text:
High Availability and Disaster Recovery
Couchbase Server supports a range of high availability and disaster recovery (HA/DR) strategies depending on an organization's needs, standard operating procedures, and budget.
Although Couchbase Server supports true zero downtime deployments, often less stringent downtime objectives can be supported more economically and without serious impact to business continuity for mission critical applications. The exact tools and configurations to use depend on an organization's recovery point objectives (RPO) which define how much data can be lost in case of failure, and recovery time objectives (RTO) which define how much time does the technical team have to restore the system and the data. Most HA/DR strategies rely on a multi-pronged approach of maximizing availability, increasing redundancy within and across data centers, and performing regular backups.
Couchbase Server delivers key high availability features such as zero downtime administration and maintenance, built-in data redundancy, and automatic failover.
Factors that increase system uptime and availability include:
Number of replicas
Number of racks or availability zones
Number of clusters
Rack zone awareness helps protect against multi-node failure events by separating active data and its replicas across "groups" which can then be mapped such that they occupy different racks, zones, or VM hosts. This is still within the context of a single Couchbase Server cluster, and the entire active data set is still evenly distributed across all nodes or groups.
Cross Data Center Replication (XDCR) replicates data between two or more autonomous Couchbase Server clusters. It is typically used to replicate data between clusters in different data centers and geographic regions, and can also be used to sync a second Couchbase Server cluster within the same data center.
XDCR serves an important role in high availability / disaster recovery, performance, and load distribution.
For disaster recovery, one or more clusters can act as hot standbys, enabling cluster-level failover by taking over load as soon as a cluster stops responding.
In case of serious failures, XDCR can also be used to recover data from a remote cluster. The result is similar to recovery using a backup but often faster.
In geographically distributed data centers, XDCR can improve performance by placing data close to end users. Users can be routed to the Couchbase Server cluster that serves their request with the lowest latency, typically the one that is physically closest to them. XDCR with bi-directional replication can create a truly global Couchbase Server deployment by allowing full read and write access at every endpoint.
XDCR with bi-directional replication does not create a global "cluster" of Couchbase Servers. Rather, each cluster is autonomous, is managed completely independently, and data is replicated to and/or from each cluster.
- XDCR is simple.
It takes just two clicks to associate two clusters and two more clicks to create a replication stream from one bucket to another. Additional replication streams can be created with the same simple steps to support bi-directional replication and more complex topologies. There is no restriction on the size of any cluster involved in XDCR replication and the streams are automatically maintained through cluster topology changes and failures.
- XDCR is efficient.
XDCR replicates data directly from RAM-RAM between each node of the source and destination clusters of a stream. There is no central gateway which greatly reduces complexity and allows for very high parallelization of throughput. Mutations are automatically de-duplicated to cut down on unnecessary transmissions and XDCR can be paused or resumed administratively. In order to recover from situations such as temporary disconnection between clusters, XDCR uses internal checkpoints to keep track of exactly which mutations it was able to stream. XDCR then begins streaming the mutations from the point where it left off. With regular expression filtering on key names, users can limit what is transferred between clusters, for example to partially replicate regional data from a central, global database.
- XDCR is eventually consistent and features automatic conflict resolution.
In order to determine what the final state of a document should be between two clusters, XDCR will pick the version with the most revisions if there is one. Otherwise, it falls down through the document sequence number, the CAS values, document flags, and TTL expiration value. Because each cluster applies the same logic, document consistency is maintained across the clusters.
- XDCR supports any topology.
XDCR can perform unidirectional or bidirectional replication and supports spoke, circular, or star topologies of one-to-one, one-to-many or many-to-one clusters. For example, administrators can push from a central data center out to multiple data centers, aggregate data from multiple clusters to a central cluster, or make multiple data centers each function as masters. XDCR can also be used to synchronize a development or analytics cluster. Finally, XDCR is currently used to keep an Elasticsearch or SolR cluster updated for full-text indexing requirements.
For more information about managing XDCR and tuning XDCR performance, see Cross Datacenter Replication (XDCR) in the Administration guide.
Backups protect against worst-case disaster situations and logical data corruption, such as an administrator accidentally deleting a bucket or a bug in the application. Backups can also be used to copy buckets for development, test or staging purposes. Couchbase Server supports zero-downtime backups and restores. Backups can be full, differential or cumulative, and Couchbase Server can restore any point to any bucket or topology.
For information on how to perform backup and restore, see Backup and Restore in the Administration guide.
Application design can also help improve resilience in the face of temporary or more permanent interruptions in node availability. For example, applications can be programmed to read from replicas, with timeouts set as low as 5 milliseconds. Similarly writes can be queued within the application to be retried once the node has been failed over. When using XDCR, an application can write to any cluster in a master-master replication scheme and the changes will be replicated to the other clusters.


text:
About Komodo Dragon
Komodo National Park is located between the islands of Sumbawa and
Flores in the Lesser Sunda Islands, at a distance of 200 nautical
miles to the east of Bali.
It has a total land area of 75,000 hectares and encompasses a
number of islands, the largest of which are Komodo (34,000
hectares), Rinca (20,000 hectares), Padar, Nusa Kode, Motang,
numerous smaller islands, and the Wae Wuul sanctuary on Flores.
A total of 112,500 hectares of the surrounding waters are also
under the jurisdiction of the park rangers.
In 1938 Padar and the south and west of Rinca were declared a
Wildlife Sanctuary, but it was only in 1965 that the island of
Komodo was formally included in the sanctuary. Komodo National
Park was established by government decree in 1980 followed by the
designation of Komodo National Park as a World Heritage Site in
Komodo National Park has the lowest annual rainfall in all of
Indonesia, with an abbreviated rainy season in the month of
January. For most of the year Komodo is dry and hot, parched by
arid winds from the Australian desert that blow from April through
October. Maximum temperatures reach 43 C, with minimums of 17 C in
Most of the Park is dry, rugged and hilly, a combination of
ancient volcanic eruptions and more recent tectonic uplift of
sedimentary seabeds. The irregular coastline is indented with
rocky headlands and sandy bays, many framed by soaring volcanic
Komodo island is 35km long and 15km wide, and is mountainous on a
north to south axis, with an average altitude of 500-600m. The
highest peak is Satalibo (735m) in the north. Most of the island
is lontar palm savannah with remnates of rainforest and bamboo
forest at higher elevations. On Rinca the land rises gradually
from the north coast to a plateau that ends at Mount Dora (667m)
in the south. The rugged south coast is very sheer as a result of
volcanic activity in the distant past, as evidenced by the crater
bay in which Nusa Kode nestles.
Deer and Wild Pig
Sunset in Komodo
Map of Komodo
The Park encompasses most of the recognized habitat of the largest
known lizard, the world famous Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis).
The Park is also home to Sunda deer (Cervus timorensis), wild
buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), wild boar ((Sus scrofa), the macaque
monkey (Macaca fascicularis), and wild horse (Equus qaballus).
All the large mammals have been introduced by man, but indigenous
frogs, snakes and lizards abound on the island.
The sole endemic species found on Komodo is the aptly named Komodo
rat. Over 150 species of birds have been identified in Komodo
National Park, many of which are migratory and more representative
of Australasian than Asiatic species.
Distinctive species include sulphur-crested cockatoos, imperial
pigeons, white-breasted sea eagles and maleos. The seas
surrounding the park teem with over 1000 species of fish and
Komodo is no longer a remote island accessible only by wealthy
tourists on private boats. Today there are over 20,000 visitors a
year that visit the park. The majority of visitors still arrive by
cruise ship, despite the fact the most popular, Spice Island
Cruises, ceased operations in 1999.
The gateway to Komodo is arguably the island of Bali. While most
visitors to Komodo National Park enter through the gateway cities
of Bima in eastern Sumbawa, or Labuanbajo in the west of Flores,
the departure point is actually Bali. Both Bima and Labuanbajo are
serviced by regularly scheduled flights that depart daily at
9:30am from Denpasar to Bima, with connecting flights to
Labuanbajo on Monday and Saturday.
The gateway cities are also connected to Bali by overland buses
and inter-island ferries. There are local coastal ships that
travel between Lombok and Labuanbajo.
These boats cater to tourists and take passengers on a four day
trip that includes a day and night in Komodo National Park (cost
$50 per person).
After arriving in Sumbawa, a ferry service from the port of Sape
in the east of the island to Labuanbajo picks up and drops off
passengers in Komodo in the July-August peak tourist season.
Otherwise local tour operators organize shared boat charters from
either Bima or Labuanbajo to Loh Liang and the smaller islands in
Komodo National Park.
Grand Komodo Tours operates a four day/three night package from
Bima to Komodo return for US$190, with two nights in a hotel, and
one on a live aboard boat.
The Komodo National Park administrative offices are located in
Labuanbajo in west Flores. An information center and travel agents
where transportation to and from the Park can be arranged are also
found in Labuanbajo.
The majority of tourists to the Park pass through the Loh Liang
ranger station nestled in the sweeping arc of Slawi Bay on Komodo
This is the largest facility in Komodo National Park with
bungalows and rooms, a restaurant and a dormatory for the park
rangers. The most popular tourist activity is a hike to the
Banugulung viewing area, a two-hour roundtrip level walk that
originates from Loh Liang.
Hikes to other areas of Komodo are also possible, and vary from
one to two days: Gunung Ara, Poreng, Loh Sebita, Gunung Sata libo,
On longer walks overnight accommodation can be arranged at ranger
posts at Loh Sebita and Loh Genggo.
For certified divers there is a compressor and diving equipment
available for hire at Loh Liang as well as masks and fins for
Handicrafts made in the nearby village of Komodo are for sale at
the arrival jetty.
The entrance ticket to Komodo National Park costs Rp 25,000 and is
valid for three days. It is easily renewable, so a prolonged stay
in the park is possible. There are two ranger stations which
provide spartan accommodation for tourists: Loh Liang on Komodo
and Loh Buaya on Rinca.
The charges are minimal and start at Rp 30,000 per room. Be
advised that everything is basic, including beds, communal toilets
and food availability.
Fortunately most travellers are not deterred by the limited
facilities, accepting this as a part of the Komodo experience.
Advance booking for accommodation are not accepted.
The hiking on Rinca is less strenuous than that on Komodo, and has
the added attraction of viewing the wild horses and monkeys which
are not found on Komodo. On Rinca wild buffalo are more common and
easily seen as well.
On the north side of the island, behind Rinca village, is a large
cave with a resident bat colony. Rangers at both Loh Liang and Loh
Buaya are readily available to lead walks, and are knowledgeable
about the local fauna and birdlife.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


Mass Toursim - Notes
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Mass Tourism
Nhu Huynh Thi Nguyen
The World Tourism Organization's definition of tourism is: people who are traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes. Definition of mass tourism: Mass tourism is the act of visiting a destination with large amounts of people at one time. It means a large number of people, often on package holidays with accommodation and travel included.
What is mass tourism – and how did it become like it is today? - It's just as the definition says
- Mass tourism could only have developed with the improvements in technology, allowing the transport of large numbers of people in a short space of time to places of leisure interest, so that greater numbers of people could begin to enjoy the benefits of leisure time. – Good advertising, better technology and transportation, higher salary, wanting to know more about the unknown places, people are more stressed and would like to relax, many companies so they are fighting over the customers by lowering the prices.
Pros and cons about mass tourism.
1. Income from tourism/entrance fees may pay for management, conservation and repairs. 2.helps to promote the region to outsider investor
3. puts you "on the map",
4. the region builds more attraction for tourists that are often beneficial for the locals 5. people learning about your culture & way of life
6. you have the opportunity to meet people from other places and learn from them. 7. Low income jobs can be converted to provide a better living (e.g. fising boats used for coastal tours). 8. New infrastructure (airports roads, water and electricity supply) can benefit industries and local people. 9. Increases the size of the domestic economy (e.g. Spain was transformed from poor Mediterranean country). 10. Greater awareness of the need for, and interest in conservation of landscape, vegetation and wildlife.
1. A level of...
tracking img


, in worse cases is one artificial respiration necessary.
If there is an inflammatory process behind the paresis, therapy of the inflammation, for example with antibiotics, antivirals, Cortisone or a plasma separation.
If an irritation of the phrenic nerve is in the foreground, the symptoms disappear like hiccup, often by itself and can sometimes be assisted by relaxation exercises.
Prognosis in case of complaints
Depending on the cause of the paresis or irritation of the phrenic nerve, the symptoms can decrease or persist permanently.
Prophylactic behavior for prevention
In order to counteract irritation of the phrenic nerve from eating too quickly, you can first try to eat more slowly. Prophylaxis is required for the remaining damage to the phrenic nerve difficult to be implemented, since the consequences cannot always be determined in advance, for example during an operation. In order to counter breathing difficulties with prophylaxis after damage, it is recommended in some cases through special physical therapy to train the remaining auxiliary respiratory muscles.


text: The technology has been developed by ARCA partner SMEs and consists of a compact solar collector for multi-generative applications, based on a Fresnel concentration system where mirrors constantly pursue the solar position during the day. The possibility of a tight coupling of flat PV panels on the reverse side of the mirrors may give high flexibility in energy generation. The collector has been optimized to reduce the space required for installation thanks to a lightweight design and a reduced focal length. The control system optimizes the behavior of the system according to the energy consumption and environmental operating conditions. It is consider for installation in CY, IT, FR and UK.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


QUIZ: Are You A Skin Care Expert?
I learned a lot in my 600 hours of skin care training.
Here's what I discovered: There was so much that I didn't know about skin. Also, the tests that are required to become a licensed esthetician are really difficult!
Let's test your skin knowledge and see if you knew more than I did when I started! skin care
1. The gland that secretes oil is known as the ____.
Papillary Gland
Sebaceous Gland
Exocrine Gland
Pituitary Gland
2. The skin's surface is protected by a lipid matrix known as the ____.
Protective Layer
Epidermal Function
Barrier Function
Protective Barrier
3. Which of these is NOT a cause of acne.
Clogged pores
Hormonal changes
Certain cosmetics and skin care products
None of the above; they all cause acne.
4. What skin type is characterized by small pores?
5. Dehydrated skin lacks ____.
6. Which of these is not true about tanning:
Tanning represents a healthy appearance after spending time in the sun.
A 'tan' is the change in the skin's pigment due to melanin production as a defense against the sun's rays.
The sun damage caused by tanning is the number one cause of aging.
Tanning increases the risk of developing skin cancer.
7. This area of the face has the fewest oil glands
Around the eyes
Give yourself one point for each correct answer! 1. Sebaceous 2. Barrier Function 3. None of the above; they all cause acne 4. Dry 5. Water [Read: What's the difference between dry and dehydrated skin?] 6. Tanning represents a healthy appearance after spending time in the sun. 7. Around the eyes
1-3 Points: Skin Care Novice! Stay tuned to our blog and learn more!
4-5 Points: You're still learning, but you're definitely on the road to becoming an expert!
6-7 Points: You're an expert! You definitely read beauty blogs and keep up with the latest and best in skin care!
Author: Jill
Comments are closed.


Conversational Components
The idea behind Conversational Components is to provide solutions for recurring problems you might encounter while creating voice apps.
They are pre-built npm packages containing the necessary language model, handler (logic) and i18n (cms) files, which you utilize by delegating the task to the component.
Component Structure
Each component has the following structure:
The models folder contains the language model, the src folder contains the logic and the i18n folder contains the components responses.
The component's handler contains the states/intents to fulfill the incoming request. It has to have a START intent which is the entry point for the component.
Every component has its own default configuration, which can be overwritten by the developer.
They provide you with a way to customize them without having to go through the handler and modifying stuff there. The possible options should be documented in each component's own README file.
The i18n folder contains the component's responses. Again, it's a way for the developer to customize the component, without having to dig through the handler.
The sample dialogs in the component's README file, should give you the necessary information you need to make changes to the responses.
For now, i18n is the only supported CMS, with other external ones planned.
The index.ts file at the root is the entry point of each component. It exports a class which contains references to the handler and config object as well as the path to the i18n folder. The component's handler has to be nested inside a state named after the component itself to prevent intents from being overwritten. It also has a name property which has to be the same as the package name.
Name Description Value Required
name Name of your component. Has to be the same as the package name string Yes
handler Contains the logic of your component, i.e. states & intents object Yes
config Contains the default configuration object Yes
pathToI18n Specifies the path to your i18n folder containing the responses used in your component string Yes
That's the basic structure of a component.
Using Conversational Components
Learn how to integrate existing Conversational Components into your Jovo project here.
Developing Conversational Components
Learn how to develop your own Conversational Components here.
Comments and Questions
Join Our Newsletter


I'm looking for a solution for a certain problem. I have two sets of vertically evenly-spaced circles with equal gaps between circles in each column. I would like to know a way to find a point to achieve a perfect snap of both columns, so that they form an "interlocking" pattern.
I have a feeling it has to do with tangents, but the best I can do is to run a script that builds tangents between two circles. I tried it and I can't see a way for it to be helpful. I also tried googling for a solution, but none of the keywords that I used yielded a helpful result.
I tried drawing an equidistant line between two vertical circles, snapping another circle (1) to the bottom circle (2), and rotating it (1) so that its centre snaps with said line, but it's far from elegant. The cursor floats and I can only get a snap if I do that 15 times, checking how far the center point is from the line.
Reference image attached (right element is snapped manually and not in a perfect way): enter image description here
Many thanks!
Draw the circles one on top of each other then use the rotate tool (r. Yes rotate tool not selection tool), move the pivot to center of each successive circle and rotate.
Alternate approach use numeric input in linetool and draw a zig zag with length of 2 times radius (or sum of different radiuses). Then move circles to snap centers to zigzag corners.
If you have trouble figuring angle to use darw a circle at first position with double the radius and find intersection with horizontal line.
Thats mathematics for you.
 - PS sorry no computer at hand so no pictures – joojaa Oct 4 '20 at 12:42
 - Thanks! All it took was drawing two circles with 2x radius, aligning them with two vertical circles and the point of intersection is what I'm looking for. Thanks! – Jerry Oct 4 '20 at 13:48
 - _USER_ you should consider accepting the answer if it solved the problem. Otherwise the webpage stops working correctly. But no hurry. – joojaa Oct 4 '20 at 15:58
Your Answer


text:
A question we often get asked here at Lifetime by women considering adoption is "how much will my child know about me as they grow up?" It's entirely up to you to decide what type of contact you want with the adoptive family and your child. In an open adoption, you and your child's adoptive family can have some contact throughout the years. This can vary from letters and photos to visits once or twice a year. You may wish to write a letter or send photos to your child, letting them know how you made this decision out of your love for them. This letter can be given to your child when he or she is old enough to understand.
It is important that the adoptive family have access to your medical records/history for your child's medical reference in the future. You can pass on any info about yourself and your life to your child's adoptive parents. Your child will know that this decision was made in order to give them the best future possible.Read More


Aboriginal deaths in custody numbers rise sharply over past five years
Updated May 24, 2013 18:34:18
But there has been a spike in the number Indigenous deaths in custody, in line with an almost doubling of the number of Aboriginal Australians being locked up.
The findings come two decades after the landmark Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, which made 339 recommendations for reform - most of which have not been implemented.
Around 30,000 people are behind bars, and Indigenous inmates account for a quarter of the prison population but only 2 per cent of the general population.
"It hasn't been getting better, it's been getting worse despite, I think, a lot of attempts by governments and agencies to try and bring that down," AIC director Dr Adam Tomison said.
The National Deaths in Custody Program Monitoring Report has found Indigenous death-in-custody rates have decreased over the past decade but risen again recently.
The report found:
 - Almost 1,400 deaths in prison custody have been recorded since 1980
 - 14 Indigenous people died in prison in 2009-10, the highest number on record
 - An increasing number of people are dying from heart attack and cirrhosis of the liver
 - From 2008-11, 33 of the 159 deaths in prison custody were Indigenous prisoners
Most of those deaths occur in prisons rather than other forms of custody like juvenile detention and police cells.
In 2008-09, 15 Aboriginal people died behind bars. By 2010-11 that number had risen to 21.
The AIC report shows that most of these deaths were due to natural causes like cancer and heart conditions.
Previously self-harm was the leading cause of deaths in custody.
"Prisons need to be aware of the health needs of older prisoners and to make sure that they're addressed to obviously prevent deaths," Dr Tomison said.
"That said though, the number of deaths is still too high."
NT has the highest rate of Indigenous deaths in custody
Based on current statistics, the Northern Territory has the highest rate of Indigenous deaths in custody in Australia.
Between 1979 and 2011, there were 32 deaths in custody in the Territory, 24 of which were Indigenous people.
The Territory has the highest incarceration rate of Indigenous people in Australia, with 97 per cent of juvenile detainees being Aboriginal.
Of adults in prison or other forms of detention, 82 per cent are Indigenous.
The Closing the Gap policy is focused on improving those outcomes for Indigenous Australians.
Audio: Listen to Martin Cuddihy's report for The World Today (The World Today)
The Federal Government says it is supporting state and territory governments with $4.6 billion.
But Gracelyn Smallwood, an associate professor at James Cook University and an Aboriginal leader in North Queensland, says a lot of that money does not end up where it is needed.
"The infrastructure's very poor and most of the jobs are given to outside consultants which are mostly non-Indigenous people or companies that don't employ people on the ground, which is our local people," she said.
"They've abolished the work for the dole scheme, which was at least helping our communities to get some economic development.
"Closing the Gap is very, very important from a holistic point of view, and once you start cleaning up poverty then everything will start falling into line.
"I'm optimistic that if those recommendations were implemented that we could start closing the gap."
Associate Professor Smallwood says if all the royal commission's recommendations had been implemented, "we wouldn't have any deaths in custody and we wouldn't have a massive increase in the incarceration rates nationally".
Topics: prisons-and-punishment, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, indigenous-policy, aboriginal, black-deaths-in-custody, law-crime-and-justice, australia, nt, qld, wa, vic, tas, sa, nsw, act
First posted May 24, 2013 15:56:42


text:
Center for Assistive Technology &
Inclusive Education Studies (CATIES)
at The College of New Jersey
CATIES is a research and service initiative of The College of New Jersey's School of Education. It is dedicated to improving the educational experiences of children with disabilities by linking faculty and staff expertise with the needs of New Jersey's educational community.
Funded Initiatives: With funding and support from the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education, the U.S. Department of Education, and The College of New Jersey, CATIES is working to realize its goal of enhancing the educational experiences of children with disabilities. Six projects are currently operating under CATIES:
- Adaptive Technology Center for NJ
- Teacher Effectiveness
- Faculty Ambassador Grant
- Teacher Quality & Capacity
- Deaf-Blind-Family & Community Educational Supports (DB-FACES)
- TECH-NJ (Technology, Educators, and CHildren with Disabilities – NJ)
Professional and Technical Assistance Services: CATIES serves the educational community by providing professional development and technical assistance. Its staff specializes in conducting hands-on workshops and providing technical assistance on using instructional and assistive technology to enhance teaching and learning, transitioning from high school, and for implementing strategies to support inclusive education practices. CATIES also conducts assistive technology evaluations on children with disabilities to determine which technology tools will help a child access the curriculum and succeed in school. In addition, CATIES performs functional behavior assessments based on positive behavior support practices.
For more information about CATIES projects please visit the CATIES web site at _URL_
CATIES is a Registered NJ Professional Development Provider.


text:
Description of the Project:
Objectives: Dissemination of knowledge on mini-grids and exchange between practitioners, planner, policy makers, banks etc. to create enabling environments for the implementation of mini grids based on renewable energies.
Activities: selection of relevant contents and an appropriate webinar structure; selection and support of presenters and their topics; facilitation of webinars and question & answer session; development and compilation of relevant knowledge products.
Results: implementation of webinars on the following topics:
- Why mini-grid technologies – biomass, diesel, micro/mini hydro, small wind, and hybrid systems – need to be differentiated,
- Grid interconnection of micro/mini hydro mini-grids: What happens when the national grid arrives?
Productive End Use of Mini-Grids using Micro/Mini Hydro – Three Examples of How to Make it Happen


Sunday, April 15, 2007
Automating Excel with Ruby: Defining a Range and Inserting Data
As I previously mentioned, calling the Value method on an Excel Range object returns an array of arrays of values. Here's a quick way to get a 2-dimensional array of all values from a worksheet...
data = worksheet.UsedRange.Value
But, as I failed to mention in that article, you can also insert a 2-dimensional array into a Range of cells:
worksheet.Range("A2:G7").Value = data
If you have a lot of data to insert, this will be much faster than inputting the data cell-by-cell. But it is important that the range of cells be the same size (number of rows, number of columns) as your 2d array.
Your Array: Number of Rows
Assuming you have data, a 2-dimensional array, you can determine the number of rows by calling data.size:
rows = data.size
Your Array: Number of Columns
You can determine the number of columns by calling size on one of the data array's rows:
cols = data[0].size
Defining Your Worksheet Range
But to use the Range method, you need to define the column letters (ie, "A2:G7"). You probably already know that you want your starting point to be cell A1 or A2. But how do you programmatically determine the final column letter for an array that is 104 columns wide?
Each cell (or row, or column) object has an Address method that returns its location in letter-number format, so...
worksheet.Cells(5, 3).Address
...returns "$C$5", and we can use that string in our upcoming Range definition. So if you have a range that is 30 columns wide by 100 rows in length, which we want to insert into a Range, starting at cell A1:
first = worksheet.Cells(1,1).Address # => "$A$1"
last = worksheet.Cells(100,30).Address # => "$AD$100"
worksheet.Range("#{first}:#{last}").Value = data
If your worksheet has a header row and you will be inserting your data after that, bump up the row value by 1:
first = worksheet.Cells(2,1).Address # => "$A$2"
last = worksheet.Cells(101,30).Address # => "$AD$101"
I hope that some of you find this useful. My thanks goes to Charlie for suggesting the topic.
Mikey126 said...
Alternatively, you could use the handy Range.Resize() method, which would give you something like
...which is nice. I suppose one could fold everything into
target.Resize(data.size, data[0].size).Value = data
And thanks for reminding me that I could do more Excel automation with Ruby - I've been working in VBA for so long that I often forget.
dsf said...
how can i insert a row to excel doc?
1 test row
title2 < i want insert a row here
2 test row
i inspect many methods of the range and worksheet,but i can't work out,
please help me
David Mullet said...
In response to your question, I have posted a new article about inserting and deleting rows and columns.
dsf said...
thx a lot
Topher Fangio said...
Hello. You have some great articles here and I really appreciate you taking the time to post the information to help us out.
I have a quick question. I really would like to use this method to extract the data out of my excel files but unfortunately, it appears that it will only let me extract the value rather than the text.
I tried "data = worksheet.UsedRange.Text" but that doesn't seem to work. I also tried a few alternatives. Do you have any idea if this is possible and how so? Right now I am using the.each and it is taking forever (about 5 seconds per file...).
Thanks much and have a great day!
David Mullet said...
Thank you very much, Topher!
Microsoft's docs claim that the Range object has a read-only Text property. And the methos does exist, but always returns nil in my testing.
As you mentioned, iterating over rows and cells to access the Text value can be painfully slow.
I don't have much to offer on this, unfortunately. If the issue is formatting, there are possible methods for determining the format of the data (ie, decimal versus currency, versus percentage). You could, for example, query the NumberFormat property for each column:
for column in worksheet.UsedRange.Columns
formats << column.NumberFormat
Then use worksheet.UsedRange.Value to get your 2-d array quickly, and use the array or hash of column formats to format your data upon output.
Hope that helps!
~viper~ said...
I had a 1-dimensional array with 100 string elements, and attempted at first to copy what you had written
sheet.Range("A2:A101").Value = array
Your example was of a 2-dimensional array, and, for some reason, all those cells were filled with only the first element in the array. If, however, I first do something like
array[0]= [array[0],'test']
then somehow a pseudo-2d array is created, and the above command works. I had attempted it by chance, and I do not understand why this hack works
David Mullet said...
The Range.Value= method expects a 2-dimensional array -- an array of arrays -- even if the Range object spans only a single column. So, as you discovered, you must take your data array into the Second Dimension, so to speak.
Another method for doing that is:
ws.Range("A1:A500").Value = data.collect!{|x| [*x]}
collect! iterates over an array. [*x] converts an object (x) to an array. It's the replacement for the soon-to-be-obsolete to_a method.
WQP said...
How would one go about drawing borders on a range? It's the one thing I haven't quite been able to figure out. So say I want a box around A2:B4 or whatever...the closest I've come is to have the thing draw the complete grid for a given range and I need to be more selective than that!
WQP said...
Well it figures as soon as I ask I figure it out. This code would draw a box around the range F2:H7
sheet.Range("F2:F7").Borders(1).Linestyle=1 sheet.Range("H2:H7").Borders(2).Linestyle=1
sheet.Range("F2:H2").Borders(3).Linestyle=1 sheet.Range("F7:H7").Borders(4).Linestyle=1


text:
1852 Levasseur Map of Algeria
Description: This is a fascinating 1852 Levasseur map of the French colony of Algeria. Shows the region divided into the administrative provinces of Oban, Alger, and Constantine. The map proper is surrounded by elaborate decorative engravings designed to illustrate both the natural beauty and trade richness of the land. There is a short textual history of the region depicted to the left and right of the map. Published by V. Levasseur in the 1852 edition of his Atlas National de la France Illustree.
Date: 1852 (undated)
Source: Levassuer, V., Atlas National Illustre des 86 Departements et des Possessions de La France Divise par Arrondissements, Cantons et Communea avec La Trace de Toutes Les Routes, Chemins,de fer et Canaux., 1852 edition.
References: Phillips (Atlases) 3003.
Cartographer: Victor Levasseur, an important French engineer, cartographer, and engraver of the mid 19th century, held a number of important cartographically related political and educations posts in France. He is most famous for his Atlas National Illustré des 86 Départements et des Possessions de La France, a large decorative atlas of France, including his Planisphere and five important continental maps. Levasseur's maps are distinctive for their wide decorative margins containing elaborate depictions of the scenery, peoples, and trade goods of the areas he mapped. Levasseur maps are also known to offer a wealth of statistical data. Until recently, very few Levasseur Atlases migrated out of France where they were mostly used in public libraries and town halls. His work represents some of the last great decorative atlases of the 19th century. Click here for a list of rare maps from Victor Levasseur.
Size: Printed area measures 17 x 11.5 inches (43.18 x 29.21 centimeters)
Condition: Very good. Blank on verso. Wide clean margins.
Code: Algeria-levasseur-1852 (to order by phone call: _PHONE_)


text: that the orbital ejecta of the Stickney crater that reimpact Phobos could be responsible for a particular subset of the observed grooves on Phobos. We adopt impact hydrocode iSALE-2D (impact-Simplified Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian, two-dimensional) to simulate the formation of the Stickney crater and track its impact ejecta, with a focus on orbital ejecta with launch velocities greater than the escape velocity of Phobos. The launch velocity distribution of the ejecta particles is then used to calculate their trajectories in space and determine their fates. For orbital ejecta reimpacting Phobos, we then apply the sliding boulder model to calculate the ejecta paths, which are compared with the observed groove distribution and length to search for causal relationships. Our ejecta trajectory calculations suggest that only ~1% of the orbital ejecta from the Stickney crater can reimpact Phobos. Applying the sliding boulder model, we predict ejecta sliding paths of 9−20 km in a westward direction to the east of the zone of avoidance, closely matching the observed grooves in that region. The best-fit model assumes an ejecta radius of ~150 m and a speed restitution coefficient of 0.3, consistent with the expected ejecta and regolith properties. Our calculations thus suggest the groove class located to the east of the zone of avoidance may have been caused by reimpact orbital ejecta from the Stickney crater.


Dull Market
DEFINITION of 'Dull Market'
A market where there is little activity. A dull market consists of low trading volumes and tight daily trading ranges. There is very little change and action during a dull market. A common phrase when dealing with dull markets is, "never short a dull market." Some believe that the market is storing energy during dull markets and that the market is preparing for a rally.
A dull market can also be referred to as a flat market or in other words a market at rest. An example would be seeing the market end at or near the same price as when it opened for an extended period of time. During a dull market investors feel that once the market awakens the market is generally set to rise. Any moves after a dull market tend to be larger moves due to the lack of activity. The globalization of the financial industry has reduced the time a market remains dull.
 1. Market
 A medium allowing buyers and sellers of a specific good or service...
 2. Sideways Market / Sideways Drift
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 3. Flat
 1. A price that is neither rising nor declining. 2. In forex,...
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 A period of sustained increases in the prices of stocks, bonds...
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text:
Some problems with functions and speech acts
and some solutions through pragmatics to help
upper intermediate learners
by Greg Gobel
Some problems with speech act theory and implications for teaching functions
Some writers have noted several problems with such a simplification of possible utterances in a conversation. Here are some and what I think their teaching implications are:
- Brown and Yule say that focusing on speech acts in the classroom may unnaturally limit learners from speaking beyond the sentence, even when the focus shifts from form to function (Brown and Yule, 1983: 20). If a learner is looking at an utterance out of context, 'it is difficult to impute the function speakers intend' (Hatch, 1992: 135). The clear implication of these worries is for teachers to make sure there is suitable and clear context for the learners and to focus not only on sentence level, or utterance level, functions, but how these sentences/utterances fit into the context and conversation as a whole. This discoursal view is supported by McCarthy, who says, 'we must have our speech acts fully contextualized both in terms of the surrounding text and of the key features of the situation' (McCarthy, 1991: 10).
- Similarly, Cohen (1996) says, 'an act such as "apology" may be comprised of a number of phases' (Cohen in McCarthy, 1998: 19). The implication here is that teachers should not always limit their learners to one-step functions, opting to teach phased functions as well.
- Another problem is that authentic spoken language has not always necessarily been the basis for the functional language taught. McCarthy says, 'we can only appreciate the delicacy and subtlety of how speech acts are realized in spoken interaction by examining real data, and the early advocates of functional syllabuses and early investigations of learners' performances of speech acts signally failed to do so' (McCarthy, 1998: 20). Boxer and Pickering support this, saying that 'intuition about speech act realization often differs greatly from the way in which naturalistic speech patterns out' (Boxer and Pickering, 1995: 44). McCarthy also notes that '[r]eal data usually show speech acts to be…indirect and subtle in their unfolding' (McCarthy, 1998: 19). Therefore, teachers should focus their learners' attention on the subtlety and indirectness of utterances and use authentic spoken language, when possible drawing on language from corpora work or their own observations. An example of a coursebook that draws on the British National Corpus (Spoken) is the Choice series (Mohamed and Acklam, 1995: 11; and for an example see The Intermediate Choice Student's Book, 1995: 45 ).
- An overall, yet often overlooked, implication is that teachers could take a closer look at pragmatics to help teach functional language.
When 'we read or hear pieces of language, we normally try to understand not only what the words mean, but what the writer or speaker of those words intended to convey. The study of "intended speaker meaning" is called pragmatics.' (Yule, 1985: 127). Additionally, '[p]ragmatics is the study of …
- contextual meaning,
- how more gets communicated than is said, and
- the expression of relative distance.' (Yule, 1996: 3).
That is, pragmatics is 'the study of "invisible" meaning' (Yule, 1985: 127), or meaning that derives not only from the words and structures used (semantics and syntax), but also from the situation of the utterance and how that affects what the speaker means. As Hatch concisely writes, '…what speakers mean to convey when they use a particular structure in context…' (Hatch, 1992: 260). This clearly links Dörnyei's reference to 'surface' and 'real' meaning of speech acts as this is what pragmatics tries to explain.
'Left to their own devices with respect to contact with the target language in and out of the classroom, the majority of learners apparently do not acquire pragmatics of the target language on their own' (Bardovi-Harlig, 2003). This implies that teachers should attempt to include teaching and learning of some aspects of pragmatics in the classroom. Bardovi-Harlig also points out how lack of pragmatic awareness could affect people's relationships: '[t]he consequences of pragmatic differences…are often interpreted on a social or personal level rather than as a result of the language learning process' (ibid, 2003). Thus, we must try to raise our learner's awareness of what they say and how it may be interpreted so that our learners reduce the chances of social and personal face-threatening interactions and utterances. White notes six possibilities: conflicting signals, creating tension, risking offence, creating confusion, public embarrassment, and interpersonal breakdown (White, 1993: 196-200). Boxer and Pickering conclude, unfortunately, that 'important information on underlying social strategies of speech acts is often overlooked entirely' in published ELT material (Boxer and Pickering, 1995: 44). Teachers must compensate for this; I think a long-term strategy for awareness raising could be to continually check learners' understanding of the relationship between speakers when focusing on functional language.
This paper will now look into how teachers could exploit some areas of pragmatics to help learners cope with functional language because, according to Bardovi-Harlig, 'Teaching pragmatics empowers students to experience and experiment with the language at a deeper level, and thereby participate in the purpose of language – communication, rather than just words' (Bardovi-Harlig, et al., 1991: 13).
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text:
The name of Juno is probably of the same root as Jupiter, and differs from it only in its termination. As Jupiter is the king of heaven and of the gods, so Juno is the queen of heaven, or the female Jupiter. The Romans identified at an early time their Juno with Hera, with whom she has indeed many resemblances, but we shall endeavour here to treat of the Roman Juno exclusively, and to separate the Greek notions [HERA] entertained by the Romans, from those which are of a purely Italian or Roman nature. Juno, as the queen of heaven, bore the surname of Regina, under which she was worshipped at Rome from early times, and at a later period her worship was solemnly transferred from Veii to Rome, where a sanctuary was dedicated to her on the Aventine. (Liv. v. 21, 22, xxii. 1, xxvii. 37; Varr. de L. L. v. 67.) She is rarely described as hurling the thunderbolt, and the main feature of her character is, that she was to the female sex all that Jupiter was to the male, and that she was regarded as the protectress of every thing connected with marriage. She was, however, not only the protecting genius of the female sex in general, but accompanied every individual woman through life, from the moment of her birth to the end of her life. Hence she bore the special surnames of Virginalis and Matrona, as well as the general ones of Opigena and Sospita (Ov. Fast. vi. 33; Horat. Carm. iii. 4, 59; Serv. ad Aen. viii. 84; August. de Civ. Dei, iv. 11; Festus, p. 343, ed. Müller), under which she was worshipped both at Lanuvium and at Rome. (Liv. xxiv. 10, xxvii. 3, xxxii. 30; Ov. Fast. ii. 56; Cic. de Div. i. 2.) On their birthday women offered sacrifices to Juno surnamed Natalis, just as men sacrificed to their genius natalis (Tibull. iv. 6. 13. 15); but the general festival, which was celebrated by all the women, in honour of Juno, was called Matronalia (Dict. of Ant. s. v.), and took place on the 1st of March. Her protection of women, and especially her power of making them fruitful, is further alluded to in the festival Populifugia (Dict. of Ant. s.v.) as well as in the surname of Februarius, Februata, Februta, or Februalis. (Fest. s.v. Februarius, p. 85, ed. Müller; comp. Ov. Fast. ii. 441.) Juno was further, like Saturn, the guardian of the finances, and under the name of Moneta she had a temple on the Capitoline hill, which contained the mint. (Liv. vi. 20.) Some Romans considered Juno Moneta as identical with Mnêmosynê, but this identification undoubtedly arose from the desire of finding the name Moneta a deeper meaning than it really contains. [MONETA.] The most important period in a woman's life is that of her marriage, and, as we have already remarked, she was believed especially to preside over marriage. Hence she was called Juga or Jugalis [JUGA], and had a variety of other names, alluding to the various occasions on which she was invoked by newly-married people, such as, Domiduca, Iterduca, Pronuba, Cinxia, Prema, Pertunda, Fluonia, and Lucina. (Virg. Aen. iv. 166, 457, with Serv. note; Ov. Heroid. vi. 43; August. de Civ. Dei, vi. 7, 11, vii. 3; Arnob. iii. 7, 25, vi. 7, 25; Fest. s. vv. The month of June, which is said to have originally been called Junonius, was considered to be the most favourable period for marrying. (Macrob. Sat. i. 12; Ov. Fast. vi. 56.) Juno, however, not only presided over the fertility of marriage, but also over its inviolable sanctity, and unchastity and inordinate love of sexual pleasures were hated by the goddess. Hence a law of Numa ordained that a prostitute should not touch the altar of Juno, and that if she had done so, she should with dishevelled hair offer a female lamb to Juno. (Gell. iv. 3.) Women in childbed invoked Juno Lucina to help them (Plaut. Aulul. iv. 7, 11; Plut. Quaest. Rom. 77; Propert. v 1, 95; Arnob. iii. 9, 21, 23), and after the delivery of the child, a table was laid out for her in the house for a whole week (Tertull. de Anim. 39), for newly-born children were likewise under her protection, whence she was sometimes confounded with the Greek Artemis or Eileithyia. (Catull. xxxiv. 13; Dionys. Hal. iv. 15; comp. MATUTA.)
As Juno has all the characteristics of her husband, in so far as they refer to the female sex, she presides over all human affairs, which are based upon justice and faithfulness, and more especially over the domestic affairs, in which women are more particularly concerned, though public affairs were not beyond her sphere, as we may infer from her surnames of Curiatia and Populonia. [Comp. EMPANDA.] In Etruria, where the worship of Juno was very general, she bore the surname of Cupra, which is said to have been derived from the name of a town, but it may be connected with the Sabine word cyprus, which, according to Varro (de L. L. v. 159), signified good, and also occurs in the name of vicus Cyprius. At Falerii, too, her worship was of great importance (Dionys. i. 21), and so also at Lanuvium, Aricia, Tibur, Praeneste, and other places. (Ov. Fast. vi. 49, 59; Liv. v. 21, x. 2; Serv. ad Aen. vii. 739; Strab. v. p. 241.) In the representations of the Roman Juno that have come down to us, the type of the Greek Hera is commonly adopted.


What is Isoclast™ active?
Discovered by and proprietary to Dow AgroSciences, Isoclast™ active is a new insecticide developed to manage hard-to-control and economically important sap-feeding insect pests. Isoclast provides excellent knockdown and residual control and is highly effective at low use rates.
How it works?
Because of its translaminar action, Isoclast™ active protects the entire plant leaf (not just the side sprayed), which helps control pests hidden in the crop canopy or on the undersides of leaves. Isoclast is also an excellent rotation partner within insect resistance management programmes.
Available data on Isoclast indicates a broad lack of cross-resistance in many sap-feeding insect strains resistant to other insecticides. In the field, Isoclast controls insect populations known to be resistant to older types of insecticides such as neonicotinoids, carbamates, organophosphates and pyrethroids.
Good fit with IPM programmes
When applied at proposed field-use rates, Isoclast™ active causes no harm to natural enemy populations, such as assassin bugs, big-eyed bugs, braconid wasps, green lacewings, lady beetles, minute pirate bugs and spiders. No evidence of outbreaks of secondary insect or mite pests (often called "flaring") has been observed. Isoclast is a valuable rotation partner with other chemistries and has a robust lack of cross resistance with existing insecticides.
Isoclast has been used in millions of hectares worldwide over several growing seasons with no reported harm to honey bees.
Discover the Isoclast™ active Story
Why Isoclast™ active is a vital part of the farmer's toolkit.
Key Features
Effective at low use rates
Excellent knockdown and residual control
Excellent translaminar and systemic activity
Effective against insect pest populations resistant to other insecticides
Valuable rotation partner with other chemistries
Minimal impact on beneficial insects, including bees and natural enemies, when applicators follow label directions for use


In this project, we're building a simple Lamp Flasher circuit using NE 555. A lamp flasher is nothing but a lamp dimmer circuit – where the lamp is turned ON/OFF at set frequency or time intervals. We've designed this circuit using the most popular and common components like the NE/SE 555 IC. Let's begin our journey to build a lamp flasher circuit using 555 IC.
This is the circuit diagram of lamp flasher operated from mains. By this you can flash up to 200 Watt lamps at rates determined by you. IC NE555 is wired as an astable multivibrator for producing the pulses for flashing the lamp. The flashing rate can be set by the value of resistors R2 & R3.
Diodes D1 & D2 provides a half wave rectified regulated supply for the IC. Transistor T1 is used to drive triac and triac BT136 for driving the load. Resistor R4 limits the base current of Q1.
Flashing Circuit Diagram & Parts List
 - Connect a 100K pot instead of R2 if you need frequent changes in rate.
 - Many parts of the circuit are live with potential shock hazards.So please be careful.
 - As usual use an IC holder for mounting the IC.
Modified Circuit
Lamp Flasher Circuit Using 555 Timer
Lamp Flasher Circuit Using 555 Timer
 1. What are the replacements for BZ 148 zener diode?
 2. mubashar
 hi can any body tell me that can i use bta41 insted of bt136
 3. hi 555 part not powered,ac hot line shd given 2 diodes ( IN 4007) + side.
 4. The circuit contains a mistake. As it is drawn, it will never work!
 5. seetharaman
 Hi Gelie have you used the modified circuit. your zener diode and transistors are the correct equivalents.
 6. why is that my circuit did not work?? i used 1n4738 instead of bz 148 and 2n3904 instead of bc548 does this affect the output of the circuit??
 7. Seetharaman
 Hi Harsh even without this capacitor the astable will work.
 8. Harsh Wardhan Deshmukh
 In the above circuit a capacitor is missing. Astable multivibrator circuit is incomplite.
 U must connect a capacitor of 10 nf(63 volt) ceramic between terminal 5 and the ground of 555 timer.
 9. hi guys
 thish circuit works only in half wave mode
 and in other half sine wave the triac comes off
 this use the triac as a trimister(SCR)
 if i wrong say me explaine it for me
 i test it in other circuits
 it imposible that run a triac with direct curent
 u most connect the gate to the m base withe full wave connection.
 10. Seetharaman
 Hi Kkhairul your IC and trasistor might have got protected due to R3 10k ohms which has limited the current to 25mA. if they are found healthy you can use them
 11. Hi Seetharaman,
 I run my circuit sometimes using this FALSE zener diode 51V instead of 5.1V before. Can I use my IC, transistor and triac anymore?
 12. Seetharaman
 Hi Khairul C2 is the timing capacitor C1 is filter capacitor. only timing capacitor requires the change for higher frequencies. Use a pulse transformer direcly between pin 3 and 8, [(used in xenon strobe trigger for getting high voltage spikes(pulses)]by deleting triac and associated circuit. You can use any zener from 5.1 volt to 6.8 volt or BE junction of BC148 transistor in reverse biased condition.
 13. Forgot to mention that, I was not able to find zener diode BZ148 specs. So now I'm using 51V zener diode. Does it affect my circuit too?
 14. Forgot to ask. If I need this lamp to have a high voltage for each pulse produced, what can I do to modify it?
 15. Hi Seetharaman,
 do I need to change C1 to 1uF, or C2?
 16. Seetharaman
 Hi Khairul you have remove L1 qand connect the halogen lamp in that location. (MT2 and live of the supply). neutral is common connected to IC Pin 1 and Triac Mt1. Power of the lamp multiplied by the flash on duration is the energy consumed. To vary duty cycle increase R2 to 100k, to increase frequency reduce capacitor value to 1uF to have a higher range on and off time increase the rheostat to 1M.
 17. Hi Seetharaman,
 Right now I'm using a halogen lamp of 50W as an output. I really need to calculate the energy released by this lamp. Therefore I want its frequency so that I can obtain time. Power of lamp divided by flashing time will give the desired energy right? How can I check its flashing frequency? I'm tapping at M2 triac and also common. Is it correct? When I turned the rheostat, the frequency were changed only around 31-33Hz. How can I get a much higher frequency?
 18. Seetharaman
 Hi Khairul it should work if not due to your variable resistance. you can use a frequency meter at pin 3 of the IC and common (pin 1 of IC)
 19. Hi Seetharaman,
 Thank you for your info. How could I check the frequency of the output if I'm using rheostat instead of 47K of R2? My lamp is not flashing accordingly as I turn the rheostat. Is it because of my rheostat?
 20. Seetharaman
 Hi Khairul the D1 diode is a zener diode. The base emitter junction of BC148 connected in reverse-biased condition. D1 is an isolating diode / rectifying diode for giving DC to the IC and AC to lamp circuit.
 21. Hi Seetharaman,
 What is exactly D2? I want its specifications. Could you please help me. I didn't find BZ 148.
 22. seetharaman
 Hi friends
 D2 anode should get connected to fuse not to BZ148. D2 is a half wave rectifier, R3 will drop the voltage BZ148 is the shunt regulator. R5 can be 1/2 watt.
 Yes, I can not understand also how the circuit rectifies. How much wattage is the R5 (10 Ohms)valued? Is it possible that the anode of D2 will be connected to the fused line, and the junction of D1 and R3 WOULD be connected to pins 4, 8 of IC1 along the resistor R2?
 Awaiting for your very valued feedback please.
 24. Where is the VCC power (+) for 555?
 D2 & R3 is short?
 25. yes.. I think D2 Anode should be connected to upper line.not to the +vcc of IC.Then it forms a half wave rectifier.and regulated by D1.
 26. I fail to see how you get the mains to the D1, D2 circuit for rectification???? It looks like D2 in series with R3 is shorted out?!
 27. ganiyyu sabo
 information about lamp flasher using 555 timer
 28. ganiyyu sabo
 all information about lamp flasher using 555 timer
 29. ganiyyu sabo
 all information about lamp flasher circuit using NE 555, Design by Dr Kun De Tom


Tag Archives: conceptual design
Spring '15 Class notes: Day 10 – Conceptual design intro
16 Feb
In this class, we moved into the creative part of conceptual design. The objectives were:
At the end of class, students will be able to:
 1. Use scenarios to extract design requirements from user data.
 2. Conduct brainstorming session according to the rules for effective brainstorming.
 3. Use thumbnail sketches as a way to generate ideas.
 4. Reflect on the creative aspects of the conceptual design process.
You took the personas developed in the previous class and created scenarios and design requirements for an app that would help students maintain motivation to learn. You then practiced effective (I hope!) brainstorming and used thumbnail sketches to generate very many ideas. Remember that at this stage, quantity of ideas is more important than quality.
You then sorted through the ideas you generated to come up with 1-2 concepts for the new product that everyone on your team could agree would be worth pursuing further.
Please also remember how sketching is used this early in the UX process as a way to generate ideas.


text:
Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Volume 10. Number 2. June 2019 Pp.323-341
Linguistic Hegemony of English Language in the Medical Context of King Abdullah
Hanan Sarhan Alsubaiai
Department of English
Faculty of Arts, King Khalid University
Bisha, Saudi Arabia
This study aims to investigate how the dominance of the English language at Bisha King Abdullah Hospital in Saudi Arabia affects service delivery. Specifically, the research focuses on the attitudes of patients and staff towards communicating in English instead of Arabic, which is the primary official language in Saudi Arabia. First, the study addresses the question of how the dominance of English language in the selected medical context affects service delivery. Second, the study explores the attitude of patients and medical staff towards the dominance of the English language. Third, the study presents a comparison of the attitude of patients and medical staff towards the use of English language. Finally, the study responds to the question of how patients' level of education influences their attitude towards the use of English at the hospital. The study is based on quantitative research, involving 60 participants, where 30 patients and 30 medical staff. The findings reveal that 86.7% of medical staff members find it challenging to communicate with their patients in English. On the same note, 60% of patients interviewed admitted that they find it difficult understanding medical practitioners when they communicate in English. The findings can have significant practical implications since they show a possible communication barrier that can be addressed to improve patient experience at Bisha King Abdullah Hospital. The findings provide statistical evidence to inform evidence-based strategies to improve communication between patients and medical practitioners at the hospital.
Abbreviations and Acronyms Definition
Keywords: Communication barrier, language discordance, linguistic hegemony, medical context, patient's satisfaction
Cite as: Alsubaiai, H. S. (2019) Linguistic Hegemony of English Language in the Medical Context of King Abdullah Hospital. Arab World English Journal, 10 (2). 323-341.


text:
Crushing, Grinding, & Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, & Tenders
Also called: Machine Operator, Grinder Operator, Miller, Mill Operator
What they do:Set up, operate, or tend machines to crush, grind, or polish materials, such as coal, glass, grain, stone, food, or rubber.
On the job, you would:
- Read work orders to determine production specifications and information.
- Observe operation of equipment to ensure continuity of flow, safety, and efficient operation, and to detect malfunctions.
- Move controls to start, stop, or adjust machinery and equipment that crushes, grinds, polishes, or blends materials.
Engineering and Technology
Manufactured or Agricultural Goods
Math and Science
Hand and Finger Use
People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions.
They do well at jobs that need:
You might use software like this on the job:
Electronic mail software
Word processing software
See more details at O*NET OnLine about crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders.


text:
Weight of food stuffs used in cookery.— The following is an approximate, comparative list of the bulk and weight of different articles of common domestic use. These will be found to vary slightly, but are as accurate as can be given and have been proved by experience to be sufficiently correct for all practical purposes.
It is important to note that the weight of things used commonly in cooking varies. For example, 1 Cup of water weighs 8 ounces, but 1 Cup of milk weighs 8 1/4 ounces, accounting for the difference in specific gravity. This is usually only helpful to know when a recipe calls for an ingredient by weight, but lacks sufficient guidance to tell you how much to actually use. If, for example, your recipe calls for "a scant 4 ounces grated cheese", you know that it doesn't mean half a cup, but actually, the weight of the cheese, which is actually the equivalent of a full cup.
Unfortunately, in the 1950's, with the advance of pre-packaged foods, the kitchen scale became an uncommon feature in most American homes. Today, it is making a resurgence, and we heartily recommend to all our readers that they invest in a good, accurate kitchen scale.


Meaning of EXPERIMENTAL in English
— experimentally, adv.
/ik sper'euh men"tl/, adj.
1. pertaining to, derived from, or founded on experiment: an experimental science.
2. of the nature of an experiment; tentative: The new program is still in an experimental stage.
3. functioning as an experiment or used for experimentation: an experimental airplane.
4. based on or derived from experience; empirical: experimental knowledge.
5. something that is experimental.
[ 1400-50; late ME experimentalis. See EXPERIMENT, -AL 1 ]


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Prevalence and magnitude of body weight and shape dissatisfaction among university students.
ABSTRACT Although prevalence of overweight and obesity is increasing, prevailing sociocultural influences lead females to desire a thin body and males a muscular body, often resulting in body dissatisfaction (BD) because many cannot achieve the cultural ideal. This study examined the magnitude of BD in university undergraduates (n=310). Body weight dissatisfaction (BWD) was measured as the difference between current and idealized body weight; body shape dissatisfaction (BSD) as the difference between and current and idealized body shape. Overall, females expressed greater BD than males. Overweight individuals expressed the greatest BWD and BSD, yet half desired a weight that would maintain their overweight body mass index (BMI) classification. Normal weight females desired a slightly thinner, lighter body, while desires among normal weight males were mixed. Underweight females and normal weight males expressed little BWD and BSD, commonly idealizing a body weight maintaining their BMI classification. However, results may suggest a shift in body size ideals in an era of prevalent obesity, with overweight males and females expressing less BD and few normal weight individuals, particularly females, idealizing a very thin body.
- SourceAvailable from: _URL_[Show abstract] [Hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Body dissatisfaction and problematic eating behaviors are common among emerging adults in college, especially in the Westernized world, suggesting a need for a better understanding of predictors and potential buffers of such negative outcomes. Also, findings from the relative impact of emotion regulation abilities on body image and eating behaviors have been mixed. Thus, the present study investigated the interplay among negative body image cognitions (e.g., thoughts and feelings of dissatisfaction) and maladaptive eating/dieting behaviors, global stress, perceived social support, and two types of emotion regulation abilities (amplification and reduction) in a sample of 95 emerging adults (mean age 18.9-years). Results indicated that negative body image cognitions and maladaptive eating behaviors correlated significantly with perceived ability to regulate negative affect by reducing emotions, but not with emotion regulation amplification abilities. Also, perceived global stress correlated significantly with EMOTION REGULATION AND BODY IMAGE 194 negative body image cognitions and problematic eating behaviors. In contrast, the relationship between body image variables and perceived social support was not significant. Finally, regression analyses indicated that emotion regulation reduction abilities predicted emerging adults' negative cognitions pertaining to their body/weight, but not their maladaptive eating behaviors, beyond perceived stress. Implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research will be discussed.
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ABSTRACT: Social comparison (i.e., body, eating, exercise) and body surveillance were tested as mediators of the thin-ideal internalization-body dissatisfaction relationship in the context of an elaborated sociocultural model of disordered eating. Participants were 219 college women who completed two questionnaire sessions 3 months apart. The cross-sectional elaborated sociocultural model (i.e., including social comparison and body surveillance as mediators of the thin-ideal internalization-body dissatisfaction relation) provided a good fit to the data, and the total indirect effect from thin-ideal internalization to body dissatisfaction through the mediators was significant. Social comparison emerged as a significant specific mediator while body surveillance did not. The mediation model did not hold prospectively; however, social comparison accounted for unique variance in body dissatisfaction and disordered eating 3 months later. Results suggest that thin-ideal internalization may not be "automatically" associated with body dissatisfaction and that it may be especially important to target comparison in prevention and intervention efforts.Body Image 09/2014; 11(4):488–500. · 1.90 Impact Factor
- Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 01/2011; 15:_PHONE_.


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This material has 2 associated documents. Select a document title to view a document's information.
The Einstein Cannon model computes and displays the trajectory of cannonballs (particles) shot from a cannon in the vicinity of a black hole. It was created for the study of Einstein's theory of general relativity and the Schwarzschild metric. The main window displays a map of space in the vicinity of the black hole using Schwarzschild coordinates and a cannon located a distance r0 from the center black hole's center. The position and firing angle of the cannon can be adjusted by dragging a marker and the number of cannon balls and their initial speed can be changed using input fields. The maximum speed of the cannon ball is the speed of light c=1 in accordance with Einstein's theory. Newton suggested that a cannon ball fired from a high mountain could fall to Earth, orbit the Earth, or fly away depending on how it was fired. The same is true in general relativity but there are many important differences. This model demonstrates these differences.
The Einstein Cannon model is a supplemental simulation for the article "When action is not least for orbits in general relativity" by C. G. Gray and Eric Poisson in the American Journal of Physics 79(1), 43-55 (2011) and has been approved by the authors and the American Journal of Physics (AJP) editor. The simulation was developed using the Easy Java Simulations (EJS) modeling tool and is distributed as a ready-to-run (compiled) Java archive. Double clicking the ejs_gr_EinsteinCannon.jar file will run the program if Java is installed.
Last Modified June 12, 2013
This file has previous versions.


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English Language Teaching
View Mode: Grid viewList view
Patrick Jackson and Rie Kimura
Fun stories teach pre-primary to primary students simple phrases, basic vocabulary, and useful patterns through a unique system of picture cues.
Teaching Notes: Lorena Roberts
A collection of songs from Teddy's Train.
Copyright © Oxford University Press, 2013. All Rights Reserved.


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mostly straight. It is also a good idea to bring down the opacity to around 35% so that the shadow looks realistic.
This will add just a hint of a shadow to your polaroid.
Step 4: Save Your Template To Use Again Later
Now you can save a copy of this template to use on other projects by heading to File > Save a Copy.
In the window that appears, name your template and make sure the file format is set to PSD. This will allow you to open and use this template whenever you'd like.
Step 5: Get Creative With Your Polaroids
Since you created the polaroid as a smart object, you can easily duplicate the layer to create two polaroids in one document. Then since you added a slight drop shadow, you can overlap the polaroids to stack them on top of each other.


High School Musical
star goldstar goldstar goldstar goldstar gold greyFemaleMale
10 Questions - Developed by: - Updated on: - Developed on: - 4,305 taken - User Rating: 4.5 of 5 - 34 votes
How much do you know about the first High School Musical movie?
 - 1
 What is the school's mascot?
 - 2
 What song do Gabriella and Troy sing at the beginning of the movie?
 - 3
 What kind of party do Troy and Gabriella meet for the first time?
 - 4
 Which two characters in the movie are related to each other and how are they related?
 - 5
 What is the name of the school where the movie takes place?
 - 6
 What type of object does Mrs. Darbus hate going off during her class?
 - 7
 What sport is the movie based on?
 - 8
 What song do Gabriella and Troy sing for call backs?
 - 9
 What song do Sharpay and Ryan sing for the plays auditions?
 - 10
 What song does the cast sing at the end?
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text: In information technology, a repository (pronounced ree-PAHZ-ih-tor-i) is a central place in which an aggregation of data is kept and maintained in an organized way, usually in computer storage. The term is from the Latin repositorium, a vessel or chamber in which things can be placed, and it can mean a place where things are collected. Depending on how the term is used, a repository may be directly accessible to users or may be a place from which specific databases, files, or documents are obtained for further relocation or distribution in a network. A repository may be just the aggregation of data itself into some accessible place of storage or it may also imply some ability to selectively extract data. Related terms are data warehouse and data mining.


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The History of Golf(1)
Golf as we all know it was invented in Scotland, but its roots stretches back to Flanders. The first record of "Chloe" is from 1353 and portrays something that could possibly be described as a mix between hockey and golf played in Flanders (Belgium) with ping g15 irons. The game was preferably played on ice and the players used sticks curved at the bottom to move balls from starting point to finish point. Since Scottish and Dutch merchants traveled a lot between the two regions and traded together with each other, the game played in Flanders with taylorMade r9 forged irons quickly spread to Scotland where it developed on the grassy Scottish fields and very soon ceased to be a winter game. It was the Scots that began to dig holes in the ground instead of simply selecting a finishing point with callaway diablo octane tour driver. Digging a hole in the Dutch ice had normally not seen a good idea. Although the game changed a great deal after being introduced in Scotland, the balls where still generally imported from Flanders. The more patriotic Scots claim that golf instead evolved from different stick-and-ball games that we understand were played all over the British Isles as early as the middle Ages. These games were inspired by a stick-and-ball game and introduced to the British Isles by the Romans. The first record of the term golf is from 1457 when King James II of Scotland outlawed golf and even soccer, given that the games were so popular with the clubs of taylormade r11 fairway wood that they made the king's archers skip their practice and play golf and soccer instead. James III re-issued this law in 1471 and James IV followed in his footsteps with all new bans in 1491. Golf did however keep on its development in Scotland in spite of the ban. Even during these early days, almost all the essential parts of golf such as Callaway RAZR Hawk Fairway Wood had already been invented. The players used a club to swing a ball into a hole in the ground. The player who managed to get the ball into the hole using the least amount of strokes won. The word gold is derived from the Old Scots words "Goff" or "glove", and these words in turn derive from "kolf" or "kolve", medieval Dutch words which simply meant club such as cheap golf clubs. When the words kolf and kolve were imported to Scotland, the old Scottish dialect transformed the letter K into G, and the game was named Goff, Glove, Glove and Growl.


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The TM250 is the first air traffic monitoring solution for General Aviation which combines Mode A/C, Mode-S, ADS-B and FLARM detection in one single cockpit device.
The built-in receiver decodes ADS-B transmissions from other aircraft. Their relative position is shown on the display together with their horizontal and vertical direction of movement. This allows an instantaneous capture of the traffic situation. Aircraft equipped with Mode A/C or Mode S transponders not broadcasting ADS-B messages are recognized as well, their approach is signalled both visually and acustically. In this case, however, a depiction of direction, altitude or position of these aircraft is not feasible.
In general, traffic data received within the TM250 can be provided via serial interface to external Moving Map systems for subsequent depiction.
The TM250 includes a built-in GPS receiver and can transmit its position data via an additional serial interface to an ADS-B capable Mode-S transponder. Thus originates a complete ADS-B system which can receive and transmit position data through ADS-B and contributes therefore actively to a safe flight.
Nowadays, numerous glider aircraft are equipped with so-called FLARM systems for collision avoidance. Via a serial interface, an external FLARM receiver can be connected to the TM250 which then allows to indicate the position and movement direction of these airplanes on the display of the TM250. If the aircraft does not carry such a FLARM receiver connected to the TM250, other gliders nearby that have a FLARM transmitter are still being detected and indicated on the TM250 graphically and acoustically. This is achieved through a non-directed, raw detection of the signal strength of a nearby FLARM transmitter inside the TM250. In this case, however, it is not possible to indicate the direction, altitude or position of such targets. Also, no transmission to other gliders occurs.
Datasheet TM250 (PDF)


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Magnesium May Improve Memory
Posted January 28, 2010on:
New research finds that an increase in brain magnesium improves learning and memory in young and old rats. The study, published by Cell Press in the January 28th issue of the journal Neuron, suggests that increasing magnesium intake may be a valid strategy to enhance cognitive abilities and supports speculation that inadequate levels of magnesium impair cognitive function, leading to faster deterioration of memory in aging humans.
Diet can have a significant impact on cognitive capacity. Identification of dietary factors which have a positive influence on synapses, the sites of communication between neurons, might help to enhance learning and memory and prevent their decline with age and disease. Professor Guosong Liu, Director of the Center for Learning and Memory at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, led a study examining whether increased levels of one such dietary supplement, magnesium, boosts brain power.
"Magnesium is essential for the proper functioning of many tissues in the body, including the brain and, in an earlier study, we demonstrated that magnesium promoted synaptic plasticity in cultured brain cells," explains Dr. Liu. "Therefore it was tempting to take our studies a step further and investigate whether an increase in brain magnesium levels enhanced cognitive function in animals."
Because it is difficult to boost brain magnesium levels with traditional oral supplements, Dr. Liu and colleagues developed a new magnesium compound, magnesium-L-threonate (MgT) that could significantly increase magnesium in the brain via dietary supplementation. They used MgT to increase magnesium in rats of different ages and then looked for behavioral and cellular changes associated with memory.
"We found that increased brain magnesium enhanced many different forms of learning and memory in both young and aged rats," says Dr. Liu. A close examination of cellular changes associated with memory revealed an increase in the number of functional synapses, activation of key signaling molecules and an enhancement of shortand long-term synaptic processes that are crucial for learning and memory.
The authors note that the control rats in this study had a normal diet which is widely accepted to contain a sufficient amount of magnesium, and that the observed effects were due to elevation of magnesium to levels higher than provided by a normal diet.
"Our findings suggest that elevating brain magnesium content via increasing magnesium intake might be a useful new strategy to enhance cognitive abilities," explains Dr. Liu. "Moreover, half the population of industrialized countries has a magnesium deficit, which increases with aging. This may very well contribute to age-dependent memory decline; increasing magnesium intake might prevent or reduce such decline.


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Hill, M., Bull, S., Funnell, R., Jones, C., Field, B
03 Sep 2012 to 03 Sep 2012
The better we understand what is beneath us, the better we can manage our geological resources responsibly. Three-dimensional models of geology allow us to make informed management decisions. They tell us how best we can extract resources such as hydrocarbons, geothermal energy and groundwater, and how we can use the rocks to support environmentally clean energy by mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and banking surplus renewable energy.
We present two 3D digital models for parts of Taranaki Basin, and discuss their uses in order to illustrate how such models can help New Zealand assess its energy security, boost revenues from hydrocarbons, and mitigate climate change through the storage of CO2, or compressed air for the generation of electricity. The digital model for the Maui gas field will help assess its potential for carbon storage to reduce New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions. Maui's storage capacity is currently estimated as hundreds of millions of tonnes of CO2, equivalent to several decades of our current major point source emissions. The digital model for the Kupe field area is based on 16 layers and includes 120 faults, many of which have been assessed for their ability to seal or leak fluids. These models can be used as the framework for developing even more detailed, cellular 3D models.
Digital models also allow the prediction of potential interactions between resource uses, for example, how hydrocarbon extraction and carbon dioxide, gas or air injection might overlap or affect groundwater resources. Models can be regional, broad-brush models, or be highly detailed and specific to one local structure, where they can be used to engineer maximum efficiency of extraction or storage. The development of 3D digital models of our sedimentary rocks will therefore allow better husbandry of existing resources, better prioritisation of resource usage where interactions might occur, and offer more opportunities for climate change mitigation.
Download Brad Field's Presentation [PowerPoint 2007 Presentation - 7.78 MB]


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Does the North Pole belong to Greenland and by extension to Denmark, to which it is politically linked? That's the question Danish geologists heading for the Arctic this week will be trying to answer.
They hope the seismic data they collect between now and mid-September will support the claim of Denmark and Greenland to 150,000 square kilometres of extra territory extending north from Greenland into the oil and gas-rich Arctic sea floor.
Their claim rests on whether an underwater formation extending north of Greenland called the Lomonosov Ridge qualifies as an extension of Greenland's land mass. If it does, Greenland can bid to extend its undersea territory.
Jens Jørgen Møller, head of the department organising the expedition at the Geological Society of Denmark and Greenland, says the key data will come from an echo sounding device mapping the profile of the seabed along the ridge, and from seismic measurements of sediment thickness.
Any claim that the Lomonosov Ridge belongs to Denmark and Greenland would meet resistance from Russia: in 2007 it claimed that the opposite end of the ridge is an extension of Siberia.
Other nations laying claims to chunks of the Arctic are Canada, Norway and possibly the US. Geological data is a prerequisite to winning an officially recognised claim to territory, according to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, says Møller.
If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.
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Archaeologists have discovered the world's oldest calendar
We usually blame the ancient Mesopotamians for the invention of time-tracking devices. But as a recent discovery in Scotland has revealed, hunter-gatherers may have started using a rudimentary calendar over 10,000 years ago.
Agriculture, tool use, and cooking are often touted as the most significant innovations in the development of human societies. But few give credit to time-tracking and the capacity to conceptualize and measure time.
Indeed, without a formal approach to time itself, our ancestors could not anticipate future events with any kind of accuracy. Few activities could be scheduled, and by consequence, nothing significant could be co-ordinated on a mass scale. The development of a functional calendar, therefore, would seem to be of paramount importance.
Archaeologists credit Bronze Age Mesopotamians with inventing the first calendar (the "Mesolithic calendar"), an innovation that appeared about 5,000 years ago.
More Than Just Pits
But as Vince Gaffney of the University of Birmingham now theorizes, hunter-gatherers who used to live in what is now northern Scotland may have developed a primitive — but effective — calendar that allowed them to accurately measure the passage of time.
Archaeologists have discovered the world's oldest calendar
Gaffney, an expert in landscape archaeology, says that a row of 12 pits found in a field near Crathes Castle in an Aberdeenshire field is in fact a calendar. Each pit, some of which are 2 meters across, tracks the lunar months. Essentially, the hunter-gatherers used it as a tally system.
Now, that might not sound like a big deal. But what makes this such a fascinating piece of time-tracking technology is that it aligns on the winter solstice to provide the hunter-gatherers with an annual "astronomic correction.
The reason for this is that the lunar month isn't in sync with the solar year. So, stone age people needed to come up with an annual correction to make up for the "drift" — and they were able to do so by taking an observation every year on another celestial event, the midwinter solstice, in order to set the clock back to zero. This could have very well been their "New Year."
Each pit may have also been used to track the lunar month by mirroring the phases of the moon.
The row of pits is about 50 meters long and is arranged as an arc facing a v-shaped dip in the horizon (from where the sun rose on mid-winter's day). There are 12.37 lunar months in one solar year, so each pit likely represented a specific month, while the entire arc represented the entire year.
Gaffney suspects that the calendar was in use for about 4,000 years — from around 8,000 BC (the early Mesolithic period) to around 4,000 BC (the early Neolithic).
Disruptive Technology
What this tells anthropologists is that hunter-gatherer societies were more sophisticated than previously thought. Armed with a functional calendar, hunter-gatherers could schedule activities. They could anticipate the run of fish, for example, or the migration of certain animals. Shamans could have used it to give the impression that they were in "control" of the seasons.
And in all likelihood, the downstream effects of these new predictive powers could have led to considerable social changes. It may have even allowed for larger communities and new social dynamics.
"The evidence suggests that hunter-gatherer societies in Scotland had both the need and sophistication to track time across the years, to correct for seasonal drift of the lunar year and that this occurred nearly 5,000 years before the first formal calendars known in the Near East," noted Gaffney in a statement. "In doing so, this illustrates one important step towards the formal construction of time and therefore history itself."
Read the entire study at the journal Internet Archaeology: "Time and a Place: A luni-solar 'time-reckoner' from 8th millennium BC Scotland."
Images: Gaffney, University of Birmingham.


During the holidays, cold weather and decadent food can make it challenging to stay active throughout the seemingly never-ending winter season. This year, ditch that boring gym workout for something a little different.
Christina Kaoh
You might have seen it at Cirque du Soleil or during Pink's high flying performance at last year's Grammy awards, and it's called aerial silks. The performances are literally dances in the air complete with extreme poses and jaw-dropping drops. However, silks are much more than an acrobatic show—they provide a unique and challenging workout that requires a combination of flexibility and strength. I spoke with aerial silks enthusiast and class instructor Christina Kaoh about her passion for the big top.
In a nutshell, what do aerials and acrobatics technically consist of? Is there a proper name for it?
The sport (or performance art, really) that I practice the most, is known by several names: aerial silks, aerial acrobatics, and tissu (which is French for "fabric"). There are other apparatuses, such as aerial hoop, or lyra, which is a circular structure suspended on a rotating point; aerial straps, which consist of straps which the performer grabs by the hand or loops their foot into; and rope, or corde lisse, which is a fabric covered rope. Static and flying trapeze are other forms of aerial arts.
How popular do you think that aerial silks currently are?
It's become increasingly used as an exercise and more and more appreciated as a performance art. People, such as myself, train in aerial arts for the pure performance aspect of it and gain the strength and flexibility in the mean time. But a lot of classes use aerial apparatus these days as fitness apparatus and build conditioning classes based on aerial moves. It's also become increasingly blended with yoga to ease practitioners into upside down poses and help increase flexibility.
How did you first get started?
I saw Cirque du Soleil and was inspired to become just as proficient in the aerial art form (i.e. just as cool) that I saw in that show, which was aerial tissu, to be specific. I remember that I saw "KA" in Vegas one summer and was blown away by how amazing all the acts were. A few months later, I saw another Cirque show that traveled through my area and resolved to find myself aerial classes. Two days later, I was learning how to climb tissu and do footlocks!
Which muscles do aerial silks work? What health benefits does it have?
Aerial arts definitely work your back, core and shoulders, to name a few. Even your legs are engaged to keep them straight, lift them up and over your head, or keep your toes pointed. It really is a total body workout that engages parts of your body that may not be engaged in more traditional forms of exercise. Learning aerial arts can make you more flexible and it is an anaerobic workout since it forces you to work against gravity and use your own body weight by pulling yourself up or over the fabric. I also think it has psychological benefits because it forces you to face your fear of heights, being upside down and being in unconventional positions.
How can I get started with aerials and acrobatics?
Just go for it! That's what I did anyway. I always hear, "I don't have any upper body strength, so I'm going to wait till I've worked out more." No. You'll build it as you go. I could never complete a pull-up before and now I can do six really good ones at a time and it all came from going to class. Each time you struggle to pull yourself up the fabric or into a pose, you are strengthening your muscles. Be prepared to work muscles you may not normally use, such as back muscles, your forearms, and your hands. Your hand grip will become much stronger in time.
What can I search for when looking for gyms?
When looking for a gym, I suggest looking at the instructor's style. How good are they with beginner students if that is your level? Some fabulous performers/coaches don't make for the most understanding or compassionate instructors for beginners. Know what you're willing to take. If they push you hard, is that going to leave you defeated, or do you thrive in that type of pressure? Most importantly, take a look at your instructor's actual technique. I learn by emulating what I see and if I'm not impressed with what I see, then I'm not willing to learn from this person. An instructor can be strong and "know" the moves, but if he or she does everything with bent knees, relaxed feet, and by swinging into moves, then it's likely that they won't correct you in straightening your legs, pointing/flexing your feet, and developing muscle control as opposed to using momentum to get into position. All those small things make the difference in a mediocre performance and a fabulous one.
Editor's Note: Christina Kaoh is an aerial silks instructor at Urban Evolution gym in Alexandria, Va. She has been practicing silks on and off for the last four years.


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In a previous post I explained how to create all possible combinations of the levels of two factors using
expand.grid(). Another use for this function is to create a regular grid for two variables to create a levelplot or a contour plot.
For example, let's say that we have fitted a multiple linear regression to predict wood stiffness (stiff, the response) using basic density (bd) and a measure of microfibril angle (t) as explanatory variables. The regression equation could be something like
stiffness = 3.439 + 0.009 bd - 0.052 t. In our dataset bd had a range of 300 to 700 kg m-3, while t had a range from 50 to 70.
We will use the
levelplot() function that is part of the
lattice package of graphical functions, create a grid for both explanatory variables (every 10 for bd and every 1 for t), predict values of stiffness for all combinations of bd and t, and plot the results.
library(lattice) # Create grid of data wood = expand.grid(bd = seq(300, 700, 10), t = seq(50, 70, 1)) wood$stiffness = with(wood, 3.439 + 0.009*bd - 0.052*t) levelplot(stiffness ~ bd*t, data = wood, xlab='Basic density', ylab='T')
This code creates a graph like this. Simple.