resides in the cells, so any small changes in its level can have serious effects on the nerves, heart and muscles.
Symptoms of Low Potassium Levels in the Body
1. Constipation
Potassium deficiency can slow many bodily functions as well as the process of digestion. This can lead to some abdominal bloating and cramping.
However, this does not mean that only potassium deficiency can make you feel bloated. Make sure you control the foods that can cause you bloating.
2. General Fatigue
Another symptom of potassium deficiency is the general feeling of fatigue. So, you will feel tired not because of overexertion and overworking but of no explainable reason.
Because every cell in the human body needs potassium in order to function properly, a low level of it can significantly affect the functioning of the cells and organs.
So, if you experience some general fatigue without putting some extra effort during your normal daily activities, consult your physician to find out the right cause.
3. High Blood Pressure
Potassium can minimize the effects of sodium. So, it is very important to consume potassium-rich food in order to control your blood pressure level.
4. Feeling Bloated All the Time
When there is a low level of potassium in the body, it struggles to regulate the levels of sodium thus leading to salt-induced bloating.
5. Heart Palpitations
As we have mentioned before, potassium deficiency can affect the heart health. It can cause irregular heartbeat rhythm and heart palpitations but for no reason.
As well as, it can disrupt the rhythmic and coordinated heart contractions which are controlled by electrical impulses. For that reason, make sure you get more potassium in order to protect your heart from heart diseases, heart attacks and strokes.
6. Numbness and Tingling
Potassium deficiency promotes the health of your nerves. If there is a lack of this important mineral, you may experience pins sensation and annoying needles.


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NORSWORTHY, BENJAMIN H.
NORSWORTHY, BENJAMIN H. (1838–1901). Benjamin H. Norsworthy, Confederate officer, was born in Alabama, on November 26, 1838. Norsworthy moved to Texas immediately prior to the outbreak of the Civil War and in 1865 married Middie E. Wingate, daughter of leading East Texas businessman and landowner David R. Wingate. During the war, Norsworthy organized a cavalry company known as the "Lone Star Rifles." This unit was eventually incorporated into the Twenty-seventh Texas Cavalry Regiment, with Norsworthy advancing from private to major and then lieutenant colonel. Norsworthy was wounded twice—at the battle of Thompson's Station in Tennessee in 1863 and the battle of Jonesboro in Georgia in 1864. After the end of the war, Norsworthy returned to Texas and settled in Orange County and worked as a merchant and rice farmer. In 1876 he served Orange County by leading its first organized militia, known as the "Orange Rifles." This unit served to maintain law and order during the periodic disturbances suffered by the county in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. By 1897 he was the area's second largest planter of rice and owned the county's first steam thresher. He was also elected mayor of Orange three times and served from 1881 to 1886 and from 1900 to 1901. Norsworthy passed away in Orange on February 21, 1901, and is buried with his wife in Evergreen Cemetery.
W. T. Block, "David R. Wingate: An East Texas Captain of Commerce," (_URL_ accessed March 22, 2011. Frances T. Ingmire, Johnny Rebs of Hunt County, Texas (St. Louis: Ingmire, 1977). Lt. Col. Benjamin H. Norsworthy (_URL_ accessed March 22, 2011. "Mayors of Orange County, Texas," KOGT.com (_URL_ accessed March 22, 2011. Howard Williams, ed., Gateway to Texas: The History of Orange and Orange County (2d ed., Orange, Texas: Heritage House Museum, 1988).
The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.Aragorn Storm Miller, "NORSWORTHY, BENJAMIN H.," Handbook of Texas Online (_URL_ accessed May 23, 2013. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.


The power of being heard
To solve conflicts, being listened to has proved to be the most important factor--even more than building trust.
Neuroscientists at MIT have recently discovered that being listened to is the most important factor in solving conflicts.
Rebecca Saxe, the senior author of the study and associate professor of brain and cognitive sciences, and her volunteer Emile Bruneau, a postdoc also from MIT, discovered that the benefits of exchanging experiences are much greater when people of the disempowered group share their stories with the dominant group, as opposed to the other way around. Many studies have documented the benefits of "perspective talking" and making an effort to understand another person's point for view, but this is the first study to look at the other side of the exchange.
The study, that is published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, focused on the conflicts between Palestinians vs. Israelis and Mexican immigrants vs. whites in Arizona. Saxe and Bruneau's findings support the idea that the greatest barrier for the disempowered groups to reconcile is their belief and concerns of being ignored. The groups' sense of being neglected, disregarded or taken advantage of is the greatest obstacle to progress.
To test this hypothesis the groups were told they were a part of an online translation system. The Arizona study took place six months after the passage of the controversial anti-immigration bill, and the Middle East study was conducted six months after the 2009 Israeli military action in Gaza. The timing was important as it was a point in time when the hope for a peace agreement was particularly low.
Each participant was told to write about the difficulties they experience in the society they live in, for then to read and summarize an essay written by a member of the opposing group. All interactions took place through video and text-based chat, and each person was paired with someone who was a research assistant--unbeknown to the participant.
It became apparent that attitudes toward the opposing group improved most among members of the disempowered group when they told their own stories, and for people of the dominant group when they read the opposers' stories. But when people of the less powerful group only wrote their stories without having anyone from the opposing group read them, their attitudes towards the other group did not change. This reinforces the importance of being listened to.
For the dominant group, the researchers believe that hearing the opposing group's stories was also beneficial because members of that group often fear that they are being blamed for the conflict. Therefore, listening to the views of the disempowered group gives them a chance to show that they're actually good people, Saxe said.
Peter Colemna, the director of the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Columbia University, said the study offers valuable insight to the development of both sides of a dialog. "This is good experimental research on an issue that's important to practitioners of dialogue programs," he said.
The next step in Saxe and Bruneau's research is to address which types of attitude changes are most likely to last during a conflict. An example they give is to create a program that decrease the perception that the other side is biased and irrational. They think that this might prove more successful as opposed to the usual programs that only has a focus on improving trust.
Image courtesy: MIT News Office
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How to Convert PDF to Word/RTF for free?Nemo PDF to Word offers an completely free and easy way to accurately convert PDFfiles to Word/RTF in seconds. After download and installation, launch the Nemo PDFto Word and learn how to convert PDF to Word/RTF by using the follow steps.How to convert PDF to Word/RTF?Step 1. Import PDF filesClick Add Files button to load your target PDF file(s) into the program. The file information likefile size and pages will be listed once imported.Note:You can click Remove or Clear to remove the imported files.Step 2. Make settingsUnder Output, you can specify the page range, select output file format and output path.
Note: You can click the Settings button to make more settings.Step 3. Covert PDF to WordClick the Convert button to start converting the PDF files to Word/RTF.
Note:1. During conversion, the Convert button will be changed to Stop button. You can stop convertinganytime by clicking the Stop button.2. When the conversion completes, a dialog box will pop up. You can view the generated PDF filesdirectly by clicking Open File or Open Folder on it.How to convert encrypted PDF files?If your PDF files are encrypted, it will pop up a dialog box for password immediately afterimporting it. You can load and convert the secured file normally after inputting the correctpassword on the text box as follows:
How to convert certain pages of multi-page PDF files?If you want to convert partial pages from large PDF files, you need to type the page numbers inthe text box with comma separated. For example enter 3, 7-9, 15, 19 to convert page 3, page 7-9,page 15, and page 19.Hot Tips • Convert Word to PDF • Convert Excel to PDF • Convert PPT/Image to PDF • Convert Word/Exce to PDF


Dehumidification by dry air mixing
When dehumidifying (drying) the air, the absolute water content in the air (absolute humidity) decreases. We achieve this in various ways: in this case by mixing drier air.
The situation can be graphically represented in the h-x diagram of wet air. In this case, too wet air P1 (RH1, x1) mixes with (mostly colder) air P2, whose water vapor content is significantly lower than that of air P1. The state of the mixed air M1 is given by the ratio of the amounts P1 and P2.
If the temperature of the air mixture M1 is lower than the air temperature P1, it is necessary to reheat it to the former temperature Tdb. After this process, we obtain the resulting state of air M2 with the same temperature as P1, but with a reduced content of water vapour x2 and therefore also with a lower relative humidity RH2 (this procedure is used for example, in swimming pools)


text:
Qlucore helps reduce plants' dependancy on fungicides
25 February 2014Tweet
Scientists at the Institution of Plant Protection Biology within the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences have been researching how to reduce the dependence on chemical fungicides in farming, assisted by Qlucore Omics Explorer.
The scientists used Qlucore Omics Explorer to aid their research which focused on understanding plant defence mechanisms and so produce plants that are more resistant to disease, which will lessen pesticide use, and ultimately benefit the environment.
The research is focused on how plants defend themselves against oomycetes and fungi. Oomycetes, also known as 'water moulds', are a group of several hundred organisms that include some of the most devastating plant pathogens. The team of 16 at the Institution of Plant Protection Biology have been studying biochemical components of plant defense and the interactions with pathogens and trying to identify resistance factors that can be used in future breeding for disease resistance crops, and in developing methods for induced resistance by applying non-toxic inducing agents in order to reduce the dependence on chemical fungicides.
In the past, one of the major problems facing the scientists was how to handle the increasingly vast amounts of data that was being produced from their research.
'Seeing structures in the data and finding meaningful biology in them has been a problem,' commented Dr Erik Alexandersson, Assistant professor at SLU Alnarp, Institution of Plant Protection Biology.
'We have used Qlucore both for gene expression and quantitative proteomics data,' continued Dr Erik Alexandersson. 'Some of the sampling is done in the field in order to obtain molecular data in a realistic setting as it would be out in the farm avoiding laboratory artifacts. We see clear differences in the mechanisms at play in these two settings. Qlucore has turned out to be very powerful in handling noisy data and quickly assessing underlying structures not relevant to the research question. We were recently able to "save" a noisy dataset by taking the set-up time into account and use the function "eliminate factor" in Qlucore.'
By the active use of Visualisation techniques important structures and patterns can be identified quickly, with the user getting instant feedback. Qlucore Omics Explorer allows 3D modelling and the ability to change parameters quickly and easily which can make the whole process of analysis more efficient.


text:
In lesson 31 we'll take a small melodic fragment from the Bach 2 part inversions and both play it and sing it through the diatonic chords found in concert Eb major. I enjoy taking a small phrase from any number of sources (Bach, Bird, Bartok, Konitz etc…) and sing it and play it in different keys. I really like the effect this has on both my improvising and my enjoyment of music practice.
This simple melody outlines a triad in first inversion with a chromatic embellishment (lower neighbor tone) and a diatonic passing tone.
After your able to sing and play this melody well in one key, put it through all 12 keys. By singing the material you will train your ear and really gain a deep understanding of the sound and musicality of the idea. Singing and playing a phrase also strengthens the connection between your actual voice/mind and your instrument/fingers which will help your instrument become your voice in a more predominant way. This will help make it enjoyable to work on and allow you to remember and assimilate the material into your improvising vocabularyweather it be as a shape or a complete melodic statement.