Flight Performance and Fitness
Cultivating the Optimal Training Environment
 In the fitness industry, it is widely accepted that our wellness isn't solely about our physical ability. Wellness is viewed as being multifaceted; its about our social, physical, and emotional wellness. The list goes on, but the three listed above are three of the facets we see as coaches most when it comes to cultivating the optimal training environment for our clients. Our ultimate goal is to be a guide in our client's journey towards achieving their best multidimensional being.
 There are 5 pillars I refer to when building a training environment that supports growth in the physical, social, emotional wellness categories. These 5 pillars are: ProvideSafety, Share Authenticity, Provide Support, Develop Resilience, and Promote Learning.
 First and foremost comes safety of the patrons and employees. We must provide an environment that promotes safety within the three facets of wellness above everything else. The longevity required to keep our patrons coming back to the gym relies on their ability to stay healthy. The physical safety spectrum runs from assuring proper technique is used while performing a movement with an external load to making sure there is no extra equipment on the floor where a client or athlete may be exercising. The increased risk of tripping increases risk of injury. Obviously, a lot more plays into an optimal training environment than just awareness of objects on the floor and movement competency, as these things pertain mostly to physical wellness. The following pillars address how we can provide a safe environment for our patrons, which pertain a little more to their emotional and social wellness. It is of utmost importance that we provide a safe environment that allows our clients to express themselves as who they are.
 The second pillar is authenticity. I choose this as my second pillar because I believe it is equally important for the gym to run as authentic as they can to their mission statement. It seems these days that people are better at picking up on falsities or fakeness, for lack of a better term. Beyond a patrons ability to read whether or not the gym is an authentic place for them to grow, authenticity helps to breed confidence in employees. This confidence will create a snowball effect in that, employee confidence will pour over into their work and will support growth in patron confidence. As coaches or trainers, we attempt to build a system that is true to our beliefs; we set ourselves apart from other coaches or trainers through personal experience. There is something to be said about being authentic to the differences between humans when it comes to their definitions of wellness, as those personal experiences set us apart from other trainers and coaches when it comes to what our clients want and need. It is important that we encourage each and every member that walks through the door to be authentic to themselves, the best way to do so is to create an environment where everyone feels supported.
 The third pillar, support, postcedes authenticity because we must be willing to support our patrons in their genuine form (ie. Personality type, strengths, weaknesses, etc). We must be considerate and supportive of all walks of life. Not all people were cut from the same cloth so it is up to us to figure out what makes each person unique and to help them foster growth where they deem fit. This cultivates an environment of open expression. As our patrons feel more socially supported, they will feel more comfortable expressing who they really are and where they want to go. Another way to provide support is to create a motivational environment. In order to create a motivational environment, it is important to build an environment where failure is seen as an opportunity to learn and success is celebrated and shared, even at the lowest level. This motivational environment will also help to build our fourth and fifth pillars: developing resilience and promoting learning.
 As coaches, we are physically developing resilience of the tissues so that the athlete can withstand the particular forces in their sport. However, developing resilience is about a lot more than building physical resilience.
Have you ever felt way in over your head; like someone considered all your weaknesses and then threw you in a pool of them?
Did you sink or did you swim?
How did you manage them?
What did you feel like after?
 As humans, we are wildly resilient, regardless of successes or failures. When we learn to walk we often fall down. Does that stop us? Typically not. We carry on with alternative methods until we find the one that sticks. Emotionally and psychologically speaking, resilience allows us to carry out learning without getting too discouraged with ourselves when we encounter the inability to complete a task successfully. We have the ability to overcome a wide array of adversities. If we weren't, we wouldn't be the top of the food chain.
 The weight room does an incredible job teaching clients and athletes just how resilient the human body is. It arguably does an even better job showing how resilient the human mind is. We must be pushed out of our comfort zone in order to learn and experience our own resilience. This is not possible without providing a safe, authentic, supportive environment for our patrons to feel comfortable enough to take a risk and reap the reward.
CoachingPrinciples of coachingPerformanceTraining Environment
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Variability in Strength and Conditioning: The Newest Misunderstanding
 The concept of variability in training is a hot topic in strength and conditioning right now. Unfortunately, I believe a lot of coaches are using too much variability in training their athletes and clients without an understanding of the correct application. Variability seems to be the new buzz word used as an excuse to add complexity or progression before fundamental skills and movement competency are learned. Some coaches even seem to use the "need for variability" as an excuse to be less detailed oriented with their coaching and programming, as if there isn't such thing as a "bad" movement strategy. I will tell you right now, there are plenty of bad movement strategies that athletes and clients use every day. It is our job as a strength and conditioning coach, performance coach, physical preparedness coach, skill acquisition coach or whatever the new label is, to take the athlete or client through appropriate progressions and positions to improve the likelihood of them using the most efficient/powerful strategy. Sorry folks, but this is without a doubt NOT going to be at full speed, in multiple planes, with a competition or a decision-making element. The poor movement strategy will likely never improve if you load it differently every time you do it.
 Is it more fun to have every exercise be loaded in a different way every week? Probably.
Is it more fun to add a competition element to drills? Yeah.
Does every movement need to be "perfect" before adding progression? Of course not.
There is no such thing as a perfect movement.
Should there always be a reactive element if you're training athletes? Yes, but skills and movements need to be built separate from the reactive component first.
 How much variability do athletes and general public clients need in their training? Now that is the million dollar question.
 Before we can answer this question, we have to determine who we are working with.
What are the goals of this individual?
What is their training experience?
What is their level of movement competency?
What is their affect toward training?
 If we are talking about training athletes, then ultimately, you want them to train in all positions, planes, and velocities, with varying intensities. I use the word "ultimately" because starting out a new athlete doing all these things would actually be detrimental to their progress.
 Imagine you have a new 15-year-old athlete come through your doors with no weight room experience. On that first day, they might be able to display some athletic qualities such as speed, relative strength, agility, maybe even rate of force production. They were either given these abilities genetically or they gained them playing their sport. Either way, the odds are that they also have some inefficient strategies that they use to display these qualities. The goal of the first block of training for this athlete should be building competency in basic movement patterns. If you have been coaching long enough, I'm sure at some point you have started a client or athlete out on an exercise that they were not prepared for.
What happens?
You end up beating your head against the wall trying to get them to do the exercise correctly and they usually don't really get better at it.
 They don't get better at the exercise because they didn't go through the prerequisite movements that give their brain context for how to display this movement correctly with the right musculature being used. If I get an athlete or client really good at goblet squats, the transition to a barbell front squat shouldn't be that difficult. They have built competency in the movement pattern of squatting. They know where to put the weight in their feet. They know how to keep the pelvis stacked under their ribcage as they descend, and they also know how to maintain that stacked position while they drive their feet into the ground and come back to the start position. The athlete no longer has to think about these cues or technique points because it is drilled into their wiring. We call this stage of motor learning unconscious competency. Meaning, it's automatic. The pattern does not go out the window when you change the load slightly from the goblet position to the barbell front rack position. However, you changed a variable. So, for a short amount of time the athlete might have to think about the cues again… BUT, because the main pattern is so locked in, this should be very short.
 The same goes for non-traditional weight room exercises like jumping, running, and change of direction. The need for


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Chapter 6 - Waves
Superposition and Coherence:
Superposition occurs when 2 or more waves pass through each other.
At the instant the wars cross, the displacements due to each wave combine. Each wave then continues on in the original direction.
Principle of superposition = when 2+ waves cross, the resultant displacement is the vector sum of the individual displacements.
Interference can be constructive or destructive.
A crest + A crest = a bigger crest & a trough + a trough = a bigger trough. ∴ constructive.
A crest + a trough (of equal size) = 0. The 2 displacements cancel each other out completely ∴ destructive.
If crest /trough aren't the same size the inference isn't total. For interference to be noticeable the amplitudes should be almost equal.
You can use phasors to show superposition
You can use little rotating arrows to represent the phase of each point on a wave.
The phasor rotates ANTICLOCKWISE through one whole turn as the wave completes a full cycle.
To find resultant at timer, add the phasors tip to tail.
In PHASE means In STEP, 2 points in PHASE interfere CONSTRUCTIVELY.
2 points on a wave are in phase if they are both at the same point in a wave cycle.
Often use one wave cycle as 360 degrees (2π radians).
Points that have a phase difference of 0 or a multiple of 360 degrees are in phase ∴ phasors are pointing in same direction.
Points with a phase difference of odd-number multiples of 180 degrees are exactly out of phase. This is called ANTI PHASE. Their phasors point in opposite directions.
Points can have a phase difference of any angle.
You can talk about 2 different waves being in phase. In practice this happens because both waves came from the same oscillator.
In other situations, nearly always be a phase difference between 2 waves.
To get interference patterns the 2 sources must be coherent.
Interference happens in a jumble when observing waves of different wavelength and frequency.
To get clear interference patterns the 2+ sources must be coherent.
2 sources are coherent if they have the same wavelength and frequency and a fixed phase difference between them.
Constructive/Destructive Interference depends on path difference.
Constructive/Destructive depends on how much further one wave has travelled that the other wave.
The amount by with one waves path is longer is called the path difference.
Constructive interference occurs when path difference = number x wavelength
Destructive Interference occurs when path difference = (number+1/2) x wavelength
You get standing waves when a progressive wave is reflected at a boundary
A standing wave is the superposition of 2 progressive waves with the same wavelength, moving in opposite directions.
Unlike progressive waves, standing waves transmit no energy.
You can demonstrate standing waves by setting up driving oscillator at the end of a stretched string with the other end fixed. Wave generated is reflected back and forth.
For most frequencies the resultant pattern = jumble. If…

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


discovered in the 2012 and 2013 dig seasons have already been sorted into three different types.
Interestingly, the grape seeds weren't just thrown in to the well in handfuls. The team found most of them inside the bronze vessels, evidence that they may have been ritual offerings rather than garbage. The wood from the early Etruscan level also appears to have played a ritual role.
"Many of the pieces of wood were worked, and already several objects have been identified, such as parts of buckets, a spatula or spoon, a spool and a rounded object that might be a knob or child's top," [de Grummond] said. "The sheer amount of Etruscan waterlogged wood — with some recognizable artifacts — could transform views about such perishable items."
To follow the news from the Cetamura del Chianti well excavation, keep an eye on their Facebook page.
Faces of medieval Scotland
Tuesday, August 5th, 2014
In 2009, preparatory work for the Edinburgh Trams project unearthed approximately 400 medieval and early modern burials under Constitution Street. The site had once been part of the South Leith Parish Church graveyard in the port town of Leith (incorporated into Edinburgh in 1920) but had fallen into disuse centuries earlier and was quickly forgotten. In 1790 the Church Council declared they knew of no bodies buried in that location when Constitution Street was built to provide better access to the harbor. The archaeological survey was done because the Constitution Street area was close to the city center of early medieval Leith and to the town's defenses in the 16th and 17th centuries. The discovery of so many human remains outside the wall of the existing graveyard, therefore, was an unexpected and potentially important source of information about how people lived in died in medieval Leith.
A comprehensive study of the bones ensued, complete with forensic examinations, isotope analysis and facial reconstructions of all the bodies where there were sufficient remains to make it possible. In the final tally, there were 302 complete burials with partial remains of at least 100 more people discovered. Thirty-three of the bodies were dated. They all pre-date 1640 with the earliest dating to 1315. The South Leith Parish Church was founded as St Mary's Chapel almost two centuries later in 1483, and 33% of the burials happened before that date, which means this church was built on the site of a pre-existing one.
The 1640 cut-off may be related to the Plague of 1645 which killed 2,700 people, half the population of Leith. The South Leith Parish Church played an important role in implementing sanitary measures and in the care of the sick during the plague, but its graveyard couldn't handle the burial of half the city nor would the center of town be an ideal location for large plague pits. Then the Civil War happened. The church was occupied and used as a powder magazine by Parliamentary troops from 1650 until 1657. It was subsequently restored to ecclesiastical use, but the one-two punch of plague and war may explain why the burials stopped and were all but erased from memory.
Researchers determined that the people buried in this part of the churchyard were shorter than the UK average of 164cm for women and 171cm for men. The average height of the women was 155cm (5'1″) while the men averaged 169cm (5'5.5″). The overwhelming majority (90%) died before the age of 35 and 32% of the deceased were children, particularly older children aged 7-12. Isotope analysis on the remains of 18 bodies found that 80% were very much local having been raised in the Leith/Edinburgh area. The rest were only slightly less local, having been raised within a radius of 15-30 miles.
Most were buried in single graves, interred in wooden coffins or wrapped in shrouds. Three communal graves were found in which women were buried with children. One woman was found buried with a neonate across her pelvis, which means she probably died late in her pregnancy or in childbirth.
The facial reconstructions done by post-graduate students at the University of Dundee's Forensic Art course personalize all these facts and figures.
By using forensic modelling to determine the shape and depth of facial muscles and soft tissues, isotopic analysis to ascertain individuals' origins and state-of-the-art computer programming, researchers were able to build up lifelike facial representations for the 400 to 600-year-old remains.
Amongst the reconstructions was that of a boy, aged between 13 and 17, who was thought to have lived around Leith and Edinburgh and to have died in the late 14th or early 15th century, an adult male aged 25 to 35 who lived in the mid 16th to 17th century and a woman also aged between 25 and 35, who died in the late 14th and early 15th century.
Intact Merovingian necropolis found in Normandy
Saturday, August 2nd, 2014
Archaeologists have unearthed 300 intact Merovingian-era graves at Saint-Aubin-des-Champs in the Calvados region of Lower Normandy. The presence of a necropolis on the site was first recognized during a preliminary survey last year in anticipation of construction of a housing development. Excavations began this March. They found the cemetery was complete — the enclosure delineating the full perimeter of the grounds was identified — and undisturbed with 300 burials of men, women and children from the 5th through the 7th centuries.
The burials were found at different depths up to five feet below the surface. The deceased were buried in wooden coffins (all of them now decayed into nothingness leaving only the shape behind) and almost all of the graves contain the remains of clothing and some artifacts. A third of the burials contain a particularly rich array of grave goods. These date to the 5th century, as identified by the artifacts.
One burial stands out for its fabulous accouterments. The skeleton of adult male was found buried with 20 objects, among them ceramic vessels, glassware, a bronze bowl, an intact wooden bucket with bronze strapping, an axe, a spear, a dagger at his waist, shoes on his feet and a silver coin in his mouth. The later the tombs the fewer the artifacts (a side effect of the growth of Christianity) and the 7th century tombs have no grave goods at all, solely bronze or iron belt buckles.
Initial osteological analysis confirmed that the burials include people of all ages and genders, with the exception of very young children. This could be the result of smaller, shallower graves having been disturbed over the centuries, or it could be a cultural practice. Infants and small children in antiquity and the early Middle Ages were sometimes buried within the boundaries of the home property rather than in the town cemetery.
Archaeologists believe the necropolis was the cemetery of a small village. Burials ceased at the end of the 7th century and the cemetery was abandoned, probably in favor of new Christian cemeteries. In the 7th century a monastery was built on the site of the current church of Saint-Pierre Évrecy. It is likely to have had an associated cemetery that may have supplanted the former community burial ground.
The necropolis is a very important find. There are no historical sources that refer to it and looters were blessedly unaware of its existence as well, leaving the grave goods in stellar condition and giving archaeologists the rare opportunity to study three centuries of undisturbed burials in context. This is a very thinly documented period of history, so the discovery is an invaluable resource.
Archaeologists plan a comprehensive study the cemetery in the hope that it will illuminate the life of the community as well as the burial practices of the region during the transitional period between traditional Roman religion and Christian dominance.


Awning Care and Maintenance
Awning Aftercare
Look after your Awnings by following the straightforward operating and cleaning instructions below:
Please follow these awning care and maintenance instructions to keep your new awning in good working order.
 1. Retractable awnings should be rolled up if high winds or storms are anticipated and under no circumstances should water be allowed to pool on the awning. Folding arm awnings are designed to be used as a sun shelter in calm conditions.
 2. No other objects should be attached to, or hung from the awning as damage may occur.
 3. The powder coated metal components and profiles of your awning should be cleaned twice annually or more regularly in coastal environments. Wash in tepid mild soapy water (preferably biodegradable) and rinse off. Build up of dirt and salt on these surfaces reduces the life of the powder coating.
 4. Lubricate moving components annually with light oil (SAE30 or similar) and apply sparingly. Avoid getting it on the fabric of the awning as it may stain.
 5. Roll up only when clean and dry (if rolled up wet e.g. due to approaching storm, the awning should be extended and allowed to dry in the sun at the first opportunity).
 6. To remove dirt from the fabric, brush dry fabric with a soft brush (an occasional hosing may remove dust and some ingrained dirt).
 7. Never scrub the fabric.
 8. Immediately remove deposits of organic matter (such as soil, grass cuttings, leaf litter, bird droppings, vehicle exhaust), some leaf species can cause stains if wet, remove leaves before rolling up awning.
 9. Remove any mildew, as it appears, by first brushing, treating with diluted chlorine bleach (typically 1part White King to 4 parts water to achieve 1% available chlorine) and allowing it to dry in full sun, then hose off well to remove any residue. Do not use strong bleaches such as pool chlorine.
 10. Do not use soaps, detergents, solvents or other liquid cleansers on the fabric.
 1. Scotchguard brand Fabric Protector or approved wax based canvas treatments containing mildew inhibitors may be used in accordance with the manufacturers instructions.
 2. If your awning has a wind sensor, check at least twice a year to ensure the sensor paddle can rotate freely and is not encumbered by spider webs or vegetation etc. Electronic controls such as wind sensors are a valuable safeguard but will not guarantee protection in all circumstances.
NCR Pty Ltd warrants, that at the company's discretion, where a defect in a product is due to misuse, abuse or environmental shall not be covered under a warranty period.
It is a condition of this warranty that the products found to be faulty have not been misused or wilfully damaged and shall not have been worked on or tampered with by any person not authorised by the company to do so. It is also a condition that the care and maintenance advice for the product has been adhered to.
All warranties offered herein are non transferable and only apply where the goods have been paid for in full. Proof of purchase will be required.


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Cristobal Balenciaga (_PHONE_) was a Spanish-born couture designer and was the main Spanish influence on dress during the 1940s and 1950s. He ran his own Spanish design house, but relocated to Paris in 1937 because of the Spanish Civil War. He then opened his own couture house on 10 avenue Georges V and was an immediate success.
He was a perfectionist. His designs were timeless, but they were always ahead of the times. His styles tended to anticipate and create trends. He did not make radical shifts of hem lengths or silhouettes from one season to the next. His designs were austure and extravagant at the same time: they were simple, tailored - even architectural - silhouettes often with extravagant decoration.
He often used historical references to regional (ethnic) dress and traditional techniques. He used the somber tones of the Spanish country-side, was inspired by the Basque peasant costume, and the flamenco stage (Miller, 1993). His extravagant embroideries often inspired by Spanish baroque (Koda, 1987). His inspriation also came from the work of Spanish portrait painters such as Goya. Balenciaga was active as a designer in Paris from 1937 to 1968.
"Cristobal Balenciaga was the true son of a strong country filled with style, vibrant color, and a fine history. He remained forever a Spaniard and his inspiration came from the bullrings, the flamenco dancers, the fishermen in their boots and loose blouses, and the glories of the church and the cool of the cloisters and monasteries. He took their colors, their cuts, then festooned them to his own taste and dressed the Western world for thirty years." (Diana Vreeland, MMA exhibition of Balenciaga's work.)
"Maja Dress and the Andalusian Image of Spain" - an assigned reading
If your image of Spain is one of provocative romance, ruffled skirts, shawls, flowers or combs in the hair, mantillas and bull fighting - these elements are rooted in the dress of the Andalusian region of Spain and that of the maja. The maja was a feminine dandy, one who uses exaggerated clothing and mannerisms. This is the image of Spain that influenced the dress of Latin America (Worth & Sibley, 1994).
Other regions of Spain have distinctive costumes as well, but it is the Andalusian style that serves as Spanish dress. Identifying features of the Maja costume (18th Century) include sleeves tied on to the bodice, functional or non-functional decoration on the lower sleeve and horizontal trim on the skirt. A red faja (sash) was sometimes worn at the waist. On the hair was worn a hair net, or a mantilla (lace shawl) and comb. In the 19th century, features of the Maja costume included rows of tassels and vandyking (a saw-tooth trim) (Worth & Sibley, 1994).
Throughout history, Maja dress was influenced by popular fashion. It evolved as fashion evolved during the 18th and 19th centuries. Maja costume had declined in use by 1840s, but upper classes continued to wear it when attending bullfights until end of the century (Worth & Sibley, 1994).
The maja was a popular subject of Goyaís paintings as well as that of other Spanish artists in the late 18th century (Worth & Sibley, 1994).
Questions or Comments? Email Dr. Orzada

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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The LSE Social Statistics group is delighted to announce this one day workshop.
This workshop takes place in the 'BOX' on the fifth floor, Tower 3 on the LSE campus on Tuesday 27 November 2012, staring at 10.30am. Attendance is free of charge, but registration is essential. Please email Sara Geneletti to register.
Researchers using statistical modelling in the analysis of survey data in social and medical research are often unsure how to make use of survey weights. In recent years a number of new methods have been proposed for incorporating survey weights into statistical models. This one day workshop looks at novel approaches to this problem in the context of small area estimation, multiple imputation and evidence synthesis. The talks will focus on how to apply these methods with real examples.
The provisional timetable for the meeting is:
10:45-10:55 Sara Geneletti (LSE): Introduction
10:55-11:25 Chris Skinner (LSE) : Incorporating survey weights into modelling: an overview
11:25-12:05 Michael R Elliott (University of Michigan School of Public Health): Bootstrapping Bayes estimators in complex sample designs
13:00-13:40 James Carpenter (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine): Using survey weights with multiple imputation: a multilevel approach
13:40-14:20 Shaun Seaman (MRC Biostatistics Unit): Combining multiple imputation and inverse probability weighting
14:35-15:15 Jouni Kuha (LSE): Group means as explanatory variables in multilevel models
15:15-15:35 Discussants Sara Geneletti (LSE) and Nicky Best (Imperial College London)
15:35-16:00 Open discussion
Using survey weights with multiple imputation: a multilevel approach
Multiple imputation for partially observed data with survey weights has been criticized, because Rubin's variance formula may be invalid. Focusing on a regression setting, we discuss this criticism, and argue that multilevel imputation can address some of the issues. We illustrate with some simulations and an analysis of the Youth Cohort Study.
Michael R Elliott
Bootstrapping Bayes estimators in complex sample designs
Bayesian applications typically postulate independent observations in order to obtain tractable forms of likelihoods. Sample designs that involve clustering are easily handled in this setting by assuming independence conditional on latent random effects associated with each cluster, which can then be easily integrated out, typically through the use of numerical methods (e.g., Markov Chain Monte Carlo). However, other complex sample design features such as sampling weights and stratification are not so easily incorporated into Bayesian estimators (Gellman 2007). In the regression setting weights can be incorporated in model estimation by including interaction terms between weights and regression parameters (Elliott 2007); in other settings such as small area estimation summary statistics can be computed that incorporate sample design (Raghunathan et al. 2007). But a general solution to the problem of Bayesian estimation using data from complex sample designs has not been proposed. In this talk I will propose the use of posterior predictive distributions of a population from finite population Bayesian bootstraps (FPBB) (Dong, Elliott, Raghunathan 2012) as one such possible general solution. FPBB produce posterior predictive distributions that have simple random sample properties that can be used to derive posterior estimates of the parameters of interest by reweighting simulated draws from the original sample. I will consider the repeated sampling properties of this method in a simulation study.
Group means as explanatory variables in multilevel models
Research questions for clustered data often concern the effects of cluster-level averages of individual-level variables. Typically such averages are estimated using just data on respondents in a survey. This incurs a measurement error bias when these estimates are used as explanatory variables in modelling. The error variance can, however, be estimated, and we can then apply statistical measurement error methods to adjust for the error. This talk considers such estimation for generalised linear mixed models. The proposed approach involves two stages of estimation where survey weights and other information on sampling design may need to be used in the first stage even when they will not be in the second.
Combining multiple imputation and inverse probability weighting
Multiple imputation (MI) is a technique commonly used to deal with missing values when analysing data. Another technique used for the same purpose is inverse probability weighting (IPW). Inverse probability weights are also used to deal with differential sampling fractions in survey data. These latter weights are known as sampling (or survey) weights. MI may be used in combination with IPW for either or both of two reasons. First, MI may be used to deal with missing data in a study with sampling weights. Second, MI may be used only to impute isolated missing values and then inverse probability weights used to account for the remaining larger blocks of missing data. I shall compare MI and IPW, discuss why and how the two may be combined, and present theoretical and simulation results concerning the unbiasedness of parameter and variance estimates based on Rubin's Rules when MI and IPW are thus combined. An example involving data from the National Child Development Study will be presented.
Incorporating survey weights into modelling: an overview
This talk will aim to provide an overview of : types of survey weights and why weights are needed; standard methods for incorporating weights into modelling, such as weighted maximum likelihood methods and weights as covariates; challenges for incorporating weights into Bayesian modelling; weight modification and alternatives to weighting


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The relatively simple task of rearranging column entries so an employee's last name comes first, and first name follows, is accomplished with a string of formulas.
Bill Jelen, CFO.com | US
December 1, 2010
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Cindi M wins an autographed copy of Guerilla Data Analysis Using Microsoft Excel for her question: "If you have a list of employee names in one column showing last name, first name (Smith, John), how do you convert the list to show first name last name (John Smith)?"
There are two different approaches to this problem, either a formulaic solution or using Text to Columns followed by concatenation. In this week's article, you will see the formula solution.
Solving the Problem One Step at a Time
Say that the names start in A2 and run down column A. Although you can solve the problem with a single formula as shown in Figure 5 (below), it will be less intimidating to break this problem down into smaller problems.
Where Is the Comma?
In Figure 1 (left), the formula in cell B2 uses the FIND command to locate the first comma within cell A2. =FIND(",",A2) returns the value 6 because the comma is the sixth character in SMITH, JOHN.
The positional values in column B will be used by the LEFT and MID functions to retrieve the first and last names.
Getting the Last Name
The last name in each cell in column A starts in the first character and runs up to just before the comma. If you know that the comma is in the sixth position, then you want to get the leftmost five characters. The LEFT function will return the leftmost N characters from a cell.
The formula in C2 is =LEFT(A2,B2-1). This formula returns all of the characters up to but not including the comma. (Figure 2, below)
Many Choices for the First Name
The MID function is my choice for retrieving the first name. The function lets you specify a starting position and a number of characters. For example, =MID("ABCDEFG",4,2) would start at the fourth character and return two characters which would be the letters "DE".
To get JOHN from SMITH, JOHN, you would want to use something like =MID(A2,8,4). It is easy enough to calculate the 8 as the starting position by using B2+2.
Some people will calculate the number of characters by using the LEN function to find the total number of characters. However, if you want to grab all of the characters to the end of the cell, you can instead ask for a larger number of characters than would ever be expected.
My formula in D2 is =MID(A2,B2+2,50). (Figure 3, below). This will return the 4 letters of JOHN. I often have people ask if Excel will add an additional 46 spaces after the name to make the whole 50 characters. Since Excel does not pad the answer to force it to be 50 characters wide, this approach is simpler than the alternative formulas:
Joining the Text Back Together
The fancy word for joining cells is "Concatenation". Some people might use the =CONCATENATE() function to join the text. I find it easier to use the & sign which acts like the plus sign, but for adding text. So the formula, written =D2&C2 would join the values together like JOHNSMITH. Since you will want a space between the names, use =D2&" "&C2 to join together the first name, a space, and the last name.
If you want to convert the name from capital letters to proper case, use =PROPER(D2&" "&C2), as shown in Figure 4, below.
Using a Single Formula to Solve the Problem
If you are new to FIND, LEFT, MID, and PROPER, then it helps to build the formula one step at a time. If you get to the point where you understand all of those functions, you can build a single formula in B2 to solve the problem. The formula, which would be written out in one long string — as illustrated in Figure 5 — would look like this:
Don't Forget to Convert the Formulas to Values
Before you delete the names in column A, you need to convert column B from formulas to values. This is almost as simple as a Copy and Paste, with one twist. The steps are different in various versions of Excel, and I'll point out the differences below.
Converting Formulas to Values Excel 2010
Select column B. Use the Copy command on the Home tab. Open the Paste dropdown and choose the large letter A to paste values (Figure 6, below).
Converting Formulas to Values Excel 2007
Select column B. Use the Copy command on the Home tab. Open the Paste dropdown and choose Paste Values.
Converting Formulas to Values Excel 2003 and Earlier
Select column B. Use the Copy command on the Edit Menu. From the Edit menu, choose Paste Special. In the Paste Special dialog, choose Values and click OK. (Figure 7, below).
Bill Jelen is the author of 32 books about Excel including Excel Gurus Gone Wild. You can win a copy of one of his books if your question is selected for a column. Post your question to the community content block at the right.


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The United States government declared much of the central and southern U.S. Wheat Belt a natural disaster area on Wednesday due to persistent drought that imperils this year's winter wheat harvest.
In its first disaster declaration of the new year, the U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) made growers in large portions of four major wheat-growing states -- Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas -- eligible for low-interest emergency loans.
The four states grew one-third of the U.S. wheat crop last year. Kansas was the No. 1 state at 382 million bushels.
In all, USDA listed 597 counties in 14 states as natural disaster areas. They suffered from at least severe to in some instances extraordinary drought for eight weeks in a row to qualify for the designation.
More than half of them, 351 counties, were in the Wheat Belt, running through the Plains from Texas to North Dakota. All but one of Oklahoma's 77 counties were termed disaster areas, along with 88 of Kansas' 108 counties, 30 of Colorado's 64 counties and 157 of Texas' 254 counties.
Crop condition ratings for winter wheat were the worst on record in early December, the most recent figures available. Some experts said up to a quarter of the crop will be abandoned because of poor development..
Winter wheat, the dominant U.S. wheat variety, is seeded in the fall, goes dormant during the winter and is harvested the following spring.
On Friday, USDA will make its first estimate of winter wheat sowings, based on a survey of growers. Analysts expect a 3.3 per cent increase from the previous crop. They said high prices encouraged farmers to plant more wheat last fall despite the moisture-short seedbed.
USDA also declared as natural disaster areas 14 counties in Alabama, 47 counties in Arkansas, four counties in Arizona, 92 counties in Georgia, two counties in Hawaii, 31 counties in Missouri, 19 counties in New Mexico, nine counties in Nevada, 11 counties in South Carolina and 17 counties in Utah.
In 2012, USDA designated 2,245 counties in 39 states as disaster areas due to drought.
Some 42 per cent of the contiguous 48 states were under severe to extraordinary drought, according to U.S. officials. The worst of the drought was in the Great Plains. -- Reuters


text:
"Start counting her NUMBER OF FACES," Kimmo Eriksson, Brush up your Björner (2008).
The time is right to annotate Kimmo Eriksson's memorable poem:
1. What are Chip firing games?
Many women will find it admirable
if you tell her she makes your CHIPS FIRABLE.
Chip firing games are (solitary) games played on graphs: each node of a directed graph contains a pile of chips. A move consists of selecting a node with at least as many chips as its outdegree, and sending one chip along each outgoing edge to its neighbors. The remarkable property of these games is that depending on the sizes of the piles, either the game continues forever or it reaches a position where it cannot be played further. In the latter case the final position, the number of moves, and even the number of times each node fired do not depend on the specific moves made along the game.
Sheep firing game (You may play the game by clicking on the picture; disclaimer: we object to cruel treatment of animals)
In the rest of this post you can read about shellability, weak and strong (Bruhat) partial orders on the set of permutations, chessboard complexes, and more.
2. What is Shellability?
If she's tough there's a story that's tellable
'bout a girl who was tough-shelled but SHELLABLE.
Shellability is a property of cell complexes (simplicial complexes, polyhedral complexes or more general complexes). Such complexes are used to describe topological spaces, and shellability is a combinaorial property (more or less) that guarantees that the described topological space is homehomorphic to a ball or to a sphere.
We say that a -dimensional pure polyhedral complex is shellable if its maximal faces (facets) can be ordered by a sequence such that for every, $1 < k \le t$, the intersection of with the union of is itself homehomorphic to a -dimensional ball or sphere.
For simplicial complexes, shellability is especially simple. The intersection of with the preveious facets should be a (non empty) union of some (or all) of its own facets.
I used the word "pure" and this refers to the property of a complex asserting that all maximal faces are of the same dimension. A notion of shellability for non pure complexes was introduced by Michelle Wachs. (It is sometimes called "michellability"). Mary Ellen Rudin constructed in 1958 a 3-ball with 14 vertices and 41 tetrahedra which is not shellable. Frank Lutz found an example with 9 vertices:
(Click on the picture for a description of Lutz's model and some more background on shellability.)
The boundary of a convex d-dimensional polytope is homeomorphic to, a (d-1)-dimensional sphere and has a cellular structure. The boundary of a d-polytope is the union of a collection of facetsfaces of dimension (d-1) and each facet is a (d-1)-polytope and thus is homehomorphic to a (d-1)-dimensional ball. Bruggesser and Mani proved that the boundary complexes of d-polytopes are shellable. This was assumed by early 19th century proofs of Euler's formula before the first rigorous proof by Poincare.
3. What are F-vectors?
If she pouts and you've fallen from graces,
why, start counting her NUMBER OF FACES.
The f-vector of a d-polytope, or a polyhedral complex, or a CW-complex is the vector where is the number of -dimensional faces. We discussed f-vectors and more general invariants of graded posets in several posts.
Start counting her number of faces. French actress Isabelle Huppert is reflected in the picture of herself as she attends the photo exhibition "Woman of Many Faces" in Moscow on June 29, 2008.
4. What are the strong (Bruhat) order and the weak order?
Tell'er straight, if you cannot afford 'er,
your finances 're in WEAK PARTIAL ORDER.
"If you cannot efford her"
Although defined over arbitrary Coxeter groups, let me define the strong (Bruhat) order and the weak order for the set of permutations on n letters. Both these orders are partial orders and they can be thought of as analogs of the inclusion orders for subsets of an n element sets.
Every permutation in the group of permutations on can be written as a product of adjacent transposition, namely, transposition of the form. The height of a permutation is the minimal number of adjacent transpositions needed. The height is an integer between 0 and, and the two partial orders on that we are going to consider – the weak order and the strong order (also called the Bruhat order) are graded by the height. In the weak order a permutation covers a permutation if and is obtained from by multiplying it with an adjacent transposition. In the strong order a permutation covers a permutation if and is obtained from by multiplying it with an arbitrary transposition.
Both these orders are very interesting. The weak order is a lattice. The strong order is the poset of faces of a regular CW complex homehomorphic to a sphere. In fact, this regular CW complex is shellable.
The strong (Bruhat) weak order on
Another strong order:
The largest order in the Catholic Church, the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), have elected their 30th Superior-General, Fr Adolfo Nicolás, S.J.,…Joseph Griebovsky wishes him well as he begins his new challenge as General of the 19,126-strong Order
Update: Here is a recent post on the two orders (with a problem set!) by David Speyer.
5. What are Chessboard complexes?
When you're fighting the battle of sexes
say that mating, your CHESSBOARD COMPLEX is
Battle of sexes
The chessboard complex is a simplicial complex defined as follows. The vertices are the squares of an chessboard. and the faces correspond to positions of non-attacking rooks on the chessboard. For example, if our simplicial complex is a hexagon. If and we have a 2-dimensional simplicial complex with 12 vertices. It is a triangulation of a torus. When and we get 3-dimensional pseudomanifolds with the property that the link of every vertex is the 12-vertex torus.
6. Tits Buildings
If your lady-friend still isn't yielding
say you've got this big place: a TITS BUILDING.
This is a high point of vintage British cinema. Not exactly easy or light viewing, but a film you really should see at least once
For Tits Buildings I refer you to the wikipedia article.
Penduline Tits nest-building in birches by the track (Birdblog)
7. Subspace arrangement
If there still is some source of estrangement
make some cozier SUBSPACE ARRANGEMENT.
A Subspace arrangement is a finite collection of linear subspaces in. (And sometimes over other fields.) The case of hyperplane arrangements has been especially studied.
Hyperplane arrangement!
Update: Followinf Dave Speyer's comment I googled search again for the images under "strong (Bruhat) order" and to my surprise, in the sixth place, much before what I was really looking for, I got this.
Does Google personalizes searches and biases them towrads the person who searches? Or do you get it too?


text:
Prizes and Celebrations in Brazil
UNESCO Brasilia Office usually promotes national events in partnership with various organizations to celebrate the International Days, Years and Decades proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations in order to mark important aspects of human life and history. The Office and its partners also promote national or international prizes in the areas of UNESCO mandate.
List of Prizes, Celebrations and Campaigns
Originally called MERCOSUR Prize for Young Researchers, the Award was created by the Specialized Meeting on Science and Technology of MERCOSUR - RECyT in 1998. Since the 2004 Call, the Award has had the partnership of UNESCO and has changed its title to MERCOSUR Science and Technology Award, comprising two categories: "Young Researchers", up to 35 years old, and "Integration", for a team of researchers with no limit of age, involving at least two member countries.
The annual context is organized by UNESCO in Brazil and partnerships in celebration of the World Science Day for Peace and Development, established by the United Nations in 2001 and celebrated every year on November 10. Each year, the context has an specific theme. All secondary education students in Brazil can participate in the context by sending their written works and/or drawings on the theme.
09.04.12 UNESCO International Prizes
UNESCO promotes international prizes to reward international outstanding efforts made in the themes of UNESCO's mandate: Education, Natural Sciences, Social and Human Sciences, Culture, Communication and Information, and Peace.
09.04.12 United Nations International Days
The United Nations General Assembly designates a number of "International Days" to mark important aspects of human life and history. UNESCO, in particular, observes the following:
09.04.12 United Nations International Years
UNESCO participates in the celebration of the following International Years proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations:
09.04.12 United Nations International Decades
UNESCO participates in the celebration of the following International Decades proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations:
UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova, has designated the Brazilian Dominican friar Frei Betto as laureate of the 2013 UNESCO/José Martí Prize for his exceptional contribution to building a universal culture of peace, social justice and human rights in Latin America and the Caribbean.
UNESCO Brasilia Office Director, Lucien Muñoz, sent a letter to the Brazilian Dominican friar, Frei Betto, congratulating him for receiving the José Martí 2013 Award for his decisive contribution to a culture of peace, justice and respect to human rights in Latin America.


text:
Data and Information
- Data Initiatives
- Satellite Sensing Systems
Data Systems for LCLUC Research
The unprecedented large volumes of data for land use research have necessitated the development of innovative data processing, delivery and analysis systems. The evolving EOS Data and Information System and a number of competed research opportunities such as REASON and ACCESS, have provided support for data systems research and development. The MODIS Advanced Data Processing System (MODAPS) at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is generating land-cover related products from the daily MODIS instruments on board the Terra and Aqua platforms. Data products at 250m -1km are being reprocessed as the algorithms are improved to provide consistent data records. This system is currently being enhanced to provide MODIS land product distribution capabilities to augment the services provided by the NASA Distributed Active Archive Center at the Eros Data Center to meet the needs of the MODIS science community.
The Landsat Ecosystem Disturbance Adaptive processing system is developing procedures for automated atmospheric correction and mosaicing of Landsat data and the generation of high resolution disturbance time series. The Global Land Cover Facility (GLCF) at the University of Maryland has developed a low cost system for processing and distribution of large volumes of land-cover data and enhanced data sets. Similarly, the Landsat.org project developed at Michigan State University (MSU) has developed a platform independent user interface and search engine for on-line purchasing, ordering and sharing of Landsat data worldwide. The Tropical Rain Forest Information Center at MSU provides Landsat derived data sets associated with monitoring tropical deforestation.
In partnership with the private sector, NASA purchased a global data set of cloud-free Landsat imagery for 1990 and 2000. These data were orthorectified and are easily accessible and freely available. They have greatly increased the use of Landsat data for LCLUC studies worldwide. In May 2003 the Landsat 7 scan line corrector failed and although the instrument continues to receive data, the imagery are of limited use. With no Landsat instrument ready to replace Landsat 7, there is an increasing data gap, posing a critical impediment to LCLUC science. The LCLUC program, working with the USGS is developing a mid-decadal (2004-2006) high resolution global cloud-free data set to extend the previous global data sets. The data set will include data from Landsat 5, ASTER, EO1 and Landsat 7 temporal composites. This data set will include data provided by foreign ground stations and possibly foreign high resolution satellites. It is hoped that international cooperation concerning this data set could provide a prototype for future international efforts to coordinate high resolution global data acquisition from the increasing number of high resolution assets in the framework of GEOSS.
Land use and land cover change studies at regional to global scales require large numbers of field sites for algorithm development and accuracy evaluation. Rapid development in integration of digital camera, hand-held GPS device, computer and internet make it possible for both scientific communities and citizens to collect and share geo-referenced field photos. The Global Geo-Referenced Field Photo Library, developed at the Earth Observation and Modeling Facility of University of Oklahoma, offers the capacity for users to upload, query (by themes and geographically), and download geo-referenced field photos in the library. It offers interactive capacity for users to interpret and classify field photos into relevant land cover types and builds photo-based land cover database. The users can use both photos and associated databases to carry out land use and land cover analysis in a geographical information system. The users who provide field photos can decide whether individual photos are to be shared or not. This tool and the resultant photo library will enable our NASA LCLUC communities to share their field photos, and promote the NASA LCLUC effort in remote sensing.
Satellite Sensing Systems
Satellite data provide an important source of information for characterizing and monitoring land-cover and land-use change. In some regions it is the only feasible way to provide timely and reliable land-cover assessments and identify areas of rapid change. Recent land-cover history also provides a point of departure for modeling land-cover change.
NASA Current Missions for LCLUC Research
NASA currently has sensing systems at high, medium and low resolution, which meet the LCLUC program observation needs. NASA satellite systems supplement operational satellites providing systematic measurements to study long-term trends. For example, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments on the EOS Terra (AM) and Aqua (PM) platforms have significantly improved on the capabilities of the operational NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR). These moderate resolution data are used to classify and characterize land-cover at the global scale and to detect land-cover change at the regional scale. They also provide daily monitoring of fire activity which is often an indicator of land-cover change. The operational Defense Meteorological Satellite Program provides a capability to map the extent of night time lights and has been used by LCLUC scientists to document the extent and growth of urban areas.
Landsat 7 has provided the systematic high resolution observations necessary to map and quantify land-cover changes at the local to regional scale. The Landsat class observations are a critical underpinning for LCLUC research. The Landsat 7 global acquisition strategy providing multiple cloud-free scenes each year, has facilitated land-cover studies around the world. The LCLUC program has been pioneering methods for regional analysis of Landsat class observations setting the stage for periodic continental and global assessments of land-cover change. In this regard, the combination of systematic moderate and high resolution satellite remote sensing provides the opportunity for global scale studies and forms the basis for a global land observing system. Similarly, the NASA science programs are moving from Missions to Measurements with the aim of utilizing data from different instruments to address science questions.
Experimental measurements of limited duration are needed to better understand processes and to test new sensor technologies. For example, the Earth Observer 1 (EO1) system has provided a test-bed for new sensor technology and spaceborne hyper-spectral remote sensing. Similarly the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) sensor has provided new high resolution thermal data collocated with MODIS data for improved surface characterization and validation of coarser MODIS thermal products. In the past experimental microwave satellite sensors operated by Europe and Japan have been used for mapping the extent of wetland areas. NASA LCLUC research in this part of the spectrum has been limited by the absence of a current US microwave sensing system.
NASA has also been exploring partnerships with industry for the commercial provision of data to meet the needs of its science community. In particular, hyperspatial data with 1-3m resolution from sensors such as IKONOS and Quickbird have been used to provide detailed validation of high resolution products.
NASA Future Missions for LCLUC Research
NASA as part of the Integrated Program Office is contributing to the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP). The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument is planned to transition MODIS class observations into the operational domain. The VIIRS instrument for launch in 2009 will continue the long term data records of vegetation indices, land-cover and fire. The NASA NPP Science Team is contributing to and evaluating the operational algorithms which will provide VIIRS Environmental Data Records (EDR's). The science team is determining whether these operational products will meet the needs of the science community and which additional or enhanced products will be needed.
NASA has been charged with providing a continuity mission for the Landsat class of observations. As the major science driver for this mission, the LCLUC program is concerned that the mission be launched as soon as possible to minimize the Landsat 7 data gap. There are a number of possible solutions to securing rapid high resolution data continuity including a micro satellite imaging constellation. Clearly, as part of this mission, it will be important to establish the pathway for operational provision of Landsat class observations. Additional mission requirements for LCLUC research are being developed through a NRC Decadal Survey for NASA.


TMCnet - World's Largest Communications and Technology Community
TMCNet: Drones lined up for medical supply drops: Greek entrepreneur dreams of deploying aerial robots on humanitarian missions in roadless areas
[March 30, 2014]
(Guardian (UK) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) The innovators Sponsored by the Big Innovation Centre When Domino's sent two pepperoni pizzas on a 10-minute drone flight last summer in a publicity stunt to demonstrate how takeaways may be delivered in the future, Andreas Raptopoulos reacted with scorn.
"This is total nonsense. Why the hell would you do that? The public risk to transport a pizza around when you can do it perfectly well with all of the infrastructure you already have there? Why don't you use the same technology to save somebody's life when a mother needs medicine or a child needs medicine instead of it being stuck on a lorry on a muddy road. To me, this is where technology works best," the Greek entrepreneur said.
Raptopoulos had had his eureka moment about the possibilities opened up by drones two years earlier. The night before a presentation at Silicon Valley's Singularity University - which aims to encourage business leaders to use technology to solve humanitarian problems - it had struck him that a network of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) could deliver medical supplies across parts of the developing world inaccessible by road.
That idea soon became a start-up called Matternet - a network for transporting matter - which aims to help the one billion people who do not have year-round access to roads.
In this case, eight-propeller UAVs can be used to transport small items weighing up to 2kg, establishing a potentially lifesaving connection decades before a modern road network could be built.
"Somehow the world caught on to this idea of using a technology [drones], which has a really bad reputation, for a really good cause and try to give the developing world not an example of following what the west has done but to figure out that there is a better way - to do for transportation what we did for communications," Raptopoulos said.
There are three parts to the system delivering medical goods: the UAVs themselves, landing stations where packages can be dropped off and transferred, and the software that ensures vehicles get securely from point to point. Because of their short battery life, networks of drones are needed to work together, shuttling between ground stations, said Raptopoulos. "Instead of one vehicle running for 60 minutes, there would be six for 10 minutes each," he said. "If you only fly between those [ground station] points, you know where those points are and [what is] around them. If there is a mountain, you know how to avoid it." He added: "Then your job becomes connecting those two ground stations in the same way every time. Our concept is having those ground stations physically placed where you need them in order to put loads in the system." The operating system would also ensure that drones would not collide with each other.
Matternet has carried out test runs in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Lesotho, in the middle of an Aids epidemic, has been identified by the company as somewhere the system could usefully transport laboratory samples around the countryside. A pilot is planned there for later this year.
The company is part of a hope that came from the Singularity University that drones could become less a military tool than one with practical uses in the developing world.
"When you think of all the robotics companies in the world, I don't know any whose first customer was not military. This is how robotics companies are built," Raptopoulos said. "We thought screw that, we are going to replace the military with the humanitarian.
"I have a huge bias but I have not seen any application that I think is more important, more inspiring. We have this impression of robots being scary and taking our jobs. What if you took them to a place that really needs them and save lives?" Most of the nine Matternet staff are based in a Palo Alto office, while the remainder work from London. Four investors have put money into the company and it aims to raise between $3m (pounds 1.8m) and $5m more in its next round of funding, in exchange for an undisclosed stake in the company.
Aid agencies are being targeted as first users, Raptopoulos said, and pharmaceutical and logistics organisations will also be approached. Sales to the military have been ruled out. Ideally, villages would be able to buy the drones and base stations and transport items between themselves.
"Anybody can basically set up the transportation networks. It is decentralised. You don't need governments, you don't need big companies," Raptopoulos said.
"We won't replace trucks and trains but we are talking about helping these people leapfrog so that they have basic healthcare and maybe not build roads in the way we have. The thing I am spending most of my time on is how we show that this system can work in the field.
"Then, once we prove that and start scaling, there are all sorts of problems, like how do you make sure you have safety at scale and that thieves are not stealing [the drones]. I call them happy problems." He added: "We are set up as a for-profit company and our goal is to change the world and we believe that profit will follow that. Somehow I feel the companies of the future are going to be like that." Captions: Andreas Raptopoulos wants to develop drones for work in remote zones Photograph: Barry J Holmes for the Guardian (c) 2014 Guardian Newspapers Limited.
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Note: this article has not been updated since Aug. 1998.
Some Pictures
Coat of arms of the Republic of Hungary, since 1990
Coat of arms of the kingdom of Hungary, prior to 1918 (click here for another depiction, from the castle in Buda, 1880))
Other GIF images of maps and shields of Hungary available by anonymous FTP at See also a page on Hungarian coats of arms.
The arms of Hungary from 1867 to 1918 were as follows: Quarterly, 1. Azure, three leopards' heads affrontés, crowned or (Dalmatia); 2. Chequy Argent and Gules (Croatia); 3. Azure, a river in fess gules, bordered argent, thereupon a marten proper, beneath a six-pointed star or (Esclavonia); 3. per fess azure and or, over all a bar gules, issuing therefrom a demi-eagle displayed sablem addextré in chief of the sun in splendour, and senestré of a crescent argent, in the base seven towers 3 and 4, of the third ( Transylvania); enté en point Gules, a double-headed eagle proper on a peninsula vert, holding a vase pouring water into the sea argent, beneath a crown proper with bands azure (Fiume). En surtout: an escutcheon per pale Hungary Ancient (barry of 8 gules and argent) and Hungary Modern (gules, on a mount vert a crown or, issuant therefrom a double cross argent), over all an escutcheon bearing Habsburg-Lorraine (tierced in pale Habsburg, Austria and Lorraine). Crown: Saint Stephen's crown. Supporters: two angels. Motto: bizalmam az ösi erényben.
A Note on Hungarian Heraldry
What follows was originally posted on the newsgroup rec.heraldry some years ago. Note, however, that the author was looking at color depictions of coats of arms that are discolored and misleading; his conclusions about metal-on-metal should therefore be taken with caution.
From: rice) Thomas Barnes/Lothar von Katzenellenbogen
I've recently been studying the pictures in Ot Evszazad Cimerei: A magyar orszagos leveltar civeres levelein by Nyulaszine Straub Eva (Corvina, Magjelent: 1987). It is appearantly a listing of all the grants of arms made by the Holy Roman Emperor/Austro-Hungarian Emperor from 1404 to 1918 and held in the National Library in Budapest (it is therefore not complete). It has over 50 color plates of arms from grants of arms and over a thousand black and white redrawings of arms with the correct heraldic hatchments. It is the most impressive armorial I have ever seen in publication. It is available via Inter-Library Loan (at least in the U.S.) and is probably still in print.
Hungarian heraldry is unlike any other style of heraldry I have ever seen. It flagrantly breaks virtually every heraldic convention even in the period that we think of as being the "classical" period of heraldry before the decadent period of the Baroque and Enlightenment periods. Tamas's assertion that Hungarian charges need to be supported by a mount comes from the 18th and 19th c. practice of putting many charges on a mount. Early Hungarian heraldry (ca. 1400) differs from German heraldry only in the fact that it tends to use more demi-beasts, crowns, and mounts or bases that German heraldry from the same period. Some Hungarian heraldry from this period is very simple. For example: Per bend sinister embattled Argent(??) and gules, two roses counterchanged.
Based on a study of the book, here's what I've discovered:
 1. Hungarian heraldry ignores the rule of tincture more often than it obeys it. For example:
 - Or, a stork (statant?) argent. Tetenyi (Kapy) 1405
 - Azure, a stork rousant contourny sable beaked and jambed gules crowned and engorged or and maintaining in its beak a snake Or. Somkereki Erdelyi 1415
 - Azure, a castle of three towers gules and issuant from dexter and sinister chief a dexter and sinister arm vested gules issuant from clouds argent maintaining in honor point a crown Or. A Vadkerti, a Pataki Nagy es a Szentgyorgyi Vincze 1415
 These examples are NOT deliberately selected, they are the first three plates in the book! I most cases Hungarian heraldry ignores the rule of color on color. Sable or dark-colored proper fields are very common, as are gules charges on dark fields. Then of course there is the infamous green mount which occurs less often than you might expect.
 2. Many charges in Hungarian heraldry issue from crowns, lines of division or bases. There are a remarkable number of "demi" creatures. In many cases this is because the charges on the shield duplicate the crest which in many cases is a demi-creature issuant from a crown. In other cases the creature emerges from the fess line of a per fess field division or a base.
 3. Most fields in Hungarian heraldry are azure or gules with a sprinkling of Or, argent and sable. Vert or purpure fields are never encountered. No field treatments other than barry or bendy are used. There seems to be no use of vair or ermine variant field treatements at all.
 4. Ordinaries are almost never used. When they occur they tend to be fesses or bends. Chevrons, palls, and palls do not appear. Field divisions tend to be per fess (quite common) or per bend (rarely). Bases are very common.
 5. Charges tend to be a single central charge. When multiple charges occur they are generally arranged around a large central charge. The arrangements "an X between two Ys" or "an A between in chief two mullets and in base a B" or "an A between in chief a mullet and an increscent and in base a B" are not uncommon. Any other arrangement is unusual.
 6. "Stylized" heraldic charges (maunches, water bourgets, millrinds, etc.) are almost never seen.
 7. Demi-beasts, arms couped at the shoulder (and possibly issuant from clouds), creatures arranged so as to "support" or "maintain" a central charge, and human figures occur much more frequently in Hungarian heraldry than in any other national style I have seen.
 8. Hungarian heraldry occasionally will use quite complex "picture heraldry", especially in the 16th and 17th centuries. For example:
 - Gules, on a base vert a representation of a Hungarian man passant vested azure armed proper statant upon the body of a turk fesswise vested gules turbaned argent proper and upon the base to sinister a column argent enfiled of a vine vert crowned Or. Szentmartoni, 1549. p. 149
 9. Animate charges maintaining objects are not uncommon. Animals are also likely to be pierced by arrows or vulned by swords.
 10. Hungarian heraldry is much more "bloody" than other heraldry. In addition to the various representations of Hungarians killing Turks from 1540 onwards, you also have severed Turks heads, animals pierced by arrows, disembodied arms, human figures brandishing weapons, or occasionally animals attacking other animals.
 11.. Occasionally, Hungarian heraldry will arrange charges in peculiar ways. For example there is a device where a dragon is in annulo and another where a ram is eating the plant which forms the primary charge.
Hungarian heraldry is difficult to blazon because of this. If you have an arm issuant from clouds statant upon a crown striking a turk's head it is difficult to know where to begin to blazon!
Hungarian heraldry is very different from the Anglo-Norman heraldry that most people on this newsgroup are familiar with. Many people will probably think of it as being "ugly" because of this. Heralds in the Society for Creative Anachronism will be outraged by it since it repeatedly defies all of the rules for submission of SCA heraldry. However, it is fascinating because it is so different. Once you get past the reaction of "who would want THAT on their arms!" you begin to see that Hungarian heraldry is, like Polish herby or German hausmarken a unique style and is worth study on its own terms.
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François Velde
Last modified: Feb 13, 2004


text:
The sailfin molly, Poecilia latipinna, is a species of fish, of the genus Poecilia. They inhabit fresh, brackish, and coastal waters from North Carolina to Texas and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico.
The sailfin molly was originally described in 1821 as Mollienesia latipinna
by the naturalist Charles Alexandre Lesueur
. Lesueur based his description upon specimens from freshwater ponds in the vicinity of New Orleans, Louisiana
. However, Lesueur described other collections of the sailfin molly as Mollienesia multilineata
in 1821, the same year in which he described M. latipinna
. This conflict created confusion and eventually necessitated a ruling by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature
(ICZN). In 1959, the ICZN placed precedence on the name Mollienesia latipinna
Lesueur 1821. In a landmark definitive work on Poeciliid fishes, Donn Rosen and Reeve Bailey (1959) noted the priority of Poecilia
by Marcus Elieser Bloch
and Johann Gottlob Schneider
(1801) with regards to Mollienesia
by Lesueur (1821), thereby relegating Mollienesia
to the synonymy of Poecilia
Sailfin molly (English), Breitflossenkärpfling (German
), Seilfinnemolly (Norwegian
), Zeilvinkarper Dutch
, Molinezja szerokopłetwa (Polish
), and molliénésie á voilure or simply "molly voile" (French
There is some confusion with the Yucatan molly, P. velifera. While most names that contain a sail element refer to the present species, the German "Segelkärpfling", the Latin velifera and possibly others are used for the Yucatan molly. The French terms are used for both species indiscriminately.
The sailfin molly is found in fresh, brackish, and coastal salt water in coastal lowland habitats from North Carolina to Texas and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. Preferring marshes, lowland streams, swamps, and estuaries, the sailfin molly is very common in peninsular Florida. Non-indigenous populations are established in New Zealand, in the western U.S. and in Hawaii. Sailfin mollies introduced to California have caused a decline in populations of the Federally protected and endangered Desert Pupfish (Cyprinodon macularius
Sailfin mollies are most commonly observed as the shallow surface waters along the edges of marshes, lowland streams, ponds, swamps, estuaries and even ephemeral
water bodies such as roadside ditches. Small to large aggregations
of the species are most commonly found under floating vegetation or near structures in the water, minimizing their chances of being observed by potential predators.
The sailfin molly is a tolerant species. for exploiting the thin film of oxygen rich surface water with their upturned mouths, sailfin mollies are able to survive oxygen depleted habitats. A euryhaline species, the sailfin molly may be found in a variety of saline environments tolerating salinities as high as 87 ppt and will breed in brackish waters.
Adults thrive best in isolated pools or organically enriched waterways where few other fish occur (Minckley 1973).
The body of the sailfin molly is essentially oblong
. The head is small and dorsally
flattened, with a small, upturned mouth. The caudal peduncle
is broad and the caudal fin
is large, rounded, and sometimes tipped with black. The pelvic fins
originate at a point anterior to the dorsal fin
. In mature males the dorsal fin is greatly enlarged and colourful (it is this feature that gives the species its common name) and the caudal fin is similarly colourful, these conspicuous secondary sexual features play a role in female mate choices. Females tend to be larger and more plainly coloured, a difference characteristic to the Poeciliidae. (See: Sexual selection
It is a smaller fish than the Yucatan molly, though that species often does not grow to full length if bred in an aquarium. The dorsal fins are the most distinctive character: Those of the sailfin molly have less than 15 fin rays, counting where the fin meets the back, whereas the Yucatan molly has 18-19 (intermediate numbers may indicate hybrids which should be avoided). If the males spread their dorsal fin in display, in this species it forms a trapezoid with the posterior edge being shortest. The height of the dorsal fin, measured at the posterior edge, is a bit less than the height of the tail
The body is generally light grey
, although breeding males may be greenish-blue. Several rows of spots occur along the sides, back, and dorsal fin. Often these spots blend together forming stripes. Aquarists have developed many colour variations in this species, (variation occurs naturally in the wild) with melanistic
, and speckled forms known.
Sailfin and black mollies
There exists an entirely melanistic form called the Midnight molly, or, nondescriptly, "Black molly". The latter originally refers to melanistic breeds of Poecilia sphenops. Midnight mollies actually originated from hybrids between that and the present species.
As hybridization, like in most Poecilia, is easy between these two species and due to the more spectacular appearance of P. latipinna, such Sailfin-Black molly hybrids, with males' conspicuous, large, yellow-rimmed dorsal fin are often seen.
Due to genomic recombination, F1 hybrids often display novel and bizarre fin shapes. This can include a grotesquely elongated gonopodium in males; such hybrids are usually unable to breed. Otherwise, hybrids can be bred among themselves, or with higher rate of success with their parent species. They often have a somewhat decreased lifespan, but not as much (in healthy fish) as the deformed "balloon" molly breeds of P. sphenops. Like the sailfin molly, they require a bit more attention of the fishkeeper than the extremely hardy "true" black mollies.
Size, age, and growth
The natural lifespan of sailfin mollies, is short, particularly in the case of the males, which may live less than one year after achieving sexual maturity. Depending upon environmental conditions sailfin mollies may become reproductive in less than a year. Sailfin mollies are small fish. At one year of age males typically range in size from 15-51 mm SL
while mature females are likely to be approximately 19-53 mm SL. The sizes of adult males is directly correlated with population density. The greater the population, the smaller the average size of males. The maximum recorded size for this species is 150 mm TL
Sailfin mollies feed primarily upon algae and other plant materials, although they will consume a number of aquatic invertebrates including the larvae of mosquitoes.
Fertilization is internal and is accomplished by means of highly modified fin elements within the anal fin
of males that form a structure known as the gonopodium
. Sailfin mollies produce broods of 10-140 live young, depending upon maturity and size, and females may store sperm long after the demise of their relatively short-lived mates. The gestation
period for this species is approximately 3-4 weeks, depending upon temperature, and a single female may give birth on multiple occasions throughout the year. Although sex ratios of the broods are balanced, adult populations tend to be largely female as males appear to suffer higher rates of mortality due to a greater susceptibility to predators and disease as a consequence of their brighter colours and a life devoted to frenzied breeding. There is no parental care exhibited by this species.
Sailfin mollies are members of the lower end of the food chain. As such they are prey for various animals including aquatic insects, other fishes, reptiles and amphibians, birds and mammals. Specific examples include: giant water bugs (Belostomatidae)
, largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides)
, American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis)
, bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana)
, snowy egret (Egretta thula)
, and racoon (Procyon lotor)
, Saccocoelioides sogandaresi
is a known parasite
of the sailfin molly.
Importance to humans
The sailfin molly, in its many colour varieties is of considerable interest and value to aquarists
and many artificially selected varieties are produced and sold in pet shops. Wild type sail fin mollies are also bred as feeder fish for larger carnivorous fish. Naturally occurring populations of sailfin mollies help to control mosquito
populations by feeding on the larvae
of these pests
. As noted in "Distribution" above, they may not be suitable as a biological control agent
in many cases as they can easily become an invasive species
, even a pest themselves.
This species is not listed as threatened or vulnerable by the World Conservation Union (IUCN)


effects can't be discarded. Use Close instead of Cancel for primary windows.
 - Use for windows in which users can't make changes.
Alt+F4, Ctrl+F4
StopStop a currently running task and close the window. Any work in progress or side effects are not discarded.
 - Use when work in progress and any side effects can't or won't be discarded, typically with progress bars or animations.
ApplyIn owner property sheets: apply the pending changes (made since the window was opened or the last Apply), but leave the window open. Doing so allows users to evaluate the changes before closing the property sheet. In owned property sheets: don't use.
 - Use only in property sheets.
 - Provide an Apply button only if the property sheet has settings (at least one) with effects that users can evaluate in a meaningful way. Typically, Apply buttons are used when settings make visible changes. Users should be able to apply a change, evaluate the change, and make further changes based on that evaluation. If not, remove the Apply button instead of disabling it.
NextIn wizards and multi-step tasks: advance to the next step without committing to the task.
 - Use only in wizards and multi-step tasks to advance to the next step without commitment.
 - The effect of a Next button can always be undone by clicking Back.
FinishIn wizards and multi-step tasks: close the window. If the task hasn't been performed yet, perform the task. If that task has already been performed, any changes or side effects are not discarded.
 - Use only in wizards and multi-step tasks. However, the use of Finish is discouraged because there is usually a better, more specific commit button:
 - If clicking the button commits to the task (so the task hasn't already been performed), use a specific label that starts with a verb (examples: Print, Connect, Start) that is a response to the main instruction.
 - If the task has already been performed within the wizard, use Close instead.
 - However, you can use Finish when:
 - The specific label is still generic, such as Save, Select, Choose, or Get.
 - The task involves changing a setting or collection of settings.
DoneNot applicable.
 - Don't use. Done as a command is grammatically incorrect.
Not applicable.
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text:
From Interplanetary Wiki
- Challenge your friends in Hotseat, LAN or online matches.
- Build and manage your planet's infrastructure.
- Gather resources and decide the most efficient use for them.
- Research and develop increasingly futuristic technologies.
- Spy on your enemies to reveal their planets' weak points.
- Use your artillery constructions to aim through the planetary system, avoiding other celestial bodies and their gravity.
- Fire your Railguns, Missiles, Lasers, and claim the planetary system for your civilization!
Planned Features[edit | edit source]
- Single Player Mode with AI opponents.
- Deeper city mechanics, projects, and population productivity management.
- Warhead mechanics to increase missile versatility.
- Additional Super-weapon(s).
- More buildings, technologies, and planet maps.
More features will be revealed further along the game's development.


What's the Difference Between Active Dry Yeast and Instant Yeast?
What's the Difference Between Active Dry Yeast and Instant Yeast?
Emma Christensen
Oct 16, 2015
(Image credit: Kelli Foster)
Is it just me or do all these kinds of yeast sound suspiciously similar? I've been baking and buying yeast for years, and sometimes the yeast choices in the baking aisle still get me confused!
Here's the thing: Yes, there is a difference between all these varieties. And yes, which one you use does make a difference in your recipe.
The Difference Between Active Dry Yeast & Instant Yeast
The difference between these types of dry yeast is simple: active dry yeast has a larger granule and needs to be dissolved in water before using, while instant yeast has a more fine texture and can be mixed right into dry ingredients.
(Image credit: Kelli Foster)
More About Active Dry Yeast
This is probably what comes to mind when you think of yeast. It's a type of dry yeast that's granular, with a consistency similar to cornmeal. It's a living organism that's dormant until proofed, or dissolved in a small amount of lukewarm warm water (about 110°F). It's then added to the rest of the ingredients, where it will cause dough to rise.
Active dry yeast is typically sold in individual packets (pictured here) or small jars.
(Image credit: Kelli Foster)
More About Instant Yeast
Instant yeast is another type of dry yeast that was introduced after active dry yeast in the 1970s. It is made using a similar process as active dry yeast, although is dried more quickly. As you can see, this yeast is also milled into finer particles. Because of this, it dissolves faster and activates quickly. But unlike active dry yeast, instant yeast doesn't have to be proofed first; it can be mixed straight into the dry ingredients with the same result.
This yeast also gives you two separate rises and it can be used interchangeably with active dry yeast.
More About Rapid-Rise Yeast
Instant yeast may also be marketed and sold as rapidor quick-rise yeast. This yeast has also been milled into smaller particles so it doesn't need to be dissolved into water. In addition, enzymes and other additives are included to make the dough rise faster. With this yeast, you can skip the first rise of the dough and shape the loaves right after kneading.
(Image credit: Kelli Foster)
Which Type Should I Use?
This part is really up to you. While each type of yeast reacts differently and produces baked goods with slight variations, there's no one right answer.
I recommend picking one kind of yeast, becoming familiar with it, and using it in everything unless the recipe gives a specific reason to do otherwise.
This past has been updated — first published June 2008.
Created with Sketch.


text:
Some products irreversibly degrade in alkaline conditions (pH >7) and lose activity.
Acidification agent adjust the pH from alkaline to acid which stops alkaline hydrolisis :
- Product stability is maintained (especially if spraying is delayed)
- Spraying efficiency is improved.
The agrochemical keeps its complete efficiency!
Compatibility agents improve the quality of a tank mix.
It facilitates the miscibility of all the components in the tank.
Reducing Drift improves spraying quality.
The finest droplets (< 100 µm) can be dispersed into the atmosphere with negative consequences to product efficacy and neighbouring crops. The biggest droplets run off and fall onto the ground.
An anti-drift adjuvant :
- Reduces the amount of driftable droplets.
This reduces the off-target emissions into the environment.
Humectants help to maintain the spray droplet in a moist form on the target surface.
This process :
- minimises active ingredients crystallization
- and thereby maximises uptake and penetration.


Definitions for "Trolley"
Keywords: streetcar, hoist, cart, truck, overhead
A form of truck which can be tilted, for carrying railroad materials, or the like.
A narrow cart that is pushed by hand or drawn by an animal.
A truck from which the load is suspended in some kinds of cranes.
Keywords: golf, banned, drag, battery, fitted
On to which a golf bag is fitted and pulled around the course. In some cases trolleys are battery powered. In other cases, people should be banned from having them, because they drag them into places for which they were not designed.
Prior to actually purchasing one of our services it is added to a virtual shopping trolley. This means that any number of services (up to the maximum value of £300) can be added to the trolley and paid for in a single transaction at the end. Some items may be modified while they are in the trolley, or even removed from the trolley if no longer required.
Keywords: definite, carrying, way, asset, long
a definite asset it carrying a long way
Keywords: light, another, name
Another name for "light ra


text:
The definition of a root is the part of the plant that is generally underground or the origin of something.(noun)
Root is defined as to establish or become settled.(verb)
An example of root is to firmly teach your child how to be polite.
Root means to completely remove.(verb)
An example of root is to find the source of a drug problem in a school and get rid of it.
See root in Webster's New World College Dictionary
Origin: ME rote < Late OE < ON rot, akin to OE wyrt, Ger wurzel < IE base *wrād-, twig, root > Gr rhiza, L radix, root, ramus, branch
Origin: formerly also wrote, rout < ME wroten < OE wrotan, to root up < wrot, snout < IE base *wer-, to tear up > L rostrum, beak
See root in American Heritage Dictionary 4
Origin: Middle English rot
Origin:, from Old English rōt
Origin:, from Old Norse; see wrādin Indo-European roots.
verb root·ed, root·ing, roots verb, transitive
Origin: Middle English wroten
Origin:, from Old English wrōtan.
intransitive verb root·ed, root·ing, roots
Origin: Possibly alteration of rout3.
, John Wellborn _PHONE_.
Learn more about root


text: Clinical supervisors have important, but perhaps poorly understood, roles involving quality assessment and improvement, and datekeeping. Supervisors provide evaluation and certification of trainees attesting to their qualifications to continue in their training and performance as mental health service providers. However, bias in supervisory evaluations is a pervasive problem as a training issue in professional psychology. Supervisors (n = 62) at APA-accredited clinical psychology internships estimated rates of leniency, central tendency, and strictness bias among supervisors in general and their own bias in evaluations and letters of reference. The implications of bias in supervisory evaluation are discussed. Potential steps to limit supervisors' bias and increase accountability are recommended.


text:
Your personal trainer
ExactSpent will help you to identify how many words you translate, write, or edit
in a minute. Look through yesterday's results and break your record today.
It's easy to identify how much to charge for a particular job since ExactSpent knows how much time you have spent on any single task.
Open ExactSpent right from TO3000
Open the job you work on in TO3000, click the ExactSpent button to open it right from TO3000, and start to count time.
Import your time results into TO3000 to calculate the total value of the work.


text:
New Movies -
Old Movies -
Paris is Burning (Jennie Livingston, 1990)
In Paris is Burning, her successful and highly influential non-fiction film, Jennie Livingston turns her camera on the pomp and participants of New York City's late 1980s drag scene. Presenting itself at first as a competition documentary, it spends its early scenes watching as the contestants get ready for the spotlight of a drag ball. Various competitive categories, such as "Schoolgirl" and "Executive Realness", are explained to the audience, and visual examples of each are paraded across the screen. The judges explain the criteria for success, and the contestants each take their spin on the converted dance floor. As Paris is Burning proceeds, however, it moves beyond the ballroom, emerging as a fuller picture of a subculture that either has moved much closer to the mainstream in the last 20 years, or has been the beneficiary of a mainstream culture that has splintered into an infinite number of subcultures itself.
Livingston is smart enough to realize that her subjects are best equipped to explain themselves. They are eloquent when clearing up their attraction to images of the rich and famous people that they see in the media, and their competition is explained plausibly as a way of creating their own spotlight in a world that won't give them one. Another interviewee compares their elaborate ritual to a street fight. A third speaker describes the political power held in advertising images in asserting a white, suburban way of life. Above all else, the word realness, or one's ability "to blend", is the key here. It's rewarded during the competitions, which simultaneously lends the contestants' art both a feeling of subversion and oppression. Each of these perspectives are valuable, especially to outsiders struggling to understand drag's purpose. Collectively, they help to give a philosophical meaning to an activity that is physical and ostentatious.
Paris is Burning doesn't probe, really, but it certainly documents an important moment in queer culture. Livingston walks the tightrope between celebrating her subjects and remaining subjective about them, even when presenting the less savory aspects of their lifestyles. In those instances, she allows the people that she interviews to explain why they turn to hustling and shoplifting to support their habits. In scenes like these, Livingstone captures the way that these drag queens tend to self-dramatize as much on the streets as they do in the clubs.
Paris is Burning offers a look at a vibrant subculture in the moment just before it was co-opted by the mainstream (Madonna's Vogue video was just around the corner). It does so respectfully, but also slightly disingenuously. The biggest, shadiest drama in the film erupts when a man attempting to present himself as a "real" man to an audience, is called out for wearing a women's fur coat during a competition. Still, there emerges an impression of these individuals, forming communities, and even surrogate families, which defy those that have rejected them. As Paris is Burning's tone gradually shifts from jubilant to sober, one becomes both aware of how much Livingston is protecting her audience from and how much such camaraderie is needed.