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Keeping the voltage and currents balanced in a facility is not just a power quality concern, it can also affect energy consumption and equipment life, especially with electric motors. A recent Department of Energy publication states "Voltage unbalance is probably the leading power quality problem that results in motor overheating and premature motor failure. If unbalanced voltage is detected, a thorough investigation should be undertaken to determine the cause. Energy and dollar savings occur when corrective actions are taken."
When the voltage is produced on a properly functioning, three-phase generator, the voltage and current of such devices can be represented by a set of vectors or phasors that are equally spaced apart (120 degrees) and of equal magnitude. Like most other power quality problems, it is somewhere between the generator and the load (or the load itself) that turns these vectors in an unbalanced set in magnitude and phase angle, as seen in the illustration below from data taken at a distribution substation during a fault condition.
These unbalanced conditions can come from a blown fuse on one of the three PF cap banks, unevenly distributed single phase loads on the same power system, single phase-to-ground faults, overloaded transformers and other sources that result in unequal loading, unequal source impedance or an unequal source voltage. It is typical in today's electrical environment to have a 1 to 3 percent voltage unbalance. The resulting current unbalance for the load may be up to 10 times that of the voltage unbalance.
There are two basic methods for calculating unbalance. A popular method in the United States is "deviation from average," which can be estimated by using the difference in the rms values between the maximum deviation of any of the phases from the average of the rms values of the three phases, divided by the average. Normally, you should use the line-to-line voltages for the calculations.
Vunb = 100 * (max (Vrms Phase X – Vavg) / Vavg, where Vavg = (VrmsA + VrmsB + VrmsC / 3).
For example, with phase-to-phase voltage readings of 230, 232 and 225, the average is 229. The maximum deviation from the average among the three readings is 4. The percent imbalance is 100 * 4/229 = 1.7 percent. The NEMA-MG1 requires the motor to be derated for unbalanced conditions above 1 percent and will void many motor manufacturer's warranties, whereas a 3 percent voltage unbalance results in a 10 percent derating.
This method is an approximation of the unbalance, where the error becomes significant when the unbalance exceeds 5 percent. A more accurate method is defined by the IEC standards, but it involves the use of sequencing components that not many people can readily calculate, but fortunately, many newer power quality monitors will do for you.
Sequence components are three sets of vectors that can be combined to represent an unbalanced set of three-phase vectors. The positive sequence components are three, 120-degree separated phasors of equal magnitude that rotate in the same direction that the motor would normally rotate. The negative sequence components are opposite-rotating vectors, whereas the zero sequence components have no 120-degree relationship. The ratio of the negative sequencing components to the positive sequencing compon-ents is the unbalance.
Three Phase Vectors equals the sum of the Positive Sequence + the Negative Sequence + the Zero Sequence vectors.
In many systems, the harmonic components are associated with the different sequencing vectors.
Positive sequence values (those that rotate the motor the correct way) are opposed by the negative sequencing components (which turn the motor in the wrong way) with the net result being heat in the motor, which again causes premature aging of the motor. The EPRI Distribution Power Quality survey, conducted on the distribution voltage system of 100 utilities throughout the United States during the 1990s, found that the most dominate harmonic out there on those systems is the 5th harmonic. This is referred to as a negative sequencing component, trying to turn the motor in the opposite direction and generating heat.
The source of this 5th harmonic is often the fact that many motors are being sold today powered from an electronic power converter. These systems are referred to as adjustable speed drives (ASDs) or variable frequency drives (VFDs). The power converter section of ASDs is usually made of diodes or SCRs that are used to rectify the AC into DC. A three-phase, full wave rectifier is referred to as a six pulse or pole converter. Such rectification results in nonlinear harmonic currents, as the conduction of the current does not take place throughout the complete 60Hz cycle. The six pulse converter will have harmonic currents (and voltages) of the 5th, 7th, 11th, 13th, 17th, 19th and so on.
Keeping the voltage in balance and the sequencing components rotating in the right direction will make life for motors a whole lot better. EC
BINGHAM, a contributing editor for power quality, can be reached at _PHONE_.


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An Investigation of the Role of Silica Substrate Topography on the Tailing and Broadening of Basic Compounds in HPLC
AuthorLegg, Michael Antonio
AdvisorWirth, Mary J
Committee ChairWirth, Mary J
MetadataShow full item record
PublisherThe University of Arizona.
RightsCopyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.
AbstractAtomic force microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, high performance liquid chromatography, and UV-vis spectroscopy were used to study commercial and locally produced chromatographic silica substrates. Previous work has correlated the presence of isolated silanols with the peak tailing and broadening of basic analytes, and studies have shown enhanced adsorption of these analytes to isolated silanols at topographic features on planar, fused silica coverslips. This work provides evidence that similar topographical features exist on chromatographic substrates.This work is the first, to our knowledge, to provide nanoscale, topographic data on commercial silica. Three products; by Agilent, Merck, and Waters all have surface features that are similar in size and shape to the features on planar coverslips. The Agilent product also has seams where the individual colloids are fused together to form the bulk particle. These seams may not be fully silylated due to steric hindrance. Neglecting these features, the bulk of the silica surface is as smooth as fused silica.The AFM, FTIR, and HPLC data all indicate that the Waters silica had roughly twice the abundance of isolated silanols as the Merck product. The HPLC data for the Agilent material exhibited fronting and could not be modeled, but the FTIR data indicated that it had the same isolated silanol abundance as the Merck product.These same methods were used to characterize nonporous silica particles produced in our laboratory to be used as substrates for a variety of separation techniques. From the initial silica particles to the final colloidal crystal, AFM, FTIR, and UV-Vis data used to characterize these materials is presented. A method to determine the refractive index of the silica particles was developed and the changes in refractive index as the material is processed are also shown.Separation of three dye species and another separation of three peptide chains was done on a 2D colloidal crystal of these silica particles. The colloidal crystal outperformed a commercial, silica monolithic product both in terms of peak asymmetry and in resolving the analytes. This preliminary work shows the promise of this material as a substrate for chromatographic separations.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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The U.S. Bureau of the Census revealed a shocker for residents of the Windy City earlier this year: The city's population has fallen by almost 200,000 in the past year. The city has 2.7 million resident and the 2009 estimate was 2.85 million according to urbanist Aaron Renne over a Newgeography.com. Of course, the annual population estimates are just that, estimates, and the decennial numbers are far more accurate. Nevertheless, Chicago's population decline is still important.
Rather than focus on the decline, however, Renne makes several important observations:
- Average incomes have increased in the City of Chicago;
- The number of residents with higher education degrees has increased as well;
- Most population growth for the region has occurred outside the city limits in the suburbs and exurbs.
Chicago is still an example of revitalizaton, and the redevelopment inside "The Loop" and downtown is something to herald. But, the point remains, even Chicago can't shake from global patterns of population decentralization as Bob Bruegmann, Joel Kotkin, Wendell Cox and others have observed.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


Elections in Puerto Rico
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Elections in Puerto Rico are guaranteed by Article Six of the Constitution of Puerto Rico[1] and the Electoral Code of Puerto Rico for the 21st Century Act.[2] All processes are overseen and managed in whole by the Puerto Rico State Elections Commission; an autonomous agency of the executive branch of the government of Puerto Rico.[2]
Types of elections[edit]
Three types of electoral processes can take place in Puerto Rico: general elections, referendum (aka, plebiscites), and special elections. General elections are held every four years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November.[2] During these elections the people of Puerto Rico elect both local and central government candidates. These include the governor, resident commissioner, members of the legislative assembly, including senators and representatives, mayors, and municipal assembly representatives. Referendums can occur after a law has been enacted calling for a one. Special elections occur when an unexpected vacancy occurs on a post or for other similar matters. Citizens of the United States residing in Puerto Rico can not vote for their head of state, the President of the United States, due to the political status of Puerto Rico.
The 2016 Puerto Rican general election was held on November 8, 2016 which resulted in the election of Ricardo Rosselló as governor, Jenniffer González as Resident Commissioner, the member elections of the 18th Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico (including the 26th Senate of Puerto Rico and the 30th House of Representatives of Puerto Rico), and the election of the 2017-2020 mayors and their respective municipal assemblies.
The latest referendum was held on June 11, 2017 and resulted in Puerto Ricans overwhelmingly expressing themselves in favor of statehood with 97% of the vote in favor, though there was a 23% vote turnout, an event that, given the long history of Puerto Ricans voter turnout in their elections, called into question the significance of the results.
Only American citizens (including Puerto Rican citizens) who meet all of the following requirements may vote: be a legal resident of Puerto Rico, be at least 18 years old by the date of the election, must have been qualified by the Puerto Rico State Commission on Elections before the election or on the very same day of the election after he presents himself to his nearest place of voting and shows proper documentation, and must have not been declared mentally incapacitated by a court.
Citizens cast their votes in colleges (Spanish: Escuelas) which are simply usually the nearest public school to where the voter declared as residence. Citizens are required by law to vote in secret, unless they have a physical impairment that does not allow them to. Those unable to travel to colleges due to medical impairments may vote at their place of residence (homes, elder homes, etc.) or wherever they are convalescing (hospitals, clinics, etc.). In both of these extraordinary cases, officials from the Puerto Rico State Commission on Elections will provide aid so that the citizens can cast their vote—either by using verbal or non-verbal communication—with members from the different political parties required to observe the process in order to ensure accuracy, fairness, transparency, order, and legitimacy.
Ballots are published in both English and Spanish regardless of whether English is an official language or not.[a]
General elections[edit]
At the central government's level, Puerto Rican elects a governor and a legislature. The island's governor is elected for a four-year term by the people. The Legislative Assembly (Asamblea Legislativa in Spanish) has two chambers: the Chamber of Representatives (Cámara de Representantes in Spanish) and the Senate (Senado in Spanish) which is elected for a four-year term concurrently with the governor.
For the last several decades, three political parties have been present on the ballot, the PIP, the PNP, and the PPD, which two of the three parties dominating the results of the elections. In the 2008 elections, a fourth party participated, the Puertorriqueños por Puerto Rico (PPR). In 2012 six parties participated, the same four as in 2008 and two new ones: Partido del Pueblo Trabajador (PPT), and Movimiento Union Soberanista (MUS). In 2016, 2 independent candidates ran for governor, while the MUS and the PPR did not have any candidates running.
Electoral system[edit]
The Senate of Puerto Rico currently has 27 members, including 16 members elected from 8 two-seat electoral districts through plurality at large (each Senate district comprises 5 House districts), plus 11 at-large members. The House of Representatives of Puerto Rico currently (2019) has 51 members composed of 40 members elected in single-seat electoral districts using first-past-the-post, plus 11 at-large members.
In each house, 11 at-large members are elected from an island-wide district based on single non-transferable vote. To avoid vote splitting, the two major parties will typically nominate only 6 members and smaller parties typically only nominate one. Additionally, parties may choose the ballot order of its candidates in different districts, in an attempt to signal to voters the preferred method of voting. However, each voter is free to choose any candidate.
As the electoral system is majoritarian, the section 7 of Article III of the Puerto Rican constitution s:Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico allows for additional members to be added to either chamber to enhance the opposition party's representation. Members of the opposition will be added to provide a minimum of 17 and 9 members of the House and Senate, respectively (one third of the original size). In the last election, 2 and 3 members were added to the House and Senate, respectively.
When the majority party polls less than two-thirds of the vote for Governor of Puerto Rico, minority seats in the Senate or the House are distributed using a variant of the Hare quota largest remainder method according to the minority parties' share of the vote for governor, subject to a 3% threshold.[3] A slightly different procedure is provided for in the event the majority party wins more than two-thirds of the vote for governor, which limits each minority party to a number of seats not in excess of its proportionate share of its vote for governor (excluding rounding differences). Additional seats assigned to a minority party first go to defeated at-large candidates with the largest vote totals, and then, if necessary, to district candidates with the largest proportion of the vote who have not been elected (sometimes called the "best loser" system). [2]
See also[edit]
 1. ^ English has been removed as an official language several times throughout Puerto Rico's modern history, but ballots must be published in English too regardless.
 1. ^ Article VI, Section 4, Constitution of Puerto Rico (July 25, 1952). Retrieved on December 22, 2012.
 2. ^ a b c "Electoral Code of Puerto Rico for the 21st Century Act". Act No. 78 of June 1, 2011 (PDF) (in Spanish). Retrieved December 22, 2012.
 3. ^ [1]
External links[edit]


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FRITZ A. LIPMAN, BIOCHEMIST, DIES
Dr. Fritz Albert Lipmann, a biochemist whose research provided the basis for understanding how cells convert food into energy, died yesterday at St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., after a short illness. He was 87 years old and lived in Rhinebeck, N.Y. In 1953, Dr. Lipmann was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Sir Hans Adolph Krebs, a British biochemist, for the discovery of coenzyme A, one of the most important substances in the body's metabolism. The substance aids in converting fatty acids, steroids, amino acids and hemoglobins into energy.
Correction: August 16, 1986, Saturday, Late City Final Edition


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A post from our American wine blogger Jeremy Parzen, author of DoBianchi.com.
The "numerous synonyms" of Negroamaro, write the editors of Jancis Robinson's excellent Wine Grapes (New York, HarperCollins, 2012), "suggest that Negroamaro is an old and historically widespread variety. Its etymology and origin are disputed: some authors suggest a simple etymology from negro ('black') and amaro ('bitter'), while others supposed a Greek etymology and origin from mavro ('black'), despite the redundancy of 'black black', referring to the historical links between Puglia and Greece. Since Negroamaro's DNA shows no relation to modern Greek varieties, the 'black-bitter hypothesis' seems more logical. In addition, a variety named Negro Dolce ('black sweet') is documented in Salento in the nineteenth century, probably to distinguish it from the better amaro one."
As a philologist, I might tweak their speculation that the "black-bitter hypothesis' seems more logical." After all, etymology is rarely logical however plausible. In other words, word origins seldom align as neatly as the human mind and heart would like.
Continue reading Negroamaro: origin of the grape name


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Explanation of the basic parameters to configure a downlight, example deployable to any non-fluorescent lighting fixture, connected to a single phase power system with a voltage of 230V.
On the Autodesk WikiHelp page there is an explanation for each parameter seen in the video above. It is a good starting point to understand these type of connectors.
The spaces generated in the model can not be removed by deleting them from the view you are working, they still remain in the model. The way to do it is through the tables, in the next video we do this exercise:
The spaces must have well defined boundaries to provide the information without any error. The parameter "room bounding" is a parameter that should have activated all the elements that can define a space limit (pillars, ceiling plates, etc).
Despite being a parameter "associated" to architecture, it is important to know its functionality, for his successful activation will cause polymer fume a correct analysis of thermal loads.
Attached video explaining how to use the "space tool" and focused on the limitation of "offset".
Ayudanos a mantener este sitio


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Table of Contents
- What is DataShop?
- Getting Data In
- Accessing DataShop
- Project / Dataset Administration
- Citing DataShop and Datasets
- Filtering Data
- Export: Getting Data Out
- Using Other Tools
- Contact Us
The step list table describes all problems in a dataset. It provides a detailed listing of problem hierarchy (the unit and section divisions that contain the problem) and composition (the steps that make up a problem). Rows in the step list table are ordered alphabetically by problem hierarchy, problem name, and problem step.
The column headings are described in detail below.
- Problem Hierarchy
- The curriculum location in which the problem appears. The depth of the hierarchy can
vary between datasets. For example, some datasets specify only a unit and section curriculum,
while others specify a module, unit, and section. In terms of the DataShop logging format, the
"problem hierarchy" is the list of
namevalues contained in the dataset
levelelement of each context message. (See the context_message element in the Tutor Message guide for a description of how this data is logged).
- Problem Name
- The name of the problem.
- Step Name
- The name of the step within the problem, described as a interface selection and action. Multiple steps commonly appear within a problem.
To export the step list table:
- Click the Export Step List button. Your browser will prompt you to select a folder in which to save the file.
- Choose a location to save the file. The file is saved as a tab-delimited text file, which you can open in a spreadsheet editor.


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Drawing effects that need to store multiple data elements per-pixel is not an easy task, when you consider an architecture as rigid as highly parallel GPU subsystem. It is even more so, when you want to put irregular number of data elements (e.g. fragments) per-pixel. Current methods often suffer from the low performance pitfalls of non-regular memory references. See how d-buffer storage scheme can help composing your multiple, irregular in terms of per-pixel count fragments into hardware friendly regular data structure. All with the help of GL_ARB_shader_image_load_store, GL_ARB_shader_atomic_counters or simply core OpenGL 4.2.
Aug 16, 2011 | Category: Developers •


look up any word, like pussy:
1. A small house, structure, or dwelling which is defined as being so small, that if one were to point a shotgun at the door and fire, everybody within the dwelling would be hit or killed.
2. A temporary home or living quarters for a criminal or runaway.
1. Man, that family's house is so small, it might as well be a shotgun shack.
2. After robbing the bank, the robber headed back to his shotgun shack to count his ends and plan his next heist.
by Deus Ex Magna June 16, 2005


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The duty of care stands for the principle that directors and officers of a corporation in making all decisions in their capacities as corporate fiduciaries, must act in the same manner as a reasonably prudent person in their position would.
Courts will generally adjudge lawsuits against director and officer actions to meet the duty of care, under the business judgment rule. The business judgment rule stands for the principle that courts will not second guess the business judgment of corporate managers and will find the duty of care has been met so long as the fiduciary executed a reasonably informed, good faith, rational judgment without the presence of a conflict of interest. The burden of proof lies with the plaintiff to prove that this standard has not been met. If the the plaintiff meets the burden, the defendant fiduciary can still meet the duty of care by showing entire fairness, meaning that both a fair process was used to reach the decision and that the decision produced a substantively fair outcome for the corporation's shareholders.
Note: Corporations may insert a provision in their articles of corporation that protect directors (not officers) from facing civil liability under the duty of care.
Definition from Nolo's Plain-English Law Dictionary
The duty of a person or business to act toward others and the public with vigilance, caution, and prudence. Someone whose actions breach the duty of care is considered negligent, and may be sued for resulting damages. (See also: standard of care
Definition provided by Nolo's Plain-English Law Dictionary.
August 19, 2010, 5:15 pm


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Francis Willis (_PHONE_)
Francis Willis trained at Oxford as a clergyman. For most of his life he ran a small private asylum in the Lincolnshire countryside where he cared for men and women struggling with mental health problems. Willis's fame and clientele grew. Local officials pressured him to get a medical degree, which he earned from Oxford aged 41, but his skills came mainly from experience, not study. Willis's methods were diverse. They involved orthodox medical practices such as blistering and crude psychological tactics like coercion. He also knew when to appeal to his patients' good sense and humanityand often encouraged them to take responsibility for their actions. His most lasting fame came in his seventies when he treated King George III. Later doctors, particularly Philippe Pinel, heralded Willis as a pioneer of what became known in the 1800s as moral treatment.


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'bah itself. He therefore decreed that only one Kiswa should drape the Ka'bah at any one time, and this has been observed ever since.
The colour of the Kiswa has also changed many times over the centuries. Al-Mamoon -- 198-218 A.H. (813-833) dressed the Ka'bah in a red Kiswa, and by the reign of contemporary of Saladin the Great, Khalifa Al-Nasir Al-Abbasi, the colour of the Kiswa had changed to green. Khalifa Al-Nasir changed it to black, and black it has remained to this day.
For centuries the Kiswa used to be transported from Egypt to Makkah in the Mahmal -- a special litter at the head of a caravan, with as many as 15 camels carrying various sections of the revered garment. The sending of the Mahmal was regularly accompanied by much fanfare and celebration in Egypt, while its arrival in Makkah was hailed with music and joyous acclaim. When the founder of Saudi Arabia, the late King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud entered Makkah in 1924 C.E., he and his men objected to the music and dancing which accompanied the delivery of the Kiswa from Egypt. He and his men held to the pure Islamic faith and considered this an unacceptable innovation, and this eventually led to clashes with Egyptians which resulted in them stopping to send the Kiswa. King Abdul Aziz founded the holy Ka'bah factory. The first Makkan-made Kiswa to drape the Ka'bah was at the end of 1927 and for the next 10 years Makkah produced the Kiswa.
With the political rift healed in 1939, Egypt resumed sending the Kiswa until it fell victim again to the vagaries of political change in 1962. The Kiswa factory in Makkah was once again opened and it was declared that 'the Kiswa factory should be in Makkah so that it is not affected by the moods of the rulers of the Muslim world'.
Every year the Kiswa is woven at a cost of SR17 million. It is made of 670 kg pure white silk, which is later dyed black. It is made up of 47 pieces, each piece being 14 m long and 95 cm wide. The Ikhlas Surah from the Holy Qur'an is embroidered in gold on the four corners. Under the belt, all round the Kiswa, there are 16 panels with Qur'anic verses. The intricate calligraphy is emblazoned on the black silk using 120 kg of gold and silver wire. The ratio of gold to silver is 1 to 4. On the bright sunny days the blazing Arabian sun glints off the Kiswa's lustrous gold and silver embroidery. At night the Kiswa shimmers with the soft glow in the brightly-lit open courtyard of the Grand Mosque. The effect is at once awe-inspiring and breathtaking, as well as being soothing to the eyes of the faithful. The sight of the Ka'bah covered with the splendour of the Kiswa is an image which becomes emblazoned in the minds of those who have had the honour of visiting the house of Allah. With longing they will picture this beautiful sight over and over.
The interior of the Ka'bah is draped with dark green silk, also decorated with Qur'anic verses and Islamic designs. The solid gold doors of the Ka'bah are set 2 m above the ground and a movable wooden canopied staircase is used to enter the Ka'bah on the rare occasions when the doors are opened only to the King of Saudi Arabia and his special guests.
One of these special people were the late Sir Muhammad Zafrullah Khan, a prominent member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at, who visited Makkah. Sir Zafrullah Khan was a very distinguished man. In 1947 he was appointed Foreign Minister of Pakistan; for many years he led the Pakistan Delegation to the General Assembly of the United Nations, and he was President of the General Assembly's 17th Session. Since then he had served as Judge and President of the International Court of Justice at the Hague. He was not only a great expounder of Islam, but also a distinguished and prominent member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at. Yet, with all these achievements, he remained a humble and pious person living a very simple life. In the early part of 1958 he went to Makkah for the Umrah (lesser pilgrimage), and visited Madinah as well. He was familiar with the then Prince Faizal, who was at the time Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia and had officially visited Pakistan with his entourage to whom Sir Zafrullah Khan, then the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, had afforded them excellent hospitality. In Makkah, he was afforded royal hospitality and he was privileged to enter the Ka'bah itself and to say two Raka'ats of Prayer facing each of the four directions. Sir Zafrullah Khan's second visit to Makkah for Umrah and Hajj took place in the year 1967. He was a special guest of King Faizal and was afforded impeccable hospitality during his stay.
Twice a year, in the months of Shaban and Dhul Hijja, the interior of the Ka'bah is ceremonially washed with water perfumed with rose and sandalwood. The ceremonial washing is performed by the king or sometimes his deputised representative, the governor of Makkah. Nowadays it is done by the custodian of the two Mosques. At the second washing which takes places a few days before Hajj, the Kiswa is replaced by a new one. The removed Kiswa is then cut into pieces and presented as mementos to Muslim individuals and diplomats and to favoured institutions all over the world. The reception hall in the delegates' lounge of the UN building in New York is adorned by one particularly large and impressive piece, the Sitara (one of the four drapes that cover the doors of the Ka'bah) which measures 2.5 m wide and 9 m high.
The Kiswa, by itself, does not hold any particular religious significance to Muslims. It should therefore be understood that the reverence in which it is held, and the magnitude of effort and cost that goes into its making and upkeep, is due solely to the desire of Muslims to ensure that it reflects the sanctity, the splendour, and the majesty befitting the structure that it drapes, the Ka'bah -- House of Allah.
The Ka'bah is par excellence the House of Allah. Of course, all the places of worship are 'Houses of Allah', and as the Prophet (sa) declared: 'The whole earth is made a mosque for me', but the Ka'bah has been declared by God Himself to be the Sacred House, being the first House consecrated to the worship of the One True God (Holy Qur'an, Ch. 3: v. 97). Thus the expression 'House of Allah' is understood through the Muslim world to refer to the Ka'bah.
[Facts on the Kiswa taken from Ahlan Wasahlan, Aug. 1986]


Rachel Maja, MA
Rachel Maja (MA) is a trained School Psychologist with a diverse history supporting children and youth who face a variety of exceptionalities including autism, language based learning challenges, brain injury, cerebral palsy, and various mental health diagnoses. Additionally, Rachel has a research background that supports her current work in the area of assessment, and includes interest in the study of anxiety, early exposure to stress and/or trauma, executive functioning, and criminal psychology.
Rachel is passionate about building strong relationships with parents and their children, and making the assessment process as comfortable and supportive as possible. Having spent time working within the public school system in British Columbia, Rachel is also very clear about the value of working with a team, both within the school environment and in terms of the consultation process in community. Rachel's overall goal is always to ensure that her clients receive the best support possible so that the pathway is cleared for them to live their best lives. Rachel provides pscyhoeducational assessments at The Wishing Star under the supervision of a registered psychologist on our team.


text:
Brighten up a family celebration with jazzy polymer clay butterflies
What you need...
- Polymer clay, 58gm blocks; raspberry, Indian red, purple, lime green, lemon, brilliant blue, white, black
- Cookie cutter, butterfly
- Wire, beading
- Cutting mat
- Craft knife
- Tracing paper
- Tin foil
Modelling - 1. Roll out a ball of clay as large as your butterfly cutter or template, 0.5cm thick, in any rich colour, such as deep raspberry pink. Mix greens and pinks to create a range of ice cream colours. Roll out until thin and cut triangle shapes 2-3cm in length. Place them freely around the butterfly wings and press in using a sheet of tracing paper with a weight on top.
2. The tracing paper will keep your unbaked clay surface smooth and clean from fingerprints and fly-away dust. Using a weight such as a heavy book or small marble slab will distribute any pressure evenly. If you use a rolling pin the shapes you have created will become distorted. The weight will keep any mishaps to a minimum.
3. Roll any left-over ice cream colours into small circles. Press on top of the triangles. Then weight these circles as before, this time making smaller discs in a contrasting colour, and placing them over the larger circle to create the butterfly eyes.
4. Once the wings have been decorated, press the butterfly cutter into the flat clay. Roll a thin length in bright contrasting colour such as yellow or orange and run it around the outline of the butterfly for definition.
5. For the butterfly body, make a small roll of clay, the length of the cutter and slightly narrower than your little finger. Shape a gentle round point for the tail and a ball the size of a large pea for the head. Press two small holes into the top of the head where the coloured wire can be glued in to form the feelers after baking.
6. Using a large needle or other pointed craft tool, gently push a hole through the base of the wings and body, so the ribbon can pass through to secure the butterfly onto the basket. If your butterfly is too small and delicate, roll a ball of clay and stick it under the body then make a hole through that.
7. Before baking, to add movement, gently squeeze the wings towards the body so the butterfly will look like it has just settled on your basket. Make two scrunched up rolls of tin foil to support under the wings whilst baking. Carefully place the butterfly on a clean non-stick baking tray and pop in oven for 30 minutes at 130°C.
8. After the butterfly has cooled varnish with either a matt or gloss finish, then embellish with gems and crystals for extra effect. Glue the wire feelers and thread some coloured ribbon through the hole in the body and tie to a basket.
on sale now!
6 Piece Die, Stamp & Emboss Kit


Kevin McCullough
Recommend this article
In either case they were also shown up by a cute squiggly girl named Kelly - a dolphin.
Off the gulf coast at the Marine Mammals Studies Institute in Mississippi, Kelly has made quite a name for herself. Some time back the trainers at the Institute began programming the dolphins to help keep their own pool and living areas clean by training them to remove debris, paper, and other items of trash from the pool. And just like our parents used to do if we kept our rooms clean, they got a reward - a tasty fresh fish.
But Kelly took it one step further. Something in Kelly's brain told her that there were limited amounts of fish in the pool she lived in, she wasn't sure how long she would be there, but she knew that the currency of those pieces of paper represented a meal each time she found one.
As a result during the week Kelly would find papers stuck in this corner of the pool or this piece of plastic and went so far as to organize a place to store them under her favorite rock. She knew then that if she used only what she needed that she could plan for the future, and with some restraint have a supply of meals that would last far into the future.
In other words this dolphin, sensed the conditions of her circumstances, basically figured out a way to understand the principle of currency, began to save and then budget so that she could rely on herself thus her circumstances would be insured or improved over time.
"So simple a dolphin can do it?"
Given that we are told how smart elected politicians are, and how we must trust them to spend our money more wisely on our behalf than we would - one has to wonder if Kelly can figure such things out why can't Pelosi's posse of thugs in the House of Representatives!
This week while Kelly was busy being a good conservative, Pelosi's iron fist was shutting down the opportunity to do the very same thing - for humans.
Recommend this article


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Great Britain Historical Geographical Information System (GBHGIS)
2. hearth tax, 1664: surrey
The Hearth Tax returns of the 1660s and 1670s are another important historical source. It was levied twice a year at Lady Day and Michaelmas and was based on taxing each hearth at a rate of 2 shillings a year payable in two instalments. In collaboration with Prof. Margaret Spufford and Dr. Susan Rose of the Hearth Tax Centre at the Roehampton Institute, London we have been attempting to systematically map the Hearth Tax at parish level.
This work is still at an early stage but below we have an example of the location of one hearth households in Surrey on Lady Day, 1664. In this case all the data have been assigned to parishes, largely as a result of work done at the Roehampton Institute. On the map Southwark is unshaded as it was treated differently from the rest of the county, the other unshaded areas have no data as a result of damage to the original manuscript.
Having only one hearth was seen as a sign of relative poverty, this map therefore suggests that the area near London was relatively affluent while the areas further away, particularly in the south west of the county were relatively impoverished.


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How am I able to set the size of the arrowheads at the end of a line to not increase in size when viewed at a larger map scale? When I zoom out, the arrowheads grow in size, but the lines do not lengthen. Is there a way to either fix the arrowhead size to remain the same at all scales? Or is there a way to have the lines increase when the scale increases as with the arrowheads?
Mapping Center Answer:
You have full control over the symbols you use. One thing to consider is the Reference Scale. The reference scale defines the scale at which symbols appear at their intended size. When you set the Reference Scale, changes in scale result in symbols changing their sizes relative to surrounding features.
If you haven't set a Reference Scale, symbols remain the same size and do not change relative to the surrounding features. This is the likely cause of what you are seeing happen on screen.
So if you set a Reference Scale when you create the arrowhead symbols, you should see more satisfactory results. For additional help on this topic take a look at the ArcGIS 10 Help topic called Working with data frame reference scales.
If you would like to post a comment, please login.


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AN INTERVIEW WITH Apple co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, originally done in the 1980s but now part of the archive of Apple materials in Stanford University in America, reveals how the company got its name.
In the interview, Steve Wozniak and the late Steve Jobs recall a seminal moment in Silicon Valley history — how they named their upstart computer company some 35 years ago.
"I remember driving down Highway 85," Wozniak says. "We're on the freeway, and Steve mentions, 'I've got a name: Apple Computer.' We kept thinking of other alternatives to that name, and we couldn't think of anything better."
Adds Jobs: "And also remember that I worked at Atari, and it got us ahead of Atari in the phonebook."
The interview, recorded for an in-house video for company employees in the mid-1980s, was among a storehouse of materials Apple had been collecting for a company museum. But in 1997, soon after Jobs returned to the company, Apple officials contacted Stanford University and offered to donate the collection to the school's Silicon Valley Archives.
Within a few days, Stanford curators were at Apple headquarters in nearby Cupertino, packing two moving trucks full of documents, books, software, videotapes and marketing materials that now make up the core of Stanford's Apple Collection.
The collection, the largest assembly of Apple historical materials, can help historians, entrepreneurs and policymakers understand how a startup launched in a Silicon Valley garage became a global technology giant.
"Through this one collection you can trace out the evolution of the personal computer," said Stanford historian Leslie Berlin. "These sorts of documents are as close as you get to the unmediated story of what really happened."
The collection is stored in hundreds of boxes taking up more than 600 feet of shelf space at the Stanford's off-campus storage facility. The Associated Press visited the climate-controlled warehouse on the outskirts of the San Francisco Bay area, but agreed not to disclose its location.
Interest in Apple and its founder has grown dramatically since Jobs died in October at age 56, just weeks after he stepped down as CEO and handed the reins to Tim Cook. Jobs' death sparked an international outpouring and marked the end of an era for Apple and Silicon Valley.
"Apple as a company is in a very, very select group," said Stanford curator Henry Lowood. "It survived through multiple generations of technology. To the credit of Steve Jobs, it meant reinventing the company at several points."
Apple scrapped its own plans for a corporate museum after Jobs returned as CEO and began restructuring the financially struggling firm, Lowood said.
Job's return, more than a decade after he was forced out of the company he co-founded, marked the beginning of one of the great comebacks in business history. It led to a long string of blockbuster products — including the iPod, iPhone and iPad — that have made Apple one of the world's most profitable brands.
After Stanford received the Apple donation, former company executives, early employees, business partners and Mac enthusiasts have come forward and added their own items to the archives.
The collection includes early photos of young Jobs and Wozniak, blueprints for the first Apple computer, user manuals, magazine ads, TV commercials, company t-shirts and drafts of Jobs' speeches.
In one company video, Wozniak talks about how he had always wanted his own computer, but couldn't get his hands on one at a time when few computers were found outside corporations or government agencies.
"All of a sudden I realized, 'Hey microprocessors all of a sudden are affordable. I can actually build my own,'" Wozniak says. "And Steve went a little further. He saw it as a product you could actually deliver, sell and someone else could use."
The pair also talk about the company's first product, the Apple I computer, which went on sale in July 1976 for $666.66.
"Remember an Apple I was not particularly useable for too much, but it was so incredible to have your own computer," Jobs says. "It was kind of an embarkation point from the way computers had been going in these big steel boxes with switches and lights."
The archive shows the Apple founders were far ahead of their time, Lowood said.
"What they were doing was spectacularly new," he said. "The idea of building computers out of your garage and marketing them and thereby creating a successful business — it just didn't compute for a lot of people."


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April is Genocide Remembrance Month
In 2015, with support from all major parties, the House of Commons unanimously passed M-587 designating April as Genocide Remembrance, Condemnation and Prevention Month.
Events will take place in Ottawa during the month of April and will be complemented by a national social media campaign.
In addition to commemorating Genocide Remembrance Month, a coalition of civil society organizations is making three policy recommendations to the Government of Canada:
- Launch a national strategy to combat online hate, online propaganda and the dissemination of hateful information
- Ensure that Canada's refugee system is effective in delivering emergency assistance to the most at-risk communities
- Officially recognize the Romani Genocide
Read Our Letter
Dear Prime Minister Trudeau, Mr. Scheer, and Mr. Singh,
In recognition of Genocide Remembrance, Condemnation, and Prevention Month, we, a coalition of seven civil society organizations, have joined together with the support of thousands of Canadians to solemnly commemorate and condemn acts of genocide and recommit to working together to prevent genocide. We are asking for your help.
In addition to honouring the millions of lives lost to genocide, we are asking you to take three specific actions:
- Launch a national strategy to combat online hate, online propaganda, and dissemination of hateful misinformation. Recent events have demonstrated that online hate can quickly turn into real-world violence and terrorism. As people who have experienced – and continue to experience – the impact of these crimes, we ask the Government of Canada to create policy solutions to tackle this problem before more people are radicalized online. We note with appreciation the Justice Committee has started studying online hate which we believe is a good first step in creating a national strategy.
- Ensure that Canada's refugee system is flexible, responsive, and effective in delivering emergency assistance to those who are most in need. Genocide is not simply a topic of the past. There are countless people around the world today who are persecuted and murdered because of who they are: Yezidis in Iraq, LGBTQ2+ people in Chechnya and Iran, and Rohingya in Myanmar, for example. This is a matter of life and death.
- Adopt a motion recognizing August 2nd as a day of remembrance of the Romani Genocide. Last year, the Canadian government issued a statement in remembrance and recognition of the Romani Genocide, which we appreciate. We now ask the Canadian Parliament to formally recognize the Romani Genocide.
The Armenian National Committee of Canada
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs
The Rwandan Humura Association
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress
The Yezidi Human Rights Organization


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- not saturated
- designating or of a compound in which some element possesses the capacity of combining further with other elements
- designating or of a solution that is not in equilibrium with the undissolved solute
- designating an organic compound with a double or triple bond that links two atoms, usually of carbon
See unsaturated in American Heritage Dictionary 4
- Of or relating to an organic compound, especially a fatty acid, containing one or more double or triple bonds between the carbon atoms.
- Capable of dissolving more of a solute at a given temperature.
Learn more about unsaturated


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Representations of Rwanda have been shaped by the display of bodies and bones at Tutsi
genocide memorial sites. This phenomenon is most often only studied from the perspective
of moral dimensions. This article aims in contrast to cover the issues related to the
treatment of human remains in Rwanda for commemorative purposes from a historical
perspective. To this end, it is based on the archives of the commissions in charge of
genocide memory in Rwanda, as well as interviews with key memorial actors. This study
shows the evolution of memorial practices since 1994 and the hypermateriality of bodies in
their use as symbols, as well as their demobilisation for the purposes of reconciliation
The politics of exhumation in post-genocide Rwanda
Contrary to other countries that suffered mass violence in the late twentieth century, such as Bosnia, the issue of individual identification or DNA identification has never been considered seriously by the national and international agents of the memory in Rwanda. The lack of forensic investigation is a result of the financial situation of the Rwandan state after the genocide. In 1996, Rwanda was officially declared as the poorest country in the world. How in this context did Rwandan and international agents manage the memory of the genocide and especially the corpses? Considering the absence of a state-led individual identification program, how did exhumations occur and for what purposes? Who were the agents of exhumations in Rwanda? But also, what is the history behind the conservation of bones and corpses in genocide memorials? Based upon the study of the public archives of the National Commission for the Fight against the Genocide, this paper sheds some historical light on the debates around the management of genocide corpses in Rwanda since 1994.
From 1994 onwards, bodies have been at the centre of the politics of memory surrounding the genocide of the Tutsi. As well as constituting evidence in forensic investigations, bodies are on display in the memorials to the genocide. This exhibiting of bodies aims principally to remind visitors of the historical facts of the genocide: the sites of the massacres and the methods used during them. The research carried out by Rwandan institutions with a view to memorialising the genocide is uniformly insistent on the "practices of cruelty" employed during it. Inventories of weapons used during the massacres are accompanied by descriptions of different methods of killing. These methods are also represented in many memorials. This paper will examine how these constructed ideologies of the twentieth century affected the treatment of Tutsis in the Rwandan genocide and the alarming consequences this created for the destruction of dehumanised bodies.


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The time it takes a part to make it from the beginning of the manufacturing process to the end is called the cycle time. That time is proportional to the amount of WIP (work in process) in the system. A simple example to illustrate how WIP effects cycle time is to consider the self serve carwash. In this example the carwash is a simple station where the car drives in and sprayers and brushes automatically move back and forth cleaning the car. After 5 minutes the car drives out clean and dry. The next car in line drives in as the car is moving out.
On a busy day it is not uncommon to see a line of cars waiting. When pulling up to a carwash with 5 cars in line, you know that even though the carwash takes 5 minutes, you have to wait for all the cars in front of you get clean before you get it. In this case your cycle time is the 25 minutes for the 5 cars ahead and then the 5 minutes it takes your car to clean. So the cycle time is 30 minutes. If there was only one car in front of you then the cycle time would be 10 minutes if there were 10 it would be much longer. The same is true in a manufacturing operation, the more parts in the queue, the longer the cycle time. For manufacturing systems that have many operations, even a small amount of product at each station can add up to a large overall cycle time.
Kanban is a method that keeps the in process inventory to a low level. It effectively prevents too much material being introduced into the system. This keeps the cycle time lower and helps manufacturing be more responsive as well as the company attaining better cash flows.
Packnet is not a manufacturing systems expert; we simply build good Kanban carts that help manufacturers control their inventory.


Drug Information for FENTORA CII (fentanyl buccal tablet) (Cephalon, Inc.): DESCRIPTION
 - FENTORA (fentanyl buccal tablet) is a potent opioid analgesic, intended for buccal mucosal administration. FENTORA is formulated as a flat-faced, round, beveled-edge white tablet.
 FENTORA is designed to be placed and retained within the buccal cavity for a period sufficient to allow disintegration of the tablet and absorption of fentanyl across the oral mucosa.
 FENTORA employs the OraVescent® drug delivery technology, which generates a reaction that releases carbon dioxide when the tablet comes in contact with saliva. It is believed that transient pH changes accompanying the effervescent reaction may optimize dissolution (at a lower pH) and membrane permeation (at a higher pH) of fentanyl through the buccal mucosa.
 Active Ingredient: Fentanyl citrate, USP is N-(1-Phenethyl-4-piperidyl) propionanilide citrate (1:1). Fentanyl is a highly lipophilic compound (octanol-water partition coefficient at pH 7.4 is 816:1) that is freely soluble in organic solvents and sparingly soluble in water (1:40). The molecular weight of the free base is 336.5 (the citrate salt is 528.6). The pKa of the tertiary nitrogens are 7.3 and 8.4. The compound has the following structural formula:
 All tablet strengths are expressed as the amount of fentanyl free base, e.g., the 100 microgram strength tablet contains 100 micrograms of fentanyl free base.
 Inactive Ingredients: Mannitol, sodium starch glycolate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate, citric acid, and magnesium stearate.


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We observed a severe autosomal recessive movement disorder in mice used within our laboratory. We pursued a series of experiments to define the genetic lesion underlying this disorder and to identify a cognate disease in humans with mutation at the same locus. Through linkage and sequence analysis we show here that this disorder is caused by a homozygous in-frame 18-bp deletion in Itpr1 (Itpr1Δ18/Δ18), encoding inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate receptor 1. A previously reported spontaneous Itpr1 mutation in mice causes a phenotype identical to that observed here. In both models in-frame deletion within Itpr1 leads to a decrease in the normally high level of Itpr1 expression in cerebellar Purkinje cells. Spinocerebellar ataxia 15 (SCA15), a human autosomal dominant disorder, maps to the genomic region containing ITPR1; however, to date no causal mutations had been identified. Because ataxia is a prominent feature in Itpr1 mutant mice, we performed a series of experiments to test the hypothesis that mutation at ITPR1 may be the cause of SCA15. We show here that heterozygous deletion of the 5′ part of the ITPR1 gene, encompassing exons 1-10, 1-40, and 1-44 in three studied families, underlies SCA15 in humans.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- Molecular Biology
- Cancer Research


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The concrete is subjected to changes in volume either autogenous or induced. Volume change is one of the most detrimental properties of concrete, which affects the long-term strength and durability. To the practical engineer, the aspect of volume change in concrete is important from the point of view that it causes unsightly cracks in concrete. The effect of volume change due to thermal properties of aggregate and concrete, due to alkali/aggregate reaction, due to sulphate action etc. Presently we shall discuss the volume change on account of inherenet properties of concrete "shrinkage".One of the most objectionable defects in concrete is the presence of cracks, particularly in floors and pavements. One of the important factors that contribute to the cracks in floors and pavements is that due to shrinkage. It is difficult to make concrete which does not shrink and crack. It is only a question of magnitude. Now the question is how to reduce the shrinkage and shrinkage cracks in concrete structures. As shrinkage is an inherent property of concrete it demands greater understanding of the various properties of concrete, which influence its shrinkage characteristics. It is only when the mechanism of all kinds of shrinkage and the factors affecting the shrinkage are understood, an engineer will be in a better position to control and limit the shrinkage in the body of concrete.
The term shrinkage is loosely used to describe the various aspects of volume changes in concrete due to loss of moisture at different stages due to different reasons. To understand this aspect more closely, shrinkage can be classified in the following ways,
1. Plastic Shrinkage
2. Drying Shrinkage
3. Autogeneous Shrinkage
4. Carbonation Shrinkage.
1. Plastic shrinkage :
Shrinkage of this type manifests itself soon after the concrete is placed in the forms while the concrete is still in the plastic state. Loss of water by evaporation from the surface of concrete or by the absorption by aggregate or subgrade, is believed to be the reasons of plastic shrinkage. The loss of water results in the reduction of volume. The aggregate particles or the reinforcement comes in the way of subsidence due to which cracks may appear at the surface or internally around the aggregate or reinforcement.
In case of floors and pavements where the surface area exposed to drying is large as compared to depth, when this large surface is exposed to hot sun and drying wind, the surface of concrete dries very fast which results in plastic shrinkage.
Sometimes even if the concrete is not subjected to severe drying, but poorly made with a high water/ cement ratio, large quantity of water bleeds and accumulates at the surface. When this water at the surface dries out, the surface concrete collapses causing cracks.
Plastic concrete is sometimes subjected to unintended vibration or yielding of formwork support which again causes plastic shrinkage cracks as the concrete at this stage has not developed enough strength. From the above it can be inferred that high water/ cement ratio, badly proportioned concrete, rapid drying, greater bleeding, unintended vibration etc., are some of the reasons for plastic shrinkage. It can also be further added that richer concrete undergoes greater plastic shrinkage.
Plastic shrinkage can be reduced mainly by preventing the rapid loss of water from surface. This can be done by covering the surface with polyethylene sheeting immediately on finishing operation; by monomolecular coatings by fog spray that keeps the surface moist; or by working at night. An effective method of removing plastic shrinkage cracks is to revibrate the concrete in a controlled manner. Use of small quantity of aluminium power is also suggested to offset the effect of plastic shrinkage. Similarly, expansive cement or shrinkage compensating cement also can be used for controlling the shrinkage during the setting o f concrete. The principal property of such cement is that the expansion induced in the plastic concrete will almost offset the normal shrinkage due to lo ss o f mo isture. Under correct usage, the distance between the joints can sometimes be tripled without increasing the level of shrinkage cracking. Further, use of unneeded high slump concrete, over sanded mix, higher air entraining should be discouraged in order to reduce the higher plastic shrinkage.
2. Drying Shrinkage:
Just as the hydration of cement is an ever lasting process, the drying shrinkage is also an ever lasting process when concrete is subjected to drying conditions. The drying shrinkage of concrete is analogous to the mechanism of drying of timber specimen. The loss of free water contained in hardened concrete, does not result in any appreciable dimension change. It is the loss of water held in gel pores that causes the change in the volume. Under drying conditions, the gel water is lost progressively over a long time, as long as the concrete is kept in drying conditions. It is theoretically estimated that the total linear change due to long time drying shrinkage could be of the order of 10,000 microns. But values upto 4,000 microns have been actually observed.
Cement paste shrinks more than mortar and mortar shrinks more than concrete. Concrete made with smaller size aggregate shrinks more than concrete made with bigger size aggregate. The magnitude of drying shrinkage is also a function of the fineness of gel. The finer the gel the more is the shrinkage. It has been pointed out earlier that the high pressure steam cured concrete with low specific surface of gel, shrinks much less than that of normally cured cement gel.
3. Autogeneous Shrinkage:
In a conservative system i.e. where no moisture movement to or from the paste is permitted, when temperature is constant some shrinkage may occur. The shrinkage of such a conservative system is known as a autogeneous shrinkage.
Autogeneous shrinkage is of minor importance and is not applicable in practice to many situations except that of mass of concrete in the interior of a concrete dam. The magnitude of autogeneous shrinkage is in the order of about 100 microns.
4. Carbonation Shrinkage:
Carbonation shrinkage is a phenomenon very recently recognised. Carbon dioxide present in the atmoshphere reacts in the presence of water with hydrated cement. Calcium hydroxide gets converted to calcium carbonate and also some other cement compounds are decomposed. Such a complete decomposition of calcium compound in hydrated cement is chemically possible even at the low pressure of carbon dioxide in normal atmoshphere. Carbonation penetrates beyond the exposed surface of concrete only very slowly.
The rate of penetration of carbon dioxide depends also on the moisture content of the concrete and the relative humidity of the ambient medium. Carbonation is accompanied by an increase in weight of the concrete and by shrinkage. Carbonation shrinkage is probably caused by the dissolution of crystals of calcium hydroxide and deposition of calcium carbonate in its place. As the new product is less in volume than the product replaced, shrinkage takes place.
Carbonation of concrete also results in increased strength and reduced permeability, possibly because water released by carbonation promotes the process of hydration and also calcium carbonate reduces the voids within the cement paste. As the magnitude of carbonation shrinkage is very small when compared to long term drying shrinkage, this aspect is not of much significance. But carbonation reduces the alkalinity of concrete which gives a protective coating to the reinforcement against rusting. If depth of carbonation reaches up to steel reinforcements, the steel becomes liable for corrosion.


Varian Data Machines
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses of "Varian", see Varian (disambiguation).
Varian Data Machines was a division of Varian Associates which sold minicomputers. It entered the market in 1966,[1] but met stiff competition and was bought by Sperry Corporation in 1977.[2]
The 620i and 620/L series were parallel, binary 16-bit general-purpose digital computers with core memory expandable to 32,768 words. An 18-bit word length was optionally available. A basic machine cycle took 1.8 microseconds, and the core memory read time was 700 nanoseconds. The computers uses two's complement arithmetic and had four main registers - accumulator A, accumulator extension B, an index register X and a program counter register. Addressing modes were direct, immediate and indexed. The instruction set had more than one hundred artihmetic, logic and control instructions and supported microprogramming. These models used a hardware front panel console that allowed starting and stopping the machine, examining memory and registers and changing memory or registers with front-panel switches. The processor was made with integrated circuit transistor transistor logic from the 7400 series. The system was packaged in a 19 inch rack and used 340 watts of power at 120 V AC. The 620/F was a variation with a faster machine cycle time of 750 nanoseconds. The 620/L 100 was released in 1973. It had a cycle time of 950 nanoseconds and a more compact system chassis than the 620/F. [3] The 70 series had semiconductor memory but also supported core. Various models were released between 1972 and 1977. [4]
 1. ^ HP: The Accidentally, On-Purpose Computer Company
 2. ^ Computer History Museum, Selling the Computer Revolution - Marketing Brochures in the Collection: Varian Data Machines
 3. ^ Varian 620 Manual retrieved 2012 July 24
 4. ^ MInicomputer Orphanage, retrieved 2012 July 24


A Charter to End Extreme Hunger
The latest campaign from Save The Children is the #66Cities campaign to show the strength of public support around ending the crisis in East Africa.
So far over 4,000 people have signed the petition for this campaign 'Hunger Charter' and 500 MPs have been contacted as part of the campaign.
Up to 750,000 people face death from hunger in East Africa. There are millions more at risk across the region in the worst food crisis of this century. There are hundreds of children who have to bear with a legacy of poverty and suffering. Urgent action is needed right now.
This is a crisis that is preventable, we know the steps that must be taken to prevent this suffering from continuing. Hundreds of people are dying of hunger each week and it is not acceptable any more.
We all have a responsibility to prevent this from ever happening again.
Global food prices have been rising for more than four years, reaching a new record high in 2011. This is the reason that billions of people are at risk of hunger. The G20 must take decisive action to minimise the impact of high and volatile food prices on children.
Here you can find documents about this rise in prices
A child is dying every 6 minutes due to starvation
We want the UK government to sign up to the Charter to End Extreme Hunger
1. Fix the flaws of the international emergency system
we could see that this as happening and it went un helped, it has now developed to the point we are starting to lose control. Like lots of previous events. The delay in waiting for a disaster to unfold before acting costs both lives and money.
2. Supporting local food production
Decades of under-investment in small scale food producers and ineffective management of natural resources, have contributed significantly to the crisis in East Africa, with livestock farmers particularly hard hit. Save The Children commit to fulfil urgently and rapidly the pledges we made to the l'Aquila Food Security Initiative (AFSI)
3. Services and protection for the poorest
Millions of people around the world are living on the edge of survival, always close to disaster. Save The Children can help those people move back from the brink with two changes: social safety nets, and fairer investment.
4. Food everyone can afford
Spiralling food prices have contributed to tipping some areas of East Africa towards disaster. We cannot stop acute food crises unless everyone can access food at a price they can afford. Save The Children commit to trying to get emergency food to the areas affect.
5. Reducing armed violence and conflict
It is impossible to end mass death by starvation without reducing the violence that is one of its principal causes. Save The Children commit to press for, and support, practical measures to protect people affected by conflict.
See the East Africa appeal here
 1. actuallymummy22:02
 Seconded! It infuriates me how much donated money is mis-spent when it could be helping so many people! Grrrrr! well done for this
 2. This is really thought provoking and informative - the more people that are made aware the more chance of actually making a difference.
 Well done you for sharing this!
 3. So lovely of you to post about our Hunger Charter. Thank you so much for your support. One blogger has started a meme that you might be interested in joining, here: And we'll be looking to make as much noise about this as possible on twitter. Please join us if you can.
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In this article, we go over:
 1. How PostBeyond user accounts can be generated via SSO
 2. The solution to ensure these accounts are organized within your company's instance
 3. How to set up the SSO Default Group
How are PostBeyond user account's Generated via SSO
If an employee is found within the IdP group of the PostBeyond SSO application and they do not have a PostBeyond user account, clicking SSO from the PostBeyond login page will generate an account:
If a user's account is created in this method, they are automatically put into the Core/All group of the instance, which might not be ideal for a program as this is typically the group that has access to all content.
To avoid this, admins have the ability to create and/or label a group the SSO default group.
Benefits of the Default SSO group include:
👉🏽 Regrouping the users when the time is convenient
👉🏽 Easily identifying SSO generated users
👉🏽 Ensuring that SSO users have access to general content and not all content
How to Set up SSO Default Group
Step 1: Create an SSO Default Group
You can call this anything, but make sure it is an obvious group for you and your team to quickly identify
Step 2: Apply the Default to the SSO Default Group
You will notice a little person icon beside the All/Core group. This is automatically applied to the Core group of all instances and indicates that SSO-generated users will be moved here.
Click the 3 dots of the group you would like to make the default group, and select Make Default Group for New Users:
Once this is done, you will notice the icon beside the group you've selects as the New user's default group.
If you have any questions, please contact your CSM or
Did this answer your question?


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Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is a type of cancer that is very common in people with AIDS. Treatments for KS do not cure the disease, and better treatments are needed.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of bortezomib in patients with AIDS-related KS. Bortezomib is used to treat cancers called multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma. Its use in people with KS is considered investigational.
Bortezomib may help stop HIV from progressing and stop the growth of cancer cells. It may also cause the KS herpes virus that lives in KS tumor cells to enter an active state that kills the tumor cells.


Assignment 3: Prescribing Policies Must be an Original No plagerism
Assignment 3: Prescribing Policies
Due Week 7 and worth 170 points
Write five to six (5-6) page paper in which you:
(Note: Refer to Review Question 8 located at the end of Chapter 5 for criteria 1-3.)
 1. Determine the following before deciding a prescription: (a) maximize effectiveness at the least cost; (b) maximize effectiveness at a fixed cost of $10,000; (c) achieve a fixed-effectiveness level of 6,000 units of service at a fixed cost of $20,000; (d) maximize net benefits, assuming that each unit of service has a market price of $10; (e) maximize the ration of benefits to costs, assuming that each unit of service has a market price of $10.
 2. Determine which of the two main programs (Program I and Program II) should be selected under each of these criteria. Justify your position.
 3. Describe the conditions under which each criterion may be an adequate measure of the achievement of objectives.
(Note: Refer to the Demonstration Exercise at the end of Chapter 5 for criteria 4-9.)
 1. Determine the assumptions that govern estimates of the value of time lost driving, indicating which assumptions (if any) are more tenable than others. Justify your position.
 2. Determine the best way to estimate the value of time. Justify your position.
 3. Determine the best way to estimate the cost of a gallon of gasoline. Justify your position.
 4. Determine the more reliable method to estimate driving speeds and miles per gallon by using (a) official statistics on highway traffic from the Environmental Protection Agency or by using (b) engineering studies of the efficiency of gasoline engines by the Department of Energy. Discuss any consequences of using one source rather than another. Justify your position.
 5. Estimate the value of a life saved. Justify your position.
 6. Determine which policy is preferable, (a) the 55-mph speed limit or (b) the 65-mph limit. Justify your position.
 7. Include at least two (2) peer-reviewed references (no more than five [5] years old) from material outside the textbook to support your views regarding the proposed U.S. response to the conflict in Bosnia. Note: Appropriate peer-reviewed references include scholarly articles and governmental Websites. Do not use open source Websites such as Wikipedia,,, and similar Websites are not acceptable resources.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
 - Recommend policy alternatives to deal with a specific problem.
Click here to view the grading rubric for this assignment.
 - 7 years ago
 - 20
 Purchase the answer to view it
 - attachment


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2015 Volume E98.D Issue 5 Pages _PHONE_
Tracking algorithms for arbitrary objects are widely researched in the field of computer vision. At the beginning, an initialized bounding box is given as the input. After that, the algorithms are required to track the objective in the later frames on-the-fly. Tracking-by-detection is one of the main research branches of online tracking. However, there still exist two issues in order to improve the performance. 1) The limited processing time requires the model to extract low-dimensional and discriminative features from the training samples. 2) The model is required to be able to balance both the prior and new objectives' appearance information in order to maintain the relocation ability and avoid the drifting problem. In this paper, we propose a real-time tracking algorithm called coupled randomness tracking (CRT) which focuses on dealing with these two issues. One randomness represents random projection, and the other randomness represents online random forests (ORFs). In CRT, the gray-scale feature is compressed by a sparse measurement matrix, and ORFs are used to train the sample sequence online. During the training procedure, we introduce a tree discarding strategy which helps the ORFs to adapt fast appearance changes caused by illumination, occlusion, etc. Our method can constantly adapt to the objective's latest appearance changes while keeping the prior appearance information. The experimental results show that our algorithm performs robustly with many publicly available benchmark videos and outperforms several state-of-the-art algorithms. Additionally, our algorithm can be easily utilized into a parallel program.


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Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Who regulates OPG's Nuclear Facilities?
A: OPG's nuclear reactors are licensed and regulated by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). The CNSC establishes stringent operating parameters, which include limits for the radiation dose that members of the public may receive as a result of reactor operations. Radioactivity release limits for the effluents from each nuclear plant are derived from these dose limits. As well, a number of municipal, provincial, and federal agencies provide both oversight and reporting checks on our operations.
Q: How do we know what is being released from the nuclear stations?
A: Nothing is more important than safety to our staff, the public, and to the environment. It guides our focus for every task we do, each and every day. Effective monitoring of our station operations assures us and the public that we are operating well below our operating licence allows for emissions. In fact, as a company, we voluntarily set more stringent operating targets for ourselves than others ask of us. The design of OPG's nuclear plants minimizes these releases through robust safety equipment, high international standards when it comes to our operating procedures to protect the health of our employees and the public, and multiple safety barriers including a one kilometer exclusion zone separating the public from the reactor building.
The data from these tests is compiled and provided to the public in annual reports. Preparation of these annual reports is a regulatory requirement of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. For copies of our recent reports released to the public as required by the CNSC click here.
Q: What is the REMP program?
A: Airborne and waterborne effluents from the Pickering and Darlington nuclear stations are routinely monitored for radioactivity. The 2006 radioactivity levels in all effluents remained at a small fraction of the regulatory limits.
Each year OPG conducts radiological environmental monitoring programs (REMP) in the vicinity of our Darlington and Pickering Nuclear Power Stations to determine the radiological impact to the public resulting from the operation of these stations. These annual reports contain the results of extensive monitoring programs, which include concentrations of radionuclides in the air, water, soil, sediments, vegetation and fish samples. These samples are taken in the vicinity of Darlington and Pickering, and at provincial locations to determine naturally occurring radiation levels in areas away from the influence of nuclear stations. Preparation of these annual reports is a regulatory requirement of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
"Critical Group Dose" is a method used to measure radiation exposure to members of the public who live in close proximity to our nuclear stations. Critical Group Dose calculations focus on the public's actual eating and drinking habits as obtained from survey data. The program is referred to as REMP – Radiological Environmental Monitoring Program.
The survey includes six age groups: three month old nursing infant, one-year old infant, children aged 5, 10, 15 years and adult. Critical Group Dose is measured in microsieverts, an international unit of measurement.
Q: How much radiation is being released by the nuclear stations?
A: In 2006, the microsievert* Critical Group Dose levels were 2.8 and 1.1 for Pickering Nuclear and Darlington Nuclear respectively. This is substantially well below the limit of 1,000 microsieverts set by the Federal Government and well below our own internal OPG target of 10 microsieverts.
The average person receives 1,770 microsieverts per year from non-nuclear sources, including the radiation from the sun, the earth's crust, natural materials in our bodies, building materials, consumer products, and for some X-rays, and jet travel.
As further comparison, sleeping next to someone for eight hours results in 20 microsieverts (exposure comes from the naturally radioactive potassium in the other person's body). An airline trip to the south (four hours each way for a total of eight hours in an airplane) would result in 80 microsieverts.
***Definition – Microsievert – a measurement of radiation dose by an individual. (Sievert is a measure of dose – 1 mirosievert is one one million of a sievert.)
Healthy and Safe
Download our brochure to find out more about how nuclear products keep us healthy and safe.


Skip to definition.
Noun: detention cell
 1. A large cell where prisoners (people awaiting trial, sentence, refugees or illegal immigrants) are confined together temporarily
 - bullpen [N. Amer], detention centre [Brit, Cdn], detention center [US]
Derived forms: detention cells
Type of: cell, jail cell, prison cell


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The challenge of preserving Pacific Northwest natural resources is the subject of "Sustaining Our Northwest World: When Humans and Nature Collide," a lecture series starting next week with a look at the need for active forest stewardship of public forests.
Forest resources professor Jerry Franklin presents A Fork in the Road: The Challenges of Forest Stewardship in the 21st Century, Feb. 12. Throughout North America, the need for active stewardship of public forests is already critical and will greatly intensify in the 21st century, he says.
Globalization of the wood products industry is creating new and serious challenges to forest stewardship. The Pacific Northwest faces the questions of who will purchase industrial forestlands of departing corporations and what they will do with them. Where will society find the will and resources to carry out forest stewardship? The old timber-environment controversies of the 20th century are no longer relevant, Franklin says, but their echoes obscure the very different challenges of the 21st century.
The lectures will be at 7 p.m., in 220 Kane, followed by an open reception with refreshments. All the lectures in the series are free and open to the public but because of space limitations, those who'd like to attend should register by visiting _URL_
The three-part lecture series is sponsored by the UW College of Forest Resources and Alumni Association. Also scheduled are:
- Feb. 26, Still Batty After All These Years? Contemplating the Future of Bats in the Managed Forests of the Pacific Northwest, by forest resources professor Stephen West
- March 11, Are Cities for the Birds? Balancing Our Needs and Desires with Ecological Function in Urbanizing Regions, by forest resources professor John Marzluff.


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Tk_BackgroundError - report Tcl error that occurred in background processing
This procedure is typically invoked when a Tcl error occurs during ''background processing'' such as executing a Tcl command in response to a button press or menu entry invocation. When such an error occurs, the error condition is reported to Tk or to a widget or some other C code, and there is not usually any obvious way for that code to report the error to the user. In these cases the code calls Tk_BackgroundError with an interp argument identifying the interpreter in which the error occurred. Tk_BackgroundError attempts to invoke the tkerror Tcl command to report the error in an application-specific fashion. If no tkerror command exists, or if it returns with an error condition, then Tk_BackgroundError reports the error itself by printing a message on the standard error file.
Tk_BackgroundError does not invoke tkerror immediately (in some cases this could interfere with scripts that are in process at the time the error occurred). Instead, it invokes tkerror later as an idle callback. Tk_BackgroundError saves the values of the errorInfo and errorCode variables and restores these values just before invoking tkerror.
It is possible for many background errors to accumulate before tkerror is invoked. When this happens, each of the errors is processed in order. However, if tkerror returns a break exception, then all remaining error reports for the interpreter are skipped.
background, error, tkerror


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By: Mutual of Omaha Mortgage
Streamline Refinance FAQ
Here are some frequently asked questions about streamline refinance mortgage loan products.
What is Streamline Refinance?
A streamline refinance is a term used to describe a refinance mortgage loan in which a borrower is able to provide limited income and credit documentation to meet lenders processing and loan underwriting requirements. A streamline refinance can be an opportunity for a qualified homeowner to alter their rate and term to be more favorable for their financial needs and goals with more efficiency than the process of a general refinance mortgage loan. The FHA streamline refinance and the VA streamline refinance are two examples of primary streamline refinance mortgage programs available to prospective borrowers. Some conventional loans also offer streamline refinance programs; however, these program requirements can vary from lender to lender. The two most dominate benefits of a streamline refinance loan are the possibility to complete the refinance loan process in a shorter amount of time while paying lower closing costs.
How Does Streamline Refinance Work?
When a homeowner is ready to refinance their current mortgage, often the process can seem just as complex and tedious as their original mortgage application. This process can be especially rigorous when a homeowner changes lenders during their refinance. The defining word in the term streamline refinance mortgage loan is "streamline". Although a streamline refinance does not guarantee approval, for many borrowers it is an easier process overall. Streamline is used to describe a refinance loan process which is more simple compared to other refinance application processes, which typically require thorough documentation from the borrower regarding credit, income and assets. Many qualified homeowners enjoy the benefits of a streamline refinance because is often involves less hassle because of less stringent underwriting guidelines.
What Is FHA Streamline Refinance?
The FHA Streamline refinance loan is designed to help homeowners refinance their existing FHA mortgage and secure a lower interest rate more quickly by eliminating some paperwork and documentation review. A homeowner who currently has an FHA mortgage loan who is interested in an FHA streamline refinance would not need to provide employment, income, or credit verification to their lender in order to move forward with their refinance application. With the removal of documentation review such as income verification, the FHA streamline refinance loan process involves less scrutiny, and overall is often more effective and efficient for borrowers. The FHA streamline refinance loan is available to borrowers for both 15 and 30 year terms.
How To Qualify For FHA Streamline Refinance?
The FHA streamline refinance is available to homeowners who currently have an FHA-backed mortgage loan, even if they have little equity currently established in their home. There is no minimum equity requirement to be eligible for the FHA streamline refinance loan. The FHA streamline refinance loan often does not require an appraisal, which can save a homeowner time and money during the refinance process. To qualify for an FHA refinance a homeowner must have a minimum of a three month perfect repayment history on their current mortgage. In addition to a strong payment history, a homeowner must also wait 210 days from their original closing date or have made at least six mortgage payments prior to submitting a refinance mortgage application. During the review process of an FHA streamline refinance, a lender is typically required to provide proof that the borrower will lower the cost of their mortgage significantly as a result of the refinance. This process is considered the confirmation of tangible benefit to the borrower which is a condition of FHA guidelines.
What Is VA Streamline Refinance?
The VA streamline refinance is also referred to as VA IRRRL loan or more generally a VA refinance. All of these describe the same refinance loan option backed by the VA. IRRRL stands for interest rate refinance reduction loan. The VA streamline refinance loan is a fixed-rate refinance loan program which is often an easier and more efficient loan process because the borrowers are refinancing from one VA mortgage loan to another VA loan. This loan is often also referred to as VA-to-VA Loan because a homeowner cannot transition to an VA refinance if they do not currently have a VA-back mortgage loan.
Is Streamline Refinance A Good Idea?
In 2020, mortgage interest rates hit historic lows. Mortgage interest rates recently fell to their lowest point in a decade. For many homeowners who purchased a home from 2009 to 2019, there is an incredible savings opportunity presented with a refinance. Whether you shorten your term to reduce the amount you spend in interest over time or lower your interest rate to decrease monthly payments, many homeowners are interested to learn how a refinance might benefit them at this time.
A streamline refinance could help a homeowner interested in capitalizing on a savings opportunity, who may want to alter their mortgage term but who does not want to endure a difficult, tedious process. A streamline refinance can be a hassle-free loan application process throughout loan review and underwriting. To evaluate your options and learn more about FHA streamline refinance, VA streamline refinance and other conventional streamline refinance mortgage loans, connect with an approved mortgage lender.
How To Qualify For A VA Streamline Refinance?
A VA streamline refinance is not available to homeowners who do not currently have a VA mortgage loan. The VA streamline refinance loan does not require that the borrower currently occupies the home which is currently financed with a VA mortgage product, as long as they can prove it was once their primary home. To fully qualify for a VA streamline refinance, a homeowner who currently has a VA mortgage must have successfully made 12 consecutive months of mortgage payments on time.
How Much Does Streamline Refinance Cost?
The cost of a streamline refinance can differ depending on a borrower's chosen streamline refinance mortgage, which could be an FHA streamline refinance, a VA streamline refinance or possibly a type of conventional loan streamline refinance option. For example, for a FHA streamline refinance depending on the total amount of the loan a borrower can pay anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 in closing costs. For VA streamline refinance mortgage loans, the closing costs can vary from lender to lender, however no matter the closing costs in most cases the borrower is about to finance their closing costs and pay over time. If a borrower currently has a loan with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, a conventional streamline refinance will likely have lower closing costs than other refinance mortgage loans, but the total will differ depending on a few factors. Overall closing costs for any type of streamline refinance are often lower than other refinance mortgage loans for most borrowers.
How Long Does Streamline Refinance Take?
In an ideal situation, a borrower can expect a streamline refinance to be completed anywhere from 30 days to as little as a few weeks. The typical refinance loan process can take 45 to 60 days. With the reduction of documentation, removal of the appraisal and other less stringent underwriting guidelines, many homeowners will enjoy a more efficient process as a result of their streamline refinance loan application.


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With marching season in full swing, flutists often suffer from upper body tension and head and arm fatigue as longer and more rehearsals are scheduled for upcoming festivals and competitions. The flute's position to the right side of the body, with arms raised to hold the instrument up while marching, puts an unnatural strain on the head, neck, arms, hands, back, and upper body muscles.
Follow these steps during each practice to lessen fatigue and manage the flute like a pro!
Marching band warmups often include stretching exercises to prepare, strengthen, and maintain body health. Stretch first, focusing on large muscle groups such as the upper back, shoulders, and arms, then add simple calisthenics to warm up and avoid muscle strain. Examples include reaching for the sky, touching toes, jumping jacks, or running in place.
Bring Shoulders Down, Not Up
As tension increases through physical exertion in a long practice, remember to avoid raising the shoulders by thinking down, not up.
Relax Arms Frequently
When the band breaks to reset or repeat a chart, remember to drop your arms to increase blood flow and eliminate strain on tired muscles. If the brass section or pit is rehearsing, relax the body by breathing deeply and loosening the upper body and back.
Loosen Your Wrists
Hand tension can lead to permanent injury, and tight wrists behind the hand limits motion and blood circulation to the fingers. Remember that finger motion begins in the arms, travels through the wrist, and goes across the bridge of the hand to reach the fingers. If wrists are tight, particularly in cold temperatures on the marching field, injuries often result.
Maintain Air Support
Deep breathing supports physical movement and develops endurance needed for success on the marching field, so add deep breathing exercises before, during, and after practice.


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When you've grown so used to tossing all manner of garbage into the trash bin, without giving a second thought to whether it is organic or non-organic waste, it's easy to not care where your garbage ultimately ends up. But the reality is that, in Indonesia, your garbage gets mixed together with the garbage of millions of households, creating mountains of toxic waste too large to contain in municipal landfills.
As experts in the field would vehemently argue, solid waste management is not the sole responsibility of a municipal government, but a collective one. As populations grow and consumption patterns increase, more and more solid waste is created– and landfills can only take so much waste!
So what to do? The World Bank in Indonesia is currently exploring how to improve solid waste management, and scaling up 'waste banks' is one option. Recently I went on mission with the Solid Waste team to see these waste banks at work.
What is a 'waste bank'? Waste banks – or "bank sampah" as they are called in Indonesian – can be found in neighborhoods across Indonesia – on Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Java. At waste banks, the waste created by the household is divided into two categories – organic and non-organic. Organic waste gets turned into compost, while non-organic waste is divided further into three categories: plastic, paper, plus bottles and metal.
The vast majority of eco-friendly households in Indonesia keep three bins or three large garbage bags in their homes; over time they began separating their waste into three different sections. Once their three bins and garbage bags are filled up, they bring their haul to a neighborhood waste bank where they then "make a deposit".
Like a regular commercial bank, you open up an account with your local waste bank. Periodically, you make deposits with your non-organic solid waste, which are weighed and given a monetary value, based on rates set by waste collectors. This value is saved in your account from which, like a regular bank, you can withdraw. The basic principles of waste banks remain the same across provinces: collect, save, earn, change behavior, and enjoy a clean neighborhood.
In Manado, North Sulawesi, a local high school adopted the lessons of cleanliness and prudent waste management early on. Students of senior secondary high school SMA 7 began going green in 2007, by composting with organic waste from their cafeteria. Over time, a waste bank system was introduced, and students felt encouraged to "save up" their plastic water bottles and plastic snack wrappers, knowing that after a certain length of time they'll have enough money to help supplement their school fees or other needs. Indonesia's Ministry of Environmental Affairs has since awarded them for their 'green' entrepreneurial spirit.
East Kalimantan's capital Balikpapan runs a more conventional waste bank.
"'Garbage is our friend. Garbage equals money.' That's what I keep telling local residents," says Sobirin, a former local legislator. After opening in 2012, Sobirin's waste bank in Gunung Samarinda collects over 2-3 tons of non-organic solid waste each month. "Each household manages to save about 50,000 rupiah (about $5) a month through this waste bank. Over time, this is quite helpful for helping pay for household and education needs."
Sobirin has a team of good Samaritans volunteering at the waste bank's main facility, and more volunteers are spread across 29 waste collection points. Volunteer Ibu Mimin has given her waste collection point its own twist. She runs a small shop selling basic household items like rice, coffee and detergent, and neighbors can trade in their solid waste for these basic items, in lieu of cash.
"Every week I remind other housewives in the neighborhood that they can exchange their solid waste for goods, based on the weight of the waste they deposit," says Ibu Mimin.
Elsewhere in Sukunan, a quiet village in Yogyakarta, Central Java, Iswanto, a local solid waste management expert introduced "shodaqoh" waste banking. "Shodaqoh" refers to the Islamic concept of giving back to the community. Some 230 of 300 families in the village are involved in this community-driven model, gathering 2 tons worth of non-organic solid waste a month. The proceeds gained from selling community waste to waste-collectors are then used for communal purposes, such as a playground, decided by the community itself.
Stroll through their neighborhood, and witness the absence of litter or the stench of burning garbage. Iswanto proudly says: "Locals here now know better than to burn their garbage – their own neighbors would shame them for it if they did."
Waste banks are not unique to Indonesia. We in Indonesia would love to hear how Indonesia can learn from the experience of waste banks elsewhere.