text:
Pentaho and Hadoop
Visual Development for Hadoop Data Prep and Modeling
Pentaho's visual development tools drastically reduce the time to design, develop and deploy Hadoop analytics solutions by as much as 15x, compared to traditional custom coding and ETL approaches.
- Powerful visual user interface for ingesting and manipulating data within Hadoop, and makes it easy to enrich Hadoop data with reference data from other sources.
- Option of accessing Hadoop data either directly, or through rapid visual extraction into data marts/warehouses optimized for fast response times.
- A visual tool for defining business metadata models helps developers prepare their data for analytics.
Interactive Visualization and Exploration Pentaho enables your IT department to share interactive data visualizations and exploration capabilities, allowing business users to build dashboards and run reports on their own.The Hadoop data integration and business analytics platform enables users to easily review data through:
- Rich visualization – Interactive, web-based interfaces for ad hoc reporting, charting and dashboards.
- Flexible exploration – View data through dimensions such as time, product and geography, and across measures like revenue and quantity.
- Predictive analytics – Use advanced statistical algorithms such as classification, regression, clustering and association rules to spot trends or challenges ahead of time.
Pentaho Visual MapReduce: Scalable in-Hadoop ExecutionPentaho's Java-based data integration engine works with the Hadoop cache for automatic deployment as a MapReduce task across every data node in a Hadoop cluster, making use of the massive parallel processing power of Hadoop.Pentaho can natively connect to Hadoop in the following ways:
- HDFS – Input and output directly to the Hadoop Distributed File System.
- MapReduce – Input and output directly to MapReduce programs.
- HBase – Input and output directly to HBase, a NoSQL database optimized for use with Hadoop.
- Hive – A JDBC driver that enables interaction with Hadoop via the Hadoop Query Language (HQL), a SQL-like query and data description language (DDL).
Multi-Threaded Engine for Faster ExecutionThe Pentaho Data Integration engine is multi-threaded, with each step in a job executing on one or more threads. Multi-core processors running on each data node of the cluster are fully leveraged, eliminating the need for specialized, multi-threaded programming techniques.In addition, the Pentaho Data Integration engine executes as a single MapReduce task, instead of the multiple tasks typical of machine-generated or hand-coded programs and Pig scripts. As a result, Pentaho MapReduce jobs typically execute many times faster than other methods.The table below compares performing common Hadoop tasks using traditional MapReduce programming skills and Pentaho's visual interface:
Intuitive Data Orchestration InterfaceData orchestration is made easy via Pentaho's library of graphical job flow components, which include conditional checking, event waiting, execution and notification.
Together, these components can be combined to enable visual assembly of powerful job flow logic across multiple jobs and data sources. Pentaho provides graphical drag-and-drop components for Hadoop ecosystem projects such as Sqoop and Oozie, drastically reducing the amount of time needed to use these powerful bulk-data load and workflow utilities:
- Sqoop – A tool designed for efficiently transferring bulk data between Hadoop and structured data stores, such as relational databases.
- Oozie – An open-source workflow/coordination service that manages data processing jobs for Hadoop.
Deep Support for HadoopPentaho fully supports the leading Hadoop-based distributions and supports native capabilities, such as MapR's NFS high performance mountable file system. Several distributions of Hadoop are available as open source projects and from commercial providers.


text:
'Bristol Cats' study, growing from strength to strength!
What's it all about?
The 'Bristol Cats' study is a 'first of its kind' study by the University of Bristol, investigating the health, welfare and behaviour of cats living in the UK. The study is taking place to help find the causes of common behaviour problems and diseases of cats - eg obesity & hyperthyroidism - as the causes of these conditions are poorly understood.
How is information collected?
Information is collected via four questionnaires when kittens are aged eight to16 weeks, six, 12 and 18 months of age. The data will be analysed to see what extent certain characteristics eg obesity are associated with management - eg diet, lifestyle and other factors eg breed.
What are the benefits?
The researchers aim to provide guidance to practitioners, owners and the cat community at large, to improve the health and welfare of cats. In order to do this, they need the help of kitten owners and hope to enrol 900 kittens by December 2011 to ensure robust statistical results.
Study progress to date...
Between March and September 2011, 588 kittens registered on the study – a fantastic response and thank you to everyone who has already enrolled! Not surprisingly, the most commonly registered cat breed was found to be the moggy/mixed breed/domestic short hair.
How to get involved:
Can you help by spreading the word to kitten owners, cat breeders or anyone with a kitten? If so, please contact the 'Bristol Cat' study team at the University of Bristol, using the details below, to request a poster to display and a supply of flyers to pass on to kitten owners.
Alternatively, if you have a kitten between eight and 16 weeks of age, please log-on to the study website and complete a questionnaire. The researchers are also keen to hear from owners of more than one kitten. Full details about the study can be found at _URL_ together with a link to the first questionnaire. Please also contact the team if you would prefer to receive a paper copy of the questionnaire in the post.
With grateful thanks for your help!
The 'Bristol Cats' study team
Bristol Cats, Dr Jane Murray
University of Bristol
Tel: 07827 981412

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


Study Finds That People With Narcissistic Traits Are More Likely To Ignore Pandemic Guidelines
Posted at 10:15 AM, Jul 27, 2020
and last updated 2021-07-29 14:39:23-04
With anti-mask protests popping up around the country and many people taking to social media to decry mask mandates, it's becoming clear that not every American believes masks are necessary or that they should be required.
But why do some people resist the simple act of mask-wearing and other preventative measures, even when medical science demonstrates that doing so could save lives and help stop the spread of coronavirus?
One new study from the journal Personality and Individual Differences suggests that those who resist wearing masks could be doing so because they suffer from narcissism.
European researchers surveyed over 750 people in Poland and found that those who reported hoarding food, flouting stay-at-home-orders and defying other coronavirus safety measures like hand-washing were more likely to have narcissistic, Machiavellian and psychopathic personality traits. Together, these characteristics are referred to as the Dark Triad.
According to the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition" (or DSM-V, the manual used by the American Psychiatric Association to classify mental disorders), people with Narcissistic Personality Disorder are more likely to have "a grandiose sense of self-importance," a belief that they are "'special' and unique," and have "a sense of entitlement." According to the DSM-V, people with Narcissistic Personality Disorder also generally lack empathy and are "unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others."
The study found that those with Dark Triad traits participated in more hoarding and less preventative behavior. Meanwhile, those with "collective narcissistic" traits, in which they believe their own communal group is unique and special, focused more on just hoarding.
This is not the first time that research has suggested that people who may have traits consistent with a personality disorder are more likely to actively oppose pandemic safety measures.
Another study, published this month in the journal Social Psychology and Personality Science, found that people who didn't want to participate in healthy practices to help "flatten the curve" of coronavirus cases (such as hand-washing and social distancing) were more likely to have traits of meanness, neuroticism and lack of restraint, all of which fall under the umbrella of psychopathy in the DSM-V.
"One potential implication from this research is that there may be a minority of people with particular personality styles (on the narcissism and psychopathy spectrum) that have a disproportionate impact on the pandemic by failing to protect themselves and others," study author Pavel Blagov told PsyPost.
The good news is that the majority of Americans are wearing masks. Wearing masks could save 33,000 lives in just three months, so let's all do our part!


text:
The aims of this study were 1) to evaluate the current pilot test method and ascertain reliable measurements for a standard test method of mobility with personal protective equipment (PPE), such as physical performance and balance ability tests; 2) to compare two participant groups (firefighters versus non-firefighters) and to investigate whether non-firefighters are appropriate as a standard participant group in the field of PPE or not. Totally, 18 participants (nine professional firefighters and nine untrained males) performed the current pilot test method consisting of a balance test, completed prior to and after a performance test. Significant differences were found between PPE conditions and CON (the control clothing ensemble: T-shirt, shorts, and running shoes) for the functional balance test, physical performance test, heart rate, and subjective evaluations in firefighters group. Therefore, the present pilot test method is valid as a standard test method for assessing mobility while wearing PPE. Moreover, the present result shows that firefighters are more reliable than non-firefighters in testing of PPE with current test methods.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Human Factors and Ergonomics
- Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation
- Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality
- Engineering (miscellaneous)

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


text:
Reduction capability of soil humic substances from the Rio Negro basin, Brazil, towards Hg(II) studied by a multimethod approach and principal component analysis (PCA)
Data de publicação2007-03-15
Direito de acesso
MetadadosExibir registro completo
This paper characterizes humic substances (HS) extracted from soil samples collected in the Rio Negro basin in the state of Amazonas, Brazil, particularly investigating their reduction capabilities towards Hg(II) in order to elucidate potential mercury cycling/volatilization in this environment. For this reason, a multimethod approach was used, consisting of both instrumental methods (elemental analysis, EPR, solid-state NMR, FIA combined with cold-vapor AAS of Hg(0)) and statistical methods such as principal component analysis (PCA) and a central composite factorial planning method. The HS under study were divided into groups, complexing and reducing ones, owing to different distribution of their functionalities. The main functionalities (cor)related with reduction of Hg(II) were phenolic, carboxylic and amide groups, while the groups related with complexation of Hg(II) were ethers, hydroxyls, aldehydes and ketones. The HS extracted from floodable regions of the Rio Negro basin presented a greater capacity to retain (to complex, to adsorb physically and/or chemically) Hg(II), while nonfloodable regions showed a greater capacity to reduce Hg(II), indicating that HS extracted from different types of regions contribute in different ways to the biogeochemical mercury cycle in the basin of the mid-Rio Negro, AM, Brazil. (c) 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.


text:
Do not imagine the Mona Lisa with a mustache! If you failed to carry out this instruction, it is because your power of visualization is so strong that it takes any suggestion, positive or negative, and turns it into an image. And as the maestro emphasized, "the thing imagined moves the sense." If you think you cannot visualize. Chances are you answered these questions easily by drawing on your internal image data bank, the occipital lobe of your cerebral cortex. This data bank has the potential, in coordination with your frontal lobes, to store and create more images, both real and imaginary, than the entire world's film and television production companies combined.
From How to think like Leonardo da Vinci, by Michael J. Gelb, published by Delacorte Press, 1998.


text:
User:Rourkes/HowTo:Increase Your Post Count
From Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia
| HowTo |
This article is part of Uncyclopedia's HowTo series.
See more HowTos
Many online forumers from all streets of net life experience a common affliction known as 'Post Count Syndrome'. Symptoms include competitiveness in posts, races to be 'First Response', and other post-producing actions. While Post Count Syndrome can affect even the most wizened poster, it usually occurs amongst n00bz and young children. There is no cure, but there is treatment. Only a heavily regimented posting plan including constant messaging will alleviate your suffering. Unfortunately for you, I'm not trained in medicine, and as such cannot organize you a licensed plan. However, if you follow my documented strategies, you will no doubt have your numbers climbing before your eyes! Let us begin my lessons on HowTo:Increase Your Post Count.
edit Lesson #1 = Don't state all your facts
One of the common mistakes of many well-educated posters is to begin and end your argument in a single post. Though seemingly logical, your opinion will wither under the constant query-and-answer posts of your neighbours. The solution: divide your argument into smaller sections, ending with a question whenever possible. Other posters will instinctively answer your question in the most objectionable method possible, but don't be discouraged; begin a game of leapfrog between yourselves, reaffirming and countering each other's evidence. A skilled leapfrogger can keep the conversation going for hours, which leads us into our next lesson.
edit Lesson #2 = Be Objectionable
If you are a person who is difficult to discourage, you can abuse your strength by becoming an objectionable poster. Find which poster has the dominant view in a thread, and do everything you can to reject his or her opinion. You may use whatever tactics you wish to ensure your opponent cannot reach an agreement. Remember: resolution is BAD!! You should see quite a few posts by the time the dust settles.
edit Lesson #3 = Spamming
The simplest way to get your post count up is to spam. Be careful, however, since moderators keep a sharp eye out for spammers. There are two main varieties of spamful posts; explicit and implicit. Explicit spam is mostly what moderators deal with, and like the name implies, can and will contain the most far-flung statements and useless sentences possible. If your reputation can take a hit, create some spamful posts in a thread of your choice. If you feel the need to make multiple messages, be sure to leave large intervals between them, and NEVER spam more than once in a single thread. As long as the moderators do not see a pattern in your behaviour, you should be able to get off without a ban.
Implicit spam, also known as 'Yes-Manning', is safer than explicit spam, but just as easy to perpetrate. When conducting implicit spam, be sure to post messages with neutral connotation and/or equal balance on the matter. If other posters can find nothing immediately objectionable with your statement, they will generally ignore it. Implicit spam does require a minimal amount of topic comprehension, but you should be able to escape clean.
edit Lesson #4 = NEVER Troll!
While it may seem like a quick way to give your count a boost, you should never resort to attacking another poster. Moderators will latch on quickly to your assaults. If your message has some value or minimal aggressiveness, you may only be warned; if insults run rampant, your post will likely be deleted. Trolling needlessly scars your reputation which, if you are only just reading this, is probably bad enough.
edit Lesson #5 = Stay Vigilant
Just as important as knowing when to post is knowing when not to post. A hardened spammer should be able to instantly recognize a spam thread. Avoid it! At best, you will be able to shoot in one or two messages before it closes; at worst, the thread will be deleted and your hard work with it. Troll threads are similar, although may maintain themselves for some time after closure. If you find the moderators are particularly displeased with the path a thread is taking, do not jump onto that sinking ship. Save your fingers for real count-plussers.
edit Lesson #6 = Take a Hint
Moderators are not your only enemy. Beware other posters who catch on to your actions. If it seems as though you are too indiscreet, cease your actions at once. The 'Report Abuse' feature is only a mouse-click away from halting your operations.
edit Lesson #7 = Educate Yourself
This is, by far, your very last refuge. If the above lessons have all failed and you have been perma-banned, you have only one option left: educate yourself on the subject, then write thoughtful, provocative ideas stimulating a professional and academically-inclined discussion. If you are feelin' lucky, your discussion may even make world news. Just remember: this is the hardest, most time-consuming option available, and requires you actually use your mental functions.
edit Legal Disclaimer
The author of this article holds no guaruntee that following these instructions will prevent you from being harassed, despised, flamed, banned, or pwnt by a Korean zerg rush. Read this advice, but take it with a grain of salt. Everything's better with salt!
edit See Also
- HowTo:Annoy unwanted roommates
- HowTo:Annoy your Teacher
- HowTo:Antagonize People for Being Different
- HowTo:Be 1337
- HowTo:Become Famous on the Internet
- HowTo:Become a Lawyer
- HowTo:Convince people you're a nutcase
- HowTo:Create an e-Persona
- HowTo:Go off on a tangent
- HowTo:Irritate People
- HowTo:Keep an idiot busy
- HowTo:Lower Your IQ
- HowTo:Make Enemies
- HowTo:Make an Article That Will Get Deleted
- HowTo:Online Jihad
- HowTo:Properly Whore Your Article
- HowTo:Skip School
- HowTo:Stalk your ex
- HowTo:Start a War
- HowTo:Succumb to peer pressure
- HowTo:Turn Your Life Into an RPG
- HowTo:Vandalise Uncyclopedia


Politics blamed for drop in NHS satisfaction
Might dissatisfaction with the NHS be purely superficial?
Might dissatisfaction with the NHS be purely superficial?
Satisfaction with the NHS dropped sharply in the coalition's first year in power, figures out today have confirmed, triggering intense debate about what the decline actually means.
The King's Fund health thinktank released data from this year's British Social Attitudes survey showing overall satisfaction with the NHS dropped from 70% to 58% in just 12 months.
"If that wasn't enough, what makes this drop even more notable is that it comes after almost continuous annual improvements in satisfaction since 2001," King's Fund chief economist John Appleby commented.
The drop represents the largest fall in any year since the survey began in 1983, leading shadow health secretary Andy Burnham to conclude that it "speaks volumes" the decline happened after the first full year of Tory control of the health service.
Political factors apart from the actual performance of the NHS appear to be behind the drop, as waiting times and rates of healthcare-acquired infections remain broadly unchanged or are falling.
"Apart from media headlines and unease about the possible impact of the government's reforms to one of Britain's best loved institutions, the other notable policy factor that is likely to have filtered through to the public's consciousness is the virtual, real-terms freeze in NHS funding and the associated programme to improve productivity," Mr Appleby pointed out.
"However, the language associated with this is unlikely to have been reassuring to many: if the NHS says it is making savings, many may well hear the word 'cuts', for example."
Labour claimed the coalition was taking the NHS "back to the bad old days of the 80s and 90s", however.
"It takes a special kind of incompetence to inherit a successful NHS with patient satisfaction at an all-time high and in just two years in government turn it into an organisation demoralised, destabilised and fearful of the future," Mr Burnham said.
"David Cameron said the NHS would be his priority but the reality is that under him we've seen waiting lists spiralling out of control the NHS sinking into chaos."
The findings of the survey have been vigorously contested by the government, which pointed out that 92% thought their overall experience of the NHS was good, very good or excellent.
"The British Social Attitudes Survey targets the general public rather than targeting people that have actually used the NHS, so responses are influenced by other factors - by its nature it is not as accurate a picture as the data from patients," health minister Simon Burns said.
"Our own polling of the general public, undertaken independently by Mori, shows that satisfaction with the NHS is broadly stable at around 70% over a similar and more recent time period."
Load in comments


text:
A three-year field study conducted by Ohio State University's School of Environment and Natural Resources in partnership with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) has resulted in a valuable collection of research that can benefit the Calumet region. The results of this study will be presented to the public on Jan. 18 from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant Auditorium, 6001 W. Pershing Road, Cicero. This seminar is eligible for Professional Development Credits/Continuing Education Units, and reservations are required.
The study compared the performance of MWRD's biosolids with the United States Composting Council's certified vegetative compost to determine its restorative qualities in degraded soil. Dr. Nicholas Basta, Professor of Soil and Environmental Chemistry, lead the study.
"Our goal was to evaluate the potential impacts of biosolids and compost application on surface water quality in the Calumet region," explained Dr. Thomas Granato, MWRD Director of Monitoring and Research. "This joint effort grew from a one day workshop in 2008 where members of the Calumet Government Working Group and experts in the field of ecological restoration discussed the state of the science of using biosolids for restoration and reconstruction of degraded land in the Calumet region. Biosolids are a cost-effective resource and are in abundant supply."
Biosolids are nutrient-rich, highly organic material developed through extensive treatment and are a superior, yet less expensive alternative to chemical fertilizer. Biosolids can be used in landscaping, for turf at parks and athletic fields and for agricultural crops. MWRD's biosolids are of exceptional quality based on federal standards and, as a service to municipal and commercial users in Cook County, the MWRD offers and delivers biosolids at no cost.
"Many area golf courses, park districts and communities in the Chicago area are using biosolids to improve the quality of their turf, and farmers in the nearby counties like the benefits of higher yields they receive by using biosolids," said Commissioner Mariyana Spyropoulos, Chairman of the MWRD Monitoring and Research Committee.
Reservations for the Jan. 18 presentation can be made by calling _PHONE_. The program and parking are complimentary.
Additional information about the MWRD's biosolids program can be found at _URL_.
Our water environment…Take it personally.
# # #


All rights reserved
615 x 620 Download
Khatt Chronicles podcast features remarkable designers, illustrators and researchers from the Arab World. We host engaging conversations about their practice, vision, and aspirations.
In line with the Khatt foundation projects, the Khatt Chronicles podcast features design initiatives and developments from around the world, focusing on new developments in Arabic typography and design. Khatt Chronicles podcasts are addressed to the younger generation as an alternative medium.
They aim to fulfill three primary objectives:
1. Promote designers in the Arab World to the region and the rest of the world.
2. Continue the mission of Khatt foundation as a network between designers by supporting, fostering and exploring new ideas.
3. Present these podcasts for inspiration and educational reasons.
4. Identify and highlight designers from the Arab World that have made meaningful contributions in their fields or have demonstrated excellence in design.
Through storytelling, the Khatt Chronicles podcast presents a more personal access to the featured designers, and allows listeners to learn about how they think, and what makes them tick.


Explore highlights
Marble portrait of Julius Caesar
Bust, c AD50, from the Sanctuary of Athena in Priene, perhaps Julius Caesar
Height: 39.500 cm
GR 1870.3-20.201 (Sculpture 1152)
Room 70: Roman Empire
 Marble portrait of Julius Caesar
 Roman, around AD 50
 From the Sanctuary of Athena in Priene, modern Turkey
 The head has been burnt and is badly damaged, with the proper right side and back of the head missing. The features of the portrait, in particular the hair and the profile, correspond very closely to those on other images of Julius Caesar. Caesar, one of Rome's most capable generals, as demonstrated by his conquest of Gaul in the 50s BC, became embroiled in the civil strife that accompanied the disintegration of the Roman Republic. In 48 BC he crossed the River Rubicon, took Rome and effectively became the first citizen. His presumed desire to abandon the Republic as a form of government and return to monarchy led to his assassination in 44 BC. The ensuing civil wars culminated in the defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra by Octavian, Caesar's adopted son, who as Augustus ushered in the Empire.
 The head was found, along with other pieces of sculpture, including a head of Claudius, on the floor of the cella (main cult room) of the Temple of Athena, during excavations in 1868/9. The sanctuary was dedicated to Athena - specifically to Athena Polias, literally 'the guardian of the city'. An inscription commemorating the dedication of the temple by Alexander the Great is preserved in The British Museum, as are fragments of the colossal cult statue of the goddess. In the Roman period the sanctuary was rededicated to Athena Polias and Augustus, reflecting the new importance of the imperial cult throughout the empire. Special buildings were erected or, as here at Priene, existing sanctuaries and temples were adapted to accommodate the statues and busts of the emperor, his family and ancestors. Caesar's family claimed direct descent from Venus through Ascanius (Iulius) the son of Aeneas, the Trojan prince who brought his people to Italy. The worship of the imperial family was fundamental to the new imperial order, and it was the unwillingness of the Christians and Jews to comply in this which led to their persecution.
 S. Walker, Roman art (London, 1991)
 Browse or search over 4,000 highlights from the Museum collection


text:
The research, presented today at the annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism in San Francisco, describes a chemical found in the urine of monkeys also found in human alcoholics, and liver biopsies that show development of "fatty liver" -- another common finding in heavily drinking people.
Carol C. Cunningham, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry said, "One of the unique features of using these monkeys as a model for alcoholic liver disease is that these monkeys self-administer alcohol."
Some of the monkeys choose to only take a small amount of alcohol -- paralleling the social drinkers; some consume a moderate amount -- "like regular drinkers who are not in jeopardy of developing alcoholic liver disease," and some are heavy drinkers, who become intoxicated, most prone to changes in the liver.
"In some respects, this group of monkeys mimic the human situation," he said, except "we don't have any monkeys that don't drink any (alcohol) -- they all drink something."
First, Cunningham and his colleagues in the Center for the Neurobehavioral Study of Alcohol found evidence in the urine of "oxidative damage" to the liver. He explained that the metabolism of alcohol in the liver generates "reactive oxygen" which can damage liver tissue. To track that, they chose to follow damage to lipids, since cell structure is influenced by lipids.
The damaged liver produces isoprostanes in the urine -- tiny pieces of oxidized lipids. "There is a dramatic increase in the level of these lipid products in heavy drinkers," Cunningham
said. There are some isoprostanes in the urine of moderately drinking monkeys and only low amounts in the light drinkers.


text:
Risk Terminator provides a framework where Risk analysis can be triggered during User and Role maintenance activities using SU01, SU10 and PFCG directly in the plug-in system.
The Risk Terminator is a service that runs in the SAP ABAP back-end system and triggers automated risk analysis check when defined segregation of duties (SoD) access risks are violated during User or Role maintenance directly in the plug-in system..
Below are the configuration details to configure Risk Terminator.
In GRC system maintain the below configuration settings in the path: SPRO -> IMG -> GRC -> Access Control -> Maintain Configuration Settings
Plug-In System Config
Make sure that below mentioned User Exits exist in the plug-in system in the path: SPRO -> IMG -> GRC (Plug-in) -> Maintain User Exits for Plug-in systems. If they don't exist, create the entries and save them.
In Plug-In system maintain the below configuration settings in the path: SPRO -> IMG -> GRC (Plug-in) -> Maintain Plug-In Configuration Settings.
- Connector Name maintained in Configuration Parameter 1000 in Plug-In system must be same as the connector name maintained in Configuration Parameter 1080 in GRC system.
- GRC Connector name must be maintained in Configuration Parameter 1001 in Plug-In system as shown below.
The Risk Terminator functionality can be applied to different business cases around user maintenance (creation and modification) and role maintenance (creation and modification). To simulate how risk analysis works for role maintenance and user role provisioning, I used below business scenarios. They are based on the configuration settings defined in the GRC system and the Plug-in system.
Risk Terminator Scenarios
Scenario 1: Testing role creation with conflicting Tcodes using PFCG.
Role Name: RT_TEST_ROLE
Tcodes: Conflicting Tcodes have been added as defined in our Rule set
Since the user exit before profile generation is also maintained, you can see from the below screenshot that "Risk Terminator" is triggered as the message shows "Checking for Access Risk Violations".
Risk Violations will be shown as below
Risk Terminator Triggers during role assignment using PFCG as well
Scenario 2: Testing SU01 conflicting role assignment to users.
Before you test scenario 2 make sure to implement the below SAP note in your Plug-In system if your Basis Release is 701 as Risk Terminator is not working for SU01 and SU10.
Followed few SCN links in preparing this blog post.


What Were The Diseases That Spread Through The Silk Road?
Did the Black Death spread through the Silk Road?
The medieval Silk Road brought a wealth of goods, spices, and new ideas from China and Central Asia to Europe.
In 1346, the trade also likely carried the deadly bubonic plague that killed as many as half of all Europeans within 7 years, in what is known as the Black Death..
What is the major belief that was spread along the Silk Road?
Buddhism. The Silk Road provided a network for the spread of the teachings of the Buddha, enabling Buddhism to become a world religion and to develop into a sophisticated and diverse system of belief and practice.
When was the last major plague?
What are the 3 plagues?
What were common dangers along the Silk Road?
How did Black Death End?
Is the plague back 2020?
What was the worst disease in history?
What was the greatest impact of the Silk Road?
How did the Silk Road affect the economy?
Is a plague?
How long would it take for the black plague to kill you?
The infection takes three–five days to incubate in people before they fall ill, and another three–five days before, in 80 per cent of the cases, the victims die. Thus, from the introduction of plague contagion among rats in a human community it takes, on average, twenty-three days before the first person dies.
How long did the plague last?
How did the Silk Road impact the world?
The effects of exchange One obvious effect of trade along the Silk Road was more goods were available in more places. Silk, owing to its soft texture and appealing shimmer, became so hotly desired that it was used as currency in central Asia.


How do you say "I'm a journalist" in Korean?
Here's the answer:
"나는 기자예요"
Watch a real native speaker say it:
Here's how it sounds in a textbook:
Fun fact: the hundreds of thousands of people learning Korean with Memrise get this phrase correct 97.21% of the time!
Time to set your textbook on fire, learn "나는 기자예요" and other useful phrases that Korean speakers really use!
burning textbook


text:
Libraries such as Parsec use the combinator pattern, where complex structures are built by defining a small set of very simple 'primitives', and a set of 'combinators' for combining them into more complicated structures. It's somewhat similar to the Composition pattern found in object-oriented programming.
In the case of the Parsec, the library provides a set of extremely simple (almost trivial) parsers, and ways to combine small parsers into bigger parsers. Many other libraries and programs use the same ideas to build other structures:
- Parsec builds parsers out of smaller parsers.
- The School of Expression (SOE) graphics library builds pictures out of individual shapes.
- The SOE book also mentions a library to build music out of individual notes and rests.
- Another textbook describes building financial contracts.
- [Software transactional memory] builds big transactions out of smaller ones.
- The Haskell IO system itself builds whole programs out of small I/O actions using and>>=.return


text:
Scroll down to register.
Canadian Copyright Law (CCL) is a 16 e-lesson eTutorial course which is a primer/refresher on Canadian copyright law. Includes information on November 2012 amendments and June 2012 Supreme Court of Canada court decisions.
1. Understanding intellectual property
2. History of Canadian copyright law
3. Criteria for copyright protection (e.g., originality, fixation)
4. How to obtain copyright protection
5. How does international copyright protection work?
6. What is protected by copyright?
7. Who owns copyright?
8. The duration of copyright
9. Rights protected by copyright
10. Limitations on rights
11. How may rights be exploited?
12. How is copyright violated?
13. Remedies for the violation of copyright
14. Using copyright-protected materials
15. A comparison of Canadian and U.S. copyright laws
16. Digital copyright and electronic rights
A final quiz with 16 multiple choice questions is e-mailed to participants following e-lesson 16. Participants will receive a Certificate of Completion.
Next offering is over a 4 week period beginning 16 September 2013.


text:
Healthy Living: New supercomputers can simulate beating heart at cellular level
Scientists have created a supercomputer that mimics a beating human heart, a technology that may one day revolutionize the way drugs for the heart are created. Cheryl Wills has the story.
To view our videos, you need to
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
At the sprawling Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Northern California, scientists have created supercomputers -- among the largest in the world -- that can simulate the human heart all the way down to the cellular level.
"When your heart beats, it's actually an electric signal that goes around the heart and that causes it to contract," says Fred Streitz, the director of the National Laboratory's High Performance Computing Innovation Center. "How that electric signal transmits around the heart -- we can now model at near cellular resolution, at real time."
Streitz was invited to New York City for the fourth annual Partnering for Cures meeting, where medical researchers gather to turn discoveries into treatments and cures, to demonstrate his simulations.
Streitz's extensive research indicates that the lab's Sequoia Computer technology may be a god send to pharmaceutical companies and could provide critical data before they enter the clinical trial phase.
"Doing it at the cellular level means when you do something like introduce a drug, it's going to interact at a cellular level," Streitz says. "Now you can see how it affects the heartbeat at a cellular level."
The technology is not yet commercially available, but it is believed that these supercomputers will take a lot of the guesswork out of drug development and could one day lead to medicines with fewer side effects.


text:
Selective processing of social threat cues following acute tryptophan depletion.
Munafò MR., Hayward G., Harmer C.
The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of low dose tryptophan depletion on recovered depressed patients both on and off antidepressant medication on an emotional Stroop task using social threat cues.Twenty-four healthy volunteers, 24 euthymic volunteers with a history of depression not currently on antidepressant medication and 24 euthymic volunteers with a history of depression and currently on antidepressant medication were randomly allocated to double-blind treatment with either a tryptophan depleting or a balanced mixture. All participants then completed subjective mood ratings and an emotional Stroop task using social threat cues. The recovered depressed group on medication demonstrated an increase in selective processing of social threat cues on the emotional Stroop task in the tryptophan depletion compared to the control condition. This was not the case for either healthy controls or the recovered depressed group not on medication. Although none of the patients showed a clinically significant relapse following tryptophan depletion, the medicated group showed a small but statistically significant increase in self-rated depression on the Profile of Mood States (POMS). Our data indicate that low-dose acute tryptophan depletion elicits both cognitive processing typical of the depressed state and subtle changes in subjective mood in the recovered depressed group on medication, but not in the recovered depressed group not on medication. This suggests that these two groups may differ in their underlying vulnerability to compromised serotonin function.


text:
Revolutionizes Water Clarity Treatment!
Electronic Clarifier for Ponds and Pondless Waterfall Systems
Completely eliminates need for Algaecides!
* Drastically reduces pond maintenance
* Crystal clear water without chemicals
* Eliminates unsightly water conditions
* Simple to install
* Safe for fish and plants
* Not toxic to animals
* Energy efficient
* Treats ponds up to 25,000 gallons


Farm Biodiversity
Thank you for your interest in our farm biodiversity project!
If you are interested in participating in our project, please contact Jocelyn Behm (
 - The goal of our study is to survey the arthropod predator species (beetles, spiders, etc.) that eat the insects that are pests on plants.
 - From our study we will identify the type of habitats that provide the highest number of these beneficial predators.
 - We will provide the results of our study to all participating farms.
 - We work with farmers to insure that our surveys do not interfere with farming operations.
Below is a brief description of our methods:
Placing Traps
 1. Dig a small hole (about 6 inches deep x 4 inches across) in between plants using a golf hole cutter.
 2. Place a plastic cup filled with a dilute dish soap solution in the hole. This is the trap that will catch the insects. In total 20 traps are placed across the farm to catch insects in as many different vegetable types as possible.
 3. Cover the trap with a plastic plate to prevent extraneous things from falling in from above.
 4. Mark the trap area with flagging (so it is easy to find again).
 5. Traps are left in place for 48 hours and retrieved.
Predator Strength Assays
 1. Place 10 dead (frozen) house fly pupae on the ground, cover with wire mesh and a plastic plate. These fly pupae represent prey that predator species would eat. In total, 20 assays are placed across the farms to test predator strength in as many different vegetable types as possible.
 2. After 48 hours, return and count the number of fly pupae eaten and retrieve materials. In areas with higher numbers of predators, more fly pupae should be eaten within 48 hours.
Comments are closed.


text:
Sex differences in glucose and insulin trajectories prior to diabetes diagnosis: the Whitehall II study.
To examine sex differences in trajectories of glucose and insulin prior to the development of type 2 diabetes. Glucose and insulin levels from oral glucose tolerance tests performed every 5 years in the prospective Whitehall II cohort were analysed using mixed-effects models. Out of 6,712 White participants, 475 men and 177 women developed diabetes during a median follow-up time of 14 years. Men who developed diabetes had higher fasting glucose levels than women over the entire follow-up period (P < 0.001), whereas trajectories of 2-h glucose did not differ between sexes (P = 0.34). Two-hour insulin levels tended to be higher among women than men developing diabetes (P = 0.05), but not after adjustment for height (P = 0.45). Men have higher fasting glucose levels than women many years before the diagnosis of diabetes and at time of diagnosis, indicating that the pathogenesis of diabetes may be different between sexes.


Manifest Eternity #1-6
[5 February 2007]
By Shawn O'Rourke
Many creators have attempted to bridge the gap between the genres of science fiction and fantasy. While the two are thematically linked in their ability to tell stories that are not limited by the rules or technology of our world, they are consistently separated by the borders of time and space. While fantasy is often a world guided by magic and dominated by the aesthetics of the past, science fiction looks to the future where technology is king. So when the two are combined it requires a clever creator who can properly reconcile two genres into one concise functioning narrative. Writer Scott Lobdell successfully completes this challenge is his masterful and fascinating series Manifest Eternity. The six part miniseries released under DC's Wildstorm imprint maintains all the credibility of smart comic book, while still leaving room for the comic geek desire to watch science fiction and fantasy battle it out in a no-holds-barred fight to the death.
The series is nonlinear in structure and jumps forward and back in time throughout. The basic premise is that the humans have conquered the universe and created a united galaxy where all races are assimilated into an Earth-dominated empire called the Pan Galactic Union. The first issue focuses on the retiring of the starship Dreadnought; once the symbol of Earth's imperialism it is now decommissioned with thousands of races cheering it with enthusiasm. It is a symbol that the wars are over and the united galaxy can now look forward to prosperous peace. However in another universe, a group called the Magewhole watches the celebrations with concern. This union of fantastic creatures, fairies, goblins, dwarves, wizards, and such, is led by the evil Mog the Mighty. Mog, disguising his own desire for conquest under the pretext of self defense, argues that now that the humans have conquered their universe they will turn their attention to the Magewhole as soon as they learn of its existence. He cajoles the leaders into launching a preemptive strike against the Pan Galactic Union, thus launching what will be called All War: 1.
The war between the two universes is the context in which each issue tells its own unique story. While each issue has its own focal point they serve the purpose of fleshing out the people and history of both sides. This allows the reader to explore and learn about the two worlds without the creators dedicating too much time the lengthy exposition. The non-linear structure is thoroughly enjoyable rather than distracting because it allows new and interesting characters to be introduced seamlessly and swiftly. There is Tarkington, a high-ranking officer who must hide his knowledge of the Magewhole and prepare for their invasion in secrecy; Splotch, the ace fighter pilot; Skul, the last survivor of her race who most work with the humans she despises; and Rave, the eight-year-old prodigy turned fleet captain who comes up with innovative ways in which to fight the enemy.
In addition to its character strength, Lobdell uses a series of clever plot devices throughout his stories to reconcile the two genres and show how the science-based humans must adapt to survive. One instance shows a priest blessing a former prisoner of war to make sure no ghosts have entered his body during captivity. Another sequence shows a spirit attacking the Pangal President, only to be saved by a secret service agent whose Native American heritage has given him the knowledge to detect magical forces. Science is also a crucial (and sometimes humorous) factor in fighting the Magewhole forces. In order to defeat an armada of dragons, Rave launches a sortie of honey roasted turkeys. The dragons are unable to resist the food, which then acts like antimatter since it is not from their native universe, and destroys them. Issue 6 has a ship haunted by dream ghosts which make the crew go crazy when they sleep. In order to fight this threat Rave orders the entire crew into suspended animation so that they may "starve" the ghosts. The series is filled with interesting devices that illustrate how the two genres are forced to interact with an enemy whose universe is built on entirely different principles.
Dustin Nguyen's art is the perfect compliment to Lobdell's writing. Just as the writer must reconcile the two genres in his narrative, so too must the Nguyen flawlessly unite the worlds in his art, which he does successfully. His style is not so defined that the fantastic elements seem oddly out of place with the science elements or vice versa. He consistently uses darkened backgrounds which gives the impression of two universes shrouded in darkness. This serves the tone of the story, which often has Pan Galactic forces desperately fighting against overwhelming odds.
Manifest Eternity ends with no clear resolution to the war between the two universes. Originally intended as a miniseries, the Wildstorm message boards seem confident that it will be back. I hope sales were sufficient to justify another run because this is a great book and it is always sad to see great books discontinued. Lobdell and Nguyen undertake the monumental task of successfully merging two completely different genres and are able to craft a story that is entertaining and interesting. I have many read and seen many attempts to do what this series pulls off, and none have impressed me as much. Merging two completely different universes and genres… they make it look easy.
Published at:


Distance from USA
Nc to Pa distance
The driving distance or the travel distance from Nc to Pa is 489.4 Miles. The straight line distance from Nc to Pa is 389.2 Miles. The kilometer based traveling distance is 787.665 KM and the KM based straight line distance is 626.3 KM.
Nc location and Pa location
Nc is located at the latitude of 35.755432 and the longitude of -79._PHONE_. Nc is situated at the latitude of 41._PHONE_ and the longitude of -77._PHONE_. The traveling source point address is North Carolina, USA. The destination travel point address is Pennsylvania, USA.
Nc to Pa travel time
The travel time between Nc and Pa is 8.16 hours. We assumed that you are traveling at the speed of 60km per hour from Nc to Pa. The given travel time between Nc to Pa may vary based on the travel route, speed and consistent traveling.
Nc location and Pa fuel cost
The Fuel cost( Gas cost, Petrol cost) to travel from Nc location to Pa is 65.64 USD. The given fuel cost may vary based on the fuel consumption of your vehicle and varying price of the fuel. ;
Nc travel distance calculator
You are welcome to find the travel distance calculation from nc You are viewing the page distance from nc to pa. This page may provide answer for the following queries. what is the distance between Nc to Pa?. How far is Nc from Pa?. How many kilometers between Nc and Pa?. What is the travel time between Nc and Pa. How long will it take to reach Pa from Nc?. What is the geographical coordinates of Nc and Pa?. The given driving distance from Pa to Nc may vary based on various route.


Agentbaserad modellering, 7.5 hp
Agent-Based Modelling
VT 2021, Halvfart, Norrköping
Agent-Based Modelling
VT 2022, Halvfart, Norrköping
Inte öppen för anmälan
Agent-based modeling is a methodology for analyzing how groups of interacting individuals or other types of agents bring about various macro outcomes. This course provides a detailed introduction to the agent-based modelling (ABM) technique. The course covers all the steps in the process of developing an ABM, from theoretical design to model implementation and model evaluation. During intensive computer labs, ABMs are implemented using object-oriented programing, including the treatment of variables, commands, and procedures. The course includes practical work with various types of computer-based experiments, as well as methods for evaluating the robustness of simulation results using various statistical sensitivity analyses.
En unik examenVisa/dölj innehåll


text:
The activity has helped to build the resilience of communities in Jamaica by using a reverse
osmosis technology, which provides approximately 1000 gallons of potable water daily for
students and staff. This includes a rainwater harvesting system that includes catchment and
The system is powered by small integrated wind/solar energy facility that will provide the
required electricity needed to purify the water. Simple slow speed wind generators that
produce 1 to 2 KW of power will be used to run the reverse-osmosis (RO) system that will be
used to convert sea water to fresh water. The wind generator uses locally obtained materials,
some of which are recycled.
The system is designed to produce fresh water from normally unused sources of water for
potable supply to 1000 people daily. Rainwater, brackish water and sea water is treated and
purified onsite to minimize distribution losses and increase the efficiency of the water
Education activities to promote the use of renewable energy are a distinct part of the
activity. It helps to build the capacities of the community and particularly engineering
students who are trained as they work on the manufacturing of components and measure wind
velocity and direction for sighting of the unit. The system is intended to be scalable for
easy replication in other schools, households and communities.
The activity aims to initiate a system for the replication of this low-cost technology, by
building capacity and empowering communities in the manufacture, sales and maintenance of the
unit. The activity has influenced policy in that the technology has been incorporated into
national energy policy.


text:
Using the Pulsar® APX Oil
1. Screw in any 510 threaded cartridge using a clockwise motion until it locks into place (do not over-tighten).
2. Turn the unit on by pressing the button rapidly 5 times.
3. Press the fire button 3 times quickly to cycle through preset voltages. Desired voltage level is set when LED stops flashing.
4. To prime cartridge, press fire button 2 times to activate preheat mode. Display will pulsate under previously set voltage for 20 seconds.
5. After pulsing LED stops, the APX Oil is ready for use.
6. Hold power button and inhale to receive preferred amount of vapor.
7. Turn the unit off by pressing the button rapidly 5 times.


A 11.7 kg block is dragged over arough, horizontal surface by a 72.3 Nforce acting at 21° above thehorizontal. The block is displaced 4.1m, and the coefficient of kinetic friction is 0.235
(d) What is the increase in internal energy of theblock-surface system due to friction?
Eint = wrong check mark J
(e) Find the total change in the block's kinetic energy.
K = wrong check mark J
Get this answer with Chegg Study


text:
By Mindy Kay Bricker
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
A Czech initiative to study schoolbooks for gender bias wrapped up late last year. Activists see the government effort as a step in the right direction. Seventh in a series on women and education.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic (WOMENSENEWS)--When Petr Havlik, head chair of the Gender Studies Department at Charles University in Prague, started looking at third-grade math schoolbooks he came up with a text book case of discouraging role modeling for girls.
One set of math problems, for instance, was accompanied by eight illustrations. In each picture a girl was shown either not knowing the answer or giving the wrong answer. The boy, in every case, corrected her.
"The general expectation in the country is that girls do not know math," he said. "People don't notice because they take it to be the way it is."
Last November, the country's Education Ministry completed a $2,000 study of gender treatments in text books for primary school students, who in the Czech system are all those between 5 and 15.
The ministry found that many of the books had insufficiencies when it came to gender equality, Michaela Lagronova, the ministry's spokesperson, told Women's eNews in an e-mail.
"More often the textbooks present boys as explorers and leaders and on the contrary, girls are presented rather as "family care-takers" or those who have a less important life role," Lagronova wrote.
Although these problems were not considered egregious enough for the government to pull the books out of schools, the government expects to redress them in new editions.
The old texts may also be phased out as part of the country's rolling review process, which looks at every text six years after its introduction.
In 2002 the country, which formally joined the European Union in May 2004, announced a plan to educate teachers about avoiding gender stereotypes that might "predetermine men and women to perform particular occupations."
Jana Valdrova, a gender linguist and German teacher at the Pedagogical Faculty in Ceske Budejovice, co-authored a methodical handbook on the evaluation of gender correctness in schoolbooks for teachers and publishers to use in analyzing their text books.
"We explain why the gender stereotypes can limit equal chances of men and women, and we advise how to distinguish stereotypes and avoid incorrect teaching books," she said.
Czech women are 53 percent of those who are unemployed, according to government statistics. Among the employee group with the highest salaries--legislators and senior managers--women in 2001 earned 55 percent of the salary of a man performing comparable work.
Since the fall of communism in 1989 and the Czech-Slovak split in 1993, the country has been updating its text books for political and geographical purposes. Gender, however, has only been addressed more recently and with considerable public reluctance.
When the Education Ministry announced in 2002 its intention to use a $2,000 grant to pursue an analysis of gender stereotypes in textbooks, the news drew widespread derision. Newspapers lampooned it in political cartoons and comments such as "this is what the Ministry has money for?" were posted on the Web site of the Gender Studies Institute, a Prague-based advocacy center for women's rights.
Havlik said that while democracy might be expected to be more positive for women than communism in the Czech Republic, it has been the contrary. "While some people are more free, there are those who are freer, those being men," he said.
Valdrova, the gender linguist, said that Czech German language text books "constantly repeat the 'daily regime' theme."
"It is accompanied by images of a woman who wakes up early, makes breakfast for everyone, takes the children to nursery school, goes to work, then goes shopping, cooks dinner, cares for the children and in the evening falls asleep in an armchair in front of the television, which is showing a soccer match that her husband selected and is enjoying thoroughly," Valdrova said. "The picture is supposed to be humorous. But depicting a woman as a mother and housekeeper without a partner, as a submissive wife--she couldn't even choose the TV show--is undignified."
This situation, said Valdrova, is a far cry from what's going on in Germany, where federal and state programs require schools to look at gender issues in general as well as specific problems, such as low female participation in science.
"In neighboring Germany, just one incorrect illustration is enough for a teaching aid to be pulled from the schools and that's the way it should be," Valdrova said. "Otherwise, half the population is subject to being treated in an undignified manner." A few years ago, in the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg, a "More Girls in Science Courses" project was launched that raised teachers' awareness of girls in science and that was designed to increase the representation of girls and women in curricula and textbooks.
In the Czech Republic, the kinks remain to be worked out for the ministry's new project, said Valdrova. She said that while gender courses and seminars have been offered to teachers, they are not part of their systematic continuing education.
In a phone interview, the ministry's Lagronova said the gender topic will be included in more projects in the future.
"We are aware of the importance of this problem to both pedagogic reality and international research," she said.
Mindy Kay Bricker is a freelancer living in Prague.
By Mindy Kay Bricker
By Dinah A. Spritzer
By Mindy Kay Bricker
By Jennifer Friedlin


text: the water is poured in, to bend upwards–thus proving that if refraction operated at all, it would do so by elevating the moon above its true position, and throwing the earth's shadow downwards, or directly away from the moon's surface. Hence it is clear that a lunar eclipse by a shadow of the earth is an utter impossibility.


Tolkien Gateway
Nardol was the third Beacon of Gondor. It stood on the broad end of a ridge of the White Mountains, west of the Drúadan Forest, and the guard station maintained there could create a huge signal fire when needed. It was well-stored with fuel and at need a great blaze could be lit. Its fire could be visible on a clear night even as far as the Halifirien (some 120 miles to the west). The guard of Nardol also protected the quarries.[1][2]
A line of hills ran from Nardol to Amon Dîn.[3]
[edit] Etymology
Nardol is Sindarin, meaning "fire-hilltop" (naur "fire" + dol "hill"), because its beacon-fire was so bright.[5]
Beacons of Gondor


text:
Berne (German: Bern), the capital of Switzerland, is a small to medium sized city with a population of about 130,000 in the city proper and roughly 350,000 in the agglomeration area. It sits on a peninsula formed by the meandering turns of the river Aare. The remarkable design coherence of the Berne's old town has earned it a place on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It features 4 miles of arcaded walkways along streets decked out with fountains and clock-towers. Bern was one of the eight host cities in the 2008 European Football Championships.
Berne was founded in 1191 by Duke Berthold V von Zähringen and was part of the Holy Roman Empire. It was made a free imperial city by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in 1218 after Berthold died without an heir.
In 1353 Berne joined the Swiss confederation. After several successful conquers, Berne became the largest independent city state north of the Alps. It was occupied by French troops in 1798 during the French Revolutionary Wars, and was stripped of a large part of its territory. The city became the Swiss capital in 1848.
The main language spoken in Berne is Bernese-German, a local Swiss-German dialect, although most people also speak Standard German. The dialect is mostly spoken, but also used in text messages etc. In official publications and announcements, Standard German is used.
English seems to be supplanting French as the favorite second language of the Bernese, even though the canton of Berne is a bilingual German and French speaking canton. However, many people you encounter as a tourist will be able to speak both so it's certainly worth a try.
Berne is in the center of Switzerland and is very well connected with the rest of the country.
Berne's small international airport Bern-Belp (BRN) with direct flights from Munich, Barcelona,Paris, London via LCY (city airport) as well as several seasonal destinations in Europe lies just a few kilometers south of the city. A taxi ride into the city costs approx. CHF 45.-
Bus 160 and 334 go from the airport to Belp in 8 minutes, from where S-Bahn suburban trains (lines S3, S31, S4 and S44) connect to Berne in 13 (S4, S44) to 21 (S3, S31) minutes. The ticket for the whole journey (bus + train) costs CHF 6.-
Berne is connected to Zurich Airport (ZRH) in 75 minutes by IC train routes St. Gallen - Winterthur - Zürich Hbf - Berne - Genève Aéroport or Romanshorn - Winterthur - Zürich Hbf - Berne - Brig. From Geneva Airport (GVA) there are direct IC trains to Bern which take approx. 2 hours.
Bern is conveniently located in the vast network of Swiss Federal Railway between Geneva, Basel and Zurich and is served twice per hour by express (InterCity) trains from each of these cities as well as Zürich and Geneva airports. Hourly express trains take you into all directions, including Interlaken, Brig, and Lucerne.
For more information:
- Swiss Federal Railway, ☎ +41 (0)900 300 300 (CHF 1.19/min),. Provides a useful online travel planner which includes information about local bus and tram services as well as rail services and can plan your journey from door to door. edit
- Swiss Travel System,. is a great source of information for finding the best ticket as a tourist. It is a must to visit, as regular, full fare tickets are expensive. This site tells you what is the best option for your needs. edit
Berne is easily reachable with the national motorway network from all directions and has several exits from motorways A1, A12 and A6.
Berne has an excellent public transportation system, with frequent local city services provided by trams, trolleybuses and buses, together with an S-Bahn rail system for longer journeys into the surrounding suburbs.
The city center of Berne is easily accessible by foot. You can get around the main shopping area and restaurants simply by walking. But if you are going to go outside of the city center in areas like Guisanplatz, it's better to go by tram unless you want to be walking for 45 minutes.
By tram and bus
- Bernmobil, ☎ +41 (0)31 321 88 88,. The operator of the local tram and bus services, providing timetables and other information on its web site or by telephone. edit
Berne's S-Bahn rail system will take you to many places in the suburbs and even to other nearby cities like Biel, Thun, Fribourg or Solothurn.
As in most Swiss cities, free parking space is rare and the paying ones in the city center are quite expensive. As the center is quite small and all of the major attractions are within a mile walking distance it's a good choice to park in a "park and ride" and take public transport to the center of town.
You can get a free bike for four hours at "Bern rollt". All you need is a passport or an ID and 20 CHF for deposit, and you can explore Berne by bike. After four hours, you'll have to pay 1 CHF for each additional hour. There are three places where you can get bikes (see map ): Milchgässli/Hauptbahnhof (main station), open all year. Hirschengraben and Zeughausgasse, open from May to October.
There are taxi stands next to the main station and a few more taxi stands in the inner city. Some major taxi companies are:
- Nova-Taxi, ☎ +41 (0)31 331 33 13,. (Web site in German only.) edit
- Bären-Taxi, ☎ +41 (0)31 371 11 11,. (Web site in German only.) edit
- BETAX, ☎ 0800 90 30 90,. Transport for the disabled, people in a wheelchair etc. (Web site in German only.) edit
Berne is full of history and museums. It also has quite a bit of public art, all of which is marked on a walking map which is available from the tourist office in the train station for free.
- Berne Historical Museum, Helvetiaplatz 5, ☎ +41 (0)31 350 77 11,. Monday closed. Switzerland's second largest historic museum, combining under one roof one of the country's most important ethnographic collections together with the Bernese historical collections from prehistory to the present day. It includes the Einstein Museum. CHF 13 for permanent exhibition, CHF 18 for Einstein Museum. edit
- Bundeshaus (Federal Palace of Switzerland), Bundesplatz 3,. The Swiss House of Parliaments is a representative building dominating the Square. Constructed by the end of 19th century. Free guided tour when the Parliament is not in session. During session only access to the spectators ranks. Free. edit
- Einsteinhaus, Kramgasse 49, ☎ +41 (0)31 312 00 91 (_EMAIL_),. 10AM to 5PM (4PM Saturdays) March to October, 1PM to 5PM (Noon to 4PM Sat) March and February. Einsteinhaus is closed on Sundays in March and February. It's completely closed in January. Albert Einstein rented this small flat with his wife during his years working at the Swiss patent office. Their first child, Hans Albert, and the special and general theories of relativity were born here, where Einstein's writing desk overlooked the busy street and its lovely clock-tower. There are numerous photos and original documents from Einstein's life, work, and speeches. It is closed until further notice due to severe water damage. CHF 6/4.5 Adults/Students.. edit
- Invasion of Berne -- successful!,. As you explore, you may notice these small alien graffiti mosaics. GAME NOT OVER was declared by the anonymous Parisian artist "Invader" in 1998. Since then, space invaders have been reappearing on the walls, bridges and roofs of cities across the world, most famously on the Hollywood sign and in several locations in the Louvre. Two additional Swiss cities have been invaded: Geneva and Lausanne. Those with 10 EUR, a longer visit, and a weird sense of humor might consider ordering a map and doing the space invader tour. edit
- Kunstmuseum (Museum of fine Arts), Hodlerstrasse 12, ☎ +41 (0)31 328 09 44,. Closed on Mondays. The Museum of Fine Arts Berne is known for its collection of works of painters such as Pablo Picasso, Ferdinand Hodler and Meret Oppenheim. It is the oldest art museum in Switzerland with a permanent collection and houses works covering eight centuries. edit
- Swiss Alpine Museum, Helvetiaplatz 4, ☎ +41 (0)31 350 04 40,. A museum showing the full variety of the Swiss mountains. edit
- Tierpark Dählhölzli (Zoo), Tierparkweg 1, ☎ +41 (0)31 357 15 15,. Summer: 8


text:
African History from the 1400s to the 1800s
Click on the letters and numbers below to read about historical events in the various regions of Africa:
When you have finished reading about the historical events in Africa, view the timeline and graphic organizer for Map 2 and fill them out with the appropriate information.
Go to Timeline for Map 2
Go on to Activity Three or select from the other activities in the lesson below.


text:
A 1988 government survey of Egypt found that 1.4 million children between the ages of 6 and 14 work in Egypt.1 Among Egypt's export industries, there is evidence that child labor is used in the production of a small amount of hand-knotted carpets for export. The textile, perfume, and leather industries merit further investigation.
II. Child Labor in Export Industries
Carpet making is a traditional craft in Egypt and children, almost exclusively female, typically learn the craft at home. The children are trained at an early age by an older family member. Some children also work in carpet factories such as those found in a western suburb of Cairo, near the Pyramids. These carpets are sold primarily to the tourist market and the export market, including the United States. The United States imported approximately $500,000 in hand knotted and hooked carpets from Egypt in 1993, though this does not include carpets purchased by American tourists.
The manager of one factory reported that he sells to American tourists and sometimes ships carpets back to the United States for them.2 The factory also regularly ships containers of carpets to Germany for distribution throughout the industrialized world and occasionally ships directly to wholesale dealers in the United States.
Several children between the ages of 10 and 14 were observed working on looms in this factory. The manager claimed that the factory was in fact a school that received government support for its training program. He said that young girls start as trainees at age seven or eight, and it takes one to two years for the girls to learn how to make the knots and how to work from a printed pattern. For another year or two they work on "practice looms" and their product is not sold. By the time the girls are approximately 10 or 11 years old, they start working on professional looms. The owner stated that all of the girls attended school for half a day and would work in either in the morning or the afternoon, depending on their school shift, for up to three hours. Independent interviews with the child workers revealed that not all of them attend school and some work a full day from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., in violation of Egypt's labor laws. The children reported their wages as approximately $20 per month when they first start, rising eventually to $60 or more per month.3
The manager stated that there are approximately 10 other factories in the same district that produce for the tourist and export market, and that their working conditions are generally similar. He also reported that the local factories purchase from home-based producers living in rural villages that also use child laborers.4
A 1985 International Labor Organization (ILO) study of the leather tanning industry in Cairo found that most child labor in the industry was concentrated in small enterprises that produce for domestic consumption. Children were found in two export-oriented workshops covered by the survey. The tasks performed by the children included cleaning, preparing material, and packaging. The children working in the larger workshops generally worked under better conditions. According to the ILO study, the average child working in this industry was 11.7 years old and worked 12.8 hours per day.5
More recent information confirms that children 10 to 14 years old work irregular hours for what was described as "pocket money." It was reported that most of the children attended school and work either before or after classes. Small workshops provide tanned leather to craftspeople in the local area for fabrication into commercial products.6
The United States imports both raw hides and skins and manufactured leather products from Egypt but further investigation is needed to determine whether the manufacturers which buy leather from the small scale tanners, or some of the larger tanneries using child labor, are exporting directly to the United States.
Children are found working in Egypt's small textile factories. In 1993, the United States imported approximately $6 million in textiles from Egypt.7 Research is needed on whether the products of small-scale textile factories reach the United States through sub-contracting or purchasing arrangements with other larger firms.
In 1993, the International Labor Organization, in conjunction with a local non-governmental organization, conducted a survey of 100 small factories (less than 100 workers) and even smaller family operated workshops in one region of greater Cairo, of which half produced textiles. Twenty-five percent of the workers in these firms were children under the age of fifteen.8 Nearly 60 percent of the children worked for employers who were not personally known to the parents, and half worked outside of their immediate neighborhoods.9 Seventy-three percent of the children worked in excess of twelve hours per day and earned an average of $8 per month.10 The study concluded that, "Working hours are no doubt a flagrant violation of the labor law which prohibits the work of juveniles after 7:00 p.m. and before 6:00 a.m., with a maximum of 6 hours, provided it is intercepted with a break, and it is prohibited to assign juveniles work for more than four consecutive hours." In factories that work on a shift system, the study found one-third of the children in those factories also worked the night shift.11 Most of the children reported that their work consisted of cleaning up and carrying tools around the factory, and as attendants to the weaving machines.12
Other Export Industries
Other export industries alleged to use child labor include perfumes,13 handicrafts, spices, and glass. All of these industries require further investigation.
III. Laws of Egypt
A. National Child Labor Laws
Article 124 of the Labor Act No. 91 of 1959 stipulates that no child under 12 years of age may be employed under any circumstances and sets the minimum age at 15 years for some hazardous industries.14 Labor Law 137 of 1981 states that children between the ages of 12 and 15 are allowed to work 6 hours a day, but not after 7:00 p.m. Decrees No. 12 and 13 issued by the Ministry of Manpower and Vocational Training in 1982 specify various hazardous jobs and industries where the employment of children under 15, in a few cases, and 17, in other cases, are prohibited.15
The government is currently considering revisions to its labor code. The draft legislation being discussed would raise the minimum age for work to 14 years and would establish a number of conditions and protections for working children between the ages of 14 and 17.16
In the formal sector, particularly in the state-owned factories where most of export production is concentrated, local trade unions report that Egypt's labor laws were well enforced. By contrast, there appears to be little effort by the government to oversee conditions in the informal sector. Small factories and workshops are occasionally subject to labor inspections although working conditions for children, as well as adults, often remain in violation of labor laws.17 The Ministry of Manpower noted that its 2,000 labor inspectors cited 72,000 violations stemming from 500,000 site visits in 1993.18 On the other hand, independent studies and interviews indicate that many employers view the inspectors as ineffective, at best.19
B. Education Laws
While education is compulsory in Egypt until age 15,20 economic and social factors force many students out of school and into the workplace. Ministry of Education statistics show that 88 percent of children between the ages of 6 and 12 attend school, but a study carried out in cooperation with the World Bank by the National Council for Education Research indicates that 20 percent of the children enrolled in the first grade in the _PHONE_ school year dropped out before completing the sixth grade.21 Due to resource constraints many public schools operate on a shift schedule where up to three sets of children attend classes for approximately four hours apiece. Public school tuition, uniforms, and other school supplies raise the yearly cost of primary education to approximately $15 per child.
Public primary education is also perceived by much of the population to be ineffective. Private lessons are regarded as essential if a child is to successfully complete the exams required for admission to secondary schools. These lessons, which must be paid for, are often given by the same person who teaches the child in the public school.22 One study of working children, conducted by an Egyptian social service organization in conjunction with the International Labor Organization, found that of all mothers interviewed, 90 percent complained of the high cost of education.23
C. International Conventions
Egypt is a party to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Government of Egypt has not ratified ILO Convention No. 138 Concerning the Minimum Age for Admission to Employment or either of the ILO Conventions Concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment in Industry (No.5 and No.59).24
IV. Programs and Efforts To Address Child Labor
The most recent effort to address child labor in Egypt was the 1994 child labor workshops for government labor inspectors, jointly sponsored by the ILO International Program for the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) and the Egyptian Ministry of Manpower and Training. UNICEF also has an active program which conducts and sponsors research on child labor.
Interviews with several trade unions, the Egyptian Trade Union Federation and the Arab Labor Organization revealed little activity regarding child labor. The unions are active in the formal sector of the economy where they say child labor does not exist.
Egyptian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) focus primarily on research and action to ameliorate the worst aspects of child labor. For example, groups conduct training sessions to teach children a marketable skill in non-hazardous industries, such as sewing. They operate health clinics and literacy programs as well as child care centers for working


text:
Are Equities A Good Inflation Hedge?
While many believe that with the output gap so wide that inflation is not an immediate threat, longer-term, as UBS notes, excessive money printing could indeed generate inflation and that inflation expectations are unusually volatile and could quickly be dislodged. This inflation hedges are a very valid concern. An oft-cited reason for owning stocks is that they have an implicit inflation hedge, however, just as with many market myths, UBS finds that, in fact, equities do not look like a compelling hedge against rising inflation.
Via Stephane Deo of UBS:
Indeed, they provide an appropriate hedge to rising inflation only in a limited number of cases.
- The trade has to be entered at a low level of inflation. If the trade is started above 4%, the valuation loss due to declining P/E will dominate and make equities underperform.
- If inflation increases only moderately. High-single-digit inflation would make the equity valuation loss dominate other effects.
- If the investor assumes that inflation will not decline. In that case, the trade would also generate sub-inflation returns. So an equity hedge comes with increased portfolio risk in cases of deflation. Here are our arguments.
If inflation surges, it is because companies are selling their goods at a higher price and, as earnings are a fraction of sales, surely earnings would move in tandem with inflation giving protection to investors. If the payout ratio is constant dividends would also mimic inflation even if some price distortions can obviously affect corporate margins. And indeed when we compute the ratio over the past century and a half between the US CPI and EBIT inflation (we remove the volume effects from EBIT), we find a decline by 0.02% per annum. This is low enough to be negligible. EBIT prices do move in tandem with inflation.
Unfortunately, the story is not that simple; if inflation is high and stable, the above argument makes sense. But the situation we are facing is the risk that inflation will jump from low to high levels. That has a very unpleasant consequence: a change in the discount factor and risk premium. On a DCF approach, the discount factor will go up, hence the accrual value of the future flows will not be multiplied by inflation, but by less. Higher inflation also means higher nominal volatility, hence higher risk premium, hence an even higher discount factor. So the P/E will adjust to take the new world into account. All prices have increased with inflation, except the price of the equities you have in your portfolio which has risen by less than inflation. You are not hedged.
Let's go back to the real world. Our argument is that P/E or earning yields should move in tandem with inflation. We did investigate this issue in the past and actually found a very strong positive correlation between bond yield and equity earnings yield when bond yields are above 5%. But we find an equally strong correlation when yields are below 5%, only this time the relationship is negative. This is clearly visible in the two charts below.
From an economic point of view, this actually makes sense. Yields/inflation at a low level would signal that the economy is approaching a Japanese scenario, or is on the verge of deflation. Further decline in yields are negative for equity. By contrast, yields above 5% are associated with inflation rising to a level that becomes disruptive, with an associated increase in nominal volatility hence risk premium. The chart below shows a similar relationship with inflation: we find that 4% is the threshold, or the sweet spot, where equity prices are maximized.
This weakens the case for equities as an inflation hedge, because it means that, with inflation above 4%, equity valuations will start to play against us.
So let's run the numbers, we start from the current inflation number, 2.2% in the USA. If inflation goes up, not only would equity return more because the nominal EBIT will follow inflation; but the valuation of equity improves as we approach the 4% magic number. In short, we have a hedge to inflation that returns more than needed. But if inflation increases above 4%, the valuation starts to deteriorate. We find that with inflation around 6.5% the valuation argument starts to bite so much that inflation protection starts to be eaten away and the equity return is less than inflation. The further inflation increases above this mark, the more equity valuation drops and the worse the inflation hedge becomes. We even find that with inflation around 9.5%, despite the increase in nominal EBIT, valuation destroys all the equity return.
Obviously, if inflation drops from where it is now, valuations deteriorate, hence equities underperform inflation as well.
In short, equities provide only a partial hedge – one which works only for small positive inflation shocks.
There is one additional point to keep in mind: the entry point of the trade is very important. Imagine that you wait for inflation to go to 3.5% before you get really worried and put on a long-equity trade with the view of protecting the portfolio against inflation. Because the position starts from a level much closer to the 4.0% sweet spot, the starting valuation position is much better, hence more demanding. It means that the negative valuation argument starts to bite much earlier. Indeed, if we update the above chart with a 3.5% starting point, the result is that protection disappears after just 5.0% inflation.
Conclusion: So, in short, an equity portfolio does not look like a compelling hedge. It works only for reasonably small shocks and if the trade has been entered early enough. It also increases the risk to the portfolio in case of deflation. The analysis, however, does not go into the breakdown by sector. A better sector approach, one which would overweight sectors with a low duration, would probably provide more supportive results. This is one interesting research avenue for the future. For now, the solution we propose is to create an inflation linked credit market.
- advertisements -


German-Russian Museum Berlin-Karlshorst
 - Museum
 - Deutsch-Russisches Museum, Zwieseler Straße, Berlin, Allemagne
 - +49 ((0) 30) 50 15 08-41
The German-Russian Museum is located at the site of the unconditional surrender of Germany on 8 May 1945 in Berlin-Karlshorst, marking the end of the Second World War in Europe. Today it is a place where two former wartime enemies jointly recall some of their common, albeit very violent history.
The museum is a unique bilateral institution, sponsored by the Federal Republic of Germany and the Russian Federation. It is the only museum in Germany with a permanent exhibition recalling the war of annihilation in Eastern Europe.
From 1945 to 1949 the former officers' mess of the German Armed Forces' Pioneer School, where the surrender took place, served as the seat of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany. After being used for various purposes by the Soviet military, a Soviet surrender museum opened in 1967. After the withdrawal of the Soviet forces from Germany in 1994, both sides decided to use this location to commemorate the war conducted against the Soviet Union between 1941 and 1945.
Never before did a war cause more deaths and more destruction. This is especially true for the war of conquest and annihilation waged by the German Reich against the Soviet Union starting on 22 June 1941. The permanent exhibition documents this war from the perspective of both parties, German and Soviet. The territory occupied by the German forces was where the murder of European Jews began. But German warfare and occupation rule were also responsible for other crimes, like the mass death of Soviet prisoners of war in German custody and the planned starvation of millions of civilians in Russia and Eastern Europe. The exhibition also explores the consequences of the Second World War as they continue to the present day.
German-Russian Museum Berlin-Karlshorst
Related Experiences


text:
Massachusetts officials started recording the names of immigrants who arrived by ship in January of 1848, a procedure which continued until July of 1891, when federal records-keeping programs superseded those of the state. Although immigrants arrived at numerous Massachusetts ports, the Archives holds manifests for BOSTON ONLY. These are arranged chronologically according to the date when the ship arrived in port. The Archives holds the original manifests as well as the only microfilm copy available of these Passenger manifests. This collection has been cataloged as HS3.02/1990X (Registers of passengers arriving in Massachusetts ports) in the finding aids of the Massachusetts Archives.
The Archives has an alphabetical card index covering the same years as the registers and providing the same information. This includes the name, age, sex and occupation of the immigrant; the country of birth, last residence and the passenger list number. Also included is the name of the ship, and the date of its arrival in Boston.
Over one million immigrants came through the Port of Boston during this time period. Through the Archives Volunteer program, volunteers are entering this information into a computerized database. This is a long-term project. It is going to take several years to complete.
If the Surname you are interested in does not appear in the database you are welcome to come to the Archives and request the name through the Card Index or write us and we will check the card index for you.
This database will be updated monthly.


text:
Windows Workflow Foundation provides a simplified programming model, an in-process workflow engine and improved designer that can be used to design and implement workflows in.NET applications. This article discusses the new features in Windows Workflow Foundation 4 and shows how you can get started with it using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 IDE.
To execute the code examples illustrated in this article, you should have Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 installed in your system.
Before we delve into the new features and enhancements in Windows Workflow Foundation 4 and get started working with it in Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, let's take a quick tour of some important concepts.
Business Process, Workflow, Windows Workflow Foundation
A business process is a collection of activities that have a common objective. The Wikipedia states: "A business process or business method is a collection of related, structured activities or tasks that produce a specific service or product (serve a particular goal) for a particular customer or customers. It often can be visualized with a flowchart as a sequence of activities." Reference: _URL_
Microsoft' Windows Workflow Foundation is a framework that can be used to create, manage and execute workflows. A Workflow in the context of Windows Workflow Foundation may be defined as a tool that is used to model the flow of data and activities that relate to the actions to be performed on the data. According to the Workflow Management Coalition, workflow is defined as the "automation of a business process, in whole or part, during which documents, information, or tasks are passed from one participant to another for action, according to a set of procedural rules."
Reference: _URL_
Workflows are a good choice for any application that has one or more long running process. Workflows enable you to change behaviour without much change in the application's code. For applications that thrive on business rules that can change over a period of time, workflows are a great choice.
A Workflow Management System (commonly known as WFMS) is software that manages workflow execution, by interpreting the process definition, interacting with workflow participants and, where required, invoking external IT tools and applications. Note that all workflow systems are process oriented.
Workflow Management Systems have two basic components: the workflow modeling component and the workflow execution component. While the former can be used to model workflows using a visual designer, the later is used to execute and manage your workflows.
Benefits of Workflow
Automating workflows provides a lot of benefits - these include:
- Reduced operating cost
- Increased efficiency
- Better flexibility, adaptability and control
Types of Workflow
Windows Workflow Foundation 4 supports the following types of Workflow:
- Sequential - This is a type of Workflow in which the actions are executed in a predefined sequence. A typical example of a sequential Workflow is the sequence of steps needed to connect to a database in ADO.NET Entity Framework
- State Machine - This is a type of Workflow in which there aren't any predefined sequence. Rather, the Workflow is represented using states and the transitions between such states. Note that State Machine workflows are no longer supported by Windows Workflow 4
Architectural Components of Windows Workflow Foundation
The major architectural components of Windows Workflow Foundation include:
- Base Activity Library - This comprises of a collection of base classes, activities, etc. These base classes can be extended to create custom activities.
- Runtime Engine - This is the component that provides support for managing and executing workflows.
- Runtime Services - This is the component that provides support for hosting workflows.
New Features in Windows Workflow Foundation 4
Windows Workflow Foundation is a Microsoft framework that can be used to create, manage and execute workflows in a managed environment. Windows Workflow 4 is available as part of.NET Framework 4.0 and ships with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. The most important feature of Windows Workflow 4 is its ability to be tightly integrate with Windows Communication Foundation. Windows Workflow Foundation 4 is more or less a complete rewrite of the Workflow library. It uses XAML to define workflows and runs on top of.NET Framework 4.0. The other major enhancements to Windows Workflow 4 include:
- State Machine Workflows are no longer supported - With WF 4, you no longer have support for creating state machine workflows.
- Excellent integration with Windows Communication Foundation 4 - There has been significant improvements to WCF and WF in.NET Framework 4. New features added in WF 4 for improved integration with WCF applications include: message correlation, better support for hosting, etc.
- Support for Extended Base Class Library - Windows Workflow Foundation 4 now contains an Extended Base Class Library that contains a list of new activities added. These activities include: Flowchart, ForEach, DoWhile, Break (in the Flowchart group) and Send, Receive, SendReceive, RecieveParameters, CorrelationScope, InitializeCorrelation (in the WCF group).
- Simplified Programming Model - With Window Workflow 4, creating, hosting, managing and executing workflows have been made much simpler.
- Designer improvements - The Workflow designer has been improved a lot in WF 4. You can now create, manage and execute much complex workflows with no degradation in performance.