Coronation Weather, 1953
Worst June weather of the century?
by Philip Eden
Weatherwise, 2 June 1953 was an atrocious day in the middle of a lengthy spell of atrocious weather. May that year had been a superb month with weeks of warm sunshine interspersed with occasional thundery downpours. Eight days before Coronation Day, on the Whit Monday holiday, the temperature soared to 31.7°C in London and Surrey but there was a sudden and complete change in the weather the following day.
A cold front brought thunder-showers and a sharp drop in temperature on May 26, and from then until the middle of June the British Isles lay between high pressure over the Atlantic, usually located somewhere between Ireland and Iceland, and low pressure over the near-continent. As a result the country lay under a very cool and moist northerly airflow throughout this period. June 2 itself was a miserable, November-like day in London as far as the weather was concerned, with dull skies, a chill wind and sporadic outbreaks of rain during the morning, although it dried out gradually later on. The afternoon temperature climbed no higher than 12°C - several degrees lower than the Queen's wedding day in November six years before.
It could have been worse - other parts of England had torrential downpours that day and there were floods in Northumberland after 70mm of rain fell in short order. And the following day was even colder; the maximum on 3rd June in London was 11°C, in Birmingham it was just 8°C, and at Aberdeen only 7°C.
None of the 20th century's coronation days had been blessed with really good weather. George VI's, on May 12, 1937, was similarly cool and cloudy with rain during the first part of the morning and again in the evening; George V's, on June 22, 1911, was a disappointingly cloudy day with a chilly breeze although the rain held off; and Edward VII's, on August 9, 1902, was similarly cool and cloudy but dry with just a few fleeting flickers of sunlight.
Recalling the pictures of that procession down the Mall, I am also reminded of Noël Coward's response when asked who Queen Sarote of Tonga's companion was. "Her lunch", he said.


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Comparison Between the Reverse Osmosis and Multi-stage Flash Distillation Methods
The two common methods of desalination are RO and MSF distillation. How to choose one over the other? The merits and demerits of each system is discussed in this article.
 - slide 1 of 6
 Growth of Desalination
 The Desalination business is set to increase ten fold by 2015. Clients have the choice of two technologies to choose from. Multi Stage Flash Distillation (MSF) with two decades of proven technology or Revese Osmosis (RO) that has considerably advanced in recent years.
 Following are some of the areas that require consideration while making a choice.
 - slide 2 of 6
 Comparing Energy Requirements
 Energy required to produce one litre of water together with the cost of energy makes or breaks the need for desalination and the choice of the process.
 RO has a much higher yield compared to MSF. This means for the same output the intake of sea water is only one third in RO systems. This considerably decreases the power and other costs required for pumping sea water to the plant and disposing the spent brine.
 RO systems require considerable energy for pressurizing the water to the membrane filters. Whereas MSF require heat energy for heating the brine before vaporisation.
 The technology of RO especially the membranes have drastically improved in the last decade resulting in lesser power consumption. The MSF requires around 17 kwhr /M3 of water (heating and pumping power) against 5 kwhr /M3 for RO process.
 In today's technology level MSF may be practical only when steam energy is freely available as in co-generation plants.
 - slide 3 of 6
 Difference in Output Quality
 MSF systems produce water with less than 100 mg / L total dissolved solids as against 400 mg /L in the RO system. This sometimes necessitates the need of second set of membrane filters for higher water qualities.
 In RO systems the output depends on the sea water feed quality. MSF being a vaporisation system performance does not depend on feed quality.
 - slide 4 of 6
 What works against the RO system is the amount of pre –treatment required for the process. Elaborate arrangements are required to remove the biological organisms, suspended solids and other debris. Also the pH and other chemical regimes of the feed water have to be controlled.
 Since MSF is a vaporisation process such elaborate pre-treatment facilities are not required.
 - slide 5 of 6
 MSF plants are considerably larger than RO plants with special materials. Consequentially the construction and land costs are high. Since steam is used piping, condensate and other associated systems are involved. All these result in increased maintenance costs. Scaling also adds to maintenance issues.
 Improved membrane technology, use of low cost materials and the modular system in RO have reduces maintenance costs drastically. Also thes have improved the reliability of RO systems.
 - slide 6 of 6
 Technological advances in the RO system have reduced the unit cost of water making it easier to choose between the systems.
Depleting fresh water resources is pushing the implementation of more and more Desalination plants. A brief description of the common desalination process and their merits and demerits are discussed in the series.
 1. How Does Reverse Osmosis Plant Work?
 2. How Desalination by Multi-stage Flash Distillation Works
 3. Comparison Between the Reverse Osmosis and Multi-stage Flash Distillation Methods


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The students brief was to select a health based organisation, visit its website, research that organisation (core values, purpose, service to community, research etc) and then plan how they could portray that organisation in a short 1 minute iMovie Trailer.
Organisations included the Cancer Council, Heart Foundation, Beyond Blue, Sun Smart, Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) among others.
Students used the following planning tool (the example pictured is the first page only). To access downloadable PDF versions of all the planning tools for iMovie trailers go to the blog Learning in Hand by Tony Vincent. Students can even type into these documents.
My students had to work in pairs to achieve this task and provide me with a completed planning document before they could move on and create their trailer. Students had to demonstrate the following before creating their trailer:
- A clear message was required that represented the organisation they had chosen. It had to be simple and easy to understand.
- The images needed to be high quality. We discussed how to use the Search Filter in Google images to search by Large Image for better quality pictures.
- Images need to match the text and support the message being conveyed by the students.
- Spelling and grammar needed to be correct.
One of the major aims of the videos was to promote the health organisation to the community. To complete this aim the videos will be playing in the community library to promote those organisations to a wider audience.
I have included two student Trailers and was impressed by the efforts of all my students to meet the criteria for this task.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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2 tutorial questions, for understanding
Hey just trying to figure out the reasoning for a few tutorials. I have been following the adafruit learning center stuff too and its made me rethink a few of the tutorials in the starter pack.
Question 1: Tutorial 1, led blinking (basic question) - theres a ground connection for the led through a resistor.. but what purpose does the 5v connection serve? the 5v is provided by the pin and the circuit is complete. this seems redundant.
Question 2: Tutorial 7, Buttons - there is a cable going to 5v, and the resistors on the buttons are connected to that rail, rather then the ground. the buttons are already connected to pins, so why are the resistors not connected to ground, and remove the 5v connection cable?
Really would like some help on this so I can move on! Thanks in advance :D


0333 _PHONE_
Common Oven & Hob Problems
Last Updated: 11 Feb 2016
A faulty oven or hob can lead to an expensive repair bill or worse still to the cost of a new replacement. However, in many cases the problem with your oven or hob is easily fixed if you know how. First we're going to take a look at how an electric oven works and then go through the common problems that can arise, and hopefully give you solutions on how to fix any faults.
How An Electric Oven Works
To help diagnose problems and replace faulty components on your electric fan assisted oven it is first necessary to understand how it works. In the video above we used a built in fan assisted Indesit oven to explain each of the main important components and how they work together.
The oven is a single cavity oven which means as well as being a fan assisted oven it also includes the grill as well. Some ovens are twin cavity which simply means that they have a separate oven and grill.
Let's take a look at all the main components of the oven and how together.
Oven Element, Thermostat, and Fan
First we'll look at the oven Element, thermostat, and fan.
The main function of an oven is to heat up and cook our food. The heating part of the process is done by an oven element which is normally situated at the rear of the oven. Most ovens nowadays are what's known as fan assisted. This means that at the same time the oven element is heating up there is also a fan which distributes the hot air around the cavity to ensure even cooking throughout the oven.
Temperature is regulated by the thermostat. To us this is simply a knob which we turn to our desired temperature. But behind the knob is the thermostat switch with a capillary (wire) running from the switch and down in to the cavity of the oven. The capillary is actually a tube with gas inside. As the gas heats up the pressure build up causes small bellows in the thermostat switch to move until they reach the predetermined temperature set by the user. The thermostat will turn the oven element on and off during the cooking cycle as the temperature gets to hot or too cool.
The fan should always be on when the thermostat knob is set at anything other than off. There are normally two fans in an oven; the fan that distributes the hot air to aid cooking, and a cooling fan.
Cooling Fan and Thermal Switch
Next we'll look at the Cooling Fan and Cooling Fan TOC.
The cooling fan is designed to keep the area between the cavity and the outer casing cool. It is a cylindrical fan and is operated by a Thermal Switch automatically depending on the temperature. As the temperature rises it cause a bi metallic strip inside the TOC to turn the cooling fan on. As the temperature cools the bi metallic strip breaks the contact which turns the cooling fan off. When you finish cooking and turn the oven thermostat off the cooling fan motor should (depending on temperature) still be running and will run for 10 minutes or so until the oven has cooled down sufficiently.
Grill Element and Energy Regulator
As with the oven element the grill element is responsible for the heat needed to grill our food. The grill element heat settings are controlled via an energy regulator that sits behind a knob on the oven console. The energy regulator regulates the heat output by the amount of power sent to the grill element which is determined by the user.
Function Switch
On this oven the function switch is combined with the thermostat. This switch simply enables the user to select which part of the oven they want to use. So if I want to use the grill I need to select the grill on the function switch before it will work.
Door Glass, Door Seal, Door Hinges
Although the door area may not seem as important as the other components we've discussed any damage or wear to them will likely lead to poor cooking performance. There will normally be an inner and outer door glass. This is to ensure that the temperature of the outer door doesn't get too hot. Obviously if there are any breaks or cracks to either door glass then they should be replaced without delay.
How to replace the door glass on an oven:
The door seal is normally fixed with clips in each corner and should be in good order and free from sagging. If the seal is worn or is sagging then heat will be allowed to escape and cooking performance will be affected. It will also have an effect on the amount of energy your oven is using to maintain the temperature set. Changing an oven door seal is a straightforward job.
How to replace the door seal on an oven:
Over time the spring within the door hinge can become sprained which will result in the door not closing properly. The only solution to this fault is to replace the oven door hinges. Fortunately replacement is straightforward and we have a video showing you exactly how to do it.
How to replace the door hinges on an oven:
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Why Won't My Oven Heat Up?
As the old adage goes; if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen. However, if your kitchen's not actually generating any heat – specifically from the oven – then you're in even more trouble.
Checking The Elements
The heating elements which heat up the oven can burn out and are the most likely cause of an oven not heating up; if they do, they won't work or heat up at all. These are relatively easy components of the oven to replace – most are simply held in place with a couple of screws and have 2/3 wires going to it, and can be fitted easily without the need for specific technical knowledge or experience.
The heating element can usually be found at the back of any fan oven, behind the back plate. To check it, you will need to turn off the power before opening up the back of your oven. Removing the heating element is a case of very carefully detaching the wires before completely retrieving the heating element.
How to replace an oven element:
The Thermostat
Although the thermostat can cause the oven not to heat up it is more likely to be a faulty element. The thermostat is a switch that regulates the temperature, if the thermostat has a malfunction it may not be able to turn the heat on.
How to replace an oven thermostat:
Cooking On Gas
Of course, not everyone has an electric oven – some people use good, ol' fashioned gas. If you do, check your igniter, which is situated next to the burner.
It's possible you could have a faulty gas safety valve, in which case you can check that too.
The burner contains a lot of small halls for the flame around the burner, and some them get clogged thereby preventing the burner from lighting properly. A good quick fix for this is to clean the holes out with a needle or some wire.
If you can smell gas, leave your home immediately and call the National Gas Emergency Number, 0800 111 999. Oh, and always remember any repairs to gas appliances MUST be carried out by a 'Gas Safe' registered engineer.
Too Many Switches
Lots of ovens – particularly the more complicated, contemporary ones – are adorned with switches, knobs and an eye-popping panoply of buttons.
If things get a bit complicated and you're getting flustered firing things, consult the manual no matter how confident you are – or you may end up creating more problems.
In most cases the oven needs to be in 'manual mode' otherwise it won't work at all!
Out Of Power
One of the basics, but if there's no electrical current surging to the oven, you're going to be waiting quite some time until that cottage pie's ready.
Check the circuit breaker and make sure it's flipped to the 'On' position, as a sudden electric surge can cause it to overload and trip out. If you cannot make it click or lock back into the 'On' position, chances are there's either a fault with the oven or the circuit breaker switch is faulty and will need to be replaced.
As a sanity check, make sure the oven's plugged in, or hasn't been pulled out of the socket slightly.
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Why is My Oven Overheating & Cutting out?
An overheating oven is a common problem, and can result in you burning or overcooking your food (a serious issue for any food lover!). But don't panic – most of the common causes of the problem are easy to fix.
Thermal Overload Switch
There is a real safety consideration if your oven is overheating and it should be repaired as soon as possible. Whilst there will be a thermal overload switch fitted inside your oven which will trip and turn off the power to the heating system, it shouldn't be relied upon and is a warning sign that you have a problem. Your oven will likely work again once it has cooled down but you are advised not to use it until the root cause of the problem has been fixed.
Faulty Oven Thermostat
The most likely cause of an overheating oven is a faulty oven thermostat, which will result in an inaccurate temperature setting. Thermostat replacement is a straightforward DIY repair task.
See our 'oven thermostat guide' for more details on advice and fitting.
Faulty Oven Cooling Fan Motor
If the fan isn't working at the correct speed, the oven may overheat – and this is likely to be due to a faulty oven cooling fan motor.
How to replace a fautly cooling fan motor:
Blocked Oven Vents
Blocked oven vents are another possible cause of an overheating oven. To fix the issue, make sure that any vents aren't blocked.
Faulty Control Module
In some cases, a faulty control module may


HRC Blog
Call To Action: Tobacco Free Living
Written by Michael Glorioso HRC New Orleans Steering committee Co-chair and Outreach Subcommittee Co-chair
We would like to raise more awareness about how tobacco impacts the LGBT community – how historically the gay and lesbian community continues to be targeted by tobacco marketing, and rates of smoking are higher among the gay and lesbian community (and suspected to be much higher among the transgender community).
Background: Data on cigarette smoking prevalence among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) populations in the United States have recently been reported by a small number of sources. The American Lung Association recently created a comprehensive report to assist researchers, providing a variety of historical and statistical data. LGBT smoking rates are disproportionally higher than the general population. Recent smoking rates range from 38% to 59% among LGBT youth and from 11% to 50% among adults, while the national smoking rates range from 28% to 35% for youth and approximately 28% for adults. Smoking rates among Lesbians are reported to be up to 200% higher than straight women. This study sought to answer the question: What are the primary factors that lead to high smoking rates among LGBT?
Methods: Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. Four focus groups were conducted with former smokers, nonsmokers, and current smokers to determine tobacco-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors, and reasons LGBT community members initiate and continue tobacco use. Survey data was collected from 685 individuals at six different local events. Thematic analysis was utilized to analyze focus groups, while descriptive statistics were utilized to analyze survey data.
Results: There was a lack of awareness among focus group and survey participants that smoking rates within the LGBT community are higher than the general population. Focus group participants cited peer influences as reasons they initiated and continue to smoke, noting that the LGBT community is more tolerant of smoking than mainstream society. Additionally, the strategy of offering LGBT specific cessation programs was highly supported among current and Ex-Smokers. Survey respondents did not rate tobacco as a high priority health issue for the LGBT community.
Conclusions: Findings from this study clearly shows that tobacco use is a serious issue for the LGBT community. While community members are familiar with the harmful consequences of tobacco use and second-hand smoke, they are generally not aware that they are disproportionately affected by it. Project activities identified a number of innovative strategies that can be effective in increasing awareness, reducing tobacco use, and encouraging other behaviors that will reduce chronic disease and promote overall wellness within the LGBT community.
Now consider these facts, from _PHONE_ tobacco companies contributed $9,689,490 to the GOP. Altria/Philip Morris ($4,820,190) and RJ Reynolds/Reynolds American ($3,584,500) being the largest contributors. The estimated number of LGBTQ smokers in the U.S. is currently 2.4M. With the average price of cigarettes in the U.S. being $5.27 that's $ 3.3B LGBTQ dollars going to the tobacco industry every year. Imagine if that money was spent on social justice and LGBT equality issues (i.e. Legalized Gay Marriage). 20 states currently fund Community-Based Organizations for tobacco control work. And a number of states plan to do so in the near future. Get involved! Identify allies or partners to work with locally or statewide (i.e. Tobacco Free Living). Collaboration and awareness are the keys.
We do not want another generation in our LGBT community to suffer the effects of tobacco use. Exposures to in-store, in bars and in publication tobacco marketing are a primary cause of LGBT smoking. To protect our gay and lesbian community, we must reduce exposure to tobacco marketing and continue to create awareness around the harmful effects smoking and second-hand smoke has on the LGBT community.


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Perhaps, when Shakespeare wrote in Sonnet 85, "I think good thoughts whilst other write good words," he was giving us a hint.
After thorough analysis of the language, rhyme, and style of the bard's 1606-7 play All's Well That Ends Well, two Oxford professors say it's likely Shakespeare wrote the work with a co-author. They even think they know who it is: Thomas Middleton, the 17th-century playwright behind The Changeling and Women Beware Women.
They imagine that Shakespeare, older and more experienced than Middleton, was working with a young "rising star" on his play, in the way that a master would work alongside his apprentice.
While it's impossible to know the truth about All's Well That Ends Well's authorship, researchers say, their work has uncovered some pretty strong clues. Among them, according to an article on the University website:
- Unusually narrative stage directions:
Dr Emma Smith, of the Oxford University English Faculty, said: "The narrative stage directions – especially 'Parolles and Lafew stay behind, commenting on this wedding' – look as though it is the point at which one author handed over to another."
- Low incidence of Shakespeare's spelling and vocabulary:
Professor Laurie Maguire, who also worked on the project, explained: "There are more feminine endings and triand tetra-syllabic endings than usual – again hallmarks of Middleton. Shakespeare tends to use 'Omnes' as a speech prefix and 'All' (preferred by Middleton) only occurs twice in the Folio – both times in All's Well."
- Language quirks:
Maguire pointed out: "This scene [Act 4, Scene 3] sees Parolles describing Bertram as 'ruttish' – a word whose only other occurrence as an adjective is in Middleton's The Phoenix. It also sees an unusual number of Middleton's known spelling preferences."
- Rhyming patterns:
'"The proportion of the play written in rhyme is much higher than usual for Jacobean Shakespeare – 19% of the lines are in rhyme, which fits Middleton's norm of 20%," said Maguire.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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An Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP) can diagnose, prescribe and manage patient conditions in a way similar to GPs. Helen is able to do home visits. She is a highly skilled nurse with advanced skills to;
- Take a full medical history, carry out physical assessments and examination.
- Make a diagnosis and carry out treatment, including the prescribing of medicines.
- Plan follow up treatment.
- Refer patients, where appropriate.


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& Mohrman, 1996; Leithwood & Menzies, 1998; Black, 1998) is entirely different from the first approach. This approach, referred to as The Role Approach (TRA) (Figure 2), focuses on the different roles of SMTs in pursuing school effectiveness, and does not include or consider the various indicators/categories of effectiveness as conceptualised in the TIA.
This approach describes, among other things, how successful SMTs can affect change in schools and improve school effectiveness. TRA consists of three interrelated components that serve as evaluation or assessment criteria, each of which is associated with and linked to a series of characteristics that describe each criterion, namely:
This criterion is characterised by features like sharing information, team member effectiveness, access to information, requisite knowledge and skills, participation in goal setting, participation in the development of strategies and a focus on complex rather than simple tasks.
This criterion is characterised by cooperative, competitive and autonomous goal interdependence (i.e. a common purpose and sense of interdependence) and productive controversy (i.e. pitching views against each other deliberately or learning to fight over issues) (Google Books, 2010).
This criterion is characterised by the quality of decisions and the capacity to implement such decisions.
The criterion of team capacity refers to the professionalism of SMTs and the degree in which the school principal is capable of cooperating and exchanging ideas and information with SMTs (Wohlstetter et al., 1996). If school principals do not believe that team members are in control of their environment and capable of solving problems effectively, it is unlikely that they will relinquish their decision-making powers. According to Tjosvold et al. (1990), specific elements of this criterion include:
information sharing within the SMT and between the team and the school principal
SMT members' perceptions of member effectiveness
access to information by SMT members
requisite knowledge and skills of SMT members
participation in goal setting by SMT members
participation by SMT members in the development of task strategies
quality of task strategies
a focus on complex rather than simple tasks
The criterion of team cohesion refers to the SMT's ability to deal with conflict situations. Members of the SMT who can work with opposing points of view to improve the quality of decisions made are more likely to understand the source of the opposing views and to incorporate a range of ideas into any decision eventually made. This criterion also refers to members' perceptions of team goals and the degree to which they experience cooperative, competitive or autonomous goal interdependence (Wohlstetter et al., 1996).
The specific elements of this criterion were derived from the theories of "cooperative goal interdependence" and "productivity controversy" (Deutsch, 1990:82). As far as cooperative goal interdependence (i.e. a common purpose and a sense of interdependence upon each other) is concerned, Deutsch (1990) theorised that when people such as SMT members cooperate, they believe that their goals (and rewards) are the same and therefore they relate positively to each other. When one person achieves a goal, it is more likely that other team members will attempt to achieve theirs: one person's success helps others to also try to succeed, although the effectiveness of members of any organisation will ultimately differ.
However, when people work in competition it is because they believe their goals to be negatively related. When one person reaches a goal, it is less likely that others will reach theirs; one person's success therefore hinders the success of others. In this regard it should be borne in mind that competition between employees will never be eliminated as it is the individual that gets awarded under a performance management system and not the group. Goals and rewards can therefore never be separated (Deutsch, 1990).
Productive controversy, on the other hand, is related to personal dynamics in an organisation and is a form of conflict that occurs when ideas, information and opinions are incompatible with each other (Tjosvold et al., 1990). Product controversy relates to a sense of cohesiveness and unity among employers in an organisation and involves the pitching of views or ideas against each other deliberately or learning to fight over ideas when these are incompatible (Google Books, 2010:225).
When controversy is productive, SMT members are more likely to understand opposing points of view and arguments, fighting less over ideas and this is likely to result in better decision-making. When controversy is unproductive, people express their opinions with regard to incompatible ideas, but in a more closed-minded manner. Tjosvold et al. (1990:384) have reported that, in the case of unproductive controversy, SMT members often try to find "weaknesses in opposing arguments so they are better able to counterattack, undercut other positions, and make their own views dominate; relying on superior authority or other means to try to impose their solution". As a result, controversy creates polarisation and results in a low-quality decision which only the winners are committed to implementing. This seriously influences school effectiveness in general.
Tjosvold et al. (1990) reported furthermore that work settings or situations with cooperative goals, but conflicting ideas and opinions, were most effective when one was trying to understand the conflicting points of view in assessing effectiveness. Information acquired in competitive climates is less likely to be assimilated into decision outcomes as a result of the predominance of closed-minded attitudes and a disregard for the source of information. In the case of cooperative climates, however, there is more respect for SMT members and their ideas and, although conflict may occur, different ideas are more likely to be considered.
The criterion of team effectiveness refers to the quality of SMT decisions and their ability to develop and to implement task strategies to achieve the school's goals and objectives. Elements of this criterion include quality of decisions and the capacity to implement them.
The relationship between the three evaluation criteria was presented in TRA above. The main purpose of this approach, empirically tested by Black (1998), is to explain how an SDP is expected to work to improve change and school effectiveness. An additional advantage of this approach is that it also illustrates the link between an SDP and its expected outcomes. According to Black (1998:33) this approach has two components, namely, a "conceptual theory test" and an "action theory test", which are interdependent. The conceptual theory component of TRA tests the hypothesis that a decision from the SMT influences the behaviour of the target population. Based on the three components discussed above, the conceptual theory is therefore the relationship between team capacity and team cohesion. Team capacity, as described by the set of specific characteristics, is posited to affect team cohesion. In other words, SMTs with greater capacity will be more cohesive.
The action theory component of TRA tests the hypothesis that the SDP results in particular outcomes (or outputs). In the case of this approach, the action theory assumes that team cohesion, as described by the set of specific characteristics, results in team effectiveness. Teams with greater cohesion will therefore be more effective.
A concern with TRA is that it does not include or consider the various process indicators and categories of school effectiveness as conceptualised in the first approach (TIA). This could be problematic, as process indicators have an important role to play in school evaluation, as "they provide timely diagnostic information to enable improvement" (Petty et al., 2007:70).
Within the study of school effectiveness, such indicators may help to provide a wider range of measures of effectiveness than the usual outcome measures, thus capturing better what schools do. Another shortcoming in TRA could be its 'logical approach' (i.e. to learn what successful SMTs do in terms of effective SDPs and then to implement the same SDP to increase school effectiveness) as the same SDP could not always work in different schools.
In recent research on school effectiveness (Sun et al., 2007; Creemers & Kyriakides, 2008; Kyriakides et al., 2008a; Kyriakides et al., 2008b; Van Damme, Opdenakker & Landeghem 2008), the authors emphasise, among other things, aspects such as national goal setting in terms of learner outcomes (i.e. learner outcomes and school effectiveness is firmly embedded in its national context), pressure in the form of strong central control and school accountability, and strong support from the community as some of the contextual factors that influence the effectiveness of schools.
These three main effectiveness factors, namely, goals, pressure and support, form the basis of the third and last approach, referred to as The Contextual Approach (TCA) (Figure 3). This approach is related to the first two approaches discussed in terms of learners' outcomes, but differs in respect of the following contextual factors: the context of learners' outcomes, strong central control and accountability.
In this approach, the three main contextual factors of goals, pressure and support serve as indicators for school effectiveness. The major strength of TCA is that it may be less subject to incentives than many other process indicators, specifically those from TIA. This approach indicates, inter alia, that school effectiveness is firmly embedded in its national context, while national goals are twofold, namely, goals for learners' outcomes and goals for school improvement. A triangle was chosen as most suitable framework for TCA as it symbolises the important relationship between the three elements (Sun et al., 2007).
School effectiveness criteria for goals include national goal setting in terms of learner outcomes, while school effectiveness criteria for pressure include aspects such as strong central control, external evaluation and school accountability. Lastly, school effectiveness


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- If you are looking for the episodes of this name, they are located at "Chain of Command, Part I" and "Chain of Command, Part II".
The chain of command was a ranking system used by militaries and other organized groups. It represented the line of authority down which orders are passed from one officer to another, and also the line down which passed command of a particular vessel or installation.
Aboard a starship, or most starbases the chain of command began with the assigned commanding officer, usually an officer of the rank of captain, or in some cases commander. If the commanding officer, for any reason, was unavailable to command his or her post then those responsibilities passed down the "chain" to the first officer, then the second officer, etc.
Between the launch of the Enterprise NX-01 and the late 23rd century, the position of first officer, or executive officer (abbreviated as XO) was filled by the highest ranking officer assigned to the ship aside from the captain. The position was not a separate assignment as it would later become. The designated first officer would perform their normal duties until it became necessary for them to take command.
This had changed by the late 24th century, when the XO's position had become a completely separate position in a starship's crew held by an officer of commander or lieutenant commander rank grade who held no other position aboard the vessel.
After the executive officer, command responsibilities passed down the chain from officer to officer as necessary in accordance with each officer's rank. And it was common practice for a commanding officer to designate a second officer to take command if both the captain and first officer were unavailable or unable to perform their duties.
This aspect of the command chain functioned similarly aboard a starbase, or space station, as well as in a planetary installation.
More broadly, the chain of command could refer to Starfleet, in general, with the chain beginning with the admiralty. And the Federation Council, and/or the President of the Federation could be considered to be at the ultimate top of the chain.
When Spock inquired to Dr. McCoy if he had noticed Captain Kirk acting strangely lately, McCoy replied, "the man on top walks a lonely street. The chain of command is often a noose." In response to McCoy's words, Spock told him to "spare me your philosophical metaphors." Spock then pointed out Kirk's transfer of Kevin Riley to engineering, and McCoy explained that "he's the Captain, he can transfer whoever he pleases," adding "you can look that up in a hundred volumes of space regulations somewhere." (TOS: "The Conscience of the King")
Benjamin Sisko learned many things from Captain Leyton aboard the USS Okinawa, including that "a good officer has to respect the chain of command." Leyton believed that without it "Starfleet would cease to function and we wouldn't stand a chance against our enemies." (DS9: "Paradise Lost")


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Another common way to represent graphs is to use incidence matrices. Let be an undirected graph. Suppose that are the vertices and are the edges of G. Then the incidence matrix with respect to this ordering of V and E is the matrix, where.
Example. Represent the graph shown in Figure below with an incidence matrix.
Solution: e1 e2 e3 e4 e5 e6
Incidence matrices can also be used to represent multiple edges and loops. Multiple edges are represented in the incidence matrix using columns with identical entries, since these edges are incident with the same pair of vertices. Loops are represented using a column with exactly one entry equal to 1, corresponding to the vertex that is incident with this loop.
Example. Represent the pseudograph shown in Figure below using an incidence matrix.
Solution: e1 e2 e3 e4 e5 e6 e7 e8
Date: 2015-01-02; view: 1074


Tuesday, October 20, 2009
An unintentional Sociology of Blogs experiment
Yesterday I posted a list of books that I want reviews of as SIGACT NEWS Book Review Column Editor. This resulted in an unintentional study of Sociology and Blogs which would make an awful paper but a reasonable posting. Some comments below, plus response to comments, and some pointers.
 1. So far 12 books have been claimed. More than 12 people made requests but some of the books were already claimed. Of the 12 only 1 has reviewed for me before. The typical column generates 3 or 4 requests, and even those are usually from people who have reviewed before. Why is the blog so much more effective than my column for finding people to write book reviews for me?
 2. The most popular book by far was not Knuth Vol 4 Fascicle 0, nor any of the other algorithms book, or crypto books (usually a popular topic) but was instead the book Concentration of Measure for the Analysis of Randomized Algorithms. Why that one? The catchy title? The hotness of the topic? Perhaps several of the other books on my list people already have from the publishers as they are potential textbooks, but this one is not in that category.
 3. One of the commenters wanted to know if you need to be an expert to read a book. NO. But you have to be interested and actually read it and have the background to read it.
 4. One of the commenters wanted to know what level the books were at. Alas. In the far future there may be a way to, given a book title, type it into what might be some kind of Engine of Search and find out more about it. Next time I do this I will supply more information about the book, unless by some miracle some sort of Search Technology has evolved to make such unneeded.
 5. Below I have the revised list with the books that are already claimed removed.
 6. Deadline for reviews is Jan 14, 2010, though the intention is to finish them before your next semester starts. If you need more time then tell me. LaTeX template is at here. Plaintext is also fine if the review does not have too much math in it.
Books on Algorithms and Data Structures
 1. Algorithmic Adventures: From Knowledge to Magic by Juraj Hromkovic.
 2. Algorithms and Data Structures: The Basic Toolbox by Mehlhorn and Sanders.
 3. The Algorithms Design Manual by Skiena.
 4. Combinatorial Geometry and its Algorithmic Applications: The Alcala Lectures by Pach and Sharir.
 5. Algorithms for Statistical Signal Processing by Proakis, Rader, Ling, Nikias, Moonen, Proudler.
 6. Nonlinear Integer Programming by Li and Sun.
 7. Binary Quadratic Forms: An Algorithmic Approach by Buchmann and Vollmer.
 8. Parallel Algorithms by Casanova, Legrand, and Robert.
 9. Mathematics for the Analysis of Algorithms by Greene and Knuth.
 10. Concentration of Measure for the Analysis of Randomized Algorithms by Dubhashi and Panconesi.
 11. Vehicular Networks: From Theory to Practice Edited by Olariu and Weigle.
Books on Cryptography
 1. Introduction to Modern Cryptography by Katz and Lindell.
 2. Concurrent Zero-Knowledge by Alon Rosen.
 3. Elliptic Curves: Number Theory and Cryptography by Washington.
 4. Secure Key Establishment by Choo.
 5. Algebraic Cryptanalysis by Bard
 6. A Course in Number Theory and Cryptography by Koblitz.
 7. Cryptanalytic Attacks on RSA by Yan.
Books on Coding Theory
 1. Algebraic Function Fields and Codes by Stichtenoth.
 2. Applied Algebra: Codes, Ciphers, and Discrete Algorithms by Hardy, Richman, and Walker.
Books on Theory of Computation
 1. The Calculus of Computation: Decision Procedures with Applications to Verification by Bradley and Manna.
 2. Models of Computation: An introduction to Computability Theory by Fernandez.
 1. Applied Combinatorics by Roberts and Tesman.
 2. A Course in Enumeration by Aigner.
 3. Chromatic Graph Theory by Chatrang and Zhang.
 4. Design Theory by Lindner and Rodger.
 5. Combinatorial Methods with computer applications by Gross
 6. A combinatorial approach to matrix theory and its application by Brualdi and Cvetkovic.
Misc Books
 1. Quantum Computer Science: An Introduction by Mermin.
 2. Complex Social Networks by Vega-Redondo
 3. Branching Programs and Binary Decision Diagrams by Wegener.
 4. When Least is Best: How Mathematicians Discovered many clever ways to make things as small (or as large) as possible by Nahin.
 5. Stories about Maxima and Minima by Tikhomirov.
 6. Decision and Elections: Explaining the Unexpected by Saari.
 7. Creative Mathematics by Wall
 8. Is Mathematics Inevitable? A Miscellany Edited by Underwood Dudley.
 9. Comprehensive Mathematics for Computer Scientists 1: Sets and numbers, graphs and algebra, logic and machines, linear geometry by Mazzola, Milmeister, and Weissmann.
 10. Difference Equations: From Rabbits to Chaos by Cull, Flahive, and Robson.
 11. A Concise introduction to Data Compression by Salomon.
 12. Practical Text Mining with Perl by Roger Biliosly.
 1. How about upping the ante and publicly announcing the names of all the reviewers against the books they have promised to review. This commits them into turning something in, and also winnows out the ones that did it out of a rush of blood.
 2. I assume the reviews will be published along with the full name of the reviewer? If so, should pre-tenure folks be involved in such a task, lest they step on the toes of those who might someday have too much power over them?
 3. I second that suggestion (about publicly announcing the names of reviewers)
 4. I like the fact that the first comment, advocating the announcement of reviewer names, is anonymous.
 Perhaps more people read your blog than SIG ACT news?
 6. 1) I have never had a problem with someone promising to do a review and not doing it. If this becomes a problem I may take some action like those suggested.
 2) YES the reviewers name appears with the review.
 Most of the reviews are not of the type
 THIS BOOK SUCKS. Its more
 a matter of telling us whats
 IN the book and WHO the audience is. IF a pre-tenure faculty gets a book from me and things
 and wants to opt out of reviewing it, I would certainly allow that.
 It has never happened.
 3) A private email suggested
 (correctly) that this blog
 is far more widely read than SIGACT news, and thats why I got so many more people. Yes, but there
 are people who told me directly that they read my column, but the blog is more IMMEDIATE.
 Could be a reason for the
 better response.
 7. An Luca also
 8. Why the deadline? Can you no longer get free copies from the publisher after that date? (Seems a little unlikely, since some of the books you want reviewed aren't particularly new.)
 9. The most popular book by far was... the book Concentration of Measure for the Analysis of Randomized Algorithms. Why that one?
 Probably because it was mentioned recently on two blogs.
 10. I'd like to add my voice to those who found Concentration of Measure to be a book of considerable interest... and thanks also for posting such a great list of books!
 It often happens in simulations (both classical and quantum) that random dynamical processes act to concentrate trajectories in small regions of state-space.
 Does this kind of stochastic/dynamical concentration have connections to the concentration of measure? Are these two phenomena (at bottom) pretty intimately related mathematically?
 Thanks to Dubhashi and Panconesi, these questions now seem more confusing to me than ever... and hey, that's progress! :)
 11. Why a deadline? So that people will
 ACTUALLY GET IT DONE. If you don't give a deadline people tend to drift.
 Misc Thought: In the future when a book review comes out I will announce
 it on the blog and link to it.
 Update: I have either send out or
 had the publisher send out
 a total of 24 books.
 Maybe because the blog is free?
 13. From email and your comments
 the sociology experement turned out to be even less interesting than I expected:
 1) Blog is free
 2) Blog has far more readers than SIGACT NEWS
 3) If you are already online it is less effort to just email me then if you are reading SIGACT NEWS in your easy chair.
 A more careful study would likely not reveal any more than that.
 However, given that the blog has


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June 9th, 2013
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07:59 pm - My Conlangs
I'm looking to write a fantasy novel, but I first want to create an intricate world to set it in. So, here is one of the many ConLangs I'm working on. Some of them are, indeed, based on Tolkien's. Personally, though, I feel as though his languages were unsuited for their cultural matches; the Elven languages weren't pretty enough (gutteral, even), and Orcish was just TOO ugly, to the point where it was almost impossible to take seriously. Anyways, I digress, I'm no linguist, and what I've got so far is probably completely wrong. That's why I'd like your input. Corrections, tips, pointers, criticism are all welcome.
Elven and Mannish languages all follow 'Subject-Verb-Object' basic syntax, the same as English.
Child: Lyliwyn
To eat: Is
Apple: Quinil
The child ate the apple.
Lyliwyn isil quinilyn.
Adjectives always follow the noun. Usually, the suffix '-ir' is added to the adjective. In a list of adjectives, the suffix is only added to the last.
Red: Hymir
Juicy: Péthir
Delicious: Danisir
The child ate the red apple.
Lyliwyn isil quinilyn hymir.
The child ate the red, juicy, delicious apple.
Lyliwyn isil quinilyn hym péth danisir.
Adverbs usually precede the verb, unless the verb is not followed by a noun.
Hungrily : Luisthi
The child hungrily ate the apple.
Lyliwyn luisthi isil quinilyn
The child hungrily ate.
Lyliwyn isil ti luisth. (With hunger)
Sample Sentences
Rylithin goes to the market.
Rylithin fuin incyrthil.
Look over there.
Pthual irthil.
There are pretty girls at the festival.
Tewyn hyir lir thi Nemynhyl.
Generally, the prefix 'a-' is used to indicate plurality, and the prefix 'la-' to indicate duality.
Elf – Wyn
Elves – Awyn
Elves (2) – Lawyn
Dog – Kuin
Dogs – Akuin
Dogs (2) – Lakuin
Clothes (article) – Luin
Clothes (plural) – Aluin
Outfit – Laluin
If a word already begins with an 'a', then the prefix becomes 'an-'
Tree – Ath
Trees – Anath
Usually, the suffix '-il' indicates past tense in the verb, while '-yn' is added to the object noun.
The elf goes to the riverbank.
Wyn fuin mirluir.
The elf went to the riverbank.
Wyn fuinil mirluryn
Notice the change in spelling of 'mirluir', which is absent in 'fuinil'. This is due to the pronunciation. When 'i' in a word with 'ui' just before the final consonant is long, the 'i' is removed when '-yn' is added.
Usually, the suffix '-in' indicates future tense. This is only added to the verb.
The elf will go to the riverbank.
Wyn fuinin mirluir.
Third Person
In first and second person, nothing changes, save for the obvious 'I', 'me', 'you', etc. Usually, the suffix '-a' indicated third person, in the present tense. In other tenses, the verb remains unchanged.
I go to the market.
Rya fuin incyrthil.
He goes to the market.
Ci fuina incyrthil.
The suffix '-el' represents ownership.
Arithas' dog.
Kuin Arithasel.
Rylithin's Journey to Cyaduinirth
Dafuin Rylithinel Cyaduinirth.
Verbal Adjective
The suffix '-ri' indicates verbal adjective (equivalent to English '-er'; one who does something.)
He is a hunter.
Ci duéthri.
She is a farmer.
Te demeruilri.
When asking a question, one could:
1) Use a question word
- Who – Til
- What – Tu
- Where – Thil
- How – Tuthil
- Why – Nyr
2) Switch the verb and object noun, hyphenate, put subject noun at the end.
He's going to the market?
Fuina-incyrthil ci?
3) Use intonation.
Other Prefixes and Suffixes
-cyr: To remove, or to lack; 'de-', 'un-', 'ir-'.
Hi-: Able to.
Tha-: Product of, end result of.
Lyranni, as well as Arani, Nürni, and Lori are all written in The Elven script, which has its roots in Old Elvish. Letters are written along the bottom of a horizontal line that spans the length of a word. The first and last letters are always extended vertically to mark the beginning and end of the word.
PS: No, it's not done yet, so don't complain about that. However, pointers on what to change or do next are welcome.
(18 comments | Leave a comment)
[User Picture]
Date:June 10th, 2013 07:30 am (UTC)
Pretty please, lj cut?
Date:June 10th, 2013 04:31 pm (UTC)
I'm sorry, what? XD
[User Picture]
Date:June 10th, 2013 04:45 pm (UTC)
I don't know how much you will want to hear this, but frankly speaking, I find it a problem that you consider Tolkien's languages 'unsuited for their cultural matches' and that they 'weren't pretty enough'; the fact about the former criticism is that Tolkien very much based his languages on real, actual languages — in the case of Sindarin, Welsh — and if you consider the Celtic influences that the early illustrators drew on for their art and which continued into the films (at least with respect to the Elves), they are very much 'culturally' consistent as far as I'm concerned.
That aside (just my personal gripe, sorry), my bigger issue is the fact that like numerous fantasy writers before, you've chosen to 'improve' on Tolkien's work by coming up with your own Celtic-ish type conlang. That's not an issue by itself, but I would highly suggest that instead of doing just what everyone else in the world of fantasy novelling seems to be doing, you might want to find a real-world language that you do consider beautiful and work from there instead. Honestly, I find it much harder to swallow the slew of Tolkienesque -ion/-wyn/-inn names that cluster the fantasy bookshelves than Tolkien's own work itself.
On that note:
1) Adjectives:
> Is there a purpose to this? Adjectives in real-world languages often don't take on endings unless there is some form of gender/number agreement going on — at least in inflected ones, anyway. Some languages like Korean or Japanese require some form of ending when you use an adjective as a predicate, but that's mainly because adjectives in those two languages are technically speaking a type of verb.
2) Plural:
> Is there a rule for words beginning with other vowels, or do they just combine to become a diphthong?
3) Past:
The elf goes to the riverbank.
Wyn fuin mirluir.
The elf went to the riverbank.
Wyn fuinil mirluryn.
> I find this interesting. Is there a reason why the noun in the direct object suddenly takes on an ending in the past tense? How do you differentiate direct objects in the present, then? Is the word order, as a result of the added suffix, flexible in the past tense (in other words: can you say mirluryn fuinil wyn instead, and mean the same thing)? It's worth noting that natural languages generally follow intuitively sensible patterns (sort of), but I suppose if you want to keep it you'll want to have some sort of explanation for it.
Date:June 10th, 2013 05:02 pm (UTC)
Thanks for the input :p Like I said, go easy, I'm in High School and have little to no knowledge of linguistics
[User Picture]
Date:June 11th, 2013 06:18 am (UTC)
Mario Pei's The Story of Language is a good place to begin.
Date:June 10th, 2013 05:10 pm (UTC)
1) A lot of English Adverbs have suffixes indicating that they're adverbs (-ish/-y/-ly), I decided to use that idea for adjectives, too. That's why I said'most' and not 'all'.
2) I guess that was my mistake, a word beginning with 'e' would also be given the


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Final in this series on dysfunctional fundamentalist families: the rest are archived here.
Some of the dynamics of fundamentalist families are similar to those of other dysfunctional families. For example, in both fundamentalist and alcoholic families
- denial is strong
- prohibitions against perceiving, feeling and expressing are common
To recover from the experience of growing up in a dysfunctional family it is important to understand difficulties that may be experienced in such areas as those listed above. Understanding difficulties with denial and expressing feelings is important, but it is just as necessary to understand their positive counterparts. Continue reading "Dysfunctional fundamentalist families (11): Family Health Versus Dysfunction"


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I am not completely green to Python, but I am interested in learning/keeping good practices while I develop my skills.
I want to remove the high and low values from a list of numbers, which I know how to do, but am curious if there is a better/preferred way to do this.
mylist = [1, 4, 0, 3, 2]
mylist.sort() #[0, 1, 2, 3, 4]
trimmed = mylist[1:-1] #[1, 2, 3]
I get the desired answer, but did I get the right answer appropriately?
share|improve this question
1 Answer 1
up vote 7 down vote accepted
Here's another way to do it if you don't want to change the order of the items:
Assumes that the high/low don't have any duplicates in the list, or if there are, that it's OK to remove only one of them.
This will need to do 2-4 passes through the list: two to find the max and min values, and up to 2 to find the values to remove (if they both happen to be at the end of the list). You could reduce this to one by writing a Python loop to find the max and min in a single pass (and remember the index of each so you can delete the items by index after the loop). However, min() and max() are implemented in C, so replacing them with Python code would probably result in lower performance even if it allowed you to reduce the number of passes.
share|improve this answer
Note that doing 4 passes is still probably faster than sorting the list, but if you want mylist to remain and have the trimmed version in trimmed, you should copy it first. – sverre Apr 13 '11 at 23:03
Yep. trimmed = mylist[:] and then do the manipulations on trimmed. – kindall Apr 13 '11 at 23:08
Your Answer


text:
Nowadays, electron microscopes are an essential tool, especially in the field of materials science. At TU Vienna, electron beams are being created that possess an inner rotation, similarly to a tornado. These "vortex beams" cannot only be used to display objects, but to investigate material-specific properties - with precision on a nanometer scale. A new breakthrough in research now allows scientists to produce much more intense vortex beams than ever before.
Quantum Tornado: the Electron as a Wave
In a tornado, the individual air particles do not necessarily rotate on their own axis, but the air suction overall creates a powerful rotation. The rotating electron beams that have been generated at TU Vienna behave in a very similar manner. In order to understand them, we should not think of electrons simply as minuscule points or pellets, as in that case they could at most rotate on their own axis. Vortex beams, on the other hand, can only be explained in terms of quantum physics: the electrons behave like a wave, and this quantum wave can rotate like a tornado or a water current behind a ship's propeller.
"After the vortex beam gains angular momentum, it can also transfer this angular momentum to the object that it encounters", explained Prof. Peter Schattschneider from the Institute of Solid State Physics at TU Vienna. The angular momentum of the electrons in a solid object is closely linked to its magnetic properties. For materials science it is therefore a huge advantage to be able to make statements regarding angular momentum conditions based on these new electron beams.
Beams Rotate - With Masks and Screens
Peter Schattschneider and Michael Stöger-Pollach (USTEM, TU Vienna) have been working together with a research group from Antwerp on creating the most intense, clean and controllable vortex beams possible in a transmission electron microscope. The first successes were achieved two years ago: at the time, the electron beam was shot through a minuscule grid mask, whereby it split into three partial beams: one turning right, one turning left and one beam that did not rotate.
Now, a new, much more powerful method has been developed: researchers use a screen, half of which is covered by a layer of silicon nitride. This layer is so thin that the electrons can penetrate it with hardly any absorption, however they can be suitably phase-shifted. "After focusing using a specially adapted astigmatic lens, an individual vortex beam is obtained", explained Michael Stöger-Pollach.
This beam is more intense by one order of magnitude than the vortex beams that we have been able to create to date. "Firstly, we do not split the beam into three parts, as is the case with a grid mask, but rather, the entire electron stream is set into rotation. Secondly, the grid mask had the disadvantage of blocking half of the electrons - the new special screen does not do this", said Stöger-Pollach.
Thanks to the new technology, right and left-rotating beams can now be distinguished in a reliable manner - previously this was only possible with difficulty. If we now add a predetermined angular momentum to each right and left-rotating beam, the rotation of one beam is increased, while the rotation of the other beam decreases.
Electron microscopes with a twist
This new technology was briefly presented by the research team in the "Physical Review Letters" journal. In future, the aim is to apply the method in materials science. Magnetic properties are often the focus of attention, particularly in the case of newly developed designer materials. "A transmission electron microscope with vortex beams would allow us to investigate these properties with nanometric precision", explained Peter Schattschneider.
More exotic applications of vortex beams are also conceivable: in principle, it is possible to set all kinds of objects in rotation - even individual molecules - using these beams, which possess angular momentum. Vortex beams could therefore also open new doors in nanotechnology.


text:
Here are several resources I have regarding wet-on-wet watercolor painting for your review.
#1. "Painting with Children" by Brunhild Muller. 48 pages. The contents include:
Children and Colour
The Moral Effect of Color
Children painting with watercolors
Preparing to Paint – and yes, this does discuss those often-asked questions of how to mix the colors, distribute the colors, water jars, the size of the paper and how to prepare it, and some hints about choosing paintbrushes.
Painting the Colors, including colour stories, painting through the seasons, the background to colour stories, experiencing the colours, moods of nature, painting what you see
Painting with Plant Colours
Poems to Stimulate Painting
This book starts with sections regarding Steiner's words regarding color and its effect on children, and Goethe's Theory of Colors, and discusses the way children experience colors in the fairy tales.
Some considerations: I have enjoyed using this little book, and it is a quick and easy way to start with lots of color paintings done by children. The pictures were helpful when I first started out in identifying what a typical four year old's painting might look like. Ideas for seasonal themes with verses that are typically Waldorf. Very Lovely to look at.
#2 – "Waldorf-Inspired Watercolor Painting with Children" by Anita Briggs and Nadia Tan; available through Barbara Dewey's Waldorf Without Walls. This is a 27-paged spiral bound book with the following contents:
The Changing Consciousness of the Child and Artistic Activity – Colors, Color Moods and Temperaments, Making Colors Come Alive (includes color verses and color experiments)
Painting in the Waldorf School
Getting Started with Wet on Wet Watercolor Painting – Basic approach, Painting Exercises to include single colors, color pairs, many colors, seasonal pictures, silhouettes against an evening sky, animal series, imagination series, and colored landscape patterns
Paintings – 5 pages of paintings in color.
Some considerations: This booklet has many practical hints regarding wet on wet painting and if you sit down and read it very carefully you will find many tips you can use in your painting. It would also be useful to paint through the painting exercises list in the last section of the book after the children are in bed and create your own world of color! You can sometimes find this little booklet on some of the used Waldorf curriculum lists. (It is only 27-pages long so some families may be happier buying it used if available).
#3 – Painting in Waldorf Education by Dick Bruin and Attie Lichthart. This 215-paged book comes with a DVD of painting images and the contents are as follows:
Painting in Education – including Introduction, Colors and their effects on people, the task of the teacher, Goethe's theory of color, A journey through the color wheel: A concise theory of color for the teacher, painting and the senses, watercolor paintspainting techniques and materials and equipment
Kindergarten and Elementary Grades – including handling the curriculum and the basic exercises for the teacher.
Painting in the kindergarten with two basic exercises for the teacher and a section about "Play and Imitation".
Painting in the first grade with an exercise for the teacher and a section called "A Journey of discovery through the land of color."
Painting in the second grade with one teacher exercises and a sections regarding Complementary Colors and Color Mood and Color Movement.
Painting in the third grade with two exercises for teacher and a section entitled," Drama in Color Experience."
Painting in the fourth grade (subtitles in this chapter include "from soul-to-nature mood, Earth colors, mythology and landscape, Maps, animals and human figures) (also two exercises for the teacher)
Painting in the fifth grade which includes two exercises for the teacher and notes about experiencing processes, plants and trees, mythology, history and maps, landscape, animals and color perspective, annual festivals.
Painting in the sixth grade which includes "on the path to exact observation", minerals and the veiling technique, flowers, landscapes and trees, "leaving an open space", Indigo.
Painting in the seventh grade which includes "exploring new worlds", "Heavenly phenomena" and "Voyages of discovery".
Painting in the eighth grade which includes two teacher exercises and the section entitled "Industrial activities and cultural landscapes."
Black and white drawing in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades
Perspective and dissections in the seventh and eighth grades
Painting in the Ninth Grade, including three exercises for teacher and sections on "Durer as a source of inspiration for black and white drawing" and "Drawing and painting in connection with art history."
Painting in the Tenth Grade, including two exercises for the teacher and the section, "Movement and order in black and white and color."
Painting in the Eleventh Grade, including painting trees and plants in moods, the impression and the expression – various drawing techniques; shading, drawing plants, animals and people and a basic exercise for teacher.
Painting in the Twelfth Grade, including "The summation – The human: studies of the head."
ADDITIONAL ASPECTS FOR THE DIDACTICS OF THE PAINTING LESSON
Lesson preparation, post-discussion, temperaments
Curative and pedagogical painting
USE OF COLOR IN OTHER LESSONS AND IN SCHOOL BUILDING–
Drawing, form-drawing, crafts, needlework and drama
Rudolf Steiner's color advice for the school building
Rudolf Steiner's color lectures
The School sketches by Rudolf Steiner as described by Fritz Weitmann
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SELECTED TITLES IN ENGLISH
Some considerations: A lot here to keep you busy throughout the grades, but lots of text with no pictures (black and white plates in the front of what is on the CD so those are the only pictures). This book really deserves and needs your attention, focus, and sitting down to try these exercises yourself! Worth your money.
#4 – "How to Do Wet-on Wet Watercolor Painting and Teach It to Children" by Rauld Russell, xeroxed with color cover and tied with ribbon; 43 pages long, available through Marsha Johnson of Shining Star School in Portland, Oregon through her Yahoo!Group _EMAIL_. Proceeds from sale of this book go to Shining Star School.
Lesson 1 – Yellow (goes into painting preparation as well)
Lesson 2 – The Rainbow
Lesson 3 – Blue
Lesson 4- Red
Lesson 5 – Green
Lesson 6 – Sunrise
Lesson 7 – Sunset
Lesson 8 – Blue-Violet
Lesson 9 – The Suffering of Light
Lesson 10- The Deed of Color
Lesson 11- The Color Circle
Lesson 12- The Color Combinations: Yellow and Green,
Lesson 13: Yellow and Blue
Lesson 14: Yellow and Violet
Lesson 15: Vermillion, Crimson and Blue in Green
Lesson 16: Complementary Colors
Summary (gives suggestions for colors for the four seasons, the four elements, the cycle of day and night, landscapes and seascapes, the four temperaments, etc. and themes to choose from to paint).
Pre-School and Kindergarten
APPENDIX (lists all supplies you will need to complete this course)
Some considerations: An excellent course for you to start to paint by, ideas for how to prepare, set up, verses, focus for each grade…Worth the price even if it is a xerox copy and such.
I know many of you out there have these resources, please do leave a comment in the comment section as to what you liked and didn't like about these books as these reviews are only my opinion and may not resonate with everyone!
Thanks, and happy painting!!


text:
jāgīrdār systemArticle Free Pass
jāgīrdār system, form of land tenancy developed in India during the time of Muslim rule (beginning in the early 13th century) in which the collection of the revenues of an estate and the power of governing it were bestowed on an official of the state. The term was derived by combining two Persian words: jāgīr ("holding land") and dār ("official"). The bestowal of a jāgīr on a jāgīrdār could be either conditional or unconditional. A conditional jāgīr required in reciprocity from the beneficiary some form of public service, such as the levying and maintaining of troops for the benefit of the realm. An iqta (assignment of land) was usually made for life, and the jāgīr would revert to the state on the death of the holder, though it was possible for the heir to renew it on payment of a fee.
The system was introduced by the early sultans of Delhi. Being feudalistic in character, it tended to enfeeble the central government by setting up quasi-independent baronies. The practice was slowed by Sultan Ghiyās̄ al-Dīn Balban (reigned 1266–87) and abolished by Sultan ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Khaljī (1296–1316), only to be revived again by Sultan Fīrūz Shah Tughluq (1351–88), from which time it continued. The early Mughal emperors (16th century) wished to abolish it, preferring to reward their officials with cash salaries, but it was reintroduced by the later emperors and contributed greatly to the weakening of the Mughal state. The British East India Company was given a jāgīr by the nawab Muḥammad ʿAlī of Arcot in present-day Tamil Nadu state 120, miles (190 km) in length along the Bay of Bengal and 47 miles (76 km) in width inland; it became the nucleus of the Madras Presidency. Under the British the old jāgīrdār holdings were largely considered the properties of individual families, particularly in the area of Maharashtra. With Indian independence, legislative measures were taken to abolish the system of absentee landownership.
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Originally published in 1987 Barnaby Rudge is a comprehensive collection of bibliographical resources surrounding Dickens fifth novel Barnaby Rudge. The book addresses what the author terms, a 'prevalent lack of research' surrounding the novel. The collection lists bibliographic references which not only looks at the novel itself, but also covers older resources that interested Dicken's first critics, such as the originality of the settings and characters. The book's core focus is examining the novel's historical subject matter in the context of the social and political context in which it was written. The book acts as a core resource for research on Barnaby Rudge.
Historical Chronology, _PHONE_
Chronology of Charles Dicken's Work
Part I: Barnaby Rudge: The Text
1. Composition and Publication of Barnaby Rudge
1.1. Contracts, Manuscripts and Proofs for Barnaby Rudge
1.2. Commentary on the Contracts for Barnaby Rudge
1.3. History of Barnaby Rudge's Composition and Publication
1.4. Major Editions of Barnaby Rudge Published During Dicken's Lifetime
1.5. Significant Editions of Barnaby Rudge Published Since 1870
2. Adaptations and Derivatives of Barnaby Rudge
2.1. Adaptations of Barnaby Rudge for the Stage, Screen, Radio, and Television
2.2. Music and Poetry Related to Barnaby Rudge
2.3. Abridgements, Retellings, and Parodies of Barnaby Rudge
2.4 Commentaries on the Adaptations and Derivatives of Barnaby Rudge
Part II: Barnaby Rudge: The Context
4. Related Works
4.1. Dicken's Known and Possible Sources for Barnaby Rudge
4.2. Works by Other Authors, Related to Barnaby Rudge
5. Historical Materials
5.1. Dicken's Known and Possible Sources for Barnaby Rudge
5.2. Commentaries on Dicken's use of His Historical Sources
5.3. Studies of the Gordon Riots and Their Era, Published Since 1841
5.4. Commentaries on Dicken's Attitude Toward History
5.5. Commentaries on Dicken's Attitude Toward History
6. Topical Materials
6.1. Studies of English, Politics and Society of the Chartist Era 1832-48
6.2. Theoretical and Critical Studies of the Political/Social Novel
6.3. Commentaries on Dicken's Political and Social View
Part III: Barnaby Rudge: Studies
8. Critical Studies of Barnaby Rudge
9. Annotations, Dictionaries and Guides for Barnaby Rudge
Are there elusive titles that you need and have been trying to source for years but thought that you would never be able to find?
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Low Impact Development (LID) Technologies at Providence
The Providence stormwater retrofit project integrates three emerging low impact development (LID) technologies: a green roof, permeable pavers and a rain garden.
Green Roof - 240 square feet
The retrofitted rooftop is an example of extensive green roof technology. Unlike roof top gardens, extensive green roofs are not designed for regular visitation by the public. They consist of a series of layers including a waterproof membrane, growth media and plants such as sedums, shallow rooted succulents that will withstand harsh exposed conditions. The plants filter out airborne pollutants and absorb rain and snowmelt that would otherwise travel down gutters and spouts to streets and storm drains.
Green roof installation Sedum plant
Permeable Pavers - approximately 1,600 square feet
Unlike traditional asphalt or concrete pavement, permeable pavement is composed of many interlocking pavers that present a solid surface for traffic. Small spaces between the pavers allow water to percolate through to the soil surface or to a retention area where the water gradually is absorbed into the soil. Nine parking spaces at Merrifield Fire Station 30 were replaced with permeable pavers.
Permeable paver installation
Rain Garden - 680 square feet
Rain gardens can be many sizes and shapes depending on the conditions at a site. They are designed to hold and filter water and release it slowly into the surrounding soil. In this way, rain gardens prevent oversaturation and flooding and improve water quality. Composed of several layers including layers of gravel, pea gravel, engineered soil and mulch, rain gardens are typically planted with native plants that can withstand fluctuating water levels and can be an attractive landscape component.
Rain garden
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The devil may be in the details for some shoppers – but not for all of them, new research shows.
The study by professors at Brown University and the University of Colorado-Boulder found that consumers widely differ when it comes to the level of detail that makes them feel they understand a product or service and in turn want to buy it.
The research found that thoughtful "explanation fiends" are more motivated when a product was explained, while more intuitive "explanation foes" felt confident in their understanding when the explanation was superficial. For those shoppers, deeper detail eroded their understanding and ultimately their willingness to pay for the product.
Colorado assistant professor Philip Fernbach, the study's lead author, said despite their differences, both groups are similar in that they feel the need to understand how a product works before it will gain their trust.
Steven Sloman, a Brown University professor and one of the study's authors, said it is up to marketers to figure out how to reach each type of detail-driven consumer.
"The fact is that people differ," Sloman said. "Your advertising, your marketing and your understanding of people has to be guided by an appreciation of who you are talking to."
The researchers reached their conclusions after conducting a series of experiments, including one that presented subjects with products and explanations of how they worked. Some were shown only shallow explanations of four products and then were asked to rate their understanding and their willingness to purchase the products. The subjects were then asked to how much they'd be willing to pay and asked to generate their own explanation of the product based on their level of understanding.
The experiment found that explanation foes readjusted how much they would pay for the product from $8 to less than $6 after realizing they didn't understand as much as they thought they did. At the same time, explanation fiends raised the amount they were willing to pay for a product by $2.50 after being asked to explain the products.
"We were actually shocked by how powerfully the data came out," Sloman said.
The study, which was coauthored by Brown undergraduates Robert St. Louis and Julia Shube, was recently published online in the Journal of Consumer Research.


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Best Practices: 8 Mozenda Scraper Tools Every User Should Know About
November 01, 2016
Capturing data from a website isn't always easy, but you should always be aware of the tools you have at your disposal. Since Mozenda started in 2007, we've made a lot of improvements to our software to streamline this process as much as possible.
Based on ongoing customer feedback to Mozenda support, we've compiled a list of the most useful techniques and tools that set us apart from the competition and make it simpler to get the data you need.
- Refine Captured Text. This window allows you to use several tools to filter captured data.After selecting an element containing text, use the Capture Definitions tool to select only the data you need. For advanced users, regular expressions can be used to find pattern-based data (such as zip codes, phone numbers, etc.).The Content Replacements tool is essentially a "find and replace" function for an individual capture action. This can be used to replace entire words or remove unnecessary characters, making it easier to gather clean data up front.
- Directly load a URL without clicking. This method avoids the hassle of navigating through multiple click items on a website by loading a direct URL to the page with the data to be captured.This tool is useful not only for reducing the number of steps (and margin for error) while building an agent, but can also be useful for websites that use advanced navigation that don't respond to a regular Click Item action. This method can be used in conjunction with the Refine Captured Text tool to extract a link URL followed by a Load Page action to directly load that URL into a new page. This process can be automated for a list of links using a parameter for the URL.
- Use the DOM window to pinpoint HTML elements. When using the default Mozenda capture actions, the correct element may not be selected due to the website's structure. The DOM window displays a web page's code in a hierarchical, folder-like format that allows you to track down the exact HTML element where the data exists.Once you find the correct element in the DOM window, you can recreate the capture action or adjust the XPath to match it. This method can also be used to collect hidden data that appears in the code but not on the rendered web page.
- Upload a list of data using the Input List function. The ability to upload a list of URLs, product numbers, or another input to be searched can easily be done using an Input List action. A list of zip codes, URLs, or any other list can be uploaded directly to Mozenda and the software will iterate through the list automatically.As seen in the image below, the user is uploading a list of states to go through in order to collect data for different store locations in all 50 states.
- Test an agent before processing. An essential part of building an agent is ensuring that it works as intended. The Agent Builder includes a testing option that will perform the agent's actions and show a preview of the data captured without using any page credits.To perform a test using only specific items in a list, right-click the item list and select Test Settings. From here, the list can be adjusted to apply to a limited number of items, which will only affect the agent during testing.
- Automate data delivery. After Mozenda captures a dataset, you can publish a file directly to email, Dropbox, Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure, or an external server via FTP. Publishing will occur after the agent runs and completes successfully.For advanced users, the Mozenda API can be used to start an agent and publish the results on demand with additional parameters for agent settings, file destination, and more.
- Schedule agents to run automatically. Agents can be configured to run automatically without requiring the user to manually start the agent via the web console. An agent can be run several times a day, once week, once a month, and so on.
- Track changes in captured data. This feature keeps records of previous agent jobs and will show when items in a collection have been changed, added or removed. This automates the process of monitoring for updates to important data.At this time, this feature is limited to reporting the fields that have changed between jobs. It does not indicate precise differences between old and new data.


Beethoven: Bagatelle in A Minor, WoO 59 (Für Elise)
Format Descriptions
In stock and typically ships within 1 business day.
 1. Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
 2. Instrumentation: Piano
 3. ISMN: 979-000656867-3
 4. Size: 9.6 x 12.2 inches
 5. Pages: 10
 6. Urtext / Critical Edition
 A number of questions regarding Beethoven's most famous bagatelle, "Für Elise", remain unanswered until today: What happened to the complete autograph and who was "Elise"? The bagatelle was written between 1808 and 1810. It was first published in 1867 by the Beethoven scholar Ludwig Nohl who still had access to Beethoven's autograph. What has survived, however, is an extensive autograph draft that Beethoven substantially revised around 1822 for a planned but then unrealised collection of bagatelles and which differs significantly from the known printed version.
 The critical edition by the renowned Beethoven scholar Mario Aschauer comes to new conclusions. It offers, in addition to the version of the first printing from 1867, a transcription of Beethoven's draft that makes the changes to the 2nd version visible in grey print as well as a performable completion by the editor of that 2nd version. The work's complicated genesis and source situation are explained in the Preface (Ger/Eng), and in the Critical Commentary (Eng) differing readings and editorial decisions are discussed. This definite edition with historically-informed fingering invites you on an exciting voyage to rediscover this popular piece!


Question: How Do You Color Mandala Art?
What are mandala patterns?
What can I use for Mandala?
There is not much to coloring a mandala for meditation purposes. It requires just a few simple steps and some time when you can be alone. You will need crayons, pencil crayons, chalks, pastels, paint, or markers in a variety of colors.
How do mandalas heal?
How do you color mandalas?
How do you make simple mandala art?
How to Draw a MandalaMaterials needed: You don't need many materials to learn how to draw a mandala. … Now you'll want to connect the dots into circles. To do this, start at one dot, and draw a curved line to the next dot, and so on. … As you draw more and more designs, your mandala will start to look more complex. … Voila!
Can coloring mandalas reduce anxiety?
Anxiety level was measured with the State Anxiety Inventory at baseline, after the writing exercise, and after coloring. Results support the hypothesis that coloring a mandala reduces anxiety to a significantly greater degree than coloring on a plaid design or coloring on a blank paper.
What do Mandala colors mean?
Take a look at each color and it's meaning! RED: Strength, high energy and passion. PINK: Love, intuition and the feminine. ORANGE: Creativity, transformation, self-awareness and intuition. YELLOW: Learning, wisdom, laughter and happiness.
How do you freehand a mandala?
InstructionsDraw Mandala Guidelines. Start by drawing a large circle in pencil. … Add Organic Shapes. Draw your first organic shape! … Trace in Ink. Now that your mandala is finished, trace over the pencil lines with ink to make the design bolder. … Add Fine Details.
Why are Mandalas calming?
Mandalas bring along a feeling of relaxation They help with balance. They bring peace and tranquility. Looking at them will give you a feeling of calmness.
How does Mandala relieve stress?
Drawing mandalas as a form of art therapy can reduce anxiety, tension and overall stress. Drawing stimulates creativity and is a way to release emotional blockages. For those diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), drawing a personal mandala can also be a useful tool to decrease the trauma symptoms.
What are three types of mandalas?
Below are three main types of mandalas and how they are used.Teaching Mandala. Teaching mandalas are symbolic, and each shape, line, and color represents a different aspect of a philosophical or religious system. … Healing Mandala. … Sand Mandala.
What do you need for mandala art?
Does coloring help with depression?
What kind of pen do you use for mandala art?
Do mandalas have different meanings?
Mandalas offer balancing visual elements, symbolizing unity and harmony. The meanings of mandala depends upon color, geometric elements and culture. The goal of the mandala is to serve as a tool on our spiritual journey as it symbolizes cosmic and psychic order. Mandalas have been used by lots of culturs.
Are all mandalas religious?


30 July, 2021
Outlook takes a look at nine 'elite' seats from where their highnesses have returned again and again to Parliament, and fails to see why
Tribhuvan Tiwari
They come, they campaign, they conquer. We arm them with our votes, play soldiers to their victory. Yet, after the dust and drama of the war for votes settles, our allegiances remain unrequited. And we are left alone by them, our rulers, to the battle of daily life.
But how does one measure the quality of rule, or misrule, of those we elect into Parliament? Constituencies are strange statistical entities, smaller than districts, a composite of two districts or its parts, an amalgam of blocks, villages, towns, cities: census numbers, then, can hardly compute the worth of a constituency's governance.
So, Outlook's correspondents fanned out across the country. And visited the constituencies of some of the most prominent among our Members of Parliament. Leaders who are headline highlights, star sound bites. Those who have conquered their constituencies many times over.
To assess what those whom we vote into power have done to better our lives. What did we discover? Lack of accountability....
In this article:
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August 02, 2021
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Day of Mourning
Why is April 28th a Day of Mourning?
Every year on April 28, people across the country gather to light candles and wear ribbons as they pay their respects and remember the thousands of men and women who have been killed, injured, or suffered illness as a result of work-related incidents. We also honour the families, coworkers, and friends whose lives have been significantly impacted by these tragedies. April 28th was chosen to reflect the anniversary of the day Ontario passed the Workers' Compensation Act in 1914.
How do unions improve workplace health and safety?
Unions stand up for the health and safety of everyone who works for a living. We work with employers to improve working conditions. Unions work with governments to improve workplace health and safety standards and pass laws to punish employers who put lives at risk for their own gain. We can't bring back those who have died, but we are working hard to make workplaces safer for today. By working together – with employers, unions, workers, and our health and safety partners, we can work towards every worker returning home at the end of the day safe and sound.
UFCW Canada encourages every worker to make workplace health and safety a personal priority and help spread the word that workers have the right to refuse unsafe work.
On April 28, let us remember those who have been injured or killed on the job, and keep them in our thoughts. Let us honour the memory of those killed or injured on the job, and never forget the importance of our commitment to keep workers safe.
To commemorate the National Day of Mourning, UFCW Canada has developed a Day of Mourning poster available for download in both English and French. See below the article image for different formats.


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BUSINESS TORTS LAW LESSON PLAN
Teachers: since the concept of torts is new, use as many "real-life" examples when introducing the terminology to students.
Tort: a civil (private) wrong that a court will give a remedy in the form of an action for damages. Torts differ from crimes, which rely on definitions within the law. Torts rely on case decisions and existing elements that must be present.
1. Battery - a person intentionally causes harmful bodily contact with another.
2. Assault - a person intentionally causes an unprivileged act with offensive bodily contact to another.
3. False imprisonment - restraining the movement of another person.
4. Invasion of privacy - private information that is made public that is objectionable by that person.
5. Other intentional torts: emotional disturbance, trespassing, public nuisance, fraudulent marketing.
Lesson Printable Materials -
Print out the following pages for
use with this law intro lesson:


In 2009-2010 alone, at least 253 people died attempting to cross the southern AZ Border. Border Patrol practices in the desert routinely increase the risk of death in the desert by dispersing groups with helicopters, impeding search and rescue efforts, and vandalizing life-saving resources such as food, water, and blankets.


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Bacteria may be harbingers of invisible damage in concrete
A small "garden" of concrete cylinders shares space with the colorful sedum, chives and crocus on Colburn Lab's green roof at the University of Delaware.
Although the cylinders themselves aren't alive, bacteria living on or in them could serve as valuable indicators of damage growing inside the concrete.
Located on the green roof because it offers access to daily weather data, the cylinders are part of a research study led by microbiologist Julia Maresca, an assistant professor in UD's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Maresca hopes to find biomarkers that can tell inspectors whether concrete has been damaged before that damage is visible to the naked eye.
The current effort focuses on damage from a problem common in the Mid-Atlantic region called the alkali-silica reaction, or ASR. When silica, other cations, and water react in concrete, a gel is formed that expands inside the concrete, causing extensive cracking.
"Bacteria require specific environmental conditions," says Maresca. "If chemical damage occurs, those conditions change. We predict that in response to chemical changes caused by the alkali-silica reaction, the kinds of bacteria living there may also then change. If certain kinds of bacteria appear only when ASR has occurred, their presence could be used as a bio-indicator for damage."
To identify candidate bacteria, Maresca worked with structural engineer Thomas Schumacher to prepare a set of concrete test cylinders using materials that are highly susceptible to ASR and a parallel set made of materials resistant to this reaction. All of the cylinders were placed on the green roof in the spring of 2013. Since then, one pair of cylinders has been removed every four to six weeks for analysis of the bacterial populations.
Maresca explains that because very few bacteria can be cultivated in the laboratory, DNA analysis is needed to identify the bacteria living on and in the concrete. Doctoral student Keira Zhang discovered that a method used to extract DNA from ancient bones also worked on concrete. Using this method, DNA from all of the cylinders removed from the green roof over the past two years is underway.
"Analysis of this DNA will show how microbial communities in and on concrete vary over time as ASR-susceptible and ASR-resistant concrete weathers," Maresca says. "After we identify potential bio-indicators, our next step will be to analyze undamaged and ASR-damaged field samples to see whether the predictions we made using laboratory samples hold true in the field."
"If our initial prediction is correct, this research will lead to development of a simple test for specific bacterial bio-indicators for ASR-susceptible roadways," she adds. "Early detection of ASR damage will enable state and local departments of transportation to remediate roadways before extensive cracking has occurred."
About the research
Seed funding for the project was provided by the University of Delaware Research Foundation, and the research is currently funded by the Mid-Atlantic Transportation Sustainability University Transportation Center.
Undergraduate research assistants Mary-Katherine Sutter, Paul Moser and Alison Treglia also contributed to the work.
UDaily article by Diane Kukich | Photo by Evan Krape


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Vulnerability Description
The CVE-2015-0291 vulnerability introduces the possibility of a denial of service attack against a system running OpenSSL 1.0.2. If a malicious client connects to an OpenSSL server and the server requests a certificate from the malicious client, the malicious client can return a malformed cert that may trigger a NULL pointer dereference causing software reliability problems on the server, resulting in disruption of services.
CVE-2015-0204 is a reclassification of the well-known FREAK attack which relies on a few key pieces falling into place. On the server side, this means that export ciphers are supported. When export ciphers are used, a 512-bit RSA key is used. This key can be factored in less than a day using popular cloud hosting services. Once this is accomplished, the attacker could then man-in-the-middle a victim using the factored key.
On the client side, an attacker must be able to force the client to accept a weak key, even if a strong cipher has been requested. This can be accomplished in clients that use OpenSSL, SChannel, and other libraries.
Exposure and Impact
At this time the potential impact for the CVE-2015-0291 vulnerability is minor, there is no evidence that the NULL pointer dereference can be used for remote exploits to circumvent security logic or reveal additional debugging information that can be used for remote code execution or information collection.
Any exploit would also require that the server request the client's certificate which is a rare occurrence and not a common implementation, as it is usually the client requesting the server's certificate.
As we have written about in previous VERT Threat Alerts, the impact of CVE-2015-0204 is that and attacker that successfully executed this attack could man-in-the-middle a victim's connection. Users are most susceptible when using open, public wireless networks like those found in hotels and coffee shops.
Remediation & Mitigation
As patches are now available for both of these high impact vulnerabilities as well as several others it is recommended that organizations patch systems as soon as possible.
An attack against CVE-2015-0204 requires that both the server and client be vulnerable. Servers that don't use export ciphers and clients that have been patched atgainst the appropriate CVE are not vulnerable and would mitigate this attack.
Tripwire IP360 provides the following detection for server-side export ciphers:
V6174 SSL Server Supports Weak Encryption for SSLv3
V79208 SSL Server Supports Weak Encryption for SSLv2
V79210 SSL Server Supports Weak Encryption for TLSv1
V81883 SSL Server Supports Weak Encryption for TLSv1.1
V81884 SSL Server Supports Weak Encryption for TLSv1.2
Additionally, IP360 provides the following detection for CVE-2015-0204: V204109, V204490, V204572, V204835, V204989, V205161, V205168, V205439, V205440, V206229, V206758, V207391. This includes detection for the OpenSSL vulnerability on Debian, Ubuntu, RHEL, CentOS, OEL, SUSE and Fedora.
Tripwire Enterprise COCR Rules OpenSSL Identification (CVE-2015-0204):