Process Improvement Course - January 1998
Key techniques ( in suggested order of use ):
Fishbone or Cause & Effect Diagrams
Flow Charting
Process Questioning
Data collection
TPN Analysis
Tally Charts
Action Planning
Assessing Process Improvement Options
Click on button for Process Improvement Initiation Form
Process improvement is not a step by step process. Starting process improvement often results in learning more about area being looked at and its associated problems. This may result in realising that the approach is being taken is not going to be successful. When this happens, the reasons for predicted failure should be understood and agreed - reasons for failure can be inverted to become the reasons for success.
Process improvement requires the following:
Process improvement is not a matter of assigning blame to individuals or department but requires a wider focus which acknowledges that the performance of a system is dependant upon factors which include information quality and currency, operator training, tools, systems and time available to do the job. Most people want to do the best job possible and will if these factors are attended to. Process improvement is required when 'firefighting' happens too often. Click here for an example of how firefighting can become a 'rats nest' of issues.
ISO9000 fits into all this by providing a useful checklist for evaluating the quality system and prompting questions about how things are being done. It can be "vehicle for change" to a process improvement organisation and shoulld be applied as follows:
 1. Using compliance audits and process improvement groups, find out how the existing process is working and its advantages and limitations.
 2. Define what you want the new process to do.
 3. Produce procedures that control the new processs, comply with ISO9000 and are easy to maintain.
 4. Ensure that these procedures are maintained and updated to keep them at the optimum way of working.
Process improvement requires people to be inspired, guided and coached rather than managed and directed. The techniques described below should be used in a spirit of learning from each other.
Key techniques ( in suggested order of use ):
Purpose Using creative and lateral thinking, brainstorming uses the collective thinking power of a group of people to come up with a wide range of ideas. A good brainstorming session will produce scores of ideas. Click here for an example of ideas raised during a brainstorming session within a manufacturing operation. Similar issues may be seen in any organisation and although many of them may have already have been acknowledged, writing them down means that they can then be dealt with, for example in an action plan.
The main uses of brainstorming in process improvement are:
 1. To identify problems
 2. To analyse causes
 3. To generate possible solutions
Two main methods can be used:
Flip chart
One person writes up on a flip chart all the ideas from the rest of the group.
Post it notes
Working in silence, over 10 minutes, all members of a brainstorming group write their ideas on post it notes using marker pens and capital letters. The same colour marker pens and post it notes are used by everyone and completed post it notes are stuck on the wall. During the 10 minutes, these post it notes accumulate and can be read by all. Any ideas can be written up - no criticism of them is allowed until the evaluation of ideas later. Reading a post it note will trigger new ideas. In practice, post it notes accumulate at an increasing rate which then reduces as ideas are exhausted.
The second method is, in my opinion, the best as the post it notes can then be grouped and arranged to construct a fishbone or cause and effect diagram. Whatever method is used, the result will be number of ideas which then need to be evaluated. If the post it note method is used, then these post it notes will then be grouped into clusters of associated ideas, for example men, methods, machinery, measurement, material, money classifications or who, what, when, where, why and how These classifications are also used in fishbone or cause and effect diagrams and process questioning. During this classification process, some duplication of ideas may be seen, and some ideas may be regarded as obvious non starters. When ideas are duplicated, then the amount of duplication indicates the consensus in the group. The final set of ideas can then be evaluated further using TPN analysis. When starting process improvement, it is worth remembering the slogan'small steps quickly' i.e. don't try to do too much at once in case it cannot be completed.
When you make a successful improvement, make sure that you publicise it especially if this results in a significant time or cost saving.
What is a process?
A process applies people, materials, equipment, techniques, knowledge, time and money to produce a product or service to a customer (external or internal )
A process transforms an input to an output. A process consumes resources and operates under controls as shown in the diagram below:
Before any process can be improved it must have:
For process improvement to be possible, there needs to be a way of correcting the process operation and inputs to achieve the desired output
The three main stages of process improvement and the tools used are :
1. Defining the problem (first, ask is there really a problem?)
Process Questioning and Review
To understand the present situation, five key questions need to be identified:
Next, possible alternatives need to be identified. This is best done by brainstorming the following questions: ·
This last question is often overlooked!
2. Understanding the problem
Fishbone Diagrams or Cause and Effect Diagrams
The fishbone diagram is one technique for cause and effect analysis. To use it:
Flow Diagrams
3. Assessing what can be done
TPN analysis
 1. Select the ideas that we have some, or total, control over.
 2. Rate the remaining ones against our agreed criteria e.g. how easy it is to do, the risks if the idea fails Some of these criteria will be from the section headings of the brainstorming summary.
 3. Agree who's going to do what and by when.
For the first step, we can use the matrix below to filter out the best ones.
Idea or problem Are all the required actions within our control?
T otally P artially N ot at all
Any ideas whose implementation we don't have control over, we forget. If the group has partial influence, then it may be necessary to extend the group to include members who do have that control.
Assessing Process Improvement Options
Options are evaluated on a scale of 1 - 5, with 5 being the best possible and 1 being no improvement.
Fit to business needs and strategy
Cost saving
Time reduction
Resources reduction
Ease of doing it
Customer Service Benefits
Quicker Response
Improved Internal Communications
Easier and more accurate information availability
Reduction in workload / duplication
Better use of employees skills and intelligence
Better support of sales
Risk of doing it
Risk of not doing it
Step 3 is to agree who ownership of each action, recording this on an action plan
Flow diagrams
Block 1. What initiates the process, e.g. receipt of a purchase order for actioning.
Block 2. The work performed
Block 3. Verification that the work is complete. If not, then continue the process until complete
Block 4. End of process. Product passed on to next 'customer'
Process Performance Measures
Processes review should observe the following maxim: 'No process without measurement, no measurement without analysis, no analysis without action'
A Process Performance Measure defines what we intend to do to the process and has three parts:
Indicator of change or direction e.g. improve, increase, reduce e
Indicator of Quality the parameter to be monitored, measured or improved e.g. cost, time, number of rejects per batch
Transformation or process e.g. designing a network, processing purchase invoices, user training
Reduce the number of burnt biscuits per batch during cooking
PPM: The number of burnt biscuits per batch
Data Collection
The key questions are
When data is collected, it has to be presented in a format that makes it quick and easy to understand. There is an example of this in the section on Tally Charts. which uses a Pareto chart.
Tally charts
Tally charts are one of the simplest and most productive methods of data collection.
An example of using tally charts for evaluating customer satisfaction can be seen by clicking on the chart
Action Plan
Ref Problem/Opportunity Action Required Action Owner Target Date Status
Internal Customers and Suppliers


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If you use a donation or subscription alert system like TwitchAlerts, or maybe you are using BraneBot's polling system, chances are you've been given a long URL that you're expected to plug in somewhere in order for it to display on your stream. This URL requires using a Browser Source in your broadcasting software.
What are Browser Sources?
Why use Browser Sources?
Browser Sources make it possible to use web-based content as sources in your scenes instead of capturing them with a Window Capture source. Don't spend a bunch of time launching your alert systems and making sure Window Capture is properly configured before each stream. This will also save you precious monitor space. Once you set up the alerts in your broadcasting platform, you're done! That includes interactive flash applications, websites and so on. So if you are looking for a way to show donation or subscription notifications or an interactive polling system on the screen for your viewers, Browser Source is the way to go.
How to set up Browser Sources for streaming?
- Download the CLR Browser Plugin
- Classic OBS: Extract the files to the 'Plugins folder' for OBS (Path is likely C:/Program Files/OBS/plugins). Make sure to add it to either the 32 or 64-bit OBS version depending on which you use.
- OBS Studio: Extract the files. You'll get a folder called 'obs-plugins'. Throw this into your obs-studio folder to overwrite your current plugins folder.
- Launch OBS
- Add a Source -> Browser Source
- Enter the URL you were provided. Enter the height and width. If dimensions weren't recommended, you can edit your Browser Source properties to find a suitable size.
- In the lower left corner click Add -> Other -> Webpage URL
- Enter the URL you were provided.
- The URL will appear under the Scene you added it to. Right click on it, or press Settings in the lower left corner to customize size and other options.
Stuck and need some help? Pop into our Discord server and talk to fellow streamers.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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GVSU Ravine Research
The ravines are a beautiful resource which should be protected, as well as a potential hazard to the surrounding infrastructure of the university if not carefully managed (Figure 1). The steep hillsides and ravines are currently undergoing rapid erosion, down cutting, and widespread slope instability. It is likely that this erosion is due, at least in part, to an increase in storm water runoff, which is directed to the ravines from impermeable surfaces such as parking lots and walkways.
Dr. John Weber has done previous studies with students which suggest that the down cutting rate over the past 40 years may be as much as an order of magnitude greater than it was prior to the construction of GVSU (John Weber, personal communication).
Dr. Peter Wampler and student summer scholar Patrick Womble are collecting data during the summer of 2006 to better understand the affect GVSU urbanization has had on the ravine system. Specific research questions that we hope to answer include:
- What is the flow volume directed toward the ravines from GVSU infrastructure? How does this volume compare to what would be expected from a non-urbanized landscape?
- What are the short-term and long-term erosion rates in the ravines? Are these rates changing in response to efforts to slow erosion such as rock gabions and other structures?
- How has urbanization and increased runoff in the past 43 years affected the sedimentation rates in the lower ravines?
- What areas of the ravines are prone to slope instability and are these areas related to areas of increased runoff due to storm water discharge to the ravines?
- How has erosion and sedimentation affected the water quality in the Grand River?
- What can be done to inform decision makers about erosion and sedimentation in the ravines so that future land use and facilities are sustainable?
Here is a small PDF version of the Summer Scholar poster
2009 Data summary report prepared for Facilites Management
Page last modified February 4, 2013

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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Hamilton, ON. April 1, 2008 – If you are struggling to retrieve a word that you are certain is on the tip of your tongue, or trying to perfect a slapshot that will send your puck flying into a hockey net, or if you keep stumbling over the same sequence of notes on the piano, be warned: you might be unconsciously creating a pattern of failure, a new study reveals.
The research appears today in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.
Karin Humphreys, assistant professor in McMaster University's Faculty of Science, and Amy Beth Warriner, an undergraduate student in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, suggest that most errors are repeated because the very act of making a mistake, despite receiving correction, constitutes the learning of that mistake.
Humphreys says the research came about as a result of her own experiences of repeatedly getting into a tip-of-the-tongue (or TOT) state on particular words.
"This can be incredibly frustrating – you know you know the word, but you just can't quite get it," she said. "And once you have it, it is such a relief that you can't imagine ever forgetting it again. But then you do. So we began thinking about the mechanisms that might underlie this phenomenon. We realized that it might not be a case of everyone having certain words that are difficult for them to remember, but that by getting into a tip-of-the-tongue state on a particular word once, they actually learn to go into that incorrect state when they try to retrieve the same word again."
Humphreys and Warriner tested 30 students to see if their subjects could retrieve words after being given a definition. e.g. "What do you call an instrument for performing calculations by sliding beads along rods or grooves" (Answer: abacus). They then had to say whether they knew the answer, didn't know it, or were in a TOT. If they were in a TOT, they were randomly assigned to spend either 10 or 30 seconds trying to retrieve the answer before finally being shown it. Two days later, subjects were tested on those same words again. One would assume that having been shown the correct word on Day 1 the subject would still remember it on Day 2. Not so. The subjects tended to TOT on the same words as before, and were especially more likely to do so if they had spent a longer time trying to retrieve them The longer time in the error state appears to reinforce that incorrect pattern of brain activation that caused the error.
"It's akin to spinning one's tires in the snow: despite your perseverance you're only digging yourself a deeper rut," the researchers explained.
There might be a strategy to solve the recurrence of tip-of-the-tongue situations, which is what Warriner is currently working on for her honours thesis.
"If you can find out what the word is as soon as possible—by looking it up, or asking someone—you should actually say it to yourself," says Humphreys. "It doesn't need to be out loud, but you should at least say it to yourself. By laying down another procedural memory you can help ameliorate the effects of the error. However, what the research shows is that if you just can't figure it out, stop trying: you're just digging yourself in deeper."
McMaster University, a world-renowned, research-intensive university, fosters a culture of innovation, and a commitment to discovery and learning in teaching, research and scholarship. Based in Hamilton, the University, one of only four Canadian universities to be listed on the Top 100 universities in the world, has a student population of more than 23,000, and an alumni population of more than 131,000 in 128 countries.
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


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Conditions necessary for Chattonella antiqua red tide outbreaks
Limnol. Oceanogr., 43(1), 1998, 117-128 | DOI: 10.4319/lo.1998.43.1.0117
ABSTRACT: Chattonella antiqua (Hada) Ono (Raphidophyceae) red tides have often been observed in the Seto Inland Sea, Japan, since the 1960s causing tremendous damage to fisheries. To estimate the conditions necessary for C. antiqua red tide outbreaks we developed an ecological model for diel vertical migration and nocturnal nutrient uptake. The model was expressed as vertically one-dimensional differential equations for PO3-, NO3-, NO4+, C. antiqua cell concentration, P cell quota, and N cell quota. To deal with diel vertical migration, the growth function was given by the Droop equation and nutrient uptake kinetics were given by the Michaelis-Menten equation. The model was calibrated with several sets of experimental data. Model calculations showed that the formation of a shallow nutricline (at ~6 m) was crucial for rapid growth of C. antiqua. Given that a shallow nutricline was formed, the calculation also suggested that other environmental factors have to be within certain ranges for C. antiqua red tides to occur. If the retention time was <6 d or the grazing pressure was more intensive than that caused by 40 ind. liter-1 of Paracalanus parvus, which feeds on C. antiqua, there was no chance for an outbreak in a bay of the Seto Inland Sea. Weak wind periods, which often occur in the Seto Inland Sea during summer, seem to enhance the chances of a C. antiqua red tide outbreak by strengthening water column stratification and making the water stagnant. If this occurs after a shallow nutricline has formed and active C. antiqua cells are present, which can be attributed to excystment at the bottom, then the conditions necessary for C. antiqua red tide outbreaks will be satisfied. Excystment occurs when temperatures rise (to ~20-22°C), often due to intrusion of warm, saline Kuroshio Current water. The conditions predicted by our model as necessary for C. antiqua red tides are consistent with this hypothesis. Our model quantitatively supports the hypothesis that C. antiqua can grow to the level of red tides by exploiting the unique environmental conditions found in the Seto Inland Sea.


A Meds-To-Beds Program for 340B Hospitals
340B Eligible Hospitals should look for ways to leverage their outpatient pharmacy operations to maximize the programs benefits.
Surveys have found that only about 40% of patients fill their prescriptions the day of discharge, and 22% have not fill their prescriptions by a median of 12 days after discharge.[1]
With this statistic in mind, many hospitals have implemented a service where medications are delivered to a patient's bedside prior to discharge, which, therefore ensures the patient has access to their prescriptions when they return home. This is often referred to as a 'meds-to-beds' program.
Discharge prescriptions play a vital role in patient care and many studies have shown that adherence to a medication regimen, after discharge, is a significant factor in improving patient outcomes and reducing readmissions. Further, and of particular relevance to 340B Hospitals, due to their more vulnerable populations was one study that showed that hospitals who treat the most vulnerable patient populations are more likely to experience a high rate of readmissions.[2]
The 340B program allows for discharge prescriptions to be considered as 'outpatient drugs,' if they are considered to be for outpatient use. This means that that 340B Hospitals can either benefit from providing their discharged patients with their medications at the lower 340B prices or, in cases where the patient has private insurance, can benefit from the profit that the 340B price can create.
[2] Barnett, M., Hsu, J., McWilliams, J.M., Patient Characteristics and Differences in Hospital Readmission Rates,
Journal of the American Medical Association (September 14. 2015).


Representative Requests GAO Report on Administrative Burdens of IDEA
Which special education "paperwork" tasks take "reams" of time? The chair of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, John Kline, sent a letter (linked here) to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting a report on the administrative burdens of IDEA. The letter asks the GAO to examine what parts of IDEA place the biggest administrative load on schools, why the load is still significant after the 2004 reauthorization, and what could be done to reduce paperwork in the future. (Perhaps they are gathering ideas for reducing those reams in the next reauthorization.)


Frequently Asked Questions
What is 'No Load Speed'?
The maximum speed a cordless drill driver can reach without a load (when it's not driving screws or drilling holes).
Manufacturers give the tool's speed at no-load because once the drill driver begins driving screws or drilling, its maximum speed will vary depending on how demanding the task is.
A cordless drill driver's speed will be presented as a number followed by 'RPM'. The higher the number, the higher the tool's maximum no-load speed.


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Corin R. Anderson, David E. Smith, and Daniel S. Weld
Graphplan has attracted considerable interest because of its extremely high performance, but the algorithm's inability to handle action representations more expressive than STRIPS is a major limitation. In particular, extending Graphplan to handle conditional effects is a surprisingly subtle enterprise. In this paper, we describe the space of possible alternatives, and then concentrate on one particular approach we call factored expansion. Factored expansion splits an action with conditional effects into several new actions called components, one for each conditional effect. Because these action components are not independent, factored expansion complicates both the mutual exclusion and backward chaining phases of Graphplan. As compensation, factored expansion often produces dramatically smaller domain models than does the more obvious full-expansion into exclusive STRIPS actions. We present experimental results showing that factored expansion dominates full expansion on large problems.


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Shoreview, Minn. When it comes to litters, size matters. Larger numbers of pigs per litter have a direct correlation with an operation's total pigs marketed; however, for these pigs to meet their full potential, adequate birth weights are necessary.
"No matter the genetics, the management or the facilities, birth weight plays a big factor in a pig's lifetime productivity," says Dr. Gawain Willis, director of nutrition services for Purina Animal Nutrition LLC.
Willis explains that measuring birth weights are especially important as current genetics are helping sows move towards larger litters. Unfortunately this trend is also resulting in a trend toward lower birth weights. Research shows the average birth weight of each pig drops an average of 0.10 pound for each additional pig in the litter.
"As the industry evolves and larger litters become more common, producers must pay close attention to birth weights in their farrowing units," he says.
Purina Animal Nutrition has evaluated birth weights at the Purina Animal Nutrition Center in Gray Summit, Mo., for several years. Along with Brenda De Rodas, director of swine research with Purina Animal Nutrition, Willis measured birth weights on 2,456 litters over five years. They found that a 1-pound difference in birth weight (3.1 pounds versus 2.1 pounds) resulted in twice the survival rate from birth to weaning.
"Birth weights played a significant role in pre-weaning mortality rates," Willis says. "Almost all of our pre-weaning mortality occurred in the smaller birth weights. Growth rates, feed efficiency and piglet vitality were also noticeably improved with higher birth weights."
Heavier-born pigs were able to get off to a proper start and also reached weaning and market weights quicker; with 2.8 pounds higher weaning weights. When looking at the timeline to finishing, pigs born between 3.1 and 3.5 pounds reached the marketable weight of 270 pounds, 7 days sooner than pigs with birth weights of 1.6 to 2 pounds.
Increased nutrients through gestation and lactation are one major factor required to allow sows to produce these heavier litters. Willis explains that higher-producing sows require increased nutrients to achieve long-term production or they may fall out of the herd too soon.
If the nutritional needs of the sow aren't met, the potential remains for low birth weights.
"Failing to feed sows for increased productivity can also lead to rebreeding problems and high sow culling rates," Willis says. "But feeding them properly can result in greater efficiency for both the piglets and the sows. Lifetime productivity of sows and the pigs they produce begins with feeding the sows the quality and quantity of nutrients they require."


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As adjectives the difference between significant and famous
is that significant
is signifying something; carrying meaning while famous
is well known.
As a noun significant
is that which has significance; a sign; a token; a symbol.
Signifying something; carrying meaning.
* Sir Walter Raleigh
- a significant''' word or sound; a '''significant look
Having a covert or hidden meaning.
Having a noticeable or major effect; notable.
- It was well said of Plotinus, that the stars were significant, but not efficient.
- That was a significant step in the right direction.
Reasonably large in number or amount.
(statistics) Having a low probability of occurring by chance (for example, having high correlation and thus likely to be related).
- The First World War was a significant event.
That which has significance; a sign; a token; a symbol.
- In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts.
In the public eye.
- Some people are only famous within their city.
* famed, noted, celebrated, well-known, renowned
* famous last words


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Linux disks and partition names may be different from other operating systems. You need to know the names that Linux uses when you create and mount partitions. Here's the basic naming scheme:
The first floppy drive is named
The second floppy drive is named
The first SCSI disk (SCSI ID address-wise) is named
The second SCSI disk (address-wise) is named
/dev/sdb, and so on.
The first SCSI CD-ROM is named
The master disk on IDE primary controller is named
The slave disk on IDE primary controller is named
The master and slave disks of the secondary controller can be called
respectively. Newer IDE controllers can actually have two channels,
effectively acting like two controllers.
The first XT disk is named
The second XT disk is named
The partitions on each disk are represented by appending a decimal
number to the disk name:
sda2 represent the first and
second partitions of the first SCSI disk drive in your system.
Here is a real-life example. Let's assume you have a system with 2
SCSI disks, one at SCSI address 2 and the other at SCSI address 4.
The first disk (at address 2) is then named
and the second
sdb. If the
sda drive has 3 partitions on it, these will be
sda3. The same applies to the
sdb disk and its partitions.
Note that if you have two SCSI host bus adapters (i.e., controllers), the order of the drives can get confusing. The best solution in this case is to watch the boot messages, assuming you know the drive models and/or capacities.
Linux represents the primary partitions as the drive name, plus the
numbers 1 through 4. For example, the first primary partition on the
first IDE drive is
/dev/hda1. The logical partitions are
numbered starting at 5, so the first logical partition on that same
/dev/hda5. Remember that the extended
partition, that is, the primary partition holding the logical
partitions, is not usable by itself. This applies to SCSI disks as
well as IDE disks.


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your efforts, it's important to seek professional veterinary help.
As a vet, I cannot stress enough how important it is to get your dog checked out when they're showing signs of pain or discomfort. This could be indicative of an underlying medical issue that needs to be addressed.
Preventive Measures and Creating a Safe Environment
|Supervise playtime and prevent rough play or aggressive behaviors.
|Safe Space and Hazard Removal
|Designate a safe area in your home and remove any potential hazards.
|Careful Handling and Grooming
|Handle your dog gently and ensure that grooming procedures are done with care.
|Regular Veterinary Check-ups
|Schedule regular visits to a veterinarian to monitor your dog's tail health.
To prevent tail injuries and create a safe environment for your dog, there are several measures you can take as a responsible dog owner. By implementing these precautions, you can help ensure the well-being of your furry companion.
1. Provide Adequate Supervision During Playtime
When engaging in play sessions with your dog, it's crucial to supervise them closely. Avoid rough play that may lead to tail strain or sprain. Monitor their interactions with other dogs to prevent any aggressive behaviors that could result in tail injuries. By actively supervising playtime, you can intervene if necessary and protect your dog from potential harm.
2. Create a Safe Space and Remove Hazards
Designate a safe area in your home, free from any potential hazards that could harm your dog's tail. Ensure that furniture, doors, or cabinets are positioned in a way that won't accidentally trap their tail. Keep electrical cords, sharp objects, and toxic substances out of reach to avoid accidental injuries. By providing a safe and secure environment, you can minimize the risk of tail-related incidents.
3. Handle Your Dog Gently and Carefully During Grooming
When grooming your dog, handle them with care and gentleness. Be mindful of their tail while brushing or drying their fur to prevent any accidental tugging or pulling. Use appropriate grooming tools and techniques recommended for your dog's breed and coat type. By being cautious during grooming sessions, you can minimize the risk of tail injuries.
4. Schedule Regular Veterinary Check-ups
To ensure your dog's overall well-being, it's essential to schedule regular visits to a veterinarian. During these check-ups, the vet can examine your dog's tail health, address any concerns, and detect any underlying medical conditions that may contribute to tail tucking or unusual behavior. Regular veterinary care plays a crucial role in maintaining your dog's health and preventing any potential issues.
Recognizing Signs of Pain and Discomfort In Dogs
|Signs of Pain and Discomfort in Dogs
|Withdrawn, irritable, aggressive
|Posture and Mobility
|Hunched back, limping, difficulty moving
|Appetite and Eating Habits
|Loss of appetite, eating less, reluctance to eat
|Vocalizations and Vocal Cues
|Whimpering, whining, yelping, heavy breathing
Dogs have ways of communicating their pain and discomfort, and as a dog owner, it's essential to be able to recognize these signs.
Since dogs cannot verbally express their feelings, they rely on their body language and behavior to convey any discomfort they may be experiencing. By understanding and observing their cues, you can better assess their well-being and take appropriate action.
1. Changes in Behavior: One sign that your dog may be in pain is a sudden change in their behavior. They may become more withdrawn, irritable, or show signs of aggression. Keep an eye out for any unusual behavior that is out of character for your dog.
2. Posture and Mobility: Dogs in pain often exhibit changes in their posture and mobility. They may hunch their back, walk with a limp, or have difficulty getting up or lying down. Monitor their movements and look for any signs of discomfort or stiffness.
3. Appetite and Eating Habits: Pain can affect a dog's appetite and eating habits. They may lose their appetite completely, eat less than usual, or show a reluctance to eat. Pay attention to any changes in their eating behavior and consult your veterinarian if you notice any significant changes.
4. Vocalizations and Vocal Cues: Dogs may vocalize to communicate their discomfort. They may whimper, whine, or yelp when touched or when engaging in certain activities. Additionally, they may exhibit other vocal cues such as heavy or rapid breathing. If your dog consistently displays these vocalizations, it's important to investigate the cause.
Tail-Related Issues in Specific Dog Breeds
|Tail injuries, infections
|Tail sensitivity, injuries
|Pyoderma, flea infestations
Some dog breeds are more susceptible to tail-related issues, and it's helpful to be aware of these breed-specific traits and potential challenges.
For example, breeds with short or curly tails, such as French Bulldogs and Bulldogs, are prone to tail injuries and infections. The tight curl or screw tail in these breeds can lead to skin irritation and inflammation, increasing the risk of tail-related problems.
Bulldogs are known for their sensitive tail area, and it's important to handle their tails with care to prevent discomfort or injury.
Another breed that commonly experiences tail-related issues is the Greyhound. Their thin and delicate tails are prone to fractures, especially when they are racing or playing vigorously.
Fractured tails can be painful for the dog and may require veterinary attention. Owners of Greyhounds should be cautious when exercising their dogs and ensure they are in a safe environment to prevent tail injuries.
German Shepherds with long, bushy tails are also susceptible to tail problems. The dense fur can hide skin conditions, such as pyoderma or flea infestations, making it important for owners to regularly check the tail area for any signs of irritation or discomfort.
Proper grooming and regular flea prevention can help maintain a healthy tail for these breeds.
It's important for dog owners to be familiar with their breed's tail characteristics and potential issues to ensure the well-being of their furry companions. Regularly inspecting the tail area, practicing proper grooming techniques, and seeking veterinary care when needed can help prevent and address tail-related problems effectively says Oodle Life.
Q: What is the significance of a dog's tail position?
A: A dog's tail position is an essential aspect of their body language. Different tail positions can indicate varying emotions and states of mind in dogs. For example, a tucked tail between the legs usually signifies fear or submission, while a wagging tail can indicate happiness or excitement.
Q: What is limber tail syndrome?
A: Limber tail syndrome, also known as limp tail or cold tail, is a condition where a dog's tail becomes limp and flaccid. It is often caused by overuse or strain of the tail muscles, such as excessive swimming or wagging. Rest, pain management, and veterinary guidance are typically recommended for recovery.
Q: Do all dogs tuck their tail between their legs when acting weird?
A: While tucking the tail between the legs is a common behavior associated with fear or anxiety, not all dogs do it. Some may exhibit different signs, such as excessive panting, pacing, or hiding, when they are feeling strange or uncomfortable.
Q: Can a fractured tail cause a dog to tuck her tail and act strangely?
A: Yes, a tail fracture can cause a dog to tuck her tail and exhibit unusual behavior. A fractured tail can be extremely painful and may require veterinary treatment, including X-rays and possibly splinting or surgery.
Q: How can I keep my dog's tail healthy?
A: To keep your dog's tail healthy, it's important to practice regular grooming, including checking for any signs of irritation or injury. Providing a safe and enriched environment, regular exercise, and a balanced diet can also contribute to overall tail health.
Q: Why do dogs sometimes put their tail between their legs?
A: Dogs may put their tail between their legs as a response to fear, anxiety, or submission. It is a natural instinct to protect their vulnerable areas and communicate a non-threatening demeanor. Understanding your dog's body language can help interpret the underlying emotions.


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Counselling and Career Guidance Cell
The Counselling & Career Guidance Cell, is an integral part of IIMS, is a student support service intended to help students adapt and make the best of their learning environment.
College is a time of transition, change and new experiences for students. Among college bound individuals, a constellation of stressors is frequently experienced. Stress may arise from challenging course loads, problems in managing ones' time and personal finances, tension related to examinations and challenges in creating and maintaining satisfying interpersonal relationships; potentially leading to increased levels of depression, anxiety, academic failure and emotional exhaustion.
However, successful negotiation of this transition has been linked to better psychological adjustment, fewer risk behaviours and academic success. Counselling provides students with such successful conciliation during this transition period. The Counselling Cell also helps the student to gain insight into his/her area of interest, aptitude, personality, anxiety etc.
Students can come for counselling on any matter that might be troubling them. Some of the common problems among the college students are as follows:
Career Related Deficiencies
The students also feel the sudden increased autonomy over personal issues during this transition period. At times this freedom from parental control leads to several personal problems including frequent absenteeism in college, excessive influence of friends, attraction and problems associated with opposite gender. The personal problems also generate from the followings:
Counselling service provides a confidential environment where the students can express themselves relating to problems that may be painful or uncomfortable. Counselling helps the student to explore the situation and find solution or answer for a problem. Through counselling an attempt is made to assist the student to organize himself/herself better, to attain a more satisfying and resourceful way of living. The Students' Counsellor who is the coordinator of the cell, may be contacted at _EMAIL_


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Set in Boston at the end of the First World War, New York Times bestselling author Dennis Lehane's long-awaited eighth novel unflinchingly captures the political and social unrest of a nation caught at the crossroads between past and future. The Given Day tells the story of two families—one black, one white—swept up in a maelstrom of revolutionaries and anarchists, immigrants and ward bosses, Brahmins and ordinary citizens, all engaged in a battle for survival and power.
Here, too, are some of the most influential figures of the era—Babe Ruth; Eugene O'Neill; leftist activist Jack Reed; NAACP founder W. E. B. DuBois; Mitchell Palmer, Woodrow Wilson's ruthless Red-chasing attorney general; cunning Massachusetts governor Calvin Coolidge; and an ambitious young Department of Justice lawyer named John Hoover.
Coursing through some of the pivotal events of the time—including the Spanish Influenza pandemic—and culminating in the Boston Police Strike of 1919, The Given Day explores the crippling violence and irrepressible exuberance of a country at war with, and in the thrall of, itself. As Danny, Luther, and those around them struggle to define themselves in increasingly turbulent times, they gradually find family in one another and, together, ride a rising storm of hardship, deprivation, and hope that will change all their lives. (Source: HarperCollins)
Now Playing: Dennis Lehane's Gone, Baby, Gone


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Dictionary definition for:
1. (n) an administrative unit of government; "the Central Intelligence Agency" "the Census Bureau" "Office of Management and Budget" "Tennessee Valley Authority"
2. (n) a business that serves other businesses
3. (n) the state of being in action or exerting power; "the agency of providence" "she has free agency"
4. (n) the state of serving as an official and authorized delegate or agent
5. (n) how a result is obtained or an end is achieved; "a means of control" "an example is the best agency of instruction" "the true way to success"
WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved.


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When calculating electrical circuits, including for modeling purposes, Kirchhoff's laws are widely applied, which make it possible to completely determine the mode of its operation.
Before moving on to the very laws of Kirchhoff, we give a definition of the branches and nodes of an electric circuit.
A branch of an electric circuit is such a section of it that consists only of series-connected sources of EMF and resistances, along which the same current flows. An electric circuit node is a place (point) of connection of three or more branches. When going around branches connected in nodes, you can get a closed circuit of the electric circuit. Each circuit is a closed path passing through several branches, with each node in the circuit under consideration occurs no more than once.
The first Kirchhoff law is applied to nodes and is formulated as follows: the algebraic sum of currents in a node is zero:
∑i = 0,
or in complex form
∑I = 0.
The second Kirchhoff law is applied to the circuits of an electric circuit and is formulated as follows: in any closed circuit, the algebraic sum of the voltages at the resistances included in this circuit is equal to the algebraic sum of the EMF:
∑Z ∙ I = ∑E.
The number of equations compiled for an electric circuit according to the first Kirchhoff law is Nn – 1, where Nn is the number of nodes. The number of equations compiled for an electric circuit according to the second Kirchhoff law is Nb – Nn + 1, where Nb is the number of branches. The number of equations to be compiled according to the second Kirchhoff law is easy to determine by the type of circuit: for this it is enough to calculate the number of "windows" of the circuit, but with one clarification: it should be remembered that the circuit with the current source is not considered.
Let us describe the methodology for compiling equations according to the laws of Kirchhoff. Consider it on the example of the electrical circuit shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. Consider the electrical circuit
To begin with, you need to specify arbitrary directions of currents in the branches and specify the directions of circuit paths (Fig. 2).
Fig. 2. Setting the direction of the currents and the direction of circuit bypass for the electrical circuit
The number of equations compiled according to the first Kirchhoff law is 5 – 1 = 4 in this case. The number of equations compiled according to the second Kirchhoff law is 3, although the "windows" in this case are 4. But we recall that the "window" containing the source current J1 is not considered.
Compose the equations according to the first law of Kirchhoff. For this, we will take the currents "flowing" into the node with the "+" sign, and the "leaky" ones with the "-" sign. Hence, for the node "1 n." The equation according to the first law of Kirchhoff will look like this:
I1 – I2 – I3 = 0;
for the node "2 n." the equation according to the first law of Kirchhoff will look as follows:
–I1 – I4 + I6 = 0;
for the node "3 n.":
I2 + I4 + I5 – I7 = 0;
for the node "4 n."
I3 – I5 – J1 = 0
The equation for the node "5 n." you can not make.
We compose the equations according to the second law of Kirchhoff. In these equations, positive values for currents and EMF are selected if they coincide with the direction of the circuit. For the "1 c." circuit, the equation according to the second Kirchhoff law will look like this:
ZC1 ∙ I1 + R2 ∙ I2 – ZL1 ∙ I4 = E1;
for the "2 c." circuit, the equation according to the second Kirchhoff law will look as follows:
-R2 ∙ I2 + R4 ∙ I3 + ZC2 ∙ I5 = E2;
for the "3 c." circuit:
ZL1 ∙ I4 + (ZL2 + R1) ∙ I6 + R3 ∙ I7 = E3,
where ZC = – 1/(ωC), ZL = ωL.
Thus, in order to find the required currents, it is necessary to solve the following system of equations:
In this case, it is a system of 7 equations with 7 unknowns. To solve this system of equations, it is convenient to use Matlab. To do this, imagine this system of equations in matrix form:
To solve this system of equations, we use the following script:
>> syms R1 R2 R3 R4 Zc1 Zc2 Zl1 Zl2 J1 E1 E2 E3; >> A = [1 -1 -1 0 0 0 0; -1 0 0 -1 0 1 0; 0 1 0 1 1 0 -1; 0 0 1 0 -1 0 0; Zc1 R2 0 -Zl1 0 0 0; 0 -R2 R4 0 Zc2 0 0; 0 0 0 Zl1 0 (R1+Zl2) R3]; >> b = [0; 0; 0; J1; E1; E2; E3]; >> I = A\b
As a result, we obtain a column vector I of currents from seven elements, consisting of the sought currents, written in general form. We see that the Matlab software package can significantly simplify the solution of complex systems of equations compiled according to the laws of Kirchhoff.
- Zeveke G.V., Ionkin P.A., Netushil A.V., Strakhov S.V. Fundamentals of circuit theory. Textbook for high schools. Ed. 4th, revised. M., "Energy", 1975.


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Rockset is a real-time indexing database in the cloud for serving low-latency, high-concurrency queries at scale. It is particularly well-suited for serving the real-time analytical queries that power apps, such as personalization or recommendation engines, location search, and so on.
In this blog post, we show how Rockset's Smart Schema feature lets developers use real-time SQL queries to extract meaningful insights from raw semi-structured data ingested without a predefined schema.
Challenges with Semi-Structured Data
Interrogating underlying data to frame questions about it is rather challenging if you don't understand the shape of the data.
This is particularly true given the nature of real-world data. Developers often find themselves working with data sets that are messy, with no fixed schema. For example, they will often include heavily nested JSON data with several deeply nested arrays and objects, with mixed data types and sparse fields.
In addition, you may need to continuously sync new data or pull data from different data sources over time. As a result, the shape of the underlying data will change continuously.
Problems with Current Data Systems
Most of the current data systems fail to address these pain points without introducing additional preprocessing steps that are, in themselves, painful.
In SQL-based systems, the data is strongly and statically typed. All the values in the same column have to be of the same type, and, in general, the data must follow a fixed schema that cannot be easily modified. Ingesting semi-structured data into SQL data systems is not an easy task, especially early on when the data model is still evolving. As a result, organizations usually have to build hard-to-maintain ETL pipelines to feed semi-structured data into their SQL systems.
In NoSQL systems, data is strongly typed but dynamically so. The same field can hold values of different types across documents. NoSQL systems are designed to simplify data writes, requiring no schema and little or no upfront data transformation.
However, while schemaless or schema-unaware NoSQL systems make it simple to ingest semi-structured data into the system without ETL pipelines, without a known data model, reading data out in a meaningful way is more complicated. They are also not as powerful at analytical queries as SQL systems due to their inability to perform complex joins and aggregations. Thus, with its rigid data typing and schemas, SQL continues to be a powerful and popular query language for real-time analytical queries.
Rockset Provides Data and Query Flexibility
At Rockset, we have built an SQL database that is dynamically typed but schema-aware. In this way, our customers benefit from the best of both data-system approaches: the flexibility of NoSQL without sacrificing any of the analytical powers of SQL.
To allow complex data to be written as easily as possible, Rockset supports schemaless ingestion of your raw semi-structured data. The schema does not need to be known or defined ahead of time, and no clunky ETL pipelines are required. Rockset then allows you to query this raw data using SQL—including complex analytical queries—by supporting fast joins and aggregations out of the box.
In other words, Rockset does not require a schema but is nevertheless schema-aware, coupling the flexibility of schemaless ingest at write time with the ability to infer the schema at read time.
Smart Schema: Concept and Architecture
Rockset automatically and continuously infers the schema based on the exact fields and types present in the ingested data. Note that Rockset generates the schema based on the entire data set, not just a sample of the data. Smart Schema evolves to fit new fields and types as new semi-structured data is schemalessly ingested.
Figure 1: Example of Smart Schema generated for a collection
Figure 1 shows on the left a collection of documents that have the fields "name," "age," and "zip." In this collection, there are both missing fields and fields with mixed types. On the right, you see the Smart Schema that would be built and maintained for this collection. For each field, you have all of its corresponding types, the occurrences of each field type, and the total number of documents in the collection. This helps us understand exactly what fields are present in the data set, what types they are, and how dense or sparse they may be.
For example, "zip" has a mixed data type: It is a string in three out of the six documents in the collection, a float in one, and an integer in one. It is also missing in one of the documents. Similarly "age" occurs four times as an integer and is missing in two of the documents.
So even without upfront knowledge of this collection's schema, Smart Schema provides a good summary of how the data is shaped and what you can expect from the collection.
Smart Schema in Action: Movie Recommendations
This demo shows how the data from two ingested JSON data sets (
commons.movies) can be navigated and used to construct SQL queries for a movie recommendation engine.
Understanding Shape of the Data
The first step is to use the Smart Schemas to understand the shape of the data sets, which were ingested as semi-structured data, without specifying a schema.
Figure 2: Smart Schema for an ingested collection
The automatically generated schema will appear on the left. Figure 2 gives a partial view of the list of fields that belong to the
movie_ratings collection, and when you hover over a field, you see the distribution of its underlying field types and the field's overall occurrence within the collection.
movieId field, for example, is always a string, and it occurs in 100% of the documents in the collection. The
rating field, on the other hand, is of mixed types: 78% int and 22% float:
If you run the following query:
you will see the schema for the
movie_ratings collection as a table in the Results panel as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Smart Schema table for
Similarly, in the
movies collection, we have a list of fields, such as
genres, which is an array type with nested objects, each of which has
id, which is of type int, and
name, which is of type string.
So, you can think of the
movies and the
movie_ratings collections as dimension and fact collections, and now that we understand how to explore the shape of the data at a high level, let's start constructing SQL queries.
Constructing SQL Queries
Let's start by getting a list from the
movie_ratings collection of the
movieId of the top 5 movies in descending order of their average
rating. To do this, we use the SQL Editor in the Rockset Console to write a simple aggregation query as follows:
If you want to make sure that the average rating is based on a reasonable number of reviewers, you can add an additional predicate using the
HAVING clause, where the
rating count must be equal to or greater than 5.
When you run the query, here is the result:
If you want to list the top five movies by name instead of ID, you simply join the
movie_ratings collection with the
movies collection and extract the field
title from the output of that join. To do this, we copy the previous query and change it with an
INNER JOIN on the collection
mv)and update the qualifying fields (circled below) accordingly:
Now when you run the query, you get a list of movie titles instead of IDs:
And finally, let's say you also want to list the names of the genres that these movies belong to. The field
genres is an array of nested objects. In order to extract the field
genres.name, you have to flatten the array, i.e., unnest it. Copying (and formatting) the same query, you use
UNNEST to flatten the
genres array from the
movies collection (
mv.genres), giving it an alias
g and then extracting the genre name (
g.name) in the
GROUP BY clause:
And if you want to list the top five movies in a particular genre, you do it simply by adding a
WHERE clause under
g.name (in the example shown below,
Now you will get the top five movies in the genre Thriller, as shown below:
And That's Not All...
If you want your application to give movie recommendations based on user-specified genres, ratings, and other such fields, this can be achieved by Rockset's Query Lambdas feature, which lets you parameterize queries that can then be invoked by your application from a dedicated REST endpoint.
Check out our video where we talk about all Smart Schema, and let us know what you think.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently asked questions
What is Nylgut?
Nylgut is a synthetic material invented, copyrighted, and patented, by Aquila Corde Armoniche in 1997: it has the same mean specific weight as gut and a low degree of humidity absorption – ony 10% that of nylon. It possesses a sonic profile almost identical to natural gut, unlike Nylon, whose sonic profile is quite different than natural gut. In theory one should use a gut string and a Nylgut string of the same diameter. But since nylgut has a slightly higher stretch factor than gut we advise using the next gauge higher. When tuning it for the first time, carefully and repeatedly pull the string with your fingers while tightening it. It is a good idea to help the chanterelle over the nut, to avoid extra friction on the small diameter string. Nylgut strings cannot be used on bowed instruments.
What is Breaking Point Index?
The Breaking Point Index is the highest frequency a gut string of any diameter can reach at a string length of 1mt. For gut a mean value of 260 is a good reference parameter. For Nylgut, one can generally go as far as 300 Hz/meter. In other words, a 1 meter long gut string will statistically always break at 260 Hz, i.e. about 'C'. Hence we deduce that the product of the pitch of the treble and by the string length ('Working Index') must always be below this value, and it is strongly advised to keep the number below 240. Instruments of the gut string era were always designed to function within these boundaries, and is why instrument families are scaled the way they are, and why re-entrant tunings were used on some instruments. What is the use of this in practice? A safe index for gut stringing should not exceed the 240 value. For Nylgut, ~260. Example I: can I tune a gut strung lute top string to A, with a string length of 62cm in the pitch center of A 440?.62 mt (62cm) x 440 (Hz) = 272.8
The answer is: no, I can't. What should the appropriate string length be? A safe index should not exceed the 240 value. 240/440 Hz =.545 mt, so in practice the appropriate string length (at A-440) should not exceed 54 cm. Example II: can I tune a gut strung lute in G, with a string length of 62cm in the pitch center of A 440 of.62 mt? (62cm) x 392 (Hz) = 243 Hz.mtThe answer is: yes, I can, most definitely if using NNG. The rule of thumb is, assuming the contact points are free from any sharp edges, which will quickly sever a gut or Nylgut string: Keep the working index below 240 for gut, 260 for NNG, is the recommended upper limit. Gut at working index between 250 and 260: not safe. The treble could break in a few hours/days, especially in high humidity conditions. Gut at working index over 260. Extreme danger; the treble will break immediately or within minutes. Because of the lack of the instrument size standardization, it is important to verify whether medieval lutes and harps adhere to these values. Historical instruments or copies that, when calculated, divulge numbers that are above 260, were not intended by the maker to be tuned to the pitch center being calculated.
Can Nylgut be bowed?
Sorry, no. Nylgut is only suitable for plucked instruments.
For what pitch center are your gauging recommendations?
All recommendations for all instruments are at 415hz =a'.
How do I convert Pirastro/Dlugolecki numbers to Aquila?
Aquila numbers are metric, just lacking a decimal point. Therefore a 60HU is a 0.60mm string. To convert Pirastro/Dlugolecki numbers to metric, multiply by 5. For example, a 12 in their system is a 60 in metric. (5x12)
Why is your medium gauge recommendation different than some other brands?
Every maker has their own idea about what constitutes light, medium, or heavy gauge. The reality is that these descriptions are only a starting place to determine what your instrument actually wants in terms of tension, no matter which maker you purchase strings from. If you are happy with the gauging from a different maker and want to try Aquila gut strings, order the same gauges in Aquila strings because they will produce the same tension as what you are currently using. This applies only to plain strings. For wound strings, one needs to pair the Aquila light, medium, or heavy with the corresponding gauge recommendation for Aquila plain strings.
How do I convert Nylon numbers to Nylgut?
Nylon has less density than Nylgut, so you cannot order the same gauges in Nylgut as you are using with Nylon. If your Nylon numbers are in inches, multiply by 2.54 to get the metric equivalent. Here is a page that has the conversions: If you have questions, don't hesitate to contact us.
Should I pre-tension my gut strings?
In the case of violin e'', definitely. This was common practice in the 18th century. The violin e'' is the most highly tensioned string on any instrument and to achieve maximum life, should never be brought immediately to pitch right out of the package. There are several ways to do this; a spare violin, your usual violin, or a small tensioning rack (which we will be selling soon) is all that's needed. Bring the string slowly up to around 3 semitones low of intended pitch and leave it overnight. Then you will have a string ready to use when you need it. A good practice for installing any new gut string, except the largest, is in the evening to bring the string slowly up to 3 semitones low, leave it overnight, and finish tensioning in the morning.
Please note that no matter what the Wix postage calculator shows for the shipping charges, which for international customers is usually far too high, we refund any excess shipping charge when we generate the shipping label.
© 2021 AquilaUSA inc. Created by Toma Iliev Innovations LLC


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Healthcare Capital Corp. (HCCC)
Financial Analysis and Rating
Comparison Analysis Based on SEC Data
Healthcare Capital Corp.
||677 - Blank Checks
|Assets as of 12/31/2021
|Fiscal Year End
Financial Position and Performance
Not enough data for the analysis
More on Healthcare Capital Corp.
See all industry leaders
Financial Data Source and Analysis Principles
The above is a comparative analysis of the company's financial position and performance. The comparison is based
on official financial statements filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) through the Electronic Data Gathering,
Analysis, and Retrieval system (EDGAR) (about 10,000 largest publicly traded companies).
The comparison is made using the eleven key financial ratios (see the table above).
The company's financial ratios are compared with the median of the ratios for all companies and for companies
in the same industry, as well as to the quartiles of these ratios.
Each ratio value is assigned a score between -2 and +2 depending on its position relative to the quartiles
(-2 – below the first quartile; -1 – between the first and the second quartile;
+1 – between the second and the third quartile; +2 – above the third quartile;
0 – the ratio value deviates from the median by no more than 5% of the difference between the median and
the quartile closest to the ratio value).
To draw a conclusion from the analysis, the individual scores are weighted equally to produce an overall score ranging from -2 and +2.
"Change during the year" calculation
|much better (+1 - +2incl)
|better (from 0.11 to +1incl)
|about the same (from -0.11incl to +0.11incl)
|worse (from -1incl to -0.11)
|much worse (from -2incl to -1)
Change during the year is calculated by comparing the resulting score of financial position within the industry with the last year's (quarter's) score.
The result of the comparison may be as follows:
|significantly improved (positive change of more than 1 point)
|improved (positive change of less than 1 point)
|unchanged (little or no change in score, no more than 0.11 points)
|deteriorated (the score has decreased by less than 1 point during the year)
|deteriorated significantly (the score has decreased by more than 1 point during the year)
Please note that this analysis does not indicate that the company's financial position is good or bad, but rather describes it in comparison to other U.S. businesses.
For a detailed financial analysis, please use
"ReadyRatios Financial Analysis"
- load the data into the program>>


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Faithfully Re-presenting the Outside World
Originally published on NewMusicBox, June 12, 2013
It was then I first realised the difference between a painting and out of doors. I realised that a painting is always a flat surface and out of doors never is, and that out of doors is made up of air and a painting has no air, the air is replaced by a flat surface, and anything in a painting that imitates air is illustration and not art. -Gertrude Stein, Paris France
One seemingly unresolved issue in the realm of field recordings is the tension between authenticity and abstraction. One can view an artist's work with "the field" as existing somewhere between these two different, though not mutually exclusive, concerns. On the one hand, some artists strongly adhere to maintaining the perceptible accuracy/authenticity of their location, whereas others simply take elements from it as necessary, unconcerned with the legibility of the source.
Let's imagine a composer who is enamored with the sound of the Swiss Alps and decides to make a field recording there. This composer wants to portray the most accurate, pristine document of the aural landscape as possible. Such a composer is motivated by authenticity, likely hoping to make the listener feel like he/she is actually there, or perhaps hoping to entice the listener to travel to the location. Generally this privilege of locational authenticity is assumed to be the driving force behind field recording work.
On the other end of the spectrum, we can imagine a composer who is interested in using something from the aural landscape, perhaps the canned music played by an ice cream truck as it travels through his/her neighborhood, simply as one amongst many other sounds. In this mode of working, one does not particularly care whether or not the recording's location (or source) is intelligible. This locationally independent, or more abstract, mode of working is assumed to belong to the realm of electronic music, and furthermore assumed to be different than field recording.
Brandon LaBelle outlines the concern regarding authenticity in field recording work, specifically regarding the R. Murray Schafer founded World Soundscape Project, as follows:
The intention behind the WSP was based on capturing environmental sound in all its breadth and diversity across the globe, preserving important "soundmarks" and gaining insight into people's understanding and awareness of acoustic environments…To cast a net of microphones across the globe sets our ears on finding the truth of sound, so as to arrive finally at the original soundscape.
Every time I read this quote, though, I have this nagging series of questions in the back of my head: how can one realistically expect to arrive at "the original soundscape"? Isn't the motivation to record some soundscape fundamentally based on one's personal interpretation and, therefore, an abstraction to begin with? Could one ever say that my experience of the sound of the Swiss Alps is the same as anyone else's?
Herein lies the issue with this supposed opposition between authenticity and abstraction: as individual listeners, we each have a different experience of the outside world. There is no perceivable "ursound" (to use LaBelle's terminology), no fundamental source of the aural landscape in the same sense that there is no perceivably definitive color "blue." Similarly, the tools (or technology) that one uses to capture parts (or all) of the soundscape have the ability to shape (or abstract) the document of the field further.
Michael Pisaro's writing on standing issues in field recording work hints at some of the inherent problems in attempting to document the totality of the acoustic environment:
A recording is a reduction. The immersive sensual experience of an environment will in the end be represented purely in terms of sound. It is possible that a sound recording device will in some cases hear more than we do, but it will obviously never capture everything that is sounding. It will be limited in time and in the perceptible borders of the soundscape.
Recording abstracts the environment. Microphones are designed to accept certain frequencies, reject others, as well as accept/reject sounds from certain angles of incidence. Moreover, the impulse to make a recording in a particular place, at a particular time, using a particular set of equipment, abstracts/limits the amount of the field to be recorded.
I am uninterested in starting a kind of "punk or not punk" debate here because, frankly, it is a waste of time ("[name of recording] is a REAL field recording because of [insert rationale regarding perceptible authenticity here]"). What is interesting, however,, is that there are many works that simultaneously present a clear picture of the location and employ extreme abstractions via compositional or conceptual moves. Michael Pisaro's Transparent City and Toshiya Tsunoda's O Kokos Tis Anixis (Grains of Spring) seem to typify this friction, and a more detailed analysis of these works will unearth what is unique about attempting to balance both extremes.
Michael Pisaro's Transparent City
The complete Transparent City project spans four CDs (two double-discs) on the German-based experimental music record label Edition Wandelweiser. Volumes 1 and 2 feature recordings made throughout Los Angeles between December 2004 and August 2006, while Volumes 3 and 4 span October 2006 to February 2007. The liner notes explain:
Each recording is an unedited ten-minute take from a single location. Sine tones and mixing completed in Michael Pisaro's home studio in Santa Clarita, California. Each ten-minute piece is followed by two minutes of silence.
In short, all four volumes of Transparent City feature three elements: recordings of urban environments in Los Angeles, sine tones, and silence.
The environment presented across these four discs is relatively similar sounding, filled with general city ambience and car sounds. However, Transparent City also features recurring instances of a compositional move that is simply magical: a particular sound will naturally appear/disappear out of the stereo field to reveal a soft, tuned sine tone as accompaniment. In one track, a high tone subtly fades in only to be joined by the sound of a passing car. The car and tone blend seamlessly for just a moment before the car disappears from the landscape. Sometimes the sine tone remains, sometimes it disappears with its environmental collaborator. At another point, a tone becomes a dyad when another one appears, offering a kind of chordal drone under chirping birds and air. When chords are present, the listener realizes that all coincidences of sounds in the environment can be heard as chords, that melodies are unearthed with a subtle shift of perspective across numerous sources.
Pisaro's unedited field recordings authentically present the aural location but become something entirely other when combined with tuned sine tones. One could think of Transparent City as a kind of training regimen for reinterpreting the soundscape of Los Angeles. In a way, it is a digital proof of concept of Cage's 4'33": Pisaro adds simple, musical accompaniment to urban Los Angeles to assert the musical appreciation of the aural landscape. One is also reminded of Joseph Fourier's theory that any complex sound can be divided into a collection of sine tones. Transparent City proves the utility of this theory, giving the listener countless examples of sine tones disappearing within environmental sounds.
The other significant move in Transparent City is the recurring two minutes of silence following each track. Transparent City retrains the listener's interpretation of an aural landscape, and then confronts the listener with his current landscape, enticing him to imagine Pisaro's sine tones flowing in and out of his surroundings. This recurring silence becomes more fascinating as one progresses through all four discs. The final appearance of one's own landscape at the end of the collection, through ears that have been reoriented to atomize their surroundings, is shocking.
This idea that the aural landscape is endlessly divisible, and endlessly musical, is not a new one, but the sheer viscerality of its presentation, and augmentation, in Pisaro's hands is truly unique. This extreme re-framing of the field would not happen without the abstracted sine tones or the raw, unedited recordings of Los Angeles working in tandem. Taken together, then, Transparent City is a work which depends on both aural authenticity as well as conceptual or compositional abstraction.
Toshiya Tsunoda's O Kokos Tis Anixis (Grains of Spring)
Toshiya Tsunoda's work represents a truly unique mixture of extreme procedural discipline and vivid recordings of the outside world. His work runs the gamut from recordings made via a microphone inside a bent pipe to the sound of a subject's biological functions (recorded via stethoscopes) while he sits outside listening to his surroundings. O Kokos Tis Anixis (Grains of Spring), recently released on his own imprint, Edition.T, is another fascinating example of pushing a procedural operation to an extreme on field recorded source material.
Recorded on the Miura Peninsula (in Kanagawa, Japan) during the springtime, Tsunoda's work here spreads across two CDs with a simple, recurring compositional device: randomly he loops a tiny fragment of sound for various durations. The first time this happens, it sounds almost like a CD skipping: lush jungle sounds are suddenly interrupted by a few seconds of a harsh, repeating, rhythmic glitch. Though a seemingly simple gesture, Tsunoda plays freely with the length of the loop, as well as how long it repeats and the time between instances of looping.
Throughout both discs, loops start and end without warning, and the lack of consistency across each instance of looping is jarring: a bird singing is suddenly interrupted by some tiny fragment of the background clicking rhythmically for several seconds. Sometimes the loop is long enough


text:
But over the years this rock has sustained some damage from tourists covering it with chalk to photograph the glyphs to a large crack developing near its center.
Jackson County officials have decided to develop a conservation plan to help preserve this piece of Cherokee history. In early October county commissioners hired Stratum Unlimited in Georgia to develop a plan of action to prevent further damage.
Archeologists will discuss their plan later this month with commissioners, said Jackson County Manager Ken Westmoreland.
Preserving Judaculla Rock is not only important to the Eastern Band, but also to area residents. Anne Rogers, professor of anthropology at Western Carolina University, has used the rock as a teaching tool for her students.
"It's part of Cherokee's history, and we need to be aware that we live in the Cherokee's homeland," Rogers said. "It's just been exposed to all the elements for many years."
The petroglyphs carved onto Judaculla Rock are images that are tough to decipher. Squiggly lines and circles could represent a serpent or bird but only a few know the true meaning.
"For us they are tough to decipher but for many Cherokee they still have meaning," said Scott Ashcraft, U.S. Forest Service archeologist in Asheville and director of North Carolina Rock Art Survey. Ashecroft has been studying Judaculla Rock since the early 1990s and could be considered a local expert
Ashcraft has seen the negative environmental impacts first hand. Over the last 15 to 20 years sediment has been burying the rock, he said. About half of the rock is hidden from view now, beneath the soil that has settled around it.
The rock was probably once used as a ceremonial place for shamans, said Ashcraft. This idea emerged after Ashcraft photographed the rock at night by the light of a fire that made the glyphs come to life.
"It was a pretty powerful situation for anybody, even during prehistoric time," he recalled of his experience that night.
Judaculla was a giant the roamed around the mountains protecting the plants and animals. The markings on the rock were left by Judaculla before he left this world, said Tom Belt, a Cherokee language professor at Western Carolina University. Some believe that the symbols are ways for us to communicate with plants and animals, he explained.
Belt also says that the site was used by shamans.
"For Cherokees these were scared things (the rock) and were used for spiritual purposes," he said.
Ashcraft and Belt are excited about the county's conservation plans.
"We need to identify what is wrong and why it's occurring and hopefully phase two of the project will be remedying it," Ashcraft said.
"This site is held in high regard with our people," Belt said. "It's extremely important part of the tribe, the mountains and what the creator gave us. It was part of our concept of place. The marks are very complex and hold an incredible amount of information about the universe as we know it."


Electronic siren
2.5 5 2 Product
It's easy to make an electronic siren. We'll need a single integrated circuit, a transistor, a speaker and a few other electronic components.
Our electronic siren consists of three circuit blocks. Two of the blocks are oscillators and the third block is a current amplifier implemented with a special transistor. An oscillator is based on gates IC1C and IC1D and a second one is based on IC1A and IC1B. The amplifier stage is implemented with the TIP110 containing a Darlington pair of transistors in a single case.
Electronic siren circuit
The circuit of the electronic siren
Both oscillators are astable multivibrators based on inverting gates. The 7400 IC contains 4 NAND gates. By short-circuiting the inputs in each gate, we actually make 4 NOT (inverting) gates.
The fundamental sound of the siren is produced by the oscillator which is based on the IC1C and IC1D gates. The values of C4, C5 and resistors R3, R7 and the potentiometer R4 determine the base operating frequency. This frequency can range from about 1200 to 3000Hz and can be adjusted by the R4 potentiometer.
The second oscillator, based on gates IC1A and IC1B, operates at a frequency of about 0.3Hz and is used to modulate the first oscillator. The modulation type is frequency modulation and the actual frequency deviation range is determined by the R4. Due to the frequency modulation, the sound produced at the output of the basic oscillator is of a varying frequency and thus the sound of a siren is being emulated.
The R6, C3 are used to smooth the relative sharp output of the low-frequency oscillator, in order to a produce a slow-varying modulation signal to simulate the familiar varying sound pitch of a typical siren. The sound is amplified by the TIP110 and drives the speaker. The Darlington pair inside the TIP110 acts as a high gain current amplifier. Thus, the loudspeaker is driven by a strong current in order to produce an adequate sound level.
Because the TIP110 operates at a relatively high current, it is essential to use a large heat sink in it. The amplifier operates at a higher voltage than the oscillators. The oscillators operate at approximately 5V, resulting from the main power supply voltage using a zener diode which acts as a stabilizer. Zener stabilization is practically feasible because the 7400 operates with very low power consumption.
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text:
According to the ancient Scots Chronicles the origin of the Scottish people, at least in part, derives from the Pharaonic lineage of an Egyptian princess named Scota, who may have lived around 1400 B. C. The old Irish Annals support this same tradition saying that Scota came to Ireland, via Spain, from Egypt. Even today the placename Glen Scota traditionally records her presence in Ireland. Subsequently descendants of Scota apparently migrated to Scotland around 300 B. C. from whence came the Scots royal lineage.
The feasibility of Egyptian travel to the British Isles in ancient times is borne out by modern archaeological findings. This occurred in 1937 when two Egyptian sailing ships, dated to around 1400 B. C., were discovered in a Yorkshire estuary, on the north east coast of England. Moreover, Egyptian faience beads dating from the same period have been found in Scotland and other parts of the British Isles.
Furthermore, the Rev. John Stirton in his essay The Celtic Church and the Influence of the East (1923) observes: "The earliest type of monumental cross in Scotland is an Egyptian or Coptic wheel cross. It appears on several stones at Kirkmadrine in Wigtonshire, along with the Alpha and Omega.. The Crux Ansata, the emblem of life in Egyptian hieroglyphics, is found on a stone at Nigg in Ross-shire, and on another at Ardboe, in Ireland. There are many symbols on the Celtic stones of Scotland which are still unexplained.. The Crescent, the Serpent, and the Elephant must all be Eastern in origin, and these are commonly met with on the Celtic symbol-bearing stones."
A possible ancient Egypto-Celtic connection is also indicated in Egyptian Belief and Modern Thought (1878) by James Bonwick, F. R. G. S., who states: "It is singular to find a white race spoken of in the ancient monuments. Dr. Brugsch, the learned German, notices the word Tam-hou or white men. As it occurs on tablets dating 2,500 years before Christ, it is puzzling to indicate the people. Brugsch traces them to Libya. Champollion recognized in the Tamh'ou a type of European ancestry. M. Deveria remarks upon hieroglyphics recording the fact of Horus, the god, leading and guiding a white race.
As there are still many Celtic monuments in the north of Africa, over many hundreds of miles, he contends for the existence of an original Celtic people in Egypt, or, in modern language, that the Welsh and Irish were once in Egypt."
The old Scots Chronicles also record that during the 2nd century B. C. certain "Egyptian philosophers" (probably from the Egyptian mystery temples) came to Scotland to advise the Scots King of the period. They were able to divine for him where certain metal ores were located in the land by studying the movement of the stars. It seems likely that these Egyptian philosophers would have associated with the Druid magi, some of whom were in attendance as advisors to the ancient Scottish Royal families.
Moreover, these ancient Chronicles further relate that Egyptian philosopher priests were apparently teaching the Christic doctrine of a universal deity in ancient Caledonia (c. 180 B. C.), i. e. almost two centuries before the legendary Apostolic mission in the British Isles.
During the early centuries A. D. the Celtic monks in the British Isles, much of whose tenets were rooted in a pre-Christian Druid tradition, saw Egypt as the true holy land rather than Palestine due to the ascetic Desert Father tradition established there which they sought to follow and emulate. Hence we find in Scotland, and Ireland, a number of dysarts (desert) placenames which record monastic settlements and retreats founded on the Egyptian anchorite model.
So ancient historical links between Scotland and Egypt seem fairly likely and provide an interesting sidelight to our knowledge of the ancient past. [SOURCE: Sacred Connections UK]


text:
Pub. date: 2009 | Online Pub. Date: January 26, 2009 | DOI: 10.4135/9781412964623 | Print ISBN: 9781412936361 | Online ISBN: 9781412964623| Publisher:SAGE Publications, Inc.About this encyclopedia
Molefi Kete Asante
Ananse is the name given to an Akan character who has become famous throughout Africa because of his insight, intelligence, and wisdom. One finds the names Ananse, Aunt Nancy, Anancy, Hapanzi, and Nanzi used for Ananse as well. He is one of the most important figures in the pantheon of cultural icons among West Africans. In actuality, Ananse is the functional aspect of the almighty creator Nyame and therefore may be seen to carry out the will of Nyame on Earth. He is able to perform many duties that are often attributed to Nyame. Thus, Ananse can cause rain to come, flowers to blossom, and maize to grow; he can prevent disasters from occurring to the villagers. Along with his wife, Aso, Ananse can change form and may be depicted as a human, although his normal form is a spider. According to the Asante people, who are part of the...


Pathology dictionary
Negative for malignancy
What does negative for malignancy mean?
Negative for malignancy means that no cancer cells were seen when the tissue sample was examined under the microscope. Pathologists use the word malignant to describe cancers.
This result is typically used when only a small sample of tissue is sent for examination under the microscope. This kind of sample could be a biopsy, fine needle aspiration, or Pap smear.
Your pathologist can only provide a diagnosis based on the tissue sample sent for examination. For that reason, negative for malignancy only means that no cancer cells were seen in the small sample examined. If your doctor is still concerned that a cancer may be present, they may recommend performing a second procedure to provide the pathologist with more tissue to examine under the microscope.
The opposite of negative for malignancy is positive for malignancy.
A+ A A-


text:
Scanning logical drives is a required step for recovering files and folders. During the scan all deleted (and existing) file and folders are detected. The results of a logical drive scan are displayed in a separate tabbed views: Logical Drive Scan Result View. To initiate a scan of a logical drive:
1. Select volume (logical drive)
In the Recovery Explorer view select a volume (logical drive).
2. Open the Scan volumes dialog box:
From the Recovery Explorer toolbar, click Scan.
Right-click the selected logical drive and click Scan from the context menu.
Multiple drive selection
Additional drives can be selected to scan on the Logical Drives list to be scanned simultaneously. At least one logical drive (volume) must be selected.
Ignore Read and Write errors during the scan process.
Save scan results
If this option is on, a path must be specified where scan results with a unique name will be saved for each scanned drive. Provide valid path if you have this option selected.
Use Advanced Scan Algorithm
Select this option to apply advanced scan algorithm. However, event if scan results may contain more entries then with scan without this option overall scan process may take much more time.
Detect files by their signatures
Select this option to specify exact file types to be detected during the scan. With this option, device scan reads each disk sector trying to reconstruct any possible data related to unique file format.
Apply the same settings to all selected drives
All scan options above, can be selected for each drive individually or, when this check box is selected, to be the same for all selected logical drives.
3. Click Scan to initiate scan of selected logical drives (volumes) scan.
4. Scan selected volumes.
During the scan:
To display or hide scanning events and progress details toggle More\Less Info button at any time.
To terminate the scan process, click Stop at any time. Results may be not accurate or complete. After the scan completes you will see scan results in the Logical Drive Scan Result View.


text:
Table of Contents
Besides searching for places, Marble can display possible routes between two or more of them. Do you want to plan a bicycle tour in the nearby wood? Need driving instructions to get to an address in a foreign city? Click on the Routing tab on the bottom of Marble's toolbox to start planning your trip.
In the Routing tab you'll see two green buttons A and B. Enter the start address in the input field next to the A button, the route start input field. Press Enter or click on the Search button to find matching placemarks. A small progress animation will shorten your waiting time while the search is running. Using the search term "Weavers Lane, London", the result will look similar to the screenshot below:
Matching placemarks line up in the list below the input fields. They're also shown in the map. The first result is automatically selected as the route start. In the map, this position is indicated using the same A icon as the button next to the route start input field. If the first result is not your desired route start, click on any other result to make that the new start position. You can either click on it in the result list or on its icon in the map to achieve that. The currently chosen route start is always indicated using the A icon.
With the route start at hand, let's move on to enter the destination of our trip. The procedure is the same: Enter the destination address in the input field next to the B button, press Enter and select the desired item among the result list.
Did you notice that the Search button is now gone and replaced by a Get Directions button? Marble is signalizing that all information needed to calculate a route has been entered correctly. Click on the Get Directions button to retrieve a suitable route now. If your destination search term is "Sun Walk, London", the result will resemble this screenshot:
If the start (or destination) position is already visible on the screen, you may find it more convenient to select it directly in the map. To do that, click on the A (or B) button next to the input field. Select From Map in the upcoming menu. Once clicked, the map input mode is activated: The next click on a position in the map will become the start (or end) of your trip. The mouse cursor turns into a cross to ease an accurate selection. The selected position will be included in the route and marked in the map. To abort the selection, either click on the button again or press Esc.
An alternative selection of the route start and destination is provided via the context menu of the map: Click with the Directions from here or Directions to here, respectively.mouse button on the desired location and select


What should companies do to improve their investment practices, reduce risk and bring about more equitable investment projects?
What can government officials do to facilitate better investment practices in their districts?
How can communities strengthen their existing structures and processes to prepare themselves to understand and more effectively engage with companies about a prospective investment?
What role can civil society play to improve investment practices and ensure that communities are more equitable business partners and beneficiaries?
The Tanzania RIPL Guidebooks provide steps, tools and resources to help answer these questions. These guidebooks are intended for use prior to and during the land investment process to support investments that reflect international best practices and recognize and protect land rights. Each guidebook includes an overview of international best practices for responsible land investment, background information outlining Tanzania's historical and political context and step-by-step guidance organized by investment phase.
Who is this guide for?
What's Here?


text:
Usually, when asked whether the purple color exists rainbows, an answer similar to this is given:
The purple color is perceived by human eyes via the activation of both red-sensitive and blue-sensitive cone cells. It is known that purple isn't a physically monochromatic light (a light composed of a single wavelength).
However, on diffraction gratings, the spectrum repeats itself in such a way that part of a lower-order diffraction overlaps with that of a higher order. For example, it is conceivable that the red band of the second order diffraction overlaps with the blue-violet band of the first order diffraction, producing the purple color perception.
This would also occur in thin-film light interference, such as anti-reflective coatings of eye glasses, etc.
Could the same occur in rainbows, which is dispersion in water driplets, where red and blue-violet somehow "overlap"?
(As a side issue in answering this question, it is hard for a computer user to perceive true "monochromatic violet", since trichromatic displays are not capable of producing them. This issue extends to photographs captured by trichromatic devices. Not every one has the opportunity to see Argon-voliet in their own eyes - and then remember that perception.)


text:
Architect Plans To Build A 30-Story Wooden Skyscraper
First a wooden Starbucks, now a wooden skyscraper.
Vancouver-based architect Michael Green is planning to swap cement and steel for timber, to build a 30-story wooden skyscraper in Vancounver, Canada.
'Tallwood' would be made of large panels of 'laminated strand lumber'—a composite made by gluing together strands of wood.
"We think we can go higher than 30 stories," Green told CNN. "We stopped exploring wood around 100 years ago (with the advent of steel and concrete); now we're looking at a whole new system using timber products."
What made the architects think of using wood as opposed to the de rigueur steel and concrete? The environment.
"The real change came when we started thinking about climate change. Steel and concrete are great, but not environmentally friendly," Green said.
Trees are a renewable resource, and they help to reduce air pollution. Sourcing from sustainably-managed forests could be deemed more environmentally sensitive, according to CNN.
Unlike concrete—which produces about 6-9kg of carbon dioxide for every 10kg of concrete—wood sucks carbon out of the atmosphere.
Wood is also cheaper and less time-consuming to construct.
"For the idea of tall wooden buildings to be viable they have to be cost effective," says Green. "We can show that wood structures are dollar for dollar or cheaper compared to other buildings."
And contrary to popular belief, wood actually is quite fire-resistant.
"It may sound counter-intuitive, but performing well in a fire is something inherent in large pieces of wood, that's why in forest fires the trees that survive are the largest ones," Green said.
It seems as with the advancements in technology, many are going back to nature.


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I'm wondering if there is an accepted method to convert a tab delimited text file to XML, so that it can be imported in Adobe Flex. I would prefer to use PHP to achieve this.
The tab delimited text file I am looking to convert is in the format
Refnumber Location Name Age
123 North America Steve 32
And I am looking to convert to
 123
 North America
 Steve
 32
share|improve this question
Can you post the contents of the TAB-DELIMITED-TEXT-FILE for reference. – Sujit Agarwal May 26 '11 at 16:08
3 Answers 3
up vote 4 down vote accepted
You can iterate the file line by line and write the contents with XMLWriter
XmlWriter Example (demo)
$xmlWriter = new XMLWriter();
$xmlWriter->startDocument('1.0', 'UTF-8');
$tsvFile = new SplFileObject('filename.tsv');
foreach ($tsvFile as $line => $row) {
 if($line > 0) {
 $xmlWriter->writeElement('refnumber', $row[0]);
 $xmlWriter->writeElement('location', $row[1]);
 $xmlWriter->writeElement('name', $row[2]);
 $xmlWriter->writeElement('age', $row[3]);
Using the XmlWriter has the added benefit that it will tell you when you are trying to write illegal content for the XML elements. If you know there is only valid data in your tsv file, you can also just use a template and write that to another file.
Template Example (demo)
$tsvFile = new SplFileObject('filename.tsv');
$template = <<< TPL
$destFile = new SplFileObject('destination.xml', 'w+');
$destFile->fwrite('');
 if($line > 0) {
 $destFile->fwrite(vsprintf($template, $row));
share|improve this answer
I'm assuming you already read the Tab-delimited file. You can generate a XML output with something like this:
// get lines here
$xml = '';
foreach ($lines as $line) {
 // get values from line here
 $xml.= '';
 $xml.= sprintf('<%s>%s','refnumber', $values[0],'refnumber');
 $xml.= sprintf('<%s>%s', 'location', $values[1], 'location');
 $xml.= sprintf('<%s>%s', 'name', $values[2], 'name');
 $xml.= sprintf('<%s>%s', 'age', $values[3], 'age');
 $xml.= '';
$xml.= '';
share|improve this answer
If you want to use PHP to do this, you'll need to read your file line by line (i guess a set of data ends with a line-break) and then split the lines using the Tab as delimiter (regular extension is \r).
After that, to create your XML-Output, you'll want to use the XMLWriter-class, which can print the result to the screen (like you opened a normal XML-file), save it on the File-System or write it to a Database (using something like MySQLi).
share|improve this answer
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