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Ed Home (text) - TRC Home - sciencelines Index
Fermilab Prairie Project organizers teach volunteers to recognize particular plants and then clip the ripe flower heads for seeds. Fermilab uses the seeds to enrich newer prairie tracts at Fermilab and to share with other prairie restoration projects. Although a mechanical harvest is also done, the public harvest is vital for grassland growth. "With mechanical harvesting, prairie keepers can't get as many of the specialized plants as when the volunteers go out," said Bob Lootens, lead groundskeeper.
"The seed is used to enrich young prairie and help build diversity into the grasslands," Lootens added.
The fall event is becoming increasingly popular, with about 180 people participating last year, including many families and school classes.
Prairies, or native American grasslands, are thriving communities rich with plant and animal life, all interrelating in a complex ecosystem. Tallgrass prairies once blanketed northern Illinois, "The Prairie State." However, during the area's settlement in the 19th century, agriculture consumed all but a tiny remnant of the native grasslands.
Fermilab, the nation's premier high-energy physics laboratory, has a longstanding dedication to restoring the prairie, working for more than 20 years to revive the historical grasslands on its Batavia site. More than 1,000 acres of tallgrass prairie are in various stages of reconstruction, thanks in part to the effort of volunteers who have participated in past seed harvests.
This year's harvest will take place on Saturday, September 28 and Saturday, November 2, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Volunteers are welcome to spend as much or as little time as they wish, and refreshments will be provided.
Persons interested in participating should wear field clothing and gloves, and are encouraged to bring pruning shears and paper grocery bags, if possible. On-site directional signs will direct volunteers to harvest sites.
In case of bad weather on the scheduled dates, please call the Fermilab switchboard at _PHONE_ to see if the harvest is canceled.
For more information, call the Fermilab Public Affairs Office at _PHONE_.
Additional opportunities for participating in harvesting activities are available through the Kane County Forest Preserve District.
These workdays are hosted by the volunteer stewards and the Forest Preserve staff. Participants learn special techniques related to restoration work and enjoy a tour of the site. New volunteers are especialy encouraged and welcome to these workdays.
September 29, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Elburn Woods, 45W061 Route 38, Maple Park. Woodland seed harvesting is fun for the whole family. Learn how the seeds will be used for District natural areas restoration projectss.
November 17, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tekakwitha Woods Barn, 35W076 Villa Maria Road, St. Charles. Harvest Fest! Join this final seed processing and mixing day. Come for a few hours, or spend the day! Food and music add to the celebration of harvesting and preparing the mixes for distribution to the various woodland restoration projects.
Weekly seed harvest outings are also coordinated by Grace Koehler, Volunteer Coordinator. District staff lead outings will be held at different preserves on Wednesdays at 10 am. and Fridays at 1 p.m. Locations vary each week. Call Grace at _PHONE_ to have your name put on a call list for locations the Tuesday prior to the outing day you want to participate. Harvesting begins September 25.


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Beever, Alison (2005) Do teachers perceive that change is possible through critical thinking? : a look at the Quebec reform. Masters thesis, Concordia University.
|PDF - Accepted Version|
The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of how teachers view the importance of critical thinking in regard to the learning process. The focus on teachers' knowledge of critical thinking is inspired by an examination of the cross-curricular competency advocating the ability to exercise critical judgment outlined in the Quebec Education Program. A cross-curricular competency is defined as learning acquired in a particular context that can be applied in other areas of activity; therefore, critical thinking is intended to be encouraged in all subjects taught. The Quebec reform defines critical judgment in terms of a student's ability to form an opinion and express and qualify his/her judgment based on authentic consideration of issues surrounding the problem to be considered. Comparing the definition of exercising critical judgment, as advocated by the Quebec reform, with the views of critical pedagogy's leading proponents, will aid in determining what constitutes an educational experience in which critical judgment can be exercised. Finally, because the role of the teacher is fundamental in fostering students' critical faculties, information gathered in one-on-one interviews with teachers at the elementary and secondary levels in public and alternative settings, reveals to some extent whether the Quebec Education Program can achieve its goal.
|Divisions:||Concordia University > Faculty of Arts and Science > Education|
|Item Type:||Thesis (Masters)|
|Pagination:||vii, 107 leaves ; 29 cm.|
|Thesis Supervisor(s):||Barakett, Joyce|
|Deposited By:||Concordia University Libraries|
|Deposited On:||18 Aug 2011 14:20|
|Last Modified:||18 Aug 2011 15:39|
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source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


Continuing education is an integral aspect of BPI's certifications. Continuing education permits BPI certified professionals to keep up with a quickly changing industry and bypass certain aspects of the recertification process. Continuing education improves a certified professional's knowledge and ability to properly diagnose a home and recommend improvements.
BPI certifications are valid for three years. Recertificaiton requires that one of the following three options have been met within that three year period.
 1. Option 1: Submit 30 CEUs; then pass a field examination for each designation.
 2. Option 2: Submit 10-29 CEUs; then pass a 50-question written examination and field examination for each designation.
 3. Option 3: Submit less than 10 CEUs; then pass a 100-question written examination and a field examination for each designation.
Do you need any continuing education (CEU) credits for recertification? If you have less than 30 CEU's we can also remotely proctor your BPI written exam. Use the links below to choose what you need.
If you have any questions please call us at _PHONE_.


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LI-COR Releases Guide to the Eddy Covariance Method for Measuring Ecosystem Gas Exchange
July 16, 2013
LI-COR Biosciences announces publication of Eddy Covariance Method for Scientific, Industrial, Agricultural, and Regulatory Applications: A Field Book on Measuring Ecosystem Gas Exchange and Areal Emission Rates.
The author is Dr. George Burba, LI-COR Principal Scientist and co-author of A Brief Practical Guide to Eddy Covariance Flux Measurements (published November 2010). This earlier guide has been integrated into college curriculums and can be found in the libraries of over 20 major research universities, including Cambridge, Max Planck Institute, McGill, MIT, Princeton, and Stanford.
Building on the theory and general principles outlined in the 2010 book, the new 2013 book is significantly expanded and restructured based on new developments. It includes additional content on flux corrections, instrumentation, EddyPro® processing software, and other concepts.
"Using non-technical language, this book guides the reader through the theory of the eddy covariance method, and then step-by-step through experiment design, implementation, data processing, and analysis," said Dr. Burba. "It also incorporates academic resources and references, and provides useful material for lectures, handouts, teaching, and field-training of personnel."
The eddy covariance method is used to directly measure gas emission rates and the exchange of gases, aerosols and energy between the earth's surface and the atmosphere. Common measurements include carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, and energy fluxes. Applications include ecological and climate change research; greenhouse gas, industrial, and landfill monitoring; carbon capture, utilization and storage; and agricultural applications such as irrigation and water usage.
Download a free electronic copy of the book at _URL_ Printed copies are also available for purchase.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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Bourke's parrots are small members of the parrot family and the only member of the Neopsephotus genus. They are named after the previous governor of the state of New South Wales, General Sir Richard Bourke. The back and wings are mainly brown in colour with blue markings on the underside of the wings and head. The breast and abdomen of the Bourke's parrot is pink. Females have less distinct pink and blue colouration than the males.
Found normally in groups of between four and six individuals, Bourke's parrots have been known to form flocks of over 100 birds in drought conditions.
These parrots usually breed between August and December when there is high food availability, but this is dependent on rainfall. Nests are typically built in tree hollows between one and three metres above the ground. Whilst the female attends the eggs, the male will collect food for her. Both parents feed the hatchlings. The chicks fledge around four weeks after hatching.
Bourke's parrots eat mainly seeds and also some grass shoots. They will fly to the ground to feed or use nearby bushes. Feeding usually occurs around dawn and dusk to avoid the hottest part of the day.
These parrots are classed as Least Concern as the population is currently rising due to habitat change creating suitable habitat for them. Historical introductions of cats, rabbits and sheep to their range have reduced the population size due to predation and over grazing of scrubland.


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The purpose of this note is to provide a more sophisticated understanding of the value of the Creative Industries and Economy by producing GVA estimates which are consistent with Nesta's 'Dynamic Mapping' employment estimates.
This paper provides an exploratory study of how rewards-based crowdfunding affects business model development for music industry artists, labels and live sector companies. The empirical methodology incorporated a qualitative, semi-structured, three-stage interview design with fifty seven senior executives from industry crowdfunding platforms and three stakeholder groups. The results and analysis cover new research ground and provide conceptual models to develop theoretical foundations for further research in this field. The findings indicate that the financial model benefits of crowdfunding for independent artists are dependent on fan base demographic variables relating to age group and genre due to sustained apprehension from younger audiences. Furthermore, major labels are now considering a more user-centric financial model as an innovation strategy, and the impact of crowdfunding on their marketing model may already be initiating its development in terms of creativity, strength and artist relations.
This article addresses crowdfunding, a relatively new form of informal financing of projects and ventures. It describes its principle characteristics and the range of players in this market. The different business models of crowdfunding intermediaries are explored and illustrated. A first attempt is made to classify the different forms of funding and business models of crowdfunding intermediaries. Based on the available empirical data the paper discusses the economic relevance of crowdfunding and its applicability to start-up financing and funding creative ventures and research projects.
A study of the application of international business strategies in the film industry: the case of Norway
Oppgaven analyserer norske produksjonsselskaper/filmer i forhold til konkurranse på det internasjonale markedet. Studien er basert på intervjuer med et utvalg produksjonsselskaper og på dokumentanalyser.
Finding ways to understand the nature of social change and social order—from political movements to market meltdowns—is one of the enduring problems of social science. This book draws together far-ranging insights from social movement theory, organizational theory, and economic and political sociology to construct a general theory of social organization and strategic action. This book proposes that social change and social order can be understood through what the book calls strategic action fields. It posits that these fields are the general building blocks of political and economic life, civil society, and the state, and the fundamental form of order in our world today. Similar to Russian dolls, they are nested and connected in a broader environment of almost countless proximate and overlapping fields. Fields are mutually dependent; change in one often triggers change in another. At the core of the theory is an account of how social actors fashion and maintain order in a given field. This sociological theory of action, what they call "social skill," helps explain what individuals do in strategic action fields to gain cooperation or engage in competition. To demonstrate the breadth of the theory, the book makes its abstract principles concrete through extended case studies of the Civil Rights Movement and the rise and fall of the market for mortgages in the U.S. since the 1960s. The book also provides a "how-to" guide to help others implement the approach and discusses methodological issues.
Using the Work Systems Risk Framework, authors analyze main risks in three equity crowdfunding platforms: Crowdfunder, AngelList and Seedrs. Their findings indicate that operational risk, project management risk, cognitive skill risk, IP risk, quality risk, legal risk and vendor relationship risk factors to be important to crowdfunding platforms. Findings from this study are relevant to platform owners and regulators in assessing the risks of crowdfunding platforms.
Access to the learnable: Music education and the development of strong learners within informal arenas
This paper analyses the substantially growing markets for crowdfunding, in which retail investors lend to borrowers without financial intermediaries. Critics suggest these markets allow sophisticated investors to take advantage of unsophisticated investors. The growth and viability of these markets critically depends on the underlying incentives. The document provides evidence of perverse incentives in crowdfunding that are not fully recognized by the market. In particular it looks at group leader bids in the presence of origination fees and finds that these bids are (wrongly) perceived as a signal of good loan quality, resulting in lower interest rates. Yet these loans actually have higher default rates. These adverse incentives are overcome only with sufficient skin in the game and when there are no origination fees. The results provide important implications for crowdfunding, its structure and regulation.
In this document it is conducted a follow-up survey of large design, technology, and video games projects that attempted to raise money using crowdfunding before mid-2012. It is found that reward-based crowdfunding appears to be able to lead to and support traditional entrepreneurship. A very high percentage (over 90%) of successful projects remained ongoing ventures 1-4 years after their campaign. It is found that 32% of all these reported yearly revenues of over $100,000 a year since the Kickstarter campaign, and added an average of 2.2 employees per successful project. The survey also suggested that crowdfunding provided many potential benefits beyond the crowdfunded money itself to successful creators; including helping provide access to customers, press, employees, and outside funders. Consistent with other research, many projects were delayed for a variety of reasons, and 37% went over budget. It is also analyzed the factors that lead to longer-term crowdfunding success.
Karin Ibenholt er ansvarlig for denne databasen. Send gjerne forslag til endringer eller bidrag til henne.


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Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
From Middle English solein, from Anglo-Norman solein ("alone"), from sole ("single, sole, alone"), from Latin sōlus ("by oneself alone"). The change in meaning from "single" to morose occurred in Middle English.
having a brooding ill temper
sullen (plural sullens)


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Water resources of Virginia - Total Maximum Daily Load [ More info] Description of a project to develop watershed models that can be used to track sources of fecal coliform bacteria by assigning Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL) to three stream segments in Virginia.
Acid Rain in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia [ More info] Explains acidity and acid rain and how it affects aquatic organisms. Describes the effect of acid rain on this national park, identifying areas that are at greater or lesser risk from acid rain.
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the Devonian Marcellus Shale of the Appalachian Basin Province [ More info] We estimated a mean undiscovered natural gas resource of 84,198 billion cubic feet and a mean undiscovered natural gas liquids resource of 3,379 million barrels using a geology-based assessment methodology.
Detecting Evidence of Climate Change in the Forests of the Eastern United States [ More info] The relation between seasonal forest change and weather is being tracked and analyzed by comparing precise field observations to regional patterns shown in long-term satellite imagery.
Alphabetical Index of Topics
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z


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is clearly maintained in these sessions, as shown in Figures 1(d)–1(f). Meanwhile, the power spectrum maps of the six sessions of one subject in the control group were shown in Figures 2(a)–2(f). The average power of alpha (8–13 Hz) did not have any apparent change.
|Data are expressed as means ± standard deviation (μv2).|
After the collection of data, we compared and analyzed the values of the laser and control groups. The comparison between these two groups in each session was done for the alpha band. Due to weak laser stimulation (almost 7 mW for each laser), the differences between these two groups are not significant meanings in all recording regions (P > 0.05), as shown in Table 2, comparison between the two groups in session 2. There were no significant differences between the two groups in other sessions; these data were omitted here for concise reason. On the other hand, there were no significant differences between these two groups in each session in delta, theta, and beta band (P > 0.05). These data were omitted here for concise reason too.
|Data are expressed as means ± standard deviation (μv2).|
The average power of each session was normalized by dividing the corresponding data in the first session. The comparisons of alpha band power at six recording sites (C4-P4, P4-O2, T4-T6, C3-P3, P3-O1, and T3-T5) between the baseline and each session in the laser and the control group are shown in Figures 3(a), 3(b), 3(c), 3(d), 3(e), and 3(f). As compared with the baseline data (session 1), the alpha band power in the laser group increased significantly in the following sessions (2 to 6) at all the recording sites. Although there are some variations in the alpha band power in the control group, no statistically significant difference was found.
The statistic analysis of the delta band power showed no significant difference between corresponding data before and after in either laser or control groups. The band power of theta activities increased significantly (P < 0.05) during some of sessions 4–6 in the laser group (Figure 4). However, the band power of beta (13–50 Hz) activities from F8-T4, T4-T6, F7-T3, and T3-T5 after laser stimulation decreased significantly in the laser group (P < 0.05) as shown in Figure 5.
Acupuncture is an important treatment modality in traditional Chinese medicine. Acupuncture is effective for pain relief, stiffness, and disability in knee osteoarthritis [18, 19], and also chronic neck pain. The modern acupuncture techniques include needle acupuncture, acupressure, electroacupuncture, and laser acupuncture. The above-mentioned techniques are all applied to stimulate the so-called acupoint. For people afraid of painful needling or unable to tolerate the tingling of classical needle puncture, laser acupuncture is an ideal alternative. Laser acupuncture, a kind of phototherapy, has similar clinical effect to classical needling. However, some important parameters in laser acupuncture, such as the wavelength, operation frequency, and dosage, are still not well delineated.
LLL stimulation can induce some biological or physiological changes. In vitro, irradiation with He-Ne laser could increase ATP level in cells, and the absorbance of living cells changed after laser irradiation. In rats, increased endorphins were observed after laser irradiation at the Hoku acupoint. In vivo, laser acupuncture at 10 Hz to the Neiguan acupoint could increase vagal activity and suppress cardiac sympathetic function. In laser therapy, physiological changes have been described including increased urinary level of degradation product of serotonin, decreased inflammatory response [8, 27], and changes in blood circulation.
The biological effects of LLL stimulation on the cell organism differed from those of high-intensity laser. Although of lower energy (e.g., 20 Joules/cm2 in the present study), LLL was still able to deliver significant energy to induce some physiological effects. The near infrared wavelength laser ranged from 700 to 1400 nm can infiltrate the skin more than 2–5 mm, and its effect can be accumulated if irradiating at the same site. Near infrared laser can induce more physical vibration or rotational motion than chemical reaction. In the present study, we used a near infrared laser at a wavelength of 830 nm.
Laser-induced functional changes in the brain have rarely been described. Siedentopf et al. reported significant changes in brain activity in the ipsilateral hemisphere by radiating the Xiaxi (GB43) acupoint with a continuous laser beam. With infrared laser stimulation at 10 Hz at the Yongquan (K1) acupoint of the left foot, the fMRI revealed active changes in the left primary motor cortex, left middle temporal gyrus, and the bilateral cuneus gyri. Using modulation wave and continuous wave laser to irradiate the Yongquan acupoint, different stimulation frequencies could lead to activation at different regions of the brain. These findings indicated that changes in brain activation caused by laser stimulation occurred in either cerebral hemisphere and seemed not only to have an endogenous effect of primary sensory conduction.
Brain activation from laser stimulation outside the specific acupoint, such as stimulation at the palm in the present study, had so far not been reported. In the present study, the main EEG changes induced by insensible LLL stimulation at the palm outside the acupoint included amplitude activation of the alpha rhythms during and after stimulation; amplitude activation of theta waves after stimulation; amplitude reduction of beta activities during and after LLL stimulation. In view of the normal distribution of various frequency bands of EEG activities, it is reasonable that the laser-induced amplitude changes in alpha rhythms and in beta activities occur in the posterior and the anterior part of the head, respectively. However, we also found unusual prolonged EEG amplitude changes 15 minutes or possibly longer after termination of laser stimulation.
In normal, awake, relaxed adults with eye closure, the dominant brain waves are alpha rhythms distributed mainly in the posterior head regions. The alpha rhythms are attenuated by visual attention, mental efforts, and also drowsiness. To obtain better presentation of alpha rhythms, it seems better to let the subjects keep their eyes closed. However, in designing the procedures for the present study, we performed and completed the whole 30-minute recording period in several volunteers with eye closure and found them difficult to keep fully awake but easy to fall into drowsiness. To prevent drowsiness, all the subjects in either the laser or the control group were therefore required to keep eye opening throughout the whole test period. As the appearance of theta waves is considered one of the important hallmarks of the onset of drowsiness and no significant activation of theta waves was found in the control group (Figure 4), we undoubtedly believe that our study design was appropriate to keep the tester fully awake.
When stimulating at the skin, high-intensity laser may cause local heat or pain. Perception of heat or pain is then able to evoke not only time-locked cerebral event-related potentials but also transient changes of the ongoing EEG activities. However, Iannetti et al. proposed that indirect readout of central nociceptive processing plays an important role in laser-evoked brain response. In the present study, we found that EEG activation following stimulation with insensible LLL, that is, the tester in the laser group during EEG recording, did not feel heat or pain at all. The specific neural structures and pathway involving in the LLL-induced EEG changes need further clarification.
In classical acupuncture, needling correctly at the acupoint is essential to obtain a satisfactory therapeutic effect. Acupuncture stimulates the somatic afferent nerves of the skin and underlying muscles at the acupoint. The sensory information is carried to the sensory cortex through the specific somatosensory pathway, as well as to other cortical areas through the nonspecific ascending neural pathways. Neurochemical alterations following laser-induced neural processes may also play an important therapeutic role. In treating pain of cervical spondylosis, Dong and Lin reported a definite or even better therapeutic effect with acupuncture outside the classical acupoint. Thus, amplitude changes of brain waves induced by LLL stimulation at the palm (not at the acupoint) do not seem impossible.
In a comprehensive review of EEG studies of meditation, Cahn and Polich summarized that an overall slowing occurred subsequent to meditation with theta and alpha activation (meditation state). There were also some long-lasting EEG changes (meditation trait) in the meditator irrespective of being actively engaged in meditation. They also concluded that some positive psychological and clinical effects could be obtained by meditation practice. As both the concurrent (state) and prolonged (trait) EEG activations were also observed in our subjects with LLL stimulation, we postulate that some psychological and clinical effects may result from long-term practice with LLL stimulation. However, further delicate and confirmatory study is necessary.
The effects of LLL stimulation at the palm on the different frequency bands of electroencephalogram (EEG) were investigated. Laser stimulation at 10 Hz can increase the power of alpha rhythms and theta activities in the occipital, parietal, and temporal regions. The effect can last at least 15 minutes after cessation of laser irradiation. An increase of alpha band and decrease of beta band following laser stimulation can be comparable to those EEG effects of practicing medication. In the future, LLL radiation can possibly be applied to clinical therapy, for example, insomnia.
The authors are especially indebted to Dr. Si-Chen Lee (President of National Taiwan


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May 20, 2013 | 08:30 AM (BD Time)
20 May, 2013 Monday
'Nijhum Dwip' for tigers planned
. UNB, Dhaka
The government has planned to introduce the Bengal tiger to the densely deer-populated forests like Nijhum Dwip to boost tiger population as well as to maintain the balance of the ecosystem in the forests.
"We're considering introducing tigers to the highly deer-populated forests like Nijhum Dwip. We've already talked to the World Bank in this regard," Environment and Forests Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud told a discussion at city's Osmani Memorial Auditorium on Sunday morning.
The Department of Forest under the Ministry of Environment and Forests will organise the discussion, marking the Global Tiger Day - a global event to raise awareness for tiger conservation.
This year's theme of the day is 'Save Sundarbans Tiger Landscape'.
Environment and Forests secretary Mesbah ul Alam, vice chancellor of Dhaka University Prof Dr AAMS Arefin Siddique and IUCN country representative Ishtiaq Uddin Ahmad, forest conservator Tapan Kumar Dey and associate professor of Jahangirnagar University Dr Monirul Hasan Khan, among others, spoke at the discussion. Chief Conservator of Forest M Yunus Ali presided.
Speaking as the chief guest, Dr Hasan Mahmud said as the Forest Department has increased its vigilance in the forests to check wildlife poaching and smuggling and the deer are breeding in large numbers in the Nijhum Dwip every year, the deer population is increasing day by day in the forest.
"As tigers are used to eating deer meat, tigers should be introduced to Nijhum Dwip to maintain the balance of ecosystem in the forest," he said.
Referring to the historical presence of the Bengal tigers in the country, the Environment and Forests Minister said once tigers were found all over the country, even near Dhaka, but there are now only 440 tigers in the Sundarbans, according to the Tiger Survey 2004.
He said the Global Tiger Initiative announced a plan to double the world's tiger population by 2022, but it is quite impossible to increase tiger population that much in Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest, due to its small size.
Terming the Sundarbans the world's most densely tiger populated forest, Hasan Mahmud said one tiger lives on average in 200 square kilometers of forests in Russia where only 15-20 kilometers in the Sundarbans.
He said as tiger foot prints are currently used to survey tigers in the Sundarbans and it is not a scientific method of tiger survey, the government will set up cameras to count tigers in the tiger habitat.
The Forests Minister said the government has taken a number of initiatives to protect tigers, wildlife, biodiversity and ecosystem in the Sundarbans. "We signed two protocols with India to protect the common Sundarbans and tigers. We have decided to provide 'risk allowance' among those who work in the Sundarbans."
He said the government introduced compensation for the victims of wild animal attacks (tiger and elephant) last year. "We've already distributed Tk 50 lakh among the victims."
Hasan Mahmud stressed the need for involving people in forest management and creating mass awareness to protect tigers as well as the country's forests. "We must conserve the ecosystem of the forests to ensure a livable planet for the future generation."
About the extinction of tiger species, he said there were about 100,000 tigers in the planet in the beginning of the last century (100 years ago) and now the number declined to about 4000. "If the trend continues, tigers will be extinction from the planet one day," Hasan said.
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New Nation Supplement
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text: This paper analyses immigrants' education-occupation mismatch as well as its impact on their wages in Spain. Using cross-sectional data from the National Immigrant Survey of Spain 2007, we estimate a probit model taking into account the possible problem of selection bias. We show that the incidence of immigrants' education-occupation mismatch in the Spanish labour market can largely be explained by the incidence of education-occupation mismatch in the last job held in the home country. The probability of having been over-educated at home shows to have a higher effect on the probability of being over-educated in the first job upon arrival where work experience gained in the home country shows to be highly valued by Spanish employers. In addition, our results show that those who were over-educated in their first job after arrival are more likely to continue in being overeducated in their current/last job in Spain. Furthermore, we analyse the performance of immigrants in Spain by estimating the wage penalty of over-education. Using log wage equation as well as predicted and counterfactual values distinguishing between immigrants being in the correctly matched occupation and those who are over-educated, we show that over-educated immigrants earn significantly lower wage compared to their correctly-matched counterparts, while over-educated immigrants' would have earned an even larger amount if the same individuals were employed in a correctly matched job instead. Significant differences are also apparent when restricting the models to the level of education.


Why shoes?
Shoes are a basic necessity for all people.
Without working shoes, people can suffer from pain and missed opportunities.
With new shoes, people can begin to live their best lives free from disease and disappointments.
People need new shoes.
sole2soulmission_nametag (1).png
S2S buys new shoes for people.
Volunteers give shoes and pray with people.
People around the world need footwear to cover the soles of their feet and Jesus to cover their souls.
Shoes are needed to guard off disease, but CLOSE TO HALF A BILLION children live in extreme poverty worldwide and face going without new shoes.
1 in 5 children in the US (15 million) live in poverty and 41% of US children are living in low-income families.
1.5 billion people are infected with diseases through contaminated soil that could've easily been prevented by proper footwear.
S2S provides new socks and shoes to children (and adults) in need and uses this opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.


Point Chautauqua's Grand Hotel
April 26, 2013
By Norman Carlson - Collections Manager (
The years when the Fenton Mansion was built and when the Fenton family lived here, the late 19th century, were known then and since as the Victorian era, stemming ultimately from the influence of Queen Victoria. The British Empire, of which she was queen, was the largest and most powerful empire that had ever existed. Although the queen had almost no actual legal or political power, her influence, mediated through respect and tradition, was enormous. It radiated down through the British aristocracy and from there to the entire English nation, the British empire, and ultimately the world, very much including the United States of America with its rapidly growing industrial, economic, intellectual, and military attainments.
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In a professional kitchen, cleanliness is not only a vital health issue, it directly impacts the efficient operation of the kitchen and everyone who works in it. Here are five tricks professional chefs use to maximize cleanliness and efficiency in their kitchens:
1. Don't touch – From the culinary student who chops the onions for the French onion soup, to the chef that cooks the food and puts it on the plate, every team member in a professional kitchen knows that touch spreads germs. Home chefs can reduce the spread of germs in their own kitchens by minimizing the need to touch key tools, like the faucet.
Touch-free faucets, like Kohler's Sensate Touchless Kitchen Faucet, allow you to control the flow of water in your kitchen sink without ever having to touch a potentially germy surface. A state-of-the-art sensor allows the faucet to respond in 20 milliseconds, and eliminates the need for bare-skin taps or awkward waving to activate the sensor. To learn more about the latest in kitchen faucet design and technology, visit _URL_.
2. Always be prepared – In professional kitchens, staff use separate cutting boards – and often utensils – for preparing meats, vegetables and fruits. Storing utensils, pots and pans according to their tasks facilitates quick and easy access when preparing food. Mis-en-place (pronounced meez-ahn-place), a French adage and popular chef's practice, involves gathering all ingredients and implements needed before cooking begins. With everything in its place, you'll be able to move smoothly and efficiently through a recipe without halting food prep to dig through the refrigerator or pantry.
3. Countertop savvy – Countertop savvy goes beyond just keeping them clean. Just as you use separate cutting boards for meats and vegetables, consider the value of task-specific countertop surfaces. Avid bakers, for example, can benefit from marble countertops because the material helps keep the dough cool. If such an installation falls outside your budget, consider a marble pastry board instead. Place it on the kitchen table to transform your eating area into an impromptu bake station. Bonus: rolling dough on a surface slightly shorter than standard 36-inch countertops provides a more comfortable, ergonomic experience.
4. Work the triangle – You may be familiar with the concept of the work triangle: arranging the refrigerator (food storage), sink (food prep area) and range (cooking space) in a triangle configuration makes the kitchen more efficient. But improving efficiency in your kitchen encompasses more than just the arrangement of these three key areas. Expand the concept to include other items that fall into each of these categories. For example, positioning the pantry beside the refrigerator ensures food is stored in the same general location – and increases the efficiency of your triangle flow. In short, the fewer steps taken to navigate the triangle, the more efficient it is.


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At the time emergencies at sea, maritime distress signals are used by ships. These distress signals help to identify and pinpoint the location of the emergency scenario, whereby faster rescue operational measures can be ushered in.
Marine distress signals can be of two types – the pyrotechnic signals and the non-pyrotechnic signals. A brief detailing about the two can be explained as follows:
Pyrotechnic Signals: These signals incorporate the usage of fireworks or materials that involve flame and smoke. Usage of flares is the most commonly used method of pyrotechnic signalling.
Non-Pyrotechnic Signalling: The very opposite of pyrotechnic signals, the non-pyrotechnic signalling methodology involves the usage of flags and radio transmissions as marine distress signalling.
The various variants of non-pyrotechnic signals can be listed down as follows:
Orange Signal Flag: The Orange distress signalling flag, as the name suggests, is an orange flag with a black-coloured square with a black-coloured circle placed below it. Generally, the orange distress signal flag is waved or hung in order to indicate an emergency. The non-pyrotechnic signal however can be used only during daylight as nightlight renders it inconspicuous.
As an alternative to the orange flag marine distress signal, colour coded flags are also used as non-pyrotechnic maritime distress signals.
Marker Dyes: Marker dyes indicating the area where the emergency has occurred are also used as non-pyrotechnic methods of distress signalling. A marker dye is put in the sea and it generally covers around 50 metres of the area where it is dropped in the water.
SOS: The SOS signal is another method of non-pyrotechnic signalling. Incorporating the usage of the Morse code, the SOS signalling consists of dots and dashes interspersed at regular intervals. The SOS code is flashed by electric lights during the night hour.
Radio Signals: Using marine radio frequency, Mayday distress messages can be sent to avail help during marine emergency situations. Alternatively, using the Digital Service Calling (DSC) facility through radio channels also acts an effective maritime distress signalling.
Mirrors: With the help of mirrors that are dropped in the water, distress signals can be sent. These mirrors not only reflect the light to pinpoint the location of the emergency but are also non-corrosive at the same time. This helps to prolong their usage for a longer period of time.
Other known maritime distress signals that do not involve the usage of pyrotechnic signalling are arm-waving, usage of SOLAS-sanctioned whistle-blowers and blowing through fog-horns to avail rescue and aid.
All non-pyrotechnic methods of signalling need to comply with the USCG standards in order to be utilised. Users therefore need to be very careful in the usage of these signalling devices so that they do not encounter any problems even after using them appropriately.
Pyrotechnic signals have been regarded as the best maritime distress signalling methods. However, unprecedented accidents on account of their usage have led to the rise of non-pyrotechnic signalling methodologies. And in spite of their deficiencies, these methods are very important marine distress signalling options available at ships' disposal.
You may also like to read-SOLAS requirement for GMDSS


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'Technology, food additives and air pollution are causing people to develop dementia earlier than ever,' reports the Mail Online website. But this is a claim with little to no evidence to support it.
The study the Mail reports on looked at death rates in 10 developed countries, including the UK and the US. The researchers specifically focused on what they termed "neurological deaths". These are deaths arising from conditions that affect the brain and nervous system, such as motor neurone disease and dementia.
This study found that the overall death rate has fallen over the past 30 years. But levels of neurological deaths have risen significantly when comparing data from 2008-10 to comparative data from 1979-81.
It is not clear why there has been such a rise in the number of deaths from neurological disorders. The researchers speculate that the fact that people are living longer, there have been major improvements in diagnostic techniques, and significant changes in lifestyle and the environment - such as the increased use of food additives, more pollution, and new technologies such as wi-fi and mobile phones - could all contribute to the rising numbers.
It is the claim about modern technology that captured the Mail's imagination the most. But the key word here is "speculate": more research is needed to see whether factors such as "technology, food additives and air pollution" could be held responsible for the rise in neurological deaths.
Where did the story come from?
The study was carried out by researchers from Bournemouth University and Southampton University. There was no funding to declare. It was published in the peer-reviewed journal, Public Health.
This story was covered poorly by the Mail Online website. Speculation about the possible causes of the increase in deaths from neurological diseases was reported as fact.
What kind of research was this?
This was an observational study that aimed to see how total deaths (mortality) and deaths specifically from neurological causes in older adults (aged 55 to 74 years) varied between the periods 1979-81 and 2008-10 in 10 major developed countries (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, the UK and the US).
This type of study can tell us how death rates and deaths from neurological causes vary over time, but it cannot tell us why these rates vary.
In order to investigate whether any of the factors suggested by the Mail Online - such as electronic devices, food additives and air pollution - play a role, ideally a randomised controlled trial, or more likely a cohort study, would have to be performed.
Even these types of studies could be difficult to carry out. Given that certain technologies such as mobile phones are now a global phenomena, it would be hard to isolate a mobile-free control group.
What did the research involve?
The researchers compared World Health Organization (WHO) data on total mortality and deaths due to neurological causes in people aged between 55 and 74 years old for the period 1979-81 with data from 2008-10 (or for the latest years available) in 10 major developed countries.
Neurological deaths were analysed as a whole, or divided into "nervous disease deaths" and "Alzheimer's and other dementia deaths". Nervous disease deaths included deaths from various conditions where there was inflammation or degeneration of the nervous system, including multiple sclerosis, motor neurone disease and Parkinson's disease.
What were the basic results?
The researchers found that total mortality for people aged between 55 and 74 years old fell substantially in every country over the 30-year period. On average, there was a fall of 45% from 25,620 deaths per million men in 1979-81, to 14,158 deaths per million men in 2008-10. For women, there was a decrease of 54% from 13,591 deaths per million in 1971-81 compared with 6,195 deaths per million in 2008-10.
In contrast, in people aged between 55 and 74 years old deaths from neurological causes rose by at least 10% in men in seven countries, and in women in eight countries. Total neurological deaths for both women and men rose significantly in Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and the US.
Total neurological deaths increased significantly only in women in the Netherlands. On average, there were 275 deaths per million due to neurological causes in men in 1979-81. This rose to 332 deaths per million in 2008-10, an increase of 21%. In women, there were 101 deaths per million due to neurological causes on average in 1971-81, rising to 260 deaths per million in 2008-10, an increase of 29%.
When deaths from nervous diseases and Alzheimer's and other dementias were considered separately:
- In men, deaths from nervous diseases rose from 144 deaths per million in 1979-81 to 203 deaths per million in 2008-10 on average across the 10 countries surveyed.
- Seven countries had at least 10% increases in death rates from nervous diseases in men. Rates fell by at least 10% in the other three countries.
- In women, deaths from nervous diseases rose from 104 deaths per million to 137 deaths per million on average. Six countries had at least 10% increases in the rate of death from nervous diseases in women. Rates fell by at least 10% in two other countries.
- In men, deaths from Alzheimer's and other dementias rose slightly from 128 deaths per million in 1979-81 to 130 deaths per million in 2008-10 on average. Death rates from Alzheimer's and other dementias rose by at least 10% in men in five countries, and fell by at least 10% in three countries.
- In women, deaths from Alzheimer's and other dementias rose from 86 deaths per million to 123 deaths per million on average.
- Death rates from Alzheimer's and other dementias rose by at least 10% in women in seven countries, and fell by at least 10% in two countries.
How did the researchers interpret the results?
The researchers conclude that in contrast to major reductions in general mortality, mortality due to neurological deaths has increased in the majority of the countries analysed. They state that, "These results pose a major public health problem".
The researchers go on to discuss potential explanations for the increase in neurological deaths seen, including:
- the fact that people are living longer, making it more likely that they will develop and possibly die from some of the diseases considered to be diseases of older people
- improved diagnostic techniques, allowing more diagnoses of neurological diseases to be made
- lifestyle or environmental factors, which may increase the risk of developing some of these diseases
This research has found that the death rate in people aged between 55 and 74 years old has fallen over the past 30 years in 10 developed countries (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, the UK and the USA). However, during this period deaths from neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's and other dementias (such as vascular dementia), Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis have increased on average.
The reasons for this increase in neurological deaths can only be speculated about. The researchers suggest that the fact that people are living longer, improvements in diagnostic techniques, and changes in lifestyle and the environment could contribute to the increase.
However, although this type of study can tell us how death rates and deaths from neurological causes are varying over time, it cannot tell us why these rates might be varying. More research is required to see whether factors such as "technology, food additives and air pollution" really are responsible for the increase in death rates due to neurological disorders.
Links to Headlines
Links to Science
Pritchard C, Mayers A, Baldwin D. Changing patterns of neurological mortality in the 10 major developed countries - _PHONE_. Public Health. Published online April 19 2013


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A recent study shows that painting your car a cool color could save you money at the gas pump — or the charging station — by keeping your car's temperature lower while in the sun. Now we're not talking about cool as in hip (as in the mind-blowing color of the electric Mercedes SLS AMG E-Cell), but rather a color cool in temperature like shades of blue and violet. The Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division compared the efficiency of the air conditioners in two almost identical Honda Civics sitting in the California sun and found that the silver car required a 13% smaller output to cool than the black car.
The researchers who conducted the study parked the two vehicles near each other in a parking lot during the middle of the day in Sacramento, California — where temperatures can reach well over 100°F — and put the cars through five cooling cycles where the air conditioner was shut off for 30 minutes and subsequently the car was cooled to 77°F within 30 minutes. The researchers then measured the roof, ceiling, dashboard, windshield, seat, door, vent air and cabin air temperatures of the vehicles after and during each cycle. On the solar reflective scale (a 0-1 scale that measures the solar reflection of a color, with higher numbers being more reflective) the black car scored a 0.05 and silver car a 0.58.
During the hottest moments of testing the silver car's roof was measured at as much as 45°F cooler than the roof on the black car. When translated through modeling to corresponding gas mileage savings, it was found that on average a car with a solar reflectiveness of 0.35 will save 1.1% in gas (0.24 mpg) because of its less heat-absorptive paint job. This level of solar reflectiveness would also reduce emissions by 1.1%.
Meanwhile, a silver or white car with a solar absorption level of 0.60 would save 2% in gas and 1.9% in emissions. These numbers also transfer to the charging station – getting a cool colored electric car will help your battery last longer by saving energy in temperature control. Look out, red – there's a new cool color in town and it could save a significant amount of energy.


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Date of Graduation
Bachelor of Science
Computer Science and Computer Engineering
Thompson, Craig W.
In recent years, deep neural networks have become the state-of-the art in many machine learning domains. Despite many advances, these networks are still extremely prone to overfit. In neural networks, a main cause of overfit is coadaptation of neurons which allows noise in the data to be interpreted as meaningful features. Dropout is a technique to mitigate coadaptation of neurons, and thus stymie overfit. In this paper, we present data that suggests dropout is not always universally applicable. In particular, we show that dropout is useful when the ratio of network complexity to training data is very high, otherwise traditional weight decay is more effective.
Slatton, Thomas Grant, "A comparison of dropout and weight decay for regularizing deep neural networks" (2014). Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses. 29.


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Peter Mazzacano, Osgoode Hall School, York University, has published Puritanism, Godliness, and Political Development in Boston and the General Court (_PHONE_) at 12 The Journal Jurisprudence 599 (2011). Here is the abstract.
Download the article from SSRN at the link.
The goal of this article is to examine the degree to which Puritanism influenced early American political culture. That is, how did Puritan values and practices facilitate the development of an exceptional political culture during the formative years of Massachusetts Bay? Utilizing a case-study method of analysis, this article examines the political developments in the General Court and the town of Boston during the decade 1630 to 1640. The research methods used are primarily the writings of leading Puritans, and concomitant town, church, and colonial records. The main finding is that the Puritans paid little heed to notions of democracy, theocracy, oligarchy, or British political traditions; instead, Puritan institutions and practices were based on the primary Puritan ideal of godliness. However, the formative influence of the godly ideal inadvertently reinforced democratic and republican ideals. The conclusion is that the focus on godliness provides a comprehensive and multiple explanations for the course of political developments in early Massachusetts Bay.


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Originally Published: 2005/2/16
I've mentioned this before, but I'd like to repeat myself here to hopefully help the debunking of the age-old Japanese sentence order myth.
Many of you have probably heard this before but to review, here's how the myth goes.
An English sentence must consist of at least a subject, verb, and object in that order. However, in Japanese, the order must be subject, object, then verb.
English sentence order = [Subject] [Verb] [Object]
Japanese sentence order = [Subject] [Object] [Verb]
I can debunk this myth is 2 seconds. Let's see, is this sentence correct?
-Apple I ate.
Why, yes it is. And look, the object appears to come before the subject. Boy, that was easy.
There are several misleading things about this myth besides the fact that it's just plain incorrect. First of all, as I've partially explained in a previous post, Japanese doesn't require or even have anything equivalent to the English subject. In addition, you only need a verb to make a complete thought in Japanese.
What gets tricky is that the state-of-being verb (the English verb "to be") can be implicitly implied by a noun or adjective. That's because Japanese doesn't have an actual verb for the state-of-being.
-That [is] unfortunate.
Why Japanese doesn't have strict sentence order
In Japanese, we have things called particles that come after almost every word in the sentence to identify exactly what role that word is playing. That means that no matter where the word is in the sentence, we'll know whether it's an object, topic, identifier, target, context, etc.. The only reason sentence order is so strict in English is because without clear rules of ordering, we won't have any idea which word is supposed to play which role.
In English, sentence order changes the meaning of the sentence.
１） Dog saw Tree.
２）Tree saw Dog.
In Japanese, because of particles, no matter how you move things around, the dog is still the topic and the tree is still the object.
１） Dog[topic particle] tree[object particle] saw. = Dog saw tree.
２） Tree[object particle] dog[topic particle] saw. = Dog saw tree.
In order to really understand Japanese sentence structure, you need to break things down into clauses. A clause is the smallest part of a sentence that expresses a complete thought. As mentioned previously, in order to express a complete thought, you must have a verb or a noun/adjective that is a state-of-being. Now, the only thing you have to remember is that everything that applies to that verb must come before it. And that each clause can have only one such verb.
The verb (or state-of-being) must come at the very end of the clause
１）犬が木を見た。 – The dog saw tree.
２）木を犬が見た。 – The dog saw tree.
１）私は学生です。 – I am student.
２）学生は私です。 – The student is me.
Surprisingly, that's really the only thing you have to worry about in terms of Japanese sentence ordering. It's one of the great benefits of particles actually because sentence order no longer defines a word's function.
All of the following sentences are correct.
It is also important to realize that the farther away you get from the main verb, the more extraneous the information becomes. In sentence １, the sentence is mostly centered on the fact that the studying is done at the library while in sentence ３, the focus is on the fact that he always studies.
In order to make more complicated sentences, you can take separate clauses and combine them with either with conjunctions or by direct noun modifications. But as long as the sentence structure in each separate clause is correct, there should be no problems with sentence ordering no matter how complicated and long the sentence is.
I'm sure linguistic experts will claim I'm totally wrong and SOV is a classification, word order preference, or whatever you want to call it and doesn't technically require an "S" or "O". My original point in the article (though admittedly I was younger and more dramatic) is that this classification doesn't help SLA and in fact creates a lot of confusion and common mistakes for beginners learning Japanese as a second language.
It's a BIG stretch to say there's some equivalence to English as an SVO language. In English, saying "Ball boy hits" is grammatically incorrect. On the other hand, in Japanese, not only are both "Ball boy hits" and "Boy ball hits" grammatically correct, they have the same meaning if the particles remain unchanged regardless of order. There's a fundamental difference in the two languages that is not accurately portrayed by this misleading classification.
Furthermore, I believe the whole viewpoint of SOV vs SVO linguistically is very western-centric and not a good way to describe Japanese. If you want to prove me wrong with a mathematical proof in the style of formal language theory, that's one thing but this is far more subjective and to say one is "wrong" because it doesn't adhere to an established curriculum is short-sighted. I highly doubt linguistics created in a vacuum purely for Japanese would have taken the same approach here.


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Intense Sculpting Challenge - Flex-Band
Build challenge and diversity with this intense Flex-Band® exerciser workshop, developed by the Merrithew™ team. Learn how to challenge core and peripheral strength with the resistance provided by the Flex-Band and increase exercise intensity in the areas of neuromuscular coordination, balance, strength and flexibility. This workout offers exercise variations and options to motivate any group or private client.
- Apply the Five Basic Principles of STOTT PILATES® to an Intermediate / Advanced-level workout with the Flex-Band exerciser.
- Understand how movement essence and exercise goals remain constant even against resistance.
- Focus on maintaining core stability while building upper and lower body strength and mobility.
- Learn cues and corrections for safety and effectiveness.
- Workshop Length: 2 hours
- STOTT PILATES: 0.2
- REPS: 2.0
Equipment used in the workshop :
- Pilates Mat
- Flex-Band exerciser


Alive2 Part 2: Tracking miscompilations in LLVM using its own unit tests
 - 时间: 2020-06-04 05:49:56
[This piece is co-authored by Nuno P. Lopes and John Regehr.]
Alive2 is a formal verification framework for LLVM optimizations. It includes multiple tools, including a plugin for 'opt' to verify whether the optimizations just run are correct or not. We gave an introduction to Alive2 in a previous post.
A few years ago we used an old version of Alive to verify small, automatically generated test cases. These test cases had functions with three instructions which were then piped through different optimizations and their outputs verified with Alive for correctness. This approach found several bugs in the then-current version of LLVM.
But we want more — we want to identify and hopefully help fix all miscompilations that can be triggered in practice. To this end, we created Alive2, which can reason about a wide variety of intraprocedural optimizations including those that work with control flow, memory, vectors, and floating point types. We then started running Alive2 regularly on LLVM's own unit tests. This has already resulted in 39 bug reports.
Working on the unit tests makes a lot of sense:
 - The behaviors being tested are clearly important, or at least interesting, or else the LLVM developers wouldn't have made them part of the unit test suite in the first place.
 - The tests are usually small and only involve one or a few optimizations, making it much easier to fix problems than it is when we observe miscompilations in the field.
In this post we describe the process of running Alive2 on LLVM's unit tests, and give an overview of the remaining problems we've found in LLVM that still need to be fixed.
Running Alive2 on LLVM's unit tests
LLVM's unit tests are run by a tool called lit, which makes it easy to interpose on calls to opt, the standalone optimizer for LLVM IR. We simply run a subset of the unit tests like this:
$ ~/llvm/build/bin/llvm-lit -vv -Dopt=$HOME/alive2/scripts/ ~/llvm/llvm/test/Transforms
Our script, then, loads the Alive2 opt plugin and fails the test case if Alive2 can prove that it was optimized improperly. This script has a list of passes that are not supported by Alive2, so it can avoid false positives (tests that look wrong to Alive2, but are actually correct). We take this issue very seriously, to avoid wasting people's time. Passes that aren't currently supported are those that do interprocedural optimizations.
In addition to unsupported passes, Alive2 doesn't support all of LLVM's IR, including some function attributes and many intrinsics and library functions. If a test case uses an unsupported feature, Alive2 still tries to analyze it to find miscompilations involving only supported IR features, while conservatively approximating the remaining parts.
Running the above lit command takes around 15 hours of CPU time, or less than 2 hours on an 8-core machine.
Tracking bugs over time
We built a simple dashboard to track the evolution of bugs found by Alive2 in LLVM's unit tests over time.
The plot shows two lines: number of failures per day, and number of failures if 'undef' values were to disappear from LLVM. At the time of writing, Alive2 reported a total of 95 bugs in the unit tests, with 25 of those being ok if undef was removed. Since 'undef' values still exist, these optimizations are incorrect. We plot both lines as an incentive to get rid of 'undef' values: over a quarter of the reports would disappear.
The page has further information for the last five runs, including the reports that were fixed and which are new in each run. Clicking on a run gives the list of all failed tests, as well as a short manually written description of the failure cause.
We use a timeout in Alive2 for the work done by the theorem prover underneath. Unfortunately, some reports are only triggered very close to the timeout and therefore sometimes there is churn, with a test failing only in some runs.
Current issues in LLVM
Many of the bugs we've found and reported have been fixed already. Most of these were some Instcombine pattern that was incorrect for some inputs. Other issues are trickier to solve, for example some bugs are hard to fix without performance regressions, as they may need further changes in other optimizations or even in SelectionDAG to recognize a different IR canonicalization. In some cases, there is not yet an agreement on the right semantics for the IR: these can't be fixed straight away without considering pros and cons of different semantics and getting the community to reach a consensus about them. We now give a few examples of open issues in LLVM.
Introduction of branch on poison/undef
Branching on a poison or undef value is immediate UB, like dividing by zero. Optimizations that hoist branches and/or combine multiple branches can introduce branches on values that were not observed in the original program. This issue is prevalent across multiple optimizations like SimplifyCFG, loop unswitch, simple loop unswitch, and induction variable simplification. A simple example:
if (x) { if (y) { S1 }} =>if (x & y) { S1}
The original program would not branch on y if x was false. The optimized code, however, always branches on x and y. Therefore, when x=false and y=poison, the source program is well defined, but the optimized program is UB. This is a failure of refinement and the transformation is wrong.
One possible solution is to stop performing these transformations, but in general this is not considered acceptable because it loses performance. A different solution is to add freeze instructions that we introduced in a paper, and that have been supported in LLVM since version 10.0. Freezing a regular value has no effect, and freezing undef or poison results in an arbitrary value being chosen.
A correct version of the wrong optimization above is:
if (x & freeze(y)) { S1}
We know where freeze instructions need to be introduced — this is not too difficult. However, adding too many freezes can (and has) led to performance regressions. These are usually not because freeze is inherently expensive, but rather because freezes can inhibit optimizations, particularly those involving loops. Fixing the regressions is a matter of putting in the engineering effort to do things like hoisting freeze out of loops, eliminating unnecessary freezes, and teaching optimizations not to be blocked by freezes. Work is underway, but several parts of the compiler need to be touched and it will take some time.
Introduction of undef uses
Generally speaking, it is not legal to add a new use of an undef value in LLVM. This is a problem in practice because it is easy for compiler developers to forget that almost any value is potentially undef. For example, shl %x, 1 and add %x, %x are not equivalent if %x might be undef. The former always returns an even number, while the latter could also yield an odd number if %x is undef. In other words, different uses of an undef value can resolve to different concrete values. Alive2 reports 25 test cases that are incorrect if we consider some of the variables to be undef, but are correct otherwise.
Some cases are easy to fix. For the example above, we can simply choose to canonicalize the IR to the shift instruction. We could also freeze %x, since all uses of the frozen value will resolve to the same concrete value.
This canonicalization has no obvious alternative solution other than using freeze or removing undef entirely from LLVM:
sext(x < 0? 0 : x) =>zext(x < 0? 0 : x)
If x is undef, the expression x<0? 0 : x may yield a negative number. Therefore, replacing the sign-extension with a zero-extension is not correct. Freezing x or eliminating undef values would both work.
Pointer comparison semantics
LLVM pointers track object provenance. That is, a pointer derived from a malloc() call can only point within the buffer allocated by that call, even if the underlying machine value of the pointer happens to point to another buffer. For example:
int *p = malloc(4);int *q = malloc(4);p[x] = 2; // this implies x = 0; cannot write to q, for example
The reason for this semantics is that it enables cheap, local alias analysis. If provenance tracking didn't exist, alias analysis would often need to do whole program analysis where today it can get away with easy, local reasoning. This is nice; we all love fast compilation times and good object code!
The goal of provenance tracking is to prevent the program from learning the layout of objects in memory. If the program could learn that q is placed right after p in memory for the example above, the program could potentially change their contents without the compiler realizing it. A way the memory layout can leak is through pointer comparison. For example, what should p


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HARDBURLY, Ky. – The history of Hardburly can be traced back to the first half of the 20th century, when coal flowed from the hollow by the train car and the old coal camps bustled with activity.
Though the camps have long since faded, and Hardburly is now a strictly residential community, the history of coal mining there is as rich as any around. And just like other communities, Hardburly has its own unique place names and landmarks. There is Mexico Hollow and Groundhog Hollow. There is Muddy Hollow and the Masonic Lodge, along with the Hardburly park.
According to coaleducation.org, there were actually two coal companies operating in Hardburly during the early 1930s and into the 1950s when miners and their families lived in nearby camps. The Hardy-Burlingham Mining Company, from which Hardburly got its name, was in operation from 1931 to 1948 and employed nearly 500 people, while the Old King Mining Company ran from 1933 to 1958 and employed 250 people.
At 91 years old, Edna Feltner still remembers the old Hardy-Burlingham camp, where her family moved when she was a child after her father hired on in the mines. Moving from Lotts Creek, they first moved into her grandmother's house before acquiring their own, which Feltner noted were all white with black trim at that time.
"They were good houses, and they painted them every year and took good care of them," she said. "People lived pretty good back then."
Feltner married and moved to her own house when she was 17, but she noted that Hardburly was a busy community then. Coal miners earned their living in the mines, and "just about $9 a month" would pay for nearly everything they needed through the company store, she added.
"There was quite a few people living in Hardburly at the time," Feltner said, noting that Hardburly's residents could get whatever they needed without having to leave the community. "They had pool rooms, doctor's office, theater, everything."
In her book, Hardburly: My Home, Gladys Potter Slone uses anecdotes she collected to describe early Hardburly as a "booming mining camp," with wooden sidewalks, several businesses and even their own sheriff. She noted that while some people did drive, many in Hardburly actually traveled by rail at the time.
"The Camp was split up in sections, but I don't know how the hollows and hills got their names that they had," Slone wrote. "The main section of the camp was called Main Street. This was where all the business was taken care of; this was the upper part of Main Street. The lower part was the commissary store, movie theater, Union Hall, poolroom with snack bar, churches, schools, doctor's office and barbershop."
By the 1950s, camp life in Hardburly began to fade away, and some of the coal miners moved to look elsewhere for work, while others sought a new life in Hardburly.
"It changed fast," Feltner said. "They started selling the houses out and everything. People bought the houses and moved in."
Barbara Crase was born and raised in Hardburly during that time, and while the camps were disbanding, she said the mines remained active. The community change considerably in the decades that followed, until in more recent years coal was no longer a resource being extracted from the hills surrounding Hardburly.
But one thing that remained the same as Crase grew up was the sense of community between those living in Hardburly's neighborhoods, something that may not be as evident today.
"It's not like it used to be," Crase said. "If you had a neighbor that was sick, if they needed help in their gardens, everybody would get together and make sure that their gardens and everything was taken care of. If you had a sickness in your family, the neighbors were always there to sit with them.
"I think that's the way we were raised then," she added.
Feltner agreed, describing Hardburly as a tight-knit community where everyone was willing to help.
"We had good neighbors everywhere," she said. "I remember my mother had cancer and they'd come sit up with her of the night, until she passed away. They helped us all they could."
But like every community in Perry County, Hardburly has undergone many changes. Some of Hardburly's history can still be seen today in the form of several camp houses that survived the years and remain inhabited. The Hardburly Baptist Church, which both Crase and Feltner attend, has been serving the community for many decades. Crase noted that her uncle, who was in his 90s when he passed away several years ago, could remember as a boy wheeling rocks to the building site as the church was being constructed.
And then there are the remnants of Hardburly's past that are evident today, like the occasional lengths of railroad track that still peek out from the ground running parallel with the road. There are old, abandoned buildings that once housed businesses or offices that stand as reminders of a past community that now only exists in photographs and the memories of people like Edna Feltner.
When all is said and done, however, Hardburly will have played an important role in the history of Perry County, and continue to remain home for many Perry County families. And for residents like Edna Feltner, Hardburly will be forever their home, and one which they continue to remember fondly.
"It was just a good place to live," she said.


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- View All
- About this Collection
- Background and Scope
- Selected Bibliography
- Biographical Information
- Cataloging the Collection
- Digitizing the Collection
- Color Photography Method
- Rights And Restrictions
All images are digitized | All jpegs/tiffs display outside Library of Congress | View All
Cataloging the Prints and Photographs Division Collections
Most of the Prints and Photographs Division's cataloging is considered "minimal level," because information is often limited to what is provided with the picture rather than what could be learned by fully researching the image. The following comments explain the general cataloging guidelines followed by the Prints and Photographs Division, as well as some specific guidelines related to cataloging the Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii Collection. The comments also point out which catalog record information is most useful for citing pictorial materials in research notes or publications. Since the original information accompanying a picture can be inaccurate, the Division is always glad to hear from researchers who have additional or better information.
The records for a single collection, such as the Prokudin-Gorksii Collection, might not use each of the fields or have all of the indexing features described here. For general information about cataloging pictorial materials, see the Visual Materials: Processing & Cataloging Bibliography.
Cataloging the Prokudin-Gorskii photographs: Most of the information provided in the catalog records came from hand-written Cyrillic captions in the albums. Dates, when not provided or inferred through textual information, were given as a range reflecting the time period of Prokudin-Gorskii's work with color separation glass negatives: [between 1905 and 1915].
The card number is a unique identification number for each catalog record. It can be noted to cite a specific record and then used for a quick number search when you want to display a specific record later without repeating a long keyword or subject search. However, only some online catalogs provide an index by this number.
This string of letters and numbers is used to locate the original material at the Library of Congress. Although P&P has a unique system of call numbers rather than the Library of Congress classification system, the call number is still a useful reference citation. The patterns of letters and numbers vary from one kind of material, or filing series, to another. The call numbers for the Prokudin-Gorskii photographs are represented as:
¥ LC-P87-7280 (a glass negative)
¥ LOT 10332, no. 1 (a print in an album)
When the name of an artist, photographer, architect, printmaker, or other image creator is known, only one form of the name is used, so that it is possible to retrieve all works by one creator under a single spelling or form of the name. If the form of the name has been established in the Library of Congress Name Authority File, that is the form used. Birth death dates are included only when such information is readily available and the form of the name has not already been established in the LCNAF. If the Library of Congress form of the name was established while the creator was still alive, a death date is not usually added when the creator dies. It is expensive to update such information, and the name is already uniquely identified in the catalog. The absence of a creator's name indicates that the creator is anonymous, unidentified, or unknown.
After the name, a term is given identifying the relationship(s) between the name and the being cataloged. For example, architect, artist, copyright claimant, photographer, or publisher.
Prokudin-Gorskii's death date has been published erroneously as 1943 in several books and articles. Recent information from his descendants confirmed that he died in 1944.
A title is transcribed from information on or with the original picture, or from a photographer's logbook or negative jacket. If the picture carries no caption, a title is devised from another source and displayed in brackets. Devised titles are written by Library staff, or they might come from a published book illustration or a former owner. The source of devised titles is usually given in a note.
The abbreviations "[sic]" and "[i.e.]" indicate erroneous spellings or information in transcribed titles. The correct information is provided as needed in the title or a note. The designation "[...]" indicates that one or more words on the original item cannot be deciphered.
For the Prokudin-Gorskii Collection, most titles are transliterated (romanized) transcriptions of hand-written Cyrillic captions in the albums. An English translation of the title is also provided. Some of the diacritics in the Russian titles may not display in the Web. Diacritics were dropped in the translated English titles to simplify legibility and keyword searching in the Web environment.
The transliteration scheme is the same one used by the Library of Congress in all of its cataloging, so that the Prokudin-Gorskii photograph descriptions can be searched together with all the Library's books, sound recordings, maps, and other holdings created in Russian. For example, the characters "ii" and "ia" are more likely to be used instead of the single letter "y." Searching under a variety of spellings may be helpful for finding a particular name.
Example: Prokudin-Gorskii, instead of
Names of places, buildings, and institutions have been added in brackets to clarify individual titles that were comprehensible within the context of an album page layout but are cryptic outside of the album setting.
The English translations stay as close as possible to the language and spellings that Prokudin-Gorskii provided in order to represent his view of the world and his time period, ca. _PHONE_. The subject headings, however, use the current form of place names and groups of people.
For example, Prokudin-Gorskii described the "Mariinskii Canal System." The subject headings use the current place name "Volga-Baltic Waterway." The title has "Samarkand;" the heading has "Samarqand."


text: The electronic properties of quasicrystals containing transition-metals are studied employing a simple double-chain model within the tight-binding approximation. We show that, under determined conditions, spectral fine structures are the result of competing localizedand extended-like states, which are not observed in traditional one-dimensional aperiodic models. These spectral features can explain the experimentally observed transport properties. From this point of view this double-chain model mimics the behavior of electrons in realistic icosahedral quasicrystals. Moreover, in view of the electronic transport, the relationship between quasicrystals and related amorphous phases is explained in a natural way. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


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If you've recently returned from holiday and suffered a flight delay of 3 hours or more, then you may be entitled to claim compensation from the airline under EU regulations. However, there are restrictions and exclusions.
What the law says about flight delay compensation
The right to compensation for delayed or cancelled flights was established to protect the rights of passengers and falls under European regulation EU 261/2004. The initial regulation applied to passengers who were either denied boarding or had their flights cancelled. In October 2012, however, a clarification to EU 261 allowed for passengers to also claim compensation for delays of three hours or longer.
Who can claim compensation, and who can't?
You will have a valid flight delay compensation claim if you can answer affirmatively to each of the following:
- Did your flight depart within the last 6 years?
- Did your flight take off or land in the EU, or was the flight with an EU airline?
- Were you delayed for more than 3 hours?
- Was the delay the airline's fault and not due to 'extraordinary circumstances'
[The term 'extraordinary circumstances' is a grey legal area; and some airlines have tried to take advantage of the ambiguity of the terminology. However, the law is clear.]
What events are classed as 'extraordinary circumstances?
- Acts of terrorism or sabotage
- Industrial action (strikes unrelated to airline such as baggage handlers, or air traffic control)
- Political or civil unrest
- Security risks
- Extreme weather conditions
- Hidden manufacturing defects
It should be noted that technical defects do not come under 'extraordinary circumstances' despite what many airlines have tried to claim. Guidelines published on the European Commission website may back up the airlines' claims but these are not legally binding.
What are not extraordinary circumstances?
- Airline staff late for duty or flights understaffed.
- Bad weather that affected a previous flight meaning the next aircraft was delayed.
- Denied boarding due to the flight being overbooked.
- Technical problems with the aircraft (except hidden manufacturing defects or problems caused by sabotage).
- Any other situation outside of the 'extraordinary circumstances' listed above.
How much compensation can you claim?
The amount of compensation you can claim is set out in the Regulation and the figures relate to the distance of travel and the length of the delay, rather than the cost of the ticket. This ensures that passengers are compensated for inconvenience and not reimbursed for costs paid.
Flight Delay Compensation Amounts
Flight Distance – Length of Delay – Compensation Amount
Up to 1,500km – 3 hours or more – £180
1,500 km – 3,500 km – 3 hours or more – £280
Over 3,500km – Between 2 EU member states/ 3 hours or more – £280
Over 3,500 km – 3 to 4 hours – £210
Over 3,500 km – More than 4 hours – £420
Further obligations from the airlines for passengers delayed for less than 3 hours
If passengers have been delayed by more than 2 hours then an airline has certain obligations under EU 261 while you're at the airport. They must give each passenger the following:
- Free meals and refreshments
- Two phone calls or emails
- Free hotel accommodation and transport to the hotel if the delay is overnight
If the airline refuses any of the above then you should purchase what you need and keep all your receipts as you will be able to claim it back later. All expenses should be reasonable so you are unlikely to be reimbursed for alcoholic beverages for example.
How far back can you claim compensation?
You can claim for any flight up to 6 years ago. Some airlines will say it's only 2 years but this is not correct.
If your holiday flights have been delayed and you would like further information on whether or not you may qualify for compensation, then contact Harold Stock & Co solicitors on 01457 835597 or email _EMAIL_


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Results Around the Web for Lydian
Back to the Lydian name page
The modern Lydian musical scale is a rising pattern of pitches comprising three whole tones, a semitone, two more whole tones, and a final semitone.
The Lydians were an Anatolian people living in Lydia, a region in western Anatolia, who spoke the distinctive Lydian language, an Indo-European language of the Anatolian group.
Lydian was an Indo-European language spoken in the region of Lydia in western Anatolia (present-day Turkey).
Lydian script was used to write the Lydian language. That the language preceded the script is indicated by names in Lydian, which must have existed before they were written.


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Search: peace sign history
Why: Today I saw some douche with a decal of a peace sign upside-down on his back windshield.
Answer: It was originally the anti-nuclear emblem, invented by request of Lord Bertrand Russell, head of the British Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CDN). In 1958, it was designed by Gerald Holtom, a member of the CDN, for a demonstration against a nuclear research center at Aldermaston.
The design comes from the naval flag semaphores for N and D:
Source: Design Boom
The More You Know: In another version of the origin, Holtom wrote:
I was in despair. Deep despair. I drew myself: the representative of an individual in despair, with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards in the manner of Goya's peasant before the firing squad. I formalised the drawing into a line and put a circle round it.
Holtom came to regret the symbolism of despair, as he felt that peace was something to be celebrated. He wanted the symbol to be inverted.


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Volume 15 (2017) Issue 8 Pages 397-406
This study presents a new bond model based on the deterioration mechanisms observed during uniaxial tensile tests of reinforced concrete prismatic specimens subjected to freeze-thaw cycles. The test results demonstrated that the bond stress reduced, even though the specimens were exposed only to temperature fluctuation without the damage in concrete cover. The proposed model considers the bond deterioration mechanism caused by the temperature fluctuation in addition to the damage in concrete cover. Finally, the proposed model shows good agreement with the test results regardless of the dominant deterioration mechanism.


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Williams v. California
A lawsuit that established safety and materials requirements for California schools.
On August 13, 2004, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the
settlement of Williams v. California, a lawsuit filed on behalf of
thousands of California's public school students who were denied equal
educational opportunity. Williams Legislation established new standards
and accountability mechanisms to ensure that all California public
school students have textbooks and instructional materials and that
their schools are clean, safe, and functional. It also took steps
toward assuring all students have qualified teachers. A team of
researchers, affiliated with UCLA's IDEA, investigated the statewide
impact of Williams Legislation on California's lowest performing
schools. Using a mixed methodological approach, the study documents the
progress made during the first two years of Williams implementation:
2004-05 and 2005-06. Data for this investigation were provided through
surveys, County Office of Education Annual Reports, School
Accountability Report Cards, and interviews. Teacher misassignment and
English learner monitoring data were made available through the
California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. The qualitative
case-study design involved site visits to twelve decile 1-3 schools
throughout the state (Southern, Central, and Northern California)
during the fall of 2006.
Williams v. California: The Statewide Impact of Two Years of Implementation—the report drawn from this study—provides a comprehensive discussion of these quantitative and qualitative analyses. The report investigates the impact of the Williams Settlement Legislation on decile 1-3 schools by seeking answers to the following questions:
- Since the enactment of the Williams Legislation, has access to textbooks and instructional materials increased for public school students in California?
- Since the enactment of the Williams Legislation, has access to clean, safe, and functional schools increased for public school students in California?
- Since the enactment of the Williams Legislation, has access to appropriately certificated and assigned teachers increased for public school students in California?
The report can be accessed at _URL_


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open to what the data are showing you. Question the results. Investigate further until you are satisfied that you have got an accurate interpretation of the figures. Remember, the data may not necessarily be telling the story you want or expect them to.
Extract, understand and explain data that is presented in a variety of ways
Be wary when making comparisons. Comparisons cannot be made between 'apples and oranges', only between 'oranges and oranges'. Care must be taken when:
Example 1 - Results from the 2006 Census regarding unpaid child care cannot be directly compared with the results of the ABS Child Care Survey because the age of the children who were reported on is different. The Census question referred to care provided for children aged less than 15 years of age in the two weeks prior to the Census, while the Child Care Survey only included children aged less than 13 years during a single reference week.
Example 2 - ABS and Centrelink both collect information about unemployed persons, but the data sets are not comparable. ABS unemployed are defined by activity. That is, they are people who are without work, but have been actively seeking work in the past four weeks, and were available to start work last week. Centrelink unemployed are defined by their eligibility to receive unemployment benefits.
Changes have occurred
Changes can occur to a data set over time, such as changes in classification, geography, sample size, methodology, etc.
Example - New industry classification codes, known as Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), were developed in 2006, replacing the 1993 edition, which was the first version produced. ANZSIC 2006 codes reflect the changes that have occurred in the structure and composition of industry since the previous edition, and enhance international comparability. However, direct comparisons with ANZSIC 1993 cannot be made.
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Definitions may differ depending on the context or the survey. Always check that you have the correct definition and are clear about what you are describing. Make sure you are aware of the data boundaries.
Example - The term 'child' can mean many different things. Depending on the context, a child could be someone:
Check the Explanatory Notes to ascertain the definition of a 'child' used in that particular survey. Be wary of making comparisons with other data sources - be sure to check that you are comparing like age groups.
Correlation does not mean causation. The relationship between data and an event may be purely coincidental, or there may be multiple reasons behind an event taking place, with the data only reflecting one aspect of the relationship.
Example - The increased number of shark attacks along the eastern seaboard of Australia in January 2009 may have corresponded with booming retail sales of sunscreen products. This retail boom just happened to coincide with the peak shark attack period, but the number of attacks is unlikely to be related to the increased use of sunscreen.
Results lack variation
Variation to data is important and almost impossible to remove. Therefore, lack of variation in results over time should be cause for suspicion.
Example - If the unemployment rate remained unchanged over many months, it would be worth further investigation as to why this was the case.
Understand the context
Context is very important. A lot of data will be context dependent and it is important that you have a good grasp of what that context is.
Example 1 - Many commentators will use various descriptors to captivate people's imagination. Be careful when assigning labels that you are clear about the group you are describing. Commentators may refer to the 'iGeneration' or 'Internet generation', but what exactly is the 'iGeneration'? Some people will know them as 'Generation Z'. Others will have heard them referred to as 'KIPPERS' (Kids in Parents' Pockets Eroding Retirement Savings). Some people will claim this generation covers the period _PHONE_, while others will argue that they don't come into being until after 1991. Be aware that different definitions exist.
Example 2 - Information that is "cherry picked" to look interesting might mean something entirely different when placed in another context. In trend terms, labour force estimates indicated that Tasmania had the lowest participation rate of all the states and territories in Australia during the 2007-08 financial year. However, in October 2008, Tasmania's participation rate was at a record high (60.9%).
Both claims are equally true, but selective reporting of this data could be misleading. Even reliable statistics can be distorted if only part of the story is told.
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4. The ability to communicate statistical information and understandings
Turning data into information is an essential skill.
How are the data reported?
Communicating statistical information accurately is vital for effective decision making. To ensure integrity, statistical literacy demands that we question how the data are reported and the reliability of conclusions that are drawn. Bad conclusions can still be drawn from good data. Some things to be aware of include:
Example - If houses in Hobart were advertised for sale at $275,000, $295,000, $300,000, $325,000 and $850,000 respectively, using the mean to calculate the average house price would produce a figure of $409,000. This gives an over-inflated impression of house values in Hobart. In reality, the median value of $300,000 would give a much more accurate picture of average house prices.
Use of proportions
Using proportions can also produce misleading conclusions, especially if the numbers involved are small.
Example - According to reliable crime and justice statistics, from 2005-06 to 2006-07, there was a 50% increase in the number of murders in Tasmania. While this is true, the actual numbers of murders increased from 4 to 6, not nearly as dramatic an increase as the percentage increase would have us believe.
Seasonal variations can influence results.
Example - Retail sales for March one year may be down the following year. At face value, it may be reasonable to conclude that business returns had suffered. However, it may simply be the effects of Easter shifting from March in the earlier year to April in the later year. To remove the effects of this type of seasonal variation, the ABS uses seasonal adjustment to standardise the data.
Confidentiality of ABS data
Statistical literacy also includes recognition of ethical issues such as confidentiality. All information collected by the ABS is confidential. It is collected under the authority of the Census and Statistics Act 1905 and carries severe penalties for any person who breaches that confidentiality. In accordance with the Act, no information can be released which enables a person, household or business to be identified.
Tables containing cells with very small counts may potentially result in identifiable information. To avoid releasing identifiable information all tables are subjected to two confidentiality processes before release:
If the number of cells is the same as, close to, or exceeds the population size, then the table will not be released. This practice avoids the release of tables containing a large proportion of small cells containing identifiable data.
Introduced random error is a technique that was developed to avoid identification of individuals. Prior to the 2006 Census, the confidentiality technique applied by the ABS was to randomly adjust cells with very small values. For the 2006 Census, a new technique was developed which slightly adjusts all cells to prevent identifiable data being exposed. These adjustments result in small introduced random errors, but do not impair the value of the table as a whole.
Tables which have been randomly adjusted will be internally consistent, however comparisons with other tables containing similar data may show minor discrepancies. This is the case for both customised tables and standard products. These small variations can, for the most part, be ignored.
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Statistical literacy is essentially the ability to find, access, utilise, understand and communicate the story contained within the data. Sound understanding, interpretation and critical evaluation of statistical information can then contribute to decision making. The importance of statistical literacy in our information-rich society means that it has now become a core competency like reading and writing.
Statistics infiltrate and influence every aspect of our life, via the media and advertisements, persuading us to agree with a certain point of view or take some kind of action. Therefore it is in every Australian's interest to be statistically literate, to have a good understanding of statistics and the ability to use and interpret them effectively and appropriately.
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Statistical Language! (cat. no. 1332.0.55.002)
Statistical Literacy Paper, ABS Education Services
Surviving Statistics (cat. no. 1332.0)
Trewin, D. (2005), Making Maths Vital, Key note speech, AAMT conference
Working Together for an Informed Australia in the 21st Century, NatStats08 Conference Declaration, November 2008
Ben-Zvi, D. & Garfield, J. (2004), 'Goals, Definitions, And Challenges', The Challenge of Developing Statistical Literacy, Reasoning and Thinking, edited by Ben-Zvi, D. and Garfield, J., Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp.3-15
Biggeri, Luigi & Zuliani, Aberto (1999) 'The Dissemination of statistical literacy among citizens and public administration directors', paper presented at the ISI 52nd Session, Helsinki, Finland _URL_
Gal, Iddo (2002), 'Adults' Statistical Literacy: Meanings, Components, and Responsibilities', International Statistical Review, Vol 70 (1)
Garfield, J. (1999), 'Thinking about Statistical Reasoning, Thinking, and Literacy', Paper presented at First Annual Roundtable on Statistical