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Forward points represent the difference in price between currency rates for two different delivery dates. Typically, they are expressed as the number of pips added to or subtracted from the current spot rate of a currency pair to obtain the forward rate for delivery on a specific value date in the future. They may also reflect the difference between two forward rates for two different dates in the future.
Forward points are mainly affected by the difference in interest rates between two currencies. This is because forward currency trades are contracts in which one party implicitly borrows one currency from, and simultaneously lends another to, the second party. For example, if someone is selling US dollars against euros for delivery in three months' time and the US 3-month interest rate is higher than the euro interest rate, the forward rate will normally be lower than the spot rate to offset the interest differential that otherwise benefits the holder of dollars. This relationship is known as the Covered Interest Parity.
Forward points are also affected by the Cross-Currency Basis. The cross-currency basis indicates the amount by which the interest paid to borrow one currency by swapping it against another differs from the cost of directly borrowing this currency in the cash market. Prior to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) the cross-currency basis was almost always very close to zero for developed currencies. After the GFC, the cross-currency basis has become much more volatile and has occasionally widened significantly. This is often a reflection of strains in global interbank markets. Specifically, heightened concerns about counterparty risk and constrained bank access to wholesale dollar funding inhibited arbitrage during the GFC, and again during subsequent crises. It is also believed to reflect regulatory constraints on arbitrage activity by market-makers such as banks.


初中英语 语法
Teaching aims
Students can master the detailed usage and the structure of the simple past tense.
Students will be able to use the simple past tense to talk about the things happened in the past freely.
Students can improve their confidence in learning English and not be afraid of speaking English.
Students can foster the awareness of taking part in volunteering jobs and devoting themselves.
Key and difficult points
Key point
To master the usage and the structure of the simple past tense.
Difficult point
To talk about the things happened in the past and foster their awareness of taking part in volunteering jobs.
Teaching procedures
Step 1: Warming-up
1. Greetings.
2. Sing a song named Heal the World and encourage students to sing it together. The song goes like this:
Heal the world, make it a better place.
For you and for me and the entire human race.
Make it a better place, for you and for me.
Ask students about the topic of the song. Then share with them an experience of volunteering. For example:
"Last weekend, I did a volunteering job in a community and measured the passengers' temperatures for preventing COVID-19."
3. Then have a free talk about what they did on weekends to gradually lead into the topic.
Step 2: Presentation
1. Read the dialogue for students and lead them to find out the main content of the conversation. Then ask students to read the conversation again to find out what these two kids did last weekend? And write down students' answers on the blackboard.
2. Let students work in groups of 4 to have a discussion to find similarities among these sentences. And pick up some students to answer the question. Students can find all verbs are changing to their past forms and they are all about the things happened in the past.
3. Teacher can introduce students the grammar point: the simple past tense, and its basic structure and usage. For example: the structure of simple past tense is "Subject+ V-ed" and it is often used to describe things happened in the past. Explain the rules of regular forms and irregular forms of each verb.
Step 3: Practice
1. True or False
Show a set of exercises on the screen and make a judge whether the sentence is correct, if not make a modification. Then pick up a group of students to share the answers and give an evaluation in time.
2. Sentence master
Show students a picture on the screen, and tell them it happened yesterday, and ask them to use their imagination to make up a story. 5 minutes will be given, and students need to do it individually. When time is up, invite 2 students to share the story and give the proper feedback.
Step 4: Production
Ask students to make a group of 4 and 8 minutes will be given to do a survey about what they did last winter holiday, and design a chart by themselves. Later, choose some groups to share the answers. Give some proper evaluations.
Step 5: Summary and Homework
Summary: help the class to summarize the whole lesson. And tell them if possible, they can join in some volunteering jobs to make contributions.
Homework: ask students to design a poster to advocate people to join in the voluntary job and share their posters next class.
Blackboard design
Teaching reflection
1. 你怎么看待板书设计?
1. How do you think of the blackboard design?
【Suggested version】
The blackboard design can not only reflect the key and core point of a lesson, but also reflect a teacher's teaching ability.
Take my blackboard design as an example: First, the title shows the main content of the lesson. Secondly, this class is a grammar class, so I presented three sentences with grammar points to guide students to find out the grammar point and summarize the rules. Thirdly, the grammar points are presented clearly, which is convenient for students to learn and master. Finally, on the whole, blackboard is simple, clear and easy to understand, which is believed to be helpful to students' study.
In a word, blackboard design plays a very important role in making the instructional process effective.
2. What are the qualities should an excellent teacher have?
【Suggested version】
Thanks for your question. In my opinion, an excellent teacher should have the following qualities: solid knowledge, passion for education, and awareness of lifelong learning.
Then, I would like to talk about my views on having solid knowledge and lifelong learning consciousness. First of all, if you want to teach students knowledge, the teacher must have a certain knowledge reserve; Secondly, as the society is developing so fast, the knowledge is constantly being updated. Therefore, teachers should have the awareness of lifelong learning and update their knowledge and teaching concepts so as to be a good teacher.


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Financing Decisions Assignment Help
There are 2 essential kinds of monetary decisions that the financing group has to make in a company: financial investment and financing. The 2 decisions come down to ways to invest cash and ways to obtain cash. Remember that the total objective of monetary decisions is to optimize investor value, so every decision needs to be put in that context.
Financing Decisions Assignment Help
Financing Decisions Assignment Help
A financial investment decision focuses on spending capital on possessions that will yield the greatest return for the service over a wanted period. Simply puts, the decision has to do with exactly what to purchase so that the service will get the most value.
In the extremely short-term, a service requires cash to pay its costs, however keeping its whole money implies that it isn't really investing in things that will assist it grow in the future. A service that invests all of its cash will optimize its long-lasting development potential customers, however if it does not hold sufficient money, it cannot pay its costs and will go out of company quickly.
The financial investment decision likewise worries exactly what certain financial investments making. Considering that there is no warranty of a return for a lot of financial investments, the financing department needs to figure out an anticipated return. This return is not ensured, however is the typical return on a financial investment if it were to be made often times.
The financial investments have to fulfill 3 primary requirements:
 1. It has to optimize the value of the company, after thinking about the quantity of danger the business is comfy with (threat hostility).
 2. It should be funded properly.
 3. The money should be returned to investor in order to take full advantage of investor value if there is no financial investment chance that fills (1) and (2).
All functions of a business have to be spent for one method or another. It depends on the financing department to determine the best ways to spend for them through the procedure of financing.
There are 2 methods to fund a financial investment: utilizing a service's own cash or by raising cash from external funders. Each has its drawbacks and benefits.
Offering equity is basically offering part of your business. When a service goes public, for example, they choose to offer their business to the public rather of to personal financiers. The service is offering itself to the public in return for cash.
A service can raise financing from different sources such as by concern of shares, debentures or by taking loan and advances. Choosing just how much to raise from which source is issue of financing decision. Generally sources of financing can be divided into 2 classifications:
 1. Owners fund.
 2. Obtained fund.
Share capital and maintained revenues make up owners' fund and debentures, loans, bonds, and so on makeup obtained fund.
The primary issue of financing supervisor is to choose just how much to raise from owners' fund and just how much to rise from obtained fund.
The obtained funds have actually to be paid back and include some degree of danger whereas in owners' fund there is no repair dedication of payment and there is no threat included. Under financing decision financing supervisor repairs a ratio of owner fund and obtained fund in the capital structure of the service.
Financing decisions center on how a business pays for its capital tasks. In a steady service, the daily operations of the company must pay for themselves: Revenue from sales must be sufficient to pay for stock, lease, energies, and employees' earnings and so on. For huge capital financial investments, however, the service might require more money than the company creates day to day.
The financing decision includes 2 sources from where the funds can be raised: utilizing a service's own cash, such as share capital, maintained revenues or obtaining funds from the outdoors in the type debenture, loan, bond, and so on. The goal of monetary decision is to preserve an optimal capital structure, i.e. a correct mix of financial obligation and equity, to guarantee the trade-off in between the danger and go back to the investors.
While taking financing decisions the financing supervisor bears in mind the following aspects:
 1. Expense:
The expense of raising financing from different sources is various and financing supervisors constantly choose the source with minimum expense.
 1. Threat:
More danger is related to obtained fund as compared to owner's fund securities. Financing supervisor compares the danger with the expense included and chooses securities with moderate threat element.
 1. Capital Position:
The capital position of the service likewise assists in choosing the securities. With smooth and constant capital services can quickly manage obtained fund securities however when business have scarcity of capital, then they should opt for owner's fund securities just.
 1. Control Considerations:
Then they choose obtained fund securities to raise additional fund, if existing investors desire to keep the total control of company. If they do not mind to lose the control then they might go for owner's fund securities, on the other hand.
 1. Floatation Cost:
It describes cost associated with problem of securities such as broker's commission, underwriters costs, costs on prospectus, and so on. Company chooses securities which include least floatation expense.
 1. Fixed Operating Cost:
If a business is having actually high repaired operating expense then they need to choose owner's fund since due to high repaired functional expense, the business might not have the ability to pay interest on financial obligation securities which can trigger severe difficulties for service.
Tutors at the are dedicated to offer the finest quality online tutoring help for Financing Decisions assignment help and homework help services. They utilize their experience, as they have actually resolved thousands of the monetary accounting projects, which might assist you to resolve your complex problems of Financing Decisions.
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Updated: 2021, Apr 7
The Effect of Vegan Diet on the Body and Brain
Are vegan diets better for brain health? If you're looking to improve your overall health, a vegan diet might just be your best bet to unlocking a healthier you.
The Effect of Vegan Diet on the Body and Brain
The effects of plant-based diets on the body and the brain. Image/Shutterstock
What Happens to your Body and Brain When you go Vegan
Veganism isn't a recent trend but rather a practice that has been in existence as far as 1944. What started with a group of 25 people led by Donald Watson that was later referred to as the Vegan Society has now become an important movement today. Several people have joined this movement for several reasons, whether it is to lose weight or to generally improve their health.
Following a vegan bodybuilding diet plan involves eating plant-based food that will help you get all the necessary nutrients required for your growth. It is not just about choosing to be vegan but also about being deliberate with what you eat to ensure you are not lacking any vital nutrients.
There are however far more benefits of the vegan diet both in the body and brain.
SEE ALSONeuroplasticity
How it Affects the Body
The kind of diet you eat plays a huge role in your health in general through different means. A recent study conducted in 2019 shows how plant-based diets have been proven to be associated with lower risks of cardiovascular disease and death. It is also a great way to lose weight and many people today have chosen to be vegan for this sole reason. The diet contains more nutritious and healthy meals with little to no source of unhealthy fats. You also get to eat low-calorie meals, which will help you to manage your weight effectively, especially when the diet is combined with physical activity.
Vegan diets have been shown to reduce the risk of cancer by 15% and the American Cancer Society has also approved it as one of the things you can do to reduce your risk of cancer. This is due to how rich the diet is in fiber, vitamins, and phytochemicals, all of which play a role in protecting the body against cancer.
If you're looking to improve your health, a vegan diet might just be your best bet to unlocking a healthier you.
Effect on the Brain
While there is a common misconception that not eating meat can affect your IQ, the vegan diet might just be one of the best ways to boost your brain cells. These diets are rich in antioxidants, polyphenols, phytochemicals, and unsaturated fatty acids, all of which help improve the growth, connection, and survival of brain cells.
However, not all vegan diets are created equal and while some of the meals might contain nutrients that help your brain cells, some of the other meals might not be helping your brain. This is why it is often emphasized for vegans to take their diets seriously and include the right mix of meals to ensure they are getting everything the body and brain require for healthy growth.
Preferably, meet a dietitian to draw a diet plan that you can follow. This can be tailored specifically for you, especially if you have certain health concerns. Don't just choose a random vegan diet with the hopes to get all the advantages other people talk about but rather, be deliberate and choose wisely.
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Diana Young, LD/N, ORDM, GC-C
Diana Young is a Licensed Dietitian, Certified Grief Counselor and Health Coach. Her expertise includes fitness, weight management and
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The management of coffee: bonanzas and crisis: political economy issues
Borradores de Economía; No. 53
Fecha de publicación1996-07-07
Las opiniones contenidas en el presente documento son responsabilidad exclusiva de los autores y no comprometen al Banco de la República ni a su Junta Directiva.
The analysis of the impacts of coffe bonanzas and crisis on the Colombian economy, given its importance, has been one of the favorite topics of research both by colombian and foreign economists, Cárdenas(1991);Carkovic (1992); Cuddington (1986); Ocampo (1994); Posada(1992);Urrutia and Suescún(1994). The political economy aspects behind the policy response by colombian authorities has not had similar emphasis in the literature. Such is the topic of this paper. The article stars with a historical overview of the international coffee price with the purpose of identifying the major periods of bonanzas and crissi. In a chronological pattern, the paper discusses the main institutional and political economy issues that took place then and the extent to which they may explain the macroeconomic response to bonanzas and crisis. The paper singles out the key role traditionally played by the coffee growers represented through the National Federation of Coffee Growers and poses the question of what should be its future role, in a country where coffee has lost its importance in foreign exchange earnings and in GDP, but where the coffee activity continues to be an important source of rural employment and where the coffee producers maintain a political and economic leadership in key regions of the country.
- Borradores de Economía

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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Definition of transferral in English:
The action of transferring someone or something: the transferral of ownership in the form of a takeover
More example sentences
- And it acts in a manner no one can yet explain, obeying the law of ownership and transferral.
- Both parties will also identify research areas that will improve the delivery of the TB control programme by monitoring patient transferral.
- Indeed, a number of events since sovereignty transferral in 1997 directly point to that erosion.
Words that rhyme with transferralconferral, deferral, referral
Definition of transferral in:
- US English dictionary
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed.


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Scranton Federal Crime Defense Lawyer
Most people accused of committing a crime in Pennsylvania will have their case tried in a state court. This occurs when the crime in question violates one of the laws of the state. There are times however, when a case will be heard in federal court. These cases involve the Constitution or crimes committed against the U.S. government. There are many different types of criminal cases that will be heard in federal courts.
These courts also have many differences than state courts. One of those differences is that cases tried in federal court are often far more complex. For this reason, anyone charged with a federal crime needs to speak to a Scranton criminal defense lawyer that can help.
Types of Federal Crimes
There are thousands of different federal crimes. In fact, there are so many that most people have violated at least one at some time or another although they are not aware of it. Removing wood out of a national forest for example, is often a federal crime that many people have violated.
However, there are federal crimes that are more common, and that are most often heard in federal court. These include:
- Antitrust violations: These crimes involve individuals or businesses that engage in unfair business practices such as fixing prices or creating a monopoly.
- Armed robbery: While robbery is typically tried in a Pennsylvania court, there are times when it is considered a federal crime. This includes when the act is committed against a federal bank, U.S. mail, or other federal agency.
- Drug crimes: Other crimes often tried in state court are drug crimes. However, if the crime was committed on federal land, such as in a national park, or drugs were trafficked across state boundaries, it becomes a federal crime.
- Bribery: Individuals that either give or take bribes can be charged with a federal crime.
- Conspiracy: Committing a crime is clearly against the law, but so is planning to commit a crime. When two or more people agree to commit a crime, it is considered conspiracy, regardless of whether or not the crime is ever actually committed.
- Computer crimes: These crimes can include illegal downloading, cyber terrorism, and online fraud schemes. They are prohibited by many acts including the USA PATRIOT Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and more.
- Embezzlement: This is another crime that can be tried in either state or federal courts. This will be considered a federal crime when money or property belonging to a federal company or organization is taken and used for an individual's personal gain.
- Fraud: This crime simply involves lying to another person or organization for personal gain. It is considered a federal crime when that person or organization is part of the federal government, such as lying to the Social Security Administration in order to receive more benefits.
- Identity theft: When one person steals another individual's personal information to commit a state felony or a federal crime, it is considered a federal crime.
- Money laundering: This crime is committed when a person tries to hide profits made from illegal activities, such as drug trafficking.
- RICO crimes: Under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO), it is an offense to be part of any organized crime group. Today, RICO is also used to prosecute suspected drug traffickers and gang members.
- Tax evasion: When corporations or individuals don't fully pay all taxes owed to the U.S. government, this is considered a federal crime.
Contact a Scranton Federal Crime Defense Lawyer That Can Help
Being charged with a federal crime is very serious. If you have been accused of committing these, or any other federal crimes, contact a federal criminal defense attorney in Scranton that can help.
At the office of Ernest D. Preate, Jr., Esquire, we will carefully review any evidence the prosecution has collected and ensure your rights were upheld while obtaining that evidence. We will also work hard to prove your innocence in court through evidence and testimony. Those charged with a federal crime should never try to fight the charges on their own. Call us today at _PHONE_. for your free consultation. The sooner you begin working with an attorney, the better chance you have for success in court.


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Height Reference Systems
- The German height reference system
- The European height reference system
- Determination of the height reference surface of Germany
- GCG2011 - German Combined QuasiGeoid 2011
Determination of the height reference surface of Germany
Geoid and gravity field models
The geoid as natural reference surface is the equipotential surface of the Earth's gravity field that approximates the mean sea level at the best. In a global view, the geoid differs by up to ±100 m from a geometrically defined reference surface, the ellipsoid. The differences depend on the density spread in the interior of the earth and hence on its gravity field. Satellite-based measurements of the gravity field and the sea surface and the global gravity field models based on this provide large-scale structures with a spatial extent of about 100 km. Smaller details cannot be resolved from space. Terrestrial measurements are indispensable for the determination of accurate models of the height reference surface.
Height reference surfaces in Germany
Owing to the growing employment of satellite-based measuring techniques in practical surveying the need arose to determine the height reference surface of Germany with an accuracy of a few centimeters. Since the mid-nineties, the BKG has done considerable work in this field together with the surveying administrations of the Länder. Furthermore, the BKG has developed a database for the determination of the height reference surface of Germany.
The basis for the determination of the quasigeoid model is formed by terrestrial and airborne gravity measurements, global gravity field models, digital terrain models, and a network of observation points in which ellipsoidal heights as well as levelling heights are available.
The height reference surface used in Germany is also called quasigeoid or NHN surface. It varies between 34 m in the area of the Baltic Sea and 50 m in the Alps. The horizontal gradients of the quasigeoid can amount to up to 10 m per km. Therefore, quasigeoid variations have to be considered also for local height determinations with GPS and GALILEO.
In 1998 a first model of the quasigeoid was established for the territory of the new Länder. Further solutions followed for the whole Federal Republic with the "Satellite-Geodetic Nivellitic Quasigeoid (SNG01)" from March 2003 and the "German Combined QuasiGeoid 2005 (GCG05)" from August 2005. The "German Combined QuasiGeoid 2011 (GCG2011)" from January 2012 is the actual version. These models were determined by combining two independent solutions of the Institut für Erdmessung of the Leibniz Universität Hannover and of the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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mgr/dashboard: Replace OSD histogram graphs with something more insightful
Currently, the OSD details contain a tab "Histogram" that shows a feature that was ported from the initial dashboard without any modification.
It displays two big red blocks labeled "Writes" and "Reads" as follows:
It's not entirely clear what kind of information these blocks are supposed to visualize and if they are actual "Histograms".
It may make sense to reconsider the design of these widgets with something more useful. Maybe a heat map, combining reads and writes into once graph?


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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- A program run by the National Science Foundation will deploy as many as 14 seismic monitoring devices in West Virginia this summer.
The EarthScope program will then gather data for two years.
Geologist Ron McDowell of the West Virginia Geologic and Economic Survey says it's part of a larger project to study earthquakes, volcanic activity, fluids in the earth's crust and more.
He says EarthScope is looking for landowners willing to participate.
McDowell tells West Virginia Public Broadcasting the devices require little maintenance other than an occasional battery change.
EarthScope is responsible for security and operation, and assumes liability for damaged or stolen equipment. It also gives the landowners updates and sample recordings from their stations.
Two devices may remain in the state permanently once the project is complete.


Basic statistics for ESL teachers
Basic statistics for ESL teachers
1 answers
This short article aims to briefly discuss three important ideas that are often employed in analysing students' examination and test scores: range, mean (average), median. The mean, and the median are two of the measures of location. For the purpose of simplicity and illustration, the following ESL test scores shall be used:Class A: 25%, 37%, 76%, 89%, and 50%; Class B: 27%, 42%, 67%, 89%, and 78%The range is defined as the difference between the highest and the lowest scores. In this case, the range of class A = 89 ─ 25 = 64% and class B = 89 ─ 27 = 62%. As can be seen, both classes have almost the same range. The range gives the novice ESL teacher an idea of the spread between the most extreme scores; however, it does not give any information concerning the other scores. A more useful value is the average.To calculate the average, add the scores and divide the sum by the number of scores: the average for class A = (25+37+76+89+50)÷5 = 55.4% and for class B = (27+42+67+89+78)÷5 = 60.6%. Overall, class B has performed better than class A; however, just looking at the average doesn't always give you the whole picture. Suppose that class C also had an average of 60.6%: although on average both class B and class C have performed equally well, it does not mean that the students had identical scores, e.g. if class C's scores were 38, 40, 93, 37, and 95, the average would be 60.6% too. Notice also how a few relatively high scores can lift the average score: in contrast, a few relatively low scores can lower the average score. Because of this, the novice ESL teacher should consider using the median.The median is the middle score in a set of scores arranged in ascending order. The median for class A = 50%, and for class B = 67%. Unlike the mean, the median is not influenced by extreme scores. Where there is an equal number of scores, simply calculate the average of the two middle terms, e.g. the median of 25%, 36%, 46%, 58%, 76%, 80% is (46+58)÷2 = 52%. Finally, don't forget: when the averages from two or more identical ESL test/examination classes are very close in value, always look at the individual ESL test/examination scores carefully – before coming to any conclusions.
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Percolation - Day 4
 - We will study the simplest and clearest example of statistical fractal behavior on a two dimensional spatial landscape.
 - Let us consider a $L \times L$ square grid where each site can be occupied by a tree with probability $p$. The state of a site is indicated $S(i,j)$. There are two states occupied=1, empty=0.
 - Each lattice point has four nearest sites: The neighboorhod of $(i,j)$ is indicated as $n(i,j)$
 - As each site can be occupied independent of the others they do not have any patchiness or spatial correlations
 - What is the probability of finding a path of neighboring trees connecting the bottom to the top?
 - Our intuition suggest that this probability $P(p,L)$ increase in some monotonous way when $p$ increases.
 - When a cluster of connected sites of length $L$ is present, percolation takes place and the cluster is called the percolation cluster. From this we can see the emergence of a large scale pattern from local interactions
 - Let us assume that the trees at the bottom row are burned, their state is indicated by $S(i,j)=2$ the trees with a burned neighbor also burn, thus the fire propagates.
 - The question is to compute $P(p,L)$
Percolation and criticality
The Graph shows the order parameter for the transition against p, with a sudden increase at the critical point ($p_c=0.59$). The insets show the cluster of burning trees for different p. p_c$ the fire propagate trough the entire set of units.
 - At the critical point the cluster of connected units is fractal, and scaling laws arise. The same basic process generate small and large structures.
 - Percolation can be related to invasion process: if the invasive species tend to replace a dominant species, a species that percolates, the invasion will be more successful.
 - In the other direction, when an ecosystem needs a minimal spatial habitat to survive, random habitat loss can lead to percolation, that means breaking available space into many small patches and triggering ecosystem collapse
 - The problem is that this is a threshold phenomena and can be sudden and unexpected.
Percolation an infection
 - Let us consider a one dimensional system of $N$ sites $S_i(t)$ where $S_i(t) \epsilon [0,1]$, healthy=0 and infected=1.
 - The rules for this system are
 1. Infection: a healthy site become infected proportionate to the infected neighbors
 $$0 \xrightarrow{\lambda n_i} 1$$
 where $n_i= S_{i+1}+S_{i-1}$, and $\lambda$ the probability of infection in a single contact.
 2. Recovery: an infected individual can recover with probability $\mu$
 $$1 \xrightarrow{\mu} 0$$
 - The question is whether the epidemic will persist or become extinct
Here there is an example of a phase transition. A string of 150 has been used and $\mu=0.5$. The triangles indicate the probability that active particles are observed after $10^3$ steps. A sharp transition can be observed at the critical probability of infection $\mu_c=0.5". The insets are space-time diagrams at different points in the parameter space.
 - Self-organization is defined as a set of dynamical mechanisms whereby structures appear at the global level of a system from interactions among their lower-level components. The interactions between the constituent units are determined by local information, without reference to the global pattern, which is an emergent property (Solé and Bascompte 2006).
 - The characteristics of a self-organizing process are:
 a) the creation of space-time structures from an homogeneous medium;
 b) the possible existence of multiple stable states, because the structures emerge through the amplification of random fluctuations;
 c) the existence of thresholds where a tiny change in a parameter can lead to a qualitative change in the behavior of the system, these are called bifurcations. In this context, the details of the particular biological interactions could be irrelevant for the dynamics of the system, thus a very simple model can describe it successfully
 1. Weerman EJ, Van Belzen J, Rietkerk M, Temmerman S, Kéfi S, et al. (2012) Changes in diatom patch-size distribution and degradation in a spatially self-organized intertidal mudflat ecosystem. Ecology 93: 608–618. doi:10.1890/11-0625.1.


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Carbonics introduces first ZEBRA carbon-on-silicon solution for RF components
Carbonics, Inc., based in Los Angeles, California, recently launched its ZEBRA carbon-on-silicon technology for radio frequency components and devices in the rapidly expanding wireless, communications, defence, and aerospace markets. Carbonics is a venture-backed start-up that is focused on developing and commercialising a carbon-on-wafer single chip solution that is reported to vastly improve the power consumption and performance of wireless products – including next-generation smartphones and communication devices.
The ZEBRA product is the first available platform solution for realising next-generation semiconductor devices technologies using the novel material of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT). By leveraging the superior one-dimensional (1D) transport properties of thousands of aligned, gate-controllable conduction pathways, linear current densities exceeding that of GaAs pHEMT (gallium arsenide metamorphic high electron mobility transistor) and silicon technologies have been realised.
Ultra-arrayed carbon nanotubes represent the enabling technology necessary for a carbon-on-wafer single chip solution, and the launch of the ZEBRA wafers remains in step with Carbonics' mission to enable design engineers, foundries, integrated device manufacturers and advanced development houses access to the best and most advanced semiconducting platform for designing next-generation high speed circuits.
"Carbonics intends to shake up the billion-dollar compound semiconductor market with our superior disruptive carbon technology that is fully CMOS compatible and able to perform in the mmWave spectrum—representing perfect timing for the 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) revolution," said Carbonics CEO Kos Galatsis.
"Carbonics has achieved a unique milestone in the evolution of carbon electronics," said Ken Hansen, president and CEO of Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC). "This is a crucial first step from Carbonics toward high performance, next-generation RF electronics using next-generation nanotechnology for high performance mmWave RF and CMOS compatibility. It's exciting to see the progress from the fundamental material and device research sponsored by SRC and DARPA develop into the launch of a groundbreaking product technology."


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Coordinated School Health
Coordinated School Health in Boston Public Schools
The Coordinated School Health Model focuses on eight components in the schools that influence health. This model is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control.
Coordinating the policies and programs of these components into a systematic approach can enable schools to:
- Reduce gaps and redundancies in services
- Build collaboration across departments and staff
- Build partnerships with public health, health professions and other community organizations
- Focus efforts on improving school health, educational and social outcomes
Physical Education/Physical Activity
Physical education is a school-based instructional opportunity for students to gain the necessary skills and knowledge for lifelong participation in physical activity. In Boston Public Schools, a Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program (CSPAP) includes high quality and quantity of both physical education and physical activity during the school day. CSPAP also supports before and after school physical activity programs to promote the involvement of students, staff, family and the community.
Healthy School Environment
The healthy school environment concerns the physical and aesthetic surroundings, the psychosocial climate, safety, and culture of the school; school safety and emergency plans; and the periodic review and testing of the factors and conditions that influence the environment. This includes facilities conditions, transportation, biological and chemical agents inside and outside the school; and physical conditions such as temperature, noise, lighting, air quality and potential health and safety hazards. The qualities of the psychosocial environment include the physical, social, and emotional conditions that affect safety and the well-being of students and staff.
Mental Health/School Counseling
These services are provided to improve students' mental, emotional, and social health and include individual and group assessments, interventions, and referrals. Organizational assessment and consultation skills of counselors and psychologists contribute not only to the health of students but also to the health of the school environment. Professionals such as certified school counselors, psychologists, and social workers provide these services.
Health promotion for staff includes opportunities for staff to improve their health status through health assessments, health education and health-related fitness activities. Promoting staff wellness not only improves health, but also increases morale, and a greater overall commitment to promoting a school health program. Staff Wellness activities provide a great opportunity for positive role modeling and have been known to improve productivity, decrease absenteeism and reduce health insurance costs.
Involvement of students, parents, community representatives, health specialists and volunteers in schools provides an integrated approach for enhancing the health and well being of students both at school and in the community. School Wellness Councils, community health coalitions and organizations can build support for school health programs. School staff including principals, teachers in partnership with students, parents and volunteers can provide leadership in this area.
Designed to provide access to and/or referral to primary care services, prevent, control and manage illnesses, chronic conditions or other health problems, Boston Public Schools Health Services is a critical component of the Coordinated School Health Model. School-based nurses and school-based health centers provide educational and counseling opportunities for promoting and/or maintaining personal, family and community health.
A comprehensive k – 12 health education curriculum with a skills-based approach that addresses the physical, emotional, mental and social dimensions of health is a critical component of a school health program. By focusing on Analyzing Influences, Accessing Resources, Interpersonal Communication, Decision Making, Goal Management and Health Advocacy, the Frameworks for BPS Health Education will develop content knowledge and the necessary skills for making health-promoting decisions, achieving health literacy, adopting health-enhancing behaviors, and promote the health of others and the community.
Foods and Nutrition Services provides access to a variety of nutritious and appealing meals that meet the health and nutrition needs of all students and follow the US Dietary Guidelines. Additionally, nutrition education introduces students to healthy eating patterns and concepts that support their overall health and readiness to learn in the school community.


Bachelors Walk Dublin
Not as widely suggested named because it was used as a promenade for Bachelors, but instead was named after a property developer who built here after the quays were extended downstream from Ormond Quay in the 1670s. There has been many variants of the name over the years – Batchelours Walke (1728), The Batchelors Walk (1723 and 1728), and Bachelors Quay (1766). Before the extension of what is now O'Connell Street to the river, Bachelor's Walk extended over part of what is now Eden Quay, ending at what was Union Lane, now part of Marlborough Street. In 1914, a detachment of the King's Own Scottish Borderers, returning to barracks, fired on a crowd, killing four and injuring many other. The artist Jack B. Yeats later marked the event with the painting 'Bachelor's Walk, In Memoriam'
This quay has been heavily rebuilt since the 1980s, with only a few original buildings remaining. The majority of the buildings are poor quality pastiche attempting to recreate the variety of buildings that were here before.


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The broadleaved catalpa, or cigar tree, is a caterpillar's playground. Its large, dinner-plate size leaves provide food for the catalpa sphinx moth caterpillar, sometimes called the catalpa worm. While considered a pest in some areas, in others, according to Texas A&M University Extension, it is collected and used for fish bait.
Catalpa sphinx moth caterpillars have a distinctive black horn at the last body segment. When fully grown, caterpillars have a black head and black stripe running down their backs. The rest of the caterpillar is white to pale yellow with a black spot or vertical stripe on each segment. The black stripe on the back can sometimes be broken up into individual spots.
Life Cycle and Emergence
Pupae are found under the soil at about 2 to 3 inches. They remain in the soil all winter long and emerge as adults in the spring, around May. When new caterpillars appear depends on when females lay their eggs. Usually it is as soon as they emerge. They can lay up to 1,000 eggs and the eggs hatch in 10 to 14 days. Caterpillars can actually emerge all summer. Depending on where you live, the catalpa sphinx moth caterpillar can have as many as five generations a year. The number of generations depends on how long your summer is.
Given the large numbers of these caterpillars that can appear during the summer, defoliation of a host catalpa is a possibility. According to Virginia State University trees on high ground and in poor soil may never host an infestation. They also state that infestations don't always occur in consecutive years due to parasite activity. Because they only appear sporadically, not year after year, catalpa worms rarely kill trees.
Because they cause only cosmetic damage and do not seriously harm the tree, control of catalpa worms is not usually necessary. Defoliated trees will re-leaf and and be just fine. Caterpillars can be harvested by hand from trees and used fresh or frozen as fish bait. If you do feel chemical control is necessary, both Texas A&M and Virginia State University suggest contacting your local extension agent for insecticide recommendations approved for their control in your state.


text: BACKGROUND: The Amish and Hutterites are U.S. agricultural populations whose lifestyles are remarkably similar in many respects but whose farming practices, in particular, are distinct; the former follow traditional farming practices whereas the latter use industrialized farming practices. The populations also show striking disparities in the prevalence of asthma, and little is known about the immune responses underlying these disparities. METHODS: We studied environmental exposures, genetic ancestry, and immune profiles among 60 Amish and Hutterite children, measuring levels of allergens and endotoxins and assessing the microbiome composition of indoor dust samples. Whole blood was collected to measure serum IgE levels, cytokine responses, and gene expression, and peripheral-blood leukocytes were phenotyped with flow cytometry. The effects of dust extracts obtained from Amish and Hutterite homes on immune and airway responses were assessed in a murine model of experimental allergic asthma. RESULTS: Despite the similar genetic ancestries and lifestyles of Amish and Hutterite children, the prevalence of asthma and allergic sensitization was 4 and 6 times as low in the Amish, whereas median endotoxin levels in Amish house dust was 6.8 times as high. Differences in microbial composition were also observed in dust samples from Amish and Hutterite homes. Profound differences in the proportions, phenotypes, and functions of innate immune cells were also found between the two groups of children. In a mouse model of experimental allergic asthma, the intranasal instillation of dust extracts from Amish but not Hutterite homes significantly inhibited airway hyperreactivity and eosinophilia. These protective effects were abrogated in mice that were deficient in MyD88 and Trif, molecules that are critical in innate immune signaling. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our studies in humans and mice indicate that the Amish environment provides protection against asthma by engaging and shaping the innate immune response. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health and others.).


text:
Use of values of phosphatase activity in the serum as an index of hepatic function was first studied by Roberts,1 in 1933. who found that there was a marked increase of alkaline phosphatase activity with obstructive jaundice, a slight increase with catarrhal jaundice and no increase with hemolytic jaundice. He stated the belief at this time that, in addition to indicating an increased osteoplastic activity, an increased alkaline serum phosphatase activity might also act as a differential diagnostic measure in some types of hepatic disease.
In 1934 Davies,2 Bamann and Riedel3 found that the spleen, kidneys and liver of swine and cattle contained phosphatases which had optimum activities at two ranges of ph. One of these was at approximately ph 4.8 and the other at ph 9 to 9.5.
After the original demonstrations of phosphatases with optimum activities at two ranges of ph


text:
In crypto trading, consolidation refers to a period of relatively stable prices for a cryptocurrency after a period of significant price movement. During consolidation, the price of the crypto assets tends to trade within a relatively narrow range, without experiencing significant price swings in either direction.
Consolidation can be identified on a price chart by a period of sideways movement, with the price of the cryptocurrency trading within a range of support and resistance levels. Traders often look for signs of consolidation as a potential opportunity to enter a trade, as it can indicate that the market is preparing for the next move.
Consolidation typically occurs after a period of volatility in the market, such as a sharp increase or decrease in price. It can be thought of as a period of price stability, during which buyers and sellers are reevaluating their positions and waiting for the next significant price movement.
It's important to note that consolidation can be followed by either a bullish or bearish price movement, and it can be difficult to predict which direction the price will move next.


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Bastrop Wildfire Facts
While out in Bastrop recently for a pre-production meeting and research sessions, I found out alot about the impacts beyond just the loses of homes. The fires started on September 4th, 2011 and were declared fully contained on October 10, 2011. Three separate fires merged into the one large fire that caused so much destruction.
- Over 1 million trees burned – most will never recover from the damage
- The fire spread out over 34,000 acres within the county of Bastrop
- 95% of the Bastrop State Park was destroyed. All of the historic buildings in the park were saved by the parks fire fighting crew
- Over 1,600 homes were destroyed
- Gas and electric services were cut off to the affected areas for over two weeks
- "Root ball fires" were an issue once the major fire was extinguished. The roots of many trees smoldered for several weeks, causing frequent flare-ups.
- Home owners had no way of knowing if their home was still standing, until they were allowed to return
- The recovery process may take more than seven years before Bastrop county returns to a "normal" state.
- If you drive around the county, you'll see some houses totally untouched, while all thats left of homes nearby are piles of debris or empty slabs. The fires were so hot that they created their own wind patters in the affected areas causing the fires to totally "skip" areas.


Infrastructure at your Service
Steven Naudet
An Introduction to Pester – Unit Testing and Infrastructure checks in PowerShell
If you never heard of it, Pester is a PowerShell module, written in PowerShell.
It's a framework for writing and running unit tests, integration tests, and also infrastructure checks as we will see in a moment.
Pester is used for example to test PowerShell Core and Pester itself.
In this blog post, I'll do a short introduction to Pester with Installation and basic checks examples.
Pester is shipped by default with Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016. The version installed is 3.4.
The latest version is available in the PSGallery. It is currently version 5.1.
If you have the 3.4 version installed and would like to update it you will face errors with Update-Module. You need to use the following command to get the latest version:
PS C:\> Install-Module -Name Pester -Force -SkipPublisherCheck
PS C:\> Get-InstalledModule
Version Name Repository Description
5.1.0 Pester PSGallery Pester provides a framework for...
PowerShell function example
I will now show you a very basic Pester test.
Let's say I want to write a Pester test for the following PowerShell function.
This is a very basic function that reverses the string characters. This is the output:
Now that I have a working function I can start to write the Pester test.
Create a Pester Tests file
The Pester function New-Fixture will create a template file for me but you could definitely create it yourself.
By convention, Pester test files should end with "Tests.ps1".
The Tests file has been created.
I already edited the file and wrote the test.
This is what a Pester test looks like:
Pester basics
Pester is very declarative and easy to read.
You can ignore the first 3 rows in the Tests file, they came from the New-Fixture function and just dot sources the function to test into the PowerShell session.
The main commands with Pester are Describe, It, Context, and Should.
Describe is a block that contains tests. You will often have one Describe block for each function you want to test.
Context blocks are like Describe, they contain It blocks. They are optional and are useful to organize your test code.
The It block is the one that actually contains the test. The It block should have an expressive phrase describing the expected test outcome.
Finally, the Should command defines the test condition to be met. If the assertion is not met the test fails and an exception is thrown up. I used the -Be parameter. Many more are available like -BeFalse, -BeGreaterOrEqual, -BeLike, -Contain, etc.
In this example the test is simple. I set the expected value that I should get and I compare it to the actual value returned by the function.
Running Pester Tests
Now let's run the test itself with Invoke-Pester.
Also, running Invoke-Pester without any parameter will run all the "Tests.ps1" files in the current location.
So, everything is green. We can see that one test was performed and it Passed.
Now let's say another developer worked on the Get-ReverseString function and the latest change introduced a bug. Function behavior has changed and the Pester test will now throw a beautiful exception:
What is great is all the details (in red color) we can get when a test fails.
Infrastructure Testing
Pester is often used by sysadmin to do infrastructure testing. Your environment changes frequently and you need to be sure that your infrastructure is aligned with your standard.
Here are a few examples of such tests. The test is done directly inside a Pester code block not using a function like I did previously.
Check that my Windows Server Power Plan is set to High Performance.
Describe "Power Plan" {
 $PowerPlan = (Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_PowerPlan -Namespace 'root\cimv2\power' | Where-Object IsActive).ElementName
 It "Should be set to High Performance" {
 $PowerPlan | Should -be "High Performance" -Because "This Power Plan increases performance"
The best practice for SQL Server disks is to have an allocation unit size of 64 KB, here is the check:
Describe "File Allocation Unit Size" {
 $BlockSize = (Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_Volume | Where-Object DriveLetter -eq $SQLDisk).BlockSize
 It "Should be 64 KB" {
 $BlockSize | Should -Be 65536 -Because "It is recommended to set a File Allocation Unit Size value to 64 KB on partitions where resides SQL Server data or log files"
Here I used the dbatools command Get-DbaErrorLogConfig to get the number of files configured for my ErrorLog. My best practice is to have 30 files instead of 6 by default.
Describe "SQL Server Error Log Files" {
 $errorLogCount = (Get-DbaErrorLogConfig -SqlInstance $SQLInstance).LogCount
 It "Should have Number of Log files set to 30" {
 $errorLogCount | Should -Be 30 -Because "Best practices requires 30 logs files to perform daily recycling"
When all put together the output of the Tests looks like this:
As you can see I can easily validate that my SQL Server infrastructure is configured as expected.
Code Coverage
Code Coverage is the percentage of lines of code that is tested by unit tests.
It's an indicator of how thoroughly your code has been tested. Having 100% coverage doesn't mean that the code is bug-free, it just indicates that all your code is being executed during the test.
If I add some code to my Get-ReverseString.ps1 file, the -CodeCoverage functionality will tell me exactly what is not covered by tests:
This blog post was just to get you started on learning Pester. There are a lot more possibilities with Pester. I might cover some more advanced usages a future post like the TestDrive or Mocking.
Here are some resources I'd recommend:
You can find all the code from this blog post on GitHub.
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Steven Naudet
Steven Naudet


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 1. To describe the nature and frequency of professionalism lapses.
 2. To explain the impact of unprofessional behavior on patients, students, and the healthcare team.
 3. To identify why professionalism lapses occur.
 4. To illustrate how most individuals who witness lapses respond to them.
 5. To outline strategies to respond to a spectrum of professionalism lapses.
In today's complex and often chaotic environment, physicians are often challenged as they strive to live their professional values. Physicians may struggleto maintain their equanimity in the face of suffering and dying patients, heightened productivity demands, work-related fatigue, and distressed colleagues. As humans, we may also be dealing with struggles outside of work. Physicians are not immune to personal illness, relationship troubles, or distractions related to dependent children or parents.Rather than be surprised that lapses in professionalism occur, we should anticipate that they will occur and prepare to handle them in a way that honors the trust that society places in both individual physicians and the collective profession when they grant us the privilege of self-regulation.
Unfortunately, individually or collectively we do not always live up to this commitment. Highly publicized incidents of physicians as the perpetrators of crimes against society, ranging from financial fraud to sexual assault to even more egregious crimes are rare. When they occur, however, they raise questions about how the medical profession could have let someone with this flawed character enter or remain within the profession (Stewart, 2000). More common are examples of ethical transgressions, such as researchor practice-based conflicts of interest, where physicians have placed their financial or career success ahead of the best interests of their patients (Brownlee, 2008). Even more common are the type of professionalism lapses that don't make headlines, but that pervasively undermine the culture of respect that is essential to the effective functioning of our patient care and educational environments (Leape et al, 2012a; Walrath, Dang, & Nybert, 2013; Wear et al, 2009; Hickson et al, 2007; Samenow et al, 2013; Silverman et al, 2012). These include the daily incivilities that occur in the workplace and are characterized by disrespectful language, dysfunctional relationships, disregard of policies and procedures, and dismissive or destructive responses to clinical disagreement or uncertainty. Figure 11-1 describes these different types of breaches of professionalism.
Figure 11-1
The iceberg of unprofessional behavior (with examples).
Because unprofessional behavior covers a spectrum of actions that range from lapses to transgressions to crimes, it is difficult to pinpoint the frequency of professionalism lapses. The literature relevant to understanding these lapses can be found not only in articles that specifically address professionalism (Hickson et al, 2007; Teherani et al, 2005; Adams, Emmons, & Romm, 2008; Campbell et al, 2007; Buchanan et al, 2012;...
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How does MANET link Realism to Impressionism with "The Luncheon on the Grass"?
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The fact that what was shocking subject matter exists in Manet's "The Luncheon on the Grass"/Dejeuner sur l'Herbe, indicates his expression of individual freedom, an expression more characteristic of the Impressionists than that of any Realist painter. In addition, there are some other incongruities that defy Realism. For instance, the background in which the scantily clad woman seems to be bathing in a stream is out of proportion to the men sitting on the blanket. Thus, the painting lacks the proper depth of field necessary to Realism. Also indicative of Impressionism is that the angle of light is missing, suggesting instead the use of photographic light--the camera was just invented as the Impressionists became popular and they were intrigued with its possibilities--or, simply, the artist's interpretation of the scene. In addition, the tasseled hat of the man on the right is like one would wear indoors, not outdoors.
What is much more Realistic and very uncharacteristic of Impressionism is the clear delineation of the still life in the foreground and the rendering of the three figures on the blanket. This rendering brought Manet criticism from those who felt he lacked formal invention, a technique characteristic of the Impressionists.
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Whether you're ensuring corporate compliance, drafting your terms and conditions, or considering changing your company's name, running a company means you will run into complicated legal issues that will lead you to seek outside counsel. So why wouldn't this be the case with your human resources department as well?
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Every human resources (HR) team has multiple purposes. One is to recruit and hire new employees. Another is to educate employees on their benefits, such as health insurance and retirement plans. Another is to foster a safe, healthy, and productive work culture. HR should be keenly aware of federal and state employment laws, particularly those regarding discrimination. This department leads the way on ensuring everyone in the business adheres to these laws and any other company policies. Additionally, HR is there to protect the business. If a complaint is made, HR must handle it in a way that produces the least risk for the business. All of these functions are better supported when HR has outside legal counsel to advise them.
Up-to-Date Information
Businesses need to pay attention to many employment laws. As a small business with only a couple of employees, it may not have to adhere to certain regulations, like federal overtime rules or offering health insurance. However, as businesses expand and take on more employees, there are more laws to keep up with.
A small internal HR department may not be able to do it all, particularly when many federal and state laws are changing in recent years. Some career advice blogs suggest that HR departments should consult with a lawyer with everything from introducing new company policies to writing the company handbook. Having outside counsel ensures HR is always up to date on employment laws that impact the business.
Strong Employee Policies
To remain compliant with all state and federal employment laws, businesses need strong company policies. They need recruiting and hiring procedures in place that avoid discrimination. They need a clear employee handbook to ensure every employee is well aware of the law and additional company policies and the potential penalties for violating those rules, such as when an employee may be fired.
Outside counsel helps businesses develop company policies and draft an employee handbook that ensures the workplace culture fosters productivity, reduces employee turnover, and limits potential legal claims.
Problem Solving
When an employee goes to HR with a potentially serious complaint, sometimes the best thing to do is to hand the issue over to a professional outside of the business. Having outside counsel ensures someone who is objective and has the business' best interests in mind investigates the complaint. An independent attorney can recommend the best course of action based on the law and most recent relevant court cases.
The bottom line is that employment law is exceedingly complicated. Having a law firm already involved with the business ensures that if an administrative or legal complaint arises, the business has experienced legal representation ready to defend it.


Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
Title: Product name recognition and normalization in internet forums
Authors: Yao, Yangjie
Keywords: DRNTU::Engineering::Computer science and engineering
Issue Date: 2014
Source: Yao, Y. (2014). Product name recognition and normalization in internet forums. Master's thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Abstract: Collecting user feedback of products is a common practice for the product providers to better understand consumers' concerns or requirements and to further improve their products or marketing strategies. Even though dedicated review sites (e.g., Epinions, Amazon, CNET reviews) supply the relatively straightforward approach as user feedback about one specific product is usually well organized in a list, collecting user feedback from Internet forums is challenging. One reason is that user feedback about a product often spreads in different discussion threads in forums. More importantly, users often mention product names with a large number of name variations. On the other hand, Internet forums cover feedback from many more users. Thus, user feedback in more comprehensive aspects can be obtained. We propose a method named Gren to recognize and normalize mobile phone names from Internet forums. Instead of directly recognizing phone names from sentences as in most named entity recognition tasks, we propose an approach to generating candidate names as the first step. The candidate names capture short forms, spelling variations, and nicknames of products, but are not noise free. To predict whether a candidate name mention in a sentence indeed refers to a specific phone model, a CRF based name recognizer is developed. The CRF (Conditional Random Field) model is trained by using a large set of sentences obtained in a semiautomatic manner with minimal manual labeling effort. Lastly, a rule-based name normalization component maps a recognized name to its formal form. For evaluation, we randomly select 20 threads related to 20 mobile phones from an Internet forum. Each thread contains about 100 post messages. We manually labeled the mobile phone name mentions in these posts and mapped the true mentions to their formal names. In total, about 4000 sentences have been manually labeled which contain about 1000 phone name mentions. Evaluated on labeled data, Gren outperforms all baseline methods. Specifically, it achieves precision and recall of 0.918 and 0.875 respectively, with the best feature setting. Comparing to Stanford NER which is considered as a strong baseline, 134% improvement on recall is observed. We also provide detailed analysis of the intermediate results obtained by each of the three components in Gren and observe that features from Blown clustering are the most effective features. Removing them results in the largest degradation in F1 from 0.896 to 0.804. Two implications for NER tasks are further made based on our observation. First, if candidate named entities are able to be pre generated, a large number of training examples may be generated at very low cost for manual annotation. Second, if we can segment the sentences and pre-generate the text chunks, we are able to rewrite the sentences. The rewriting enables us to take surrounding words of a candidate named entity to be its context in a more natural manner.
DOI: 10.32657/10356/61814
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DCC Distributed Checksum Clearinghouse
So what is the meaning of DCC. DCC stands for Distributed Checksum Clearinghouse and is a function thar can be used to make a mathematical checksum of the e-mail. This checksum is sent to participants in DCC. If a e-mail/checksum has been seen enough times on the network then it can be classified as a spam e-mail.
A checksum is a mathematical formula that can take a text and make it to for example a 128 bits string. So for example the Moby Dick book will be calculated down to a 128 bit string. If one character in Moby Dick is changed then the checksum will not be the same checksum as before.
Anti spam links
Anti-spam articles
More anti-spam articles
STA - Bayesian
Spamkiller from Mcafee
Cloudmark anti-spam
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text:
A shift in protocol from the U.S. Department of Transportation might lead to shipping headaches for manufacturers.
Remember playing with dominoes as a kid? Beyond the game of dominoes itself, many children enjoyed the process of lining up each rectangular piece on a flat surface and spacing them just far enough apart so that when one fell, it knocked into its neighbor and set off a chain of events that led to a successful (or sometimes not so successful) end. When the setup was performed correctly, it was exciting to watch each domino fall in sequence and behave exactly as it should.
The goal was always the same: build the arrangement properly and work through the problems so that all of the dominoes would fall in succession. Failure to adapt to any obstacles often resulted in a break in the chain that ultimately put an end to the game.
The same kind of principle applies to the way business is conducted every day. When it comes to daily routines, most companies must manage by some type of sequence or method (most commonly known as a standard operating procedure) in order to be successful. Each step in a company's business process needs to occur in order for the next step to take place, and so on. If a change occurs somewhere along the path, it could trigger a series of events that will inevitably cause a shift in the overall process. This phenomenon is better known as a domino effect.
By basic definition, a domino effect is a chain reaction that occurs when a change causes a similar change nearby, which then causes another similar change, and so on. Most companies can adapt, but others fall victim to the chain reaction if they are not prepared.
Laying the Foundation
A shift in protocol from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) might lead to shipping headaches for manufacturers. Approximately 640,000 truck drivers are currently listed through the DOT; each one (whether self-employed or employed by a company) is asked to maintain satisfactory driver safety ratings. These ratings should be monitored on a regular basis, but very few shippers are even aware that this protocol exists and many may be using carriers with unsatisfactory safety ratings as a result.
The government has decided to step up its efforts to monitor our nation's highways by overhauling the entire safety rating system. Compliance, Safety and Accountability (CSA) is a new major undertaking by many agencies that has been handed down to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). As with most government directives, there is some uncertainty as to how this new policy will impact motor carriers, and some elements of CSA could change.
The initiative is designed to assign safety ratings to each truck driver and their respective employer in six categories:
- Unsafe driving (speeding, lane changes, seat belts, etc.)
- Fatigued driving (log book violations, including hours of service)
- Driver fitness (commercial driver's license verification, physical certificate)
- Drugs and alcohol (any violations will count heavily against the motor carrier)
- Vehicle maintenance (brakes, lamps, tires, etc.)
- Proper loading/cargo issues (overweight, over width, cargo securement, etc.)
Hiring a negligent driver to haul loads puts the liability of any accident back on the shipper/manufacturer.
CSA aims to help quickly address problem drivers and motor carriers. The FMCSA has a process in place that starts with warning letters being issued and, if compliance is not met, leads to the eventual revocation of motor carrier authority. Some companies will be forced to shut down, while others will have to spend thousands of dollars to ensure compliance. The overall goal is to ultimately reduce the number of crashes, injuries and fatalities involving commercial motor vehicles.
However, the sheer scope of this new safety program all but guarantees a significant reduction in the number of trucks available to shippers. What was a simple, infrequently updated safety rating system will now turn into a complex, monthly monitoring system that will impact the day-to-day operations of virtually all transportation companies-and shippers. Initially, CSA will eliminate many drivers from the driving pool and threaten the careers of thousands more, resulting in a substantial driver shortage.
A shortage in drivers means that fewer trucks will be on the road. This reduced capacity will likely create an increase in demand that could ultimately lead to higher rates. Unless you deal with shipping every day, you won't notice these changes until it's too late. Your rates will increase and delivery delays will occur because it will become increasingly difficult to find a quality carrier to haul your freight.
"We've started to see the pendulum shift," says Lance Turner, vice president of Business Development for FLI, Inc. "The shipper used to have a huge advantage over the carrier, because when the economy started to slide, companies weren't shipping as much freight. Carriers were hungry for business, rates were low and trucks were sitting empty. With this new mandate, we're seeing the advantage shift to the carrier. There won't be as many drivers on the road, so carriers can pick and choose what kind of freight they want to haul, and they can command higher prices."
As the demand for trucks increases, more and more companies are turning to third-party logistics companies (3PLs) to ease the burden. "As a logistics company, we have a very large number of carriers at our disposal, yet the truck pool is shrinking," says Turner.
Obstacles Facing Shippers
What shippers and manufacturers may not realize is that they will be required to be more attentive to how they handle carriers. For instance, requiring a driver to wait for an extended number of hours could result in an excess of logged service hours without a required break-a recordable CSA violation for the driver. The shipper/manufacturer will have to adjust this process. Scheduling, shipping and receiving procedures will have to be reevaluated in order to ensure that drivers are compliant with logged hours.
In addition, hiring a negligent driver to haul loads puts the liability of any accident back on the shipper/manufacturer. If a shipper/manufacturer does not perform due diligence on a driver with a poor safety score and tenders a load to a driver with an unsatisfactory rating, the liability for any accidents could fall back on the shipper/manufacturer.
Two options are available to shippers/manufacturers to keep the process flowing smoothly. The first is for the shipper/manufacturer to arrange for the shipping of its own product. In order for this to be successful and limit the liability exposure, they must have specific, consistent procedures in place.
Some liability may still exist, however. As reported in Transport Topics (4/6/09), for example, C.H. Robinson brokered a load to Dragonfly. Dragonfly's driver was driving on a suspended CDL and was involved in an accident. C.H. Robinson was included as a defendant and was found vicariously liable; the jury awarded $23.8 million in damages. In situations like this, the shipper/manufacturer could have been liable had they arranged for this shipment. Since smaller motor carriers normally carry only $1 million in liability limits, the remainder may become the responsibility of the shipper/manufacturer.
The second route a shipper/manufacturer can take is to hire a 3PL to handle the transportation of its goods. Reputable 3PLs have the infrastructure in place to monitor and qualify motor carriers. This effectively transfers the risk of brokering loads from the shipper/manufacturer to the 3PL and shields the shipper/manufacturer from any direct risk.
"With CSA coming into play, the 3PL can be a huge asset to companies that do not own and run their own trucks," says Donna Cook, vice president for Lockton Companies, which provides insurance, risk management and employee benefits services. "With motor carrier ratings being updated every 30 days, the new CSA program will be creating more liability landmines, and a good 3PL can navigate this mine field for the shipper." For additional information, contact FLI, Inc. at 12980 Metcalf Ave., Suite 240, Overland Park, KS 66213; _PHONE_; _PHONE_; fax _PHONE_; e-mail _EMAIL_; or visit _URL_.


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 Museum Explorer
Daily life in
Ancient Egypt
Loaf of bread
Height: 15.500 cm
Width: 17.500 cm (max.)
EA 40942
Loaf of bread
From: Deir el-Bahari, Thebes
Date: around 1500 BC
Bread was a main food of ancient Egypt. Dozens of different shapes and names are known for loaves of bread, which shows how important it was. This loaf is flat and triangular, but some loaves were round, others tall and cone-shaped.
Much Egyptian bread was made from wheat. Growing grain was one of the main farming activities in Egypt, and is shown in pictures on tomb walls. This loaf was perhaps placed in a tomb to feed the dead person on their journey through the Underworld. In the model granary in the picture below, you can see a woman kneading bread in the courtyard.


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From: Denyse To: Teacher2Teacher Public Discussion Date: _PHONE_:15:16 Subject: Re: order of operations You can play "Order War". You'll need to make 20 or so game cards with various order of operations problems on them. Each team of two will need these cards. Two players shuffle the cards and divide them equally. Each player simultaneously turns over one card from his pile and evaluates the expression. The player with the greatest value wins the two cards. The winner is the player with the most cards. If two players have the same value, they go to war; turn over two more cards, evaluate the expression, and whoever has the greatest value wins all four cards.
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The Catskill Mountain House
was a famous hotel near Palenville, New York
in the Catskill Mountains
overlooking the Hudson River Valley
, built in 1824. In its prime, from the 1850s to the turn of the century, it was visited by three U.S. presidents (U.S. Grant
, Chester A. Arthur
and Theodore Roosevelt
) and the power elite of the day.
The Mountain House's site, the "Pine Orchard," had long been famous for its panoramic views up and down the Hudson Valley and even beyond to the east. John Bartram
and James Fenimore Cooper
had both written about it in different contexts.
Artists and writers had discovered the Catskills some time earlier. Shortly after it was constructed, the Mountain House and its surroundings became a favorite subject for Washington Irving
and artists of the new Hudson River School
, most notably Thomas Cole
. Cooper advised his European audience, "If you want to see the sights of America, go to see Niagara Falls
, Lake George
and the Catskill Mountain House."
The hotel was built in 1823 and opened a year later by a group of merchants from nearby Catskill
on a plateau with sweeping views of the Hudson Valley on one side and two lakes on the other side that provided water and recreation.
In 1839, Charles Beach
, whose father ran a stage coach
line from the town of Catskill to the Mountain House, leased the hotel from the owners for six years and then bought it outright. Beach rebuilt the Mountain... Read More


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Native, common and widespread
The smallest of the UK's voles, bank voles have a reddish-chestnut coat with a dirty white underside. The bank vole tail is under half the length of their body and they have a blunt nose with small eyes and ears. At first sight, they can be confused with field voles, which are greyer, or wood mice, which have a longer tail and bound rather than scurry. Bank voles are active during both the day and night, and forage over distances up to 50 metres. Males sometimes travel further to find a mate. They make their nests in shallow burrows that they dig just beneath the ground, which they line with leaves, grasses, moss or feathers. They are very nimble climbers and often climb up bushes to nibble fruit and buds.
Head-body length: 8 – 12cm
Tail length: Less than half the body length
Weight: 14 – 40g
Lifespan: Up to 18 months
Litters of 3 – 5 blind, hairless young are born between April and October and become independent within nine weeks but over half of those born early in the season will die before they are four months old.
Grass, roots, fruit such as apples, seeds, and also insects and earthworms.
Broadleaf woodland, scrubland, hedgerows and sometimes gardens where there is plenty of ground cover and food.
Tawny owls, weasels and foxes.
Habitat loss and agricultural pesticide use.
Status & conservation
Native to Great Britain; populations in Ireland were accidentally introduced in the 1950s. Common and widespread. Bank voles are not legally protected in the UK and have no conservation designation.
UK population size & distribution
UK population 23,000,000. The population trend is unknown. Bank voles are widely distributed throughout Britain and the south west of Ireland.
Did you know?
A close relative (subspecies) of the bank vole is present on Skomer Island off the south west coast of Wales. The Skomer vole arrived there hundreds of years ago and is twice the size of its mainland relative.


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New Technology Aims to Prevent Drunk Driving
Cars and trucks one day may have built-in blood alcohol detectors, The Wall Street Journal reports. Research on the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) is progressing more quickly than expected, and could be available within eight to 10 years, experts say.
The technology could be built into a vehicle's dashboard or controls. It would check a driver's blood alcohol level, and would not start if the level were above the legal limit. Researchers developing the system are working with the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The next goal would be to develop a commercially produced vehicle that could drive a drunk owner home, the article notes.
About one-third of drivers killed in car crashes have blood alcohol levels of 0.08 or higher, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Devices called alcohol interlocks are already available to disable a car if the driver is intoxicated. They are primarily used for people who have been caught with blood alcohol levels above the legal limit. About 16 states require people convicted of drunk driving to install these devices in their vehicles. Drivers must blow into a tube to verify they are sober before they can start the car.
The new technology being developed would not require blowing into a tube. It could be embedded in a starter button or shift lever.
A proposed federal transportation bill would give the NHTSA's alcohol detector program $24 million over two years. The funding would allow the agency to equip 100 or more cars with prototypes of the new alcohol detection devices. One device would measure alcohol in the driver's breath, while the other would take a reading from the driver's skin.


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A Golden Tragedy is the story of a king who loved his daughter very much and would do anything to please her. One day, Penelope told her father that she wished her birds could lay golden eggs. In an effort to please his daughter, the king made a wish that would literally change everything. Illustrations support the text.
Art Around Us
The Homework Lesson


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An effective combination of resources for introducing botany vocabulary and classification. Before offering these coordinated plant materials, let children examine real flowers, trees, and leaves.
Optimally, introduce card materials after the child has explored real plants and/or has worked with the puzzles. Our versatile Card Sets allow children to match the cards to the puzzle pieces or to a second set of cards. Use two card sets to make three-part cards. Cardstock cards (4¼" x 5½") are unfinished; color in the label part before laminating. Ages 3 and up.


Fluoride Action Network
Sixty-four forty-day old male Wistar rats were divided randomly into two groups of thirty-two each. With one group untreated as controls, the other group was administered 150 mg NaF/L (68 ppm F–) in their drinking water to assess the effects of high fluoride on sperm quality and testicular histology at different developmental stages. In contrast to the control group, the F-treated rats exhibited a decline in sperm viability and a significant increase of sperm abnormalities 50, 80, 100, and 120 days after administration of sodium fluoride. Sperm density declined markedly at day 80 and day 120. The number of seminiferous epithelium cell layers (NSECL), the thickness of the seminiferous tubule (TST), and the diameter of the seminiferous tubule (DST) in the testis all decreased at day 50, 100, and 120. In short, the semen quality was impaired by fluoride in the drinking water, and the histological changes in the seminiferous epithelium of testicular tissues may be responsible for the diminished sperm quality in male rats.


Population Density
Updated on Jun 25, 2013
3.7 based on 13 ratings
Social Studies is often where math collides with history and steps in to answer the age-old question: "When am I ever going to use this?" Your social studies student can practice reading maps, charts and more all-inclusive concepts with this population density map of Massachusetts.


Did you know that MindGain is one of the few nootropics that actually has approved health claims?
MindGain has been been approved to make the following claims:
 1. Helps to support cognitive health and brain function
 2. Helps to temporarily promote relaxation
 3. Provides antioxidants
 4. Helps to maintain the body's ability to metabolize nutrients
What does this all mean?
It means when you take MindGain, you can confidently know that you are supporting your brain health and cognitive function. Period.


Theorem: The resolvent set is an open subset of \mathbb{C} on which the resolvent is an analytic operator valued function. Resolvents at different points commute and we have
 R λ(T)R μ(T)=(μλ)R μ(T)R λ(T) R_{\lambda}(T) - R_{\mu}(T) = (\mu - \lambda) R_{\mu}(T) R_{\lambda}(T)
The proof can be done as in the bounded case.
Commuting operators
The concept of commuting operators, which is of no problem in the bounded case, presents a conceptual difficulty in the unbounded one: for given operators AA, BB we would like to be able to say whether they commute, although their composite may not have dense domain. For selfadjoint operators there is a solution to this problem: We know that in the bounded case, two selfadjoint operators commute iff their spectral projections commute. This suggests the
 - Definition: two (possibly unbounded) selfadjoint operators commute iff all their spectral projections commute.
The spectral theorem shows that all bounded Borel functions of two commuting operators will also commute.
The following theorem states the reverse for two of the most important functions and shows that the definition of commutation above is reasonable:
 - Theorem: let AA and BB be selfadjoint operators on a Hilbert space \mathcal{H}. Then the following three statements are equivalent:
(a) AA and BB commute
(b) if Imλ\operatorname{Im} \lambda and Imμ\operatorname{Im} \mu are 0\neq 0, then R λ(A)R_{\lambda}(A) and R μ(B)R_{\mu}(B) commute, as it is defined for bounded operators: R λ(A)R μ(B)=R μ(B)R λ(A)R_{\lambda}(A) R_{\mu}(B) = R_{\mu}(B) R_{\lambda}(A)
(c) for all t,st, s \in \mathbb{R} we have exp(itA)exp(isB)=exp(isB)exp(itA)\exp(itA) \exp(isB) = \exp(isB) \exp(itA)
Strongly continuous one-parameter semigroups
A strongly continuous one-parameter semigroup is an unitary representation of \mathbb{R} on \mathcal{H} where \mathbb{R} is seen as a topological group with respect to multiplication, see topological group. An explicit definition recalling these concepts is this:
 - Definition: a function U:()U : \mathbb{R} \to \mathcal{B}(\mathcal{H}) is a one-parameter semigroup if the semigroup condition U(t+s)=U(t)U(s)U(t+s) = U(t)U(s) holds. If for every xx \in \mathcal{H} and tt 0t \to t_0 we have U(t)xU(t 0)xU(t)x \to U(t_0)x then it is strongly continuous. If every UU is an unitary operator, it is an unitary semigroup.
In the following a semigroup will be understood to be a one-parameter unitary strongly continuous semigroup.
In physics, one-parameter semigroups of this kind often represent the time evolution of a physical system described by an evolution equation.
 - Theorem: a selfadjoint operator AA generates a semigroup via U(t):=exp(itA)U(t) := \exp(itA)
 - Theorem (Stone's theorem): let UU be a semigroup, then there is a selfadjoint operator AA such that U(t)=exp(itA)U(t) = \exp(i t A). This operator is often called the infinitesimal generator of UU.
These two theorems are essential for the Schrödinger picture of quantum mechanics, which describes a system by the Schrödinger equation, we have now a one-to-one correspondence of selfadjoint operators which can be seen as Hamilton operators (only special operators will be seen as describing actual physical systems, of course), and semigroups which describe the time evolution generated by the Hamilton operator.
As a trivial observation we add that Stone's theorem is a (huge) generalization of the Taylor series, let f:f: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R} that is (real) analytic in a neighborhood of 00, then we get for xx small enough:
f(h)= k=0 f n(0)n!h n=exp(ih(iddx)) f(h) = \sum_{k=0}^{\infty} \frac{f^{n}(0)}{n!} h^n = \exp(i h(-i \frac{d}{dx} ))
This shows that the operator iddx-i \frac{d}{dx} generates the semigroup of translations on the real line. Now we could, for example, use Stone's theorem to prove that iddx-i \frac{d}{dx} is selfadjoint by proving that the translation group is strongly continuous.
Subtleties resulting from domain issues
(This rather generic title will have to be revised.)
Nelson's example of noncommuting exponentials
Nelson's example shows that the rather involved definition of commutativity of two unbounded operators is well motivated, because a more naive one will have unwanted consequences. It is a counterexample to the following conjecture:
 - Conjecture (false!): Let AA and BB be selfadjoint operators on a Hilbert space \mathcal{H} and DD a dense subset such that both AA and BB restricted to DD are essentially selfadjoint. Suppose that for all xDx \in D we have ABxBAx=0 A B x - B A x = 0. Then AA and BB commute.
We have already seen that on 2\mathbb{R}^2 we can define two essentially selfadjoint operators i x-i \partial_x and i y-i \partial_y that generate translations along the x-axis and the y-axis respectively. Both the generated translations and the operators commute (the latter if applied to differentiable functions, of course).
The central idea of Nelson's counterexample is to replace 2\mathbb{R}^2 by a Riemann surface with two sheets, such that walking east, then walking north takes you to one sheet, while walking north then walking east takes you to the other sheet.
We use the Riemann surface MM of f(z)=(z)f(z) = \sqrt(z). We give a brief exposition of its construction: take two copies of \mathbb{C}, two "sheets", and call them I and II. Cut both sheets along (0,)(0, \infty), label the edge of the first quadrant along the cut as ++ and the edge of the fourth quadrant as -. Then attach the ++ edge of I with the - edge of II and the - of I with the ++ edge of II.
Let =L 2(M)\mathcal{H} = L^2(M) with respect to Lebesgue measure. As indicated above we define A = i x-i \partial_x and B = i y-i \partial_y, this is with respect to the canonical chart on each sheet that projects it onto \mathbb{C} and then identifies \mathbb{C} with 2\mathbb{R}^2.
Let DD be the set of all smooth functions with compact support not containing 00. Then:
(a) AA and BB are essentially selfadjoint on DD
(b) AA and BB map DD onto DD
(c) for all xDx \in D we have ABx=BAxA B x = B A x
(d) exp(itA)\exp(i t A) and exp(isB)\exp(i s B) do not commute.
Only part (a) needs further explanation…
 - Konrad Schmuedgen, Unbounded self-adjoint operators on Hilbert space, Springer GTM 265, 2012
Chapter VIII of the following classic volume is devoted to unbounded operators:
Nelson's example is taken from the above reference, the original reference is this:
 - Edward Nelson: Analytic Vectors Ann.Math. 70, p.572-615, 1959
category: analysis
Revised on March 1, 2015 22:31:36 by Gabriele Tornetta? (


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Report: 1 in 8 Low-Income Parents Waters Down Formula
As many as 15 percent of parents who struggle to make ends meet add water to their babies' formula, using "formula stretching" to get more out of their infant food purchases, a new study published in the journal Clinical Pediatrics has found.
The study followed Cincinnati families who qualify for federal food assistance and free formula through a program called WIC. MSNBC.com reports that the assistance isn't enough for many families:
Even though the majority of parents were receiving help through foods stamps and WIC, many did not have enough food to feed their families. In fact, some 65 percent of families ran out of WIC-supplied infant formula most months. And the result, in many cases, was that parents diluted or cut back on formula for their infants.
This kind of formula stretching may have consequences for the infants, Beck said.
"There will be a subset of children who will have what is called 'failure to thrive,'" Beck explained. "More often, though, the ramifications of this tend to be less visible — problems with cognition and behavior. In some it may lead to obesity later in life."
While some might point to breast feeding as a solution, not every mom is in the position to do this for her child. In some jobs it's virtually impossible to express milk during the day when a mom is away from her baby.
"Clearly, we encourage and actively support breastfeeding," Beck said. "The reality is that a relatively low percentage of our patients breastfeed by the time they reach us. If they do, we continue to encourage it and have a breastfeeding clinic if they need it. Although they likely wouldn't require formula, we need to do education and a nutritional assessment for mom. Also, as the first year progresses, even fewer families continue to nurse."
Image: Baby bottle, via Shutterstock


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LA JOLLA (CNS) - A protein studied as a potential treatment for cardiovascular disease could actually trigger heart failure, according to a study released Wednesday by the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in La Jolla and the Stanford University School of Medicine.
According to Sanford-Burnham, researchers have long sought ways to activate the APJ protein, which sits on the surface of cells in many of the body's organs and senses changes to its external environment, as a way to treat heart disease.
The latest research, published in Thursday's edition of the journal Nature, found that APJ has a second function, reacting to internal mechanical changes within the organ.
An enlarged heart, for example, could lead APJ to respond in a way that sets a course toward heart failure, according to the study.
A team led by Pilar Ruiz-Lozano, formerly assistant professor at Sanford-Burnham and now associate professor of pediatrics at Stanford, tested enlarged hearts in mice that didn't have the APJ protein, and the organs kept functioning because they could not sense the danger.
"In other words, without APJ, ignorance is bliss -- the heart doesn't sense the danger and so it doesn't activate the hypertrophic pathways that lead to heart failure," Ruiz-Lozano said. "This tells us that, depending on how it's done, activating APJ might make matters worse for heart disease patients."
The benign function for APJ comes when it binds with a hormone called apelin. Previous studies showed that the combination of APJ and apelin directs beneficial processes such as embryonic heart development, maintenance of normal blood pressure, and new blood vessel formation.
Apelin is not involved in the harmful actions by APJ, which responds simply to changes within the organ, according to the research.


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This shower is visible during the period of December 4 to 15. It reaches maximum on December 11 from an average radiant of α=127°, δ=+2°. Its typical ZHR at maximum is usually around 3 to 5.
The discovery of this stream should be attributed to Richard E. McCrosky and Annette Posen. During 1961 they published a list of 2529 photographic meteor orbits that had been computed from double-station photographs obtained during the Harvard Meteor Project of _PHONE_. They identified 7 of these orbits as indicating a stream which produced a radiant near Sigma Hydri. Later that year, Luigi G. Jacchia and Fred L. Whipple published an analysis of 413 precise photographic orbits also obtained during _PHONE_ and identified 3 meteors as belonging to this stream. The average radiant indicated by the precise orbits was α=126.7°, δ=+1.8°.
Confirmation of a December shower from this radiant was made by observers at Waltair, India, during a survey for minor meteor showers conducted by M. Srirama Rao, P. V. S. Rama Rao and P. Ramesh during _PHONE_. During December 12-15, 1963, 5 meteors were detected from α=127°, δ=+4°. It was calculated that the radiant had an hourly rate of 6.6. During December 11-14, 1964, the radiant was again detected. On this occasion 31 meteors were detected from α=123°, δ=+7°. The hourly rate was given as 6.0. Together, these two radiants formed what was designated as Minor Shower No. 5.
A search through previously published accounts listing visual radiants reveals occasional indications of this shower's presence in the latter half of the 19th century and well into the 20th century. But the most striking series of observations extracted from these older records, are the 1937 observations made by Cuno Hoffmeister in Southwest Africa (these are radiants 4582, 4612, 4621, 4642 and 4668 in H1948). Between December 6 and 13, five radiants were noted on various days which possess D-criterions that indicate certain membership with the Sigma Hydrid stream. The average position of these radiants is RA=129 deg, DEC=+3 deg.
Recent observations of this meteor shower have revealed some interesting data. Members of the National Association of Planetary Observers Meteor Section in Australia have revealed activity to occur during the period December 3 to 19, with a maximum ZHR of 3-5 meteors radiating from RA=128 deg, DEC=+4 deg on December 11. During 1978, the same group monitored this shower during December 2 to 10. They found the hourly rate to be highest on the latter date at 5. Based on the 49 meteors observed, the average magnitude was determined as 3.06, while 6.1% of the meteors left persistent trains. The meteors were said to have a "Perseid type velocity" and 21.4% were yellow.
On the whole, northern hemisphere observers have rarely observed rates greater than 1 meteor per hour during 1978 to 1984. However, during 1983, N. W. McLeod, III, noted rates rose to 6 per hour on December 8/9, and was still at 4 per hour on December 10/11. During December 10/11-13/14, 1982, R. Lunsford (California, USA) determined the average magnitude of the Sigma Hydrids as 3.6.
Based on 8 photographic meteors obtained from papers published in 1954, 1958, 1961, and 1976, the following orbit was obtained:
Using an orbit similar to the one above, Ken Fox (Queen Mary College, England) projected the orbit of this stream backward and forward for 1000 years. The following two orbits were obtained:
The orbit of the Sigma Hydrids thus seems fairly stable. In 950, the date of maximum was unchanged from that of the present, while the radiant position was RA=125.8°, DEC=+1.1°. In 2950, maximum will occur about one day later than at present and the radiant will be at RA=127.0°, DEC=+1.6°.