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Xbase - Clever solution to laser engraving fumes.
The Xbase extraction and filtration system.The Xbase extraction and filtration system with a laser engraving machine attached on top.
The need to extract hazardous fumes from engraving lasers to protect the health of the operator and to prevent damage to the laser itself is obvious. But what is the best way to do it?
Engraving lasers burn away layers of material such as glass, wood, rubber and metal in order to make an engraving. This process releases various gases, vapours and particles that can affect the quality of an engraving or damage the laser. These fumes can also cause long-term medical conditions if inhaled by the operator.
Health and safety regulations demand that operators of equipment that produce hazardous fumes are protected. One answer to this particular problem is a fume extraction system that connects to the engraving laser.
In the past, laser owners may have connected a fume extraction system that takes hazardous fumes from the laser and discharges them into the atmosphere outside. This has several drawbacks.
To install an external discharge system can require the hiring of specialist companies to drill holes through walls or ceilings, they may also need to install additional pipe systems. If the vent is to go through the roof then scaffolding may be required and a roof stack would have to be installed and secured. All this can be expensive, time consuming and disruptive to work. It may also be impossible to discharge fumes outside, for example if the building is rented or the laser is say, in the middle of a shopping centre or office block.
Any holes made in the walls or ceiling would need to be properly sealed to prevent water leaks and if the laser is moved to another room then the holes would have to be sealed up completely and re-drilled elsewhere. Discharging the fumes outside may also cause complaints from neighbours or the environmental authorities. There is also the risk that fumes may re-enter the workplace through open windows and doors.
Discharging air from the workplace to the outdoors can also increase energy costs as heated or conditioned air will be pumped outside.
The alternative to discharging fumes outdoors is to use an extraction and filtration system such as the Xbase™ from Purex International Ltd.
The Xbase connects to the engraving laser in minutes using a short length of flexible hose and extracts hazardous fumes using powerful flow controlled blowers. The fumes are then drawn through a patented, specialised filter system before clean air is returned to the workplace. Because the Xbase returns air to the workplace there is no need to cut any holes for ducting in walls or ceilings and no heated or conditioned air is lost.
The Xbase is easy to move around, so if the laser moves, the Xbase goes with it. It is quiet in operation and because no holes in walls are required it is ideal for use in shops, malls, kiosks, schools, engraving workshops and offices.
Another added bonus is that many lasers available on the market can sit on top of the Xbase meaning an additional laser stand is not required. The Xbase also has storage space inside it that can be used in a variety of ways.
The extraction rate is fully adjustable so problems like drag marks on the work can be avoided and the system can be configured to filter fumes from most engraving materials.
The Xbase is available from Purex or a worldwide network of stockists, for more information visit the website _URL_


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What does FLEET mean in Military?
This page is about the meanings of the acronym/abbreviation/shorthand FLEET in the Governmental field in general and in the Military terminology in particular.
Find a translation for FLEET in other languages:
Select another language:
What does FLEET mean?
- group of aircraft operating together under the same ownership

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


monthly instalments. You can also start making payments, even if your monthly income has not yet reached the repayment plan trigger point.
 - Know what you'll have to repay
Not all the money that you will get has to be repaid. For example, you will have to repay tuition fee loans, maintenance loans and postgraduate loans. However, all the money that you get through grants and bursaries is yours to keep and use as you see fit.
Student loans are serious long-term commitments that will affect your financial life for up to a decade or more. However, most loans are designed to be both accessible and easy to pay and shouldn't be feared. It is in the interest of the lenders to get their money back, which means that the terms and conditions of the loans are designed to maximise your ability to repay the money.
How the Unemployed Can Qualify for Short Term Loan
Most people think that only those that have a regular job can borrow money from lending companies. However, there are lending institutions that cater to borrowers that are unemployed but who receive monthly benefits from the government. Besides, lenders would also evaluate the situation of the borrower. Some people that apply for a short term loan have other sources of income that would allow them to make monthly payments for their mortgage.
Here are the unemployed people in the UK who can qualify for any short term loan.
Allowance for People Looking for a Job
People who are actively looking for a job and are capable of working may enjoy this type of benefit and qualify for a short term loan if they have a financial emergency. The profit comes every month until such time that the person is employed. Hence, even if they are still looking for a job, these people can qualify for a short term loan.
Employment and Support Allowance
Citizens of the UK whose capability to work is limited because of a physical defect or illness receive a regular allowance from the government. The benefit arrives monthly. Lending companies are willing to extend credit because the compensation they receive is also a form of income. These government beneficiaries may apply for a payday loan or other types of short term credits.
Income Support
Income support is a financial benefit given to a pregnant woman or a solo parent of a child that is five years old or below. A person that provides care for the elderly or homeless children or orphans also receives income support in the UK.
Things that Lenders Require for Loan Approval of Unemployed Applicants
People who do not have a stable job and rely solely on their benefits must show that they are receiving a regular income that includes the benefits that they collect from the government. If the benefits arrive regularly, lenders would feel confident that you can pay back your loan. Lending companies would have an idea of how much money to lend if they know the number of your monthly benefits.
Lenders would also want to see a borrower's credit history through which they could see if you have been paying your loans and other debts diligently. An excellent credit history would help you get a quick loan. To clear all records of your debts, pay first a pending loan before you apply for a short term loan for the unemployed.
Make sure to check your credit score. Some agencies give ratings to creditors according to their reliability and capability to pay back a loan. However, if your score is low, you might still get a loan since lending institutions would also consider your source of income. In many instances, even people with a meagre credit score can always borrow money from particular lending institutions.
Fortunately, some lending companies do not ask you to have a guarantor, even if you are unemployed. As long as your unemployment benefits come on time, you could quickly get a loan. You do not have to offer collateral as well. Indeed, short term loans are the easiest to understand, even if you are not working and receiving a salary.
People who are unemployed or living on benefits are prone to become victims of loan sharks because they find it hard to borrow money from formal lending institutions. To save creditors from illegal lenders that charge an exorbitant interest rate, speciality lenders are now open for unemployed borrowers or those depending on their government benefits.
Most of these lending firms accept an online application and process them fast that clients can get their funds a few hours after applying.
When is it a good idea to apply for a personal loan?
Personal loans are becoming increasingly attractive as the requirements for getting them drop. Unlike other types of debt, personal loans do not come with any restrictions in terms of how you can use the money. They also often have lower interest rates than other types of loans, making them the go-to choice for individuals who a moderate amount of money as fast as possible.
This having been said, the amount of freedom that banks and other lenders offer through personal loans can also work against you, in the sense that they may become too attractive. Although these loans are easy to get and do not require that you put up any collateral, they are still serious financial commitments. As a result, applying for one if you have other options, or if you do not need the money for a serious matter can quickly damage your financial life and affect your credit rating.
Only apply for a loan when you need it
There are certain circumstances under which applying for a personal loan is not only preferable but may even be cheaper than if you were to use other banking services. These recommendations may seem restrictive, however, they are meant to help you maintain a good credit rating. They will also allow you to use the money from the loan to its full potential. Here are the situations when getting a personal loan is a good idea:
 - When consolidating credit cards
Although credit cards are easy to use and also tempting, they can be a financial nightmare if you max them out. The situation can get considerably worse if you have multiple credit cards that you use on a daily or weekly basis.
If your credit card debt becomes too expensive, you can get a personal loan and use the money in order to consolidate them. In other words, you will use the money to top off your credit cards, provided that the interest attached to the personal loan is lower than the annual percentage rates on your credit cards.
 - When refinancing student loans
Student loans can be as problematic as they are useful, especially if you end up having to pay a variable interest rate. Although these loans often span over the course of 10 or more years, and the monthly payments are bearable, they can be expensive in the long run. If you are able to negotiate with the bank and get a personal loan that has a monthly interest rate that is lower than that of your student loan, it will be a good refinancing option. Overall, you will have to return the same amount of money, but with a lower interest rate, the debt will be put less pressure on your personal finances.
 - If to lower your credit utilisation ratio or pay for a large purchase
Paying for large purchases using a credit card can wreak havoc when it comes to your credit score rating. If you either are close to maxing out your credit cards due to one or more large purchases or want to buy an expensive product, consider using the money from a personal loan instead of a credit card. Getting the money may take longer as the bank will need time to review your request, but the debt will be more affordable in the long run.
 - Pay for an emergency expense
There are no restrictions when it comes to what you can do with the money from a personal loan, however, this does not mean that it is not a serious financial commitment. Even when it comes to this type of loan, banks will not approve your application if you have a low credit score. As a result, try to only take out a personal loan when you absolutely need it. For example, if you need to pay for a medical procedure, treatment, or for repairs done to your home.
Generally speaking, getting a personal loan is a good idea only if you truly need the money. The fact that the banks give them out relatively easily and that the money does not have any spending restrictions attached to it should not encourage you to get personal loans to pay for luxury items or nonessential products.


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"Everyone has the right to education, without discrimination on the basis of, and taking into account, their sexual orientation and gender identity" - Yogyakarta Principles, Article 16
Educational institutions play a critical role in eliminating the social breeding ground for homophobia and in providing a safe, secure space for young people to explore their sexual orientation and gender identity. Despite notable progress in some parts of the world, the experiences of the LGBT community illustrate that education systems still largely fail to meet these expectations.
Homo'poly aims to contribute towards a better understanding of homosexuality in secondary and tertiary education. Taking a cross-sectoral approach, the project is active in eight countries, working closely with a participating university and secondary school in each. Homo'poly targets students and lecturers at teaching colleges and universities, teachers in secondary education, and students at secondary schools. It is hoped that, as these participating institutions implement, test and evaluate the resources created by the project, a greater understanding of homosexuality will be reached.
Homo'poly aims to help establish an intercultural dialogue on gender equality, with the aim of strengthening acceptance and a better understanding of homosexuality. The project is active in 8 countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Hungary, Poland and Turkey. Each of these countries brings its own set of approaches towards gender-specific education and upbringing, as well as distinct attitudes towards tolerance, diversity, and homosexuality. By offering and integrating their traditions and experiences, the partner countries will shape a diverse set of products and activities.
Beyond this, Homo'poly looks forward to welcoming you in Leuven, Belgium for two closing events supported by the project: the 2019 LEER Conference on Education Economics (April 4-5) and the Homo'poly End Conference (May 17-18). We hope to see you all there!


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by +Richard Holbrooke – Schwann cells boost and amplify nerve growth in animal models, but their clinical use has been held back because they are difficult, time-consuming and costly to culture.
A University of Sheffield team, led by Professor John Haycock, has developed a new technique with adult rat tissue which overcomes all these problems, producing Schwann cells in less than half the time and at much lower cost.
"The ability of Schwann cells to boost nerve growth was proved many years ago in animals, but if you want to use this technique with patients, the problem is: where do you get enough cells from?" said Professor Haycock, from the University's Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
"To reduce immune rejection, the cells have to be grown from the patient's own tissue. Of course, you want to take the smallest amount of tissue necessary, so the technique must be efficient. It must also be fast, so treatment can begin as soon as possible after injury. For clinical use, it must also provide pure Schwann cells. And finally, to make it viable, it has to be at a reasonable cost."
Existing methods for growing Schwann cells from adult tissue promote the growth of another type of cell, called fibroblasts, which swamp the Schwann cells, reducing the speed they grow and their numbers. This means that large amounts of tissue are needed at the outset, to grow sufficient cells for therapeutic use. It also requires extra purification stages added to the process, making it slow and costly – taking up to 3 months to complete.
Professor Haycock and his team have come up with a very simple solution: feed the Schwann cells but starve the fibroblasts. The research, published today in Nature Protocols, uses an amino acid that only the Schwann cells can break down and feed off, and are able to produce a 97 per cent pure population of Schwann cells in a much shorter space of time – just 19 days – from a small sample of adult tissue.
Professor Haycock is confident the technique can be replicated in humans. His team are trialling the same method using human nerve tissue, with results expected within the next six months.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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Engineers can be a calculating bunch, in the most literal sense. It's their job to crunch hard numbers to find solutions to all manner of problems.
But environmental engineering goes far beyond mathematics and physics. The work requires a command of a broad range of disciplines, including chemistry, biology and environmental law. And rather than designing buildings, industrial machinery or power plants, environmental engineers work to mitigate the harmful environmental impacts those projects can have.
Perhaps for that reason the discipline tends to attract more socially inclined engineers and a larger cohort of female students, says University of Alberta environmental engineering professor Daryl McCartney.
"Typically, most engineering departments are around 25 per cent female and 75 per cent male," he says. "Whereas in environmental engineering, we're at about 50 per cent already."
Rachelle Ormond is an environmental engineer based in Squamish, B.C., about 65 kilometres north of Vancouver. She chose the field because of her environmental concerns. Ormond says there's a wide variety of opportunities for environmental engineers.
"For myself, I've had lots of different jobs. I've worked at landfills, waste water treatment plants, oil and gas remediation, also working with groundwater. I've also worked with farmers and helped them with their drinking water and water treatment. But most environmental engineers have different jobs," she says.
"One of my friends is working with tidal energy. Another girl is working at a research institute that is looking at ways to reclaim waste water in third-world countries."
The demand for environmental engineering has grown over the past few decades. Today, industrial projects of any significance require environmental engineers to ensure adherence to environmental regulations, says Ormond.
"I'm signing off on behalf of my client and to the government that this meets all the regulations," says Troy Vas-sos, a Vancouver-based engineer with the international consulting firm Golder Associates. "That's an incredibly onerous task."
It's not just a legal responsibility that licensed professionals in the field must shoulder. Their foremost responsibility is the public's health and safety.
Environmental engineers need to be knowledgeable about a dauntingly varied array of subjects, and the pace of change in the profession requires them to commit to a lifetime of learning.
"Five per cent of what you do you learn in school; 95 per cent is from work experience," says Vassos, who holds a PhD and has worked in the field for more than 30 years.
Every night before he goes to bed, he pores through heaps of the latest engineering journals. "Immerse yourself in continuing education," Vas-sos recommends to anyone going into the profession. "You can't rely on what you learn in university."
Ormond highlights the long hours required by the profession.
"I think engineering is still resisting the work-life balance that some other professions are used to," she says.
And engineers spend more of their time in an office behind a desk doing design work, compared to other environmental professionals such as scientists, who spend more time in the field taking measurements.
"The scientists, the ones that love what they do, they love being out in the field," says McCartney. "Being cooped up in an office doesn't work for them."
The rewards available to graduates who can deal with the pressures of the job are considerable.
"All our engineers that are graduating in Alberta are finding work," says McCartney. "And they're typically starting at around $60,000 to $80,000 a year."
Beyond that, there's the satisfaction that comes with the job itself.
"I think for environmental engineering, it's the fact that you are having a more tangible effect on people's lives," says Ormond. "On my first job, I worked with people that run groundwater wells. So I was helping them understand what their water quality means."
As she has learned since, her work and that of her colleagues will ultimately impact almost everyone.
"There are environmental engineers everywhere," says Ormond. "Even the smallest towns, they usually have an environmental engineer. Usually there's an engineer that will make most of the decisions based on how the city will run their utilities - water, power, roads, sewage."


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You can make miniature lapel pins that resemble the flags of the world with safety pins and seed beads. Because the beaded pins hang freely from a larger pin, any motion gives the illusion of a proudly waving flag.
1 - 1 1/2 inch safety pin
12 - 7/8 inch safety pins
seed beads of various colors, as needed
small paring knife or nail file
pair of pliers
Use the point of the paring knife or nail file to gently separate the circle of the larger safety pin, then set aside. Slip seed beads onto the smaller pins, following the chosen pattern. Follow the charts from top to bottom when you are arranging the beads. For example: to make the flag of Chile: arrange the first pin with: 4 blue then 8 white beads (row 1)
When all 12 small pins have beads arranged, slip the circle end of the small pin (Row 1) onto the larger pin. Work it around the larger pin's circular loop and slide it to the head of the larger pin. Continue with the other 11 smaller pins. When all 12 pins have been arranged in place, squeeze the larger pin's loop shut with the pliers.
The large pin can now be opened and closed without the risk of the smaller pins slipping off. Fasten your pin to your shirt, jacket or hat and watch it "wave" with each motion you make.
I'm adding patterns and making the patterns easier to read. Click on the button to go to the new page:


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school, or something else that might be unpleasant conjuring the image of the image of menial labor working in salt mines.
To eat someone's salt: to be someone's guest. (Example: The least you can do when you're eating someone's salt is to help them out around the house.)
Salt of the earth: the most worthy of people; a very good or worthy person. (A biblical reference, Matthew 5:13.)
To take something with a pinch / grain of salt and take something with a grain of salt: to listen to a story or an explanation with considerable doubt.
Worth one's salt: worth (in productivity) what it costs to keep or support one.
To sit below the salt: To be of a low social rank. This phrase, first seen in print around 1597, comes from European dining halls where the host sat at the head of the dining table, and his guests were seated in order of importance along the sides. The salt cellar was placed in the middle of a dining table, which caused another division. Those seated below this point were considered the lowest ranking people at the table.
To salt away: to put money in savings, wherever it comes from. In ancient times, salt was very valuable and was used to pay soldiers in the Roman army. Our modern word "salary" comes from the Latin word for salarium (paying in salt).
To have something hung up and salted: to know everything about something. (Often meant ironically)
To salt something down: to place salt on something, such as icy roads
Please, pass the salt!
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Access to this blog signifies the reader's irrevocable acceptance of this disclaimer. No part of this blog can be reproduced by any means and under any circumstances, whatsoever, in whole or in part, without proper attribution or the consent of the copyright and trademark holders of this website. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that information here within has been received from sources believed to be reliable and such information is believed to be accurate at the time of publishing, no warranties or assurances whatsoever are made in reference to accuracy or completeness of said information, and no liability whatsoever will be accepted for taking or failing to take any action upon any information contained in any part of this website. Thank you for the consideration.


Nepali Government Should Allow Eligible Diaspora Members To Obtain NRN Citizenship: Ambika P. Adhikari
Ambika P. Adhikari, DDes., who is a Principal Planner at City of Tempe, AZ, USA heading its long-range planning division, is a well known name in Nepalese Diaspora. Obtained Doctorate in Urban Planning and Design from Harvard University, and Master of Architecture from University of Hawaii, he is a Sr. Sustainability Scientist, a frequent Faculty Associate, and was a former Program Manager, and a former Research Professor at Arizona State University (ASU). In Nepal, he was Associate Professor at Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, and Country Representative of IUCN (International Union of Conservation of Nature). He is a Fellow of American Society of Nepalese Engineers (ASNEngr), a Member of American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), LEED Accredited Professional and has a certification as a Project Management Professional (PMP). Dr. Adhikari, who has authored one, and co-edited five books related to planning, environment and development. He is active in many Nepali community organizations in North America, spoke to New Spotlight.
Aug. 13, 2019, 9:03 a.m.
Since you have been travelling different parts of the world, how do you see the presence of Nepalese Diasporas?
The total number of Nepalis abroad in 2019 estimated to be around 4-5 million. Most are temporary migrants working in several countries including in the Middle-East, Malaysia, Korea, Cyprus, and Japan.
In the past several decades, many are permanently settled, or intend to settle in Western Europe, North America, Oceania. In addition, the number of Nepalis permanently settled in countries such as Japan, Singapore, Korea and Hong Kong is small but is growing. There are also significant number of Nepalis who live in Burma and Thailand, and a smaller number in countries like Fiji, Singapore and Malaysia for a long time.
My estimate for the number of this permanently settled group in foreign lands is about 1.3 million. In the real sense, this group can be called Nepali diaspora. Out of this, about 850,000, live in the Western Worldand other developed countries.
The above number does not include Nepalis living in India and Bhutan. For Nepal, I think it is a positive trend as the diaspora is a resource for the country.
How can the diaspora contribute to Nepal's development?
The temporary migrant group working abroad for a defined period of time, sends money as remittance to Nepal. Remittance is a critical component of Nepal's national income and in 2019, accounts for almost 30 percent of the size of the country's Gross Domestic Product. The remittance amount also includes the money sent by Nepalis living in developed countries such as US, Australia and Canada and from Europe. Contrary to popular belief, a recent report shows that USA sends the largest amount of remittance to Nepal. This is due to the high income of workers and professionals who live in the US.
Monetary flow is an important contribution the diaspora members makes to Nepal. However, a more important contribution the diaspora members living in the developed world can make to Nepal is through sharing their skills, knowledge and experience related to technology, management and administration.
Since the establishment of Non-Residential Nepalese Association (NRNA), Nepalese Diaspora living in different parts of world hasan organized voice. How has the NRNA contributed to defend rights of the Nepalese Diaspora?
The Non-resident Nepali Association (NRNA) was established in 2003 with several objectives including the protection of the interests and rights of the diaspora, creation a network of the diaspora members globally, facilitating collective investments in Nepal, and promoting the transfer of skills and knowledge of the diaspora members towards the development of science and technology in Nepal.
NRNA has worked hard in lobbying for the NRN citizenship, which was finally enshrined in the Nepali constitution of 2015. NRNA was also active in working with the Government of Nepal (GoN) in creating the provisions of the NRN and Person of Nepali Origin (PNO) card for the benefit of the NRNs. The NRN and PNO cards bestow several privileges to the card holders related to travel, living, working and owning of property in Nepal. These cards also help NRNs to travel to Nepal more frequently, invest there and help enhance the business activities in Nepal.
NRNA has also focused in helping Nepal through investment, knowledge and technology transfer, tourism promotion and several other means. NRNA regularly forms various task forces to support programs in Nepal that include tourism promotion, investment, technology transfer and export promotion for Nepal.
How have the Nepalese leaving in different parts of the world been contributing to Nepal?
The major areas where the NRNs have been helping Nepal include: financial investments, knowledge, technology and skill exchange and transfer, tourism promotion, supporting education programs, sending remittances, creating connections between Nepali and foreign business and organizations and lobbying for Nepali interests.
The diaspora group themselves are also important tourists in Nepal, who travel to many parts of Nepal and spend a significant amount of money each year in Nepal. They also promote Nepali tourism by posting images of their travel in Nepal in social media and popularizing the destination. This is a free, effective and targeted publicity for tourism in Nepal.
The bi-annual Global NRNA Convention in Nepal itself is a big event bringing some 1,500-2,000 guests to Nepal. The participantsspend a large sumof money while in Nepal for hotel, food, transport, shopping and tourism.
As another example, many diaspora members working in academic institutions in the developed countries have helped to forge important formal relationship between their institution inforeign country and Nepali universities.
An example of the initiative taken by the NRNS is the Nepal Open University, which was established in Nepal in 2016. A group of NRN academic leaders from Canada, USA, Australia and other countries spent more than seven years to make the establishmentof the NOU possible. They wrote the initial scheme for the university, drafted parliamentary bills, worked with the Nepali lawmakers, and political and academic leaders, worked with several foreign universities, and also mobilized initialfunding to create the platform for the university. It was unfortunate that while appointing the leadership in the university, the Government of Nepal did not appreciate the contribution of the diaspora members.
Nepal has been talking about the need to utilize the talent and resources of non-residential Nepalis. What steps has the Nepal government taken?
The Government of Nepal (GoN) has been a solid partner of the NRNA on many fronts. GoN and NRNA collaborate to hold the bi-annual Global Convention in Kathmandu. In addition, since 2018, the NRNA and GoN are also partnering hold a bi-annual global Knowledge Convention in Kathmandu, where hundreds of top diaspora experts from across the world converge in Kathmandu. The experts present new ideas, research findings and recommend appropriate policies for science, technology, energy and other areas that can work in Nepal. The 2018 Knowledge Convention in Kathmandu was a big success culminating in a paper that recommended several crucial policies to advance science and technology education and practice in Nepal.
More recently, the Nepali government has initiated a program "Brain Gain Center" to create an up to date and real time on-line repository of diaspora resources by professional and academic fields. The government of Nepal has also created useful regulations related to the Non-resident Nepalis, and supported Nepalis in need in the Gulf countries.
New constitution of Nepal recognizes the importance of NRN allowing them to hold dual citizenship. Has any Nepali secured dual citizenship?
Although the provision of NRN citizenship has been protected in Nepal's Constitution 2015, the laws regarding the obtaining of the NRN Citizenship are still being developed in Nepal. This has been a source of frustration to the diaspora groups as the NRNA citizenship has been one of the primary objectives of NRNA right from the start.
The Nepali government should expedite the creation of legal provisions to allow eligible diaspora members to obtain NRN citizenship. NRNA has provided several useful suggestions to the Nepali government in this regard.
You yourself as well-known urban planner worked in different capacities in international organizations. Has Nepal government ever consulted you for any advicerelated to urban planning?
I work in the field of urban planning, design, environment, clean energy policies and economic development. Several years ago, I went back to Nepal and worked there for about five yearsfocusing on the environment, nature conservation and urban planning. Since I settled in the US more than one and half decades ago, I have been to Nepal several times organizing trainings in clean energy, and environmental protection. I have also done informal advising to interested groups on urban planning issues. Some local governments have also approached me for advice related to urban planning. As I prepare towards retirement, I expect to be more actively involved in helping Nepal in the field of urban planning, environmental management and community and economic development.
What are the problems Nepalese Diaspora have been facing?
Although not technically defined as diaspora, the temporary migrant workers in the Gulf, Malaysia, Korea and similar countries face several serious problems. They are paid low wages; their labor rights are marginal, and their safety and protection at work is often compromised. This is an area where the GoN, and NRNA and other diaspora groups need to work harder and provide more help and support to the NRNs there.
The diaspora groups


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How are you protecting yourself and your aging loved ones from fraudulent behaviors?
In today's episode, Danielle Howard brings in a guest and friend Jason Gross, an examiner with the Colorado Division of Securities, to discuss how to keep yourself and the ones you love safe from financial fraud activities. And as you will soon find out, often the people who fall victim to fraud are the ones you'd least expect.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why so many people fall for financial fraud scams
- Possible risk factors in your life that could make you vulnerable to scams
- How to identify scams online, over the phone, or even in investments
- What percentage of people over 60 years old have been financially exploited by a family member
- And more!
Listen in and be awakened to how you can keep you and your family protected from fraud.
Related: How to Find Motivation in Your Fall Season


Sem equation
What is SEM method?
What is SEM analysis in statistics?
Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a methodology for representing, estimating, and testing a network of relationships between variables (measured variables and latent constructs). This tutorial provides an introduction to SEM including comparisons between "traditional statistical" and SEM analyses.
Why do we use SEM?
SEM is used to show the causal relationships between variables. That is to say that a researcher may be interested in the strength of the relationships between variables in a hypothesis, and SEM is a way to examine those variables without committing to an expensive research project.
What is SEM analysis used for?
Scanning Electron Microscopy, or SEM analysis, provides high-resolution imaging useful for evaluating various materials for surface fractures, flaws, contaminants or corrosion.
What is structure Modelling?
Structural models show the organization and architecture of a system. Class diagrams are used to define the static structure of classes in a system and their associations.
What is beta SEM?
A standardized beta coefficient compares the strength of the effect of each individual independent variable to the dependent variable. In other words, standardized beta coefficients are the coefficients that you would get if the variables in the regression were all converted to z-scores before running the analysis.
What is factor loading SEM?
Factor loading is basically the correlation coefficient for the variable and factor. Factor loading shows the variance explained by the variable on that particular factor. In the SEM approach, as a rule of thumb, 0.7 or higher factor loading represents that the factor extracts sufficient variance from that variable.
What is path analysis SEM?
Path Analysis is a causal modeling approach to exploring the correlations within a defined network. The method is also known as Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), Covariance Structural Equation Modeling (CSEM), Analysis of Covariance Structures, or Covariance Structure Analysis.
Why SEM images are black and white?
In an SEM image, the signal intensity at each pixel corresponds to a single number that represents the proportional number of electrons emitted from the surface at that pixel location. This number is usually represented as a grayscale value, and the overall result is a black-and-white image.
How do SEM microscopes work?
How a scanning electron microscope (SEM) works. A scanning electron microscope scans a beam of electrons over a specimen to produce a magnified image of an object. Electrons from the beam hit the surface of the object and bounce off it. A detector registers these scattered electrons and turns them into a picture.
Who uses scanning electron microscope?
Industries including microelectronics, semiconductors, medical devices, general manufacturing, insurance and litigation support, and food processing, all use scanning electron microscopy as a way to examine the surface composition of components and products.
What is structural equation Modelling?
Structural equation modeling is a multivariate statistical analysis technique that is used to analyze structural relationships. This technique is the combination of factor analysis and multiple regression analysis, and it is used to analyze the structural relationship between measured variables and latent constructs.
Can you do SEM in SPSS?
Learn to Do Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) in SPSS AMOS With Data From the International Sponsorship Study (2016) SEM is a covariance-based statistical methodology. It allows the researcher to test hypotheses about causal relationships in much the same way as simple or multiple linear regression.
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Convert to an exponential equation
H2o2 decomposition equation


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The United States Navy has been very conservative with respect to its traditions and particularly conservative with its uniforms. On the eve of the Second World War officers were still wearing frock coats with epaulettes and cocked (fore and aft) hats, recalling the days of sail. However, on March 17, 1919 with Change No. 27 to the 1913 Naval Uniform Regulations, the Navy introduced a new blue service coat with a lapel or turned down, rolling collar. The basic design was that of a modern business suit. In this regard the Navy introduced its lapel coat before the Army. As so often was the case this coat was similar to one being worn by the British Navy. It was double breasted with two rows of three buttons.
The headgear worn with the coat was a visor hat. In the front was a hat badge displaying a shield over crossed anchors and surmounted by the American eagle facing to the left. The direction that the eagle faced was changed to the left or heraldic side of honor in 1941 on both buttons and hat badges. The visor hats of admirals had two rows of embroidered oak leaves on the visor. The hats were manufactured such that the covers were removable and might be changed to blue, white, aviation green or gray to match the uniform worn at the time.


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Early stages as far as how I'd use this with students but definitely some fun math to investigate here through Desmos related to generating pythagorean triples in a coordinate grid.
Things I notice:
When gcd(m,n) = 1 we have the primitive pythagorean triple, when gcd(m,n) > 1 we get a triple similar to a primitive triple.
Things I wonder:
How could I get spirals to show up in desmos like those in this wikipedia article?


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Both different from and different than are accepted in standard American English, and both have been in use for the last 300 years. But is one of these phrases more correct than the other?
In formal writing, different from is generally preferred to different than. This preference has to do, in part, with the historical use of the word than. This term entered English as a conjunction often used with comparative adjectives, such as better, taller, shorter, warmer, lesser, and more, to introduce the second element in a comparison. Different is not a comparative adjective. Thus, when different than first started appearing in English, it sounded grating or less natural to discerning ears.
From has been used with the verb differ since at least the 1500s, which paved the way for different from to be readily accepted into the lexicon. William Shakespeare used different from in The Comedy of Errors: "This week he hath been heavy, sour, sad, / And much different from the man he was…" Other pairings have popped up over the years, including different against, but different from and different than remain the two most useful among English speakers. Different than is common in American English, but might sound strange to British ears, and in the UK, different to is a common alternative that is seldom used in the US.
When in doubt, stick with different from. However, note that there is a time and place for different than. When what follows is a clause, than can be the more elegant choice: My grandmother looks different than I remember. From works best when what follows is a noun or noun phrase: My grandmother looks different from that old photograph of her.


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In computer games
and similar applications, sprites are graphics or animations that represent scene elements. For example, plants, weapons, or big fire-breathing dragons
. In Super Mario Brothers
is a sprite, as are the goombas
. Sprites are generally partially transparent; 2d graphics that have no transparency
are called "tiles
I had a really long write-up with code snippets
, but X crashed and I lost it.


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The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics) Teaching Equity Project (STEP) provides K12 science teacher professional development in science content, instructional strategies, technology and mentoring. Training is provided by UH faculty, staff and master teachers during summer institutes and academic year sessions on UH and K12 campuses. STEP consistently produces data to demonstrate improved achievement for students taught by STEP-trained teachers.
STEP focuses on teachers who teach high needs student populations. For 2017-18, we will provide elementary and middle school STEM teachers and high school Physics/IPC teachers with a minimum of 100 hours of professional development which will directly impact 70 campuses, 14 districts, and over 10,000 students.
STEP is completely free to teachers, campuses and districts and is made possible by funding from the Teacher Quality Grants Program for Higher Education, the Texas Regional Collaboratives for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching, the Hamill Foundation, and the Powell Foundation.


Design Theory: The Art of the Original
I've been chatting on FrontlineGamer's blog about some mudslinging that's been going on about a new game, and it brings up the old chestnut about whether you can copyright game mechanics or not. That and the related notion that there's nothing new in gaming, just reworkings of existing mechanics. I'm working up to a much longer ramble about this, but for the moment just thought I'd put a couple of ideas out there.
Firstly, as games tend to model the same thing over and over (combat, movement, etc) it's not surprising that different people come up with the same or very similar ways of doing things. It is perfectly possible to develop a nearly identical rule without ever having any cross-pollination between the developers. Seen it done several times. Done it myself. In a legal sense, the first out the door is the one that has the legal protection, but only (as I understand it) if that idea is non-obvious and unique. Is that fair?
Secondly, if there really aren't any new mechanics to be had (and that's a fairly big if), can anybody claim copyright or ownership? Should they be able to?
I know what I think. What's your view?
11 Responses to Design Theory: The Art of the Original
 1. Kevin Wesselby says:
 Hi Jake.
 I look at game mechanics and resolution methods as the 'basic building blocks' of game design.
 In the same way basic physical mechanics are the 'basic building blocks ' of electrical and mechanical design.
 ONLY the PARTICULAR way they are used in the end product, could and should be copyritable.
 EG the basic laws of physics, thermal dynamics, electrical theoretical interaction etc,are NOT copyritable.BUT using these basic laws to develop a particualrly efficient engine, would mean the specific way these are used in this instance is copyritable.
 IF we assume that all the BASIC game mechanics are known.
 This doesnt stop unique combinations of these to generate new game play ideas does it?
 Its quite rewarding to use existing mechanics in new ways.And even swop out and merge well known game mechanics and resolution methods to get new combinations and effects.
 I could post up some examples if you like?
 2. Kevin Wesselby says:
 HI Jake.
 I agree the line between 'basic' and 'developed' gets a bit grey in the middle.
 Here is are some examples,(I dont know if they are good or not.)
 'Basic Game Turn Mechanics.'(We all know of.)
 (Assuming we want a greater degree of interaction than Alternating Game Turn offers.)
 Alternating Phases.
 Players alternate taking one action/phase at a time.Actions are controlled by fixed sequential phases.
 A moves, then B moves then A shoots then B shoots, then A assaults then B assaults.
 A moves,then B shoots, then A reacts, then B moves, then A shoots then B reacts.
 Alternating Activation.
 One players takes all actions with one element(model /unit.)The opposing player takes all actions with one element.
 Alternating activations often use 'order counters' or 'activation tokens.'To add tactical planning to the game turn.
 However, if we added 'order counters' or 'activation tokens' to the alternating phase, we could free this game tun mechanic from the ridged series of sequential actions and allow more tactical decision making.
 Eg Players choose what elements to activate /what actions they perform and in what order.
 Alot of games use a defined range of effect for ranged weapons,Then roll to see/ roll to hit to determine if each each weapon shot has an effect on the target.(Each shot misses or hits.)This is usualy determined by shooter skill.
 However, if we assume the firer will NOT shoot unless they WILL put shots on tartget.Then the effective range defines shooter skill.And we can use the targets ability to determine if the shooter gets to fire on it or not.(Cannot shoot what it can not see clearly.)
 The effect on the target if engaged is determined by direct comparison of weapon effects to the resilance of the target. If we use this for unit interaction the volume of fire can be represented to get physical and morale damage on targets.
 Negateing dice rolls is a basic game mechanic, to show abilities of weapons.
 Eg in 40k a weapon with AP 4, stops targets from making a saving roll of 4+,5+or 6+
 But saves of 2+ and 3+ remain unaffected.
 However, if we say the AP value discounts the dice VALUE rolled.
 Then AP 6, reduces all saves by 1.
 A 2+ save only now saves on 2,3,4,5.(As saving rolls of 6 are discarded.)
 Ap 4 reduces all saves by 3
 A 2+ save now only saves on 2,3.(As saving rolls of 4,5 and 6 are discarded.)
 Just some examples of tweeks to basic game mechanics and resolutions, that may allow quite different game play.
 - Quirkworthy says:
 OK, but nothing that would work in court 🙂
 I once helped prep a presentation for a copyright theft case within gaming, It was one of those things where any gamer would instantly have agreed that game B was a complete rip off of game A. Unfortunately, you have to convince a judge, not a gamer, so everything has to be reduced to its smallest component part and then compared. Much trickier than you'd think.
 But I take your point about small tweaks changing things. This is the basis of what I often say about there being little or nothing original in the detail of game mechanics*, but that the way you combine those details is the clever, potentially unique and possibly copyrightable bit.
 Of course, most of what you copyright is the IP anyway, so mechanics rarely come into it other than as a way to add leverage.
 *or perhaps I'm just too dumb to think of them.
 3. Kevin Wesselby says:
 I agree there is nothing new in the basic game mechanics.(I can not think of brand new ones either.Just variations on a theme.)
 (However, there are lots of cool ways to tweek resolution methods,and use well known game mechanics in more interesting ways.And this is the fun part IMO.)
 I belive it would be better/easier to copyrite the entire system IF it is substantialy different to what has gone before.Especialy as the entire system is usualy tied to the IP.
 But why should individual game mechanics be copyritable?
 I belive its better that the new ideas are freely available to be used by game developers.Who in turn can add and change things to arrive at thier goals, and maybe progress and add more to the wide spectrum of avaiable game mechanics and resolution method sets.
 It would be awful if the same game mechanics had to be used in totaly inapropriate games because the developer was restricted by copyrite.
 I understand the desire for developers to be able to claim and defend thier work.But this realy is best done for the entire end product not the individual component parts, IMO.
 4. mattadlard says:
 Yep have to agree with this thread, and from a prspective of someone who has looked and worked on personal ideas and rules for a club before it is amazing how game rules and duel evolutio can come about.
 5. maxxon99. says:
 A ripoff is NOT a copyright violation. Only outright copies are. It may be ethically suspect to take, say, Lord of the Rings and rewrite it completely in your own words — but it isn't illegal. Note the importance of complete rewrite: just changing Gandalf to Gnadalf creates a derivative work, which for the most part requires permission from the original rights holder.
 Ideas, like gaming mechanics, can not be copyrighted — only their expression. And expression in this context means the exact wording used to describe the idea.
 However, gaming mechanics apparently CAN be patented in some jurisdictions (Magic's card tapping).
 Personally I'm quite fine with this (except the patent bit).
 6. Graham Bartram says:
 Turning a card sideways to show that the represented element has been changed is common to many games. The Pokemon CCG uses this as well as Magic the Gathering (and many others ).
 I'm sure the patent can only be for referring to this action as "tapping" or "tapped". That, in my opinion does not represent a problem for other game designers. That is until we run out of descriptive words for the same action of course. If one could not refer to tapping, turning, rotating, etc… because they had all been tied up in legalise, now that would be a problem.
 Truth be told, I can't see that any other card game using the term "tapping" could effect WOTC's profits in any way.
 I personally find my interest in any particular game system is inversely proportionate to how many times the games manufacturer oversteps reasonable defence of their products. Perhaps that's why I haven't bought anything from GW for so long. :/
 7. Tapping is a non-descriptor word used to 'rotate a card'. Fair enough the term could (is?) copyrighted. I can't see the terms 'rotate' or 'turn' being copyrighted as they are literal instructions.
 Game of Thrones uses the term 'kneel


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1. Kitchen Management
Kick-off your brewing skills with two carbonated classics – ginger beer and cola. Adapt citrus notes and spicy sweet flavours for fragrant bases. Surprise yourself with these herbal formulas while learning the The importance of process and procedures in the kitchen, why purchasing, stock control and food safety are so important to the success of a kitchen and the role they play managing costs and waste.
2. Managing Ingredients Effectively
Designing a smart menu is one of the best ways to maximise profit. But the benefits of a smart menu extend beyond just profit margins. Learn more about the benefits of managing ingredients effectively by watching this video.
3. Using Ingredients Cost Effectively
Once a menu has been designed, there are even more things that can be done to make the most out of each ingredient. The less waste a kitchen produces, the more cost efficient it can be! We teach you how in this video.
4. The Importance of Receiving and Storing Food
This video explains the importance of the procedures required to manage the receiving and storing of food, using food safety guidance to prevent spoilage and why we use FIFO.
5. Receiving Deliveries
This video explains how to manage suppliers, how to determine the risks of products when they are delivered and how to ensure they comply with the agreed requirements.
6. Storage, Food Safety & FIFO
Learn how to properly store food to prevent contamination and spoilage. This video explains the FIFO method of putting the freshest products behind the old ones. If you don't follow this system, you may end up using fresh produce that arrived that day, while overlooking stock from yesterday that has now spoilt.


1st Executive Blog
27 Apr Finding Resilience in Executive Search
The onset of the global pandemic just a year ago saw, almost immediately, a whole range of leadership business tools and processes covering business survival and adjusting to the changed business conditions that were a consequence of Covid 19.
As executive mental health started to come to the fore, new content and advice around resilience started to emerge. In the 12 months since, resilience has become as important as strategy, operational excellence and the triple bottom line. For consultants and hiring managers in the executive search process there has been precious little written about how to discover the "resilience state" of the executives in front of them during the selection process.
Eight key steps to identify resilience
With the support of our advisory network, Mindshop International, we have been able to adapt advice from very practical psychology practitioners in our network to identify eight key elements that can be explored during the selection process. We have summarised these briefly to support the executive search process, rather than suggest that this is anything more than a strong framework for additional leadership development after selection – there is more to that.
1. Where is your resilience now?
This is relatively simple open question. In his book, "The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team", Patrick Lencioni discusses in his first dysfunction, "Absence of Trust" the need for leaders to demonstrate vulnerability first to have any chance of leading, or participating in, an effective team. This simple question identifies your prospective leader's capacity for vulnerability and openness.
2. How have you managed your stress?
It is not uncommon for executive leaders to suggest that either they don't feel stress or that they thrive on it. However, the events of the last year or so and the dramatic changes to the way in which people work have created stresses that go beyond just the requirements of the role. For a leader to demonstrate a simple understanding of how to manage stress is of immeasurable value during the executive search process. This can be as simple as understanding the fight or flight response, the impact of the subconscious memory and the capacity of the intellect to manage these involuntary responses. That represents real personal enlightenment.
3. How do you manage your beliefs?
Whether voluntary or involuntary, beliefs drive many executive responses. If the executive search process can reveal how a potential leader understands and manages beliefs, we can again recognise very strong leadership potential. Typically, we would look for a description of the triggering or activating event, the beliefs that came to the fore, understanding whether they were rational or irrational, the capacity to describe their behaviour and to articulate the consequences of it.
4. Do you have a clear picture of yourself?
Self-awareness has never been more important, For an executive to have a clear picture of themself can be very powerful. This can often lead into discussions around decision-making style, emotional intelligence an understanding of where support may be required.
Download Our EBook - Executive Search, a Profession Responding to Crisis
5. What are the key elements you apply to managing change?
Research by Mindshop International founder Dr Chris Mason identified that, typically, only around 30% of change initiatives in larger organisations are actually successful. If an executive is able to describe the need to manage beliefs, develop organisational and individual capability and also prepare the organisation for change, then there is a strong chance that they will successfully manage change.
6. How do you build your capability?
It is also important to understand, during an executive search process, that leaders can take responsibility for developing themselves. In the vast majority of our leadership development work, the enhancement of capability often has to be proceeded by helping executives to create capacity – they need time! In executive search interviews, this could be communicated as an executive articulating that they need to make the time to do this self-development work. Something as simple as Covey's Quadrants, or any other explanation of the need to work on the "important but not urgent" builds confidence in leadership amd strategic capabilities.
7. How do you deal with barriers?
There is an element of the fight or flight response in an executive's response to this. In essence, we are looking for the ability to recognise past barriers, describe how they overcame them and to see an understanding of the benefits of doing so.
8. What is your resilience plan?
This is where the rubber hits the road for executives in demonstrating their resilience. In many ways, the previous seven points will tell us whether the executive has the capacity to meet the basic definition of resilience which is "bouncing back from adversity". Essentially, rather than just asking them how they do that, we have been exploring how they manage their behaviours, thoughts and beliefs; and how they apply problem-solving approaches to this while managing their stronger feelings.
We don't think for a minute that these eight points cover the whole gamut of resilience. However when it comes to the executive search process, the ability to break down the components of resilience will give us a strong indication as to whether a chosen leader will help take the organisation forward regardless of what is going on around them.
Download the 2021 Business Leader's Report


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Want to try MemSQL 6? Click here to get started. Prefer the Release Notes? They are here.
Today marks another milestone for MemSQL as we share the details of our latest release, MemSQL 6. This release encapsulates over one year of extensive development to continue making MemSQL the best database platform for real-time analytics with a focus on real-time data warehouse use cases.
Additionally, MemSQL 6 brings a range of new machine learning capabilities to MemSQL, closing the gap between data science and operational applications.
MemSQL 6 has three foundational pillars:
- Query Performance
- Enhanced Online Operations
Let's explore each of these in detail.
Extensibility covers the world of stored procedures, user defined functions (UDFs), and user defined aggregates (UDAs). Together these capabilities represent a mechanism for MemSQL to offer in-database functions that provide powerful custom processing.
For those familiar with other databases, you may know of PL/SQL (Procedural Language/Structured Query Language) developed by Oracle, or T-SQL (Transact-SQL) jointly developed by Sybase and Microsoft. MemSQL has developed its own approach to offering similar functions with MPSQL (Massively Parallel Structured Query Language).
MPSQL takes advantage of the new code generation that was implemented in MemSQL 5. Essentially we are able to use that code generation to compile MPSQL functions. Specifically we implement native machine code for stored procedures, UDFs, and UDAs in-lined into the compiled code that we generate for a query.
Long story short, we expect MPSQL to provide a level of peak performance not previously seen with other databases' custom functions.
MemSQL extensibility functions are also aware of our distributed system architecture. This innovation allows for custom functions to be executed in parallel across a distributed system, further enhancing overall performance.
Benefits of extensibility include the ability to centralized processes in the database across multiple applications, the performance of embedded functions, and the potential to create new machine learning functions as detailed later in this post.
Query Processing Performance
MemSQL 6 includes breakthrough improvements in query processing. One area is through operations on encoded data. MemSQL 6 includes dictionary encoding, which can translate data into highly compressed unique values that can then be used to conduct incredibly fast scans.
Consider the example of a public dataset about every airline flight in the United States from 1987 until 2015, as outlined in our blog post Delivering Scalable Self Service Analytics.
With this dataset MemSQL can encode and compress the data, allowing for extremely rapid scans of up to 1 billion rows per second per core.
MemSQL 6 also makes use of improvements to the Intel advancements with Single Instruction, Multiple Data (SIMD). This technique allows the CPU to complete multiple data operations in a single instruction, essentially vectorizing and parallel processing the query.
The benefits of these query processing advancements include having a detailed data view without needing to pre-process the data. This further allows for interactive analysis on raw, unaggregated data, providing the most up-to-date and accurate query results possible.
Enhanced Online Operations
To power mission critical applications, data platforms must be online all the time, and with MemSQL 6 we have enhanced our ability for MemSQL to operate online. The benefits of these improvements include more sophisticated monitoring and recovery, easier application development, and improved overall availability.
Machine Learning and MemSQL 6
MemSQL 6 helps close the gap between machine learning and operational applications in three areas:
- Built-in machine learning functions
- Real-time machine learning scoring
- Machine learning in SQL with extensibility
Built-in Machine Learning Functions
MemSQL 6 includes new machine learning functions like DOT_PRODUCT, which can be used for real-time image recognition but also for any application requiring the comparison of two vectors. While this function itself is not new in the world of machine learning, MemSQL now delivers this function within its distributed SQL database, enabling an unprecedented level of performance and scale.
For more information, check out this blog post, An Engineering View on Real-Time Time Machine Learning.
Real-Time Machine Learning Scoring
MemSQL includes the ability to manage real-time data pipelines with custom transformations at ingest. This transformation can also deliver the execution and scoring using a machine learning model. For example, you may choose to take a machine learning model from SAS and export it using PMML, the predictive modeling markup language.
This allows real-time scoring on ingest and co-locating the raw data and the instant score next to each other in the same row in the same table. This simple structure, sets a foundation for easy predictive analytics.
Enabling Machine Learning in SQL with Extensibility
The new MemSQL extensibility functions also enable a new approach to machine learning directly in SQL. This can dramatically shorten the gap between data science and production applications as operations occur on the live data, and models can be trained and updated to incorporate and reflect the most recent data.
We recently showcased an example of this with k-means clustering by simply using native SQL and MemSQL. You can see the presentation here on Slideshare.
Taking Machine Learning Real-Time
With the new features of MemSQL 6 including extensibility and query performance, we expect more machine learning applications to incorporate MemSQL as the persistent data store.
The MemSQL architecture is well suited to work in conjunction with other machine learning systems, and real-time data pipelines. For example, MemSQL includes:
- A distributed, scale out architecture well suited to performance and large scale workloads
- An open source MemSQL Spark Connector for high-throughput, highly-parallel, and bidirectional connectivity to Spark
- Native integration with Kafka message queues including the ability to support exactly-once semantics
- Full transactional SQL semantics so you can build production applications for the front lines of your business
Together, we see these capabilities as foundational for real-time machine learning workloads, and we invite you to try the latest version of MemSQL today _URL_.
Sponsored by MemSQL


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What does CMCC mean in Museums?
This page is about the meanings of the acronym/abbreviation/shorthand CMCC in the Community field in general and in the Museums terminology in particular.
Find a translation for CMCC in other languages:
Select another language:
Discuss this CMCC abbreviation with the community:
Use the citation below to add this abbreviation to your bibliography:
CMCC also stands for:
- Canadian Memorial
- Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College
- Canadian Motor Carrier Consortium
- Cape May County Campus
- Central Maine Community College
... and 24 more »


Variable width histogram aggregationedit
This functionality is experimental and may be changed or removed completely in a future release. Elastic will take a best effort approach to fix any issues, but experimental features are not subject to the support SLA of official GA features. We're evaluating the request and response format for this new aggregation. For feature status, see #58573.
This is a multi-bucket aggregation similar to Histogram. However, the width of each bucket is not specified. Rather, a target number of buckets is provided and bucket intervals are dynamically determined based on the document distribution. This is done using a simple one-pass document clustering algorithm that aims to obtain low distances between bucket centroids. Unlike other multi-bucket aggregations, the intervals will not necessarily have a uniform width.
The number of buckets returned will always be less than or equal to the target number.
Requesting a target of 2 buckets.
POST /sales/_search?size=0
 "aggs": {
 "prices": {
 "variable_width_histogram": {
 "field": "price",
 "buckets": 2
 "aggregations": {
 "prices": {
 "buckets": [
 "min": 10.0,
 "key": 30.0,
 "max": 50.0,
 "doc_count": 2
 "min": 150.0,
 "key": 185.0,
 "max": 200.0,
 "doc_count": 5
This aggregation cannot currently be nested under any aggregation that collects from more than a single bucket.
Clustering Algorithmedit
Each shard fetches the first initial_buffer documents and stores them in memory. Once the buffer is full, these documents are sorted and linearly separated into 3/4 * shard_size buckets. Next each remaining documents is either collected into the nearest bucket, or placed into a new bucket if it is distant from all the existing ones. At most shard_size total buckets are created.
In the reduce step, the coordinating node sorts the buckets from all shards by their centroids. Then, the two buckets with the nearest centroids are repeatedly merged until the target number of buckets is achieved. This merging procedure is a form of agglomerative hierarchical clustering.
A shard can return fewer than shard_size buckets, but it cannot return more.
Shard sizeedit
The shard_size parameter specifies the number of buckets that the coordinating node will request from each shard. A higher shard_size leads each shard to produce smaller buckets. This reduce the likelihood of buckets overlapping after the reduction step. Increasing the shard_size will improve the accuracy of the histogram, but it will also make it more expensive to compute the final result because bigger priority queues will have to be managed on a shard level, and the data transfers between the nodes and the client will be larger.
Parameters buckets, shard_size, and initial_buffer are optional. By default, buckets = 10, shard_size = buckets * 50, and initial_buffer = min(10 * shard_size, 50000).
Initial Bufferedit
The initial_buffer parameter can be used to specify the number of individual documents that will be stored in memory on a shard before the initial bucketing algorithm is run. Bucket distribution is determined using this sample of initial_buffer documents. So, although a higher initial_buffer will use more memory, it will lead to more representative clusters.
Bucket bounds are approximateedit
During the reduce step, the master node continuously merges the two buckets with the nearest centroids. If two buckets have overlapping bounds but distant centroids, then it is possible that they will not be merged. Because of this, after reduction the maximum value in some interval (max) might be greater than the minimum value in the subsequent bucket (min). To reduce the impact of this error, when such an overlap occurs the bound between these intervals is adjusted to be (max + min) / 2.
Bucket bounds are very sensitive to outliers


matches any Unicode character that represents a letter (lower case, upper case, modified or unmodified).
If you have to stick with JavaScript and cannot use the library suggested by Tim Down, the only options are probably either blacklisting or whitelisting. But your bounty mentions that blacklisting is not actually an option in your case. So you will probably simply have to include the special characters from your relevant language manually. So you could simply do this:
var desired = stringToReplace.replace(/[^\w\sñáóí]/gi, '');
Or use their corresponding Unicode sequences:
var desired = stringToReplace.replace(/[^\w\s\u00F1\u00C1\u00F3\u00ED]/gi, '');
Then simply add all the ones you want to take care of. Note that the case-insensitive modifier also works with Unicode sequences.
share|improve this answer
Your Answer


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BBC News
watch One-Minute World News
Last Updated: Monday, 14 April, 2003, 13:26 GMT 14:26 UK
DNA chip gives drug advice
Genetic information can show how well people process drugs
Doctors will be able to personally tailor treatments using a DNA test which shows which drugs will work best.
Its makers Roche say the chip will cut out the need for patients to try out a series of drugs, risking side effects or reactions, before finding the right one for them.
The chip will be able to analyse drugs used to treat conditions including heart disease and psychiatric disorders.
The test will be used in high-tech laboratories in the US from May, and the company is also seeking European approval for the chip.
Factors such as age, what other drugs a patient is taking, diet and how ill a person is affects how well a drug works.
Most harmful drug reactions will not be solved by this technology
Dr Helen Wallace, Genewatch
But variations in genes controlling how drugs are metabolised, transported around and used by the body also have an influence.
The Roche test focuses on a drug-metabolising enzyme called CYP2D6.
Around 7% of Caucasians are known to lack the enzyme, making them poor metabolisers of drugs.
Another 2 to 4% have enzymes which either function inefficiently or too well, causing problems in how the body processing drugs.
The test takes blood cells, or cells from the inside of the mouth and amplifies the area of the genes which control how the enzyme works.
Scientists can see read the genetic pattern they to see to identify the problem.
Everyone has two copies of each gene.
Amplichip - copyright Roche
The chip tests for the presence of a key enzyme
If the test shows defects in each copy, the person will metabolise drugs poorly.
If the person has one normal and one duplicated version, they will be "ultrarapid" metabolisers.
Walter Koch, director of the pharmacogenetics department at Roche Molecular Systems where the test was developed, said knowing a patient's genetic make-up would help doctors tailor the treatment.
"Knowledge of the intrinsic genetically-determined metabolic activity will allow physicians to adjust doses accordingly to reduce the potential for adverse reactions and to improve drugs' efficiency."
Dr Helen Wallace of the UK campaign group GeneWatch said genetic make-up could not be relied upon as an accurate predictor of how people will respond to drugs.
She told BBC News Online: "There are potential dangers as well as benefits in using genetic test results to decide who gets which medicine.
"Poor predictions, or wrong test results, could mean people are wrongly denied a medicine they need, or given one which could be harmful.
"Most harmful drug reactions will not be solved by this technology - we need much better management of medicines, so side-effects are quickly found and tackled."
Human genome finally complete
13 Apr 03 | Science/Nature
Scientists crack human code
26 Jun 00 | Science/Nature
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Using the implicit function theorem one can prove the following:
Let $X,Y$ be Banach-spaces, $U\subset X$ open, $f\colon U\to \mathbf{R}$, $g\colon U\to Y$ continuously differentiable function. If $f|_{g^{-1}(0)}$ has a local extremum at $x$, and $g'(x)\in L(X;Y)$ has a right inverse in $L(Y;X)$, then there is a unique $\lambda\in Y^*$, such that $f'(x)=\lambda\circ g'(x)$.
One can also give some second order necessary and sufficient conditions. This generalizes the case where $Y$ is finite dimensional, and $g'(x)$ is surjective. However I have seen some texts that claimed that only surjectivity is sufficient even in the infinite dimensional case.
My question is does that hold true? If it does what is the method of the proof, because I cannot figure how the implicit function theorem could be used. If the proof is complicated I would appreciate even just some good references.
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Yes, surjectivity of dg(x) is sufficient.
The proof is not very complicated, but takes some work. The reference cited by Planetmath is: Eberhard Zeidler. Applied functional analysis: main principles and their applications. Springer-Verlag, 1995. Take a look at page 268 and following.
The key ingredient is a weaker formulation of the implicit function theorem: Suppose $F: X \times Y \to Z$ is $C^1$ in a neighbourhood of $0$, with $F(0,0) = 0$ and $D_Y F(0,0) : Y \to Z$ is surjective. Then,
(1) For each $r > 0$, there exists $\rho > 0$ so for every $|| u || < \rho$, there exists $v = v(u)$ with $F(u, v(u) ) = 0$ and $|| v || < r$.
(2) There exists $d > 0$ so that $|| v(u) || \le d || D_Y F(0,0) v(u) ||$.
The proof of this is a bit more delicate than the standard implicit function theorem, but you use the closed range theorem to construct a surrogate for the inverse, and then use this to construct your iteration.
You then prove the Lagrange multiplier theorem from this, essentially following the standard proof (presumably the one you had in mind above).
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Posterior Foraminotomy and Discectomy
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You should consult with your medical professional about the best course of action to take to prepare for your surgery. This surgery generally requires the use of general anesthesia, so you should follow general guidelines such as refraining from food or drink the night before surgery and avoiding certain medications.
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An incision is made on the back of the neck and muscles are dissected from the affected bone. A drill is used in order to widen the opening through which the nerves pass. Any bone spurs are removed. After the opening is widened, the disc space is examined. If a herniated disc needs to be removed, it will be removed and proper bone grafts will be inserted.
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Impairment Notification Forms
A protection impairment occurs when a fire (or explosion) prevention, protection, alarm or supervisory system is shut off, impaired or otherwise taken out of service completely or in part. The protective, alarm or supervisory function then cannot be met. Fire protection systems include sprinkler, water spray, carbon dioxide and clean agent systems.
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A new periodicity lemma
Fan, K., Smyth, W.F. and Simpson, R.J. (2005) A new periodicity lemma. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 3537. pp. 257-265.
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Given a string x = x[1..n], a repetition of period p in x is a substring u r = x[i..i + rp − 1], p = |u|, r ≥ 2, where neither u = x[i..i + p − 1] nor x[i..i + (r + 1)p − 1] is a repetition. The maximum number of repetitions in any string x is well known to be Θ(nlog n). A run or maximal periodicity of period p in x is a substring u r t = x[i..i + rp + |t| − 1] of x, where u r is a repetition, t a proper prefix of x, and no repetition of period p begins at position i – 1 of x or ends at position i + rp + |t|. In 2000 Kolpakov and Kucherov showed that the maximum number ρ(n) of runs in any string x is O(n), but their proof was nonconstructive and provided no specific constant of proportionality. At the same time, they presented experimental data strongly suggesting that ρ(n) < n. In this paper, as a first step toward proving this conjecture, we present a periodicity lemma that establishes limitations on the number of squares, and their periods, that can occur over a specified range of positions in x. We then apply this result to specify corresponding limitations on the occurrence of runs.
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to share their experience and knowledge with the I-Tracker project.
The Cyber Tracker sequences, worked on by Shaun Ansell from the Djelk Rangers, includes the following patrol types and activities:
· AQIS patrol
· Customs patrol
· Marine debris patrol
· Sick and stranded wildlife reporting
· Dugong and marine turtle monitoring
· Turtle nesting monitoring
· Fish kill reporting
· Commercial fishing monitoring
· Recreational and commercial boating activity monitoring
More areas will be developed over time, with potential sequences such as recording bird species for Birds Australia, crocodile egg collection and weed surveys.
More information: Joshua Kitchens, NAILSMA, _EMAIL_
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Special issue of Cultural Studies of Science Education (vol. 3, no. 3) - Indigenous Knowledge in Science Education
The special issue of Cultural Studies of Science Education (vol. 3, no. 3) with the theme Indigenous Knowledge in Science Education will be out in mid September. Click here for the Table of Contents.
Middle school Torres Strait Islander students' descriptions of energy and force. (Having trouble with page wrapping, sorry - I will try to fix.)
Research is being conducted by James Cook University into how effectively middle school students from the Torres Strait Islands are learning the scientific concepts of energy and force. These are key concepts in the Queensland science curriculum, which is taught in English. The researcher, Philemon Chigeza, elicited descriptions of energy and force with 44 middle school Torres Strait Islander (TSI) students studying at Djarragun College, Gordonvale. English is the majority of students' second or third language. Three categories of concept descriptions were identified: students who could use scientific genre to explain and demonstrate the concepts of energy and force (20%); students who could use limited scientific genre to explain and demonstrate the concepts of energy and force in terms of direct action (35%); and students who could not use scientific genre to neither describe in English nor display by direct action their knowledge of energy and force (45%).
In trying to understand TSI students' conceptual perspectives, the researcher consulted five TSI teachers and assistant teachers and local word banks to investigate how meta concepts of energy and force translate from common TSI languages. The meta-concepts energy and force need to be taught in English as comparable abstract concepts in the students' indigenous languages can not be found. However, the large majority of students in the study had difficulty communicating in English; only 16% spoke standard Australian English and the large majority of students struggled to understand the English terms used in the science classroom. The TSI students have to navigate language negotiations before negotiating the language challenges in science learning.
Second International Conference on Religion and Media
Tehran and Qom, Iran
9-12 November 2008
The Second International Conference on Religion and Media will be held in Tehran and Qom, Iran, from November 9th to 12th, 2008. We cordially invite all media researchers and scholars, representatives from diverse religious traditions, professionals and students involved with the subjects of the conference to attend and submit a paper. Further information could be found at conference website: _URL_
First International Conference on Popular Culture and Education in Asia
Hong Kong Institute of Education
11-13 December 2008.
We are pleased to inform you that The First International Conference on Popular Culture and Education in Asia is to be held at the Hong Kong Institute of Education from 11 to 13 December 2008. This conference will bring together researchers from a variety of disciplines to focus on the implications of intra-regional flows of popular culture in East and Southeast Asia for educational practices and youth development.
This conference welcomes researchers and scholars from the fields of Sociology, Cultural Studies, Media Studies, Anthropology, Language and Literacy, Music, Visual Studies, Asian Studies, Education and other disciplines that popular culture seriously. It also welcomes papers that elucidate changing patterns in Asian popular culture as well as papers that explore implications and applications of youth engagement with popular culture inside and outside the classroom. Submission deadline of paper proposals is 31 August 2008.
For further details, please refer to the attached poster or visit the conference website at _URL_
DreamCatching 2009: Hands-on Workshops in Math and Science for Teachers of Aboriginal Students
May 3-6, 2009
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, MB, CANADA
Mount Pleasant Educational Services Inc. (MPES) is pleased to announce the sixth edition of DreamCatching, a series of professional development workshops specifically designed for educators who work with Aboriginal students, It focuses on the exploration of math, science and ICT integration in a hands-on, interactive setting.
For the first time, DreamCatching 2009 will offer concurrent knowledge sharing sessions led by people who are actively engaged in considering how science and math can support the growth of Native students.
* Classroom teachers who've developed great
* Post-secondary educators whose research extends to the hands-on.
* Elders who know how science and math can support the continuity and health of the community.
Concurrent sessions will be 1-hour, hands-on sessions focusing on key topics in math, science, IT and integration of indigenous knowledge. They will be offered at the same time as limited enrollment workshops. Facilitators for the knowledge sharing sessions will be asked to present in one of the conference threads, and will be selected through a peer-review process.
Several sharing session blocks will be reserved for graduate student presentations. Each of these blocks will allow 3 graduate students to present or discuss their research and its implications for classroom practice.
This portion of the program will complement the longer workshop explorations and provide the basis for a published proceedings that will be made available and widely disseminated after the event.
Updated information will be provided shortly at _URL_. In the mean time, for more information please contact Dawn Wiseman, _EMAIL_ or _PHONE_.
Ninth International Conference on Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations
The Diversity Conference has a history of bringing together scholarly, government and practice-based participants with an interest in the issues of diversity and community. The Conference examines the concept of diversity as a positive aspect of a global world and globalised society. Diversity is in many ways reflective of our present world order, but there are ways of taking this further without necessary engendering its alternatives: racism, conflict, discrimination and inequity. Diversity as a mode of social existence can be projected in ways that deepen the range of human experience. The Conference will seek to explore the full range of what diversity means and explore modes of diversity in real-life situations of living together in community. The Conference supports a move away from simple affirmations that 'diversity is good' to a much more nuanced account of the effects and uses of diversity on differently situated communities in the context of our current epoch of globalisation.
As well as impressive line-up of international main speakers, the Conference will also include numerous paper, workshop and colloquium presentations by practitioners, teachers and researchers. We would particularly like to invite you to respond to the Conference Call-for-Papers. Presenters may choose to submit written papers for publication in the fully refereed International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations. If you are unable to attend the Conference in person, virtual registrations are also available which allow you to submit a paper for refereeing and possible publication in this fully refereed academic Journal, as well as access to the electronic version of the Conference proceedings.
Proposals are reviewed within four weeks of submission. Full details of the Conference, including an online proposal submission form, are to be found at the Conference website - _URL_
40th Australasian Science
Education Research Association (ASERA) conference
1-4 July 2009
Geelong, Victoria, Australia
The ASERA conference has for some decades now been a major venue for sharing research by Australian, New Zealand and international researchers. The conference is noted for its collegial atmosphere and support of new and emerging researchers, and has been an important institution for nurturing a lively and world renowned culture of science education research in Australasia. The Deakin STEME group is pleased to host ASERA 2009. The group has a strong record of publication and high impact research, and its science education researchers are active in a number of research areas strongly represented at ASERA. (The ASERA website is at _URL_
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
This is mostly a summary of upcoming conferences. More
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contact is usually included. Inclusion of conferences in this list is not to be
read as an endorsement of the conference.
8-12 August: 10th Garma Festival, Nhulunbuy NT Australia _URL_ (Jun08)
16-24 August: National Science Week 08 (Australia) _URL_
September: TSCF 2008 International Social Capital Conference, "Perspectives on
Social Capital and Social Inclusion", Buggiba, Malta. _URL_ (Dec07)
21-26 September: 13th IOSTE Symposium, "The use of science and technology education for peace and sustainable development". Izmir, Turkey _URL_ (April08


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The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, on March 4, 1965, and was the oldest of five children. Just as he describes in The Kite Runner, Kabul was a cosmopolitan city at the time. Western culture, including movies and literature, mixed with Afghan traditions, such as kite fighting in the winter. Lavish parties were normal at the Hosseini family's home in the upper-middle class neigborhood of Wazir Akbar Khan. Hosseini's father served as a diplomat with the Afghan Foreign Ministry, and his mother taught Farsi and history at a local high school for girls. Then, in 1970, the Foreign Ministry sent his father to Iran. While the family only spent a few years there, Hosseini taught a Hazara man, who worked as a cook for the family, how to read and write. By this time, Khaled Hosseini was already reading Persian poetry as well as American novels, and he began writing his own short stories.
Repeated moves marked the next decade of the Hosseini family's life. They returned to Kabul in 1973, the year Mohammad Daoud Khan, overthrew his cousin, Zahir Shah, the Afghan King, in a coup d'etat. The Afghan Foreign Ministry relocated the Hosseini family to Paris in 1976. Though they hoped to return to Afghanistan in 1980, that was not possible because of a military invasion by the Soviet Union. Instead, the Hosseinis moved to San Jose, California after they were granted political asylum in the United States. Khaled Hosseini went on to graduate from high school in 1984 and attended Santa Clara University, where he received his bachelor's degree in Biology in 1988. In 1993, he earned his Medical degree from University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, and in 1996 he completed his residency at Cedars-Sinai medical Center in Los Angeles, making him a full-fledged doctor.
While Khaled Hosseini has said before that his first novel is largely fictional, he acknowledges that the Afghanistan he knew as a child inspired it. Like his main character, Amir, Khaled Hosseini enjoyed Western films and kite fighting. He also lived in a pre-revoltionary Afghanistan that had not yet been ravaged by the Soviet invasion and subsequent Taliban rule. In a 2003 interview with Newsline, Khaled Hosseini said the passages in the book most resembling his life are those of Amir and Baba as immigrants in the United States. When the Hosseinis arrived in California, they had difficulty adjusting to the new culture, and for a short time his family lived on welfare. He also remembers the local flea market where he and his father worked briefly among other Afghans, just as Amir and Baba did in the book.
Although the period of adjustment passed and Khaled Hosseini became a successful practicing doctor in 1996, he felt deeply influenced by what he recalled of his homeland, and he began writing "The Kite Runner" in March 2001. Two years later, in the midst of the U.S. war in Afghanistan, Riverhead Books published the book. "The Kite Runner" became an international bestseller, with more than eight million copies in print. It also received numerous book awards, including the the Boeke Prize, the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Award, and the Literature to Life Award. In 2007, it was made into a feature film. The movie encountered some problems. The children who played Hassan, Amir and Sohrab, and a fourth boy with a smaller role, had to be moved out of the country. Hassan's rape scene in the film, along with Sohrab's abuse at the hands of the Taliban, put the young actors and their families in possible danger, as some Afghans found the episode insulting. In May 2007, Khaled Hosseini published his second book, "A Thousand Splending Suns," which also became a bestseller.
Khaled Hosseini's literature also changed his personal life. After nearly twenty-seven years, he returned to Afghanistan to see what had become of his country and his people. Like Amir, he was able to find his father's old home, but he also recognized that war and brutality destroyed the place where he grew up. His efforts to bring attention to the plight of refugees earned him the Humanitarian Award from the United Nations Refugee Agency in 2006, and he became a U.S. goodwill envoy to the organization. It was during a 2007 trip as an envoy that he was inspired to start his own non-profit group. He created the Khaled Hosseini Foundation, which funds projects to empower vulnerable groups in Afghanistan, such as women and children. Today, Khaled Hosseini writes full-time. He continues to live in Northern California with his wife, Roya, and their two children.