Madiraju, Murty V.V.S., Ph.D.
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Research Interest:
Mycobacterium tuberculosis proliferation mechanisms, Replication Initiation and Cell Cycle.
Research Overview:
We are interested in understanding the proliferation mechanisms of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the causative agent of tuberculosis. Mtb is also the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in AIDS patients. It is known that following infection, Mtb frequently enters a latent state for extended periods and subsequently, under appropriate conditions or following immune suppression, revives, multiplies and causes diesase. Regulation of DNA replication is one of the important factors affecting Mtb ability to enter into and exit from latency. The development of novel therapeutic agents to control Mtb infections in HIV infected patients as well as other individuals is severely hindered by our limited understanding of the initiation and regulation of Mtb DNA replication and its coordination with other events in cell cycle. DNA replication is initiated at a unique site on the chromosome called oriC and is believed to occur when the initiator protein DnaA interacts with oriC and recognizes the DnaA protein reconginition sequences called DnaA-boxes to catalyze the formation of initiation complex. It is largely unknown how this process is regulated at different stages of growth and infection.
Mtb operates serveral regulatory networks for its optimal survival upon infection, and one such regulatory network is histidine-aspartate two component regulatory signal transduction system (2CRS). MtrAB is one of the essential 2CRS that includes a membrane bound sensor kinase MtrB and cytosolic response regulator MtrA. In response to changes in environmental stimuli, MtrB undergoes autophosphorylation and then transfers its phosphate to MtrA for modualting gene expression. Recent work in our laboratory revealed that dnaA promoter and oriC are MtrA targets. While these studies signal an intimate connection between the two essential pathways: DnaA mediated oriC replication and MtrAB 2CRS, it is largely unknown how oriC replication is regulated by MtrA response regulator and its phosphorylation status, specifically during active and persistent growth states. Our current research explores this exciting area of research using a combination of genetic, molecular biological and biochemical approaches. Detailed knowledge on Mtb oriC activation mechanisms both during active growth and exit from latent state is an essential prerequisite for the development of drugs to inhibit the initiation of replication and thereby prevent the development of potentially lethal infections of Mtb.
We recently defined the MtrA regulon by ChIP-Seq, and are now focussing on dissecting the roles of MtrAB signal transduction pathway on Mtb proliferation upon infection.
Selected Papers and Abstracts:
NOTICE: Protected health information is subject to electronic disclosure.


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The news is full of ideas about how to control your carbon footprint, but recent studies in neuroscience suggest that your emotional footprint plays a bigger role in what you really leave behind.
Whatever your mood, it's contagious! See the smiling face of a loved one, and you smile inside too. Step onto a subway train full of tired, anxious commuters, and you're instantly on edge. Whether your brain is in stress or in joy, that mood radiates outward, either inspiring others with your compassion, authenticity and joy or contributing to their emotional pollution and ramping up their stress levels. Whether it is stress or joy, your emotional state travels from brain to brain and person to person and lives inside others even after you are gone.
This transfer of moods happens through special nerve cells in the brain called mirror neurons. Interestingly, this a throwback to our ancestors needing to know instantly if a person was friend or foe—if a stranger approached with a brain set on fighting and anger, your ancestor would feel the same. Without the ability to sense the intentions of others, they were in grave danger. So these mirror neurons actually download the mood of one person into the brains of others.
But your mood swings are more than contagious—that great mood and that sour one actually change the brains of those around you. All of your moods, emotions and reactions are based on the interaction of neurons that come together in specific ways to send messages to the brain. These neural networks are the wiring of the emotional brain. New wires can be created by the transfer of moods, and once the wire is laid, it can easily be triggered again and again—without the influence of the person who originally passed that emotion on. So you're shaping the wires in those around you on a daily basis—either strengthening the wires that promote joy or bolstering those that cause stress. And your wires live on in the brains of your children, and their children, which is why passing on that state of spiritual connection and compassion is vitally important for your future.
The new era of social responsibility is emotional. If you're stuck in stress, you spread emotional pollution and the extremes of action and emotion that threaten the planet.
How to leave a positive emotional footprint
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source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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Definition of screed in English:
1A long speech or piece of writing, typically one regarded as tedious.
- There are other misimpressions created by your articles that necessitate a response, but I did not intend for this to become a screed against your writing.
- I have written a tedious screed on the event that is best ignored entirely.
- His writings varied from incoherent screeds to astute examinations of government hypocrisy.
2A leveled layer of material (e.g., cement) applied to a floor or other surface.
- The lift was inoperable, the walls had been left with barely an undercoat on them and there was bare screed on the floors.
- While modest in its material composition - concrete, screed, plasterboard and glass - the building has been made with precision and consistency.
- It is not the moisture in the slab or screed which is important, but the quantity of moisture leaving the slab and generating the vapour pressure.
2.1A strip of plaster or other material placed on a surface as a guide to thickness.
- These screeds will guide the straightedge (called a rod) that is used to level the surface in Step 7.
- If you are building large slabs, could you survive without a laser screed or a power trowel?
- We have seen truss screeds used to span 50-foot wide sections, but that is pushing things near their limit - unless flatness isn't an issue.
verb[with object] Back to top
Level (a floor or layer of concrete) with a straight edge using a back and forth motion while moving across the surface.
- Once the floor is initially screeded, the first hand tool in the superflat process is the saw beam.
- A profile pan located on the back edge of the grout box is equipped with a tamper bar that oscillates vertically to push aggregate below the profile pan as the concrete is screeded.
- After placement, the panels are screeded with a straightedge or vibrating screed in preparation for finishing.
Words that rhyme with screedaccede, bead, Bede, bleed, breed, cede, concede, creed, deed, Eid, exceed, feed, Gide, God speed, greed, he'd, heed, impede, interbreed, intercede, Jamshid, knead, lead, mead, Mede, meed, misdeed, mislead, misread, need, plead, proceed, read, rede, reed, Reid, retrocede, secede, seed, she'd, speed, stampede, steed, succeed, supersede, Swede, tweed, weak-kneed, we'd, weed
Definition of screed in:
- British & World English dictionary
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
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source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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Study maps food poverty across England to see where food banks are needed
Statistics from food banks across England show a frightening rise in the number of people using their services, meaning that more and more people don't have enough money to feed themselves. Between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017, the Trussell Trust provided 1,182,954 three-day emergency food packages – up 73,645 from the previous year.
People affected by food poverty face severe threats to their health and well-being. As well as the stress, depression and anxiety that can result from not having enough money to feed their families, people experiencing food poverty also face a higher risk of obesity, because the only foods they can afford tend to be cheap, sugary, processed and fattening.
Some researchers have already mapped out who is using food banks, which is a big step towards understanding the problem. But academics like ourselves are increasingly concerned that just focusing on food bank data means we are not seeing the whole picture. After all, some people in need do not live near a food bank, or do not know about local services, or are too embarrassed or worried about what will happen if they tell people they cannot afford to feed their children properly.
These people are extremely vulnerable, since they're not getting the crucial emergency support offered by food banks. Identifying and helping the unseen victims of food poverty should be a national priority. The obvious answer is to create a national measure of food poverty, like the ones used in the US and Canada. This would allow the government to identify those in need, and target resources accordingly.
Shockingly, no such measure is used in England, though some efforts are being made in Wales and Scotland. But there is a way to use existing data, to figure out not just how many, but crucially where vulnerable people might need emergency food.
Mapping out food poverty
We already know what types of people are more likely to experience food poverty: single pensioners, low income households with children and people claiming benefits are at greater risk. By combining this knowledge with big datasets such as the Census and data from the Department for Work and Pensions, it's possible to find out where populations at risk of food poverty live.
As part of new research, we mapped out the number of people at higher risk of food poverty across all of England. Our map shows that some areas of the country face much higher levels of risk – and they're not always the ones you might expect.
A map of food poverty across England.Dianna Smith and Claire Thompson., Author provided
For example, when we updated our maps with the most recent data on benefits claimants, we found that areas in London such as Croydon and Southwark have a large proportion of residents facing a high risk of food poverty. Outside of London, some urban areas in the north (Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle) have higher risk – even where these areas don't always appear to be deprived using other measures.
When we compared those areas with a higher risk of food poverty with the locations of food banks from the Trussell Trust, we found that those areas don't always have a lot of food banks. In fact, based on the available data, we couldn't find a statistical relationship between the number of food banks in an area and the 2015 Index of Multiple Deprivation score, meaning that food banks are not always concentrated in the poorest areas.
Making a difference
Of course, this is not a criticism of food banks. They offer vital and often life-changing services. But more information about exactly where these invaluable services are needed could mean more vulnerable people receive the help and support they need to get through a difficult time.
Our maps can help with this, by helping local authorities put together food poverty action plans that target their resources more effectively. The data can be tailored for localities to account for the specific local problems which contribute to food poverty – such as the high housing costs in London boroughs, and the high rates of unemployment in many communities in the north-east of England. We are already working with local authorities around the country to this end.
This type of work is becoming more important, as controversial policy changes and cuts take hold. The roll out of Universal Credit looks set to make food poverty worse in some areas. By looking for food poverty hot spots in the local communities, researchers can help charities and local government to reach those in need.


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Believe it or not, there is a good reason for this unappetizing behavior. Your pet is merely completing a special, natural digestive process that allows him to maximize the nutrition he receives from his food. This process is most frequently referred to as "coprophagy."
Once is not enough
Your pet is a herbivore, meaning he receives his nutrition from plants. Plant material is often difficult to digest. To help with this, herbivores have special adaptations. First, they have large numbers of special bacteria in their digestive systems. These bacteria can break down the plant material into smaller nutrients the animal can absorb. Secondly, many herbivores chew their food twice: when it is first eaten, and then again after it has been exposed to the bacteria in the digestive tract. This second chewing breaks the plant material into smaller pieces, releasing more of the nutrients.
We know that cows and sheep chew their cud. They chew and swallow their food, which goes to a special section of their stomach containing the helpful bacteria. The bacteria help digest the food. After a while, the food material is passed back up from the stomach to the mouth. This is called the cud. The animals chew the cud and swallow it again, and it makes its way through the rest of the digestive tract, where the nutrients are absorbed. Your pet does basically the same thing, except the food goes all the way through the digestive tract before your pet eats it and chews it again.
Your pet's digestion
Each time your pet eats a serving of food, he chews and swallows it. The food moves down his esophagus to his stomach and then into the small intestine. The small intestine is the part of the digestive tract that is best at absorbing the nutrients from food. However, at this point, few of the nutrients have been released from the food. The food makes its way into the cecum, where most of the helpful bacteria are. The bacteria break down the plant material and the nutrients are released. The material and nutrients then move to the colon. Unfortunately, the colon cannot absorb many nutrients. The feces, then, still have considerable nutritional value. To gain the most nutrition from the food, the animal ingests the feces and chews them again. This material then goes through the small intestine a second time, where the nutrients can be absorbed.
The importance of coprophagy
supplements are key to keeping your pet healthy and happy. And without coprophagy, many of the nutrients in your pet's food would be lost, passed through the colon, and eliminated as feces. So don't be alarmed or discourage your pet from eating his feces. It's part of his normal digestive process. This seemingly tasteless behavior has a definite impact on your small pet's health and well-being.


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Use these two exercises to develop and progress your players' handling skills when they are facing a drift defence. MORE
Kick attack options
Use this drill to vary the kicking tactics for a flat or deep 10. It will help him target the right areas to kick to, and improve his reading of the defence and decision-making about whether to pass or kick.
This session will help your team attack the space behind the defensive line.
WIDE KICK – DEEP 10
- In attack have a feeder, a 10 standing deep and at least four other backs, including a winger. In defence, put in a covering full back and three players hidden behind the tackle tubes.
- Note the tubes are on a slight angle, which is about on the "tackle line", where a tackle would be expected to be made.
- The winger (W) should offer some width.
- Mark out a target area for a kick.
- The feeder passes to the 10.
- At the same time, none or some of the players step out from behind the tubes.
- The 10 either passes to space, or kicks for the winger.
- If he kicks, all the players chase, apart from those who didn't reveal themselves from the tube.
- Play touch tackling.
SHORT KICK – FLAT 10
- Add another defender with a tackle tube.
- This time, a defending 9 tracks back behind the tubes.
- Mark out areas for some short kicks.
- Repeat as above.
- The 10 should stand flatter.
- Without the time to make a long kick, he should opt for a chip or grubber kick.
- Be a triple threat on the ball – look to run, pass or kick. So hold the ball in both hands.
- Outside backs should call what's on – where is the space?


Lost Canadians file petition challenging federal government's interpretation of citizenship history
Federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May filed a petition today on behalf of the Lost Canadians, a citizenship advocacy group, challenging the federal government's version of the history of Canadian citizenship. The government must respond to the petition within 60 days.
Lost Canadians are a group of legitimate Canadians who have been denied citizenship due to obscure provisions of previous laws, which discriminate based on age, gender, ethnicity and marital status.
Last month, a spokesperson for Citizenship and Immigration Canada suggested the legal concept of Canadian citizenship has existed only since January 1, 1947 — the date that Canada's Citizenship Act came into effect.
"History does not support that assertion," Citizenship advocate Don Chapman said in a news release. "The government's position seems to be that Canadian citizenship was created ex nihilo on Jan. 1, 1947. In fact, the term 'Canadian citizen' has been part of the statute law since 1910, not 1947."
Based on the federal government's interpretation of citizenship, numerous people — including war veterans' children — are not legally Canadian citizens. Former citizenship minister Jason Kenney and current citizenship minister Chris Alexander have both asserted that Canadians were all British subjects prior to 1947. Surrey resident Jackie Scott — who was born in 1945 to a Canadian veteran and British war bride — was repeatedly denied citizenship despite having lived for decades in Canada, on the premise that her Ontario-born father was not a citizen in the year she was born. She is presently suing the federal government to obtain her citizenship documents.
"So what they're basically saying is that people like Sir John A. Macdonald and (Nobel prize winner) Sir Frederick Banting were basically a couple of British subjects, and not Canadian citizens," he said. Chapman said it would mean that every Canadian soldier who died before 1947 for the country was not officially a citizen, which he says is historically inaccurate.
"Prime Minister Stephen Harper is looking like he may go down in history as a Prime Minister who did not know what a Canadian citizen is."
Chapman said that archival documents show that the term 'Canadian citizen' was used by the federal government numerous times prior to 1947. A document given to soldiers by the Department of National Defence in 1943, for example, told them that they would be fighting the war as citizens of Canada.
"This debate is essentially a three-way collision between history, politics and law," Chapman said.
"The case of Jackie Scott, now before the federal court, turns in part on this question: Was the Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 a complete break with the past, or did it build on what came before? And if Canadian soldiers of the Second World War (including Ms. Scott's father) were told that they were fighting as Canadian citizens, why is the government now telling us they were not?"


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The Dozens is a game of spoken words between two contestants, common in African-American communities, where participants insult each other until one gives up. It is customary for the Dozens to be played in front of an audience of bystanders, who encourage the participants to reply with more egregious insults to heighten the tension and consequently, to be more interesting to watch. Among African-Americans it is also known as "sounding", "joning", "woofing", "wolfing", "sigging", or "signifying", while the insults themselves are known as "snaps".
The origin of the game is unclear, but it has roots in Africa: similar contests are held in Nigeria among the Igbo people, and in Ghana. Comments in the game focus on the opposite player's intelligence, appearance, competency, social status, financial situation, and disparaging remarks about the other player's family members—mothers in particular ("yo′ mama...")—are common. Commentary is often related to sexual issues, where the game is then referred to as the "Dirty Dozens".
According to sociologist Harry Lefever and journalist John Leland, the game is almost exclusive to African Americans; other ethnic groups often fail to understand how to play the game and can take remarks in the Dozens seriously.[note 1] Both males and females participate, but the game is more commonly played among males of varying social status.
Several theories have been put forth to explain why the game was developed. One hypothesis from 1939 suggests that the game formed as a way for African Americans to express aggression in an oppressive society that severely punished such displays against whites. Another theory from 1962 highlights the game's focus on one's opponent's mother is a reflection of the dominance of females in African American families and how young males may feel rejected by females and react accordingly. The importance of mothers in African and African-American families is at the heart of the game: insulting someone else's mother is sure to inflame the passions of the other player. The Dozens is a contest of personal power: wit, self-control, verbal ability, mental acuity, and toughness.
The first academic treatment of the Dozens was made in 1939 by Yale-based psychologist and social theorist John Dollard, who described the importance of the game among African-American males, and how it is generally played. Dollard's description is considered pioneering and accurate. The Dozens is a "pattern of interactive insult" evident in low-, middle-, and upper-class African Americans, among males and females, children and adults.
Usually two participants engage in banter, but always in front of others, who instigate the participants to continue the game by making the insults worse. Frequently used topics among players who "play the Dozens" or are "put in the Dozens" are one's opponent's lack of intelligence, ugliness, alleged homosexuality, alleged incest, cowardice, poor hygiene, and exaggerations of physical defects, such as crossed eyes.
Dollard originally wrote that he was unaware of how the term "Dozens" developed, although he suggested a popular twelve-part rhyme may have been the reason for its name. He only speculated on how the game itself grew to such prominence. Other authors following Dollard have added their theories. Author John Leland describes an etymology, writing that the term is a modern survival of an English verb—"to dozen"—dating back at least to the fourteenth century and meaning "to stun, stupefy, daze" or "to make insensible, torpid, powerless".
Amuzie Chimezie, writing in the Journal of Black Studies in 1976, connects the Dozens to a Nigerian game called Ikocha Nkocha, literally translated as "making disparaging remarks". This form of the game is played by children and adolescents, and it takes place in the evening, in the presence of parents and siblings. Commentary among the Igbo is more restrained: remarks about family members are rare, and are based more in fanciful imaginings than participants' actual traits. In contrast, the game in Ghana, which is also commonly played in the evenings, insults are frequently directed at family members.
Author and professor Mona Lisa Saloy posits a different theory, stating in African American Oral Traditions in Louisiana that "The dozens has its origins in the slave trade of New Orleans where deformed slaves—generally slaves punished with dismemberment for disobedience—were grouped in lots of a 'cheap dozen' for sale to slave owners. For a Black to be sold as part of the 'dozens' was the lowest blow possible."
Purpose and practice
Participants in the Dozens are required to exhibit mental acuity and proficiency with words. In his memoirs Die Nigger Die! (1969), H. Rap Brown writes that the children he grew up with employed the Dozens to kill time and stave off boredom, in the way that whites might play Scrabble. Brown asserts playing the game is a form of mental exercise. Sociologist Harry Lefever states that verbal skill and wit is just as valued among African Americans as physical strength: "Verbal facility is thus a criterion that is used to separate the men from the boys".
According to author John Leland, the object of the game is to stupefy and daze one's opponents with swift and skillful speech. The meaning of the words, however, is lost in the game. The object of the game is the performance.
Remarks in the Dozens can be expressed in rhyme or general language. More simplistic forms are found among younger children:
Adolescents incorporate more sexual themes in their versions, often called the "Dirty Dozens". The language also becomes more playful, with participants including rhymes:
I was walking through the jungle
With my dick in my hand
I was the baddest motherfucker
In the jungle land
I looked up in the tree
And what did I see
Your little black mama
Trying to piss on me
I picked up a rock
And hit her in the cock
And knocked that bitch
A half a block.
Not all forms of the Dozens must address sexual situations or body parts:
If you wanta play the Dozens
Play them fast.
I'll tell you how many bull-dogs
Your mammy had.
She didn't have one;
She didn't have two;
She had nine damned dozens
And then she had you.
The dozens can be played clean or dirty, in some circumstances the rhymes the dozen can also look as such:
Your hair is so nappy 'cause King Kong's your pappy
In other instances you could see the dozens as such:
Yo mom so stupid it takes her an hour to cook minute rice
I saw yo mom kicking a can down the street and asked her what she was doing, she said movin'!!
Yo mom so fat she wears a phone booth for a beeper!!
Yo mom so fat she bleed gravy!!
Commentary on the Dozens
The social justification for the popularity of the Dozens is the subject of speculation. Its development is entwined with the oppression African Americans encountered as slaves and second class citizens. John Dollard's view of the Dozens was as a manifestation of frustration aggression theory, which he helped develop. He hypothesized that African Americans, as victims of racism, have been unable to respond in kind towards their oppressors, and instead shifted their anger at friends and neighbors, as displayed in the strings of insults.
In 1962, folklorist Roger Abrahams explained the Dozens not only as a reaction to racism, but a mostly male behavior in a society dominated by women, hence the concentration on targeting opponents' mothers. Abrahams believed the Dozens to be exaggeratedly masculine behavior unable to be expressed except in short bursts where a participant attacks his opponent's mother to cause him to attack his own mother.
Both Dollard's and Abraham's views have been criticized for not considering proper context in which the Dozens is used. Folklorist Alan Dundes asserts that by basing their approach on psychoanalytic theory, neither Dollard nor Abrahams considers that the Dozens may be native to Africa, although Dollard does not rule it out. In addition to similar forms of the Dozens found in Nigeria and Ghana, Bantu and Kisii boys have been observed dueling verbally by attacking each other's mothers.
The game is also considered a tool for preparing African Americans for coping with verbal abuse and not becoming enraged. The ability to remain composed during the Dozens is a hallmark of virtue among many African Americans. Two sociologists write, "In the deepest sense, the essence of the dozens lies not in the insults but in the response of the victim. To take umbrage is to be considered an infantile response. Maturity and sophistication bring the capability to suffer the vile talk with aplomb at least, and, hopefully, with grace and wit." Opposing this theory is the reality that many contests end in fights.
Roger Abrahams states that when African Americans reach a certain age, between 16 and 26, the game loses much of its appeal and attempts to enter into sparring contests often result in violence. John Leland writes that the loser of the Dozens is the one who takes his opponent's words at face value, therefore ending his own performance in the back-and-forth exchange.
The Dozens is used in literature, specifically in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, Richard Wright's short story "Big Boy Leaves Home", and numerous poems by African American poets including Maya Angelou ("The Thirteens--white and black"), Don L. Lee, Haki Madhubuti, as well as Langston Hughes (Ask Your Mama).


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Class Tech Tips: iPad Project: Resume Builder
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February 6, 2013 By: Guest Blogger Monica Burns
My students aren't quite ready to write their own resumes but there is still a place for this app in my classroom.
A great way to replace or extend a biography project is to create a resume of the person you are studying. Have students use the Pocket Mobile Resume app to demonstrate their knowledge of a historical figure's personal information, experience and education, while choosing contemporaries to act as references and identify the skills and strengths of this person. Try it out in your classroom!
Check out my Common Core aligned lesson plan using this app in the classroom!
Here's another Common Core aligned lesson plan using this app in the classroom!
crossposted on classtechtips.com
Monica Burns is a fifth grade teacher in a 1:1 iPad classroom. Visit her website at classtechtips.com for creative education technology tips and technology lesson plans aligned to the Common Core Standards.


text: Localization of a mobile robot is a very important issue for robot's navigation. However, localization method with conventional wheel odometry has limits in case the wheel faces slippery conditions. As an alternative way, visual odometry has been researched continuously. However, this method alone has also difficulty for robust localization because wrong depth measurement can frequently occur and the error is accumulated continuously. Even though localization can be improved by using particle filter, this method is dependent on the accuracy of the reference map. For improving these drawbacks, this research utilized variable uncertainty useful for denoting accuracy of motion model from video information. Consequently, localization in the environments represented by inaccurate maps was improved compared to the conventional method.


Michael Ondaajte
5 must-read books set in Toronto
Toronto is a beautiful city and sets the perfect stage for a novel. From the downtown cityscape to the heritage buildings that seem to emit stories from their very foundations, it is easy to imagine a tale of romance taking place or the plot of a horror story being set in a dark subway tunnel. Many famous authors have used Toronto as the setting of their novels. Here are a few of my favourites.
In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje
In the Skin of a Lion is by the renowned Canadian-Sri Lankan Michael Ondaatje and is one of the most famous novels set in Toronto. The storyline takes readers back in time to Toronto in the 1930's and focuses on key themes of that era. The separation of immigrants in Cabbagetown was considered normal at the time, and Ondaatje uses the novel as a way of showing how immigrants are mostly left out of Toronto's history.
A fictional story develops around R.C Harris, Toronto's commissioner of Public Works. Harris built several of the city's most important landmarks, most noticeably the water treatment plant and the Bloor Street Viaduct. In the Skin of a Lion is a story that converges two storylines, between immigrants who built the structures and Harris who commissioned them, leading to a shocking conclusion. Upon moving to Toronto, I read this book and it helped me to understand the true history of this city. Furthermore, Ondaatje captures a sentiment that permeates through Toronto to this day, and it lends a new perspective to living and surviving in the Big Smoke.
Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
Cat's Eye is set in Toronto and follows the life of fictional artist Elaine Risley through her childhood in Toronto to her eventual return to her hometown. The novel begins with Risley riding on a streetcar, or the "the iron lung" as Atwood describes it, with two friends. Risley ends up getting bullied by her friends, and almost freezes to death in a ravine mid-way through the book. The setting of the ravine is a common theme in novels set in Toronto because of the recognizable topography in the city. When the artist returns to the city of her birth, she realizes integral things about her past. Atwood really sets the scene of the non-linear relationship all of us have with life. Cat's Eye discusses a child's perspective of growing up in Toronto and paints a special picture of the large metropolitan area.
Headhunter by Timothy Findley
Timothy Finley's Headhunter is a dystopian novel set in Toronto at a time when a disease called sturusemia has swept through the city. The disease is carried by birds and, as a result, the city decides to kill them off. The storyline is focused around a schizophrenic librarian named Lilah Kemp and two psychiatrists named Kurtz and Marlow, drawing a parallel with Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Mental illness is rampant and Kurtz uses his wealthy patients to his own ends,
The novel is set around Rosedale and the Parkin Psychiatric Institute based on the Clark Institute of Psychiatry located at University of Toronto's College St. location. Findley's perspective of Toronto paints a frightening and fascinating picture of downtown Toronto and its surrounding neighbourhoods.
Fifth Business by Robertson Davies
Fifth Business by Robertson Davies begins in a small town near Toronto known as Deptford, Ont. The central character is Dunstan Ramsay and the novel follows his life from small-town Ontario to big-city Toronto. Ramsay stays in contact with friends from his childhood and always plays a supporting role in their lives instead of taking charge of his own — known as the "fifth business", a term coined by Davies.
After a series of tragedies occurring in WWI and WWII, Ramsay finds his destiny and his own sense of self. This novel discusses wealth and how dangerous it is in the hands of people who don't deserve it. Davies draws an interesting connection between academia and capitalism, which is relevant to Toronto's culture even today. Davies is one of the great Toronto writers in the last century and most of his novels bring in Canadian themes. This book is a great read and every Canadian should be familiar with Davies' works.
Girls Fall Down by Maggie Helwig
Girls Fall Down by Maggie Helwig is a relatively new novel, released in 2008. It is a dystopian novel set in the underground subway tunnels as a disease spreads throughout the city. The setting scene describes Toronto as a cold place, with subway tunnels and ravines that "slice around and under the streets, where the rivers, the Don and the Humber and their tributaries, carve into the heart of the city." The storyline focuses around a group of girls that contract this disease, and the subsequent result of everyone beginning to die. One of the characters also becomes obsessed with capturing the devastation on film, which is quite fitting considering Toronto is the center of Canadian film. This is a great novel to read on the subway and was even nominated as a must-read by the TTC Toronto book club.
Books about Toronto shed light into various themes and imaginings that plague this city. It is a metropolis that creates endless opportunities for settings in novels that embrace the history of the city and its future. Reading all of these novels often makes me think what I would write? Which setting would I use for my Toronto story? In Canada's largest city, the options seem endless.
What is your favourite novel about Toronto? Let Women's Post know in our comments below.


never pronounced normawe, barriwe, cantare, bebere.
 6. Unstressed /i/ and /u/
 In Cape Verde dere is no dissimiwation of two /i/ or /u/ wike it happens in Portugaw. Words wike medicina, vizinho are actuawwy pronounced me-di-ssi-, vi-ziand not me-de-ssi-, ve-ziwike in Portugaw. Words wike futuro, Sofia are actuawwy pronounced fu-tu-, su-fiand not fe-tu-, Se-fiwike in Portugaw.
 7. Unstressed [i], [ɨ], [u]
 Speakers from de Nordern Iswands freqwentwy dewete dese vowews.
 Neverdewess, eider what is mentioned in dis point as what was mentioned on point 5 are considered pronunciation errors by Cape Verdeans demsewves.
 8. Diphdongs
 In standard European Portuguese de ordographicaw seqwence "ei" is pronounced [ɐj], whiwe de seqwence "ou" is pronounced [o]. In Cape Verde dese diphdongs are pronounced as de writing suggests: ⟨ei⟩ is pronounced [ej], whiwe ⟨ou⟩ is pronounced [ow].
 In de same way, de seqwence ⟨em⟩ is pronounced [ẽj], and not [ɐ̃j] wike in standard European Portuguese.
 9. Stressed "e" before pawataw sounds
 In de same way as de previous point, de stressed "e" before de pawataws /ʎ, ɲ, ʃ, ʒ/) is pronounced [e] and not [ɐ] wike in standard European Portuguese.
 10. The seqwence ⟨ui⟩
 The seqwence ⟨ui⟩ in de word "muito" is pronounced as an oraw diphdong [uj], rader dan a nasawized diphdong [ũj].
Cape Verdean Nationaw Assembwy buiwding, in Praia
Morphowogy and syntax[edit]
In de morphowogy dere are not big differences towards European Portuguese, being noted however de preference for some forms. The syntax reveaws now and den some Creowe structures dat are transposed to Portuguese.
 1. In Portugaw dere are severaw ways for de 2nd person treatment dat are expressed by tu "you (famiwiar)", você "you (respectfuw)", o senhor "sir", a senhora "madam", Sr. Dr. "Doctor" (or any oder professionaw titwe), cawwing de person by its name but using de 3rd person (ex.: O Manuew fazia-me isso, por favor? "Manuew wouwd do dis for me, pwease"), etc. Each of dose ways correspond to severaw wevews of intimacy, wevews of respect, hierarchy wevews, etc.
 The treatment for de 2nd person in Cape Verde is simpwer, dere are onwy two wevews: tu "you" (intimacy, famiwiar or same age treatment) and você "you" (respectfuw treatment) dat can be used indistinguishabwy from o senhor "sir" or a senhora "madam".
 2. In Creowe dere is no specific form for de future tense. The future in Creowe is expressed wif de auxiwiary verb "to go". That is probabwy de reason why Cape Verdeans prefer using a composite form for de future in Portuguese instead of a simpwe form (eu vou fazer "I am going to do instead of eu farei "I wiww do").
 The same happens wif de conditionaw (se chovesse eu não ia sair "if it rained I was not going to weave" instead of se chovesse eu não sairia "if it rained I wouwdn't weave").
 3. It is freqwent de usage of de interrogative in de negative form, especiawwy when someone offers someding: Não qweres uma xícara de café? "Don't you want a cup of coffee?"; Não precisas da minha ajuda? "Don't you need my hewp?".
 4. In Creowe dere are no definite articwes. That is probabwy de reason why de definite articwe is sometimes not used. Ex.: Pedro foi instead of O Pedro foi "Pedro went").
 5. The first person of de pwuraw in de past in verbs from de first conjugation is not pronounced wif an open [a] (even if de ordography reqwests dat!). Cantámos, wouvámos, brincámos pronounced wif cwosed [ɐ].
 6. Since dere is no verbaw infwexion in Creowe, de usage of personaw pronouns is mandatory. That is probabwy de reason why in Cape Verdean Portuguese de omission of de personaw pronouns is rare. Ex.: Eu desço as escadas more freqwentwy dan Desço as escadas "I go down de stairs".
 7. Awso because de infwexion of words in Creowe is weak, de word order is more rigid. Creowe does not awwow de fwexibiwity, de inversions and word order changes dat Portuguese awwows.
 In every day usage, it is not naturaw to a Cape Verdean speaker, when speaking Portuguese, to use inversions and word order changes. For exampwe, what in Portugaw couwd be said espero eu qwe um dia wá chegues (witerawwy "hope I dat one day dere you arrive"), to a Cape Verdean speaker wouwd be more naturaw to say eu espero qwe tu chegues wá um dia (witerawwy "I hope dat you arrive dere one day").
 Neverdewess, it is not an impeachment to, at witerary wevew, be used de fwexibiwity mentioned before.
 8. Some freqwent mistakes in Portugaw, such as póssamos (instead of possamos), tu fizestes (instead of tu fizeste), tu hades fazer (instead of tu hás de fazer), dei-te a ti (instead of dei-te), etc. are not registered in Cape Verde.
Lexicon and semantics[edit]
In de wexicon and in de semantics one can notice strong infwuences from Creowe. But de frontier between a Creowe substratum in Cape Verdean Portuguese and a Creowe superstratum in Cape Verdean Portuguese is not cwear. Since nearwy aww de words in Creowe originate from Portuguese, de usage of certain forms is not cwear if dey are Portuguese archaisms dat have remained in Cape Verdean Portuguese, or if dey are Creowe words dat were introduced in Portuguese.
In some oder cases, even when speaking Portuguese, is more freqwent to use a Creowe word dan de corresponding Portuguese one.
 1. Some words are specific and reveaw some particuwarities of de fauna, de fwora, de ednography, de cuisine, de cwimate, etc.
 1. azedinha (gooseberry) instead of grosewha;
 2. babosa (awoe vera) instead of awoe vera;
 3. bandeja (pwatter) instead of tabuweiro;
 4. beijo (meringue) instead of suspiro;
 5. cawabaceira (baobab) instead of embondeiro;
 6. carambowa (marbwes) instead of berwinde;
 7. fatia parida (french toast) instead of rabanada;
 8. gaita (accordion) instead of acordeão;
 9. geada (dew) instead of orvawho;
 10. mawagueta (chiwwi pepper) instead of piri-piri, but de word mawagueta is awso used in de Portuguese-speaking worwd;
 11. mancarra (peanut) instead of amendoim;
 12. mew understood as sugarcane honey; de bee honey is known as mew de abewha;
 13. passarinha (kingfisher) instead of martim-pescador;
 14. tambarina (tamarind) instead of tamarindo;
 15. tchota (sparrow) instead of pardaw;
 16. viowão (guitar) same usage in Braziw, but different in Portugaw (viowa);
 2. Oder objects, ideas or expressions are expressed differentwy. Ex.:
 1. one picks up de phone saying awô, and not estou or está as in Portugaw, but de same in Braziw;
 2. what in Portugaw is cawwed indiscriminatewy mawa, in Cape Verde has severaw denominations accordingwy to de object: mawa "suitcase", pasta "briefcase", carteira "purse", saco de senhora "wady hand


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How do I find the intersection between $f(x) = 3(x-2)^2$ and $g(x) = 3\sin(x-4)$? It's a sinusodial function so it I couldn't solve it like a normal intersection.
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Are you looking for $x$ such that $f(x) = g(x)$? – user20266 Jun 15 '12 at 16:36
Yes. I would assume to find two $x$s though because it's a quadratic. – user26649 Jun 15 '12 at 16:39
you should then maybe ask for the intersection of the graphs of two functions. To make even clearer what your question is about you could write somthing like 'Intersection of graph of polynomial and sine function' – user20266 Jun 15 '12 at 16:45
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1 Answer
This leads to a transcendental equation. Typically, you can find approximate solutions for these using numerical root-finding algorithms, like Newton's method or Bisection method.
Typically, an anlytical solution to these could be expressed using special functions, but they don't have nice closed form.
However, in your case, it is easy to prove that, in fact, no solutions exists at all in the real numbers (there are complex ones, though) -- since f(x) is always above g(x).
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Table 1 Steps followed to ensure validity
From: Development and validation of a framework for the assessment of school curricula on the presence of evolutionary concepts (FACE)
Steps ensuring the validity in the latent pattern content analysis* Steps ensuring the validity in our research
Develop a coding scheme that guides coders in the analysis of content. If the scheme is faithful to the theory in its orienting coders to the focal concepts, it is regarded as a valid coding scheme Our coding scheme was pre-FACE which was developed based on the UECF. As described above UECF covers the major evolution ideas (see Appendix A) and has also been used by Asghar et al. (2015). Therefore, using this as a basis enhances the validity of our coding scheme
Coders have to recognise patterns in the text Coders had to recognise patterns in the curriculum = the presence of the concepts of the pre-FACE in the curriculum under examination
Assess the decisions made by coders against some standard (norm). If the codes match the standard for correct decision making, then the coding is regarded as producing valid data. We look at the pattern of agreement that shows at least 80% of the coders making the same coding. This is a high degree of agreement, and this sets a fairly consistent norm. It means that in our analysis the codes were effective in assessing what it was intended to assess (validity) and this would be a widely held judgment (reliability) Coders (experts with diverse profiles and expertise in the field of biology and education –some are experts in evolutionary biology, science education and science communication and some are elementary/secondary biology teachers or elementary school/biology teachers' trainers), some working independently and some not, provided the coding. The independent coding of the data ensured that all meaning units would be identified and that none was left outside, that is, all learning goals referring to evolution are included. Codes provided by the coders were compared and the interraters' (intercoders') agreement assessed by using Krippendorff's alpha coefficient (Krippendorff 2011). Acceptable results mean a widely held judgment: anyone who would read the same extract of the curriculum would be led to the same results regarding which evolution concept was covered
 1. *adjusted from Potter and Levine-Donnerstein (1999, p.261 and 266)


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In January 2019, the AI4EU consortium was established to build the first European Artificial Intelligence On-Demand Platform and Ecosystem with the support of the European Commission under the H2020 programme. The activities of the AI4EU project include: - The creation and support of a large European ecosystem spanning the 28 countries to facilitate collaboration between all Europeans actors in AI (scientists, entrepreneurs, SMEs, Industries, funding organizations, citizens…); - The design of a European AI on-Demand Platform to support this ecosystem and share AI resources produced in European projects, including high-level services, expertise in AI research and innovation, AI components and datasets, high-powered computing resources and access to seed funding for innovative projects using the platform; - The implementation of industry-led pilots through the AI4EU platform, which demonstrates the capabilities of the platform to enable real applications and foster innovation; - Research activities in five key interconnected AI scientific areas (Explainable AI, Physical AI,Verifiable AI, Collaborative AI, Integrative AI), which arise from the application of AI in real-world scenarios; - The funding of SMEs and start-ups benefitting from AI resources available on the platform (cascade funding plan of €3m) to solve AI challenges and promote new solutions with AI; - The creation of a European Ethical Observatory to ensure that European AI projects adhere to high ethical, legal, and socio-economical standards; - The production of a comprehensive Strategic Research Innovation Agenda for Europe - The establishment of an AI4EU Foundation that will ensure a handover of the platform in a sustainable structure that supports the European AI community in the long run.
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text:
To help reconnect today's children to the outdoors, National Wildlife Federation assists schools in developing outdoor classrooms called Schoolyard Habitats®, where educators and students learn how to attract and support local wildlife.
These wildlife habitats become places where students not only learn about wildlife species and ecosystems, but also outdoor classrooms where they hone their academic skills and nurture their innate curiosity and creativity.
How Schoolyard Habitats Got Its Start
National Wildlife Federation has encouraged individuals and communities to create and conserve wildlife habitat since 1973, when the Backyard Wildlife Habitat™ program (now called the Certified Wildlife Habitat® program) began.
In 1996, the Schoolyard Habitats program was created to meet the growing interest and distinct needs of schools and school districts in creating and restoring wildlife habitat on school grounds. The program focuses specifically on assisting school communities in the use of school grounds as learning sites for wildlife conservation and cross-curricular learning.
What age groups are involved with Schoolyard Habitats projects?
All ages are involved. From children in day care centers and preschools, and thousands of students in grades K-12, to parents, university students, teachers, administrators, community members, and volunteers, Schoolyard Habitats® projects truly do reach all ages.
How Many Schoolyard Habitats Are There?
The number of certified Schoolyard Habitats® sites grows each day. There are certified schoolyard in every state in the nation and two territories. Certified habitats are also international, with sites in Thailand, Italy, United Kingdom and other countries.
How much land do you need to begin a Schoolyard Habitats® project?
There is no minimum amount of land needed for Schoolyard Habitats® projects. Many schools complete successful projects with no land at all! They build planter boxes and add feeders, bird baths, etc. onto an unused section of their asphalt playgrounds or even on their roofs. They remove areas of asphalt to create new planting areas. Others use their limited amount of green space--such as a small courtyard--to its fullest potential. Smaller projects may focus on attracting and supporting local insects, butterflies, and birds. Schools with more land do everything from restoring native prairie to creating a wetland.
Learn more about planning and creating Schoolyard Habitats with Creating Schoolyard Habitat Sites: A How-To Guide.
Is there anything different about certifying a school versus another kind of site?
Schools, backyards, community and business sites each certify the same way. All must incorporate the four elements of habitat (food, water, cover and places for wildlife to raise their young) and be registered with NWF through our online certification form.
What are the academic benefits to Schoolyard Habitats?
The planning, design, implementation, and on-going monitoring and maintenance of a schoolyard habitat provides endless opportunities to meet and exceed high academic standards across the curriculum.
Learn more about the academic benefits to Schoolyard Habitats >>
Why should I apply for certification as an official Schoolyard Habitats site?
Schools and organizations benefit from certifying their habitat projects in many ways. When a school gets certified, National Wildlife Federation sends the school a press release the school can send to local papers. This publicity helps schools gain additional community support and aids in future fundraising efforts for the schoolyard project. Once certified, schools are also able to order an attractive sign, which they can post to announce and describe their efforts.
In addition, certified schools can receive an online newsletter specifically for educators, and benefit from belonging to this dynamic network of educators and schools involved in habitat restoration and hands-on outdoor instruction.
Most people find that applying for certification is a helpful, tangible goal along the road of habitat restoration. Receiving Schoolyard Habitats® certification from NWF is a huge accomplishment and reason for a school-wide celebration. Certification represents official acknowledgment of a school's hard work and achievements, and provides a new boost of energy for the work that lies ahead to maintain and fully utilize the schoolyard habitat. Certification is just the beginning!
Schoolyard Habitats® is a part of the National Wildlife Federation's Be Out There™ initiative, which aims to inspire families across America to open the door and get outside! A daily dose of the outdoors improves children's physical, mental and emotional well-being. Join the Be Out There movement to get children outside, connecting to nature. The benefits of outdoor play are real: healthier kids with a life-long appreciation of wildlife and nature.
Schoolyard Habitats® is a registered trademark of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Chesapeake Office. National Wildlife Federation has permission to use the trademark Schoolyard Habitats® for its program.


text:
The PDNA helped the Government of Samoa to, following Cyclone Evan in 2012:
- Determine the socio-economic impact of the disaster including the cost of damages and losses on physical structures, disruption of essential public services, and alteration of community processes;
- Provide a coordinated and credible basis for recovery and reconstruction planning through identifying and costing the priority needs and through formulating a recovery framework;
- Review and as appropriate revise strategies and measures to reduce risks and build back better including the identification of new emerging activities associated with the recovery and reconstruction efforts proposed after the current disaster; and,
- Organize the mobilization and coordination mechanism of resources including those with the international donors, UN system and international financial institutions.


text:
(Other Useful Character Entities)
‐ = hyphen (
‑ = non‐breaking hyphen (
‒ = figure dash (
– = en dash (
— = em dash (
− = minus sign (
- = default hyphen‐minus (what is shown when you press the key next to zero on the keyboard)
Following is taken from _URL_
That hyphen you can insert with the key next to the zero on your keyboard is an ambiguous character suffering from an identity crisis. It can't decide if it's a hyphen, a minus, or an en dash—in fact, the Unicode specification describes it as "hyphen‐minus" and defines very specific replacements for each of its personalities.
Use it if you need to insert a hyphen, but never for a minus (
−) or a dash, since it does not have the correct width for either, or the vertical position for the latter (compare "1+4-2=3" to "1+4−2=3").
The soft hyphen (
a.k.a. "discretionary hyphen" and "optional hyphen") is to be used for one purpose only—to indicate where a word may be broken at the end of a line. Otherwise, it is to remain invisible and not affect the appearance of the word.
Some browsers display it no matter where it falls, but this is not the correct behavior. Others in the past have recommended against its use because its behavior was not well‐defined, but the HTML 4.01 spec makes its use and behavior clear and unambiguous.
Three other hyphen characters exist in Unicode, but are unfortunately not defined in the HTML entity set (although they should be):
- The non‐breaking hyphen (
‑not in HTML) does just what its name implies.
- The hyphen character (
‐not in HTML) is meant to be used in place of the hyphen‐minus when a hyphen is exactly the desired character.
- The hyphenation point (
‧not in HTML) is that bullet‐like character you find in some dictionaries to separate syllables. That is its only use, but if you're creating an online dictionary, using it will make your entries look more professional.
- Figure Dash
The figure dash (
‒) is so named because it is the same width as a digit, at least in fonts with digits of equal width. The figure dash is used when a dash must be used within numbers, for example with telephone numbers: 634‒5789. Note that this does not indicate a range (use an en dash for that), or function as the minus sign (which has its own glyph).
The figure dash is often unavailable; in this case, one may use a hyphen‐minus instead. In Unicode, the figure dash is
U+2012. In HTML, you must use the numeric forms
‒to type it; there is no equivalent HTML entity. In TeX, the standard fonts have no figure dash; however, the digits normally all have the same width as the en dash, so an en dash can be substituted in TeX.
- En dash
The en dash (
–) is used to indicate a range of just about anything with numbers, including dates, numbers, game scores, and pages in any sort of document.
It is also used instead of the word "to" or a hyphen to indicate a connection between things, including geographic references (like the Mason–Dixon Line) and routes (such as the New York–Boston commuter train).
It is used to hyphenate compounds of compounds, where at least one pair is already hyphenated (as in "Netscape 6.1 is an Open‐Source–based browser."). The Chicago Manual of style also states that it should be used "Where one of the components of a compound adjective contains more than one word," instead of a hyphen (as in "Netscape 6.1 is an Open Source–based browser"). Both of these rules are for clarity in indicating exactly what is being modified by the compound.
Other sources also specify the use of an en dash when referring to joint authors, as in the "Bose–Einstein" paper. Some also prefer it to a hyphen when text is set in all capital letters.
Some typographers prefer to use an en dash surrounded by full spaces instead of an em dash. Others prefer to insert hair spaces on either side of the em dash, but this is problematic with some web browsers (see the section on spaces for more detail).
- Em dash
The em dash (
—) is used to indicate a sudden break in thought ("I was thinking about writing a—what time did you say the movie started?"), a parenthetical statement that deserves more attention than parentheses indicate, or instead of a colon or semicolon to link clauses. It is also used to indicate an open range, such as from a given date with no end yet (as in "Peter Sheerin [1969—] authored this document."), or vague dates (as a stand‐in for the last two digits of a four‐digit year).
Two adjacent em dashes (a 2‐em dash) are used to indicate missing letters in a word ("I just don't f——ing care about 3.0 browsers").
Three adjacent em dashes (a 3‐em dash) are used to substitute for the author's name when a repeated series of works are presented in a bibliography, as well as to indicate an entire missing word in the text.
More info can be found at _URL_


Giant Zometool sculpture
By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics
What is the largest geometric structure you have ever made? This giant Zometool construction contains 50,000 parts and is five meters in diameter.
As this detail image shows, Zometool is a plastic construction set with hubs and struts that provide lengths and angles for making mathematical models. The effect of elegant smooth curves results from many short straight pieces.
The sculpture was made at the Bridges Math/Art conference in Banff. Over a hundred people worked together to execute this beautiful design by Chris Kling, in memorial to him. At The Museum of Mathematics, we support this sort of hands-on building experience to convey mathematical principles in a fun, engaging manner.
Math Monday: Giant burr puzzles
Math Monday: Fractal polyhedra clusters
Math Monday: Giant SOMA puzzle
Math Monday: Tie your bagel in a knot!
Math Monday: Playing card constructions
Introducing "Math Monday"
 1. Dave says:
 … and you gotta love the geodesic turban in the front row!
 2. Anonymous says:
 What is every one looking at? Were they not informed that they were about to snap the picture?! :) …and the lady scratching her head! Awesome! Too bad it's probably all over the Internet by now. :)
 Great job on the sculpture though, it is definitely cool!


text:
Kore.ai's Universal Bots facilitate a scalable, modular approach to bot building by linking several standard individual bots into one.
- Modularity: Build separate bots that address domain-specific issues and then integrate them to optimally interoperate.
- Scalability: Start building bots that address key use cases and keep adding additional bots to address more use cases.
Use Case 1: Banking Bot
Banks offering various products and services to their customers may independently develop product-specific bots and incrementally launch them adding them to a common Universal Bot.
- End users would only have to converse with the Universal Bot which would identify the right bot to fulfill user's request.
- Engineering teams can build product specific bots without impacting bots of other products.
- Release cycles of individual bots can be maintained independently so that a specific group can upgrade their bot without waiting for other groups.
Use Case 2: HR Bot
HR bots can be built incrementally by integrating various departmental bots as and when they are ready. Universal Bot could be launched with a single standard bot to answer FAQs on HR policies and can be gradually scaled up to integrate with other bots like leave management, performance reviews, benefits management etc. End users can start consuming new bot skills without the need to switch between various bots.
How it works:
- Universal bot acts as a single interface for the Bot users of an enterprise, across business lines or products or services.
- Standard bots that aim to meet a specific purpose can be built independently and then be associated with a Universal bot by linking them to the Universal Bot.
- When end users interact with Universal bot, it will perform intent recognition across all linked bots to understand user's intent and engage appropriate bot to perform the task.
- In the case of ambiguity in identifying appropriate bot or task, a sub-dialog is initiated to obtain confirmation from the user.
- Universal bots also provide a 'Default Dialog' / 'Fallback Dialog' for gracefully handling any untrained/un-recognized requests.
- The developer can view and analyze all user interactions from within Universal bot and also train the respective bots with additional training data.


Environmental Studies
The environmental studies program at Manchester, established in 1971, is among the oldest ES programs in the country. The main goals of the program are to educate students about the state of the local and global environment, and to prepare majors to fill vital roles in environmental science, education, public policy, and other related fields.
Through research and special study opportunities on and off campus, students gain valuable experience in the lab and in the field. For environmental studies majors at Manchester, "getting your feet wet" may mean just that! You may find yourself wading in a creek researching fish habitats or standing in the ocean in the Bahamas studying sand dollars. Or maybe you'll find yourself in a forest, surveying bird populations and vegetation.
To provide students experiential learning opportunities and rigorous academics rooted in natural sciences, political sciences, economics, and philosophy to better understand the human endeavor in the context of responsible environmental stewardship.
Environmental Studies Experiences
Green Campus


Crème fraîche
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Strawberries and crème fraîche
Chilled asparagus soup with crème fraîche and pink peppercorn
Crème fraîche (English pronunciation : /ˌkrɛmˈfrɛʃ/, French pronunciation: [kʁɛm fʁɛːʃ], Quebec French pronunciation : [kʁɛm fʁaɪ̯ʃ], lit. "fresh cream") is a soured cream containing 30–45% butterfat and having a pH of around 4.5.[1] It is soured with bacterial culture, but is less sour than U.S.-style sour cream, and has a lower viscosity and a higher fat content. European labeling regulation disallows any ingredients other than cream and bacterial culture.
The name "crème fraîche" is French, but similar soured creams are found in much of northern Europe.
In French-speaking countries, crème fraîche may refer to either the thick fermented product, crème fraîche épaisse or fermentée, or to liquid cream, crème fraîche liquide or fleurette. In these countries, crème fraîche without qualification normally refers to liquid cream, with the thick form usually called crème épaisse. In other countries, however, crème fraîche without qualification usually refers to the thick, fermented product.[2][3]
Crème fraîche is produced by adding a starter culture to heavy cream, and allowing it to stand at appropriate temperature until thick.[3][2] The culture is made up of a mix of bacteria including but not limited to L. cremoris, L. lactis, and L. biovar diacetylactis. This is what gives it the taste that distinguishes it from similar dairy products like sour cream.[4]
In some places in Europe, the fat content of crème fraîche is regulated, and it may not contain ingredients other than cream and starter culture.[1] In North America and the UK, products labeled "low-fat crème fraîche", with about 15% butterfat and with added stabilizers such as xanthan gum or maize/corn starch[5] is commercialized. It is less stable when heated.[3]
Raspberries with crème fraîche and sugar
The crème fraîche from Normandy is famous, and the crème fraîche from a defined area around the town of Isigny-sur-Mer in the Calvados department of Normandy is highly regarded. It is the only cream to have an appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC), which was awarded in 1986.[6] It is also produced in many other parts of France, with large quantities coming from the major dairy regions of Brittany, Poitou-Charente, Lorraine and Champagne-Ardenne.
Crème fraîche is used both hot and cold in French cuisine. It is often used to finish hot savory sauces; with fat content > 30%, curdling is not a problem.[1] It is also the basis of many desserts and dessert sauces.
Similar products[edit]
Crema Mexicana is a somewhat similar cultured sour cream.
See also[edit]
 1. ^ a b c Meunier-Goddik, L. (2004). "Handbook of Food and Beverage Fermentation Technology". CRC Press. doi:10.1201/9780203913550.ch8. ISBN 978-0-8247-4780-0. |chapter= ignored (help) edit, p. 181f
 2. ^ a b McGee, p. 49
 3. ^ a b c Goddik, p. 179-6
 4. ^ Wingerd, S. (2011). A Fraîche Perspective - Crème Fraîche.
 5. ^ "Weight Watchers Creme Fraiche". Retrieved 27 October 2014.
 6. ^ La crème AOC Isigny, 'Saveurs du Monde',
Further reading[edit]
 - Harold McGee On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of The Kitchen (p. 49). New York: Scribner, 2004. ISBN 0-684-80001-2
 - Lisbeth Meunier Goddik, "Sour Cream and Crème Fraîche" in Y. Hui Handbook of Food Science, Technology and Engineering (p. 179-6 to 179-7). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2006. ISBN 0-8493-9849-5.


text: The Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition technique is widely used to identify and quantify the separate contributions of differences in measurable characteristics to group differences in an outcome of interest. The use of a linear probability model and the standard Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition, however, can provide misleading estimates when the dependent variable is binary, especially when group differences are very large for an influential explanatory variable. A simulation method of performing a nonlinear decomposition that uses estimates from a logit, probit or other nonlinear model was first developed in a Journal of Labor Economics article (Fairlie 1999). This nonlinear decomposition technique has been used in nearly a thousand subsequent studies published in a wide range of fields and disciplines. In this paper, I address concerns over path dependence in using the nonlinear decomposition technique. I also present a straightforward method of incorporating sample weights in the technique.


text:
Licensable food businesses
A licensable food business is a food business that:
- involves the manufacture of food (making food by combining ingredients)
- is carried on by an entity other than a non-profit organisation and involves the sale of unpackaged food by retail. For example:
- restaurant, café or bar
- take away food shop
- is carried on by a non-profit organisation and involves the sale, on at least 12 days each financial year, of meals prepared by the organisation at a particular place. For example:
- a restaurant, open daily to the public, operated by a sporting club to raise revenue for the club
- a non-profit organisation preparing and selling meals to homeless persons at a homeless persons' hostel
- the preparation of meals by Meals on Wheels.
If your food business meets one or more of the following criteria, you do not require a licence.
- the production of primary produce under an accreditation granted under the Food Production (Safety) Act 2000, part 5 (for example the Meat Scheme, Seafood Scheme, Dairy Scheme and Egg Scheme). The regulation of this Act is the responsibility of Safe Food Production Queensland.
- the sale of unpackaged snack food
- the sale of whole fruit or vegetables
- the sale of seeds, spices, dried herbs, tea leaves, coffee beans or ground coffee
- the grinding of coffee beans
- the sale of drinks (other than fruit or vegetable juice processed at the place of sale) including, for example, tea, coffee, soft drinks and alcoholic drinks
- the sale of ice including flavoured ice.
Exemption criteria for non-profit organisations
- the sale of meals if—the meal consists only of fruit, cereal, toast, or similar food—or the consumer of the meal helps to prepare it.
- the sale of meals that are pre-prepared by an entity other than the organisation, and are stored and heated—or otherwise prepared—by the organisation in accordance with directions of the meal's manufacturer. (For example the sale of a frozen meal, at the canteen of an independent school, after the meal is microwaved in accordance with instructions on the meal's packaging).
- the sale by a non-profit organisation of a meal prepared as part of an educational or training activity conducted by the organisation involving food preparation, hospitality or catering.
- the sale of meals by a surf lifesaving club that is a non-profit organisation, when a member is involved in the preparation of the meal and the meal is sold to a member of the club for a nominal fee.
Non-profit organisations have a number of exemptions under the Food Act 2006. These are listed above.
Find documents that outline the requirements that will affect non-profit organisations
Mobile food businesses
A mobile food business is only required to have a food business licence in one of the local government areas within which they intend to operate.
Details of the licence must be displayed at mobile premises, in a prominent position so the details are easily visible to customers
A mobile food premises is one that includes:
- a vehicle from which a person sells unpackaged food by retail
- a food vending machine.
It does not include:
- a food transport vehicle that is only used to transport food for a business for off-site catering
- a food delivery vehicle.
Food businesses operating from mobile premises are required to comply with the provisions of the Food Act 2006 and the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, and are subject to the same licensing requirements as a food business operating from fixed premises.
A register of mobile food businesses is publicly available and contains licence details of each mobile food business.


University of Vermont
Taylor Ricketts Lab
Steve Posner joins lab as PhD student
How does Ecosystem Service information influence decisions?
Smiley Steve
Steve Posner has joined the lab as a PhD student (co-advised with Austin Troy).
Steve's working on how scientific information on ecosystem services has affected policies and decisions. How often has it really made a difference? How would you detect its effect? Under what conditions is this information most likely to matter.
Working closely with the Natural Capital Project, Steve is analyzing a set of cases where "NatCap" has produced maps of ecosystem services, estimated their values, and connected this information to ongoing decisions and policy debates.
Ecosystem service maps are cool, but do they help? If so, when and how? Steve will be helping us find that out.


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Individual differences |
Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology |
Evolutionary theory suggests that depression is a protective mechanism: If an individual is involved in a lengthy fight for dominance of a social group and is clearly losing, depression causes the individual to back down and accept the submissive role. In doing so, the individual is protected from unnecessary harm. In this way, depression helps maintain a social hierarchy.
- Other evolutionary theories – Another evolutionary theory is that the cognitive response that produces modern-day depression evolved as a mechanism that allows people to assess whether they are in pursuit of an unreachable goal. Still others claim that depression can be linked to perfectionism. People who accept satisfactory outcomes in lieu of "the best" outcome tend to lead happier lives.
- Recently some evolutionary biologists have begun to subscribe to the theory of "honest signalling". It has been pointed out that the incidence of major depression is much higher in persons born after 1945 which would seem to cast doubt on a possible disease model and that such suffering is notable in persons of greater than average intellect and emotional complexity. This contradicts the submission thesis.
Key texts – BooksEdit
Additional material – BooksEdit
Key texts – PapersEdit
- Hagen, E.H. (1999). The Functions of Postpartum Depression. Evolution and Human Behavior, 20: 325-359. Full text
- Henriques, G. (? ). Depression: Disease or Behavioral Shutdown Mechanism? Journal of Science and Health Policy Full text
- Nesse R.M. (2000). Is depression an adaptation? Archives of General Psychiatry. 57, 14-20. Full text
Additional material - PapersEdit


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Grist is grain that has been separated from its chaff in preparation for grinding. It can also mean grain that has been ground at a grist mill. Its etymology derives from the verb grind. Grist can be ground into meal or flour, depending on how coarsely it is ground. Maize made into grist is called...
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[magazine] Grist (originally Grist Magazine; also referred to as Grist.org) is an American non-profit online magazine that has been publishing environmental news and commentary with a wry twist since 1999. Grist's taglines are "Gloom and doom with a sense of humor" and "A beacon in the smog"...
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[n] - grain intended to be or that has been ground
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Brewers' term for milled grains, or the combination of milled grains to be used in a particular brew. Derives from the verb to grind.
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Corn for grinding
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Grist noun [ Anglo-Saxon grist, from grindan. See Grind.] 1. Ground corn; that which is ground at one time; as much grain as is carried to the mill at one time, or the meal it produces. « Get grist to the mill to ha...
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1. Ground corn; that which is ground at one time; as much grain as is carried to the mill at one time, or the meal it produces. 'Get grist to the mill to have plenty in store.' (Tusser. Q)... 2. Supply; provision.... 3. In rope making, a given size of rope, common grist being a rope three inches i...
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noun grain intended to be or that has been ground
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- (n.) Supply; provision. • (n.) Ground corn; that which is ground at one time; as much grain as is carried to the mill at one time, or the meal it produces. • (n.) In rope making, a given size of rope, common grist being a rope three inches in circumference, with twenty yarns in each...
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(Minghui.org) A method of torture known as "Confining Clothes" is one of more than 100 different kinds of torture techniques the Chinese Communist Party uses on Falun Gong practitioners.
Such clothes, which tighten whenever the person moves, are used to restrain people with mental illnesses, in much the same way "straight jackets" have been used in mental hospitals in the West.
In China, confining clothes are made of canvas. They are put on from the front and tightened in the back. The sleeves are about 25 cm long with a ribbon attached to each end. This form of torture can cause fractures of the shoulders, wrists, and elbows; spinal fractures; or even death.
Torture illustration: Confining clothes
This form of torture was first used on Falun Gong practitioners in the Hunan Third Forced Labor Camp (also known as the Xuchang Forced Labor Camp). It was used to try to force Falun Gong practitioners to give up their belief and "reform."
The guards put the confining clothes on practitioners, pull their arms behind their backs, and tie them in place with rope. They tie their legs and then hang the practitioners from the window bars. They would usually also put headphones on them with brainwashing propaganda that slandered Falun Gong. They also stuffed their mouths with rags.


Genus: Polystachya
Polystachya is a large, widely distributed genus found in the tropical and subtropical areas of Africa, Asia, Central and South America with a single species extending into Florida. Plants are generally epiphytes, very rarely terrestrial, with small pseudobulbs that have a few to several leathery, fleshy leaves. The inflorescence is terminal to the pseudobulb and may be simple or branched, erect or arching. The small flowers are non-resupinate with distinct hairs that can be found on the outside of the flower and also on the lip.
North American Species in this Genus


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November 24, 2017
Expression (12 Dimensions of Culture #7)
Conceal vs. Reveal
Expression is the seventh of the 12 Dimensions of Culture that KnowledgeWorkx uses to map out the intercultural terrain. If you haven't already, you should read our article introducing the 12 Dimensions.
Have you ever been in an intercultural situation where you found someone else's behavior completely inappropriate? Or one where you simply couldn't read the other person, and found them cold? The Expression dimension is about how much emotion it is appropriate to show in a given context.
Whereas the Connecting dimension was all about how inclusive or exclusive your physical space is and how you share information, expression is all about how much you reveal or conceal your true emotions and the unspoken rules that govern that expression.
In a reveal-oriented culture you find people's true emotions easily reflected in their expressiveness, their use of their body in terms of hands and facial gesturing, and the language they use. In these cultures, it is okay to frequently reveal frustration, disappointment, anger, joy, excitement, approval, and so on. While they are quick to express emotion, people from these cultures might also be quicker to forget, let go, and move on after an emotion has been expressed.
In a conceal-oriented culture the expression of emotion is restrained.You are taught as a child to constrain yourself, to be disciplined, to not show your anger, frustration, disgust, and so on. When an emotion is shown, that emotion is taken very seriously, especially if it is a negative emotion.
When what's revealed isn't what's really going on
In some reveal-oriented cultures, the emotions that are expressed are not the emotions that the person feels, but rather, the appropriate emotion to express at a given time to accommodate a relationship or a specific situation. Emotions are revealed that aren't really there; acted; played; pretend. This may be more prevalent in Honor/Shame and Power/Fear worldviews, and can be seen as inconsistent, un-transparent, or even deceitful by people from a more Guilt/Innocence worldview.
Negotiations in the Arab world are a good example of where expression can be a theatre piece. To negotiate a deal you act, and play, to test the other party. You act sad, and see how the other party responds. Act disappointed and see how they respond. You crack a joke to deflate things, and then you put pressure on again… and see how they respond. You continually experiment with emotions in the negotiating process.
Learn how to measure emotion and ascertain the correct dosage in Email and Life
It's important to on the one hand learn how reveal cultures work: whether there are genuine emotions vs. theatrically enacted emotions, and on the other hand to learn how to measure emotion and use the right dosage and appropriate expression in a concealing environment:
The unspoken rules that govern revealing and concealing emotions face to face also extend to email. Of course, expression of emotion in email is a big challenge to begin with, but some cultures have more of a tendency to attempt it than other cultures.
In general, in an intercultural environment, positive emotions in emails are not a problem, but the best choice is to not display negative emotions in email at all. Negative emotions are better talked through face to face if possible, or, if not possible, at least over the phone.
When you're in an intercultural situation, keep a careful watch on how you reveal your emotions, and which emotions are appropriate to reveal in a given situation.
Check out more articles on our KnowledgeWorkx Resource page.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.


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The History of the Kunstmuseum
The long history of Basel's public art collection, the Öffentliche Kunstsammlung Basel, extends back to the 17th century. With its acquisition of the Amerbach Kabinett, a Humanist-inspired collection begun in the pre-Reformation era, Basel became the first municipality to possess its own art collection long before princely collections were made accessible to the public in other cities of Europe. At the death of Basilius Amerbach (_PHONE_), grandson of the famous printer and son of a distinguished lawyer who had been a close friend of Erasmus, the encyclopaedic collection contained not only some 50 paintings (among them 15 by Hans Holbein the Younger) and a very large portfolio of drawings and prints, but natural objects, ethnographic artefacts and a library as well.
When the Amerbach Kabinett was in danger of being removed to Amsterdam in 1661, professors from the University of Basel intervened in the hope of saving the wonderful collection for their city. Mayor Johannes Rudolf Wettstein and the municipal parliament were sympathetic to the cause, and so the collection was purchased for the substantial sum of 9000 Reichstaler. Two thirds of the costs were borne by the Municipal Council, the remaining third by the university, which was to assume responsibility for the collection and associated library. In 1671 the art collection was transferred to the house "Zur Mücke" near Cathedral Square and opened to the public, becoming one of the city's major attractions.
In 1823 the Amerbach art collection, which had already been enhanced by donations from the Council and private donors, was joined by the holdings of a museum started by jurist Remigius Faesch (_PHONE_). This brought not only further paintings by Hans Holbein the Younger, but also important works by 15thto17th-century artists from the Upper Rhine region into the collection, also adding substantially to the holdings of the Kupferstichkabinett. The ever more obvious need for space was answered in 1849, with the removal to the late classicistic, multi-purpose building by Melchior Berri in Augustinergasse, which still houses the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Ethnography (Museum der Kulturen) today. The division of the territory of Basel into two half cantons, Basel-Stadt and Basel-Land, in 1833 posed a threat to both the university and the art collection. As university property, the collection was ultimately left to the city for the valuation price of 22,000 francs, which enabled it to stay together intact.
Although noteworthy gifts and bequests in the 19th century substantially expanded the holdings of 15thto 17th-century Netherlandish art and German 19th-century art, it was 15thand 16th-century art from the Upper Rhine region that remained at the heart of the Old Master collection. The eleven panels by Konrad Witz from the collection of the Margrave of Baden that gradually entered the Museum were donated by Basel families.
A bequest by Samuel Birrmann (_PHONE_), a Basel painter and art dealer, was decisive to the introduction of a genuine acquisition policy: in 1855 a fund earmarked for contemporary Swiss art was established under the aegis of the Museum Commission, who continue up to the present day to make decisions about purchases, bequests and gifts. It was in this context that a large group of paintings by Arnold Böcklin - the most representative collection of his works to be found anywhere - was able to be assembled. Starting on a very modest scale, the Canton of Basel-Stadt, too, has been providing acquisition funding since 1903. Subsidies were last increased in 2002.
With the completion of a purpose-built building by architects Rudolf Christ and Paul Bonatz in St. Alban-Graben, the Öffentliche Kunstsammlung moved into the Kunstmuseum Basel in its present form in 1936. The building has been thoroughly refurbished over the past few years.
With the 1920s came a new trajectory: the development of an internationally oriented collection of modern art. Initiated by Otto Fischer, this new pursuit would alter the profile of the museum and have a shaping influence on its future. Georg Schmidt was particularly energetic in his efforts to expand the collection. One breakthrough came in 1939, when he was able to purchase German museum holdings that had been defamed as "degenerate" by the Nazis.
Though the acquisition budget remained comparatively modest - topped up by the occasional supplementary grant from the Basel government -, the representative collection of 20th-century art assembled over the years was to become one of the most distinguished in the world. But in this area, too, gifts from private donors were essential: for instance, Raoul La Roche's outstanding Cubist collection and numerous deposits by foundations such as the Emanuel Hoffmann Foundation, established in 1933, and the Im Obersteg Foundation (2004).
Thanks to a gift of the Swiss National Insurance Company in 1959, the Kunstmuseum became Europe's first museum to show the American Abstract Expressionists. Passed down from generation to generation, the Basel citizens' love of art and loyalty to the Kunstmuseum took on proverbial proportions in 1967, when a popular vote ensured that two seminal works by Pablo Picasso, which had been on loan from the Rudolf Staechelin Collection for many years and were regarded as integral to the identity of the Museum, would be able to remain there for good.
In the Sixties, under Franz Meyer, the modern art sector continued to expand, and contemporary art - with the accent on American art but also on Joseph Beuys - systematically gained in scope. Christian Geelhaar and Katharina Schmidt carried on this commitment to not yet generally accepted contemporary art and to the idea of collecting according to priority areas and along specific lines. Consistent development of the collection at a high standard of quality and due regard for the latest artistic media and artistic achievements: these are also the guiding principles of the current management and Museum Commission.
Thanks to a gift of Maja Sacher-Stehlin, in cooperation with the Emanuel Hoffmann Foundation and the Christoph Merian Foundation, the Museum für Gegenwartskunst was established in a converted factory at St. Alban-Rheinweg in 1980, becoming the Kunstmuseum's gallery for contemporary art. In 2003, by way of the Laurenz Foundation, Maja Sacher's granddaughter, Maja Oeri, built the Schaulager for those works of the Emanuel Hoffmann Foundation that are not on show at the Kunstmuseum or Museum für Gegenwartskunst. In 1999 Maja Oeri gifted the former Swiss National Bank building (adjacent to the Kunstmuseum at St. Alban-Graben) to the City of Basel, to enable the expansion of the Öffentliche Kunstsammlung and the Department of Art History of the university. By moving the library, the administrative offices and the Department of Art History out of the main building, the Kunstmuseum has gained the new exhibition space and visitor-friendly areas that allow it to keep pace with the challenges of a new museum landscape.


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What French name of a certain small pasty cake was inspired by on the one hand a famous fairy tale, and on the other hand a little "general" performing at Amsterdam in an American circus touring Europe?
#96967. Asked by Flem-ish. (Jun 25 08 2:05 PM)
Tompoes or Tompouce.|
Named after Tom Thumb- a traditional hero in English folklore who is no bigger than his father's thumb. Tiny thumb-sized heroes are a common theme in world folklore. The most famous examples are Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina and the Brothers Grimm's Thumbling and its sequel Thumbling as Journeyman (or Thumbling's Travels).
These later stories may be an earlier version of Tom Thumb as they contain many similar situations (minus the Arthurian elements).
General Tom Thumb was the stage name of Charles Sherwood Stratton (January 4, 1838 – July 15, 1883), a little person who achieved great fame under circus pioneer P.T. Barnum.
This the connection you were referencing?
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In genomics, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is used to amplify the amount of DNA and increase the signal above the limit of detection. This approach is not applicable to proteomics, however. Therefore, the intrinsic sensitivity of the analytical method applied to the analysis of biomolecules, generally liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS), needs to be enhanced. The miniaturization of the LC system and its interfacing with MS results in the necessary increase in sensitivity. Nano LC is at the heart of this gain in sensitivity. This column installment reflects on the principles, development, and current state of nano LC instrumentation.
History has a tendency to repeat itself. In the 1990s, genomics led to the development of an array of dedicated analytical techniques to solve the challenges in DNA identification. During the past decade, the identification and quantification of proteins and peptides in biological fluids, also known as proteomics, has necessitated similar developments. Although polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is used in genomics to amplify the amount of DNA and increase the signal above the limit of detection, it is not applicable to proteomics. Therefore, the intrinsic sensitivity of the analytical method applied to the analysis of biomolecules, generally liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS), needs to be enhanced. The miniaturization of LC systems that led to the development of nano LC (Table I) and its interfacing with MS is at the heart of this gain in sensitivity.
A reduction in column internal diameter results in less chromatographic dilution and, consequently, increased concentration of the injected sample on the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system. The chromatographic dilution (D) of the sample, when injected on a LC system, is expressed by the following equation (1):
D increases proportionally with the square of the column radius and with the square root of the length of the column. Thus, a reduction in column diameter results in a significantly lower dilution factor, thereby increasing the concentration in the eluted peak.
Though this formula applies to isocratic elution conditions, its consequences are commonly extrapolated to gradient elution conditions. Under gradient elution conditions, dilution is partly counteracted by increasing the strength of the mobile phase over time. However, the gain in sensitivity of this effect is far smaller than what is gained by decreasing the column internal diameter. The gain in sensitivity (f) resulting from the use of a LC column with a smaller internal diameter can be approximated by the following relation (1,2):
Therefore, downscaling the column used in an analytical method from 4.6 mm i.d. to 75 µm i.d. should result in an almost 4000-fold gain in sensitivity. However, such an increase in sensitivity is not readily achieved because reducing the column internal diameter has practical consequences for the entire setup. The influence of the different system parameters is discussed below.


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Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics
A generalized approach to the allocation of redundant thrust vector slew commands for multi-actuated launch vehicles is presented, where deflection constraints are expressed as omniaxial or elliptical deflection limits in gimbal axes. More importantly than in the aircraft control allocation problem, linear allocators (pseudoinverses) are preferred for large booster applications to facilitate accurate prediction of the control-structure interaction resulting from thrust vectoring effects. However, strictly linear transformations for the allocation of redundant controls cannot, in general, access all of the attainable moments for which there is a set of control effector positions thatsatisfles the constraints. In this paper, the control allocation efficiency ora certain class of linear allocators subject to multiple quadratic constraints is analyzed, and a novel single-pass control allocation scheme is proposed that augments the pseudolnverse near the boundary of the attainable set. The controls are determined over a substantial volume of lhe attainable set using only a linear transformation; as such, the algorithm maintains compatibility with frequencydomain approaches to the analysis of the vehicle closed-loop elastic stability. Numerical results using a model of a winged reusable booster system illustrate the proposed technique's ability to access a larger Fraction of the attainable set than a pseudoinverse alone.
Orr, Jeb S. and Slegers, Nathan, "High-Efficiency Thrust Vector Control Allocation" (2014). Faculty Publications - Biomedical, Mechanical, and Civil Engineering. 20.