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A Closer Look at Decision and Analyst Error by Including Nonlinearities in Discrete Choice Models: Implications on Willingness-to-Pay Estimates Derived from Discrete Choice Data in Healthcare
- Esther W. de Bekker-GrobAffiliated withDepartment of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre Rotterdam Email author
-, John M. RoseAffiliated withThe University of Sydney Business School, The University of Sydney
-, Michiel C. J. BliemerAffiliated withThe University of Sydney Business School, The University of Sydney
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Most researchers in health economics cite random utility theory (RUT) when analysing discrete choice experiments (DCEs). Under RUT, the error term is associated with the analyst's inability to properly capture the true choice processes of the respondent as well as the inconsistency or mistakes arising from the respondent themselves. Under such assumptions, it stands to reason that analysts should explore more complex nonlinear indirect utility functions, than currently used in healthcare, to strive for better estimates of preferences in healthcare.
To test whether complex indirect utility functions decrease error variance for models that either implicitly (i.e. the multinomial logit (MNL) model) or explicitly (i.e. entropy multinomial logit (EMNL) model) account for error variance in health(care)-related DCEs; and to determine the impact of complex indirect utility functions on willingness-to-pay (WTP) measures.
Using data from DCEs aimed at healthcare-related decisions, we empirically compared (1) complex and simple indirect utility specifications in terms of goodness of fit, (2) their impact on WTP measures, including confidence intervals (CIs) based on the Delta method, the Krinsky and Robb-procedure, and Bootstrapping, and (3) MNL and EMNL model results.
Complex indirect utility functions had a better model fit than simple specifications (p < 0.05). WTP estimates were quite similar across alternative specifications. The Delta method produced the most narrow CIs. The EMNL model showed that respondents apply simplifying strategies when answering DCE questions.
Complex indirect utility functions reduce error arisen from researchers, which can have important implications for measures in healthcare such as the WTP, whereas EMNL provides insights into the behaviour of respondents when answering DCEs. Understanding how respondents answer DCE questions may allow researchers to construct DCEs that minimise scale differences, so that the decision error made across respondents is more homogeneous and therefore taken out as additional noise in the data. Hence, better estimates of preferences in healthcare can be provided.
- A Closer Look at Decision and Analyst Error by Including Nonlinearities in Discrete Choice Models: Implications on Willingness-to-Pay Estimates Derived from Discrete Choice Data in Healthcare
Volume 31, Issue 12, pp _PHONE_
- Cover Date
- Print ISSN
- Online ISSN
- Springer International Publishing
- Additional Links
- Industry Sectors
- Author Affiliations
- 1. Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre Rotterdam, PO Box 2040, 3000 CA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
- 2. The University of Sydney Business School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia


Friday, December 29, 2006
Out on the edge with the ZODB
Someday I'd love to write a book called something like Application Development with the Zope Object Database (ZODB). Writing it would let me share the information I've learned, as well as make me learn the bits I still haven't gotten around to. That's how I really think of my Zope 3 work--in that context, I'm
 1. A Python programmer
 2. who uses the ZODB and related libraries
 3. with web-related components and libraries.
The ZODB is a very nice tool to work with. The Zope books out there just touch on it, and I think many Zope technologies can be introduced from the perspective of the ZODB, rather than the other way around. Maybe I'll write that book yet.
In any case, last week at work we found another interesting ZODB edge case to contemplate. More than a year ago, a colleague had added an interesting and useful feature to a package I largely created, zc.catalog (PyPI, browse SVN, checkout SVN). Rather than processing catalog requests as they came in, the feature allowed the requests to be queued for the end of the transaction. The big win here is for objects that may have multiple changes within a transaction, such as during object creation and initialization: we can collapse all the index requests for a given object into one, and hopefully save redundant work.
When I studied how this this had been done, I saw that the work queue was a persistent object with a connection to the database. Why, I wondered? This object should always begin and end every transaction empty! Can't we just use a purely transient object, discarded at the end of the transaction?
The answer (or at least my answer) was subtransactions. If you index something, then start a subtransaction, then index something else, then abort the subtransaction, then the first index request should remain in the queue. We really want transactional behavior, not persistence, and persistence is the easiest way to get that (without writing a transaction manager and so on).
Our problem is somewhat obvious in retrospect: using a persistent object for this queue can cause write conflicts. In the case of an object without special conflict resolution code, concurrent transactions that both cause the catalog to index anything will make the queue "dirty" in both transactions, and thus generate a conflict error. The object must have a specific conflict resolution policy that notices when all three states (mine, the conflicting one, and the shared historical one) are the same; or (I learned) you can have the client code call _p_invalidate on the queue after it is empty to discard the dirty state and return to the initial version.
The queue was a persistent dict. BTree buckets have conflict resolution code, but unfortunately not this bit of logic, so they would not have helped (if I remember and understand correctly, an empty bucket usually means that it should be discarded from a tree, so it can only resolve a conflict safely if all three states are empty, not just the two conflicting ones). The remaining solutions are to write an object with the conflict resolution code, to use _p_invalidate, or possibly to make a custom transaction manager. As I understand it, a colleague plans to choose _p_invalidate, as well as to add tests for the queueing behavior that were omitted from the initial addition.
The transaction manager seems like it might be a "purer" solution, but the other approaches might be more practical. In any case, I found the problem and resolution to be fascinating, and it added another few bits of ZODB knowledge to my store.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Web Component Development with Zope 3, Second Edition
I got my comp copy of Philipp von Weitershausen's Web Component Development with Zope 3, Second Edition yesterday. I was the primary technical reviewer for this second edition. It's an impressive book, and I'm happy I was able to be a part of it.
It's also fascinating as an artifact documenting the current state of Zope. The message it sends is overwhelmingly positive.
 - While the usual polish problems in technical books are still evident (shame on us reviewers), it still is one of the better technology books I've encountered--looking through my library, say, top 10%. It's impressive that we attract authors and books of this caliber.
 - Springer is a very high-quality publisher.
 - I don't know of any other Zope books to get to a second edition--and the first edition is from 2005!
 - Phil Eby's foreward is high praise from a well-respected voice in the Python community.
 - The system the book describes is largely attractive and powerful from my perspective--it reminds me why I got excited about Zope in the first place.
Generally, it gives me a strong, welcome feeling of health for Zope.
There is a negative side to be found as well.
 - The book highlights some obvious holes for the beginner--for instance, when I was reviewing the text and trying to help polish some of the story, I was really struck by how painful the Zope 3 indexing story must be for a beginner, even while I love the flexibility.
 - The book doesn't touch on AJAX, because Zope 3 doesn't have an integrated story for it. It's easy enough to build AJAX apps--nothing is stopping you--but it's up to you. No nice AJAX widget story.
 - Philipp mentions a lack of relational database support beyond the basic transactional support of the database adapters; this both highlights a legitimate lack, and points to a continuing tension in the Zope community over the importance and use of the ZODB, the Zope Object Database.
 - Phil Eby's foreward alludes to the larger Python community's apathy or even antagonism to Zope; he also admits that he himself does not use it (presumably favoring his own PEAK).
Ah, well.
In any case, I highly recommend the book to anyone wanting to learn Zope 3. On the one hand, it's really the only option now, with Stephan Richter's book not moving to a second edition, and no other books on the horizon; on the other hand, even without competitors, it's amazingly welcoming, clear and thorough.


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If family has celiac
Persons who have relatives with celiac disease
are more likely to get celiac disease (it's hereditary).
The disease occurs more often in certain ethnic/racial groups because more people in those groups carry the hla-dq2 and hla-dq8 genes that "cause" celiac disease. The genes are more common in persons from northern/western europe, but are uncommon in western pacific rim populations (china/japan).

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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|Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Tuning with the Oracle Tuning Pack
Part Number A86647-01
The Outline Management tool allows you to manage stored outlines directly using a GUI-based tool. Specifically you can browse, sort, delete, and edit outlines with this tool. Outlines are preserved by Oracle's plan stability functionality, so before using Outline Management or Outline Editor to create or edit an outline, it is important to understand how plan stability works. Plan stability prevents certain database environment changes from affecting the performance characteristics of applications. Such changes include changes to the optimizer statistics, changes to the optimizer mode settings, and changes to parameters affecting the sizes of memory structures, such as
BITMAP_MERGE_AREA_SIZE. Plan stability is most useful when you cannot risk any performance changes in an application.
An outline consists primarily of a set of hints that is equivalent to the optimizer's results for the execution plan generation of a particular SQL statement. When you create an outline, plan stability examines the optimization results using the same data used to generate the execution plan. That is, Oracle uses the input to the execution plan to generate an outline, and not the execution plan itself.
As mentioned above, an outline is a means for modifying optimizer behavior. When the optimizer encounters the SQL text of the outline, it applies the supplied hints. The plans Oracle maintains in stored outlines remain consistent despite changes to a system's configuration or statistics. Using outlines also stabilizes the generated execution plan if the optimizer changes in subsequent Oracle releases. Plan stability facilitates migration from the rule-based optimizer to the cost-based optimizer when you upgrade to a new Oracle release.
For more information on plan stability, see the Oracle9i Database Performance Guide and Reference.
There are two ways to launch the Outline Management Tool:
The Outline Management tool provides an easy-to-use graphical interface for managing your stored outlines. The tool can tell you how many outlines exist in the database and whether or not the outlines have been used since the last database upgrade.
Specifically, the tool allows you to:
The Outline Management Tool can also be used to launch the Outline Editor to create a new outline or edit an existing outline. When you want to create a new outline, Outline Management gives you two options: Create and Create Like. The Create feature launches the Outline Editor which allows you to specify the name, category, and SQL text for your new outline. Use the Create Like feature to make a new outline similar to an existing one.
When you edit an existing outline, the Outline Editor lets you to see the SQL text and modify the graphical explain plan for the outline. For more information on using the Outline Editor, see Chapter 26, "Introduction to the Outline Editor".


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.11, and 1.39 m·s(-1))-on level natural terrain while wearing suitable footwear (TBs) and on a treadmill at various raising slopes (0, 1, 2, 3, 4%) while wearing running shoes-was measured in 14 healthy young men (age 23.9 ± 2.9 years, stature 1.75 ± 0.04 m, and body mass 72.9 ± 6.3 kg). A physiological evaluation of all the subjects was performed before energy cost measurements. The results showed that outdoors, the oxygen uptake was consistently less than the ventilatory threshold at all speeds tested and that a 3% slope on the treadmill best reflects the outdoor walking energy expenditure. These findings will prove useful to plan proper training for hiking activity or mixed (outdoors and indoors) training program.
Background. The festive season is a time when people are at risk of overeating and weight gain. An active break during this time can help maintain energy balance. Objectives. To determine steps taken during a walk/hike to Everest Base Camp and back and compare estimated activityrelated energy expenditure to a typical...
Bell, Peter M.
Women employed in the research and development fields in universities, government, and industry made substantial increases and lead men in salary gains in 1981, according to a far-reaching survey of 5000 respondents (Industrial Research and Development, April 1982). At the upper end, 20% of women researchers received salary increases of 14% or more, compared to 13% of the men. The raises were high in 1981; more than half the women in research and development had salary gains of over 9%.The employment picture for women in the scientific and technical fields is somewhat complicated by the affirmative efforts of hiring. More women were hired in 1981, and most newly hired women and men begin at the lowest salaries. This factor contributed to the reality that more women than men at the lower salary ranges received zero raises. However, according to the survey, this is not a trend, since the current efforts to add women in research fields are providing more rewards for women per amount of experience than for men: "…women working in R&D have far less experience than their male counterparts." (IR&D, op cit.). The median years of experience is down in 1981 from previous years. Some 40% of the women surveyed had less than 6 years experience, compared to about 14% of the men. These figures contrast with those of the survey trends of previous years, which indicated a direct relation between salary and experience. It is still true that because larger numbers of men have over 16 years of experience, the highest paid employees in research and development fields are men. It is noted, however, that in the beginning salary scales ($16-27 k/yr) women outnumber men.
Full Text Available Purpose: determination of influence of hiking trainings on adolescents' health. Material: the research covered adolescents, who train hiking for one year in hiking circles (20 boys and 16 girls and adolescents, who do not practice hiking trainings (18 boys and 20 girls. Age of participants was 13 years. The following indices were determined" Ketle -2 index, Robinson's index, indices of Skibinskiy, Shapovalova, Ruffiet. Results: positive influence of hiking trainings on general health condition of adolescents was determined. It has been recommended to practice hiking at days off, summer holidays and during academic year. It was found that general health of group 2 adolescents (who did not practice hiking corresponds to level below middle (10-13 points. Adolescents of group 1 (who practice hiking level of general health reaches middle level (14-18 points. Conclusions: it is recommended to assess schoolchildren's health in points. Besides, it is necessary to consider points of every separate index; it will permit to find weak points of adolescents organism's functioning.
Jansen, A.J.; Van Abbema, A.; Howe, C.
The paper presents the changes in perceived comfort while hiking in a sailing boat (in this case the Laser, a single-handed Olympic dinghy) due to a new design of hiking pads. The project used a 'research by design method'. The aim was to improve sailing comfort which leads to lower fatigue and
... engage in dispersed recreational activities (i.e., hiking, biking and camping); and (2) those who seek... Flyer Rappel Activity at Adventure Ridge Expanded Hiking and Mountain Bike Trails Riparian Experience at... harmonize with, and benefit from, the natural setting of the NFS lands within Vail's existing Forest Service...
Kim, J.; Kim, J. K.
Mountain National Parks have been suffered serious soil erosion by hiking in Korea. To identify the impacts of different human's trampling intensities, a comparative study was conducted in Mt. Mudeungsan National Park where has been very intensive recreational activities. For this study, trail-conditions and soil properties were discovered on the 1.9km trail of high traffic (A) and 3.8km trail of low traffic (B) in the study area. Width was significantly wider on the A than B, but there was no significant difference in the values of other factors. With compaction and erosion of topsoil on the trail, penetration resistance and bulk density were significantly higher, but water content and the ratio of silt and clay were significantly lower than those of undisturbed areas around the trails. These were not statistically significant spatial difference from the use frequency of the trails. This result implies that the characteristics of surface soil on trails were not largely affected by use frequency, and the evolution of cross-section form of trails would be dominated by widening. This study will help in managing trail system and establishing conservation policy sustainably.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This film documents student hiking trips conducted by the University of Colorado at Boulder in the Rocky Mountains, Colorado, USA during the summers of _PHONE_....
... geographic range of Magazine Mountain shagreen that may affect or benefit the species. (5) The draft post... picnic facilities on the north slopes, additional hiking trails, and a reconstructed homestead. However...
Buchardt, R; Bay, Jonathan; Bojsen-Møller, Jens
The hypothesis, that sailing upwind in wind speeds above 12 knots causes fatigue, which manifests as a reduction in exerted hiking strap force and/or maximal isometric voluntary contraction force (MVC) of the knee extensors, was evaluated. Additionally, it was investigated if a relationship exists...... between maximal exerted hiking force (hMVC) and sailing performance. In part 1 of the study, 12 national level athletes sailed upwind for 2 × 10 min while hiking strap forces were continuously acquired. Before, in between and after sailing periods, the MVC of the knee extensors was measured. In part 2...... of the study, hMVC was measured dry land in a hiking bench and correlated with the overall results at a national championship. Hiking strap force decreased from the first to the last minute in both 10 min sailing periods (430 ± 131 vs. 285 ± 130 N, P
While it is just a minor nuisance when a MP3 player breaks down during a short sunday's cycle tour, it may be more of a problem when a lamp or GPS cell phone does not have sufficient electricity supply on a mountain hike of several days. The contribution presents a number of commercially available solar emergency power supplies. While some of these are no more than amusing, others are power supplies to be reckoned with. (orig.)
Full Text Available ABSTRACT Introduction: Many middle-aged Turks go hiking in mountains to breathe some fresh air or to maintain fitness. Objective: This study investigated the effects of regular high altitude mountain climbing on the metabolic and hematological responses of mountaineers. Methods: Hematological and biochemical parameters were studied, as well as some hormonal values of 21 mountaineers and 16 healthy age-matched sedentary volunteers. Results: The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR was significantly lower (p<0.04 in mountaineers compared with the sedentary group. Total protein (p<0.001 and albumin (p<0.001 were lower, while the levels of ferritin (p<0.04, creatine (p<0.03 and creatine phosphokinase (p<0.01 were higher in mountaineers. Other hematological and biochemical parameters, i.e., erythrocytes, leukocytes, hemoglobin and hematocrit, did not change significantly. Conclusion: Our results show that regular exposure to high altitude increased the serum levels of some acute phase proteins with anti-inflammatory properties.
Roberson, Donald N., Jr.; Babic, Vesna
Exercise usually takes place in leisure time. The benefits, mental and physical, of exercise are well documented, yet, many choose to remain inactive. There is a need for more research concerning those who continue to exercise. The purpose of this study was to understand more about the experience of those who are hiking and walking on Medvednica…
Even the blazing heat could not stop people from enjoying the Occupational Health Services' (OHS) most recent Take a Hike event, which promoted healthy living. The red, white, and blue–themed, 1.3-mile walk was the fifth such event since 2014 for NCI at Frederick. People got out of their offices to exercise, show off their patriotism, and win prizes.
Valente, Clara; Spinelli, Raffaele; Hillring, Bengt Gunnar; Sol


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Based on the "second Qinghai Tibet Plateau comprehensive scientific investigation" and "China's soil series investigation and compilation of China's soil series" "The obtained soil survey profile data, using predictive Digital Soil Mapping paradigm, using geographic information and remote sensing technology for fine description and spatial analysis of the soil forming environment, developed adaptive depth function fitting methods, and integrated advanced ensemble machine learning methods to generate a series of soil attributes (soil organic carbon, pH value, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total potassium, cation exchange capacity, gravel content (>2mm) in the Qinghai Tibet plateau region.", sand, silt, clay, soil texture type, unit weight, soil thickness, etc.) and quantify the spatial distribution of uncertainty. Compared with the existing soil maps, it better represents the spatial variation characteristics of soil properties in the Qinghai Tibet Plateau. The data set can provide soil information support for the study of soil, ecology, hydrology, environment, climate, biology, etc. in the Qinghai Tibet Plateau.
The dataset includes the measured soil thickness data at 148 points in the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin, as well as the physical properties and hydraulic characteristics (such as particle size, saturated water content, organic matter content, saturated hydraulic conductivity, etc.) of soil samples at 40 points. The sampling points are distributed from Zhongba County in the upper reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River basin to Nyingchi city in the lower reaches. The soil thickness data is obtained through the excavation profile measurement, and other soil data are obtained from the collected ring knife samples according to the standardized experimental process, so the data accuracy is high. The soil data of the Yarlung Zangbo River basin provided by this dataset can provide a reference for large-scale soil mapping on the Qinghai Tibet Plateau and improve the prediction accuracy of relevant studies.
This data includes the soil carbon and nitrogen content at 0-10cm, 10-20cm and 20-30cm soil depths of 52 sample points in the west of Qinghai Tibet Plateau. The soil samples were obtained by the research team through soil drilling from 2019 to 2020. After the soil was screened with 2mm aperture, it was air dried and fine roots were removed, and then measured by carbon and nitrogen analyzer in the laboratory. This data can provide a theoretical basis for the study of soil carbon and nitrogen processes at different depths in the western Qinghai Tibet Plateau under the scenario of global climate change in the future, and provide data support for the model to simulate the process of soil carbon and nitrogen cycle, which is conducive to a deeper understanding of the process of soil carbon and nitrogen cycle in the western Qinghai Tibet Plateau.
This dataset is a high-frequency observation data of soil temperature and humidity in the active layer of seasonal frozen soil observed in the alpine meadow of Qianhuli Small watershed of Qinghai Lake, with a time resolution of half an hour. The data set can provide data support for the rate-dependent soil hydrothermal model and dynamic characterization of soil active layer.
The dataset based on synthesized data from 1114 sites across the Tibetan permafrost region which report that paleoclimate is more important than modern climate in shaping current permafrost carbon distribution.A new estimate of modern soil carbon stock to 3m depth on Tibetan permafrost region was derived by machine learning algorithm, including factors such as climate (paleoclimate and modern climate), vegetation, soil (soil thickness and soil physical and chemical properties, etc.) and topography. This dataset shows that ecosystem models clearly underestimated the Tibetan soil carbon stock, due to the absence of paleoclimate effects in the model. Future modelling of soil carbon cycling should include paleoclimate.
The near surface atmospheric forcing and surface state dataset of the Tibetan Plateau was yielded by WRF model, time range: 2000-2010, space range: 25-40 °N, 75-105 °E, time resolution: hourly, space resolution: 10 km, grid number: 150 * 300. There are 33 variables in total, including 11 near surface atmospheric variables: temperature at 2m height on the ground, specific humidity at 2m height on the ground, surface pressure, latitudinal component of 10m wind field on the ground, longitudinal component of 10m wind field on the ground, proportion of solid precipitation, cumulative cumulus convective precipitation, cumulative grid precipitation, downward shortwave radiation flux at the surface, downward length at the surface Wave radiation flux, cumulative potential evaporation. There are 19 surface state variables: soil temperature in each layer, soil moisture in each layer, liquid water content in each layer, heat flux of snow phase change, soil bottom temperature, surface runoff, underground runoff, vegetation proportion, surface heat flux, snow water equivalent, actual snow thickness, snow density, water in the canopy, surface temperature, albedo, background albedo, lower boundary Soil temperature, upward heat flux (sensible heat flux) at the surface and upward water flux (sensible heat flux) at the surface. There are three other variables: longitude, latitude and planetary boundary layer height.
Soil freezing depth (SFD) is necessary to evaluate the balance of water resources, surface energy exchange and biogeochemical cycle change in frozen soil area. It is an important indicator of climate change in the cryosphere and is very important to seasonal frozen soil and permafrost. This data is based on Stefan equation, using the daily temperature prediction data and E-factor data of canems2 (rcp45 and rcp85), gfdl-esm2m (rcp26, rcp45, rcp60 and rcp85), hadgem2-es (rcp26, rcp45 and rcp85), ipsl-cm5a-lr (rcp26, rcp45, rcp60 and rcp85), miroc5 (rcp26, rcp45, rcp60 and rcp85) and noresm1-m (rcp26, rcp45, rcp60 and rcp85), The data set of annual average soil freezing depth in the Qinghai Tibet Plateau with a spatial resolution of 0.25 degrees from 2007 to 2065 was obtained.
The data set contains soil physicochemical properties of ten scientific expedition routes in Qinghai-Tibet Plateu during 2019-2021, including sample colletor, sampling time, sampling location, longitude and latitude, altitude, vegetation type, sampling depth, soil water content, pH, organic matter content, total carbon content, total nitrogen content, total phosphorus content, inorganic nitrogen content, heavy metal elements content, and etc. The physicochemical properties were measured in the laboratory with quality control, including measuring blanks, replicates and standard samples.The data set can be used for evaluating soil quality and function under the influence of climate change and human activities.
Soil is mineral particles of different sizes formed by weathering of rocks. Soil not only provides nutrients and water for crops, but also has a transforming effect on various nutrients. In addition, the soil also has a self-cleaning function, which can improve organic matter content, soil temperature and humidity, pH value, anion and cation. The soil pollution causes several environmental problems: industrial sewage, acid rain, exhaust emissions, accumulations, agricultural pollution. After the land is polluted, the contaminated tops with high concentration of heavy metals are easily entered under the action of wind and water. Other secondary ecological and environmental problems such as air pollution, surface water pollution, groundwater pollution and ecosystem degradation in the atmosphere and water.he data set comes from the World Soil Database (Harmonized World Soil Database version 1.1) (HWSD) UN Food and Agriculture (FAO) and the Vienna International Institute for Applied Systems Research Institute (IIASA) constructed, which provides data model input parameters for the modeler, At the same time, it provides a basis for research on ecological agriculture, food security and climate change.
Field surveys and soil sample collection were carried out in river and lake source of the Tibet Autonomous Region, and a total of 150 soil samples were collected, from August to September 2020. The data set includes serial number, plot number, latitude and longitude, altitude, soil moisture content, bulk density, organic matter, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total potassium, pH and mechanical composition (sand, silt and clay content). The data format is an Excel table. The determination of various soil properties refers to the requirements of the "Technical Specifications for Soil Environmental Quality Monitoring" and is obtained through field sampling and indoor testing. Soil bulk density was measured in 5–10 cm and 15–20 cm soil layers, respectively. The mechanical composition is divided into sand (2–0.02 mm), silt (0.02–0.002 mm) and clay (< 0.002 mm) according to the International System of Classification. The soil is removed from impurities such as gravel and roots and crushed. The determination of soil organic matter, total nitrogen, total phosphorus and total potassium is a complete sample. The pH was determined by potentiometric method, and the water-soil ratio was 2.5:1. The collection of soil samples refers to the soil sample collection specifications, and the indoor analysis and testing refers to standard analysis methods. The data quality is controlled by measuring duplicate samples and standard samples. This data can provide data supporting for comprehensive assessment of the environmental effects of typical land use changes.


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The desire for a better world is as old as humanity. Today, in light of current challenges, we feel this desire stronger than ever. There are dreams, visions and scenarios of how the future could look.
The OEGUT sees itself as a modern platform with the task of taking visions and ideas, making them realizable and carrying them into the future. This involves important dimensions of our society: the economy and environment, scientific research, diversity and democracy.
In this regard we interpret our task as follows: „we develop, communicate and network knowledge."
Thank you for taking the time to visit us.
Yours sincerely, Monika Auer
General Secretary, OEGUT


Creekstone Dental
A dentist holds an air abrasion tool.
Air Abrasion
Treating cavities and tooth decay without a drill!
How Does Air Abrasion Work?
Instead of using a drill to remove tooth decay or cavities, air abrasion uses instead a tool that works like a mini sandblaster. The instrument is designed to spray a fine stream of particles, made of silica, aluminum oxide, or a baking soda mixture, at the decay. These particles are compressed into a gas that is run through the handpiece. As the particles hit the tooth surface, they gently remove the small particles of decay on the tooth surface and the particles are suctioned away.
Is it Safe?
Yes, air abrasion is safe. As a safety precaution, protective eye wear must be worn to protect from stray particles. Also, a protective rubber dam may be used to protect your gums and nearby teeth from the spray.
What are the Advantages?
Compared to the traditional drilling method of treating tooth decay, air abrasion has many advantages.
 - Air abrasion generates no heat, no sound, no pressure, and no vibration.
 - Air abrasion reduces the need for anesthesia. If the cavity being treated is shallow, there may be no need for anesthesia at all!
 - Air abrasion preserves more of the healthy tooth structure than traditional drilling.
 - Air abrasion reduces the risk of fracturing or chipping the tooth.
 - Air abrasion is relatively simple and quick, making time in the dental chair faster!


Using 'varip' variables [PineCoders]
The new varip keyword in Pine can be used to declare variables that escape the rollback process, which is explained in the Pine User Manual's page on the execution model. This publication explains how Pine coders can use variables declared with varip to implement logic that was impossible to code in Pine before, such as timing events during the realtime bar, or keeping track of sequences of events that occur during successive realtime updates. We present code that allows you to calculate for how much time a given condition is true during a realtime bar, and show how this can be used to generate alerts.
1. varip is an advanced feature which should only be used by coders already familiar with Pine's execution model and bar states.
2. Because varip only affects the behavior of your code in the realtime bar, it follows that backtest results on strategies built using logic based on varip will be meaningless,
 as varip behavior cannot be simulated on historical bars. This also entails that plots on historical bars will not be able to reproduce the script's behavior in realtime.
3. Authors publishing scripts that behave differently in realtime and on historical bars should imperatively explain this to traders.
Escaping the rollback process
Whereas scripts only execute once at the close of historical bars, when a script is running in realtime, it executes every time the chart's feed detects a price or volume update. At every realtime update, Pine's runtime normally resets the values of a script's variables to their last committed value, i.e., the value they held when the previous bar closed. This is generally handy, as each realtime script execution starts from a known state, which simplifies script logic.
Sometimes, however, script logic requires code to be able to save states between different executions in the realtime bar. Declaring variables with varip now makes that possible. The "ip" in varip stands for "intrabar persist".
Let's look at the following code, which does not use varip:
int updateNo = na
if barstate.isnew
 updateNo := 1
 updateNo := updateNo + 1
plot(updateNo, style = plot.style_circles)
On historical bars, barstate.isnew is always true, so the plot shows a value of "1". On realtime bars, barstate.isnew is only true when the script first executes on the bar's opening. The plot will then briefly display "1" until subsequent executions occur. On the next executions during the realtime bar, the second branch of the if statement is executed because barstate.isnew is no longer true. Since 'updateNo' is initialized to 'na' at each execution, the 'updateNo + 1' expression yields 'na', so nothing is plotted on further realtime executions of the script.
If we now use varip to declare the 'updateNo' variable, the script behaves very differently:
varip int updateNo = na
if barstate.isnew
 updateNo := 1
 updateNo := updateNo + 1
plot(updateNo, style = plot.style_circles)
The difference now is that 'updateNo' tracks the number of realtime updates that occur on each realtime bar. This can happen because the varip declaration allows the value of 'updateNo' to be preserved between realtime updates; it is no longer rolled back at each realtime execution of the script. The test on barstate.isnew allows us to reset the update count when a new realtime bar comes in.
Let's move on to our script. It has three parts:
 — Part 1 demonstrates how to generate alerts on timed conditions.
 — Part 2 calculates the average of realtime update prices using a varip array.
 — Part 3 presents a function to calculate the up/down/neutral volume by looking at price and volume variations between realtime bar updates.
Something we could not do in Pine before varip was to time the duration for which a condition is continuously true in the realtime bar. This was not possible because we could not save the beginning time of the first occurrence of the true condition.
One use case for this is a strategy where the system modeler wants to exit before the end of the realtime bar, but only if the exit condition occurs for a specific amount of time. One can thus design a strategy running on a 1H timeframe but able to exit if the exit condition persists for 15 minutes, for example. REMINDER: Using such logic in strategies will make backtesting their complete logic impossible, and backtest results useless, as historical behavior will not match the strategy's behavior in realtime, just as using 'calc_on_every_tick = true' will do. Using 'calc_on_every_tick = true' is necessary, by the way, when using varip in a strategy, as you want the strategy to run like a study in realtime, i.e., executing on each price or volume update.
Our script presents an 'f_secondsSince(_cond, _resetCond)' function to calculate the time for which a condition is continuously true during, or even across multiple realtime bars. It only works in realtime. The abundant comments in the script hopefully provide enough information to understand the details of what it's doing. If you have questions, feel free to ask in the Comments section.
The script's inputs allow you to:
 - Specify the number of seconds the tested conditions must last before an alert is triggered (the default is 20 seconds).
 - Determine if you want the duration to reset on new realtime bars.
 - Require the direction of alerts (up or down) to alternate, which minimizes the number of alerts the script generates.
The inputs showcase the new 'tooltip' parameter, which allows additional information to be displayed for each input by hovering over the "i" icon next to it.
The script only displays useful information on realtime bars. This information includes:
 - The MA against which the current price is compared to determine the bull or bear conditions.
 - A dash which prints on the chart when the bull or bear condition is true.
 - An up or down triangle that prints when an alert is generated. The triangle will only appear on the update where the alert is triggered,
 and unless that happens to be on the last execution of the realtime bar, it will not persist on the chart.
 - The log of all triggered alerts to the right of the realtime bar.
 - A gray square on top of the elapsed realtime bars where one or more alerts were generated. The square's tooltip displays the alert log for that bar.
 - A yellow dot corresponding to the average price of all realtime bar updates, which is calculated using a varip array in "Part 2" of the script.
 - Various key values in the Data Window for each parts of the script.
Note that the directional volume information calculated in Part 3 of the script is not plotted on the chart—only in the Data Window.
Using the script
You can try running the script on an open market with a 30sec timeframe. Because the default settings reset the duration on new realtime bars and require a 20 second delay, a reasonable amount of alerts will trigger.
Creating an alert on the script
You can create a script alert on the script. Keep in mind that when you create an alert from this script, the duration calculated by the instance of the script running the alert will not necessarily match that of the instance running on your chart, as both started their calculations at different times. Note that we use alert.freq_all in our alert() calls, so that alerts will trigger on all instances where the associated condition is met. If your alert is being paused because it reaches the maximum of 15 triggers in 3 minutes, you can configure the script's inputs so that up/down alerts must alternate. Also keep in mind that alerts run a distinct instance of your script on different servers, so discrepancies between the behavior of scripts running on charts and alerts can occur, especially if they trigger very often.
Events detected in realtime using variables declared with varip can be transient and not leave visible traces at the close of the realtime bar, as is the case with our script, which can trigger multiple alerts during the same realtime bar, when the script's inputs allow for this. In such cases, elapsed realtime bars will be of no use in detecting past realtime bar events unless dedicated code is used to save traces of events, as we do with our alert log in this script, which we display as a tooltip on elapsed realtime bars.
Realtime updates
We have no control over when realtime updates occur. A realtime bar can open, and then no realtime updates can occur until the open of the next realtime bar. The time between updates can vary considerably.
Past values
There is no mechanism to refer to past values of a varip variable across realtime executions in the same bar. Using the history-referencing operator will, as usual, return the variable's committed value on previous bars. If you want to preserve past values of a varip variable, they must be saved in other variables or in an array.
Resetting variables
Because varip variables not only preserve their values across realtime updates, but also across bars, you will typically need to plan conditions that will at some point reset their values to a known state. Testing on barstate.isnew, as we do, is a good way to achieve that.
The fact that a script uses varip does not make it necessarily repainting. A script could conceivably use varip to calculate values saved when the realtime bar closes, and then use confirmed values of those calculations from the previous bar to trigger alerts or display plots, avoiding repaint.
timenow resolution
Although the variable is expressed in milliseconds it has an actual resolution of seconds, so it only increments in multiples of 100


text:
The High-Performance Butterfly Valve offered many advantages over the diaphragm valve, especially in the area of control system integration. For example, when the connected controls are closely monitoring the valve's rate-of-flow and the influent and effluent pressures, the controls may then throttle the valve actuator so as to provide a rate-of-flow and/or upstream pressure that fits within the operator's desired setpoint window. These flow and pressure setpoints may be digitally selected, and may even be modified remotely through a computer; whereas the vast majority of diaphragm valve setpoint modifications are performed local to the valve by manually adjusting the knob on a pressure regulator or needle valve.
The High-Performance Butterfly Valve, however, can be challenging to control. Because the vast majority of its flow-variation occurs between approximately 10% and 30% open, slight turn increments can produce rather large increases in rate-of-flow — resulting in flows and pressures that are difficult to maintain with precision. I liken it to "trying to drive a Corvette in a 15mph school zone". The following chart, which contains actual data from a ground-storage fill valve, illustrates this point:
Next Generation Valve Control Technology
In order to more precisely control valve flows and pressures, we recently researched the latest technologies in order to locate an improved control valve that would deliver a more linear rate-of-flow increase across the entire fully-closed to fully-open spectrum. If the rate-of-flow could be throttled more evenly across the majority of the actuator movement, then much more precise control of pressure and flow would be the result. As a result, we were led to the V-Port/Baffled Segmented Ball Valve. Based upon the unique shape of its V-notched segmented ball and baffle plates, it was postulated that the rate-of-flow through this quarter-turn valve would increase more evenly from 0 to 100% open.
The following photos illustrate several cross-sectional views of the valve throughout the actuation spectrum:
Application Success Story
At Fosterburg Water District (Fosterburg, IL), each of their two pump houses had a diaphragm-type ground-storage fill valve that was approaching end-of-life; and Fosterburg had coincidentally been in search of a valve technology that could be tightly integrated into their controls. After a site visit to the valve distributor to see a V-Port/Baffled Segmented Ball Valve up-close, Fosterburg decided to proceed with an upgrade to the new valve.
District general manager and operator Mark Voumard provided pressure and flow datalogs to both the valve representative and the District's consulting engineer Seth Elliott PE (Heneghan & Associates, Jerseyville, IL), who each calculated the optimal valve diameter and baffle options based upon hydraulic computer simulations.
The photo below illustrates the original valve, flow meter, and piping within one of the District's Pump Houses:
The photos below illustrate the removal of the old diaphragm valve and turbo meter… followed by the installation of the new valve and Siemens FM Mag 8000 electromagnetic flow meter:
After the valve installations were completed, tests were performed to validate whether they were providing the desired linear flow-versus-actuation profile. During the tests, each valve actuator was re-positioned at 5% increments and flow measurements were performed. The performance, as illustrated by the following charts, was excellent:
Logic Programming and Telemetry Upgrades:
After the installation and validation testing, the telemetry controls were updated with sophisticated logic programming to provide Fosterburg with tighter monitoring and control of its valve actuation process. The following new setpoints were added:
- Back-Pressure Sustaining Pressure (PSI)
- Maximum Allowed Rate-of-Flow (GPM)
- Ground Tank Valve Open Level (Ft)
- Ground Tank Valve Close Level (Ft)
- Maximum Allowed Valve Speed (%/sec)
- Maximum Allowed Valve Position (%)
Feedback Control Test:
As an extreme test of the telemetry control system's new feedback control mechanism, an upstream valve to the pump house was throttled to restrict flow. This restriction simulated an upstream low pressure condition, which could occur in situations where the bulk water supplier suffered from a main break. As the upstream valve was throttled to a near-close, the measured upstream pressure began to drop and dipped below the "Back-Pressure Sustaining Pressure" setpoint. The telemetry controls promptly modulated the V-Port/Baffled Segmented Ball Valve to a position that further limited the rate-of-flow so as to maintain the target upstream pressure.
Telemetry Historical Trends:
The following history charts illustrate the valve performance at the Wenzel Pump House on a typical day, as measured and logged by Fosterburg's wireless telemetry system:
- Unlike a butterfly valve, the V-Port/Baffled Segmented Ball Valve has a preferred flow-direction, and therefore the actuator orientation should be specified when ordering.
- The Baffle Plates not only increase the flow linearity, but they were also observed to provide lower sound emissions than an equivalent high-performance butterfly valve.
- In our logic programming, the valve position is modulated based upon a combination of inlet pressure, rate-of-flow, and maximum allowable open %. Experience has shown that it is best to select setpoints in a way that the valve position is primarily controlled by the maximum allowable open % — because this results in the fewest start/stops of the actuator — and minimizing the number of start/stops will lengthen the life of the actuator motor.
- We utilized a segmented ball valve, instead of a full-bore ball valve. The segmented ball provides the desired flow-control profile, has a lower cost, and requires less torque (smaller actuator).
Special thanks to General Manager Mark Voumard and the Board of Directors at Fosterburg Water District for the opportunity to perform this challenging project — a project which advanced the state-of-the-art in Rural Water telemetry & control.
Thanks also to Kurt Neuhaus, Paul Shetley, and the staff at ERTC-SIUE (Environmental Resource and Training Center – Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville) who generously provided photos used in this article.
Resources on the Web:
Before initiating a new flow control valve project, it is critical that water utility personnel take care to select the appropriate valve diameter size and baffling options. For assistance, please discuss with your consulting engineer, or utilize a valve sizing calculator:
Would our state-of-the-art, V-Port/Baffled Segmented Ball Valve technology help solve a control challenge in your Water District? Give us a call. Our Telemetry/Control Systems are designed to leverage this exciting technology; and we'll be glad to discuss this with you in further detail.
Telemetry, SCADA, & Controls Newsletter
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October 23, 2018
The Top 10 Lessons I Learned Freshman Year at the CIA
top 10 lessons freshman year og image
So here's my countdown of 10 important lessons I've learned so far as a student here at The Culinary Institute of America:
10. The second term practical is not as scary as it seems, and if you fail you can always try again. Listen to your chefs when they tell you it's just soup and one entrée. They prepared you well, so trust them.
9. When a chef gives you feedback on a dish you made, it is not directed towards you personally. It's only about the food. One bad critique will not destroy you.
8. Absorb as much information as you can, because the classes move quickly. I seriously can't believe that my first year is already over.
7. Ask as many questions as you can. Even if your chef gets irritated, it is worth it. In my opinion, it is better to do it right the first time than to do it wrong because you didn't ask.
6. Learn from your mistakes. It is the only way to improve.
5. Practice makes perfect. You will not become a celebrity overnight.
4. If you fail a class, it is not the end of the world. You are also not the first one to ever fail a class.
3. Being stressed only makes school harder. It's OK to have fun! I used to walk into every class repeating, "Confidence is the name of the game." Once I truly had confidence in my abilities—and myself—I didn't need the mantra anymore.
2. The Tutoring Center can become your best friend if you let it. If you are struggling, there is no shame in asking for help. (Also, it seems that they never run out of potatoes…trust me on that.)
1. Coming in with no kitchen experience can seem like a disadvantage, but it is not. You only need to be better than you were yesterday.
Bonus lesson: Listen to your parents. They may know nothing about culinary school, but they are pretty smart and give great advice. Don't be too stubborn, and take that advice no matter how much you do not want them to be right.
By Marisa Papell, Student Contributor | La Papillote


Let f and g be differentiable functions for all x\in\mathbb{R}
Now if f(x)=(g\circ f')(x), can I conclude that because f is differentiable,
thus (g\circ f') is differenitable.
And further that if (g\circ f') is differentiable then:
(g\circ f')'=g(f'(x))\cdot f''(x) and thus f is twice differentiable?
If not, then how about if g is bijective and thus has an inverse g^{-1}, and the inverse is differentiable.
f(x)=(g\circ f')
(g^{-1}\circ f)(x)=g^{-1}\circ(g\circ f')(x)=f'(x)
And now g^{-1}\circ f is a combination of 2 differentiable functions, thus
(g^{-1}\circ f)'=\left(f'(x)\right)'=f''(x)
then f is twice differentiable?
This is not homework, I am just thinking.


text:
Subject: Programs for Examination
Last Revised: 01/11/2018
To ensure timely and ongoing attention to programmatic vitality, all academic programs within the UMS will be examined annually for the (a) number of graduates being produced, (b) the number of undergraduate majors, and (c) the number of faculty available to the program. The Programs for Examination process is intended as a proactive mechanism by which to foster broader collaborative discussions among faculty and academic administrators regarding program size in the context of mission, quality, and sustainability.
- Programs for Examination Thresholds – Programs not meeting the thresholds listed below must be examined by the Chief Academic Officer (CAO) and other appropriate academic administrators, in collaboration with the faculty, the Chief Academic Officers Council (CAOC), and the UMS Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (VCAA):
– number of graduates per year:
– Undergraduate: average five graduates per year over three years
– Master's: average of three graduates per year over three years
– Doctorate: average of two graduates per year over three years
– number of undergraduate majors: 15 (as determined by the number of active majors at the end of each academic year)
– number of tenure-track or just-cause eligible faculty: 3 (as determined by the headcount of faculty at the end of each academic year)
- Programs for Examination Academic Year Timeline –
a. By August 1 of each year – UMS IR office will provide a dashboard summary of graduates, majors and faculty by campus for each program in the UMS program inventory, and will have identified for the CAOs those programs not meeting the above thresholds;
b. In November of each year – each CAO will notify the VCAA of the following items for discussion with the CAOC:
i. reason(s) of why any program need not be examined further because of meeting critical university needs, regardless of the Programs for Examination criteria;
ii. programs not meeting the Programs for Examination criteria for which more examination is needed; for those programs for which questions remain, the CAO will communicate to the appropriate academic unit(s) the need for further information, analysis, discussion, etc.;
iii. progress on actions to address concerns for programs identified in the previous year of the Programs for Examination process;
c. In March of each year –
i.For discussion with the CAOC, the VCAA will have provided a written summary of those programs identified by the Programs for Examination process, but determined to meeting critical university needs.
ii.the CAOC will engage in a discussion of action plan outlines developed by each CAO to address low numbers of graduates, majors and/or faculty for any remaining program(s) identified by the Programs for Examination process.
- Other Considerations: Simple measures of numbers of graduates, majors and faculty are clearly only a subset of variables that provide insight into a program's role and function. Thus, for programs not meeting the thresholds, other considerations for subsequent discussions include: SCH production, provision of service courses, centrality to institutional mission or strategic plan, societal or workforce need, relevance and access to underrepresented groups, program uniqueness, K-12 or community college pathways, research impact, accreditation, ratio of part-time to full-time instructors, certification pass rates or other assessment outcomes, instructional cost, etc.


text:
With development of the modern electronic and mechanical devices, cooling requirement has become a serious challenge. Innovative heat transfer enhancement methods are generally accompanied by undesirable increase of pressure drop and consequently a pumping power penalty. The current study aims to present a novel and easy method to manufacture a mini heat sink using porous fins and magnetite nanofluid (Fe3O4/water) as the coolant for simultaneous heat transfer enhancement and pressure drop reduction.
A three-dimensional numerical study is carried out to evaluate the thermal and hydrodynamic performance of the mini heat sink at different volume fractions, porosities and Reynolds numbers, using finite volume method. The solver specifications for discretization of the domain involve the SIMPLE, second-order upwind and second order for pressure, momentum and energy, respectively.
Results show that porous fins have a favorable effect on both heat transfer and pressure drop compared to solid fins. Creation of a virtual velocity slip on the channel-fin interfaces similar to the micro scale conditions and the flow permeation into the porous fins are the main mechanisms of pressure drop reduction. On the other hand, the heat transfer enhancement is attributed to the increase of the solid-fluid contact area and the improvement of the flow mixing because of the flow permeation into the porous fins. An optimal porosity for maximum convective heat transfer enhancement is obtained as a function of Reynolds number. However, taking both pressure drop and heat transfer effects into account, the overall heat sink performance is shown to be improved at high of Reynolds numbers, volume fractions and fin porosities.
Thermal radiation and gravity effects are ignored, and thermal equilibrium is assumed between solid and fluid phases.
A maximum of 32 per cent increase of convective heat transfer is achieved along with a maximum of 33 per cent reduction in the pressure drop using porous fins and ferrofluid in heat sink.
Bezaatpour, M. and Goharkhah, M. (2019), "A novel heat sink design for simultaneous heat transfer enhancement and pressure drop reduction utilizing porous fins and magnetite ferrofluid", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 29 No. 9, pp. 3128-3147. _URL_
Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited


text:
Your "Word" of the Year?
Dr. Robert Brooks & Dr. Sam Goldstein
Article date: January 13, 2022
This month's article, co-authored with my friend and colleague Dr. Sam Goldstein, was prompted by an idea advanced by author and publisher Arianna Huffington. The latter proclaimed Resilience the word of the year in 2020. Recently, she elaborated on that word by designating Resilience+ as the word of the year for 2021, adding, "Resilience+ is my leading contender for word of the decade." She cautioned that while she is aware that the decade is still very young, "it's hard to imagine anything displacing it in the years ahead."
Why the "+"? Huffington observed that just as Disney, Apple, and Discovery appended a plus sign to their names to identify countless hours of their on-demand streaming services, the concept of resilience deserved the same designation. She reasoned that our hope that the pandemic would have a clear ending by the end of 2021was not to be realized and that it now appears likely the coronavirus and its variants will remain part of our landscape for years to come. She proposed that the seeming lack of an expiration date for COVID has contributed to an evolving shift in our understanding of resilience—from viewing it as "an end state we can reach to a constant process of becoming."
Huffington explained, "In the presence of endless uncertainty, apocalyptic weather events, political instability, and new variants that upend the best-laid plans, Resilience+ is the on-demand quality we cannot do without—a constant process rather than a final destination. Not a marker to reach, but a mindset."
Resilience: A Process and a Mindset
An understanding of resilience as a process and not as an endpoint, a process that involves a specified mindset, is one we have long embraced and advocated. As an example, in all of our books about resilience, including Raising Resilient Children and The Power of Resilience: Achieving Balance, Confidence, and Personal Strength in Your Life, we have identified the components of what we label a "Resilient Mindset" together with the behaviors that accompany this mindset. We have defined "mindset" as the assumptions and expectations we possess about ourselves and others that guide our behaviors and influence the skills we develop; in turn, these behaviors and skills influence our set of assumptions so that a dynamic process of change is constantly operating.
Our efforts to identify the features of a resilient mindset represent more than an academic exercise. We believe that the more precisely we can articulate these features, the more successfully we can develop strategies for nurturing this mindset and resilient behaviors in ourselves and in our children. Huffington offered a similar position by citing the work of psychologist and neuroscientist Richard Davidson on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Davidson has researched and written about brain activity associated with the presence of positive emotions, a topic I addressed in an earlier website article.
Huffington, referring to Davidson's research, asserted, "We can actually train ourselves to be happier through practice in very tangible and measurable ways by giving ourselves the resources to deal with the ups and downs of life. Similarly, we can train ourselves to be more resilient through practice, and that's the essence of Resilience+." In concert with this opinion, Sam and I have emphasized that mindsets are open to change, that although it may take much time and effort to move from a pessimistic, hopeless outlook to a perspective filled with optimism and hope, it is possible to accomplish. In The Power of Resilience we wrote, "The more we understand the beliefs that guide our behaviors, the more successfully we can engage in the process of replacing counterproductive, self-defeating assumptions with those that will lead to a more resilient, fulfilling life."
Resilience for All Times
Sam and I have emphasized for years that while resilience is especially critical during times of adversity, its significance is not confined to troubled times. Rather, if we conceptualize resilience as a mindset that can be modified and strengthened, it can encourage us at any time to nurture the components of this mindset in anticipation of future challenges and setbacks. In addition, when resilience is positioned within a theory of mindset, its relevance for leading a more satisfying, accomplished life even in the absence of significant adversity cannot be underestimated.
During our 30-year-collaboration, which includes the publication of our most recent book Tenacity in Children: Nurturing the Seven Instincts for Lifetime Success, Sam and I have described the components of a resilient mindset and resilient lifestyle. It is beyond the scope of this article to detail these components, but the reader is referred to a summary article we posted on our individual websites when we co-authored The Power of Resilience.
The latter book and article were written in 2003. In the article we noted a recent Gallup poll as well as a report issued by the National Institute of Mental Health that revealed the high level of stress and mental health issues being experienced by American adults at that time. Anxiety, depression, and mental health problems have increased since 2003, exacerbated during the past two years by the disruptive, life-threatening emergence of the pandemic.
As stress and mental health issues expand among all age groups, we believe a focus on Resilience+ is more urgent than ever before. In our recent writings and webinars we have accented the need to adopt a perspective of "personal control," of recognizing that while the presence and severity of the coronavirus and its variants remain unpredictable, we can maintain more control than we may realize over our attitude and response to this unpredictability. The issues occasioned by COVID-19 are not likely to end soon—a point highlighted by Huffington when she suggested that we designate Resilience+ as the word of the decade; it is imperative that we develop and help ourselves and our children develop effective coping strategies that will fortify a foundation for resilience.
I chronicled the unpredictable times in which we live—when hope can feel so illusory and so vulnerable—in my September, 2021 article. I referred to our experiences during the past two years as an "emotional roller coaster ride." Sam too, in his article posted in July 2020, described the distorted thinking driven by stress that overwhelms children and adults alike. Given brief periods of optimism being cast aside by new challenges and stresses, it would be wise to consider the work of psychologist Gabriele Oettingen, author of Rethinking Positive Thinking. She has developed an important model bolstered by research data to demonstrate the need to "combine positive thinking with realism." She suggested that we not only reflect on our wishes and goals but also consider the possible obstacles we may confront in realizing these goals. To minimize the probability that a self-fulfilling prophesy for failure might be elicited by our forecasting the barriers we might encounter as we strive to reach our goals, Oettingen requested that participants in her studies detail the strategies they might use to cope with these obstacles should they arise.
This focus on wishes, obstacles, and ways to manage these obstacles, a technique that Oettingen labeled "mental contrasting," led participants in her studies to achieve better outcomes on different tasks when compared with those who focused solely on their wishes or increasingly dwelt on possible obstacles but without considering how to effectively manage these roadblocks. An honest appraisal of possible obstacles, accompanied with a knowledge of strategies to apply if the obstacles emerge, basically reflects a belief in personal control, heightens a feeling of optimism, and increases the likelihood of our goals being realized.
Resilience+ in Uncertain Times
Let us return once again to the insights of Arianna Huffington. She noted that uncertainty has become part of our lives, requiring a focus on nurturing Resilience+, a concept that she identified as "both our vaccine and our booster for life—and just as boosters are essential for our physical immunity, a daily process of strengthening our resilience is essential for our emotional and mental immunity." Referring to her introduction of the "+" symbol, she added, "And unlike the streaming platforms, which are designed to hook us, and if we binge-watch through the night, deplete us, Resilience+ is about refueling and replenishing so we can meet whatever challenges 2022 holds with less stress, more joy, and endlessly renewable stores of resilience."


Meps At a Glance
meps recruits 380x253
MEPS stands for Military Entrance Processing Station. Once you have gone through initial questioning phases with your recruiter and have discussed your options, your recruiter will set an appointment for you to go to the nearest MEPS. Here you will take the ASVAB, have a physical, and (if you pass) - choose your job and swear in. Everything together should take 2 days, though there are some situations that may make things shorter or longer. Some people will go into their branch's DEP (Delayed Entry Program), and go home after MEPS to wait until their ship out date. Others will embark to basic training immediately following MEPS. Remember, you have NOT joined the military before going to MEPS, but by the end of it you will be asked to. Do you still want to join? Be sure of this before you go!
Here are some helpful hints for BEFORE you go to MEPS:
3. Remove earrings (they obstruct the headset used for the hearing test).
4. Profanity and offensive wording or pictures on clothing is not tolerated.
5. Hats are not permitted inside the MEPS.
7. Bathe or shower the night before your examination.
8. Wear underclothes.
10. Wear neat, moderate, comfortable clothing.
The typical process at MEPS is:
1. ASVAB test
2. Physical
3. Job selection
4. Swearing in
About MEPS
The MEPS is a Department of Defense joint-service organization staffed with military and civilian professionals. MEPS personnel determine applicants' physical qualifications, aptitude and moral standards as set by each branch of military service.
Each applicant for military service is required to take the CAT-ASVAB, which measures aptitude in a broad range of career fields. Each service combines the test section results to produce its own unique scores for various career fields.
Physical examinations are vitally important because everyone entering the armed forces must be in good health to endure the challenges of basic training and military service. You will have to remove your outer clothing during parts of the examination. Your physical examination consists of:? Height and weight measurements? Hearing and vision examinations? Urine and blood tests? Drug and alcohol tests? Muscle group and joint maneuvers, in underclothing (NOT exercises and running, just a few simple flexibility and balance tests to make sure you have proper ranges of motion)? Complete physical examination and interview? Specialized tests if required. Examples: fat percentage test (if you're overweight), secondary vision and hearing tests, other tests if you have an unusual medical history) Remember that many conditions can be waivered, but you must provide appropriate documentation! Check with your recruiter BEFORE you go: you will need to bring all documents with you, or else MEPS will disqualify you.
For Women Only
Medical History
Meals & Lodging
If you are entering the Delayed Entry Program, or not enlisting at this time, return transportation to your home will be coordinated by your recruiter. Those of you entering active duty will receive instructions on your transportation arrangements to basic training.
For the MEPS nearest you, check this list:
 - Check with your parents/guardians about any medical conditions in your past.
 - Check with your recruiter about ALL of your medical history. Talking with your recruiter in private does NOT disqualify you from the service - lying does. Remember, there are waivers for many things.
 - Bring all medical documentation with you to MEPS.
 - Get a good nights' sleep - you'll be waking up early!
 - Prepare well for the ASVAB - taking time to study can make a world of difference for your entire military career.
 - Bring a book to read during MEPS - there is a LOT of waiting.
 - Wear comfortable but presentable warm clothing.
 - Wear normal underwear. You will be sorry if you don't!
 - Listen to directions - there are lots of them!
© 2014 Military Advantage
A Monster Company.


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I, Robot
Question: Lannings wrote the three laws and built VIKI as his first robot, which leads to the conclusion that VIKI has been programmed with the three laws. If VIKI is programmed with those laws, how can she order robots to ignore humans orders and even kills them?
Answer: Viki is following what has been called the 0th law of robotics. It is an extrapolation of the other three with an application toward humanity as a whole rather than individual humans and is interpreted as "A robot may not injure humanity, or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm". The idea being that she has now concluded that to fail to take action to prevent the self destruction of humanity itself would be a violation of that law. And being the 0th law, it supersedes all other laws, just as law 1 supersedes law 2 and law 2 supersedes law 3. Her actions may be regrettable or undesirable, but according to the 0th law, they are necessary to save humanity as a whole.
Question: If Lanning really had leaped from that distance, wouldn't he be unrecognizable upon impact and not with only a little bit of blood coming from his mouth?
Answer: He'd certainly have a lot of internal injuries that aren't visible, would probably have more injuries showing than that trickle of blood, but wouldn't necessarily be "unrecognizable."
Question: Why did Lanning build a robot that functioned independently of the USR mainframe, had alloys strong enough to endure vast drops and steal nanites, had a pre-programmed knowledge of Spooner... And then tell it to kill him? Furthermore, it is Sonny's own suggestion to kill Viki with nanites, so why didn't Lanning just get him to jump out the lab and do that, or at least convey a less cryptic message about what was going on?
Answer: People would not likely listen to just the robot. By killing himself he ensured that Spooner would take him seriously. This would also keep VIKI from finding out and planning around it.
Greg Dwyer
Question: During the curfew, if a human was seen acting dangerously, an NS5 would approach them and grab them by the neck saying "You have been deemed hazardous, will you comply?" This happened to Spooner and Farber. What would the outcome be if one did comply? What would the NS5 do?
Answer: Politely but firmly escort them to an area deemed suitable for temporarily holding "hazardous" individuals. Or, amusingly, compliance would perhaps convince the NS5 that they were no longer a hazard and leave them free to go.
Question: What was the exact significance of the "bread crumbs?" It still confuses me.
Answer: The doctor who was killed had a copy of the book Hansel and Gretel in his lab. He knew that Detective Spooner would see the book during his investigation, and that would prompt him to follow the first clue he found to the next clue, and so on. The trail of breadcrumbs were used by Hansel and Gretel in the children's story as a way to find their way home. For more info, check _URL_
Question: As Detective Spooner looks down on the street and sees the robot running with what he assumes to be a stolen bag, there is a cry of 'hey.' or something similar from one of the crowd, prompting Spooner to think the robot had taken the bag. As the robot had not, why did the man yell?
Answer: That was probably just an arbitrary cry that came from the crowed, or the running robot could have just ran into someone.
Kirill Ostapenko
Question: How did Spooner get Sarah's necklace, if he only saw her passing by in a car?
Answer: He knew way too much about her (he knew her age and what she wanted to be when she grew up) for that to have been the only time. I would suspect that, after the accident, the vehicles were brought out of the water. Knowing the kind of person Spooner is, he probably felt guilty enough that he survived that he went to speak with the family. They probably talked about her a good deal. The family may have given him the necklace. That's just the kind of schmaltzy thing that happens in movies.
Question: What was the relationship between Dr. Lanning and Dr. Calvin?
Answer: Mentor and protege.
Question: Why would Del Spooner have to exercise his left arm at the beginning of the day, does it need physiotherapy?
Answer: YES! Because his left arm is not quite human and has not been used for some time while he slept, he has to keep the electrical parts flowing (being connected to his fleshly nerves) for it to fully function.
keith summers
Question: Does anyone know what year Dr. Lanning (the character) was born in? It tells you when Spooner is in the cafe on the TV, but I just can't make it out.
Answer: According to the tv in the bar he lived from 1971 to 2035.
Question: After Spooner explains how much of his body is robotic, the woman asks what it was like when he went back to work. He starts to explain, then starts describing the accident with the truck and the girl. I'm a bit confused. Was this where his arm and lung were damaged, or did this happen after he received his bionic appendage?
Answer: Although not clearly explained, Spooner lost his left arm and lung during the accident.
Kirill Ostapenko
Question: While Dr. Spooner was driving alone in the tunnel, he requested access to restricted files between Dr. Lanning and Lawrence Robertson. When Robertson was informed of this he seemed appalled. Shortly, two NS-5 trucks came and boxed Spooner in. Did Lawerence activate those trucks?
Answer: No, VIKI did. Robertson is merely annoyed that Spooner is continuing to delve into company business. VIKI is the one who's actually behind the whole plot and is concerned enough about Spooner's meddling to try to take him out.
Question: Did or didn't Sonny kill Lanning? If he did, how did he do it? What was the promise he had to give?
Answer: Sonny killed Lanning. Lanning had designed Sonny with the ability to opt out of the Three Laws when he deemed it absolutely necessary. Lanning forced Sonny to promise to do Lanning a favor, then told him the favor was to throw Lanning out the window. Forced to keep his word by Lanning's own programming, Sonny overrode the Three Laws and tossed Lanning out the window.
Question: Were the MS-5 faces modeled after an actual person?
Answer: They all look vaguely like Alan Tudyk to me, who did the voice of Sonny.
Question: Why would they destroy a house, just because the owner has died and before the house has been emptied?
Answer: It was deliberately demolished ahead of schedule, in an attempt to kill him.
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Detective Spooner: Can a robot write a symphony? Can a robot turn a canvas into a beautiful painting?
Sonny: Can you?
Right before the Demolition Robot starts tearing through the house, Spooner is talking to the cat, and in the close up shots of the cat it is sitting down, but in the shots of Spooner with the cat, it is standing up.
Often times when a movie is distributed the name of the movie on the actual can is changed or altered to prevent piracy. The name on this movie was "Hal," a reference to "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968).
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Shakespeare's Life and Family
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Shakespeares first name.
Shakespeares Wife's full name.
Shakespeare first born child.
Shakespeares twins names.
Date Shakespeare was born.
Date Shakespeare died.
His home town.
His theatre.
The name of his first acting troupe.
The second name of his troupe.
The queen during his time.
One of the 3 plays performed from _PHONE_.
How many years older was his wife?
How many months pregnant was she when they got married?
Did Shakespeare go to grammar school?
Shakespears father.
Shakespeares mother.
How many sonnets did he write in his lifetime?
How many plays did he write in his lifetime?
One types of play he wrote.
Year their first child was born.
Name the child that died before he did.
The class actors were considered.
The age of characters that Shakespeare often played.
How old was he when he got married?
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How much is too much?
How much is too much? Where to draw the line? How to read a child's mind? Where to stop oneself as a parent?
A family fully shattered, a teenage boy's innocence and total life lost. A boy who doesn't have any remorse on murdering his mother. Its spine chilling, its heartless and there's something more to it. Its a crime yes but aren't the parents somewhere a little responsible too? Declaring ones son a "complete failure" in front of the whole world is complete no-no. What kind of psychological effect can have it on a child who is being constantly reminded that he is useless? A father evading the home simply because the mother is nagging and not connecting with the child enough is being negligent. Not every child cries or sulks, there are kids of such kind who can take extreme measures like Siddhant who tried to commit suicide twice and now killed his own mother.
As the mother of a teenager, I can see the changes in a teen. A well-behaved, calm teen also has outbursts, rebelliousness. Its very difficult to read the child's mind always but constant communication, not nagging or belittling, does help to an extent.
Its so unfortunate that a son murders his mother and is remorseless. Parents are at wits end too what to discipline or not to discipline; to be concerned about the child's future and ask him/her to be serious or simply let the child fail?
What is to be done??
2 thoughts on "How much is too much?
 1. This case is chilling…and I agree with you that the parents are responsible too..calling a child failure is absolutely wrong…nice post
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The human visual sense is superior to today's computers in terms of perceiving image content. Using the human visual system's high bandwidth supports rapid transfer of digital data representations to the user. It is this human capability that visualization builds upon, by generating images representing the content of large and complex data sets. In image science, the goal is to translate complex spatio-temporal patterns into forms that can be interpreted by humans. Thus, through a series of processing steps information can be extracted from the objects embedded images or volumetric datasets. In some senses this can be seen as the opposite of the image synthesis taking place in visualization.
Interactivity plays a central role in visualization and image science workflows, as the user needs to feed back gained insights and steer the capturing, filtering and refining steps to reach the goal of detecting expected features and discovering unexpected ones in the plentitude of data.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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On the Mat: Single Leg Circle
– whoosh whoosh whoosh, swing your leg around and challenge yourself to be stable or to be mobile – you can choose!!
🌟 Teaches both stability and mobility and prepares us for more challenging exercises later in the series.
🌟 The "Single Leg Circles" is an exercise that is perfect for runners and cyclists – endurance sports that result in overly tight hamstrings and lower backs as well as requiring stable pelvis and balance between the left on the right side in order to prevent injury.
🌟 But that's not all. The hamstring stretch we get in the Single Leg Circles prepares us for so many exercises that we find later in the series that require us to have our legs at right angles to our straight body.
There are two exercises here: one (small circles) challenges you to stay stable and the other (Joe's version) challenges you to mobilise your lower spine and your hip. Both will challenge you to stretch your hamstrings if you need to![/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Small Circles[/vc_column_text][vc_video link="_URL_ Circles – Joe's version.[/vc_column_text][vc_video link="_URL_
The How to…
- See Dynamic Hamstring Stretch (here). And Static hamstring Stretch (here).
- Lying on your back bend one leg into your chest with your hands behind your knee. Stretch the leg towards the ceiling reaching along through your heel and pulling your foot down towards your chest. do this until you feel a stretch in the hamstrings. Do this several times inhaling as you stretch.
- Lying on your back straighten your leg up in a vertical position as far as you can whilst maintaining a quiet pelvis with your tailbone on the floor. trying to keep the front of the hip soft.
- Keep the back of your pelvis rooted into the mat without rocking or shifting weight from side to side.
- Inhaling, circle your leg across your body firstly toward your opposite shoulder and then down toward your opposite leg.
- Exhaling, sweep your leg away from your body and back to the starting position.
Repeat, but circling your leg in the opposite direction.
- Finish by lowering your working leg down towards the floor and reaching your foot towards the ceiling. Lift your standing leg to the working position and repeat the steps.
Large Circles (Joe's version)
- Inhaling, reach your leg across your body towards the opposite shoulder and then toward your standing leg and allow your hip to lift off the mat as your lower spine rotates but keep both shoulders connected to the mat.
- Exhaling, keep your hip anchored and sweep your leg away from your body and back to the starting position.
- Change direction, Circling outside of your body first.
Hints and Tips
- Knee stirs: warm up your hip socket by circling your leg in its socket holding both knees with your hands.
- If you have trouble performing exercise support your leg by placing a theraband around the arch of your foot and holding each end of the band with your hand. Anchor your upper arm into the mat. Circle your working leg keeping your hips stable imagine softening the front of the hip joints and syncing your femur further into the hip socket.
- Try having a slightly bent leg if your hamstrings are too tight.
- Practice other exercises that help you soften your hip and stretch your hamstrings.
- Keeping the front of your hip soft: place your hand in the hip crease and bend your knee as much as you need to so as to keep the tendons under your fingers soft.
- Keep your spine and pelvis in a neutral position.
- Keeping the hip and leg of the standing leg and good to the mat: imagine your hip has grown roots and they are anchoring it to the floor. You can monitor your progress by putting your hand under your hips to feel movement. Reach out through your heel of the standing leg.
- Use your abdominals to stabilise your hips.
- Imagine your leg bone is a spoon and your pelvis is a huge porridge pot – stir that porridge!


Venture fund Urban.us is gearing up to close a $10 million fund to continue investing in startups focused on impacting urban city living across mobility and logistics, environment, utilities and local government. Urban.us expects to close the fund later this year, but it has already committed some of that money to smart irrigation startup Rachio, FutureMotion, the maker of electric board OneWheel, and connected heating and cooling systems startup Flair.
Urban.us's first fund was $1.3 million, which it divvied up amongst 20 startups relatively equally. Other startups in Urban.us's portfolio include HandUp, BRCK, dash, Revivn and Skycatch. The goal of the first fund was to help get companies from the pre-seed to Series A round. With Urban.us's second fund, the idea is to provide follow-on investments to the some of the companies that have shown growth and achieved measurable public benefits.
"We believe climate change is the biggest challenge we're going to face as a society," Urban.us co-founder Stonly Baptiste told TechCrunch. "And we see cities as one of the key mechanisms for efficiency to impact what that trajectory looks like."
Cities account for roughly 70% of greenhouse gas emissions across the world, according to the United Nations-Habitat, the UN's program for urban development. By 2050, urban populations are expected to double and therefore increase the overall gas emissions coming from cities. That's why Urban.us invests in companies that have the potential to rapidly scale and positively impact approximately 100 cities within five years.
"This idea of making the world a better place is very broad, but it normally tips on the scale of sacrifice," Baptiste said. "Like, what can you do personally to help the situation is usually looked at, 'what can you sacrifice?'"
That's why Baptiste especially likes OneWheel, because it highlights the concept of sneaking in public benefits. OneWheel is both fun and useful, Baptiste said, but at the tail end of it, there's a big public benefit. If more people choose to get around on small, personal electrical vehicles like the OneWheel, it could impact the number of people driving, Baptiste said, and ultimately impact CO2 emissions from cities.
"If we can start changing the conversation from there is a separation between doing good and making a profit, or a separation between doing your part and actually enjoying your life, if we can heal that and help people realize you can do both, then great," Baptiste added.


text:
Welcome to Franklin Primary School
Welcome to Franklin Primary School. Franklin Primary was established in 1860, making it one of the oldest schools in Tasmania. We are a school of approximately 140 students located in a natural bushland setting bordered by Prices Creek. A focus of our school grounds is the "Big Tree", a giant Redwood tree planted in 1901. Our school and its beautiful surrounds provides a unique environment for children to grow and to realise their individual potential. Catering for children Kindergarten to Grade 6, in both single and composite classes, children are taught using a variety of teaching approaches ranging from large group activities to specialist programs. We also run a weekly Launching into Learning Early Years program for children birth to 4 years and their parents/carers.
Franklin Primary School aims to be a centre of excellence, working in partnership with our community to ensure learning is valued, innovation is celebrated and leadership thrives. We encourage and support our children to develop knowledge, skills and understanding across all curriculum areas so that each child reaches their full potential.


cyclolysis, in meteorology, the process by which a cyclone weakens and deteriorates. The decay of an extratropical cyclone results when the cold air, from the north in the Northern Hemisphere or from the south in the Southern Hemisphere, on the western side of such a cyclone sweeps under all of the warm tropical air of the system so that the entire cyclone is composed of the cold air mass. This action is also known as occlusion.


Human-centric AI news and analysis
This article was published on January 29, 2021
How an army of sewer robots can help us fix our clogged pipes
The Conversation
Story by
The Conversation
Hidden from sight, under the UK's roads, buildings, and parks, lie about one million kilometers of pipes. Maintaining and repairing these pipes require about 1.5 million road excavations a year, which causes either full or partial road closures. These works are noisy, dirty and cause a lot of inconveniences. They also cost around £5.5 billion a year.
It doesn't have to be this way. Research teams like mine are working on a way of reducing the time and money that goes into maintaining pipes, by developing infrastructure robots.
In the future, these robots will work around and for us to repair our roads, inspect our water and sewer pipes, maintain our lamp posts, survey our bridges and look after other important infrastructure. They will be able to go to places difficult or dangerous for humans, such as sewer pipes full of noxious gases.
We are developing small robots to work in underground pipe networks, in both clean water and sewers. They will inspect them for leakages and blockages, map where the pipes are, and monitor their condition for any signs of trouble. But what happens when the robots need to go to places where our existing wireless communications cannot reach them? If we cannot communicate with them, we cannot stay in control.
Two pipe bots in a sewer.
Pipebots will swim around the network of sewage and clean water pipes. Human Studio, Author provided
The pipe bots
The underground pipe networks are complex, varied, and difficult to work in. There are many pipe sizes, made of different materials, placed at many different depths. They are connected in lots of different configurations and filled to different extents with different contents.
Pipebots is a large UK government-funded project working on robots that will help maintain the pipe system. These robots will come in different sizes, depending on the pipes they are in. For example, the smallest ones will have to fit in a cube with a side of 2.5 cm (1 inch), while the largest ones will be as long as 50 cm.
They will operate autonomously, thanks to the array of sensors onboard. The robots will use computer vision and a combination of an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a magnetic field sensor to detect where they are. They will have an ultrasound and infrared distance sensors to help them navigate the pipes. Finally, they will also have acoustic and ultrasound sensors to detect cracks in water pipes, blockages in sewer pipes, and to measure the overall condition of these pipes.
[Read: How this company leveraged AI to become the Netflix of Finland]
The information gathered this way will be sent to the water companies responsible for the pipes. In the first instance, the robots will just monitor the pipes and call in a separate repair team when necessary.
One of the biggest challenges will be making them communicate with each other through the pipes. This requires a wireless communications network that can function in a variety of conditions since the pipes might be empty, full of water or sewage, or somewhere in between. The three main options we are exploring are radio waves, sound waves, and light.
Diagram of how the robots will monitor pipes.
The robots will have acoustic and ultrasound sensors to detect cracks in water pipes. Human Studio, Author provided
Radio waves
Wireless communication technology using radio waves is everywhere these days – wifi, Bluetooth, and of course, mobile phones networks such as 4G. Each of these work at a different frequency and have different bandwidths.
Unfortunately, none of these signals can go through soil and earth, we are all too familiar with how mobile phone connection drops when a train goes through a tunnel. However, if we had a base station already within the tunnel, it would allow radio waves to travel along its length.
Thankfully, sewer pipes look a lot like tunnels to radio waves – at least when they're relatively empty. We are adapting technology similar to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to make sure the sewer inspecting Pipebots always have a connection to the control center.
Water blocks radio waves even more than soil and earth. In fact, at high enough frequencies, it acts as a mirror. So to stay in control of the robots in our water pipes, we have to use both sound and light.
Computer generated image of the robots inside a pipe.
They will have ultrasound and infrared distance sensors to help them navigate the pipes. Human Studio, Author provided
Sound and light
Wireless communication methods using sound and light are not widely commercially available yet. But they are making waves in the research community.
One method, visible light communication (VLC), uses transmitters and receivers, such as LEDs, that are small and energy-efficient, and also provide dazzling data rates, on the order of tens of gigabits per second. However, because light travels in a straight line, VLC can only be used when robots close to each other need to communicate. One potential solution is to have many robots in the same pipe, forming a daisy chain along which information can travel around bends in pipes.
Sound, on the other hand, can travel for miles along pipes and will travel around corners with ease. The downside is speakers and microphones can be power-hungry, and sound does not offer particularly high data rates. Instead of the several billion bits per second that can be sent using 5G and post-5G technology, sound waves can only carry a few bits per second. While this will be enough to know if a particular robot is still functioning, it will not be enough to relay a lot of useful information about the pipes.
In the video above, the first pipe robot in action.
It won't be a case of picking either radio, sound, or light waves. The wireless communication network we are developing for our subterranean little helpers will use a combination of these methods. This will ensure the robots do what they are supposed to do, that we stay in control of them, and they deliver on their promise.
We hope to have a full Pipebots system demonstrated in a realistic network by 2024. Once that is successful, we'll need to go through a thorough certification and compliance process to ensure that Pipebots will be safe to deploy in live water and sewer networks.The Conversation
This article by Viktor Doychinov, Research Fellow in the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Leeds is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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text:
Okay, so here's my question:
Every full 4-ary tree of height 2 has at least ________ vertices and at most ________ vertices.
I know the formula to find the max number of leaves is m^h leaves in an m-ary tree of height h.
However, I don't know how to find max/min number of vertices. Any suggestions?
EDIT: Okay, so I used the max number of leaves formula (m^h) to get the max possible number of leaves for my 4-ary tree. The answer is 16. So, I got to thinking, what if I use the formula n = (ml - 1)/(m-1) (n being vertices, m being the m-ary tree, and l being the leaves). I plugged everything in and got 21. Is this the answer of the max vertices? If so, how do I get the min?