Detecting collision on lines which are on an angle
09-04-2001, 04:38 AM
I've got a program that generates random landscapes for my moon lander game
ive made a flat point etc to land on but my problem is detecting if the ship crashes into the lines that arnt the landing pad.
iam using an array of points that are joined up as lines
ive tried using gradients but i havent got that to work,
has anyone got some code or suggestions?
09-04-2001, 09:53 AM
I am assuming your landing ship is a picture box or an image made of a rectangle, correct?
Try this:
1. Each time you move the ship, calculate the location of the center point of the ship: (Left + Width)/2, (Top + Height) / 2
2. Determine a "radius" length from the center of your ship at which distance the ship would collide with an object. You can do a cheap estimate of this radius by taking the width or height of your ship (which ever is greater) and dividing by 2.
3. Loop through each point in your array of points to see if that point is within the radius distance from the center point of your ship. To calculate the distance between your ship's center point and a point on the landscape, use the Pythagorean Theorem (yes, there IS a use for school math!!). The Pythagorean Theorem is used to calculate the length between two different points. The formula is A-squared plus B-squared equals C-squared. Here's an example:
The ship's center point is at 50,50.
A point of land is at 60,60.
The ship's 'radius' is 10.
so, to compute (^2 means squared):
Distance^2 = (50-60)^2 + (50-60)^2
Distance^2 = 100+100
Distance^2 = 200
Distance is about 14
Thus, since the distance between the center of the ship and the point of land is about 14 (and 14 is greater than the ship's 'radius' of 10), there is no collision.
To do this in code, you could put something like this:
Dim Radius as Integer
Dim Distance as Single
Dim ShipX as Integer 'The X coordinate of the center of the ship
Dim ShipY as Integer 'The Y coordinate of the center of the ship
Dim LandX as Integer
Dim LandY as integer
ShipX = (Ship.Left + Ship.Width)/2
ShipY = (Ship.Top + Ship.Height)/2
LandX = TerrainPoint.X 'Or whatever you called your terrain point variable
LandY = TerrainPoint.Y
Radius = Ship.Height/2
Distance = Sqr((ShipX - LandX)^2 + (ShipY-LandY)^2)
if Distance <= Radius then
End if
I hope this helps.
09-05-2001, 10:00 AM
i dont quite understand how using the distant of the landscape between the ship will detect the collision
because i'll be using multiple lines and i want to be able to detect if the ship hits in between the lines
09-05-2001, 10:24 AM
This might be a complicated way to do it, but you could use the CreateRectRgn and CombineRgn API calls to create a region the shape of your terrain. Even if it is a bunch of angled lines, you could do it by approximating it into a large number of narrow rectangles and combining them together. Then you could use another function, whose name escapes me at the moment, to test whether or not a rectangle is within or touching the region. Something like "rectinrgn"....
Edit: RectInRegion....
"I have a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel!" - Edmund BlackadderEdited by BillSoo on 09/05/01 12:18 PM.
09-05-2001, 10:29 AM
When you detect the distance between the landscape and the ship, all you're doing is calculating how close the ship is to the land. If the ship gets too close (i.e. the land comes in contact with the outer edge of the ship), then they collide.
If you're setting it up so that the ship flies between two lines, you could check to see if the ship is too close to one side, then check to see if it's too close to the other side. If it's too close to either side, there will be a collision.
09-06-2001, 08:26 AM
Billso i think your way is quite complicated
teric the problem using the distance betweent he two points is that if it is in the middle it wont detect it colliding as it thinks it will still detect it that much higher
hm i had a great idea yesterday but i forgot :)
09-06-2001, 09:00 AM
as it should only be the 2 bottom corners of your ship that would first hit the landscape you could use the GetPixel API to detect the colour of the pixel just offset of each corner, and if they are the colour of the landscape then you've got a hit
Private Declare Function GetPixel Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hdc As Long, ByVal X As Long, ByVal Y As Long) As Long
09-06-2001, 09:09 AM
Ah, I see what you're saying, andrewo. Yes, you're right--detecting the distance to just the end points of each line will not correctly detect collisions in some cases.
It looks like BillSoo's idea may be the best way to go. I would look into it.
09-06-2001, 11:37 AM
Yes it is complicated...but it's not that bad. And once it's done, it's easier to use.
Check out _URL_ for an example of a "skinned form". This is a form that conforms to any shape. It's done using this technique of combining strips of regions....
09-09-2001, 01:10 AM
it doesnt 100% work fast..but i just gotta rearrange my code abit to fix it and it sometimes detects the ship hitting the land a little bit over it but that must be some error i did typing
what i have got is
finding the equation of the line..represented as y=mx+b
and the ships x,y position
ok so to find the gradient of the line you got to have the two points
x1,y1 and x2,y2
you need the gradient(m) of the line first so to get the gradient you use (y2-y1)/(x2-x1)
then you need the y-intercept(b)
you would use the equation
which is using the other working out:
b= y1-((y2-y1)/(x2-x1)*x)
so now you have the equation of the line
and to work out if the ship(a point) is above or below the terrain
you would put the ships x and y into the equation you worked out
y=mx+b or all together would be y= ((y2-y1)/(x2-x1))x +(y1-((y2-y1)/(x2-x1)*x))
Remember the 0,0 is at the top left hand of the screen
and x1,x2 are the two points of the line
so you write:
if y>= mx+b and x>x1 and x<2 then showcollision
sorta complicated but not really
and if you have lots of lines for your landscape you would use an array..heres an example of my code using an aray...
For i = 1 To 28
Pol.X = Ship.Left
Pol.Y = Ship.Top + Ship.Height
Pol.X1 = Points(i).X
Pol.X2 = Points(i + 1).X
Pol.Y1 = Points(i).Y
Pol.M = (Points(i + 1).Y - Points(i).Y) / (Points(i + 1).X - Points(i).X)
Pol.B = Pol.Y1 - (Pol.M * Pol.X)
If (Pol.Y >= Pol.M * Pol.X + Pol.B) And (Pol.X >= Pol.X1) And (Pol.X <= Pol.X2) Then showcollision
09-09-2001, 01:16 AM
hey thats a good idea Ad1
,checking if the colour of the bottom of the ship changes to the landscape..could you give me some example code, that would be more accurate then my current code
09-10-2001, 01:11 AM
i ended up working out how to use the getpixel method and it works great heres my code
For i = 0


text:
. And, in some cases, you might be able to find an approach for answering the question.
For some questions, like a speedy algebra question worth one mark, creating a diagram might not be possible or desirable. But in other cases, it can be the exact move you need for cracking a tricky question. Also, some teachers mark the diagrams. So, spending some time creating a diagram won't be a waste of your time.
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This is an easy and avoidable mistake. You have to give the answer in the form it was requested in the question. In most cases, it will be specified in the question exactly how many places the answer should be rounded to. Once you have solved the problem and written your answer, you should read the question once again to make sure that you have written what was asked. A way to make sure that you don't miss this is highlighting the part of the question telling you the way you are supposed to write your answer. This will ensure that you can refer back to it easily and when needed.
The same goes for units as well. You don't want to lose marks just because you didn't put the units after the number. This is important for a time, speed, distance, dollar amount, or anything else that ends with a unit. If you are someone who forgets to add units, you should keep them in your calculations. You might have to spend some extra time writing the unit on every line, but it will be worth it to avoid losing marks.
7. Check Your Answers at the End
It is highly unlikely that you will be 100% confident of all the answers you have written in your maths exam. While you are writing the answers, highlight the ones you are unsure of. At the end of your exam, if you have any time left, you can go back to them and work on giving the best possible answer. Another thing that you can do is double check your calculations while you are doing this. It is common for students to make silly errors while calculating. By going over each question, you will be able to remove these errors and avoid losing marks unnecessarily.
If you put these tips to good use, you will be able to score better in your Class 6 Math exam.
Benefits of Studying From Class 6 NCERT Books and Solutions
Here are some of the benefits that you will be able to enjoy by referring to the NCERT Class 6 Maths Solution PDF:
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All the questions that are asked in your class 6 exam will be based on the concepts that you studied from your NCERT textbook. In fact, some of the questions will be directly from the exercises. If you just mug up the concepts, you won't have any clarity of the concepts and won't be able to solve the questions. You should use the NCERT textbook and NCERT Maths Book Class 6 Solutions pdf free download to understand the concepts properly. This will ensure that you don't struggle in your exam.
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Mathematics requires the trifecta of practice, understanding, and confidence on the part of a student. The NCERT Class 6 Maths Solution pdf by Vedantu make students comfortable with the subject which allows for their better understanding and improving the knowledge-base. The fundamental concepts of Class 6 Maths along with exercises and solutions are thoroughly covered here. Students can also opt to take the guidance of Vedantu's professionals through solutions or enrol in the live classes. Log in to Vedantu now and become a part of India's leading portal in enhancing knowledge and acing exams!
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FAQs on CBSE Class 6 Maths NCERT Solutions 2022-23
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A subject like Mathematics might not be a favourite of most students. However, with NCERT solutions for CBSE Class 6 Maths, students will be compelled to find the subject interesting and find motivation in preparing for its exams. These study materials will not only help students in clearing doubts but also improve their problem-solving and time management capabilities.
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Questions given in the Maths NCERT book for Class 6 can help students to practice and understand the concepts. Students can solve Class 6 Maths NCERT Solutions and practice all questions from the book. They should understand the concepts and solve questions two or three times to score good marks in their Maths exam. Vedantu provides Class 6 Maths NCERT Solutions for the convenience of students. The solutions can help students to practice maths daily.
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text:
You may have situations, especially when your app requires user interaction with the map, that call for displaying some sort of instructions. Have a look at this Esri sample and note the bit of text along the top of the map enclosed within a semi-transparent box.
This text box is created through two steps:
- In the HTML, a div element is defined and assigned an id. Within the div, the desired text is placed inside a p element.
- In the CSS, the div is placed through absolute positioning 10 pixels from the top of the page and 62 pixels from the left. A padding of 12 pixels is added to the left and right of the div so that the text isn't rendered too close to the edge. The text is given a white color, while the background of the element is made black with a transparency value of 0.5. This allows the text to be displayed to the user without completely obstructing the view of the map underneath.


text:
The chemical industry is indispensable for driving the development of overall technology and human society. With emerging risks such as global warming, extreme climate, air pollution and water scarcity emerging, the operating environment is also facing new challenges.
"People" is the company's most important asset. Through the excellent "selection", "education", "utilization", and "retention" systems, it trains outstanding talents to improve management functions, unify management thinking, and optimize management skills.
Based on industrial characteristics, in addition to strengthening safety production, we pay special attention to the health and safety of employees, requiring everyone to internalize safety behaviors into life and work. It has also established an occupational health management structure. In recent years, the labor health care rate and the special hazard health checkup rate have reached 100%.


SCR Catalyst Testing
SCR Catalyst Testing in progressSCR catalyst testing is a required first step in devising an effective catalyst management strategy. Pilot testing and audits of SCR catalyst activity though laboratory analysis of catalyst samples can provide insight into methods for extending catalyst life.
Our in-house laboratories perform SCR catalyst testing and analysis to determine catalyst deactivation rates and provide corrective measures for system optimization.
How CORMETECH Measures SCR Catalytic Activity And Potential
Analysis objective
SCR Catalyst Activity Test Determine the catalyst activity under specific plant or standard conditions through the use of representative-size catalyst samples. Metrics include the catalyst SO2/SO3 conversion rate, pressure drop, initial activity (K0) and actual activity (K).
Physical Properties Test Evaluate physical properties of the catalyst such as its surface area (BET - Brunauer-Emmett-Teller Test) and porosity (or pore volume).
Chemical Composition Test Chemical Composition Test: Evaluate the impact of coal and ash properties on the catalyst and its performance by measuring the catalyst's chemical composition using quantitative and Semi-quantitative X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy analysis:
 - The XRF-Quantitative analysis is primarily used for manufacturing control and finished product quality assurance. This analysis ensures that manufacturing specifications of the elemental composition for the catalytic metals are met. Carefully-prepared sets of analytical standards, composed of the metals in the actual matrix to be analyzed, are used to set the calibration for these measurements.
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Our testing program includes collection and compilation of field performance data, such as NOx levels, removal efficiency, ammonia-in-ash levels, operational data, and the like. CORMETECH also takes samples of SCR catalyst removed from the field and tests them in its laboratory to assess the catalytic potential against initial design requirements. These tests are done at either standard conditions (single-layer; MR=1), or at actual field conditions (multi-layer; field MR), and often at both conditions to ensure accurate evaluation of the test results. These tests, along with available fuel impact tests (FIELD GUIDE™), provide users current data to assess SCR catalyst system performance. This approach gives users added operational flexibility by analyzing a wide range of catalyst management "what-if" scenarios.
CORMETECH's testing equipment is state-of-the-art and methods are fully conforming to the SCR industry's best practices and VGB guidelines.


text: This interesting and unusual name is of Medieval English origin and is a dialectal variant of a locational name yeat-on from a place so called in Shropshire. In the Subsidy Rolls of this county in 1327 the placename appears as "Eton" and is a derivation of the Old English pre 7th Century "Ea", meaning a river, and "tun", a farm, thus "the farm or homestead on the river, (in this case the river Perry). During the Middle Ages, when people began to migrate from their villages of birth to seek work elsewhere, they would often adopt the placename as a means of identification. Amongst the early recordings of christenings in London are, Launcellot Yatton, son of Henry Yatton, on April 15th 1573 and Margaret Yatton, the daughter of Edward Yatton on July 25th 1574, both at St. Dunstan's, Stepney. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Olief Yeaton (christening), which was dated November 23rd 1561, Ludlow, Shropshire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.


text:
The effect of oxygen delignification on fiber properties in kraft pulp production - a review
Rauvanto, Irina (2003)
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
Fiber damages comprise fiber deformations, characterized as fiber curl, kink, dislocations and strength losses as well as some yet unidentified factors. This recently discovered phenomenon is especially evident in mill scale kraftpulps. Laboratory produced pulps tend to have less damages and superior strength properties compared to those produced in pulp mills. Generally fiber damages pose a problem in the production of reinforcement pulp because they tend to decrease the ability of fibers to transmit load. Previous studies on fiber damage have shown that most of the fiber damages occur during brown stock processing starting from cooking and discharging. This literature review gives an overall picture on fiber damages occurring during softwood kraft pulp production with an emphasis on the oxygen delignification stage. In addition the oxygen delignification stage itself is described in more detailed extent in order to understand the mechanisms behind the delignification and fiber damaging effect. The literature available on this subject is unfortunately quite contradictory and implicates a lotof different terms. Only a few studies have been published which help to understand the nature of fiber damages. For that reason the knowledge presented in this work is not only based on previous studies but also on research scientist and mill staff interviews.


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How to Neutralise Mother Tongue Influence (MTI) while speaking English?
Hello English learners & Overseas Aspirants!
I have a very interesting and relatable topic to discuss today: How to neutralise mother tongue influence (MTI) while speaking English? It is interesting because most of us are unaware of the fact that at times we speak English like Punjabi, Gujarati, Telugu or Bengali. We usually blame dialects for this, especially when we hear the words like 'see' instead of 'she', 'phonts' instead of 'fonts', 'veener' instead of 'winner', 'iskool' instead of school, 'understandabul' instead of 'understandable.'
After becoming aware of mistakes which we make while using English with interference of sounds from the mother tongue, we happen to lose our confidence when speaking English in public which may result into embarrassment or hatred for English language. Don't you worry as this is not a serious problem and it can be overcome with the right practice.
How to Neutralise Mother Tongue Influence (MTI) while Speaking English?
Mother tongue influence (MTI) means the impact of the usage of our mother tongue on the second language; for example, English. In other words, we can figure out the ethnicity/nationality of someone with the way he/she uses the dialects that interferes with English speaking. This is very common in India.
The fact that impressive English speaking is key to good communication skills cannot be denied, and with grammar and vocabulary, pronunciation too is given equal weightage worldwide. However, the evidence of mother tongue influence is obvious, so this manifests in the form of incorrect pronunciation.
Why do People Face MTI Problem?
The biggest reason for MTI problem is the lack of importance given to pronunciation in most of Indian schools because the number of dialects in India is too high; hence, it is very difficult to pick each one for research and neutralise it. So, it is considered a serious challenge faced by English teachers across India.
What can be done to Overcome Mother Tongue Influence?
It might sound like a pipedream to practice and master the sounds of consonants and vowels (phonetics); however, it is not so. Here are some ways to get rid of mother-tongue influence while using English.
- Well, reading the Oxford dictionary is highly recommended to know the pronunciation of each word as the words are also spelled phonetically; e.g.: cuisine /kwɪˈziːn/.
- Practicing tongue-twisters may also help in improving the pronunciation particularly of homophonic words, and to learn differentiate between the sound of consonants like 's-sound', 'f-sound', etc.
- Start watching English news on Star World, CNN, BBC if you haven't started yet. Honestly speaking, I find this option quite boring, so I prefer watching English series from Netflix because I find it recreational and interesting.
Undoubtedly, watching English news would be a great help as you would also improve your fluency by imitating the newsreader.
- Usage of Artificial intelligence eg: SIRI, google assistant for detection of the words. You may have to keep pronouncing the same word until Siri or google assistant detects it and bingo! There you go!
- Read aloud in English for 15-20 minutes daily and record your voice. I prefer to read aloud from the newspaper or magazines. Research has proven the fact that it takes at least three months to develop strong mouth muscles to speak a new language.
So, use all the tips to prevent the interference of regional language while using English. Feel free to reach out to me. All the best!
The students who are appearing for PTE at Aspire Square tend to get an extra practice of the question types of Speaking module such as Read aloud, repeat sentences, re-tell lectures and describe image with accurate pronunciation and intonation; thus, making us PTE Coaching Centre in Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara.
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In Named Data Networking (NDN), packets carry data names instead of source and destination addresses. This paradigm shift leads to a new network forwarding plane: data consumers send Interest packets to request desired data, routers forward Interest packets and maintain the state of all pending Interests, which is then used to guide Data packets back to the consumers.
Maintaining the pending Interest state, together with the two-way Interest and Data exchange, enables NDN routers' forwarding process to measure performance of different paths, quickly detect failures and retry alternative paths.
In this paper we describe an initial design of NDN's forwarding plane and evaluate its data delivery performance under adverse conditions. Our results show that this stateful forwarding plane can successfully circumvent prefix hijackers, avoid failed links, and utilize multiple paths to mitigate congestion. We also compare NDN's performance with that of IP-based solutions to highlight the advantages of a stateful forwarding plane. 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


text:
MEAS Case study #8: The Role of Radio in Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services
The Role of Radio in Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services - Experiences and Lessons from Farm Radio Programming in Malawi
Introduction: Agriculture and Agricultural Extension in Malawi
Agriculture is currently the most important sector of the Malawi economy. It employs about 80% of the total workforce, contributes over 80% of foreign exchange earnings, accounts for 39% of gross domestic product (GDP) and contributes significantly to national and household food security. The Malawi agriculture sector is divided into the estate sub-sector, comprised of commercially oriented and leasehold land, and the smallholder sub-sector, dominated by subsistence food production on customary land (Government of Malawi, 2011). The smallholder sub-sector occupies about 80% of the land whilst the commercial sector comprises 20% (Government of Malawi, 2000).
Extension was identified as a key service to enhance agricultural productivity in colonial times. In 1903, the colonial government brought in organized agricultural extension that advised farmers on improved methods of cotton production, and later broadened out to other crops and livestock (Kabuye and Mhango, 2005). The Department of Agriculture was established in 1907. At that time, the government sent out instructors to teach crop production. Later, the concept of "master farmers" was incorporated into the mainstream of extension activities. These farmers were innovative and generally better off and received government support for inputs and extension services. They followed recommended practices, thereby providing an example to other farmers. An agricultural cooperative program was instituted in 1948 to enhance agricultural production. Through all these stages, the predominant extension approach involved individual contact and coercion. Up until 1962 this was considered appropriate. The importance of a group approach was recognized in the 1970s as a faster way of spreading messages to the farming community. In trying to enhance the group approach, the "block extension system", a modified training and visit system, was adopted in 1981 with the aim of improving farmer coverage. The approach then went beyond specialized groups and tried to contact a wider range of farmers, including the resource poor and women. There have been new players coming into agricultural extension services during the 1990s, including NGOs, the private sector and farmer organizations. The current agricultural extension policy, built on the principles of pluralism in extension delivery and decentralized and demand-driven planning, was launched by the government in 2000 (Government of Malawi, 2000).
The Use of Radio in Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services in Malawi
Individual, group and mass-media approaches to agricultural extension and advisory services have been used concurrently. The continuing increase in the number of farming families has led to a growing emphasis on approaches that reach more people at a time. Realizing the importance of mass media in extension, the use of radio has evolved in terms of the policies, laws, approaches and players involved.
The rationale for using radio in extension and advisory services came from an understanding that rradio is an excellent, cost-effective means of sharing knowledge, building awareness, facilitating informed decision-making and supporting the adoption of new practices by small-scale farmers (Farm Radio International, 2007). The Malawi national population and household census report of 2008 indicates that nationally 64.1% of households own radios, up from 49.9% in 1998. Radio regularly reaches 70% of rural households; it is affordable, accessible to the illiterate, can use local languages, and can give voice to end-users critical for effective agricultural extension and advisory services.


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Developing IBM Lotus Domino 7 Applications: Intermediate Skills Course, Class Outline(3 days)
This course builds on the skills of Lotus Education's Developing IBM® Lotus® Domino® 7 Applications: Foundation Skills (N7D510) course. Through instructor lecture and student-centered activities and exercises, students learn to use IBM Lotus Domino Designer 7 to develop multi-database applications.
The course explores advanced formula techniques including looping, and user interaction with the application. The course explains different methods for accessing data sources outside the current Domino database including other Domino databases and relational databases. Other topics include adding workflow functionality to route documents and notify users that a document requires their attention, and security issues such as encrypting data. This course also examines navigation elements such as links, outlines, and framesets that bind the components of the application together and allow users to locate information quickly and easily.
You will use IBM® Lotus® Domino Designer® 7 to develop multi-database applications.
The target audience for this course is application developers who have experience creating or modifying single database applications with Lotus Domino Designer 6 or Domino Designer 7.
Students taking this course should have experience using the IBM® Lotus Notes® client to access applications and possess the equivalent knowledge, skills, and experience developing Lotus Domino 6 or Lotus Domino 7 applications. Students should have completed the Fundamentals of Lotus Domino 7 Application Development or Developing Lotus Domino 6/6.5 Applications: Foundation Skills course.
Instructor led, group-paced, classroom-delivery learning model with structured hands-on activities.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
use formula language to inspect and manipulate text and lists values. You will also use iterative statement functions.
implement functions that interact with users through different types of dialog boxes using the _USER_ and _USER_ functions.
implement advanced view design features to enhance how Lotus Notes displays documents.
examine and use several IBM® Lotus® Domino® design elements as navigation structures, including links and imagemaps.
create and embed an outline.
add a frameset to an application, add content to a frame, launch an application frameset, include elements in a frameset, add new frames, and specify a target frame for individual elements.
use _USER_ to access view column and document values in an IBM® Lotus® Domino® database; use _USER_ to allow a user to choose column values from a view; and use profile documents to store global data for an application.
use the formula language to access data sources using the Microsoft® Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) interface.
examine Domino Enterprise Connection Services (DECS) and implement real-time data mapping between an IBM® Lotus® Domino® application and a relational database.
define workflow, notify users when they need to become aware of an action in the workflow, create a mail-in database document, route documents to application databases, and track documents through the workflow process.
control who can edit sections of a document, attach a signature to an access-controlled section, and encrypt data and mail messages.
Lesson 1: Working with Strings, Lists, and Loops
Topic 1A: Writing Formulas to Manipulate Text Values
Topic 1B: Working with Lists
Topic 1C: Creating Iterative Formulas
Lesson 2: Writing Formulas to Interact with the User
Topic 2A: Using the _USER_ Function
Topic 2B: Working with the _USER_ Function
Topic 2C: Using Layout Regions
Lesson 3: Advanced View Design
Topic 3A: Using a Background Image in a View
Topic 3B: Using a Formula to Hide a Column
Topic 3C: Using Color in Views
Topic 3D: Working with Embedded Elements
Lesson 4: Creating and Using Links
Topic 4A: IBM® Lotus® Domino® Links
Topic 4B: Hotspot Links
Topic 4C: Named Element Links
Topic 4D: URL Links
Topic 4E: Creating Imagemaps
Lesson 5: Working with Outlines
Topic 5A: Creating an Outline
Topic 5B: Adding Outline Entries
Topic 5C: Modifying Outline Entries
Topic 5D: Embedding an Outline
Lesson 6: Creating a Frameset
Topic 6A: Adding a Frameset to an Application
Topic 6B: Adding Content to a Frame
Topic 6C: Launching an Application Frameset
Topic 6D: Adjusting Framesets
Lesson 7: Accessing Data in IBM® Lotus® Domino® Databases
Topic 7A: Accessing Data from a View
Topic 7B: Using _USER_
Topic 7C: Working with Profile Documents
Lesson 8: Accessing Non-Domino Data with ODBC
Topic 8A: Introducing ODBC
Topic 8B: Using _USER_ Functions to Access an ODBC Data Source
Lesson 9: Using DECS and DCRs to Map Data Between IBM® Lotus® Domino® and Relational Databases
Topic 9A: Introducing IBM® Lotus® Domino® Enterprise Connection Services (DECS)
Topic 9B: Working with DECS
Topic 9C: Using Data Connection Resources (DCRs)
Lesson 10: Adding Workflow to IBM® Lotus® Domino® Applications
Topic 10A: Defining Workflow
Topic 10B: Routing Workflow Objects in IBM® Lotus® Domino®
Topic 10C: Designing Workflow
Topic 10D: Notifying Users
Topic 10E: Routing Entire Documents
Topic 10F: Sending the Current Document
Topic 10G: Tracking Documents
Lesson 11: Securing IBM® Lotus® Domino® Application Data
Topic 11A: Limiting Who Can Read and Edit Sections
Topic 11B: Signing Documents and Mail
Topic 11C: Encrypting Domino Data
Topic 11D: Creating and Distributing Secret Keys
Topic 11E: Encrypting Fields
Appendix A: Activity Solutions
Supplemental Topic About This Appendix
Appendix B: Create an ODBC Data Source Resource
Appendix C: Course Scenario
Appendix D: Certification and Exam Competencies
Appendix E: Instructor Preparation
View outline in Word
Receive an email when this class is available as "Ready to Run" or "Early Notice" status.
If travel is inconvenient you may be able to participate from your office or home. If you have high-speed internet you can likely take this class from your office or home.
We can deliver this class for a private group either at your location or ours. Click the link to request more information.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


MIDDLE GRADE KNOWHOW Reimagining genres
In the last of our latest middle grade strand, Huw Powell looks at the pleasures and pitfalls of mixing up genre.
When writing middle-grade stories, I like to mash-up genres and timelines to create exciting new combinations, such as space and pirates for Spacejackers. This is something that many authors have successfully applied, for example, mixing Greek mythology with the modern world for the Percy Jackson novels.
Lots of story ideas can be sparked this way, whether they are about werewolf detectives, time-travelling unicorns or mermaid school. But in order to make the stories work, the author needs to reimagine worlds and characters to suit the mash-up. Good examples include the Stormbreaker and Cherub novels, where the world of espionage is neatly woven into the lives of normal children. In a similar way, The Worst Witch cleverly combines magic and boarding school, where science is swapped for potions and stripy school ties are reimagined as hat bands.
A not so good example is Disney's Treasure Planet, which fails to successfully integrate space and pirates, leaving spaceships shaped like old fashioned sailing ships and space pirates dressed like old fashioned sea pirates, which is neither realistic nor practical.
What is the key to reimagining genres? As writers, we must avoid force-fitting traditional genre traits that feel clunky and out of place in their new context (e.g. paper schoolbooks might not be suitable for mermaids). Instead of reproducing what already exists, we should find creative ways to incorporate and embed each genre, so they reflect the new setting while retaining their essence. For example, a futuristic knight might retain their code of honour, but it's unlikely they would wear a traditional suit of armour in space, or carry a simple sword and shield. The armour can be reimagined as a chunky metal spacesuit, complete with a plasma sword and power shield. Instead of a horse, they can ride a hover-bike featuring their coat of arms, while fighting alien dragons.
In order to create a truly authentic story, we should consider how every aspect is influenced by the mash-up. Do places need to be renamed? Do objects need to be reinvented? Do clothes need to be redesigned? Think about language, science, architecture, currency, tools, weapons, food, religion, politics, education, because it's this sort of detail that turns a good idea into a great story.
FEATURE IMAGE CREDIT: Suzanne Dore _URL_
Huw Powell is the author of the middle-grade Spacejackers trilogy, published by Bloomsbury and W F Howes. His first novel was Literature Works' 'Book of the Month' and was shortlisted for the Teach Primary 'New Children's Fiction Award'. Huw is an active supporter of initiatives that encourage children to read. He lives with his wife and two sons in Portishead, North Somerset.
Helen Liston is KnowHow Editor. If you have any ideas for KnowHow topics, get in touch at _EMAIL_.
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text:
Common causes for weaning failure include all of the following except:
1. myocardial ischemia
2. critical illness polyneuropathy
3. secondary polycythemia
4. psychological dependence
All of the following are useful strategies in managing the psychological problems encountered in weaning some patients from ventilator support except to:
1. secure a psychiatric consult
2. avoid mental stimulation
3. decrease environmental stress
4. teach relaxation methods
avoid mental stimulation
Who should make the decisions related to terminal weaning?
1. respiratory therapist
4. patient's family and patient's physician
patient's family and patient's physician


Traffic Sign Classification with TensorFlow in Python
Hello everyone, welcome to Traffic Sign Classification tutorial using Tensorflow in Python. In this article, we will be focusing on how to classify traffic signs using deep learning(CNN). So here we are using a dataset with 43 different classes of images of signals. In self-driving cars, this is one of the major tasks to be performed.
Before we start, please install all the necessary libraries(mentioned below) and download the dataset from here:
Note: Please make sure your dataset and your script are in the same folder or otherwise specify the path in the code. Also, Jupyter notebook is preferred here.
Importing Libraries
In the below code all the necessary libraries are imported.
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import tensorflow as tf
import pandas as pd
import seaborn as sns
import pickle
import random
Loading Dataset
So here, Using pickle we will be loading the dataset into the train, valid and test parameters. The mode of loading the dataset is set to read binary(i.e. 'rb').
with open("./train.p", mode='rb') as training_data:
 train = pickle.load(training_data)
with open("./valid.p", mode='rb') as validation_data:
 valid = pickle.load(validation_data)
with open("./test.p", mode='rb') as testing_data:
 test = pickle.load(testing_data)
Next, we are dividing it into features and labels. Here you can also check the shape of train, test and validation data using shape.
X_train,y_train = train['features'],train['labels']
X_validation,y_validation = valid['features'],valid['labels']
X_test,y_test = test['features'],test['labels']
Image Visualization
Let's take a random image from the training set to check its label.
i = np.random.randint(1, len(X_train))
Above we can see an image of a yield traffic sign with label 13.
So now, instead of taking a single image lets make a grid of 10*10 so that we can view 100 different images with their respective labels.
B_grid = 10
L_grid = 10
fig, axes = plt.subplots(L_grid, B_grid, figsize = (10,10))
axes = axes.ravel()
n_training = len(X_train)
for i in np.arange(0,B_grid*L_grid):
 index = np.random.randint(0,n_training)
 axes[i].set_title(y_train[index], fontsize = 15)
Above we find various images with their labels.
Converting Images To Grayscale And Performing Normalization
Now, we will use sklearn to shuffle the data because we don't want our network to learn the order of the images.
from sklearn.utils import shuffle
X_train, y_train = shuffle(X_train, y_train)
X_validation, y_validation = shuffle(X_validation, y_validation)
X_test, y_test = shuffle(X_test, y_test)
And next, we are converting the images from RGB to grayscale by averaging them.
X_train_gray = np.sum(X_train/3,axis = 3,keepdims = True)
X_validation_gray = np.sum(X_validation/3,axis = 3,keepdims = True)
X_test_gray = np.sum(X_test/3,axis = 3,keepdims = True)
To check the shape of the data we can use shape keyword. This task is for you to perform.
So now let's normalize the data by first subtracting it by 128 and then diving it by 128. Below code will normalize our dataset.
X_train_gray_norm = (X_train_gray - 128)/128
X_test_gray_norm = (X_test_gray - 128)/128
X_validation_gray_norm = (X_validation_gray - 128)/128
Here also you can check whether the whole data is converted or not using shape.
So finally, we will visualize the images that we have converted and normalized above. The first image is the grayscaled image, the second one is the coloured image and the final image is the normalized grayscale image which we will use to train our neural network.
i = random.randint(1, len(X_train_gray))
plt.imshow(X_train_gray[i].squeeze(), cmap = 'gray')
plt.imshow(X_train_gray_norm[i].squeeze(), cmap = 'gray')
normalized grayscale
Building CNN Model
So for building the CNN model, we have followed the following procedure:
Input-Image -> Convolution -> Pooling -> Flattening -> Neural Network -> Output
Using Keras we have imported CNN model and done convolution, pooling and flattening procedures.
In the below code we will add different layers to our CNN model.
For convolution layer, we have taken number of convolutions as 6 and size as (5, 5). We are using the relu activation function here. Next, we will add other dense layers as you can see below.
from tensorflow.keras import datasets, layers, models
from keras.models import Sequential
from keras.layers import Conv2D
from keras.layers import AveragePooling2D
CNN = models.Sequential()
CNN.add(layers.Conv2D(6,(5,5),activation ='relu', input_shape = (32,32,1)))
CNN.add(layers.Dense(120,activation ='relu'))
CNN.add(layers.Dense(84,activation ='relu'))
CNN.add(layers.Dense(43,activation ='softmax'))
Using TensorFlow backend.
Model: "sequential"
Layer (type) Output Shape Param #
conv2d (Conv2D) (None, 28, 28, 6) 156
average_pooling2d (AveragePo (None, 14, 14, 6) 0
flatten (Flatten) (None, 1176) 0
dense (Dense) (None, 120) 141240
dense_1 (Dense) (None, 84) 10164
dense_2 (Dense) (None, 43) 3655
Total params: 155,215
Trainable params: 155,215
Non-trainable params: 0
Compiling And Training The Model
Now for compiling the model, we are using Adam optimizer with loss as 'sparse_categorical_crossentropy' and metrics as accuracy.
CNN.compile(optimizer = 'Adam', loss='sparse_categorical_crossentropy',metrics = ['accuracy'])
Next, we are training the model with a batch size of 500 images(that we converted into grayscale and normalized), 10 epochs and verbose = 1 (which is the text we need to show during training).
history =,
 epochs =10,
 verbose = 1,
 validation_data = (X_validation_gray_norm,y_validation))
Train on 34799 samples, validate on 4410 samples
Epoch 1/10
34799/34799 [==============================] - 7s 210us/sample - loss: 2.8456 - accuracy: 0.2711 - val_loss: 2.3766 - val_accuracy: 0.3567
Epoch 2/10
34799/34799 [==============================] - 7s 189us/sample - loss: 1.4795 - accuracy: 0.5975 - val_loss: 1.4561 - val_accuracy: 0.5780
Epoch 3/10
34799/34799 [==============================] - 7s 188us/sample - loss: 0.8994 - accuracy: 0.7630 - val_loss: 1.0495 - val_accuracy: 0.6993
Epoch 4/10
34799/34799 [==============================] - 7s 189us/sample - loss: 0.6474 - accuracy: 0.8357 - val_loss: 0.9413 - val_accuracy: 0.7186
Epoch 5/10
34799/34799 [==============================] - 7s 188us/sample - loss: 0.5203 - accuracy: 0.8683 - val_loss: 0.8513 - val_accuracy: 0.7542
Epoch 6/10
34799/34799 [==============================] - 7s 195us/sample - loss: 0.4262 - accuracy: 0.8967 - val_loss: 0.7543 - val_accuracy: 0.7866
Epoch 7/10
34799/34799 [==============================] - 8s 236us/sample - loss: 0.3663 - accuracy: 0.9102 - val_loss: 0.7343 - val_accuracy: 0.7878
Epoch 8/10
34799/34799 [==============================] - 8s 233us/sample - loss: 0.3216 - accuracy: 0.9218 - val_loss: 0.7021 - val_accuracy: 0.8093
Epoch 9/10
34799/34799 [==============================] - 7s 209us/sample - loss: 0.2828 - accuracy: 0.9329 - val_loss: 0.7412 - val_accuracy: 0.8029
Epoch 10/10
34799/34799 [==============================] - 7s 205us/sample - loss: 0.2502 - accuracy: 0.9407 - val_loss: 0.7002 - val_accuracy: 0.8129
So we can see the accuracy of the model after 10 epochs is 94


text:
Dozens of students at St. Martin School attempted Friday to put themselves into the Guinness Book of World Records, using science as their tool.
The students, along with children in 130 schools across Canada, conducted a pair of experiments surrounding the Bernoulli principle, an 18th-century theory that says as a liquid's speed increases, pressure decreases.
"It was a pretty cool way to learn science," said Haleigh Beaucage, an 11-year-old Grade 6 student at the south-side school.
"I think it was very fun, even if we don?t get into the Guinness Book of World Records," she said. "I just think science is cool, pretty much.?
Classmate Ben Furtado couldn't agree more.
"I think it?s pretty cool because you're thinking that thousands of kids across Canada are doing this exact thing at one o'clock and we?re participating and can be in the Guinness Book of World Records," Ben said.
The experiment also gives the 11-year-old a chance to teach his dad at home.
"My father is a science teacher and he shows me lots of things, and he's never showed me that before. So I can go home and show him that and he can maybe tell that to his students."
Haleigh said she actually learned something from the pair of experiments.
"I didn't know about air pressure and when you blow between two balloons it would weaken the air pressure, so the air pressure would push the two balloons together. I had no idea that's why it happened."
Lakehead University student Zack White is St. Martin's engineer-in-residence and helped orchestrated the world-record effort.
The second experiment saw students use perpendicular straws, one submersed in a cup of water, to create a mist.
"We had to videotape it and have stopwatches and all kinds of things to make it official for Guinness," White said of the initiative, which was promoted by the government of Canada."
The idea is to make science and math a little more exciting for students.
"Overall there have been studies that have been showing that the amount of people in technical fields, such as engineering and math and science fields has been on the decline compared to other countries in the world," White said. "They're trying to promote at the grassroots science and technology and inspire some minds that are young and at a malleable age."
Grade 6 teacher Sean Van Hatten called it a fantastic idea, saying it fits in perfectly with his classroom curriculum.
"We're talking about Earth and space right now and we?re also talking about the properties of air later on in the year. So it was a great opportunity for students to see how air pressure creates space, creates mass and it definitely touches on Bernoulli's principle, so they got to see that in action."
Guinness will have to certify the record before students at St. Martin School can officially claim the title.
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Election Observation Missions: Making them Count
Joe Clark, Marianna Ofosu, and Elizabeth Voeller
International election observation is a work in progress, much like the international democratic system it aims to promote and develop. Today election observation is disproportionately focused on the pre-election and election periods at the expense of the post-election period. International organizations, national governments, and civilsociety are familiar with what is expected both before and during an election. Election "practices" exist and an international set of principles is now emerging to guide international elections observers both before and during elections.
OP005.pdf1.41 MB
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Sugar Maple
What tree is the Vermont state tree?
The sugar maple is the Vermont state tree. The leaves on the sugar maple turn red and yellow in the fall. These trees add to Vermont's beautiful fall foliage(leaves on a tree or plant). This is also the tree that produces the sap for making maple syrup and maple sugar.
For hundreds of years, people have gathered the sap in the early spring. The sap is boiled to remove the water. In the past, most of the sap was used to make maple sugar. Now a lot of the sap is used to make maple syrup.
Thinking About History
Historians ask questions to think deeply about history.
Why do you think Vermonters made more maple sugar than maple syrup 150 years ago? Which was easier to cook with? Which was easier to keep from spoiling?
Vermont Historical Society. "Sugar Maple." Vermont History Explorer. Accessed April 12, 2021.
Did you know means?


text:
The Verde Valley School Farm and Orchard (Photo courtesy Richard Sidy)
Recently I visited the garden at Verde Valley School, and was walking through it with a young man who is very concerned about the environment and the risks to our climate and planet. He asked if it would be better if people just left Nature alone since it had survived for so many years on its own.
I understand that he views the precarious state of our planet as a result of human activity. We have taken so much that we can't put back, which has created monumental pollution. Toxic substances are largely the by-products of our way of life, poisoning air, soil, and water, putting life at risk.
The reality is that humans are part of Nature. By not realizing this fact, we have been using it without restraint and without the awareness that our health and destiny are tied to its well-being. However, humans can contribute to its health and restoration. We need to start giving more and taking less. Is that even possible?
The garden at Verde Valley School is a beautiful example of how we could possibly giveback, enhance, and restore nature. When a teacher invited me to tour the site back in 2013, it was an unused piece of land next to the road. It was natural, just a field of wild grasses and arid-land vegetation, untouched by human hands. Her vision was to make a large school garden that would teach students about environment, sustainability, and supply food to the cafeteria.
Today, that garden is a productive farm, an oasis of fruits, vegetables, wild flowers, natural vegetation, trees, vines – plants and trees in a wildly managed eco-system. Human activity has produced regenerative and fertile land that supports insect, soil, animal, and human life. Beyond that, it is planting carbon from the air into the soil reducing climate change. It is also a key component for school waste reduction, sustainability, and educational goals. It shows how humans can contribute to biodiversity, a healthy environment, and community. Learn more: Facebook.com/VerdeValleySchoolFarm
Similarly, only two years ago, Heather Herman, then president of the Sedona Village Rotary Club, shared her vision for a community garden on the abandoned baseball diamond at Big Park School. When we met there, it was a hard-packed dustbowl with a neglected mono-crop of grass infested with weeds. There was a thriving colony of fire ants that had taken over the pitcher's mound.
Now, that site is a thriving community garden with diverse vegetables, and flowers. It became environmentally and socially productive. It attracts pollinators, people, and partnerships, demonstrating how neglected land can be restored for the benefit of all living things. They are providing fresh produce for themselves, and for food insecure members of our community. Learn more: SedonaVillageRotary.org/page/community-garden
As Gardens for Humanity gears up for the new school year, we plan to energize learning gardens throughout the Verde Valley. Gardening helps restore and connect us to Nature and to each other. For children it awakens their role and ability to nurture life. This can produce a more optimistic view for the future. In our garden, art, and environmental education programs, children have time to develop and use their senses, minds, and skills in a way that helps them understand their partnership with the natural world. To find out more visit _URL_-schoolgardens
Richard Sidy is president of Gardens for Humanity, a founding member of the Sustainability Alliance and a member of the Verde Valley Food Policy Council. To reach him, email [email protected]
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Sylvia Plimack Mangold
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Sylvia Plimack Mangold (born September 18, 1938) is an American artist, painter, printmaker, and pastelist. She is known for her representational depictions of interiors and landscapes.
Life and career[edit]
Plimack Mangold was born Sylvia Plimack in New York City, the daughter of Ethel, an office administrator, and Maurice Plimack, an accountant and businessman.[1][2][3] She grew up in Queens, and attended the High School of Music and Art in Manhattan, after high school she was accepted into the program at Cooper Union in 1956. She continued her studies at Yale University and graduated with a B.F.A. in 1961. In the same year she married Yale classmate and fellow painter Robert Mangold.
After studying at Yale with William Bailey and others, Plimack Mangold worked as a representational painter. Her paintings in the early 1960s were paintings of floors, walls and corners, compositions where mirror images were also introduced, making the space more complex. In the 1970s she added trompe l'oeil elements such as metal rulers and masking tape along the borders of the images. In the 1980s she introduced the images of the landscape to the canvas affixed by the image of masking tape. Eventually, the landscape image filled the entire canvas and focused on individual trees, their branches cropped so as to create the spaces between the limbs and branches of the trees. All the landscape paintings are done from observation. Even as the subject matter of Plimack Mangold's paintings has shifted, her work has always been based in perceptual realism, inviting viewers to observe from up close and mirroring her own process of observation.[4]
Mangold received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1975. Her work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Neuberger Museum of Art at the State University of New York at Purchase, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, and the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut, and is represented in the aforementioned museums in Boston, Hartford, and the Brooklyn Museum of Art.[citation needed]
She is the mother of film director and screenwriter James Mangold, and a musician Andrew Mangold.
 1. ^ The paintings of Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Albright-Knox Art Gallery (1994), page 115
 2. ^ Sylvia Plimack Mangold - works on paper, _PHONE_, Davison Art Center, University of Michigan. Museum of Art (1992), page 7
 3. ^
 4. ^ Berlind, Robert (July–August 2012). "Sylvia Plimack Mangold: Recent Works". The Brooklyn Rail.
External links[edit]


text:
The First People
MN Historical Society
The first people to occupy the lands now designated as Voyageurs National Park arrived nearly 10,000 years ago during the Paleo-Indian Period.
Groups entered the area as the waters of glacial Lake Agassiz receded. This ancient lake once covered 110,000 square miles of Minnesota, North Dakota, Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan in Canada.
During the Archaic Period (8,000 B.C. - 100 B.C.) people followed a mobile, hunting and gathering lifestyle. Fishing was a major source of food, although the gathering of plants continued to be important as well.
During the Woodland Period (100 A.D.- 900 A.D.) people increased their use of the wild rice that is native to this area. They began to use ceramics to fashion small, side-notched triangular projectile points.
Over 220 pre-contact archeological sites have been documented within the park, including sites that are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Please remember while exploring the park that all archeological and historic resources are protected by law. Do not destroy or collect any items that you find; instead enjoy looking at the items and leave them where you found them.
Did You Know?
You can make a voyageur trinket, stamp a track or try on voyageurs clothing at a children's corner in a park visitor center.


Declt (pronounce "dec'let") is a reference manual generator for Common Lisp libraries. It works by loading an ASDF system and introspecting its contents. The generated documentation contains the description for the system itself and its components (modules and files), the packages defined in that system and the definitions found in those packages.
Exported and internal definitions are listed separately. This allows the reader to have a quick view on the library's public API. Within each section, definitions are sorted lexicographically.
In addition to ASDF system components and packages, Declt documents the following definitions: constants, special variables, symbol macros, macros, setf expanders, compiler macros, functions (including setf ones), generic functions and methods (including setf ones), method combinations, conditions, structures, classes and types.
The generated documentation includes every possible bit of information that introspecting can provide: documentation strings, lambda lists (including qualifiers and specializers where appropriate), slots (including type, allocation and initialization arguments), definition source file etc.
Every documented item provides a full set of cross-references to related items: ASDF component dependencies, parents and children, classes direct methods, super and subclasses, slot readers and writers, setf expanders access and update functions etc.
Finally, Declt produces exhaustive and multiple-entry indexes for every documented item.
Reference manuals are generated in Texinfo format (compatible, but not requiring Texinfo 5). From there it is possible to produce readable / printable output in info, HTML, PDF, DVI and PostScript with tools such as makeinfo, texi2dvi or texi2pdf.
The Declt reference manual is the primary example of documentation generated by Declt itself.
Declt's homepage is here.
Declt is a documentation tool written by Didier Verna...


watchfulness required to avoid corrosion problems. Well-built aluminum boats are more expensive than production fiberglass sailboats. Aluminum fabrication costs are based on the material expense of proper aluminum alloys for hull plating, frames and stringers, and on labor costs for skilled aluminum welders. The construction process is more labor intensive than fiberglass boats.
Potential corrosion sources in aluminum boats are well understood by builders these days. Following best practices in electrical wiring and equipment isolation from the hull eliminates most corrosion risks. An aluminum boat owner can prevent corrosion by learning a few unique requirements. For example, an isolation transformer must be wired in the boat if connected to shore power; a charcoal filter must be used when filling an aluminum water tank from a city chlorinated water supply; never moor the aluminum boat next to a steel boat; never use chlorine cleaners for anything (use vinegar); and always have installed and regularly check an LED light indicating a fault from a connection between the hull and the positive or negative side of the battery.
ON: What is your advice for voyagers considering an aluminum vessel?
DC&RS: They should follow the same process as with the considered purchase of any boat: Talk to sailors who have a similar boat, inspect as many aluminum boats as possible, and consider having a custom boat built by selecting a good naval architect and finding a small, experienced aluminum boatyard for the build.


How might GIS help plan a mass vaccination programme?
8th December 2020
The first batch of the Covid-19 vaccine has reached the UK and the first vaccinations are underway. The initial availability of the vaccine will is limited, but the hope is that as other vaccine programmes move from trials to release the supply will steadily increase. But how do you efficiently vaccinate a population of 66 million?
Understanding the geography of the pandemic and being able to share that knowledge with the public has been key to the management of the pandemic. The vaccination programme that began today will be on a scale that the nation has never faced. GIS can help with the planning, delivery and reporting of this logistically challenging health care programme. Este Geraghty wrote a really informative view of the role GIS can play in this blog.
I'm going to focus on some of the challenges more specific to the UK. Please note that the examples and maps in this blog were created to illustrate the types of analysis that might be useful.
Identifying the best locations for vaccination centres
The first vaccine available requires careful storage and handling. It is initially being managed and distributed from hospitals. Some hospitals may already have the capacity to act as a vaccination hub but it's important to understand what area those hospitals can cover. Looking at planning questions using administrative boundaries doesn't always give an accurate view of the connections between locations. GIS allows us to understand how places are connected by transport networks. A useful first look is to calculate the service area for a set of locations. I've used hospitals as the vaccination hubs, derived from the Ordnance Survey Points of Interest data, but the approach could equally be applied to GP practices. Assuming there is a practical journey time that defines the reach of a vaccination hub we can generate service areas for candidate locations.
Do the selected vaccination sites provide the coverage required?
For the example below I used the proximity analysis tools in ArcGIS Online to generate service areas for a thirty minute drive from a selected set of hospitals in the area around Derby (check the credit use before running). The service area for Nottingham City Hospital (highlighted) extends less far to the west and the hospital in Derby might also be needed.
Calculated service areas for a 30 minute drive from some hospitals
Calculated service areas for hospitals based on a thirty minute drive. The area for Nottingham City Hospital is selected.
As the programme progresses it might be possible to open up new locations as vaccination centres. How reachable are candidate sites and how would they supplement the existing locations? This can easily be modelled for road, pedestrian and – thanks to one of our data partners – public transport connections.
Calculated service areas for a 30 minute public transport journey to some hospitals
Areas within a thirty and sixty minute public transport journey of selected hospitals. These were generated using a partner solution from TravelTime.
What population would be served by a vaccination centre?
We've used a practical geography to define the area that a vaccination hub will serve and we can combine this with data on the local population. The ArcGIS Living Atlas gives us access to the 2011 census data which details population size and key demographics for a range of geographies. One way to get more up to date data is to add demographic data from Michael Bauer Research (this uses credits). This can be done for specific geographies so we can quickly add demographic data to our service areas:
A hospital service area polygon enriched with demographic data
The ArcGIS Online Enrich Layer tool was used to add 2019 population data to a 30 minute drive service area.
Another valuable data repository is Instant Atlas and if you have access to this you can add data layers to your maps. As we move towards mass vaccination planners will need to understand where different parts of the population are located and how this relates to the locations they can use as vaccination centres – whether that's delivery through GPs in rural areas or the setting up of mass vaccination centres to serve areas of high population.
How do you gradually vaccinate a population and manage the geographically variable spread of a pandemic? As the pandemic has progressed we have moved between managing it at a national level to managing at a local level – with national lockdowns recurring in some parts of the UK. Will the vaccination programme be targeted at areas with high case numbers or focus on population characteristics such as the age distribution, population density or economic conditions? GIS allows us to view and understand the spatial patterns and relationships between different data sets. We recently added a data service to the ArcGIS Living Atlas for the UK Covid-19 cases.
A bivariate map showing the relative value of two statistics for local authority areas
A bivariate map allows the relative value of two statistics to be displayed. Here the cumulative Covid-19 cases and a health indicator are show for local authority areas.
Modern GIS uses web services and easy to use, focused web apps to put the data and analysis tools directly into the hands of practitioners. The service areas and data enrichment examples above are both accessible through a web app. A colleague created this example of dynamically adjusting criteria for three population statistics to identify key areas using Community Analyst:
GIS allows us to view and understand the spatial patterns and relationships between different data sets, using a range of tools, and present that in different ways to different stakeholders. The example below shows an infographic style report for a potential location in Belfast:
An infographic summarising data for an area around a candidate site
An infographic that summarises data for an area around a candidate vaccine centre. Created using Community Analyst.
Delivering vaccination where its needed
The vaccines will come online in limited quantities and with different handling requirements. The vaccination program will be targeted at key groups at different stages of the program. Where are these groups located? Can they reach a vaccination centre, or do they need to be targeted by a mobile team? For each phase the patterns will shift.
With the vulnerability to Covid-19 of people in care homes they will be targeted early in the vaccination programme. Since they aren't in a position to come to a vaccination centre they will need mobile units to come to them. We need to be able to understand how the care homes in an area are distributed in relation to the vaccination hubs.
What's the most efficient way to allocate care homes to vaccine hubs?
GIS allows us to tackle scenarios like this using the connectivity of places through the road network. In ArcGIS Online the Find Nearest tool can help to identify which hub should serve a care home based on drive time. For a more sophisticated optimisation tool I switched to ArcGIS Pro and the Network Analyst extension. In the example below I have set up a Location-Allocation analysis to optimise the assignment of care homes to vaccination hubs. The care home data is a subset from the GEOLYTIX Care Homes 2020 layer in the ArcGIS Living Atlas and is included as part of ArcGIS. Location-Allocation allows you to mark key facilities as required and others as candidates. The optimisation can then identify additional sites that would be needed to serve the demand locations within a travel cut off.
Optimised allocation of care homes to vaccination hubs based on drive times
The example output from running Location-Allocation suggests which care homes would be assigned to which hospitals to fulfil the requirement they are within a 40 minute drive.
How quickly can the planned mobile units visit the care homes assigned to them?
Moving to this more local scale, the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) tools allow you to plan the work of mobile vaccination teams to visit the care homes in their area. To illustrate this I set up a VRP with two mobile teams working over six days (using a Route for each team for each day). With data about the number of patients and staff in each care home you could model the amount of time different homes would take to vaccinate. I resorted to a fixed value and also assumed each team can take enough vaccine to cover more than one care home in a single trip.
Optimised schedules for two mobile teams visiting care homes local to a hospital
An example optimised schedule for two teams working over six days to vaccinate care homes.
How much quicker would it be with more teams?
I could add additional sets of Routes to represent the deployment of more vaccination teams. Repeating the analysis would show how many more care homes could be vaccinated in the modelled time. Questions like this can only be accurately answered by understanding location connections using their connectivity on the road network. For a planning exercise on the scale the country faces the potential for efficiency savings could be significant.
Monitoring and sharing progress
As the vaccination programme runs its course the proportion of the population vaccinated will vary between different areas. How do you track vaccination levels and monitor these alongside changing case numbers? How do you keep the population reassured of the progress being made but informed about the ongoing risks before vaccination is complete? Maps and dashboards – like the John Hopkins dashboard – allow information to be presented in an informative and up to date way. I'm sure they are going to continue to help us all understand how the pandemic unfolds.
Within the ArcGIS platform we have range of options to make accessing and understanding interactive maps easy for different audiences. The platform also supports the secure sharing of data between teams and even between stakeholders in different organisations. For more examples of how GIS can help with vaccine planning have a look at this resource site. For UK resources and information please visit our Covid-19 site. Or if you want to talk to us about how ArcGIS might help with the challenges you face please reach out to your Esri UK contact or email us at


The spectral theorem 1: Matrices (with NumPy)
This post will again not contain anything very advanced, but try to explain a relatively advanced concept by breaking it down into the ideas that led to its formulation. Once again, the star is that wonderful thing, linear algebra. I have gone from really disliking it upon first encounter (as a naive undergrad), to having immense appreciation for the way in which it can illustrate fundamental mathematical concepts. Here, I will first present some computations that could lead to the formulation of the spectral theorem in the finite dimensional case, and in the next installment I will consider instances of the generalisation. This is similar to how I would approach any new mathematical concept, which is first to reduce it to something I have a decent understanding of, before trying to understand it in any generality.
One version of the spectral theorem can be stated as follows:
Theorem. Suppose A is a compact self-adjoint operator on a Hilbert space H. Then there is an orthonormal basis of H which consists of eigenvectors of A, and for which each eigenvalue is real.
Recall that a compact operator is a linear operator such that the image of any bounded subset has compact closure. To get a good idea of the Spectral Theorem, we must first get an idea of what a compact self-adjoint operator would be in a finite dimensional setting. For the moment, let us only consider real matrices. Since the adjoint of a matrix is its conjugate transpose, in this case we consider only symmetric matrices. The question of compactness is trivial in this case. Our Hilbert space will just be \mathbf{R}^n with the usual inner (dot) product. In this case, the spectral theorem states that we should be able to find an orthonormal basis of \mathbf{R}^n consisting of eigenvectors of our matrix T, with corresponding real eigenvalues. Let us consider some simple cases.
A = \begin{bmatrix} 3 & 2 & 1 \\ 2 & 2 & 3 \\ 1 & 3 & 5 \end{bmatrix}.
Since I don't feel like working this out by hand, I'll use some Python:
import numpy as np
A = np.array([[3,2,1],[2,2,3],[1,3,5]])
a = np.linalg.eig(A)
This gives us the following output:
(array([ 7.66203005, 2.67899221, -0.34102227]),
 array([[-0._PHONE_, -0.83831649, 0.38072882],
 [-0.53490509, -0._PHONE_, -0.83482681],
 [-0.74940344, 0.52941923, 0.39763018]])
Note that the eigenvectors are given as the columns of the array. Now, it would not be too much to expect that the eigenvectors will give us a basis for \mathbf{R}^3. It would be a stretch to expect these to be orthonormal, however. We can test this out quickly:
b = [[1][i],a[1][j]) for i in range(3) for j in range(3)]
(If you look at the code, you'll see that I actually took the dot product of the rows, not the columns. Why would this have the same result?)
[0.9999999999999998, -5.551115123125783e-17, 2.7755575615628914e-16, -5.551115123125783e-17, 0.9999999999999998, -4.440892098500626e-16, 2.7755575615628914e-16, -4.440892098500626e-16, 1.0000000000000004]
Those values are awfully close to either 0 or 1, and we can suspect that a precise calculation will probably give us those exact answers. But was this just luck, or would it work on any matrix? Let's generate a random 4 by 4 matrix, which we multiply by its transpose to make it symmetric (where else do we see this product being used to generate Hermitian operators?):
B = np.random.rand(4,4)
BB = np.matmul(B, B.transpose())
bb = np.linalg.eig(BB)
c = [[1][i],bb[1][j]) for i in range(3) for j in range(3)]
[1.0000000000000007, -8.881784197001252e-16, 5.689893001203927e-16, -8.881784197001252e-16, 1.000000000000001, 1.6653345369377348e-16, 5.689893001203927e-16, 1.6653345369377348e-16, 0.9999999999999989]
Once again, we get entries that are practically 0 or 1, and it seems as if NumPy actually gives us the vectors in the desired form. You can get exact results using symbolic computation, for instance using SymPy:
import sympy as sym
A = sym.Matrix([[3,2,1],[2,2,3],[1,3,5]])
This takes surprisingly long however, and doesn't tell us much we don't know. We can now formulate a possible finite dimensional version of the spectral theorem:
Conjecture 1. The eigenvectors of a symmetric n \times n real matrix A form an orthonormal basis of \mathbf{R}^n.
Let us first check this in the case where the matrix has full rank, and we have n linearly independent eigenvectors. Suppose that \vec{v}_1, \vec{v}_2, \dots,\vec{v}_n are linearly independent eigenvectors of A with eigenvalues \lambda_1, \lambda_2, \dots,\lambda_n. For i \neq j:
(A\vec{v}_i)\cdot (A\vec{v}_j) = (A\vec{v}_i)^T (A\vec{v}_j) = \vec{v}_i A^T A \vec{v}_j = \lambda_j^2 \vec{v}_i^T \vec{v}_j
(A\vec{v}_j)\cdot (A\vec{v}_i) = (A\vec{v}_j)^T (A\vec{v}_i) = \vec{v}_j A^T A \vec{v}_i = \lambda_i^2 \vec{v}_j^T \vec{v}_i.
Since the dot product is commutative, we must have either that \lambda_i^2 = \lambda_j^2 or \vec{v}_i \cdot \vec{v}_j = 0. The latter part is clearly what we desire, but what if \lambda_i^2 = \lambda_j^2? If we take a look at the wording of the Spectral Theorem, we can see that it does not state that any set of eigenvectors form a basis, but that there is a basis which consists of eigenvectors. So if we have, say, that A\vec{v}_1 = \lambda \vec{v}_1 and A\vec{v}_2 = \lambda \vec{v}_2, we can form a new vector \vec{w} as follows:
\vec{w} = \vec{v}_2 - \frac{\vec{v}_2\cdot \vec{v}_2}{\| \vec{v}_1\|^2}\vec{v}_1.
This new vector is also an eigenvector with eigenvalue \lambda:
A\vec{w} = \lambda \vec{v}_2 - \frac{\vec{v}_1 \cdot \vec{v}_2}{| \vec{v}_1 \|^2}A\vec{v}_1 = \lambda \vec{w}.
Furthermore, \vec{w} will be orthogonal to \vec{v}_1. To get orthonormality, we just normalise \vec{w}. (If there are more than two vectors with the same eigenvalue, we just continue applying the Gram-Schmidt process.) We have therefore used the eigenvectors \vec{v}_1 and \vec{v}_2 with the same eigenvalue to find two orthonormal vectors (\vec{v}_1 and \vec{w}/\|\vec{w}\|) with the same eigenvalue as before.
We can see that we must now replace Conjecture 1 with one that is more in line with the statement of the Spectral Theorem:
Conjecture 2. Given a real n\times n symmetric matrix A, there is a basis of \mathbf{R}^n consisting of eigenvectors of A.
Now, where could this conjecture go wrong? In the above examples, we had nice, non-zero eigenvalues. So let us consider a matrix in which the columns are linearly dependent, and which has an eigenvalue of 0 with multiplicity 2:
A = np.array([[


text:
Representing the Race tells the story of an enduring paradox of American race relations, through the prism of a collective biography of African American lawyers who worked in the era of segregation. Practicing the law and seeking justice for diverse clients, they confronted a tension between their racial identity as black men and women and their professional identity as lawyers. Both blacks and whites demanded that these attorneys stand apart from their racial community as members of the legal fraternity. Yet, at the same time, they were expected to be "authentic"—that is, in sympathy with the black masses. This conundrum, as Kenneth W. Mack shows, continues to reverberate through American politics today.And the endorsements:
Mack reorients what we thought we knew about famous figures such as Thurgood Marshall, who rose to prominence by convincing local blacks and prominent whites that he was—as nearly as possible—one of them. But he also introduces a little-known cast of characters to the American racial narrative. These include Loren Miller, the biracial Los Angeles lawyer who, after learning in college that he was black, became a Marxist critic of his fellow black attorneys and ultimately a leading civil rights advocate; and Pauli Murray, a black woman who seemed neither black nor white, neither man nor woman, who helped invent sex discrimination as a category of law. The stories of these lawyers pose the unsettling question: what, ultimately, does it mean to "represent" a minority group in the give-and-take of American law and politics?
Representing the Race is a wonderful excavation of the first era of civil rights lawyering, the product of prodigious research and a keen eye for revealing detail.Ken discusses the book here.
--Randall L. Kennedy, author of The Persistence of the Color Line: Racial Politics and the Obama Presidency
Ken Mack brings to this monumental work not only a profound understanding of law, biography, history and racial relations but also an engaging narrative style that brings each of his subjects dynamically alive. It is a truly wonderful book.
--Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
A stunning reinterpretation of civil rights history for a twenty-first century audience, bringing to vivid life both famous and forgotten historical lawyers. Anyone who wishes to understand race relations in our modern era, including the racial politics that surrounds our first African American president, should read this book.
Ken Mack has written a rare book that forces us to reconsider the long history of civil rights. He offers an extraordinary account of a generation of attorneys who fought against Jim Crow and for professional recognition when the odds were against them. This is a masterwork.
--Thomas J. Sugrue, author of Sweet Land of Liberty: The Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in the North
Although civil rights lawyers occupy a central place in our nation's history, the nuances of their own position with regard to race, class, and professional stature bear closer examination. In this compelling new book, Mack recreates their individual and collective struggles and the triumphs that defined an era.
--Henry Louis Gates, Jr., W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University


text:
The Digital Schoolhouse is a primary to secondary school transition project established at Langley Grammar School in Slough, Berkshire. The project provides a colleciton of online resources and lesson plans for ICT and Computing educators working with primary and secondary school pupils (ages 8-14) in the UK. Now anyone can access the Scratch tutorial videos and worksheets for free.
Using Sorting Algorithm on Highest Scoreboard
This lesson plan shows you how to use a sorting algorithm to create a high score list for a Scratch game. The first part of the video tutorial explains how to set up the list, while the second part describes how to sort to make a highest scoreboard.
Special thanks to Mark Dorling for sharing these free resources.


text:
's Professional Standards and Ethics Committee serve as advisors on the IRA–NCATE partnership and, with others, act as program reviewers and auditors. NCATE, in partnership with IRA, awards national recognition to Reading Specialist/Literacy Coach programs that substantially meet professional standards as documented through a performance-based assessment system.
Reading Specialist/Literacy Coach programs that seek national recognition from NCATE and IRA must carefully align program tasks and assessments to IRA's Standards 2010 at the Reading Specialist/Literacy Coach level. The role of the Reading Specialist/Literacy Coach remains in one column of the Standards matrix, because the Standards expect evidence of both roles—Reading Specialist and Literacy Coach. Programs must also adhere to NCATE requirements and incorporate evidence that meets four principles of the NCATE SPA Standards; these principles are subsumed in Standards 2010 as follows:
- Principle 1: Content Knowledge (Standard 1)
- Principle 2: Content Pedagogy (Standards 2 and 3)
- Principle 3: Learning Environments (Standards 4 and 5)
- Principle 4: Professional Knowledge and Skills (Standard 6)
NCATE (2010), with its new criteria, indicates that there should be no subdivisions of standards beyond the element level. Thus, for each of these Standards, elements are provided, and then we include possible evidence that may be used for assessment purposes. NCATE will be evaluating programs, therefore, based on the "preponderance of evidence" presented to demonstrate competency. For those institutions participating in an NCATE review, IRA will provide accompanying material, including a rubric that will assist those institutions in preparing their program review materials (see model assessments).
Many supports to institutions preparing for NCATE/IRA reports and site visits are available from NCATE and IRA staff. In addition to sessions at the annual meetings of IRA and the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers (ALER), current specifications, additional resources, and model program reports are available (where readers can also find examples of assessment tools).
In conclusion, the document Standards 2010 is intended to strengthen the field by providing a well organized and specific set of performance criteria to shape preparation programs. The Standards are the result of a deliberative process that involved constant intertwining of research evidence and professional judgment. We expect this document to contribute to an evidence-based practice that ultimately improves student reading achievement.
National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. (2010). Policy on guidelines for writing and approval of SPA standards. In SASB policies and procedures handbook (pp. 5–51). Washington, DC: Specialty Areas Studies Board, National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education.
Rothman, R., Slattery, J.B., Vranek, J.L., & Resnick, L.B. (2002). Benchmarking and alignment of standards and testing (CSE Technical Report 566). Los Angeles: National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing.
Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2007). Schooling by design: Mission, action, and achievement. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.


Brain Wave
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Brain Wave
first edition cover
Author Poul Anderson
Cover artist Richard Powers
Country United States
Language English
Subject Intelligence
Genre science fiction
Publisher Ballantine
Publication date
Media type Print (Paperback, Hardcover)
Pages 164pp
OCLC _PHONE_
LC Class 54-8910
Brain Wave is a science fiction novel by Poul Anderson first published in serial form in Space Science Fiction in 1953, and then as a novel in 1954. Anderson had said that he could consider it one of his top five books[1] This is one of many science fiction works written at this time on the theme of heightened intelligence.
Plot summary[edit]
At the end of the Cretaceous period the Earth moved into an energy dampening field in space. As long as Earth was in this field all conductors became more insulating. As a result almost all of the life on Earth with neurons died off, causing the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. The ones that survived passed on their genes for sufficiently capable neurons to deal with the new circumstance. Now in modern times the Earth suddenly moves out of the field. Within weeks all animal life on earth becomes about 5 times as intelligent. The novel goes through the triumphs and tribulations of various people and non-human animals and groups on earth after this event.
The book opens with a lyrical description of a rabbit stuck inside of a trap becoming able to reason his way out. This is a common theme in the book. Animal traps are based on the idea that the animal cannot reason their way out of them. When the animals get the ability to reason they start escaping.
Institutions which seemed to be vital to human society, such as a money economy and centralized government, disappear in North America, while Africans, with the assistance of chimpanzees, overcome colonial rule and Chinese rebel against the Communist government. However, some of the means by which people cope with the "Change" are inventing new anti-scientific religions such as the Third Ba'al or adopting pseudo-science.
Archie Brock[edit]
Archie Brock, one of the main characters in the story, is mentally disabled; when the earth moves out of the field he becomes a genius by pre-change standards. His character is central to the story. Half way through the book he has taken over the farm that he worked on and, with the aid of his dog who now understands simple English and some escaped circus animals (two chimps and an elephant), they successfully run the farm together. Even through his intelligence has increased fivefold, so has everyone else's. He is still considered a relative simpleton, but has very much come to terms with that. In the end when nearly all the humans leave Earth he decides to stay behind as leader of a colony of now sentient animals and formerly mentally disabled people.
Sheila Corinth[edit]
Wife of Peter Corinth. She is a housewife before the change. The first effect she goes through when the change begins is a philosophical realization that her life as a housewife is "better" than her non-conformist friends. Later on she begins to lose her sanity from having to deal daily with the existential crisis. Her story is typical of many people in the book who didn't have the intelligence before the change to know how bad off they had it. Later she goes into her husband's lab to use an electroconvulsive therapy machine there to destroy parts of her brain, bringing her IQ down to about 150, which she is more comfortable with. She leaves Peter and in the last scene we see her introduced to Archie Brock's farm.
Dr. Peter Corinth[edit]
Physics researcher who spent a brief period at Los Alamos in WWII. He is one of the first to understand the change. After the change he experiences an emotional battle to stay loyal to his wife, although he has feelings for another woman in his office. He later becomes a pilot of the spaceship able to explore the galaxy. As part of that exploration, he again crosses into the energy dampening field.
Felix Mandelbaum[edit]
Neighbor of the Corinths. Before the change he is a Jewish executive secretary of a local union. He is 50 years old and was born on the lower East side. Later on he becomes "executive of the world."
Some have argued that the book is too short which might have been a result of editor pressure at the time. For example Thomas M. Wagner[2] writes:
"the book does feel somewhat rushed, as well as heavily edited, and I felt there was more Anderson was wanting to tell me. Anderson focuses his plot on a handful of lead characters"
Reviewer Groff Conklin praised the novel an "original idea... brilliantly carried out" but faulted its "rather fumbling ending."[3] P. Schuyler Miller described Brain Wave as "a brilliant idea that somehow doesn't quite come off."[4] Anthony Boucher praised the novel, saying that "Anderson has worked out in wonderfully logical detail the logical consequences of [his] assumption [and] advanced his speculations with exciting storytelling and moving characterization."[5]
 1. ^ Locus: Poul Anderson interview
 2. ^ SF REVIEWS.NET: Brain Wave / Poul Anderson ☆☆☆
 3. ^ "Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf", Galaxy Science Fiction, September 1954, p.114
 4. ^ "The Reference Library," Astounding Science Fiction, March 1954, pp.154
 5. ^ "Recommended Reading," F&SF, September 1954, p.92.
External links[edit]


text:
Ooh la la! Dalila Ayoun, a professor in French Linguistic, found that native French speakers can't agree on the genders of French nouns:
Fifty-six native French speakers, asked to assign the gender of 93 masculine words, uniformly agreed on only 17 of them. Asked to assign the gender of 50 feminine words, they uniformly agreed only 1 of them. Some of the words had been anecdotally identified as tricky cases, but others were plain old common nouns.