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Administration Provided by Computer Support Group
The School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Computer Support Group (CSG) provides full support for desktop and laptop computers on the ECE network based on the following conditions:
- The installation meets the operating system requirements set forth by ECE's Service Level Agreement (SLA).
- The installation has been performed by a CSG member.
- The installed operating system is managed through one of the Georgia Institute of Technology's (GT) enterprise directory technologies ("GTAD" for Windows or "GTED" for Linux).
- Installation is for computers owned by the Georgia Institute of Technology only; installation on a personally owned system is not permitted.
- The CSG maintains the Administrator/root password and is responsible for all security patches and updates to the system.
- The CSG will provide installations of or access to GT's licensed applications if and when necessary.
- Enhanced user account permissions can be provided, if necessary or applicable.
The ECE CSG will provide best-effort support for systems under the following conditions:
- The installation has been approved by the CSG through the help and support ticketing system (_EMAIL_).
- The CSG is notified of any distribution changes so we can keep our "database of information" up to date.
- The installation must meet the policies, standards, and procedures set forth by ECE's SLA as well as those set forth by the Office of Information Technology (OIT) for all of campus.
- A primary point of contact (POC) is established for each individual system. A valid Georgia Institute of Technology email address must be provided (_USER_.gatech.edu) by the POC.
- The POC is responsible for overseeing the timely application of all security patches and bug-fixes applicable to the operating system and its software applications.
- The POC is responsible for overseeing the security and integrity of the operating system and its software applications (e.g. monitoring for viruses, Internet worms, etc.).
The CSG will provide best effort support for the installation of GT licensed applications on systems not managed by the CSG, provided that the system is the property of GT and meets the criteria set above. In the event a non-CSG maintained system is determined to have been "compromised", it will be immediately removed from the network. It is then the POC's responsibility that the system be repaired or, if necessary, reinstalled before it will be allowed to reconnect to the network.
The following apply to both scenarios listed above. Further questions concerning this can be addressed to _EMAIL_:
- CSG centrally managed services (including, but not limited to, WWW, FTP, SQL, SVN) are not to be enabled on the system.
- Installations pertaining to booting of multiple operating systems are not permitted.
- Use of Virtual Machine software is not permitted without prior approval from the CSG through _EMAIL_.
- Software downloaded from ECE's Microsoft Imagine (formerly DreamSpark) program cannot be installed on GT owned computers. This is a violation of the DreamSpark program's license agreement.
Failure to comply with any of the above guidelines will result in the system being immediately disconnected from the network.
The ECE CSG is not approved to provide support for any hardware or software not purchased by GT (i.e., personally owned). For those, please contact the Technology Support Center (TSC).
Last revised September 19, 2016.


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Line Voltage Isolation Relays are Problematic for Modern Meters
Today, many utilities continue to do KYZ metering installations the same way they were done 30 and 40 years ago. Yes, they may still work, but it is not the best engineering solution due to changes in the meter's KYZ outputs. In addition, the long-term reliability of the meter's pulse output is compromised. Let's look at this more closely.
The classic KYZ pulse circuit involved a mechanical pulse initiator – a single-pole, double-throw (SPDT) switch – in the meter and an isolation relay with latching mercury-wetted relays. This was the best and most noise-immune scheme available at the time. Line voltage, normally 120VAC (and sometimes 277VAC) was used as the "wetting voltage" across the pulse initiator. This was a good solution since 120VAC was readily available at the meter and the KYZ switch could easily handle the voltage. A transient suppression snubber network, a resistor and capacitor in series, was put in parallel with the contacts to suppress arcing on the mechanical switch. All in all, transients were not a big problem because the circuit contained a mechanical switch and two coils.
In the drawing above you can see the source, the switch, and the load, the elements needed for a circuit. The source is the 120VAC wetting voltage. The switch is the KYZ pulse initiator in the meter. The loads are the two relay coils of a latching mercury-wetted relay, commonly used in the KYZ pulse metering circuit. As the meter disc turned, a cam on the vertical axis alternately switched the SPDT pulse initiator switch from K-Y continuity to K-Z continuity. Since this was a SPDT switch, 120VAC was alternately routed to the two relay coils, which meant that only one coil could be energized at a time. In a mercury-wetted latching relay, one coil was the set coil and the other was the reset coil. Applying the wetting voltage to the set coil resulted in setting the contacts in the K-Y continuity position. This was analogous to the normally-open contact being closed. Applying the wetting voltage to the reset coil resulted in resetting the contacts back to the K-Z position. Since the relay was a latching design, this eliminated contact bounce and was a very, very robust noise immunity scheme. One of the things that made this scheme so robust and reliable was the fact that all these components were electro-mechanical in nature and, as such, were imperious to lightning and transient voltages on the power lines.
Now, fast forward many decades. In the 80's and 90's, meter manufacturers started experimenting with solid state pulse initiators. This was driven by the long, arduous process of transitioning meters to fully solid state, a meter that had no moving parts – no rotating eddy current disk, no vertical axis, no cam, and no KYZ SPDT mechanical switch. So the process of creating a pulse became electronically synthesized. The SPDT mechanical switch was replaced by an electronic switch. The type commonly used today in all of the solid state meters' KYZ output board is an optically-isolated MOS-FET solid state relay.
Solid state, by nature, is much more sensitive to lightning, transient voltages, and disturbances on the power lines. Great efforts are made by all electronics manufacturers to make sure that lightning, static discharge, and transient voltages do not affect their device. This takes a good understanding of the kinds of voltages, currents, and environmental factors that will be present when such an event takes place. Unfortunately, in most KYZ pulse applications, these details are not always known. The utility generally gives the customer the K, Y, and Z wires and says "Here it is. Hook up your equipment." With an older meter, this would not present a problem due to the robust nature of the electromechanical components. However, today that pulse circuit may or may not last depending on the application environment and specifics of the installation.
The ideal solution to this problem is to use a low wetting voltage relay. These relays incorporate a transformer-isolated DC power supply that provides a current-limited and transient-protected +13VDC to the meter. Using a low DC voltage is a better solution to the problem for three important reasons:
In the pulse metering circuit shown in the figure below, all the same wires are used but are wired in a different configuration to the low voltage relay:
By using low voltage isolation relays, reliability is improved and the meter is better protected. The low voltage isolation relays are compatible with all known KYZ outputs currently being offered on electric meters. At least one meter manufacturer recently replaced a 350V part to a 250V part, even though a high voltage rating is critical for the relay's survival in the field. At least a 400V rating on the solid state relay is required for 120VAC voltages. Anything less will compromise reliability and survivability. However, low voltage isolation relays are a perfect solution for this, and all types of modern meters, which is why SSI has discontinued offering line voltage relays in favor of the more reliable low voltage isolation relays. Utilities may want to consider changing to low voltage relays to improve reliability extend the life of today's solid state meters.
September 2012 Newsletter

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


Investment Castings
When I first learned about investment casting I asked what does it have to do with investing? Someone made a joke about the investment in tooling, another person thought it had something to do with having to make new patterns every time you wanted to make a mold. While the first person was right that the cost of tooling is higher than for sand casting, the second person was a bit closer to the truth. It turns out people used to say invested when referring to putting on clothing or when surrounding something. In our case for investment casting, the investment refers to the ceramic shell that surrounds the wax or foam pattern.
A challenge I had was when foundries would ask whether I wanted castings made from the silica sol or water glass process. What is the difference? Without getting into detailed chemistry or material properties, silica sol (SiO2) molds will produce castings with a finer surface finish and better dimensional tolerances, roughly ±.005" per 1" of linear dimension, versus double that for water glass (sodium silicate). The difference in price between the two processes is about 20%, but where machining is required some of those savings end up being used to remove more material.
How the investment casting process works:
The lost-wax investment casting process starts with an aluminum mold which will create the wax patterns, each of which will produce a single finished casting.
Those patterns will be added to trees which will then be coated with the ceramic slurry. The number of coats will depend on the alloy being poured and how strong the wall should be to hold the metal.
After cooling, the investment castings are removed from the ceramic shell, detached from the trees and the metal is recycled.
The chemical composition of raw material is retained on file, and any testing of raw castings, such as dye penetrant testing is performed.
After machining and quality control, the castings are ready for packing and dispatch.
The capability of consistently holding better ISO 8062 casting tolerances, much smoother surface finish, and comparable ease of casting complex geometry are the main reasons investment casting is chosen over sand casting. For alloys that are more expensive and difficult to machine, like stainless steel, the reduction in material and machining costs outweigh the higher processing times and costs. If you need any help determining the lowest total cost of ownership for your metal component parts, please reach out to us for a consultation and quote!


Take the 2-minute tour ×
Seemingly the same fact goes under several names: MacMahon master theorem, Wronski relation, unnamed fact about symmetric functions - I wonder what is history and what should be ''correct name''?
Let me remind the facts and formulate questions more precisely:
Denote by $e_k$ elementary and $S_k$ complete symmetric functions, then it is well-known that
Fact (with NO name (e.g. Wikipedia) ): $\sum_i S_{k-i} e_i = 0 $ or in terms of generating functions: $ (\sum_{i=0...\infty} t^i S_i ) (\sum_{i=0...n} t^i e_i ) = 1 $.
Proof: $1/(\sum_{i=0...n} t^i e_i )= 1/\prod_i (1-t\lambda_i)$ and using expansion in the geometric progression we get $(\sum_{i=0...\infty} t^i S_i ) $.
Question 1 It seems this relation is too simple to bear someone's name, correct? Nevertheless is its history known? Who was (were) the first to mention?
Let $A$ be a matrix.
Fact (MacMahon Master theorem or Wronski relation). $det(1-tM)(\sum_i Tr t^i S^i(M)) =1 $, where $S^i$ are symmetric tensor power of $M$.
Proof. Assume $A$ is diagonalizible, then it is can be proved in the eigenbasis and is exactly the previous fact. Any complex matrix can be approximated by diagonalizble and since it is algebraic identity this is enough.
It is clear how MacMahon enters this story - he found combinatorial application and describes them in his book, see e.g. Wikipedia
The name of Wronski is used e.g. in papers:
Toru Umeda Application of Koszul complex to Wronski relations for U(gl)
or in many papers by Russian authors on quantum groups e.g. A. Isaev, O. Ogievetsky, P. Pyatov, On quantum matrix algebras satisfying the CayleyHamilton-Newton identities page 9.
Question 2: How Wronski enters the story? Should the relation for complete and elementary symmetric functions be also called "MacMahon" or "Wronski" relation, since it is equivalent to their theorem?
The motivation for asking is writting some Wikipedia article (by the way comments are welcome) as well proper refering in my own articles.
share|improve this question
I think the $e_i$ are usually not defined with the signs you've given them. Also, you use both $A$ and $M$ for what I think are the same matrix, and the version of the MacMahon Master Theorem I'm familiar with has $t$ a diagonal matrix of indeterminates rather than a scalar indeterminate. – Qiaochu Yuan Aug 4 '12 at 14:50
Oops I missed signs, and A =M thanks! Concerning t or diagonal T it is not important. You can absorb them in matrix M. One adds "t" just for convergence. – Alexander Chervov Aug 4 '12 at 15:20
1 Answer 1
up vote 5 down vote accepted
I will answer only the second question. Full disclosure: I wrote much of the WP MacMahon Master Theorem article.
No, you should not call a trivial symmetric function identity after MacMahon (which was already used by Euler and Newton, see e.g. Newton's identities). His theorem is much deeper than you make it seem, due to its relations to combinatorics. This linear algebra proof which you view as trivial is in fact a relatively recent observation, which (to my knowledge) appeared in print only when the MMT was generalized to various non-commutative rings, etc.
To make a general point, the history of mathematics is complicated and should be treated in context rather than with the present day hindsight. My favorite example is Cayley's formula which was originally proved by Carl Borchardt (i.e. before Cayley) as an elementary consequence of Kirchhoff's determinant formula. This is also how we teach it these days. So, should we rename Cayley's formula after Kirchhoff or Borchardt? The best way is to leave things as is - it was Cayley's paper (which references Borchardt's), which, after all, made a major impact on the developments of combinatorics.
More egregiously so, Cauchy's identities for symmetric functions appear in the same setting as the product formulas you mention. Richard Stanley told me that he checked every page of Cauchy's collected papers and is now convinced that Cauchy never proved these. So, should we rename them? No, I say keep the name. We are used to it by now. Same with "MacMahon" and "Wronski". There is really no need to name and re-name things unless the current terminology leads to some kind of confusion... (see here for a story of one such renaming which possibly saved lives).
share|improve this answer
Thank you very much for your kind reply. Macmahon application to Dixon identity is great, but I think the fact itself and proof I mentioned were known to many people without knowledge about Macmahon unfortunately. E.g. the fact is mentioned in "Loop groups" by Pressley Segal as a footnote (may be Russian translation only? ). My master thesis contain this proof and actually more general facts _URL_-alg/_PHONE_ – Alexander Chervov Aug 4 '12 at 11:25
I see. Yes, this often happens when same/similar result is being obtained in parallel in different field. MacMahon's contributions were in the 1920s. I stand by my view that no history of MMT and symmetric functions needs revision, but would be interested to learn more about Wronski's work. – Igor Pak Aug 5 '12 at 5:03
_USER_ I certainly agree with you, that revision is useless. I'll try to find out about Wronski and hopefully add a comments later. – Alexander Chervov Aug 8 '12 at 5:58
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Tag Archives: Swords
Why Did Jesus Tell His Disciples to Buy Swords?
Continue reading Why Did Jesus Tell His Disciples to Buy Swords?
Why Did Jesus Say He Came to Bring a Sword?
by Greg Boyd, originally posted at his website ReKnew.
Some, both modern scholars along with church leaders since the fourth century, have used this passage as evidence to argue that Jesus is not altogether non-violent.
When we place Matthew 10:34 in its broader context, it becomes clear that Jesus' teaching not only does not condone violence on the part of his disciples, it actually rules out all violence. As Jesus is preparing his disciples to proclaim the Good News of the arrival of the kingdom of God throughout the region, he warns them that he is sending them out "like sheep among wolves" (Mt 10:16, cf. vv. 5-15).
Continue reading Why Did Jesus Say He Came to Bring a Sword?
Conquering the World Through Love


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As their popularity increased, ice cream parlors sprung up all over the place. Originating in Italy, this mixture is available in a variety of flavors, including some with fruit puree. In the United States, this name is often synonymous with other traditional cold and sweet treats, but there are some real differences between the two. You can consider commercial gelato ice cream machines for making gelato ice cream.
It's hard to believe that the ancient Romans and Egyptians were among the first to enjoy ice cream made from ice. It started as it is now and was stored underground. From there, a Florentine architect received official recognition of the discovery with Catherine de 'Medici bringing the delicacy to France. At that time, keeping desserts cold was considered a real innovation.
Basically, ice cream consists of milk, cream, various sugars, and a little taste. Peanut or fruit puree is used with a cream-based version using egg yolk and skim milk. Although egg yolk is rarely used today, it is still an important ingredient for those using more traditional methods. Compared to some other similar products in the US, this particular blend contains more sugar and less air. Most would agree that the texture is much softer. If milk or soy milk is not used, the treatment is called sorbet.
- How to do it
Like traditional frozen foods, ice cream begins with a hot process. Sugar needs to be dissolved for the right texture. From there, the pasteurization process begins, and then different recipes and different flavors are formed. Different techniques are used to create different flavors. It's only half frozen, so it tends to melt faster than such desserts.


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The importance of grammar and punctuation to the curriculum Grammar is concerned with the way in which sentences are used in spoken language, in reading and in writing. Sentences are the construct which help give words their sense. The purpose of grammar teaching is to enable pupils to become conscious of patterns of language which they can apply in their own work to enhance meaning.
The purpose of punctuation is to clarify the meaning of texts. Readers use punctuation to help make sense of written texts while writers use punctuation to help communicate intended meaning to the reader.
Teachers work hard to enhance pupils' vocabulary through opportunities that arise naturally from their reading and writing. Throughout all literacy lessons, pupils are shown how to understand the relationship between words, how to understand nuances in meaning and how to develop their use of figurative language. They are also taught how to work out and clarify the meaning of unknown words and words with more than one meaning. In addition to this, new words and phrases are introduced each week. The pupils explore the meaning of the word or phrase and begin experimenting and perfecting using these in their writing. Regular work on synonyms and antonyms also helps broaden the pupils' vocabulary.
Teaching explicit knowledge of grammar is important to enable the pupils to have a more conscious control and choice of their language. Building this knowledge is taught through focused activities and within the teaching of reading, writing and speaking. Once the pupils are familiar with a grammatical concept their teacher encourages them to apply and explore this concept in the grammar in their own speech and writing.
Each week the pupils have a set of spellings to revise. These spellings are linked to the spelling focus taught that week in their literacy lesson.


We have answered the most asked questions about Essex, so you don't have to.
Back in the 'good old days' we used to visit the library or look in an encyclopedia for answers to our many questions.
Luckily everything is a lot more immediate these days and we have all of the world's answers at our fingertips, even if it's about our hometown.
It turns out people have a lot of burning questions about Essex, some more random than others and have turned to Google for answers.
When you start typing a query into the Google search bar, there are a list of prompted questions and suggestions of what you might be looking for.
Other commonly searched questions can also be found on Answer The Public.
Here are the answers to some of the most searched questions about Essex:
Why is Essex so famous?
There's a lot more to Essex than meets the eye, steeped in history our glorious county has many stories to tell.
Colchester was the very first capital city in Britain and the town is now regarded as the oldest in the country.
Our coastline is also the longest in the country, stretching 350 miles.
There are a number of famous people from Essex too including Dame Helen Mirren, Joe Pasquale and Mark Foster, the olympic swimmer.
Why are the Essex marshes under threat?
The salt marshes can be found all along the Essex coast from the River Thames to the River Stour and Harwich on the border with Suffolk.
Often branded as the unsung heroes saving our coastlines, the salt marshes act as a refuge for a wide range of fish and birds, they also help to capture CO2.
Essex Marsh (Image - Pixabay)
However, the coastal marshes have been disappearing rapidly with up to 60 per-cent being eroded by the sea in the last 20-years.
There are a number of successful schemes to restore salt marshes across Essex, reclaiming land once taken for agriculture and turning it back into wetland.
When is Essex day?
Essex Day, also known as Saint Cedd day, falls on October 26.
The celebration recognises the values, history and cultural traditions of the county and the work of Saint Cedd.
When did Essex become a county?
As a county Essex gained administrative, political and legal functions.
When was Southend Pier built?
Southend Pier is the longest pleasure pier in the world, stretching 1.34 miles, it was built in 1830.
I know what you're thinking - why is it so long?
Southend Pier is 1.34 miles long (Image - Unsplash)
Before the pier was built the town wanted to maximise prime trade from London, it was close enough to get the people in and far enough away to still feel like a different place.
However, the Thames Estuary has a dramatic tide and as a result arrival in Southend by boat from London was too unknown, due to the miles of mud that would stop vessels from reaching the shore at low tide.
As a result, the pier was erected at 1.34 miles long to facilitate for the changing tide - meaning boats could dock as they pleased.
What are Essex guys like?
Whether the people asking this question were thinking of cast members from The Only Way is Essex or the country bumpkins of our county, we aren't quite sure.
There's a lot to say about guys from Essex, with hundreds of articles coming back from Google about why they are the best men to marry.
However, men from Essex were in fact voted the least romantic in the UK by their partners in a survey by Photobox in 2018.
What beaches in Essex are dogs allowed on?
Dogs are allowed on most of Essex's beaches, however partial bans run through the summer months of May to September so be sure to check the signage.
There are six main beaches in Essex that allow dogs all-year-round (Image - Unsplash).
There are a number of beaches your furry four-legged friends can enjoy throughout the year including:
 - Canvey Island - Thorney Bay
 - Irlam's Beach
 - Mersea Stone
 - Osea Island
 - The Naze
 - West Mersea
Is Essex a wealthy area?
Essex is known for having expensive hotspots across the county. The so-called 'Golden Triangle' consisting of Chigwell, Loughton and Buckhurst Hill in West Essex is historically known for attracting the richest of the rich.
Is Essex a good place to live?
We think Essex is a wonderful place to live, boasting vast countryside and coastline as well as bustling towns with plenty of places to indulge or take it easy.
The stunning towns of our county and more importantly the people of Essex make it a wonderful place to live.
Have you got a question about Essex that you think should be on the list? Let us know in the comments.


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|February 7th is this years GKAS Day|
More than 10 years ago the ADA began Give Kids A Smile, celebrated annually on the first Friday in February. The program was launched with these four objectives in mind:
In 2006 the ADA decided to look for ways to expand Give Kids A Smile to "More Than Just A Day". A National Advisory Committee was constituted to guide expansion efforts, focusing on three primary areas: program enhancement, fundraising and promising practices to highlight Give Kids A Smile program. The committee's vision statement is:
Our goal is the elimination of cavities in U.S. five year olds by 2020.
If you know of a child in need, please use the resources below to find the nearest clinic in your area.
|To find out how to donate to the American Dental Association and aid in providing these services to needy children please click on the image|


Explain and promote W&M through a more effective communications structure and strategy.
Goal 1
Distill and promote a common identity.
Goal 2
Enhance W&M's position as one of the nation's leading universities.
Goal 3
Develop an integrated, appropriate communications capability.
Key Implementation Steps
Pursue initiatives identified by the President's Communication Group. Build an even stronger culture of philanthropy through investment in development and coordination across campus. In particular, strengthen coordination across the Alumni, Communication and Development organizations. (Cottrell, Golden, Lambert)


ABA Health eSource
March 2008 Volume 4 Number 7
The professional liability policy typically covers damages because of a "medical incident" resulting from "professional healthcare services." 1 A "medical incident" is typically defined as any act or omission in the rendering or failure to render professional healthcare services. Although some policies further define by way of example what is meant by "professional services," the term "professional services" as defined by case law generally means work "requiring knowledge of an advanced type in a field of learning or science customarily acquired by a prolonged course of study of specialized intellectual instruction" 2 or "services that require specialized skill, knowledge, learning, or attainments...." 3 On the other hand, services requiring "training in the performance of routine, manual, or physical processes" 4 are not considered "professional services" and will not be covered under a professional liability policy.
As evidenced by case law, it is sometimes unclear as to what type of claim falls on the professional liability side, and what type falls on the general liability side. Consider the following scenario: An elderly patient walking down a hospital hallway slips and falls on spilled water, and breaks an arm. Conceivably, a resulting claim involves the rendering or failure to render "professional services," due to the staff's failure to monitor and to prevent the patient from walking the hallways unassisted. The claim could also, however, invoke a general liability policy by way of allegations of negligence against the hospital for failing to keep the premises in a safe condition. Does the claim fall on the professional liability side or the general liability side? More importantly, should the hospital's professional liability carrier (or self-insurance) or its general liability carrier respond to the claim? Arguably, this scenario presents a mixed claim of both professional liability and general liability, and both policies should respond to the claim.
Although the definition of "professional services" is somewhat consistent from state-to-state, the application of this definition can lead to differing results as to whether a claim did, in fact, result from "professional services." In Am. Econ. Ins. Co. v. Jackson, 476 F.3d 620 (8th Cir. 2007), for example, the court held that a nurse's decision to refrain from turning on a nursing home's air conditioning during a heat wave, which led to patient deaths, involved the rendering of (or lack of rendering) professional services. The court found that, "the decision to refrain from switching the HVAC system to air conditioning for the medical benefit of the residents rested on [the nurse's] training and experience as a nurse, director of nursing and nursing home administrator. Nursing and nursing home administration are certainly occupations that require specialized knowledge and skill." 5 In contrast, in Buckeye Ranch, Inc. v. Northfield Ins. Co., 134 Ohio Misc. 2d 10, (Ohio Misc. 2005), the court found that a behavioral health facility's decision to assign a younger patient to a room with an older, larger, and historically aggressive patient -- leading to an assault of the younger patient -- did not involve the rendering of a professional service. The court found that, "[m]aking a room assignment was a generic, administrative decision," which "did not require the exercise of specialized knowledge or skill." 6 Likewise, consider Brockbank v. Travelers Ins. Co., 12 A.D.2d 691 (3rd Dept. 1960), where the court concluded that a patient's allegations of negligence against a provider for failing to raise bedrails leading to a patient's fall were allegations arising from a "professional service." The court noted that, "[c]learly the alleged negligence in connection with the placing, raising or adjustment of sideboards on the bed of a patient in a nursing home constitutes 'nursing service'..." and was thus excluded from coverage under a general liability's professional services exclusion. 7 By contrast, in a factually similar scenario, the court in D'Antoni v. Sara Mayo Hospital, 144 So.2d 643 (Ct. App. La. 1962), held that: "[t]he raising of the side rail was purely a mechanical act which any unskilled person could perform. It certainly requires no professional training or knowledge." 8 These decisions seem to be inconsistent, evidencing a lack of clear distinction in case law as to what exactly qualifies as professional liability and what qualifies as general liability.
Items to Consider
Practically, what does this "grey area" between professional liability and general liability mean to the healthcare provider and/or risk manager? If in doubt as to whether a claim falls on the professional or general liability side, the insured should consider the claim to fall potentially under both. This means providing all required notices and satisfying all conditions under any potentially applicable policies, whether they be professional liability, general liability, or excess insurance coverage. If the healthcare provider has self-insurance on the professional liability side, but is insured by a third party on the general liability side, notice of the claim should be immediately provided both to any claims administrator on the professional liability side and to the insurer on the general liability side. In addition, if the healthcare provider has excess insurance sitting above self-insurance on the professional liability side, the excess policy should be consulted to determine whether notice should be provided under that policy as well. Because notice is always an issue in insurance disputes, it is better to err on the side of caution and to provide notice to all potentially liable carriers when an insured is unclear as to whether a claim falls under the professional or general liability coverage.
1 Disclaimer: As the language of every insurance policy varies, readers should consult their individual policies as to the specific terms and conditions.
2 Gulf Ins. Co. v. Gold Cross Ambulance Service Co., 327 F. Supp. 149, 152 (D. Okla. 1971).
3 Visiting Nurse Ass'n v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 65 F.3d 1097, 1104 (3d Cir. 1995).
5 Id. at 625.
6 Id. at 31.
7 Id.
8 Id. at 646-647.


Equal footing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The equal footing doctrine, also known as equality of the states, is the principle in United States constitutional law that all states admitted to the Union under the Constitution since 1789 enter on equal footing with the 13 states already in the Union at that time. The Constitution grants to Congress the power to admit new states in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1, which states:
Beginning with the admission of Tennessee in 1796, Congress has included in each state's act of admission a clause providing that it enters the Union "on an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever".[1] Before that, when Vermont was admitted in 1791, the act said Vermont was to be "a new and entire member" of the United States.
At the 1787 Constitutional Convention, a proposal to include the phrase, "new States shall be admitted on the same terms with the original States", was defeated. It was feared that the political power of future new western states would eventually overwhelm that of the established eastern states. Once the new Constitution went into effect, however, Congress admitted Vermont and Kentucky on equal terms and thereafter formalized the condition in its acts of admission for subsequent states, declaring that the new state enters "on an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever." Thus the Congress, utilizing the discretion allowed by the framers, adopted a policy of equal status for all newly admitted states.[2] With the growth of states' rights advocacy during the antebellum period, the Supreme Court asserted, in Lessee of Pollard v. Hagan (1845), that the Constitution mandated admission of new states on the basis of equality.[1]
Coyle v. Smith[edit]
In Coyle v. Smith, 221 U.S. 559 (1911), the Supreme Court ruled that if Congress mandates a unique limitation be put in a prospective state's constitution, even if the state's residents agree, the unique mandate is not enforceable.
On December 29, 1910, the state of Oklahoma enacted a statute which removed the state capital from Guthrie to Oklahoma City. W.H. Coyle, owner of large property interests in Guthrie, sued the state of Oklahoma, arguing that the move was performed in violation of the state constitution's acceptance of the terms of the 1906 Oklahoma Enabling Act, which mandated the capital to be in Guthrie until 1913.
Supreme Court findings[edit]
The Court noted that the power given to Congress by Article. IV, Section 3, of the US Constitution is to admit new states to the Union, and relates only to such states as are equal to each other in power and dignity and competency to exert the residuum of sovereignty not delegated to the Federal Government.
The Supreme Court held that preventing the state of Oklahoma the right to locate its own seat of government deprived it of powers which all other states of the Union enjoyed and so it violated the traditional constitutional principle that all new states be admitted "on an equal footing with the original states". As a result, the provision of the enabling act that temporarily restricted Oklahoma's right to determine where its seat of government would be was unconstitutional.
United States v. Holt State Bank[edit]
In United States v. Holt State Bank, 270 U.S. 49 (1926), the Supreme Court ruled that the equal footing doctrine applied to water rights. The Supreme Court rejected a claim by the Red Lake Indian Reservation of Minnesota that it had rights to Mud Lake and other navigable waters within the reservation by virtue of the tribe's aboriginal status.
In general, lands underlying navigable waters within a state belong to the state in its sovereign capacity; the state may use and dispose them subject to the paramount power of Congress to control such waters for the purposes of navigation in interstate and foreign commerce.
If the United States, after acquiring the territory and before the creation of the state, has granted rights to land to a third party, rights that otherwise would have passed to the state, by virtue of its admission to the Union, remain with the third party.[3]
However, disposals by the United States during the territorial period of lands under navigable water should not be regarded as intended unless there was a definite declaration by contract, statute, or other similar action.[4]
At the time of Minnesota's admission as a state, Mud Lake and other much-larger navigable waters within its limits were included in the Red Lake Indian Reservation. The Chippewas Tribe ceded to the United States their right of occupancy of the surrounding lands, leaving the Red Lake Reservation as a remainder of their original aboriginal territory. While the area was recognized as a reservation, it was never formally set apart as such.[5]
Supreme Court findings[edit]
The State of Minnesota was admitted into the Union in 1858, 11 Stat. 285, c. 31, and under the constitutional principle of equality among the several states, the title to the bed of Mud Lake then passed to the state if the lake was navigable and if the bed had not already been disposed of by the United States. Navigability does not depend on the particular mode used or on an absence of occasional difficulties in navigation. It depends on the stream being, in its natural and ordinary condition, one that affords a channel for useful commerce.
See also[edit]
 1. ^ a b c "Doctrine of the Equality of States". Justia.com. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
 2. ^ Forte, David F. "Essays on Article IV: New States Clause". The Heritage Guide to the Constitution. The Heritage Foundation.
 3. ^ Holt, at p. 54
 4. ^ Holt, at p. 55
 5. ^ Holt, at p. 57


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What is a Credit Card?
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A thin plastic rectangle with an information-holding magnetic strip that is issued to a cardholder, for the use of purchasing goods and services through a credit account.
How does a Credit Card work?
Credit Cards contain several informational and security features: usually, on their front, is a 16-digit embossed card number, an expiration date, and a hologram. On the reverse side is a magnetic stripe, signature panel, and 3-digit Card Verification Value (CVV). Some payment systems use non-standard alternatives such as key fobs and miniature cards.
Credit cards are linked to lines of credit, so their use signifies an obligation to pay the credit issuer, as opposed to a direct withdrawal from existing funds. The credit card holder is usually required to pay an interest on outstanding credit that is not paid back within a month.
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- 42% of older adults have unmet need for assistive bathing, toileting devices
 4 days ago - By Healio
 A nationally representative cohort study estimated that 5 million older adults in the U.S. who have difficulty performing self-care tasks or are at risk for falls lack access to grab bars, shower seats and other assistive devices.
 "In an older population, the evidence for non-pharmacological interventions like home modification, occupational therapy and physical therapy is robust. They prevent falls, improve quality of life, and reduce hospitalization - with effects that are more meaningful than things like vitamin D or aspirin, even though that's what we are typically trained to
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Submitted to: Midwestern Section of the American Society of Animal Science
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/8/2007
Publication Date: 9/20/2008
Citation: Miles, J.R., Freking, B.A., Blomberg, L., Vallet, J.L. 2008. Conceptus development during embryo elongation in lines of pigs selected for ovulation rate or uterine capacity [abstract]. Journal of Animal Science. 86 (E-Supplement 3):107 (Abstract #233).
Technical Abstract: The pig embryo undergoes a dramatic morphological transition between Day 10 and 12 of gestation, elongating from a spherical structure to a long, thin filament. Lines of pigs selected for increased uterine capacity (UC) have improved conceptus survival while pigs selected for increased ovulation rate (OR) have decreased conceptus survival relative to an unselected control line (CO). The objective of this study was to evaluate development during embryo elongation as a contributing factor to differences in conceptus survival rates among these pig lines. Conceptuses were recovered by flushing each uterine horn of pregnant gilts with 25 ml of PBS at Day 10 (n = 12, 13, and 13) or 12 (n = 7, 11, and 10) of gestation from CO, UC, and OR gilts, respectively. At Day 10 of gestation, conceptus diameter was determined and the standard deviation within individual gilts was used to assess conceptus morphologic diversity. Uterine flushings were assayed for total protein and estradiol-17beta at Day 10 and 12 of gestation. Morphological data were analyzed for analysis of variance with the fixed effects of line, season, and the interactions of fixed effects. Flushing data were analyzed for analysis of variance with the fixed effects of line, day, season, and the interactions of fixed effects. There were no significant line effects on conceptus diameter means or within-litter standard deviations at Day 10 of gestation. Furthermore, total protein or estradiol-17beta levels in uterine flushing at Day 10 and 12 of gestation were not different between the lines. Day effects were detected for total uterine luminal protein (P < 0.0001; 13.4 ± 0.5 and 32.2 ± 1.4 mg) and total uterine luminal estradiol-17beta (P < 0.0001; 1.2 ± 0.1 and 7.9 ± 1.0 ng) for Day 10 and 12, respectively. These findings indicate limited deviations in conceptus development during embryo elongation between these lines of pigs.


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Please tell me if I'm being overly simplistic here.
I was reading the book yeast by Chris White and Jamil Zainasheff. In the book, they talk about measuring how many cells are in a slurry by using a microscope or by dilution until the slurry is clear in a test tube.
However, they also mention that the size and weight (density) of a yeast cell is known, the density of water is also known. So couldn't one take a yeast slurry, measure its weight and volume and use this measure of density to determine what percentage of the mass is composed of yeast, and what percentage is composed of water?
Clearly, since wort is more dense than distilled water, you may have to wash the slurry first. But this seems much simpler than whipping out a microscope or doing multiple dilutions.
Should this work?
Note: I'm talking about measuring the number of yeast cells in a slurry, not their viability or vitality.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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The Cyprus Peace Process Since March 2008: Short History, State of the Art and What is Next in Store
The ongoing peace process in Cyprus, started in March 2008, is still work in progress, which has not yet reached the point of no return. All negotiating matters have been explored, classified and discussed. Some of them have been negotiated in depth and a few agreements have even been reached. But most of the knots to reach a comprehensive settlement are yet to be untied. A solution to governance matters is in sight, whereas a compromise on the all important question of property is still elusive. The UNSG Ban Ki-moon will meet the leaders of the two Cypriot communities in Geneva on January 26th to take stock of the outstanding problems and of the leaders' plans to solve them. In reconstructing and analysing the main developments, this article strives to keep equal distance from the contending sides.
1. Settlement Framework of the Talks
2. The Initial Negotiating Stage
3. Talat's Last-Ditch Effort
4. The Current Stage
5. The Property Chapter
6. The Tripartite Meeting in New York and Its Follow-up


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The fund is part of TUM Agenda Lehre, backed by the "Qualitätspakt Lehre" (Quality Pact for Teaching), a federal program for the improvement of conditions of study and of teaching quality.
The TUM Teaching Endowment Fund sponsors teaching and assessment projects aiming to enhance, refine, or redesign the content, formats, and structures of instruction or examination, or to introduce creative new ideas. This includes a wide range of innovative curricula and curricular elements, such as:
- New approaches to student advising and supervising
- Course restructuring or redesign
- E-learning elements or units
- Innovative examination methods, such as the parcours
- Development of traditional assessment methods toward competency-based examination
- Optimization of practical examinations vis-a-vis learning outcomes
- Tutorial and practical course formats
The TUM Teaching Endowment Fund supports projects with concrete proposals for teaching and assessment that are not part of a "standard" curriculum. The amount of funding varies according to the scope and requirements of individual projects. Proposals must detail the grounds for the funding request. Please note, only funds for personnel costs may be requested.
TUM professors may apply for a one-semester sabbatical to carry out projects within the scope of the TUM Teaching Endowment Fund. In this case, funds from the award may be used as compensation. For more information, please refer to Semester's Leave for Teaching.


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The Plastiki Expedition
The Plastiki Expedition is a bold adventure that aims to capture the world's imagination and draw our attention to the state of our oceans
The proposal is to build a boat from plastic bottles and recycled materials, which will then be sailed across the Pacific Ocean from North America to Australia.
The four month voyage will see The Plastiki pass through a number of environmentally sensitive regions. The most notable of which has been ominously named the 'Eastern Garbage Patch', a region six times the size of the United Kingdom where vast quantities of plastic pollution have accumulated because of the currents.
The boat will be designed as a response to the problem that plastics present. The design also aims to be completely self-contained in terms of its energy generation, fresh water creation and waste treatment.
The title of the project refers to Thor Heyerdal's Kontiki Expedition undertaken in 1947. In the same way that the Kontiki Expedition challenged existing assumptions about past civilisations, it is intended that The Plastiki Expedition will change attitudes towards the world's oceans, the whole idea of waste and the increasingly unacceptable reality of pollution.
Client - Adventure Ecology
Architect - Exploration
Naval Architect - Andrew Dovell
Structural Engineer - Atelier One
Materials Consultant - Arup


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Each student has a mathematics to create.
Each student has a mathematics to shape.
Each student has a mathematics of their own.
Graphical shape thinking and transfer
I structure the chapter as follows to accomplish several goals. I first provide two vignettes in order to introduce the two graphical shape thinking constructs and motivate a focus on particular aspects of transfer. A concise discussion of the theoretical underpinnings central to this chapter follows the opening vignettes. I subsequently describe the two graphical shape thinking constructs and, using accompanying student data, illustrate them in terms of students' transfer processes. Generalizing from these cases, I introduce a way to frame concept construction in terms of theories of transfer and graphical shape thinking, and I provide a data example to illustrate the productive nature of such a framing. As part of this discussion, I provide suggestions for future research.
Moore, K. C. (2021). Graphical shape thinking and transfer. In C. Hohensee & J. Lobato (Eds.), In C. Hohensee & J. Lobato (Eds.) Transfer of learning: Progressive perspectives for mathematics education and related fields (pp. 145-171). Springer.
United States and South Korean citizens' interpretation and assessment of COVID-19 quantitative data
We investigate United States and South Korean citizens' mathematical schemes and how these schemes supported or hindered their attempts to assess the severity of COVID-19. We selected web and media-based COVID-19 data representations that we hypothesized citizens would interpret differently depending on their mathematical schemes. We included items that we conjectured would be easier or more difficult to interpret with schemes that prior research had reported were more or less productive, respectively. We used the representations during clinical interviews with 25 United States and seven South Korean citizens. We illustrate that citizens' mathematical schemes (as well as their beliefs) impacted how they assessed the severity of COVID-19. We present vignettes of citizens' schemes that inhibited interpreting representations of COVID-19 in ways compatible with the displayed quantitative data, schemes that aided them in assessing the severity of COVID-19, and beliefs about the reliability of scientific data that over-rode their mathematical conclusions.
Yoon, H., Byerley, C. O., Joshua, S., Moore, K. C., Park, M. S., Musgrave, S., Valaas, L. & Drimalla, J. (2021). United States and South Korean citizens' interpretation and assessment of COVID-19 quantitative data. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 62.
Figurative and operative partitioning activity: Students' meanings for amounts of change in covarying quantities
Researchers have emphasized the importance of characterizing students' abilities to coordinate changes in covarying quantities. In this paper, we characterize three undergraduate students' coordination of covarying quantities' amounts of change during a teaching experiment. We adopt Piagetian notions of figurative and operative thought to describe the extent their meanings for covariational relationships are constrained to or supported by their partitioning activity – the mental and physical actions associated with constructing accruals in quantities' magnitudes. Our analysis suggests that students' construction of amounts of change is constrained by figurative partitioning activity that requires carrying out or emulating particular actions on perceptually available material. In contrast, operative partitioning activity supports the students' transformation and (anticipated) regeneration of partitioning activity in order to conceive equivalent covariational relationships among various situations and representational systems. We conclude by discussing how documenting these distinctive meanings contributes to extant literature on covariational reasoning and, more broadly, the theorization of mathematical concept construction.
Liang, B. & Moore, K. C. (2020). Figurative and operative partitioning activity: Students' meanings for amounts of change in covarying quantities. Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 23(4), 291-317.
Pre-service teachers' figurative and operative graphing actions
We report on semi-structured clinical interviews to describe U.S. pre-service secondary mathematics teachers' graphing meanings. Our primary goal is to draw on Piagetian notions of figurative and operative thought to identify marked differences in the students' meanings. Namely, we illustrate students' meanings dominated by fragments of sensorimotor experience and compare those with students' meanings dominated by the coordination of mental actions in the form of covarying quantities. Our findings suggest students' meanings that foreground operative aspects of thought are more generative with respect to graphing. Our findings also indicate that students can encounter perturbations due to potential incompatibilities between figurative and operative aspects of thought.
Moore, K. C., Stevens, I. E., Paoletti, T., Hobson, N. L. F., & Liang, B. (2019). Pre-service teachers' figurative and operative graphing actions. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 56.
Conventions, habits, and U.S. teachers' meanings for graphs
In this paper, we use relevant literature and data to motivate a more detailed look into relationships between what we perceive to be conventions common to United States (U.S.) school mathematics and individuals' meanings for graphs and related topics. Specifically, we draw on data from pre-service (PST) and in-service (IST) teachers to characterize such relationships. We use PSTs' responses during clinical interviews to illustrate three themes: (a) some PSTs' responses implied practices we perceive to be conventions of U.S. school mathematics were instead inherent aspects of PSTs' meanings; (b) some PSTs' responses implied they understood certain practices in U.S. school mathematics as customary choices not necessary to represent particular mathematical ideas; and (c) some PSTs' responses exhibited what we or they perceived to be contradictory actions and claims. We then compare our PST findings to data collected with ISTs.
Moore, K. C., Silverman, J., Paoletti, T., Liss, D., & Musgrave, S. (2019). Conventions, habits, and U.S. teachers' meanings for graphs. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 53, 179-195.
Reasoning within quantitative frames of reference: The case of Lydia
Quantitative reasoning is important in the development of K–16 mathematical ideas such as function and rate of change. Coordinate systems are used to coordinate sets of quantities by establishing frames of reference and constructing representational spaces in which sets of quantities are joined. Despite the critical role of coordinate systems in mathematics, much is left to understand about how students construct and reason within frames of reference and associated coordinate systems. In this report, we draw from a teaching experiment to discuss how an undergraduate student, Lydia, constructed and reasoned within frames of reference when graphing in non-canonical coordinate systems. We pay specific attention to distinctions between figurative and operative aspects of thought in her committing to reference points and directionality of measure comparison within frames of reference. In this regard, we present shifts in Lydia's reasoning during the teaching experiment and consider implications and future research directions.
Lee, H. Y., Moore, K. C., Tasova, H. I. (2019). Reasoning within quantitative frames of reference: The case of Lydia. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 53, 81–95.
A covariational understanding of function: Putting a horse before the cart
Supporting students developing understandings of function has been a notoriously elusive task in mathematics education. We present Thompson and Carlson's (2017) description of a covariational meaning of function and provide an example of a student who maintains meanings compatible with this description. We use this student's activity to illustrate nuances in a covariational meaning of function and to highlight how such meanings can be powerful. We argue a student who has developed meanings compatible with a covariational meaning of function has the foundational meanings needed to understand a formal definition of function (i.e. the horse needed to pull the cart).
Paoletti, T., & Moore, K. C. (2018). A covariational understanding of function: Putting a horse before the cart. For the Learning of Mathematics, 38(3), 37-43.
Inverse function: Pre-service teachers' techniques and meanings
Researchers have argued teachers and students are not developing connected meanings for function inverse, thus calling for a closer examination of teachers' and students' inverse function meanings. Responding to this call, we characterize 25 pre-service teachers' inverse function meanings as inferred from our analysis of clinical interviews. After summarizing relevant research, we describe the methodology and theoretical framework we used to interpret the pre-service teachers' activities. We then present data highlighting the techniques the pre-service teachers used when responding to tasks that involved analytical and graphical representations of functions and inverse functions in both decontextualized and contextualized situations and discuss our inferences of their meanings based on their activities. We conclude with implications for the teaching and learning of inverse function and areas for future research.
Paoletti, T., Stevens, I. E., Hobson, N. L. F., Moore, K. C., & LaForest, K. R. (2018). Pre-service teachers' inverse function meanings. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 97(1), 93-109.
The parametric nature of two students' covariational reasoning
Researchers have argued that covariational reasoning is foundational for learning a variety of mathematics topics. We extend prior research by examining two students' covariational reasoning with attention to the extent they became consciously aware of the parametric nature of their reasoning. We first describe our theoretical background including different conceptions of covariation researchers have found useful when characterizing student reasoning. We then present two students' activities during a teaching experiment in which they


Monday Meditation ~ Bluebell for inner strength in hard times
Bluebell Meditation
Bluebells are one of the most quintessentially English of wild-flowers. The sight of a woodland floor carpeted in bluebells as far as the eye can see is a delightful and uplifting one. Curiously, the flower known as bluebell in England is not known by the same name in Scotland, where it is referred to as the wild hyacinth, echoing the French name, jacinth sauvage. This gives clues to the flower's family connections and also to it's glorious perfume.
This year, the bluebells have been almost a month late flowering and are now at their peak. I cut a small number from the garden to put in vases round the house so we might enjoy their colour and fragrance indoors since the weather has been cold and rainy.
If you have access to garden bluebells, cut a few stems to place in water; native English bluebells, like all wild-flowers, should not be picked or dug up. You may also use hyacinths for this meditation or essential oil of hyacinth (which is expensive but heady and almost hypnotic) Find somewhere to sit where you will be undisturbed and calm and centre yourself. If you have a recording of woodland birdsong for an English spring, that may also aid the deepening of the meditative experience.
If you have some bluebells with you, gaze at them for a few moments, drinking in their colour, form and scent. Then, when you have fixed them in your mind, close your eyes and begin to relax.
You are standing at a woodland edge. It's spring, early in the morning but well past dawn. The birds have finished their hymn to the new day and everything is settling into its daily pattern. The sun is out, and it's occasionally lost behind fluffy white clouds that meander slowly across a sky that is a beautiful shade of blue. There's a freshness to the air that tells you that spring has a long way to go before it becomes summer. The trees at the woodland edge are tall old oaks, and their new leaves are still small, not fully opened, and a pale luminous green that is transparent and moist. The path into the wood is no more than a thread of beaten earth, made by passing feet and followed also by deer and rabbits and other creatures. Here and there, in patches of mud you can see their tracks where a single fleeting hoof has splashed through a shallow puddle.
As you enter the woodland, the light changes and so too does the sound. Both become muted by the canopy of trees. You can see the blueness of the sky above through gaps in the canopy, and the newly opened leaves are still allowing light to shine through them. The air seems to shimmer with this light green light and you find this very soothing as you stroll along the path as it winds among the trees. There are some giant old oaks here, some struck by lightning and others just huge shells with tufts of new leaves. It feels safe and friendly here so you continue onwards.
The path becomes less muddy, and you can see that it's streaked with pale sand now where the rain has drawn particles to the surface. It weaves through the trees, as the woodland rolls gently up and down. Sometimes the path seems to take a steeper route and you sense you are being led higher, though the way seems to wind and double back on itself. It feels leisurely and you are not in a hurry so are content to follow the path. Here and there birds sing as you pass, but there is no sign of other people around. It's supremely peaceful here and you feel happy and at ease with yourself.
As the path leads steeply upwards you feel a sense of excitement building, and as the slope becomes sharper and your breath comes in gasps, you feel sure this is leading to something amazing. After a few minutes of hard climbing, you reach the top quite suddenly and you stop in your tracks in wonder.
The top of the hill is flat, covered in a grove of the most lovely trees, but the earth is lost beneath an expanse of the most heavenly of blues. Bluebells in great profusion cover the forest floor. The scent that washes off them in the gentle breeze almost overwhelms your senses and you take a deep breath, drawing the fragrant air far down into your lungs, holding it there so you can almost taste the bluebells.
You stand at the edge of the grove, wanting to go further in but afraid to trample on this profusion of beauty, till you see that the path continues to wind on, just wide enough for you to walk on it. The shining leaves of the bluebells caress your ankles as you walk, and the scent rises, smoky and sweet, at every step. The path takes you to the middle of the grove where a single young oak tree waits. No more than perhaps thirty of forty years old, this tree is still small compared with the giants around but it has a special look to it, and when you get to it, you see that beneath it is a large flat boulder, with has a kind of basin in it. The basin is filled with water and a single floret of bluebell. Around the boulder is soft white sand, and so you sit down on it. Looking upwards the new green leaves of the trees make a pattern of great loveliness with the blue sky beyond them. All around the deep blue of the flowers, the glossy dark green of their leaves, and the verdant oak leaves fill you with the powerful peace that can be found in woodlands.
Touch the water. See the ripples and the changing reflections shatter and reform. Touch the flower head. It feels fleshy and cool, and for something so ephemeral and fleeting it feels stronger than you would expect. This is the power of bluebells. Each year they bloom for a few short weeks, then disappear back under the earth. Yet even while they are invisible, they are growing, spreading and colonising new lands. Left alone, they will return year after year to raise their heads to the blue sky above.
Gaze at the bluebells. Feel the calmness their colour and scent bring to any troubles you may have. Stay as long as you wish. This is a safe, nurturing environment and you will know when it is time to leave.
bluebell and oak
The sun has risen high in the sky now and you feel the warmth reaching you here on the forest floor. The duties and joys of the day ahead await you. You can retrace your path to the woodland edge or you can follow the path onward. Once it dips over the other side of the grove, it takes a shorter route back to your world. It's up to you which you take. If you want a longer walk to think about what you have experienced, take the original path back. If you are ready now to return, take the quicker path back.
Once you reach the woodland's edge, stop for a moment and look back at the trees and remember how good it felt to be at peace in such a wood. Now let the forest melt away and let yourself return fully to your normal world.
Take a few minutes to record your experiences and also make sure you have a drink of water to help you ground fully.
Is escapism harmless?
Is escapism harmless?
Can you can tell when times have got tougher by the kind of books and entertainment people choose?
I'd love to see a proper study done with graphs and spreadsheets and percentages. Ones that show the rise of the feel-good-factor musicals proportionate to the plummeting of pay packets, or the popularity of happy-ever-after romances to the surge in divorces.
I have a theory. One of those that is completely unsubstantiated and without any evidence but my own musings. But as I said, I don't think anyone has done a definitive study yet.
My theory is that when life becomes tougher for us here in the West, we turn more to entertainment that is pure escapism. People seek something that will block out their reality for a few hours, and leave them with a lingering glow of hopefulness. Books that transport you to another life, or even another world, and make you forget about your own issues.
On this level, virtually all literature aims to be escapist in some fashion, to lift you out of your life and into that of the text. It's the sign of success for a novelist if you make people miss buses, be late for things or stay up half the night to finish.
That's only half the story, though. Like a good holiday, a good book or film also returns you to your reality better able and prepared to cope with new challenges. This, to me, is the problem with escapism. You don't want to go back, you remain with half of your self still locked in that world. I'm not talking about a book or film that haunts you but rather something more visceral. Something that gets deep inside and makes you constantly hanker back, wishing you were 'there', wishing that your life was as romantic or exciting and never doing more than wishing and hankering. Romantic novels rarely give a blueprint for reproducing better relationships. High-octane musicals seldom offer any realistic view of working towards goals: for every Billy Eliot who makes it, there are a thousand who never do. None of us want to imagine ourselves as the ones who didn't make the grade. Yet we are encouraged to 'believe in ourselves', to believe that we are the ones, the magic ones, who are the stars


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The Persian Gulf (also known as the Gulf) is a warm, semi-enclosed sea, mostly less than 330 ft (100 m) deep. It is connected to the Arabian Sea via the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman. The shallow waters are well mixed and more productive than the Red Sea owing to the nutrient runoff from the land to the north and east. Corals have adapted to the very warm water temperature, which can reach 91°F (33°C).
The Arabian Plate, spreading from the Red Sea rift, is moving northeast and sliding under the Eurasian Plate, so the northeastern side of the Persian Gulf is deeper. This tectonic activity has folded and uplifted sediments up to 280 million years old and produced structural traps for oil, which has accumulated in large reservoirs beneath the Gulf and surrounding land. Oil now dominates the region's economy.


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Steve Holland tells me he is a student of yacht design at Southampton, and has reminded me that we need to consider the cross-flow beneath a heeled hull. These are the points he makes:
There may be another good reason to reduce the root chord of the foils of a beamier hull, and that is to lessen the ventilation effects on keel and rudder when these hulls heel. Because of the hull beam and the resulting increased stiffness, skippers of the "skiff"-type hulls carry their suits into higher wind ranges than narrow-beam hulls. It is not unusual to be able to see the keel fin and rudder root out of the water of a well-heeled skiff, and to be able to see the resulting turbulence this causes. Narrowing the root chord of these foils is meant to reduce this turbulence, reduce the drag, and reposition the lost foil area further down, well below the water surface to where it can do useful work.
Perhaps it is worth considering more carefully the required change in aerofoil cross section of the fin from root to tip. Given the hull cross-flow, it is clear that the fin, ideally, needs to twist somewhat to accommodate the higher angle of attack at the root. A rotating fin is not permitted by class rules, but an equivalent change would be to have a significantly thicker section profile at the root with maximum thickness further forward. This more rounded entry would accommodate the higher angle of attack better. The disadvantage, of course, is that the thicker section adds to drag on the run.
Alternatively, we can have an "L" shape keel, shown in the first of the diagrams here. When the boat heels, the bulb will tend to twist the fin in such a way that the root is effectively twisted off, or washed out.
While the fin, ideally, needs to twist off because of the higher angle of attack at the root, then needs to twist back in its mid-span to meet the "normal" leeway angle of attack, it also needs to twist off again at the tip because of the upwash induced there, just like the twist needed in the sails because of their induced upwash. So if we accommodate the higher angle of attack at the root with a thicker chord and maximum thickness further forward, perhaps we can accommodate the need for tip twist by carefully regulating the torsional stiffness of the lower third of the fin and locating the bulb CG well forward of the fin's leading edge. This gives us a "reverse L" shaped keel with a prognathous bulb, shown in the second diagram. As the hull heels, the weight of the bulb will twist the fin and induce wash-out, producing the sort of twist we need to reduce tip drag and premature stall.
In either case, arranging the keel as an "L" or "reverse L" shape places the fin, and hence the sail plan, either much further forward, or much further aft than current designs. If we have a "reverse L", presumably the boat is a little less nimble in the tack, though has better directional stability, with the converse applying with a regular "L" shape.
Larry Robinson offers a caution:
Finally, the page on balance points out that the more symmetric the heeled waterplane is, the less the lift produced by the hull. This was thought to provide a better-balanced boat as the wind gusts or lulls. It may also be the case that a more symmetric heeled waterplane produces less lift-induced drag, as well as producing less cross-flow under the hull, allowing the fin and rudder to work better.
We also know that some hull designs produce more asymmetric heeled waterplanes than other designs. Such designs thus produce more cross-flow and lift around the hull, and (we're guessing here, of course) might benefit if their keel was more like the "L" type. Where the hull design provides a more symmetric heeled waterplane, then it will generate relatively less cross-flow and lift, and would be better with the usual "T" keel or maybe a slightly prognathous "reverse L" keel. Hmmm...
©2011 Lester Gilbert


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Growing Degree Days
- The Growing Degree Day method (GDD) for estimating when insects will emerge is based on the average daily temperature. It is therefore a more accurate method for timing pest management strategies (spraying pesticides, etc.).
- GDD is calculated by averaging the daily maximum and minimum temperatures and then subtracting the base temperature as follows: ((maximum temperature + minimum temperature)/2) – base temperature.
- Insects, like plants and many other organisms, are dependent on temperature to develop. During warm years insects develop faster and become problems sooner. During cooler years development is slowed down. Problems from ornamental plant pests may be noticed weeks later in a cooler year than in a warmer year.
- The Pest Predictive Calendar is a monitoring tool to assist in predicting when susceptible stages of pest insects are active.
- Use GDD in combination with the Pest Predictive Calendar (click on link to access) to make timely decisions on implementing management strategies to protect your plants.
Cumulative GDD (as of Oct 29)
Eastern Henrico 4521
Western Henrico 4176


Take the 2-minute tour ×
Using CSS, it's easy to horizontally center text in a container using text-align:center;, but if any single word of that text is larger than the width of the container, the browser automatically "clips" to the left boundary of the container (as in, the over-sized word aligns with the left side of the too-small container, and without the CSS word-break:hyphenate; property setting (or similar) the over-sized word sticks out past the right edge of the container.
enter image description hereAny way to float this pic left of my text here to save vertical space? Oh well. Anyway...
Without using a child container element to hold the text, is there a way to center the over-sized word so that it hangs over both left and right sides of the container equally?
Again, I do not want to use a text container within the container. I could do this in 5 seconds by using a child text to be centered with fixed width and negative margin-left, or with absolute positioning of a container element inside a relative div, but I'm looking for a CSS attribute that will center text even when the word is too long to fit the width. By default, text-align:center doesn't do this.
Thoughts? Thanks! -Slink
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2 Answers
up vote 9 down vote accepted
This fiddle shows three div elements illustrating the "problem" and both the following "solutions".
One Possible "Solution"
I'm not sure of your needs, but so far the only real solution I have found is to set display: table to your text container. But that will allow the container to stretch to the needed width to contain the longest word, which may not be desirable to you. If that is okay, that is the best solution.
Another Possible "Faked" Solution
If you must keep the apparent size of the element at least, then you can fake the look by some creative pseudo-element use:
.fakeIt {
 text-align: center; /* what you wanted all along */
 display: table; /* key to get centered */
 position: relative; /* allow reference for absolute element */
 z-index: 2; /* set up for a background to be pushed below */
 width: 40px; /* what you want, but table resizes larger if needed*/
 border: none; /* transferring border to the "fake" */
 background-color: transparent; /* transferring background to the "fake" */
.fakeIt:after {
 content: ''; /* before or after need it, even if empty */
 width: 40px; /* the original width you wanted for the container */
 position: absolute; /* need this to position it */
 z-index: -1; /* push it behind the foreground */
 left: 50%; /* push it to center */
 top:0; /* give it height */
 bottom: 0; /* give it height */
 margin-left: -20px; /* half the width to finish centering */
 border: 1px solid red; /* the border you wanted on the container */
 background-color: yellow; /* the background you wanted on the container */
However, depending upon your particular application, the "faked" solution may not work. Also, the original element will still take up the wider "space" in the document, it just won't look like it is. That could cause issues. Negative margin on the container could solve that, but you don't know what the value needs to be set at, as it would differ with text width.
You mention in a comment you are not familiar with pseudo-elements in css, so you may want to have a quick intro.
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Great answer with the display: table trick. – biziclop Jul 14 '12 at 14:40
This seems like a very elegant solution. I like the concept, but is it applicable to anchor tags? tag allows CSS attributes like height:100px; and width:100px; even without specifying the CSS display property. // another reason for my concern with complicating the link by including a block-type display element is that I do want the website to be friendly for web crawlers. I'm not up to snuff on Google's requirements, but I'm not sure how it would affect the website's legitimacy rating according to the Google bots – Slink Jul 15 '12 at 20:58
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That damned horizontal scrollbar!
 aaaaa aaaaa aaaaa aaaaa aaaaa aaaaa aaaaa aaaaa aaaaa aaaaa aaaaa aaaaa aaaaa aaaaa aaaaa aaaaa aaaaa
.inner {
 text-align: center;
 position: relative;
 left: +450%;
.inner:before {
 content: '';
 display: inline-block;
 margin-right: -900%;
share|improve this answer
What? You lost me. I was never aware of the :before CSS attribute, though (that's cool). I just want a CSS text attribute or other trick! margin-left or similar would be no good.??? Thanks. – Slink Jul 11 '12 at 18:22
This doesn't work (at least in firefox) – Inkbug Jul 15 '12 at 9:42
Unfortunately, it's true. – biziclop Jul 15 '12 at 9:52
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Porites and 'Christmas Tree Worms'
By Rob Toonen. Posted to Reefkeepers emailing list, Sunday the 12th of December 1999.
I'm not sure where the idea that Spirobranchus worms feed on the mucus from Porites first originated, but I see it quite often. As far as I know there is absolutely no research that supports that claim (although if someone knows of some references to the contrary, I would appreciate knowing about them!). The worms are feeders on plankton and although they are obligate associates of live corals, they are found in a variety of species, and Porites is actually one of the species that they do *worst* in (I'll explain this more below). It's sort of a complicated system, and no one has really figured out exactly what is going on yet, other than the fact that Spirobranchus "giganteus" is an entire species complex rather than a single species, and several "morphs" of the species have turned out to be completely infertile when crossed.
The reason that the worms are found on specific corals seems to be a result of larvae showing a strong settlement preference for corals such as Porites asteroides and Millepora complanata and ignoring corals such as Siderastrea, Dendrogyra and Agaricia. However, when researchers examined the growth and survival rates of worms on different coral species, worms that settled on Diploria strigosa did the best, followed by those living in Montastrea annularis, M. cavernosa, and Porites porites came in dead last in every measure of growth for the worms! Just to make things more complicated, different researchers find different results in different regions (such as larval preferences for specific corals), suggesting that there is a lot of variation among the worms throughout their range, or that there are a lot of similar but unidentified species that are mistakenly being tested as the same animal. Until these issues are properly addressed, it is difficult to make accurate generalizations.
As far as I can tell from the research done on these worms, the primary reason that they are found almost entirely in association with live corals has nothing to do with nutrition. In fact, researchers have examined the boring invertebrate communities in corals that are live, to those in which 50%, or 100% of the colony was dead, and they found big differences. In living corals, only 3 species were commonly found (a bivalve, a vermetid snail and the Xmas tree worms). The number of species boring through the colony and the amount of carbonate skeleton lost to that activity increases with the proportion of the colony that is dead. Completely dead colonies were rapidly colonized by 17-18 species of boring invertebrates (the most significant of which are the sipunculans, or peanut worms) which remove an average of 14.2 kg of carbonate skeleton per m^3. In addition, parrotfishes and grazing echinoderms (including urchins, brittle & serpent stars) removed an additional 5.25 kg per m^3 and together these boring activities are pretty likely to ensure that the worms don't survive for long once the coral dies. It also seems likely that the boring invertebrates would not differentiate between the calcareous tube of Spirobranchus and that of the dead coral, exposing the worm to attack from predators, pathogens and other additional stresses not experienced when the worms inhabit a healthy live coral. Hence, it is not surprising that the worms aren't found in many dead coral skeletons, but it doesn't mean that the worms are eating coral snot ;)
Unlike many worms that only live for relatively short times (a few years), Spirobranchus are a relatively slow growing worm that lives for a long time in the wild. Researchers used X-rays to determine the age of the worm by counting the annual growth rings of the corals in which they were embedded, and found that most animals were over 10 years old and some were more than 40! On average a healthy worm grows about 0.2mm in the diameter of the tube opening each year, but under ideal conditions the maximum growth rates are up to 1.0 mm increase in orfice diameter per year. In any case, these worms should easily outlive the average reef tank, and you cannot delude yourself into thinking that the animals died of old age if they fade in your aquarium.
As I mentioned above, there is no indication that these worms feed on anything different than other tube-dwelling serpulid polychaetes (a mixture of primarily phytoplankton with some small zooplankters thrown in as the worm grows to maturity), but I am not familiar with any specific studies of prey preference or gut content analyses of Spirobranchus in the wild (as I said above if anyone knows of any such studies that I have missed, please let me know!). The fact that Spirobranchus are generally imported with pieces of Porites does not mean that they are obligate associates of this coral, nor does it mean that they are feeding off the mucus of the coral. In fact, depending on the source you check, the most likely associate for Spirobranchus is likely to be P. lutea, P. lobata, P.lichen or even Montipora informis. In any case, until I see a study demonstrating that Spirobranchus is physically dependant on the living coral for anything other than protection (as outlined above), the assumption that this worm feeds in a substantially different manner than the other serpulids inhabiting live corals seems utterly unfounded to me...
Created by liquid
Last modified 2006-11-24 18:42


DM Smith dmsmith555 at yahoo.com
Mon Jun 30 07:48:28 MST 2008
Adrian Korten wrote:
> Good day,
> I'm a newbie with OSIS. Could someone say why you would prefer one over
> the other? Or how this relates to how Crosswire handles the files?
> ak
Just a partial answer. This is my opinion.
Why is OSIS preferred?
* The other formats that the SWORD engine supports have deficiencies.
These are plain-text, GBF, and ThML. To me the biggest problems are:
 ** Plain-text is, well, plain. Most of the e-texts that we make into
modules have a more robust markup.
 ** GBF is not xml. It does not separate presentation from content.
Cross-references are ad-hoc.
presentation from content. Cross-references are ad-hoc.
* CrossWire members helped define OSIS as the format of choice for
Bibles and Commentaries.
other popular formats.
* OSIS is being adopted by publishers and Bible societies.
* SWORD developers are all time-limited volunteers. Most are focused on
front-end development. While we will continue to support the other
formats, new module development is focused on OSIS.
Note: At the moment, TEI is being used to develop dictionaries and is
the preferred format. OSIS will adopt TEI's dictionary definition some
time in the future.
How this relates to how CrossWire handles the files?
There are several aspects to this:
1) Module creation
 All new Bible/Commentary modules are being done in OSIS.
 Also, updates to Bible/Commentary modules are being done in OSIS. We
may see an occasional ThML update.
 With regard to GenBook, we are leaning toward OSIS.
2) Filter development:
 The SWORD engine converts module content to requested delivery format.
 The most actively developed filters convert OSIS to Plain-text, RTF
and HTML.
 New capabilites are being developed for OSIS only. For example,
today all of our cross-references are to Bible verses. We will be adding
support for OSIS references to the same and also to specific works.
In Him,
More information about the sword-devel mailing list


text:
Hindu Nose Piercings – A little information
Hindu Nose Piercings and Why Some Women Wear Them
The nose ring is worn by Hindu women married or not. The importance of the nasal stud can also vary from region to region. As in many other cultures and religions, there is no written code in Hinduism about wearing the nose ring or piercing the nose. In some Hindu sects, a nose ring is called a "Nath" and is worn during the wedding as well as being a symbol of the married woman.
There are many communities in the Hindu religion that do not pierce the nose.
Many ancient classical texts don't say too much on the such nose piercings and so there are several theories regarding the use of the nose piercing in the Hindu religion. Some state that the nose stud was not used during ancient times and it was introduced by invaders during the 11th century.
Another school of thought quotes the ancient Ayurvedic text Sushruta Samhita (Chikitsa Sthana, chapter 19) to suggest that nose piercings were prevalent in ancient times. Nose piercings near a particular area of the nostril is thought to decrease pain during the menstrual cycle. Some also believe that it protects women against nasal infections.
The nose piercing is widely worn in southern India, particularly in Tamil Nadu and parts of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, by married and unmarried young women. This is known as "mookkutthi". In some cases, women wear a stud on both arears/sides of the nose. The nose studs of Konkani wives from Goa are famous especially for their design, which are adorned with small fish or birds. The nose piercing is not the preferred choice in South India.
In North India and in many communities it is a must at wedding ceremonies. A nose ring or pin or stud can be made of gold, pearl and diamond. In some Hindu communities, the nose piercing is never removed and it is a symbol of married women like the Sindoor and Mangal sutra and is an essential part of Shodash Shringar or Solah sringar – the sixteen process of embellishing a bride.
There is no uniformity in wearing the stud or nose ring. In some areas it is worn on the left side of the nose and in some areas it is on the right. For example, a Maharashtra bride wears it on the left. In Gujarat, it is worn on the right. The size and style of the nose nose also varies from region to region. The big nose ring is only worn on the wedding day. Some communities opt for small nose rings. Piercings or rings are used in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.
There is also a kind of septum (the dividing part between two cavities) piercing, which is also popular as a nose piercing, in Nepal and parts of northern India, including Rajasthan and Himachal. Pradesh. This nasal ring is known as "Bulak". Such piercing is also practised in eastern India by some communities.
Nowadays, some Hindu women see nose studs as part of modern fashion jewellery. Some also fight against the wearing of nose rings that act as an obstacle in their daily activities.
Why not check out our Nose Piercing page.


text:
I assume that the borrower country has no access to foreign private financing, given that in practice, the majority of loans to LICs are offered by official lenders.
In addition, I impose a participation constraint to motivate the borrower to adhere to the contract.13 With this constraint, the borrower's value function under repayment is required to be greater than or equal to its value function under default. The borrower country solves the following problem:
where c, x, k, and X denote consumption, investment, capital, and repayment obligation, respectively. The repayment obligation in period t, Xt, is defined by
where λ is the fraction of output lost. I assume that such a violation incurs two types of costs: the exclusion of the violator from future concessional lending and the loss of a fraction of the violator's output. I also assume that when the participation constraint is binding, the LIC adheres to the borrowing contract.
In each period, the borrower country compares the value function under repayment, vR(k, X), with that under default, vD(k). When vR(k, X) ≥ vD(k) the country repays; otherwise it defaults. The value function under repayment, vR(.,.), is given by:
where vR(.,.) is increasing in k and is decreasing in X. Appendix III interprets the first-order conditions (FOCs) of the Bellman equation (equations (9) and (10)).
To make a connection with Cohen and Sachs's model (1986), the participation constraint can be replaced with a debt capacity function h(k), which is defined implicitly by vR(k, h) = vD(k), where ∂vR(k,X)/∂X is strictly negative. In other words, given k, h(k) is uniquely determined and thus the case where h(k) is backward bending in k can be excluded. Thus the debt capacity function is well defined. The original value function under repayment can be rewritten as
This formulation is the same as that of Cohen and Sachs (1986),15 except that in this paper I numerically derive the value functions and the implied debt capacity function using the value function iteration method.16 I also extend their model to analyze the dynamics of concessional loans to LICs.
IV. The Numerical Results
Because one cannot solve this problem analytically unless the participation constraint is absent, I solve it numerically using the value function iteration method. I specify the functional forms of the utility and production functions as u(c) =c1–1/σ/(1–1/σ) and f(k) = Akη.
Table 2 lists calibrated parameter values. Depreciation of capital is set at 0.1—a reasonable number in the real business cycle literature (for example, see Kydland and Prescott, 1982). The concessional interest rate is set at 0.75 percent, in line with existing official concessional lending practice. The value of the capital elasticity of the production function (η=0.33) is based on the findings in Gollin (2002) and is consistent with the existing real business cycle literature. The paper's main results are robust to alternative values of η=0.3 and 0.4; a poverty trap arises with η= 0.2 if there is a slight change in other parameter values.
|Depreciation rate of capital (δ)||0.1000||Elasticity of intertemporal substitution (σ)||0.45|
|Concessional interest rate (||0.0075||Fraction of output lost on default (λ)||0.05|
|Capital elasticity of output (η)||0.3300||Cutoff level (fraction of U.S. steady-state output)||0.15|
|Time preference (β)||0.9500||Level of TFP for the U.S.||30.00|
The discount factor is set at 0.95 and the world interest rate at 1/β–1=0.0526 in order to obtain flat consumption in the steady state. Debt overhang emerges more easily with a smaller value of β (or a higher r) because the borrower country will have a stronger incentive to consume in earlier periods (or because the benefits from concessional loans are larger). With a higher value of β, a poverty trap arises if there is a slight change in other parameter values.
The value for the elasticity of intertemporal substitution (σ = 0.45) is in line with the calibration results of Ogaki, Ostry, and Reinhart (1996). Using
Cooley and Ogaki's (1996) two-step procedure,17 they estimate the lower and upper bounds of the intertemporal elasticity of substitution assuming that the elasticity is an increasing function of the level of wealth.18 The paper's main conclusions are robust to alternative values of σ = ⅓ and ⅔ if there is a slight change in other parameter values.
The fraction of output lost on default (λ) is set at 0.05. This value needs to be sufficiently positive to maintain the paper's main conclusions. If it is zero, then there will be no default cost in the steady state and thus the borrower country will have an incentive to default; as a result, no loans will be made.
The cutoff level (
Consider the benchmark economy with initial income (y1) equal to 90 percent of the cutoff (or about 70 percent of steady-state output (yss)), and initial debt repayment obligation (X1) equal to 90 percent of the cutoff (or 100 percent of y1).
Figures 1 and 2 summarize the results from the numerical solution. To better understand the dynamics of concessional lending, these results are displayed along with those for nonconcessional lending. The only difference between these two loans is the interest rate level, where
Figure 1.The Benchmark Economy: Numerical Results
Note: Panels (a)-(d) show how the benchmark economy will respond under the concessional lending (solid line) and nonconcessional lending (dotted line) schemes. The paths of output, consumption, investment, and repayment obligation are shown as a fraction of the steady-state output level (yss).
Figure 2.Endogenous Debt Capacity Ceilings: The Benchmark Case
Note: This figure shows the endogenous debt capacity function under concessional loans (h (k), solid line) and under nonconcessional loans (hN(k), dashed line). They are reported as a fraction of yss. The y-axis is the repayment obligation (X) as a fraction of the steady-state output level (yss). The x-axis is the level of capital per capita (K) as a fraction of the steady-state capital level (Kss). The vertical dotted line is the cutoff.
This discontinuity of the concessional debt capacity function (h(k))20 implies that the recipient country must drastically reduce its external debt precisely when it surpasses the cutoff. Such debt reduction is possible only through a steep decline in consumption, which the country may find too painful. For the benchmark case, this one-time cost of consumption reduction outweighs the long-run benefit of achieving the steady state where output is much higher than the cutoff (call this "high" steady state). Thus the country decides not to cross the line and converges to the cutoff (call this "low" steady state, that is, point a in Figure 2.) On the other hand, under nonconcessional lending, this perverse incentive is absent, and the country steadily grows to reach the high steady state, yet consumption in the short run is lower than in the case of concessional lending (Figure 1).
This result captures the paper's debt overhang mechanism. Because the cost of servicing debt is kept artificially low, the country is motivated to carry a large amount of debt by consuming excessively and thus does not grow. Figure 3 shows that there exists a debt overhang threshold above which the country is trapped with large debt and no growth.
Figure 3.The Debt Overhang Threshold and Initial Conditions
Note: This figure shows a debt overhang threshold (solid) above which a country is trapped with large debt and no growth. It shows that if the country lies in region A or B, it converges to the low steady state, whereas if it lies in C or D, it achieves the high steady state. Arrears countries that lie above these ceilings (E and F) are outside the scope of this paper. The y-axis is the initial repayment obligation as a fraction of the cutoff. The x-axis is the initial income as a fraction of the cutoff. The dash-dotted line is the endogenous debt capacity ceilings. The vertical dotted line is the cutoff.
Whether or not the country is trapped in a debt overhang depends on the country's initial conditions: initial debt and capital (Figure 3). The intuition is as follows: First, the higher the initial debt level, the more likely the country is to converge to the low steady state, because this allows the country to manage heavier debt at a low interest rate. Second, the lower the country's initial capital, the larger the impact of short-run growth. As a result, the country tries to borrow a larger quantity of concessional loans to raise both investment and consumption in the short run, and thus it is more likely to be trapped in the low steady state. In short, the country converges to the high steady state only if initial debt is low enough, initial income is high enough, or both conditions hold.
Whether or not the country is trapped in a debt overhang is also conditional on the country's TFP level (Figure 4). The higher the TFP, the higher the steady