T-SQL commands in the previous set of steps
Please note that:
 - Just like Solution 1:
 - This solution works well with SSDT, yet works just as well without it (i.e. custom deployments)
 - Binary Formatter is required.
 - Certificate needs to use SHA1 hash (which is the default behavior) as that is what SQL Server looks for
 - Only the certificate's public key is imported into SQL Server; the private key is not imported as there is no need for it since we are not signing anything with it inside of SQL Server.
 - Unlike Solution 1, this solution:
 - does not use a Strong Name Key 1 / Asymmetric Key (i.e. does not use native Visual Studio signing); uses only a certificate.
 - does not require an extra Project / Assembly to hold just the Strong Name Key / Asymmetric Key
 - relies upon a minor override to the default behavior / workflow of MSBuild / SSDT
 - What is shown here is not a fully-automated solution. The steps outlined above require manually building what will ultimately become a "PreDeploy" SQL script, used by the main / existing Project. A fully-automated approach will be provided in the next article in my Stairway to SQLCLR series on SQL Server Central.
 - This technique can be used for EXTERNAL_ACCESS and UNSAFE Assemblies in SQL Server versions 2012, 2014, and 2016 as an easier alternative to the technique I described in Stairway to SQLCLR Level 7: Development and Security
Demo Script
If you want to see the fully working example of this technique, it is available on PasteBin.
The demo SQLCLR code consists of only the following simple C# code:
using System.Data.SqlTypes;
using Microsoft.SqlServer.Server;
public class UserDefinedFunctions
 [SqlFunction(IsDeterministic = true)]
 public static SqlString String_PadLeft(SqlString InputString,
 SqlChars PadChar, SqlInt32 PadAmount)
 return new SqlString(InputString.Value.PadLeft(
 PadAmount.Value, PadChar[0]
The demo script follows the 7 required steps to load the Assembly and then executes a few queries to show that it works. Then, it removes the UNSAFE ASSEMBLY permission from the signature-based Login and executes a query using the SQLCLR UDF. This time, the following error is returned:
Msg 10314, Level 16, State 11, Server osboxes, Line 18
System.IO.FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly 'sql2017_clrstrictsecurity2, Version=, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null' or one of its dependencies. An error relating to security occurred. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8013150A)
at: System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoadAssemblyName(AssemblyName assemblyRef, Evidence ass
Getting this error after removing the permission proves that the signing did work, and that the certificate did link the Assembly to the signature-based Login.
Solution Recap
Here is a general overview of the steps again, from the perspective of SQL Server, just to make sure that everyone understands the workflow:
 1. USE [master];
 2. Create Certificate from hex bytes
 3. Create Login from Certificate, and grant it the UNSAFE ASSEMBLY permission
 4. USE [other_DB];
 5. Create Assembly, signed with the same Certificate used to create the Login
 6. Create T-SQL wrapper objects (i.e. CREATE STORED PROCEDURE … WITH EXTERNAL NAME AS …, etc).
Additional thoughts
This solution is easier than Solution 1:
 1. 8 steps instead of 22!
 2. No extra Project
However, a very small amount of risk was added by overriding the default MSBuild workflow for SSDT. This risk can be eliminated if Microsoft provides a pre-defined Target for the appropriate event. Please upvote my suggestion to have this happen: Add MSBuild predefined Targets for "BeforeSqlBuild" and "BeforePublish" to SSDT SQL Server Data Projects.
ALSO: Even though we did not sign the assembly with a Strong Name Key, it is still probably a good idea to do that.
As we can see here, there is a second, and much simpler, technique for publishing SQLCLR code that:
 1. works with Visual Studio / SSDT
 2. can be fully encapsulated in a SQL script
 3. never enables TRUSTWORTHY
 4. never disables clr strict security
In the next post we will start exploring the inexcusable travesty that is Trusted Assemblies.
 1. There are some minor effects of not signing the Assembly with a strong name key. When looking at the Assembly properties in Object Explorer, "Strong Name" will show "False". Also, when running the following query:
 SELECT ASSEMBLYPROPERTY(N'sql2017_clrstrictsecurity2',
 publickeytoken will be "null" (which is expected), and version will always be "", even if a version number has been provided (which is a bug: "version" incorrectly showing as in sys.assemblies and ASSEMBLYPROPERTY(name, 'SimpleName') for unsigned SQLCLR Assemblies
12 thoughts on "SQLCLR vs. SQL Server 2017, Part 3: "CLR strict security" – Solution 2"
 1. Very good solution! I took out the path to signtool.exe, because it's in my %PATH% anyway, and it works perfectly.
 There is a practical problem though – DBAs won't want to trust a developers unsafe code, so they're unlikely to want to grant unsafe assembly permissions to it.
 Or have I missed something?.. is there such a thing as a "grant safe assembly" permission?
 1. Thanks, Rich! And thanks for mentioning the PATH issue. I updated the post to include a more current path as well as a note about verifying it, and if it is even needed.
 Granting the UNSAFE ASSEMBLY permission doesn't mean that the code will be UNSAFE, just that it is allowed for an Assembly to be marked as such, or as EXTERNAL_ACCESS. The permission is just a requirement of the new "CLR strict security" setting, but does not imply that something other than using RegEx in a SAFE Assembly will be done.
 No, there is no permission for SAFE Assemblies. Prior to SQL Server 2017, SAFE Assemblies did not require being signed or having a login with either UNSAFE ASSEMBLY or EXTERNAL ACCESS ASSEMBLY permission. But now even the EXTERNAL ACCESS ASSEMBLY permission is not good enough.
 If a DBA is concerned, they should either not run any CREATE ASSEMBLY or ALTER ASSEMBLY statements that set the PERMISSION_SET to UNSAFE, or they can make sure that whoever is executing the CREATE / ALTER statements for Assemblies has not been granted UNSAFE ASSEMBLY, though that is hard to restrict from a sysadmin account if that is being used for automated deployments.
 2. I just got MSBuild to work with this method too, so my Jenkins build works with the certificate-signed assembly – thanks again for the solution.
 I hadn't appreciated that the user doing the deployment would also need UNSAFE ASSEMBLY perms in order to create an unsafe assembly, even though the certificate-login at run-time has those permissions. So my worries about convincing a DBA to import the certificate, create the user and grant it unsafe assembly perms are (hopefully) unfounded.
 ps. If only MS would put RegEx into SQL server, a lot of us could stop bothering with CLR in the first place!
 1. Excellent! Glad you got it working in MSBuild, and you are quite welcome.
 Regarding the "p.s.": I don't think built-in RegEx is really in everyone's best interest. It will be a mediocre implementation that will just tie into.NET (just like FORMAT, TRY_PARSE, and maybe even CONCAT, etc). There is no way it would be as feature-complete as what is already available in SQL#, and any performance gain would be marginal at best. The only benefit is that it would be available in Azure SQL Database which currently does not support SQLCLR (well, not anymore; it did for about 18 months ;). But noone really needs to "bother" with SQLCLR since installing SQL# requires no knowledge of it 😺.
 3. I'd be quite happy with a simple wrapper around the.net regex functions, straight out of the box, no 3rd party assemblies, no certificates to maintain across environments, and running on Azure. I'm pretty sure it would be in pretty much everyone's best interests – with the possible exception of someone selling a CLR library of course :) Sorry about that – I hadn't noticed the link to SQL# before.
 All the best for SQL# and for this blog. It's been a great help.
 1. Valid points. Thanks for that feedback. For what it's worth, the RegEx functions in SQL# are almost all in the Free version, so this isn't so much about selling a product as it is liking to have all options available, such as the RegExOptions to tailor how it behaves, etc. But yes, I do fully understand that quite enough people never use those options and wouldn't miss them.
 Regardless, glad you found this stuff helpful.
 4. Thank you for providing this solution, I'm thinking about how to implement it in my project.


).
Other attractions on these and surrounding islands include additional museums, resort bungalows, lighthouses, parks, botanical gardens, waterfalls, shops, galleries, ethnic villages, and more.
Check out this great honeymoon guide to Bora Bora.
Popular Foods
Cuisine of French Polynesia is dominated by seafood, both raw and cooked, fished from local lagoons and Pacific waters. They are prepared in a variety of ways-grilled, chaud-froid, carpaccio, tartare, sashimi, or sushi. In addition to fish, visitors will also find seafood varieties like giant clam, sea urchin, octopus, and squid. Other typical ingredients used in Polynesian cooking include things like suckling pig, fish (mahi mahi, tuna, other catches of the day), chicken, crab, fei (a Polynesian banana) and banana leaves, shrimp, taro, umara (sweet potato), uru (fruit of the breadfruit tree), ufi (a kind of yam), and fafa (Tahitian spinach). Many dishes combine ingredients like these to be wrapped in banana leaves and cooked inside a traditional underground over called the ahima'a. Skewers of grilled meats, like beef and lamb, are also common, often served with mustard and barbeque sauce. Much of the cuisine here will additionally have a French spin from the island nation's connections to France, as well as Chinese influence from immigration across the Pacific Ocean.
1 Categories averaged on a per-item basis.
2 Categories averaged on a per-day basis.
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The 2016 edition of ASCE 7 "Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures" will, for the first time, provide some guidance on the use of performance-based methods to design fire protection. Meanwhile, the ASCE/SEI Fire Protection Committee is in the process of developing its first guideline, "Structural Fire Engineering," to present best practices for structural engineers working with fire protection engineers. Performance-based fire engineering (PBFE) relies on advanced analysis tools to predict how the structure will behave during a fire. Anticipating the release of these new standards, Thornton Tomasetti has developed the analysis capabilities to offer PBFE as a new service for buildings and bridges.
A Flexible Approach to Fire Safety
Performance-based fire engineering is an alternative to the traditional prescriptive method of design by qualification testing (DQT), which is used to fireproof almost all buildings in the United States. DQT relies on testing structural components in furnaces (Figure 1), where a standard temperature is imposed over time (Figure 2) to determine how long the component can survive in a fire environment. The survival time in the furnace becomes the fire rating of the component, expressed in hours. Fire protection systems, such as spray-on fireproofing or intumescent paint, are also assigned a fire rating by performing the same tests on protected components. The fire engineer for a given structure can then select for each member a protection system with the fire rating required for the project. The typical fire rating of residential and commercial buildings varies from 1 to 3 hours.
Figure 1 – Furnace for standard fire test (source: Furnace Construction Co. LTD.)
Figure 2 – Standard fire temperature curves (source: NIST TN 1681)
Design by qualification testing has been successful at preventing or delaying structural collapse during fires, but the method has some limitations that PBFE seeks to overcome. First, DQT does not allow for designing at a level of performance higher than life safety. It may be of interest to make a structure repairable or even immediately usable after a fire, but increasing the fire rating in DQT only guarantees that structural failure does not occur for a longer time. Another limitation of DQT is that it focuses on individual components and seldom considers the structure as a system, where load redistribution could help the structure weather the weakening or loss of some structural members. In addition, the fire performance of the structure is not tied to any real fire scenarios in terms of nature, intensity, distribution and propagation of the fire, nor to other factors, such as air flow, that can affect the outcome. Finally, the fire rating achieved through DQT is typically uniform across the structure, even though some components are more critical or located closer to potential fire sources. A more focused application of fire protection could lead to more resilient structures for a lower cost.
Instead of systematically protecting each structural member to achieve a prescribed fire rating, the engineer using PBFE is granted considerable freedom in the implementation of fire protection. For example, a major column in a parking garage may be covered with thicker fireproofing, while the exposed structure of an atrium containing little combustible material can be left unprotected for architectural reasons. In exchange for this design flexibility, PBFE requires the engineer to demonstrate through rigorous analysis that the structure will perform as required in fire conditions, and a peer review may be required. The forthcoming edition of ASCE7 and other standards for PBFE focus on the procedure to demonstrate fire performance.
The first step of PBFE is to establish a list of fire scenarios, each of which specifies the location and intensity of a fire. The fire locations are determined through a combination of most-likely and worst-case assumptions, so that each fire scenario has either a high probability of occurrence, some serious consequences or both. The intensity of a fire is typically measured as a heat released rate (HRR) in megawatts, which depends on the amount of fuel and oxygen available at the fire location. Building fires are fueled by the contents of one or several rooms, with an oxygen input dependent on doors, windows and ventilation. For bridge fires, the fuel typically consists of vehicles with their gas and cargo, and the oxygen input is assumed unlimited. The HRR may be determined analytically, but standard values are also available. For example, Eurocodes provide the HRR curve for building fires shown in Figure 3, with parameters summarized in Figure 4. The number of scenarios depends on the criticality and complexity of the structure, as well as the computational resources available and the anticipated number of design iterations.
Figure 3 – Eurocode HRR curve for building fire
Figure 4 – Parameters of Eurocode HRR curve for building fire
Each fire scenario must be associated with a performance objective. A typical objective is to keep the structure standing long enough for the occupants to evacuate and the fire to be put out, but a key benefit of PBFE is the flexibility to specify quantitative objectives beyond the minimum life-safety requirement. One can, for example, set a limit on the number of structural members damaged during a fire to ensure that a post-fire repair is possible and cost-efficient. The performance objectives can also be varied with the likelihood of the scenarios so that each scenario represents consistent risk for the structure owner or insurer.
Once the fire scenarios and performance objectives have been formulated, the engineer develops a fire protection design and implements advanced analysis methods to evaluate the design against them. In this evaluation, each fire scenario is simulated separately and in two steps: a thermal analysis followed by a structural analysis.
The objective of the thermal analysis is to determine the temperature in the structure during and after the fire scenario. The analysis is performed on a multi-physics model of the building to include different forms of heat transfer: convection and radiation in the air, and conduction in the structure and nonstructural components. The two-layer model (Figure 5) is specifically designed to analyze fire-driven air flows in buildings. A more realistic, flexible but expensive alternative is to use full-fledged computational fluid dynamics (CFD) (Figure 6). In both cases, the heat eventually flows into a solid model of the structure where a conduction analysis takes over. The thermal analysis is the most critical step of PBFE, and will be optimized to obtain sufficiently accurate estimates of the temperatures in a time deemed acceptable for design iterations.
Figure 5 – Temperatures obtained through two-layer analysis
Figure 6 – Temperatures (top) and smoke transport (bottom) obtained through CFD analysis
The second step of a fire simulation is to perform a structural analysis with the temperatures obtained from the thermal analysis. The increase in temperature has two effects on the structure: it lowers the strength and stiffness of the materials, and it develops thermal stresses in the members that cannot freely expand. Both effects can be modeled in traditional structural analysis software (Figure 7), where the thermal loads are typically combined with the dead load and a fraction of the live load. A nonlinear analysis must be used to predict the large deformations that occur during fires, taking into account all of the possible failure modes of the critical components. The analysis must also be able to detect global instabilities. Since the structural analysis uses the results from the thermal analysis, the challenge is to model each step with appropriate amount of detail and to facilitate the flow of information between the thermal and structural domains. From the analysis results, one can determine whether the structure satisfies the performance objective associated with the scenario analyzed.
Figure 7 – Structural analysis at high temperature
The thermal and structural analyses are repeated for each fire scenario, and the fire protection design is considered acceptable if the performance objectives are always met. Otherwise the design must be revised and analyzed again, in which case the analysis results provide useful guidance for the next design iteration.
Performance-based fire engineering benefits our built environment in several ways. By focusing on critical fire locations and structural components, it leads to an optimized fire protection that can be both more effective and economical than a prescriptive design. In addition, by considering the inherent fire resilience of each particular structure, it can also allow for shapes and finishes that the traditional approach would render impractical and therefore open the door for new architectural expressions.
– By Ali Ashrafi, vice president, Pierre Ghisbain and Jenny Sideri, senior engineers, New York-Wall Street, and Reza Imani, senior engineer, San Francisco
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text:
What is Advocacy?
Advocacy is the process of standing beside someone and supporting them to:
- understand and exercise their rights
- have their voice heard on the issues that are important to them.
What is an Advocate?
An advocate is an impartial person, who:
- takes the time to listen and understand your views and wishes
- informs you of your rights and responsibilities
- assists you to explore your options and make informed decisions
- supports you to raise your concerns and work towards a resolution
- provides practical assistance such as help to write a letter or raise your concerns at a meeting
- speaks for you in situations where you don't feel able to speak for yourself
- increases your capacity to self-advocate
- engage with the aged care system including My Aged Care and the Aged Care Complaints Commissioner
- transition between aged care services
- make informed decisions about the care they receive
- exercise their right to choice in accessing and receiving aged care services
- have their aged care rights better understood, recognised and upheld
- resolve problems or complaints with aged care providers in relation to the aged care services they receive
- address issues that impact their ability to live in their own homes, with the aim of preventing premature admission to aged care facilities and focusing on wellness and reablement.
OPAN Advocacy Services
Older Persons Advocacy Network offer free aged care advocacy services that are independent and confidential. The services focus on supporting older people and their representatives to raise and address issues relating to accessing and interacting with Commonwealth funded aged care services.
Older Persons Advocacy Network offer advocacy services that are rights based. They seek to ensure that aged care consumers understand and exercise their rights and participate, to the maximum degree possible, in the decisions affecting their care. Older Persons Advocacy Network advocates always place the consumer at the centre of the process and act at the consumer's direction.
Older Persons Advocacy Network advocates are skilled and experienced professionals who have extensive aged care knowledge. To find out more about the Older Persons Advocacy Network Organisation in your state/territory go to our OPAN Network Page.
Older Persons Advocacy Network organisations assist older people, including their families and representatives:
- who are receiving Commonwealth-funded aged care services; or
- who are seeking to receive Commonwealth-funded aged care services.
Commonwealth funded aged care services that we can provide advocacy support for include:
- Residential aged care
- Home Care Packages
- Commonwealth Home Support Programme services (CHSP)
- The Commonwealth Continuity of Support (CoS) Programme
- Commonwealth-funded dementia services
- Flexible care services, including: the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program, the Innovation Pool Program, Multi-purpose services, Transition care and Short-term restorative care.
Older Persons Advocacy Network is committed to ensuring aged care advocacy services are accessible to all consumers including people who are Culturally and Linguistically Diverse, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, people living with dementia, Veterans and care leavers, people who are financially or socially disadvantaged, and people at risk of homelessness.


text:
Loads the Reuters newswire classification dataset.
tf.keras.datasets.reuters.load_data( path='reuters.npz', num_words=None, skip_top=0, maxlen=None, test_split=0.2, seed=113, start_char=1, oov_char=2, index_from=3, **kwargs )
path: where to cache the data (relative to
num_words: max number of words to include. Words are ranked by how often they occur (in the training set) and only the most frequent words are kept
skip_top: skip the top N most frequently occurring words (which may not be informative).
maxlen: truncate sequences after this length.
test_split: Fraction of the dataset to be used as test data.
seed: random seed for sample shuffling.
start_char: The start of a sequence will be marked with this character. Set to 1 because 0 is usually the padding character.
oov_char: words that were cut out because of the
skip_toplimit will be replaced with this character.
index_from: index actual words with this index and higher.
**kwargs: Used for backwards compatibility.
Tuple of Numpy arrays:
(x_train, y_train), (x_test, y_test).
Note that the 'out of vocabulary' character is only used for
words that were present in the training set but are not included
because they're not making the
num_words cut here.
Words that were not seen in the training set but are in the test set
have simply been skipped.


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When I cook things, such as scallop and salmon, I found that the food may be more tender if I wait till the water boils (at 100 C) and immediately turn the fire lower so that the water is not bubbling in the cook pot and maintain the fire at this level. But I noticed that at this point, there is more steam coming out of the water surface and the steam is far more visible than before.
I think I even test to see if there are in fact more steam by putting the my palm about 12 inches above the cook pot, and verified that in fact, when the fire is at high, there is less steam, but at low, there is more steam. Is there a physics principle that can explain this?
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3 Answers 3
I must admit that I have never noticed this, and indeed it runs somewhat contrary to what I would expect.
It's a suggestion rather than an answer, but when the heat is high there will be a strong updraught of hot air so is it possible that the steam is being carried away from the pan before it has a chance to condense to water droplets? Indeed if the air flow is fast enough the steam might never condense because it would be diluted into the surrounding air before droplet nucleation happened.
By contrast at very low heat the air flow around the pan is slow so the water vapour has plenty of time to condense and form visible droplets.
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I tried the experiment with a pot and 5mm of water and with a pan and 5mm of water. When it is just water steam at boiling is proportional to the fire as more bubbles form at the bottom of the pan and turn to steam.
So it must be the combined effect of food and water.
I suspect:
The surface of the scallops or salmon, if the heat is high, dries up fast and no longer evaporates, while it obstructs/absorbs the steam coming from the bottom where food touches it. In other words the food is seared immediately and less evaporative surface is exposed to air when heat is high.
When heat is low the fish does not dry up and gives off steam too, plus the fractal effect of the increased surface area, since no food is flat, must contribute to more steam at low fire.
A third effect might come from the bubble formation in the exposed surface of the liquid, since it will no longer be pure water. It might be that bubbles can be bigger and gather more steam before they burst, in the exposed to air part of the liquid, while for high heat they have too much energy and burst before accumulating steam. Again a food effect.
I will verify this supposition next time I braise salmon with teriyaki sauce.
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Once an experimental physicist, always an experimental physicist – twistor59 Dec 31 '12 at 7:54
_USER_ right :). You have to start young. – anna v Dec 31 '12 at 7:54
+1 :-) I'm currently staying at my mother's house and she disapproves of me using her kitchenware for Physics experiments. In any case, my mother tells me you should always put a lid on the pan when simmering! – John Rennie Dec 31 '12 at 8:05
by the way, I suspect that even just water will have the same effect, as I remember just boiling some water in the cook pot and turn down the fire to lower level and keep it there, and steam came out a lot more than if fire was at high level – 太極者無極而生 Jan 3 '13 at 14:49
We know that we see steam visually observe steam when water vapor condenses into water. Otherwise water vapor is transparent.My suspicion is that in the case when the fire is lower then the bubbling threshold, water vapour condenses into stream more easily. – Prathyush Jan 28 '13 at 6:08
I have been boiling water in our house for humidity at times during the cold weather. I noticed this phenomenon, but never with any food involved. I suspect it has more to do with the rapidity of which the matter is getting excited gives it less time to make the physical change. When the application of heat/energy is decreased, the fervent movement of the matter involved slows and the process of transformation is easier...the principle of dispersion lends to the water then spreading its energy to the surrounding environment in an accelerated manner vs the matter in question dealing with taking on the energy.
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protected by Qmechanic Jan 28 '13 at 5:28
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- Learn More: Read all about polygraph exams
The term "polygraph" literally means "many writings." It refers to the science of the test, in which several physiological responses are measured at the same time to detect signs of deception. This process is called forensic psychophysiology, which denotes the relationship to the mind and the body as it pertains to physical responses to thoughts and emotions. The true professional title of a polygraph examiner, then, is forensic psychophysiologist.
Invented in 1921 by Berkley medical student John Larson, the polygraph has been used in interviews and interrogations for nearly a century. It operates on the notion that telling a lie causes stress for most individuals, and that stress in turn produces measurable physiological responses.
The polygraph is still the subject of much skepticism and misunderstanding, though. In many cases, polygraph results are not admissible in court, and they have been prohibited from being used in preemployment screening for all but the most sensitive jobs, such as special agents and police officers. Nonetheless, it has proven to be a useful tool for internal and criminal investigations and intelligence gathering, both in the public and private sectors.
In truth, polygraph results are often only as good as the examiner conducting the test. For this reason, the American Polygraph Association has established rigorous standards to certify examiners and ensure that the integrity of the polygraph is maintained and upheld.
Job Functions and Work Environment of Polygraph Examiners
Polygraph examiners work for public law enforcement agencies, criminal investigative entities, intelligence services and private consulting and investigative firms. The bulk of their work is performed in an office setting.
Examiners prepare subjects for testing, conduct the test, and analyze the results. Depending on the scope of questioning, the entire process can take several hours. A very large part of the job of a polygraph examiner involves effective communications and dealing closely with individuals, many of whom are nervous about their test.
Polygraphers prepare reports about the results of their exams and submit them to their superiors or clients. Generally speaking, they do not make recommendations with regards to how to deal with the test subject but instead report their opinion regarding the veracity of the subject or the presence of deception. At times, they may be called to testify in court proceedings about the conduct or results of their examinations.
The job of a polygraph examiner often includes:
- Prepping subjects for testing
- Conducting polygraph exams
- Preparing written reports
- Working closely with investigators
- Providing courtroom testimony
- Obtaining continuing education
Certified examiners must maintain their skills by participating in annual continuing education and training programs. Polygraph examiners also submit reports about the accuracy of their tests in order to build upon the data set and further verify the efficacy of the testing process.
Education And Skill Requirements for Polygraph Examiners
Individuals looking to work as polygraph examiners will often need to hold an associate's or bachelor's degree. Degrees in criminal justice, criminology, psychology or forensic science will be most beneficial.
Many times, agencies will appoint current officers to the position of polygraph examiner and arrange for the officer to be trained. In these instances, a degree may not be required, but relevant work experience, particularly in law enforcement and investigations, will still be necessary. Interpersonal communications skills and writing skills are musts for potential examiners.
Polygraph examiners can attend one of several polygraph academies throughout the United States, where they receive more than 200 hours of industry-specific training. They must also conduct 200 verified exams before they can be certified by the APA.
Job Growth and Salary Outlook for Polygraph Examiners
Jobs for all forensic examiners are expected to grow at a rate of 19 percent through 2020. This is slightly higher then the national average for all occupations in the United States.
Law enforcement and federal criminal investigative agencies continue to make use of polygraph exams as part of their background investigations. Polygraph examiners receive highly specialized training, meaning they will continue to be in demand for the foreseeable future.
Polygraph examiners can expect to earn around $56,000 annually. Actual salary will vary depending on location, education and experience.
Is a Career as a Polygraph Examiner Right for You?
Polygraph examiners are highly analytical people with excellent interpersonal communications skills. They combine a knowledge of psychology and physiology to evaluate individuals for deceptive tendencies. The work can be fascinating and intellectually stimulating. If this sounds like the kind of work you're interested in performing, then a career as a polygraph examiner may be the perfect criminology career for you.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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Cavitation in Centrifugal Pumps
Updated on July 9, 2013
Cavitation is derived from the word 'cavity', an empty space or a hollow space. It is caused by the 'boiling off' of a liquid at normal temperature and low pressure. It is worsened by the presence of dissolved air which is released when pressures are reduced.
If a liquid contains much dissolved air, then as the pressure is reduced (which happens when the pump takes suction), the air comes out of solution and forms cavities or bubbles. Each cavitation bubble grows from a nucleus to a finite size and is carried by the flowing liquid into a region of higher pressure, which is the vanes of an impeller. Here, these bubbles condense and burst or collapse. Condensation takes place violently and is accompanied by a tremendous increase of pressure which has a character of water hammering and also a rise in temperature.
Bubbles follow each other very rapidly and the bursting results in shockwaves which attack the metal, causing cavitation pitting in the least resistant places. Erosion due to cavitation is a major problem and is increased in high velocity situation.
Alternative Explanation
In pumps carrying liquids a phenomenon known as cavitation occurs. Low pressure regions occur in the flow at points where high local velocities exist. If vapourisation occurs due to these low pressure areas then bubbles occur, these expand as they move with the flow and collapse when they reach a high pressure region. Such formation and collapse of bubbles is very rapid and collapse near a surface can generate very high pressure hammer blows which results in pitting, noise, vibration, and fall off in the pump efficiency. This phenomenon is not usually very pronounce in reciprocating pumps. Incipient cavitation i.e. cavitation which is just beginning can occur when suction lift capability cannot meet supply requirements and the output reduces until the two coincide. Under these conditions of operation the pump runs noisely and cavitation damage can occur. By throttling the discharge, or reducing pump speed, rough running of the pump and possible damage can be avoided.
Circumstances that Develop Cavitation
 1. If the has to take suction from a great distance, i.e. the suction head is too great.
 2. If the normal discharge rate has been exceeded, i.e. the pump speed has been increased above rated speed.
 3. Improper shape of pump entry passages, or due to some obstruction in the inlet side.
 4. When the pump is handling liquids with low vapour pressures, such as LPG and LNG.
Effects of Cavitaions
 1. The metal gets eroded and is seen as small pittings. The rate of erosion may be increased if the liquid itself has corrosive properties.
 2. Audible rattling or cracking sounds may be heard, which can reach a pitch of dangerous vibrations.
 3. Due to the flow disturbances set up, the entire performance of the machine may deteriorate, and the head and efficiency of the pump may fall below acceptable value.
Regions Attacked by Cavitation
 1. At the starting stage, the collapse of bubbles terminates within the impeller passages.
 2. In the fully developed stage, the main part of vapour bubble collapse is in the impeller itself and the rest is carried out of the impeller into the diffuser ring and the volute casing, and sometimes even to the next stage of the pump.
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Telemetry in Marine Environments are used for various mission critical applications. For near shore applications people use a cellular solution for telemetry. However when the distance from shore becomes bigger the best option for data transmission is Radio Telemetry.
Over the years Satel has been used in various applications, such as:
- Port Monitoring (Tide, Turbidity, Salinity, Current Speed and Direction)
- Mooring and Berthing operations
- Hydrographic Surveys and Oceanographic Surveys
- Offshore Measurements (Oil and Gas, Helideck Monitoring)
- MetOcean (Weather Sensors and Subsea sensors combined)
- AUV (Data transmission when the unit comes to the surface)
- Rig Moves
- Dredging Operations (Control of the pump station)
For environmental monitoring around rivers and lakes people are looking oftenly for a more cost effective solution. We recommend the 2N telemetry solution for transmission of various sensors over various interfaces.


1. Home
 2. Grants in Focus
 3. Research Fellowships
 4. What really happened in 1066
Grant in Focus Apply Info
Dr Erin Goeres
University College London
Research Fellowship
What really happened in 1066?
Erin Goeres explores the entwined histories of England, Normandy and Scandinavia
Battle scene from the Icelandic manuscript Flateyjarbók.
Battle scene from the fourteenth century Icelandic manuscript Flateyjarbók (GKS 1005 fol. 145r). Reproduced by kind permission of The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, Reykjavík, Iceland.
We all know what happened in 1066 – or do we? Only three weeks before Harold Godwinson fell at the Battle of Hastings, another king had fought and died for the throne of England. Haraldr Sigurðarson, King of Norway, claimed the English crown through an agreement with the descendants of Cnut the Great, formerly King of England and Denmark. From a modern perspective, it is perhaps surprising to learn that England was considered by many of its medieval inhabitants to be part of the Scandinavian world. Trade, migration and intermarriage had bound the two regions closely together during the pre-Conquest period. With the defeat of Haraldr and the victory of the Normans, themselves of Scandinavian origin, 1066 became a pivotal moment of intracultural confrontation that would reverberate far beyond the borders of England itself.
Bringing together literature from medieval England, Normandy and Scandinavia, I will examine the cultural repercussions of 1066 across the medieval north. I am interested in how writers in all three regions celebrated their common heritage and mourned the wars that brought their people into conflict. The relationship between early English and Scandinavian literature has received much attention in recent years, while the multilingual nature of the Anglo-Norman sphere is fast becoming an area of great scholarly interest. However, the relationship between the histories and literatures of the Anglo-Norman and Scandinavian worlds remains in need of further examination. I aim to address this gap in our knowledge while deepening our understanding of the cultural ramifications of the Conquest, not only in England but across the northern world.
Why does an event that happened nearly a millennium ago still matter? In the debate surrounding Britain's decision to leave the European Union, some have used the memory of the Conquest to promote a monocultural view of the past predicated on isolationism and xenophobia. As Britain now seeks to re-establish itself outside the EU, I wish to show that our history is both more complicated and more hopeful. My work will demonstrate that England was a place of great ethnic and linguistic diversity long before the Conquest, and that the events of 1066 threw that diversity into sharp relief, even as new languages and cultures were introduced. Rejecting a monocultural view of the past, I hope to reveal instead the plurality of voices that have enriched the cultural heritage of both Britain and Europe for over a millennium.
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_USER_{ietf-atommib-test-06, number = {draft-ietf-atommib-test-06}, type = {Internet-Draft}, institution = {Internet Engineering Task Force}, publisher = {Internet Engineering Task Force}, note = {Work in Progress}, url = {_URL_ author = {Kaj Tesink and Michael V. Noto}, title = {{Definitions of Tests for ATM Management}}, pagetotal = 37, year = 1999, month = dec, day = 8, abstract = {This memo defines a portion of the Management Information Base (MIB) for use with network management protocols in the Internet community. In particular, it describes objects used for managing ATM-based interfaces, devices, networks and services in addition to those defined in the ATM MIB {[}RFC2515{]}, to provide support for the management of on-demand ATM Loopback Tests.}, }


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Field Trip Report 2: Freshwater marshes on the east side and the Sammamish Plateau
We will start the field trip by looking at wetlands in the Big Bear Creek drainage east of Woodinville. Big Bear Creek is probably the least disturbed of all of the drainages on the east side, yet it is filled with invasives. Then we will go south to the Redmond watershed, a large forested preserve with a number of excellent wetlands (near the Redmond Block wetlands that are now developed as Trilogy and Redmond Ridge). Up on the Sammamish Plateau we will visit the Hazel Wolf wetland and then finish up by going to Queen's Bog in Klahanie.
Look at the invasive plants that are at different wetlands. Collect samples of them. Why are they there? Try to figure out the disturbance history of a site, and whether such a history has resulted in an increase in invasive plants.
What is the hydrology of each wetland? How does the water get there and where does it come from? Is the water permanent? How much do you think it fluctuates during the year? How wet is each site?
What does shade do to the diversity of invasive plants? What effect does shade have on what kinds of native wetland plants are present? Collect samples of native plants.
Which sites are nutrient rich and which are nutrient poor (oligotrophic)? How do the nutrients get to each site? What is the impact of nutrients on plant communities?


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Bioanalytical Mass Spectrometry
Due to the often transient nature of biological free radicals in solution, there has been an increased interest in gaining a more fundamental understanding of the structure and reactivity of radicals in small model systems in the gas phase. The main direction of our research has been to develop new methods for the study of radical ions in the gas phase using mass spectrometric (MS) techniques. In particular, we have employed ion–molecule reactions (IMR) for the study of radical ion reactivity. The model systems include amino acids with reactive amino acid side chains (cysteine, tyrosine, tryptophan), small peptides and DNA nucelobases where the radicals can be generated regiospecifically via various chemical means. Gas‐phase IMR of these radical ions shed light on their structure and provide convenient route to explore their intrinsic reactivity with the potential to study radical migration and radical‐induced damage. For example, we can monitor hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) in glutathione radical: the S‐based (thiyl), reactive radical is rearranging via HAT to a non‐reactive α‐carbon radical.
We also use ion spectroscopy (in IR and UV regions) and theoretical calculations to complement our gas‐phase reactivity studies. In the example below, isomeric thiyl and α‐carbon radicals of homocysteine are distinguished by ion IR spectroscopy.
- Bioanalytical mass spectrometry
- Gas‐phase ion reactivity and energetics
- Radical ions of biomolecules, gas‐phase catalysis using metal ion complexes
- HPLC and LC/MS assays for monitoring enzyme inhibition (collaboration with Prof. Hagen)
Lesslie, M.; Yang, Y.; Canty, A. J.; Piacentino, E.; Berthias, F.; Maître, P.; Ryzhov, V. and O'Hair, R. A. J. "Ligand‐induced decarbonylation in diphosphine‐ligated palladium acetates [CH3CO2Pd((PR2)2CH2)]+ (R = Me and Ph)", Chem. Comm., 2018, DOI: 10.1039/C7CC08944A
Lesslie, M.; Lawler, J. T.; Dang, A.; Korn, J.A.; Bím, D.; Steinmetz, V.; Maître, P.; Tureček, F. and Ryzhov, V. "Cytosine Radical Cations: A Gas‐Phase Study Combining IRMPD Spectroscopy, UVPD Spectroscopy, Ion–Molecule Reactions, and Theoretical Calculations", ChemPhysChem, 2017, 18, 1293–1301, DOI: 10.1002/cphc.201700281
Lesslie, M.; Lau, J. K.‐C.; Lawler, J. T.; Siu, K. W. M.; Oomens, J.; Berden, G.; Hopkinson, A. C. and Ryzhov, V. "Alkali‐Metal‐Ion‐Assisted Hydrogen Atom Transfer in the Homocysteine Radical." Chem. Eur. J., 2016, 22, 2243–2246.
Lesslie, M.; Lau, J. K.‐C.; Lawler, J. T.; Siu, K. W. M.; Steinmetz, V.; Maître, P.; Hopkinson, A. C. and Ryzhov, V. "Cysteine Radical/Metal Ion Adducts: A Gas‐Phase Structural Elucidation and Reactivity Study." ChemPlusChem., 2016, 81, 444–452.
Lesslie, M.; Piatkivskyi, A.; Lawler, J.; Helgren, T.; Osburn, S.; O'Hair, R. A. J.; and Ryzhov, V. "The Effects of Intramolecular Hydrogen Bonding on the Reactivity of Phenoxyl Radicals in Model Systems." Int. J. Mass Spectrom., 2015, 390, 124–131.
Piatkivskyi, A.; Pyatkivskyy, Y.; Hurt, M. and Ryzhov, V. "Utilization of gas‐phase ion–molecule reactions for differentiation between phospho‐ and sulfocarbohydrates", Eur. J. Mass Spectrom., 2014, 20, 187–183.
Mishra, E., Worlinsky, J. L., Brückner, C. and Ryzhov, V. "MS/MS Fragmentation Behavior Study of meso‐Phenylporphyrinoids Containing Non‐pyrrolic Heterocycles and meso‐Thienyl‐substituted Porphyrins". J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom., 2014, 25, 18–29.
Osburn, S. and Ryzhov, V., "Ion–Molecule Reactions: Analytical and Structural Tool." Anal. Chem., 2013, 85, 769–778.
- Research Associate, University of Maryland, College Park, 1998–2000
- Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University, 1998
- M.S., Moscow State University, 1992


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1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Dike
DIKE, or Dyke (Old Eng. dic, a word which appears in various forms in many Teutonic languages, cf. Dutch dijk, German Teich, Danish dige, and in French, derived from Teutonic, digue; it is the same word as "ditch" and is ultimately connected with the root of "dig"), properly a trench dug out of the earth for defensive and other purposes. Water naturally collects in such trenches, and hence the word is applied to natural and artificial channels filled with water, as appears in the proverbial expression "February fill-dyke," and in the names of many narrow waterways in East Anglia. "Dike" also is naturally used of the bank of earth thrown up out of the ditch, and so of any embankment, dam or causeway, particularly the defensive works in Holland, the Fen district of England, and other low-lying districts which are liable to flooding by the sea or rivers (see Holland and Fens). In Scotland any wall, fence or even hedge, used as a boundary is called a dyke. In geology the term is applied to wall-like masses of rock (sometimes projecting beyond the surrounding surface) which fill up vertical or highly inclined fissures in the strata.


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Is the historic volcano, Mount Vesuvius, still active?
Mt. Vesuvius, which erupted in A.D. 79, burying the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, killing thousands, is still an active volcano. It has erupted many times since Pompeii was destroyed, including in 1872, 1906, and 1944. Scientists keep close watch over Vesuvius, which has the potential to threaten the sprawling area around Naples, Italy.


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Little Black Ants in Bristol
The little black ant is a common structural pest in Tennessee. Little black ants are highly adaptable and are not usually associated with indoor colonies. Typically nesting outdoors, little black ants access homes or structures in search of food. They are omnivores, feeding on both plant and animal foods. Little black ants feed on a variety of foods including sweets, meats, grease, insects, and even feed on bird feces. Little black ants can be difficult to eliminate.
Little Black Ant Habitat
The colonies of little black ants may contain several queens and be heavily populated. Generally, little black ant infestations start outside and can be traced back to mulch, stones, a stump, tree, log, fence, or pile of lumber or bricks. Indoors, little black ant colonies will nest in wall voids and cabinets, as well as, within and behind foundations and brick or stone veneer. When colony populations are at their peak, little black ants may spread throughout a structure quickly, invading every gap and crack or crevice. The sight of little black ants inside homes may signal a larger infestation outdoors or within the structure.
Little Black Ant Behaviors & Dangers
Little black ants may barely bite or sting, but they can become a considerable pest when they invade a home in large numbers. These tiny invasive bullies are aggressive and have been known to wipe out entire red imported fire ant colonies. While they favor nesting outdoors, their small size allows them to gain access under window sills, beneath carpets and floorboards, and any crevice inside your home. If a little black ant infestation is suspected, it is recommended to consult a licensed ant exterminator.
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We'll call you! Leave your information below.


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Aug. 21, 2002 MADISON - Exploring the genomes of two different but related soil microbes, scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found the genes that govern the production of a class of highly potent anticancer agents.
Writing in two papers published this week (Friday, Aug. 16) in the journal Science, UW-Madison pharmaceutical sciences professors Jon Thorson and Ben Shen describe the discovery of genetic elements in soil-dwelling bacteria that are responsible for producing toxins that are among the most effective anticancer agents known.
The separate but complimentary findings portend the practical advent of a powerful new family of drugs to treat certain cancers.
"This molecule is so potent that it has to be directed to a particular target," says Thorson. "With this, all you need are one or two molecules and you can kill the (cancer) cell. These are different than most anticancer agents out there."
The genetic pathways found by Shen and Thorson produce chemicals known as enediynes. Discovered in the 1960s, scientists have long been intrigued by the potential of these natural toxins produced by soil bacteria. But enediynes' complicated chemical structure (first elucidated in 1985) and extreme reactivity have made them difficult to synthesize and use through conventional means.
The discovery of the genes that produce these agents means that enediynes can now be produced in quantity and their characteristics manipulated to make them far easier to use as therapeutic agents.
"We've found the genetic raw material to produce these compounds," Shen says. "With the genes in hand, we can take them apart and put them back together and that will allow improvements in production and development of new compounds" to treat cancer.
Working in two different species of soil bacteria -- one from North America and one from China -- Shen and Thorson found enediyne genetic pathways that are extremely similar, suggesting that the microbes that produce this class of toxins evolved in the distant past from a common ancestor. In nature, the microbes that make enediynes tend to be slow growing and produce the toxin to keep from being overwhelmed by more prolific competing microorganisms.
Enediynes work by cleaving or shearing the target cell's DNA. Because the enediynes are so effective -- more than 1,000 times more potent than some of the most effective antitumor agents now in use -- it takes very little to kill a cell.
"This molecule is so lethal it has to be directed to a particular target. It can be tethered to an antibody which then directs it to the cancer cell," Thorson explains.
The ability to precisely home in on cancer cells with such small amounts of a drug may also help limit some of the unpleasant side effects of chemotherapy such as nausea and hair loss.
Members of the enediyne family are already in clinical use to treat various cancers such as acute myeloid leukemia (AML). But their use has been severely limited by the complicated nature of the enediyne molecules. The complex structure requires as many as 50 steps to make the synthetic molecule, imposing a severe limiting factor on the availability of enediyne-based antitumor drugs.
With a map of the genetic pathway that governs the enediyne microbes' ability to produce the toxin, scientists can now use other methods to culture the microbe in quantity and extract the enediynes for use in research and the clinic.
"These are tamable microbes and this lays the groundwork for the amount of the molecule that you can produce through fermentation," says Shen. "Through genetic engineering, we can also now alter the enediynes' reactivity, and address issues of metabolism and production."
The work underpinning both the Shen and Thorson papers was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
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text: The theoretical notion of 'construal' captures the idea that the way in which we describe a scene reflects our conceptualization of it. Relying on the concept of ception - which conjoins conception and perception - we operationalized construal and employed a Visual World Paradigm to establish which aspects of linguistic scene description modulate visual scene perception, thereby affecting event conception. By analysing viewing behaviour after alternating ways of describing location (prepositions), agentivity (active/passive voice) and transfer (NP/PP datives), we found that the linguistic construal of a scene affects its spontaneous visual perception in two ways: either by determining the order in which the components of a scene are accessed or by modulating the distribution of attention over the components, making them more or less salient than they naturally are. We also found evidence for the existence of a cline in the construal effect with stronger expressive differences, such as the prepositional manipulation, inducing more prominent changes in visual perception than the dative manipulation. We discuss the claims language can lay to affecting visual information uptake and hence conceptualization of a static scene in the light of these results.


Antenna Length vs Frequency
During the course of my CCNA Wireless, I have become increasingly confused about the relation of length and frequency, and thanks to the community of experts on LinkedIn that confusion was cleared up quite quickly, so I thought I would share my understanding on this blog.
I remember in high school physics, when learning about how to generate a wave, one of the key determining factors was the antenna length – the length of the antenna had to match the wavelength (which can be folded nicely to 1/2, 1/4 wavelength etc) – It's quite logical; Wireless Communication and Sound have a lot in common, and in order to change the note of a length of vibrating material, you change the length.
For example – I always remember this one from an exam in my SATS, grab your nearest a862095c571cae9aa9b02eaf6f003e11ruler and hold it with the end on a desk, and the length hanging over the desk, then twang it.
Change the length of the ruler, you get a different note.
Why? Well, the reason is that the difference in the length of the ruler which is not supported by the table means the it can vibrate up and down less or more (Longer means it can move more freely, and shorter means it can move less) – the amount the ruler moves up and down is its oscillation – and the number of oscillation per second (Hz) is the frequency of the note you hear. The exact same applies to most musical instruments – in a piano its a small hammer hitting strings of different lengths and thicknesses, on a guitar its a finger changing the length of a string – it all applies. The key is that each sound is being generated by an input making an object oscillate at its resonating frequency.
So, back to the subject – how does this apply to wireless networking?
Well, a radio signal being emitted by an antenna is most effective at its resonating frequency. There's a formula for working this out:
Wavelength (Lambda) = Wave Velocity (v in meters per second) / Frequency (f in Hz)
The Wave Velocity, is the same for the vast majority of cases – it's the speed of light in a vacuum: 299792458 m/s.
So, for 2.4GHz channel 1, with a centre frequency of 2412 MHz, the Wavelength is 12.43cm (rounded).
A good and easy calculator can be found here.
Now, as you know, a radio can change frequency, just like a speaker can produce sounds of different notes – well the logic is exactly the same. Now, unlike a ruler, guitar or piano, the determining factor for a frequency with a speaker or antenna is the frequency of the current generated to the radiating element.
To generate a wave at 2412 MHz, the radio generates an Alternating current at 2412 MHz, which reaches the antenna and leaks into the air. Picture it like this, instead of your finger making the 'twang' its AC – that current is set by a radio, so an antenna tuned to that exact frequency would be most effective, but a radio tuned to operate at the entire 2.4GHz band can still leak frequencies for each channel, it just can't do it at is optimum.
Just to finalize, don't forget a heck of a lot of engineering has gone into the radios and the antenna design over decades which ensures these things can jump frequency as effectively as possible, just like a speaker can effectively produce many crisp and clear sounds – but even with speakers you still get Tweeters and Subs, as some frequencies are far better produced on devices which resonate closer to their intended frequency, for the same reason the majority of 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios are separate radiating elements, even with dual band sometimes its just 2 antenna of different characteristics crammed into one aerial!
To summarise – a wave forms better when it matches the physical characteristics of the wave, but it's not the be all and end all.
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st: Increase speed of -replaceFrom "" <>
To "" <>
Subject st: Increase speed of -replaceDate Thu, 8 May 2008 12:31:52 -0700
I am looking for a way to increase the speed of -replace-. I have a
long string variable consisting of several words that should be
reduced to a shorter string, depending on the text in each
observation. The problem can be reproduced with the auto data. Assume
that we want to replace the text in the variable "make" by a single
word. Assume further that the text we are looking for (e.g. "Chev.")
is not necessarily at the beginning of the string but that it can be
anywhere in the variable. My solution is shown below but it is slow
with more than 200 -replacecommands and about 150,000 observations.
Is there a faster solution?
sysuse auto
replace make = "AMC" if strpos(make,"AMC")>0
replace make = "Buick" if strpos(make,"Buick")>0
replace make = "Cadillac" if strpos(make,"Cad.")>0
replace make = "Chevrolet" if strpos(make,"Chev.")>0
replace make = "Dodge" if strpos(make,"Dodge")>0
* For searches and help try:
* For searches and help try:


text:
Continuing Education Quality Assurance Manager
- Job posted by American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
2200 Research Boulevard
The purpose of the position is to support the work of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association's (ASHA) Continuing Education (CE) program by ensuring there is quality and consistency in the daily functions performed by the individuals in the CE Accounts Manager and CE Provider Manager positions This incumbent reports directly to the Associate Director of CE Operations and is a liaison between the CE Account Managers, the CE Provider Managers, and the Associate Director of CE Operations.
- Develop, implement, and maintain standard operating procedures, policies, and processes related to the day-to-day operations to ensure quality and consistency.
- Serve as the lead technical and informational resource to Accounts Manager and Provider Manager team members. Work with teams to facilitate calibration and decision-making.
- Train CE Accounts Managers and Provider Mangers on position responsibilities, service delivery techniques, ASHA CE policies and procedures, and systems utilization.
- Identify and facilitate process improvements. Use data and trends to recommend and implement changes to processes and procedures.
- Assist in generating, updating, and disseminating reports and task schedules. Manage and document daily scheduling changes to ensure office coverage.
- Oversee the customer service experience. Troubleshoot escalated issues.
- Operate as a Provider Manager and Account Manager for a small caseload of new Providers and Providers with compliance challenges, ensuring consistency in the onboarding and retraining processes for Providers.
- Ensure CE Providers understand and implement processes needed to adhere to internal system restrictions, CEB requirements, and adult learning best practices.
Knowledge Typically Acquired Through
- Bachelor's degree
- Supervisory or demonstrated leadership experience
- Experience working with accreditation or standard based programs or regulatory bodies is preferred.
- Quality management experience is preferred; Have used tools, concepts and methodologies related to Quality Assurance
Scope and Depth of Technical Skills/Knowledge
- Collect and analyze data to inform business decisions
- Use an AMS and/or CMS database management system; experience with netForum, preferred
- Train adults
- Proficiently use Microsoft Office Suite, specifically Microsoft Excel and/or program management software, to produce reports including graphs and pivot tables
- Produce training materials, presentations, and business correspondence
- Manage process improvements, program/project management, and/or standards implementation
- Use adult learning principles and continuing education related best practices and standards
Scope and Depth of Non-Technical Skills/Knowledge
- Take initiative
- Use critical thinking and planning skills
- Build strong relationships, and work independently and as part of a team, excellent interpersonal skills
- Use communication skills, both orally and in writing;
- Organize and prioritize multiple complex projects/tasks and efficiently manage workload; is detail oriented
Health, Vision, Dental Insurance, Short Term & Long Term Disability, 401k, Wellness Classes, Flextime, Flexplace, Telecommuting, Carpool, Annual Leave, Sick Leave, Paid Holidays
Minimum Education Required


text:
Please support this cause:
The 1940 United States Federal Census will be released digitally on April 2, 2012. On that day, millions of genealogists and family historians across American are at risk of developing a rare, yet debilitating disease known as Census Fever. As this malady is extremely contagious, those effected will be forced to remain at home for an unspecified period of time, thus negatively impacting this nation's Gross National Product (GNP) and overall economy.
Therefore, to protect the United States' standing in the global economy and possibly prevent another Great Depression-type event, we at Ruth's Genealogy respectfully request that April 2, 2012 be deemed a federal holiday known as Enumeration Day.
DO THE RIGHT THING!


text:
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Unformatted text preview: t is frequently diﬃcult to factor a polynomial of degree
greater than 2. Outline Solving Polynomial Equations Solving Rational Equations Rational Exponents Examples Example
Solve the following polynomial equations.
x 3 = 13x 2 − 42x.
x 4 − 81 = 0.
x 6 − 2x 4 − x 2 + 2 = 0. Hint: Factor by grouping. Applications Outline Solving Polynomial Equations Solving Rational Equations Rational Exponents Applications Rational Equations
A rational equation is an equation that can be written in the form
an x n + an−1 x n−1 + · · · + a2 x 2 + a1 x + a0
bm x m + bm−1 x m−1 + · · · + b2 x m + b1 x + b0
where n, m are nonnegative integers, a0, a1, a2,..., an−1, an and
b0, b1, b2,..., bn−1, bn are real number constants.
To solve a rational equation, we factor, simplify, then use the
zero product property to ﬁnd the solutions of the equation in
Check your answers! It is possible to get extraneous solutions
(values that are not true solutions). Outline Solving Polynomial Equations Solving Rational Equations Examples Example
View Full Document


The Congress in Uruguay has passed a bill allowing adoption by gay and lesbian couples to adopt children.
The legislation is expected to pass in the Senate, where the ruling party has a majority.
The Senate will vote on the bill next month.
In December 2007, Uruguay's parliament passed legislation to recognise same-sex civil unions.
The country of 3.6m people was the first nation in South America to grant such protections, although some cities and regions throughout the continent have made similar legal provisions.
The Congress passed legislation creating a civil union registry for same-sex and unmarried heterosexual couples who have lived together for at least five years.
In May Uruguay lifted a ban on gays serving in its military.
The ban was imposed under the 1973-85 military dictatorship. Under it, people with "open sexual deviations", which includes homosexuality, were banned from entering the military academies.
The ban also included homosexuality among the "mental illnesses and disorders" that legally made a person unsuitable to join the armed forces.
Gay adoption has been opposed by the Roman Catholic Church in Uruguay.
Archbishop of Montevideo Nicolas Cotugno told the Catholic News Agency:
"The adoption of children by homosexual couples is not a question of religion, philosophy or sociology. It has to do with respect for human nature itself.
"To accept the adoption of children by homosexual couples is to go against human nature itself, and consequently, it is to go against the fundamental rights of the human being as a person."


Researchers develop smart 'Chesma' that tracks eye movements
New York, August 21 (IANS) Scientists, including one of Indian-origin, have developed smart eyewear to track eye movement and cardiac data without compromising users comfort.
The eyewear known as 'Chesma' provides accurate measurements in an everyday environment for physiological and psychological studies.
"Our mask can track people's eye movement as they're shown images, so you can start to understand what they're paying attention to, for how long, whether they keep finding other places to look," said senior author Trisha L Andrew from University of Massachusetts Amherst in the US.
Current technology for eye movement tracking relies on electrooculography (EOG), a technique designed over 50 years ago to measure the eye's electrical potential changes.
"The problem is that you have to stick those adhesive electrodes on your face. But people tend to be a little finicky about stuff put on their face, unsurprisingly," Andrew said in a paper published in the journal Matter.
One challenge in designing smart wearable is developing products that provide both accuracy and comfort.
To achieve that, the research team developed a novel hydrogel electrode by growing polymers on fabrics.
Reaching the nooks and cranny of the fibre pattern, the hydrogel polymer bonds to and covers the fabric's topology, resulting in a mechanically stable coating that is imperceptible to one's eye and touch, the team said.
They then combined these hydrogel electrodes with a pulse sensor to create an eye mask that can track eye movements and collect cardiac signals from the artery located at the brow bone.
"Our team was able to really address that core problem to create a garment that you would be willing to wear and give you clinically accurate results when you use it," Andrew said.
One clinical use of the mask might be to monitor sleep.
One of the biggest classifiers between sleep stages is how radically you move your eyes," she said.
"We could correlate some of these sleep stages and also start to understand whether you have sleep disorder problems or if you have some underlying heart rate issues," Andrew informed.
Besides performing as well as the adhesive clinical electrodes currently in use, the hydrogel electrodes used in 'Chesma' are extremely durable.
The hydrogel can resist long-term build-up from makeup, pollution, and skin waste that may fault the electrodes, as well as withstand 15 laundry cycles.
The researchers found that Chesma's signal did not display any degradation after six hours of continuous use without rehydrating the hydrogel, suggesting that it could be worn for long periods of time.
The research team now aims to reduce the power demand of the device, which would allow users to charge the device once every three nights instead of every 8 hours.


Lunatic States
Last Updated: 2012.01.30
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This script provides the base setup for state lunatic effects. These effects will occur under certain conditions, which can include when a state is applied, erased, leaves naturally, before taking damage, after taking damage, at the start of a turn, while an action finishes, and at the end of a turn.
Lunatic States allow allow states to trigger various scripted functions throughout certain set periods of times or when certain conditions trigger. These effects can occur when a state is applied, when a state is erased, when a state leaves naturally, before damage is taken, after damage is taken, at the beginning of a turn, while the turn is occuring, and at the closing of a turn. These effects are separated by these eight different notetags.
 - Occurs when state is applied.
 - Occurs when state is removed.
 - Occurs when state timer hits 0.
 - Occurs before taking damage.
 - Occurs after taking damage.
 - Occurs at the start of each turn.
 - Occurs after performing an action.
 - Occurs at the end of a turn.
If multiple tags of the same type are used in the same skill/item's notebox, then the effects will occur in that order. Replace "string" in the tags with the appropriate flag for the method below to search for. Note that unlike the previous versions, these are all upcase.
Should you choose to use multiple lunatic effects for a single state, you may use these notetags in place of the ones shown above.
 - Punishment Package
 - Undead HP, Undead MP, Backfire Physical, Backfire Magical, Stat Slip Damage, Stat Slip Healing, Drain HP, Drain MP
 - Protection Package
 - Damage Cut, Damage Barrier, Damage Shelter, Damage Block, Heal Boost, Heal Bonus, Persist
Use your Lunatic Effects wisely!
And that's all, folks!
64 comments on "Lunatic States
 1. Pingback: YSA Battle Add-on – Party Combo Counter « Yami World
 2. Is it possible to deal unhealable damage? For example, by decreasing HP as well as maximum HP at the same time by the amount of damage dealt? I mean, you can have MORE damage, you can have FAST damage and you can have CERTAIN damage with your skill, but what about UNHEALABLE damage? :)
 3. I have a question. There are states that are removed when the battle ends. Does the "erase" effect covers that too?
 From my experiments the answer should be "No" as the effect I want doesn't gappen after the battle ends (though it works fine if the state is removed during battle), but maybe I'm just doing something wrong…?
 - Well, no idea.
 The "erase effect" still doesn't work upon battle end for some reason, even though I fail to detect anything wrong with the script…
 - That's because when they're removed at the end of battle, it's no longer considered in-battle. Lunatic State effects only occur in-battle.
 4. Pingback: XP Battlebacks «.:: Tieris Illia ::.
 5. Pingback: Ramiro + RMVXA = ♥
 6. I'm sorry that I need to ask this and it might be a stupid question, but for some reason I don't really understand what I need to replace "string" with. If I want to make a "death sentence"-state for example, the owner of the state should die after a set number of turns, which could be achieved by using the ""-command. The problem that I have is that even after hours of trial and error, I still don't know what I need to write instead of "string" in that case. Is there a list of commands that I didn't see for some reason or does the sentence "but the users must be able to add them in themselves" mean that I need to edit the script with my own commands? Maybe I'm just thinking too complicated…
 I would really appreciate any kind of help, since I'm kind of desperate trying to find out what to do.
 7. Well i want to increase a variable x while being attacked if stat is on.
 thougth it would work like this :
 But basicly nothing happens. what is wrong about the string? When i do "$game_variables[x] += 1" to an events comment it counts the variable correctly.
 8. Does anyone know how to make a state deal a precise amount of elemental damage? I hate working with the health slip % and want to make it a static number.
 9. I think I'm pretty much at the level where I can use the Lunatic stuff now. =O Looking at what you can do with this, I'm just so happy to see this now.
 Oh Yanfly, how I love your specific preferences for setting up scripts to make battles more unique and interesting instead of just visually appealing~ <3
 10. Is it possible to use this script to create doom and auto-life states using a script call in the notetag? I'm no scripter by any means, but here is an example of what I was thinking.
 add_new_state(state ID)
 Something like this would be placed in the note box of the doom state so that after the set number of turns were up and the doom state is removed, it will then add the state associated to state ID.
 remove_state(state ID)
 actor_MHP = x%
 Something like this could be used to make an auto-life state. The character has auto-life on, when said character dies the state is erased which triggers the specified state (which would be Death) to be removed, and the player to have x% of max HP restored.
 As I said, I am definitely not a scripter, but if there is a way to do this, or some other method in existence, could you help me get on the right track? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 I have looked into the add-ons developed by pillanious, but they do not work.
 11. Sorry for the double post. My examples were supposed to contain the "" tags like this:
 add_new_state(state ID)
 remove_state(state ID)
 actor_MHP = x%
 12. I'm having the same problem as Skywad for playing an animation for the state, have tried both
 _USER_ = 7
 could you tell me what I'm doing wrong?
 13. Thanks for your marvelous posting! I quite enjoyed reading it,
 your great posts, have a nice weekend!
 14. Could one use this script to create a two-turn skill, like Jump from the Final Fantasy games or Dig and Fly from Pokemon?
 Eg: use the skill Jump, which adds the Airborne state to the user, and when the user leaves the state on the next turn, they automatically attack an enemy.
 Is this doable?
 15. I'm thinking it should be possible to set up an entire party as the state origin (so for example an attacker could inflict an HP drain that heals her entire party instead of just herself) but I'm unsure how to implement it. I'm looking in
 # new method: change_state_origin
 # new method: state_origin?
 and pretty certain that is where it would need to be added (plus I made up a new Party Drain effect in the Punishment Package, "when /PDRAIN HP").
 ATM it works, but still only heals the caster.
 - _USER_: I have been working on something similar, the concept being this:
 An actor has a shield which lets you, when attacked, have a chance at activating an ability, which would restore every party member's HP by a small amount. I have tried with equipment that, when attacked, has a chance to cast a state on the targeted actor themself, but I can't seem to be getting those to work. I'm using the Passive States script in conjunction with Lunatic States for this:
 if c>=10
 I couldn't be assed to write it all in one line, and I don't know how Ruby's Syntax works THAT well. Can anyone with experience tell me what I am doing wrong, with this effect? ( … The state_id there is purely coincidential. I swear. D: )
 16. Yanfly, I don't know if you still monitor this, but there are two major bugs in this script that you might want to be aware of:
 1) On line 505 you have for state in states, then it calls the extension, which then also has a for state in states! What this does is it loops through the states n^2 times, where n is the number of states present! This causes weird effects with your other scripts, which you can


text:
Introduction to Redis
Redis is a key-value database that has very nice features which every computer scientist love it.
Why I love Redis?
- Redis give the data structure like all computer scientist learn in the school such as Set, sorted set, List, and Hash. So you don't need to think in SQL anymore.
- Redis is very fast it can gives you the performance about 50,000 to 100,000 operation per second in basic basic computers (2GHz CPU with 2GB RAM).
- you can install Redis in 2 minutes. (Linux and Windows)
- It's written in ANSI-C so you can easily pick the source code (Yes, it's open source!) and modify the code if you want.
- There are native clients for almost every language (include Python, Ruby and PHP) and Yes, you don't need Thrift.
- You can setup master-slave replication of Redis in 2 minutes.
- Redis has great community lead by Salvatore Sanfilippo. (also check Redis Google group)
- Redis is great for large scale web programming without need of MySQL. (Check Retwis )
- Redis is very easy to learn.
Where should I start the basic?
- First download the source code from Github or Google code.
- Second compile the source code (basically just type./make)
- Download and install your language client if you prefer to work with Redis from your language here is list all language.
- Run Redis server — $./redis-server — (Redis use port # 6379 by default)
- Run Redis client – $./redis-cli – and enter follow commands to see "Hello World!"
1- > set foo bar
2- > get foo
3- > lpush myList world!
4- > lpush myList Hello
5- > lpop myList
6- > lpop myList
In line 1, we set the key name "foo" to the value "bar"
In line 2, we get the value for the key name "foo" so the return value is "bar"
In line 3, we (left) push the value "world!" to the list "myList"
In line 4, we (left) push the value "Hello" to the list "myList"
In line 5, we (left) pop the value from "myList" and the return value is "Hello"
In line 6, we (left) pop the value from "myList" and the return value is "world!"
Now, you get the idea how Redis works, so lets do one real project in Python and Redis.
Can I see Redis in real project?
Yes, In this project I want to design a program that get the RSS from source, then parse the RSS and send the title of each news to Twitter.
What you need to do before start to code?
2- Twitter python library (included in package)
Next: Enter the following code in your favorite text editor and save the file.
import redis,twitter import yahoo.yql def getandset(): ''' Get the weather condition for WOID=_PHONE_ and save in the database''' q = yahoo.yql.YQLQuery().execute('select * from rss where url="_URL_ temp = q["query"]["results"]["item"]["condition"]["temp"] text = q["query"]["results"]["item"]["condition"]["text"] date = q["query"]["results"]["item"]["condition"]["date"] _TAG_ high = q["query"]["results"]["item"]["forecast"]['high'] low = q["query"]["results"]["item"]["forecast"]['low'] r = redis.Redis('localhost') r.set('weather:current:temp', temp) r.set('weather:current:cond', text.lower()) r.set('weather:tomorrow:high', high) r.set('weather:tomorrow:low', low) def post(): API = twitter.Api(username = "YOUR TWITTER USERNAME", password = 'YOUR TWITTER PASSWORD') r = redis.Redis('localhost') temp = r.get('weather:current:temp') cond = r.get('weather:current:cond') tom_high = r.get('weather:tomorrow:high') tom_low = r.get('weather:tomorrow:low') if (temp or cond or tom_high or tom_low): tweet = 'Currently %s F and %s at %s. Tomorrow: high %s F, low: %s F' name = 'West Lafayette' tweet = tweet % (temp, cond, name, tom_high, tom_low) print tweet print "Posting...." API.PostUpdate(tweet) print "Done!" if __name__ == '__main__': getandset() post()


text:
The 180th meridian or antimeridian is the meridian which is 180° east or west of the Prime Meridian with which it forms a great circle. It is common to both east longitude and west longitude. It is used as the basis for the International Date Line because it for the most part passes through the open waters of the Pacific Ocean. However, the meridian passes through Russia and Fiji as well as Antarctica.
Country, territory or sea Notes Arctic Ocean Russia Wrangel Island Chukchi Sea Russia Chukotka Autonomous Okrug Bering Sea Amchitka Pass Passing just east of Semisopochnoi Island, Alaska, United States (at ) Pacific Ocean Passing just east of Nukulaelae atoll, Tuvalu (at )
Passing just west of the island of Cikobia, Fiji (at )
Fiji Islands of Vanua Levu, Rabi, and Taveuni Pacific Ocean Passing just east of the island of Moala, Fiji (at )
Passing just west of the island of Totoya, Fiji (at )
Passing just east of the island of Matuku, Fiji (at )
Southern Ocean Antarctica Ross Dependency, claimed by New Zealand
The meridian also passes between (but not particularly close to):
- the Gilbert Islands and the Phoenix Islands islands of Kiribati;
- between North Island and the Kermadec Islands of New Zealand;
- between the Bounty Islands and the Chatham Islands, also of New Zealand.
See also


text:
they had to keep that knowledge hidden, therefore, they altered and anagrammatized the Turkish expression to come up with the name "STONEHENGE".
Alternatively, the name STONEHENGE, rearranged letter-by-letter as "GON-ENE-TESH", is a restuctured, Anglicized form of the Turkish expression "GÜN ANI TAŞ" or "GÜN TAŞ ANI " meaning "Sun monument in stone".
Stonehenge is very much a sun-emulating religious structure made in an "EYE" (i. e., Turkish "GÖZ") format. In the language of ancient Turanians, that is, Turkish, the Sun was called "eye" of the Sky God.
Turkish word GÜN (GÜNEŞ) means "sun", ANIT means "monument", ANI means "monument, reminder, remembrance", TAŞ means "stone".
The Sonehenge monument is claimed by the ancient native peoples called DRUIDS as being a monument done by their ancestors. The name Druid is defined as "a priest, magician, or soothsayer in the ancient Celtic religion. A member of a present-day group claiming to represent or be derived from this religion". DERIVATIVES of the name are Druidic (adjective), Druidical(adjective), Druidism (noun). ORIGIN from Latin druidae, druides (plural), from Gaulish; related to Irish draoidh 'magician, sorcerer.' [Oxford American Dictionaries.]
The name DRUID, rearranged letter-by-letter as "DUR-ID", is an altered, restuctured, Anglicized form of the Turkish expression"TUR IDI" (TURK IDI) meaning "he/she was TUR", "He/she was TURK". Ancient Turanian SHAMANS (i.e., "KAM" in Turkish) are regarded as "magicians" and "soothsayers" by the westerners, although they were known as highly enlightened and specialized "medicine men". Actually, the name SHAMAN is from Turkish word "IŞIMAN" meaning "man of light", that is, the "enlightened man".
Even the name DRUIDIC, rearranged letter-by-letter as "DURC-IDI", is an altered, restuctured and Anglicized form of the Turkish expression "TÜRK IDI" (TUR IDI) meaning "he/she was TURK", "He/she was TUR".
So this shows that the ancestors of Druids were Turkish speaking Turanian Tur/Turk/Oguz peoples who were living some 5,000 + years ago in what is presently known as the so-called "British Islands" or "Brittania". This is another proof that the ancient world was a truly Turanian world before the Turanians in the continent of "Europe" were Aryanized and their Tur/Turk/Oguz identity obliterated by the invading so-called "Indo-Aryans" or "Europeans". Ancient native peoples of "Europe" were Turkish speaking Turanian Tur/Turk/Oguz peoples - contrary to all kinds of denial explanations that have been designed to change the ancient Turanian history of the world. Even the name SCOT of Scotland, is an altered form of the Turkish name ISKIT, that is, the ancientSAKA Turks, who retain their original name in a semblence format.
In concluding, it can be said that the Göbekli Tepe
civilization artifacts are most likely a small portion of the ancient
Turanian civilization that has recently shined back into daylight. It is
part of an ancient world wide civilization of Turanian Tur/Turk/Oguz peoples
that were much earlier in time
than the later Aryan "Indo-European"
and "Semitic" civilizations. These late-comer Aryans and Semites made sure
that they not only usurped every aspect of the ancient Turanian
civilization, but that they also destroyed and obliterated the Turanians in
every way possible - so that the world would not be aware of that very
ancient civilization. Much of the obliteration was done by altering and
restructuring the Turanian Turkish language into different formats as
referred to in Genesis 11.
I also shared my observations of the pictures from both the Göbekli Tepe findings and also from much older findings at Malta, a Central Asian region of Altai Mountains, and from the Sumerians - and compared them with each other. They all seem linked to each other. Labeling these ancient people of Göbekli Tepe as "hunter-gatherers" (as some have done) is a very unfair and unwarranted put-down in view of the artifacts that they left behind. It is fair to say that the Göbekli Tepe civilization was much more advanced than any hunter-gatherer society would be.
In addition to Göbekli Tepe findings, the Turanian artifacts found at Malta, near lake Baikal, Central Asia make the ancient Turanian civilization older than 15,000 years.
This concludes my study (at present) of the Göbekli Tepe findings.
1. Esin Atil, "The Age of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent", National Gallery of Art, Washington, Harry N, Abrams, Inc., New York, 1987.
Best wishes to to you and to all,
Dear sir, I have been reading some of your material at _URL_ I was wondering what your view on Gobekli Tepe is, as it may seem a perfect fit for you that there was an advanced civilisation there maybe more than 10.000 years ago. Best regards, Thomas Roed Jakobsen Sendt fra min iPhone


the requirements to decomposed features– justifying the work actually being done. In traditional documentation methodologies, a traceability matrix is used to bridge the gap between an SRS and a design document or work the developers are actually performing. Unfortunately, a gap exists. A bridge is needed. Ultimately, this indicates a potential for duplicated work at best and a full time job to maintain at worst.
Traceability breaks quickly as an SRS is not maintained, or as the pace of the developers picks up speed or pivots or for a variety of reasons. Traceability is important to help maintain a cohesive vision and maintain accountability throughout the project.
Maintaining all requirements in the issue tracker from the beginning of a project allows full transparency and traceability for developers and project managers. Features can be marked as sub-cases of specific parent requirement cases. Bugs or research or other tasks can be entered as sub-cases to the parent requirement case as well. In this manner, a developer working on a specific case down the tree can always follow the tree back to better understand why and how this case fits in with the development effort.
Pulling requirements from the issue tracker is a dynamic process. Whenever a requirements document is pulled from the issue tracker, it is pulling the current version of the requirements. In FogBugz, the script will only pull the most recent event (block of text) of a Requirement case. Once the data is changed, a user can manually trigger the script, or the script can be automated in a fashion to fit the needs of the organization's workflow.
Requirement history
Looking at the case detail will show the history or commentary and entries for the content of the requirement. A user can see exactly how a requirement has changed over time. If the users document why a change is made, they will also see the justifications (or rationalizations) for the changes. If a version control system like Kiln is a part of the workflow, then the history can also be stored in the changesets. The ability to view the historical change of requirements allows a user to go back to any version of any requirement at will. This can be done for an individual requirement at the case level, or for an entire document at the version control level.
Set Up
This process hinges on a few features of an issue tracker. FogBugz allows a user to create custom case categories. The defaults are: Bug, Feature, Inquiry, Schedule Item. Add "Requirement" as a category. It is helpful to also add custom statuses for the new category.
Active Status:
 - Proposed
 - Approved
Resolved Status:
 - Implemented
 - Duplicate
 - Removed
 - Void
 - Verify
Customize the category and statuses to better fit the workflow at the organization. Within FogBugz, existing projects can retrofit to work with this method; designate a "Requirement" case as a "Parent Case" of other existing cases.
The comments in the Requirements case are kept in Markdown format. In this way, they are ready to be incorporated into an overall Markdown SRS as atomic chunks of requirements. If a requirement changes, one only needs to edit one piece as opposed to the whole document.
I chose Markdown because it is plain text. When the source is plain text, it can be versioned efficiently, moved around to different tools effectively, and output to many different formats. The documentation system I have set up for our workflow will output our versioned SRS, design documents, technical documentation, etc. to HTML on an internal site for internal consumption, a PDF for client delivery, and a Word file.
Python Script
The Python script that controls everything is rather simple. It can be found on my GitHub site.
The script requires you run pip install fogbugz.
The script consists of three primary functions:
 - Get the cases from FogBugz
 - Translate the XML to formatted Markdown
 - Writes the Markdown to a file.
All the script needs to run is the location of the FogBugz instance, a valid token, and the name of a valid project.
For my plain text documentation workflow, it is critical this whole process can be automated and tied into our build server and automatic "build" actions for our documentation repositories.
 2014-08-14T06:58:11-04:00 _URL_ Twice a month, we gather as team to listen to one of our members present on a topic. These topics range from "HTTP" to "Requirements Gathering Best Practices" to "Software Development Methodologies." We do not focusing on expert-level knowledge nor on measuring the effectiveness of the speaker. It is a safe place for us to discuss a topic that may or may not be related to our immediate field of work. These presentations serve two primary functions (and one tertiary):
 - The individual presenting learns a lot about a topic in order to present it to their peers.
 - The team builds trust as they participate in a shared learning experience.
 - Everyone gets to eat :)
The presenter may spend 4-8 hours preparing for the presentation. Preparation involves creating slides, tutorials, sample code, demos, etc. The presenter is not required to be an expert in the subject on which they are presenting. In fact, there may be someone else on the team who would be better suited to present on the particular topic; the goal is to increase everyone at every level, not just the few.
Since everyone takes a turn in the hot seat, each person on the team quickly learns how to facilitate a positive experience for the audience as well as the presenter. People presenting learn to rely on discussion and audience exploration the presentations spark to guide the session.
We present on subjects on which we may not have expertise, we make ourselves vulnerable to one another– this vulnerability is a critical state that can build immense trust between team members. Through these presentations we begin to break down a culture of "having to be right about everything", and introduce a culture of connections and exploration.
The culture of trust and exploration bleeds into our project work. We invest the time with one another to demonstrate we are each thoughtful, continuous learners with respect for one another's different styles and approaches to our work. Thus junior developers can present ideas (or kernels of ideas) and the team listens. The team may not implement said ideas, but they listen and because of the presentation experiences have a better handle on how to discuss (or redirect) ideas from one another. We also learn the best approaches to interact with one another in mission-critical discussions from the non-mission-critical "lunch and learns."
The knowledge exchanges provide an opportunity to practice directing meetings and discussions, conflict resolution, managing tangents, and learning individual styles and temperaments in a real-world setting with low stakes where each person can feel comfortable and safe. The topics directly impact the work being done (even if seemingly unrelated), and the structure directly impacts our ability to work together as a cohesive team.
 2012-03-12T08:03:04-04:00 _URL_ Waking up as a consumer, will focus you on tasks based on filling your brain with fluff. It's an empty pursuit, and waking up to it prepares your mind to chase after the next update, rather than create the next update. To what end is the consumption?
On the other hand, waking up as a producer will set your mind into a productive mode. You will train your brain to make connections and build not sit back and absorb. Your day will center around the creative process.
Writing is not the only way to produce; focused study of a subject without a direct written result accomplishes the goal and sets the appropriate mindset. The initial task undertaken will set the direction and tone of your thoughts for the day.
via Lifehacker
 2011-11-26T14:08:48-05:00 _URL_ While dynamically generating a PDF using the iText PDF library, I ran into a bit of a snag with the table of contents. In order for iText to properly generate a table of contents, the PDF has to be finished; otherwise the code has no way of knowing what page the referenced content is on. There are several good tutorials on generating the table of contents, and then reordering the pages so the table of contents is the first page. Unfortunately, there was not much help out there on how to make the table of contents the second page. I had a title page, so I could not switch it with the first.
What I ended up doing was building on the reorder algorithm. The following allows for multiple page table of contents, and starts the table of contents on the second page.
//When you add your table of contents, get its page number for the reordering:
int toc = writer.getPageNumber();
// always add to a new page before reordering pages.
// get the total number of pages that needs to be reordered
int total = writer.reorderPages(null);
// change the order
int[] order = new int[total];
for (int i = 0; i < total; i++) {
 if (i == 0){
 order[i] = 1;
 } else if (i == 1){
 order [i] = toc;
 } else {
 order[i] = (i - 1) + toc


text: Waterless urinals are truly waterless. They don't use some water, or a little water. They use no water. So the amount of water you can conserve by installing one is essentially equal to the amount of water used by the urinal it replaces. Most urinals in use today use somewhere between 1 and 3 gallons (3.7 to 11.3 liters) of water for each flush [source: Reichardt]. That variance is so large because older urinals use a lot more water, and newer ones tend to use less (because of an increased focus on conservation). Urinals produced during the 1990s and '00s use closer to 1 or 1.25 gallons per flush [source: Stumpf]. Some extremely low-flow fixtures use even less. Older urinals can use closer to 3 or 3.5 gallons (11.3 to 13.2 liters) of water for each flush [source: Stumpf]. Other variables include the amount of use the urinal gets. A urinal in a busy office where 100-plus men work will use more water than one located in a small restaurant or gas station. Taking all of the variables into account, a single urinal in a workplace with a few dozen employees can save about 45,000 gallons (about 170,000 liters) of water per year [source: Stumpf].