text:
Specification Driven Intelligent P&ID Design Software
CADISON® Piping and instrumentation design software - P&ID Designer is a comprehensive solution for creation of PFD/P&ID, Instrumentation (measurements, hook-up's, I/O's), specifications and calculations (media, pipe specification, pump sizing, pipe sizing, etc.) and report generation.
It is a rule-based P&ID engineering solution that effectively supports an engineer to accurately design a plant as per engineering standards (DIN, EN ISO 10628, ANSI, etc.) and also provide flexibility to configure the system as per company standards.
This P&ID software allows project planning processes and diagrams to merge seamlessly in such a way that all project related data is dynamically available to the users. This in turn allows integration of all preliminary project planning done earlier with basic and detail engineering, and then merged with two-dimensional layout planning. Of course, access to projects/information prepared by use of other modules is possible as well, such as Project Engineer and the objects may be easily inserted in the flow chart by means of Drag & Drop. Its seamless integration with other disciplines such as Electrical Designer and 3D designer ensures data consistency and accuracy across the project life-cycle.
Rapid creation of basic, process and P&ID flow charts based on database environment:
- Object based project structuring and hierarchy creation of plant structures (logical plant, calculation, media specs, etc.). For example, the drive is subordinate to the pump
- Built-in Project Data/Document Manager (PDM) for quick creation and tracking of projects, documents, revisions, etc.
- Comprehensive selection of symbol libraries & catalogs (as per EN, ISO10628, ANSI, etc.) for easy placement in drawing, along with 'Symbol Editor' to create new symbols (with process information)
- Pipelines can be created with corresponding information such as media, pipe class, etc.
- Flow direction management and consistency check over multiple drawings
- Placement of pre-defined assemblies (construction set) using 'Drag & Drop'. (Example: Heat exchanger and nozzles, stop valves, pump groups, vessel groups, etc.)
- Rapid and easy change between different standards and freely definable identification system/Tagging such as DIN, KKS, etc.
- Cross references across various drawings
- Built-in validation tool 'Logic Analyzer' to do connectivity checks, design rules checks to maintain consistency and quality. It also helps to track the changes available for all users.
- A P&ID created can be exported as AutoCAD.dwg file
Integrated Instrumentation features for defining at P&ID stage:
- Definition of measuring points
- Placing of instrumentation components (from symbol libraries) with field devices and signals
- Managing all object information in one common database, thereby improving the information flow between process planning and instrumentation
- Your electric circuit diagrams are aligned directly with the parameters from the process engineering
- Balance the circuit diagrams using the parameters from the process engineering
- Drag and Drop feature to create automatic loop wiring diagram
- Predefined measuring point structure in the form of 'Typicals'
- Use of Pre-fabricated 'Typicals' for automatic graphic generation (Hookups) and presentation of instrumentation in the measuring-point chart
Integrated Pipeline Sizing and Utility Pump Sizing calculations for optimum estimation and selection of equipment at P&ID stage:
- Pipe sizing calculation accurately estimates the pipe diameter, pipe thickness and the pressure drop in the pipes, with this user can determine the diameter of pipe based on flow and acceptable velocity
- Following formulas/standards are adopted in calculation
- Pressure Drop Calculation (using Darcy-Weisbach Equation)
- ASME B31.1-2004 standard for Power Piping to calculate pipe thickness
- ASME B31.3-2004 standard for Process Piping to calculate pipe thickness
- Users can select appropriate pump with Pump Sizing feature of CADISON®. Pump sizing calculation does the hydraulic calculation for a centrifugal pump and estimates differential head, hydraulic power, motor power, NPSH available, etc.
- The pump size calculation is based on flow rate, total differential head, discharge static head, suction static head, and frictional head losses, pump power parameters, etc.
- Pump calculation automatically identifies suction and discharge side pipelines from P&ID based on the connection points
CADISON® P&ID has built-in report generator for accurate reports and datasheets
- Integrated Report Generator enables users to generate various types of reports (valve lists, equipment lists, measurement lists, etc)
- Easily create datasheets in.XLSX, PDF, word format using existing templates
- User can pre-configure the report formats as per company standards
CADISON® P&ID Designer enables users to do conceptual cost estimation at P&ID stage itself
- Users can build project structures with objects (equipments) that have cost and vendor-specific details associated with them
- Cost estimating data structure can be created by using chapters and positions with object(s) /equipment(s) information for extracting reports. at P&ID level
- P&ID Designer can also integrates with ERP through customized interface
Comprehensive Symbol Catalogues :
Comprehensive selection of symbol libraries & catalogs (as per EN, ISO10628, ANSI, etc.) for easy placement in drawing. Users can also create new symbols with process information using 'Symbol Editor' feature of CADISON® P&ID Designer.
During positioning of main objects, drives are graphically positioned as own objects and automatically linked with the associated main object. Pipe nozzles on tanks and vessels may be allocated to the tanks or vessels as subordinated objects. After connection of pipeline they are automatically given the diameter of pipeline. Moreover, manholes are treated as own objects and displayed separately from the tank nozzles.
Automatic Tagging/Labeling Assignment:
All positioned valves & fittings and the equipment are automatically given definite tagging (e.g. DIN or KKS). Reduced manual work for Tagging/labeling by using information from objects and placing it (following your company rules and standards).
Cross Reference Feature:
Cross-reference objects are available for cross-sheet processing that are consistently updated even in case the drawing data are changed (sheet numbers, drawing number etc.).
Dynamic Adaptation of Flow Direction
Pipelines and accessories (valves and fittings, tees etc.) have their definite flow direction. Butterfly valves, pumps etc. will automatically respond.
Automatic Path Finding
Being an integral module, CADISON® P&ID-Designer offers the automatic path finding system. Thus more rapid navigation is possible so that simulations and process optimization can be accomplished.
Integrated Report Generator
All data created by means of CADISON® P&ID-Designer can be issued by the integrated report generator in most different forms and formats. This could for instance be a list of valves and fittings or a preliminary computation for calculation of the required quantity structure.


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|Indotyphlus maharashtraensis |
Giri, Gower & Wilkinson, 2004
A new species of Indian caeciliid caecilian, Indotyphlus maharashtraensis (Amphibia: Gymnophiona), is described based on a series of 12 specimens from the northern Western Ghats of the State of Maharashtra. This species differs from the only other species in the genus, I. battersbyi, in having fewer primary annuli, many more primary annuli bearing secondary annular grooves, and in the presence of a modified subterminal region that has a depressed preanal strip extending anteriorly from around the vent. A key to the species of Indotyphlus is provided.
Key words: caecilians, Gegeneophis, herpetology, Indotyphlus battersbyi, South Asia, systematics
|FIGURE 2. Photographs of Indotyphlus maharashtraensis, showing whole adult (upper) and lateral view of head of same specimen (lower left) in life, and ventral view of terminus of paratopotype male BNHS 4223 in preservation (lower right).|
Diagnosis: An Indotyphlus differing from I. battersbyi in having secondary annular
grooves present anterior to the 100th primary annulus behind the nuchal collars, and in
having a depressed preanal strip (longer in adult males) anterior to the disc surrounding the vent.
Etymology: The species is named for Maharashtra, the Indian State within which the type locality lies.
V. Giri, D.J. Gower and M. Wilkinson. 2004. A New Species of Indotyphlus Taylor (Amphibia: Gymnophiona: Caeciliidae) from the Western Ghats, India. Zootaxa. 739: 1-19.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


of gold. 2 nálikas are equal to 1 muhúrta. 15 muhúrtas are equal to 1 day or 1 night.
Such a day and night happen in the months of Chaitra and Asvayuja. Then after the period of six months it increases or diminishes by three muhúrtas.
When the length of shadow is eight paurushas (96 angulas), it is 1/18th part of the day.
When it is 6 paurushas (72 angulas), it is 1/14th part of the day; when 4 paurushas, 1/8th part; when 2 paurushas, 1/6th part; when 1 paurusha, ¼th part; when it is 8 angulas, 3/10th part (trayodasabhágah); when 4 angulas, 3/8th part; and when no shadow is cast, it is to be considered midday.
Likewise when the day declines, the same process in reverse order shall be observed.
It is in the month of Ashádha that no shadow is cast in midday. After Ashádha, during the six months from Srávana upwards, the length of shadow successively increases by two angulas and during the next six months from Mágha upwards, it successively decreases by two angulas.
Fifteen days and nights together make up one paksha. That paksha during which the moon waxes is white (sukla) and that paksha during which the moon wanes is bahula.
Two pakshas make one month (mása). Thirty days and nights together make one work-a-month (prakarmamásah). The same (30 days and nights) with an additional half a day makes one solar month (saura).
The same (30) less by half a day makes one lunar month (chandramása).
Twenty-seven (days and nights) make a sidereal month (nakshatramása).
Once in thirty-two months there comes one malamása profane month, i.e., an extra month added to lunar year to harmonise it with the solar.
Once in thirty-five months there comes a malamása for Asvaváhas.
Once in forty months there comes a malamása for hastiváhas.
Two months make one ritu (season).
Srávana and proshthapada make the rainy season (varshá).
Asvayuja and Kárthíka make the autumn (sarad).
Márgasírsha and Phausha make the winter (hemanta).
Mágha and Phalguna make the dewy season (sisira).
Chaitra and Vaisákha make the spring (vasanta).
Jyeshthámúlíya and Ashádha make the summer (grishma).
Seasons from sisira and upwards are the summer-solstice (uttaráyana), and (those) from varshá and upwards are the winter solstice (dakshináyana). Two solstices (ayanas) make one year (samvatsara). Five years make one yuga.
The sun carries off (harati) 1/60th of a whole day every day and thus makes one complete day in every two months (ritau). Likewise the moon (falls behind by 1/60th of a whole day every day and falls behind one day in every two months). Thus in the middle of every third year, they (the sun and the moon) make one adhimása, additional month, first in the summer season and second at the end of five years.
[Thus ends Chapter XX, "Measurement of Space and Time" in Book II, "The Duties of Government Superintendents" of the Arthasástra of Kautilya. End of the forty-first chapter from the beginning.]
THE Superintendent of Tolls shall erect near the large gate of the city both the toll-house and its flag facing either the north or the south. When merchants with their merchandise arrive at the toll-gate, four or five collectors shall take down who the merchants are, whence they come, what amount of merchandise they have brought and where for the first time the sealmark (abhijnánamudrá) has been made (on the merchandise).
Those whose merchandise has not been stamped with sealmark shall pay twice the amount of toll. For counterfeit seal they shall pay eight times the toll. If the sealmark is effaced or torn, (the merchants in question) shall be compelled to stand in ghatikásthána. When one kind of seal is used for another or when one kind of merchandise has been otherwise named (námakrite), the merchants shall pay a fine of 1¼ panás for each load (sapádapanikam vahanam dápayet).
The merchandise being placed near the flag of the toll-house, the merchants shall declare its quantity and price, cry out thrice "who will purchase this quantity of merchandise for this amount of price," and hand over the same to those who demand it (for that price). When purchasers happen to bid for it, the enhanced amount of the price together with the toll on the merchandise shall be paid into the king's treasury. When under the fear of having to pay a heavy toll, the quantity or the price of merchandise is lowered, the excess shall be taken by the king or the merchants shall be made to pay eight times the toll. The same punishment shall be imposed when the price of the merchandise packed in bags is lowered by showing an inferior sort as its sample or when valuable merchandise is covered over with a layer of an inferior one.
When under the fear of bidders (enhancing the price), the price of any merchandise is increased beyond its proper value, the king shall receive the enhanced amount or twice the amount of toll on it. The same punishment or eight times the amount of toll shall be imposed on the Superintendent of tolls if he conceals (merchandise).
Hence commodities shall be sold only after they are precisely weighed, measured, or numbered.
With regard to inferior commodities as well as those which are to be let off free of toll, the amount of toll due shall be determined after careful consideration.
Those merchants who pass beyond the flag of the toll-house without paying the toll shall be fined eight times the amount of the toll due from them.
Those who pass by to and from (the city) shall ascertain (whether or not toll has been paid on any merchandise going along the road.)
Commodities intended for marriages, or taken by a bride from her parents' house to her husband's (anváyanam), or intended for presentation, or taken for the purpose of sacrificial performance, confinement of women, worship of gods, ceremony of tonsure, investiture of sacred thread, gift of cows (godána, made before marriage), any religious rite, consecration ceremony (dikshá), and other special ceremonials shall be let off free of toll.
Those who utter a lie shall be punished as thieves.
Those who smuggle a part of merchandise on which toll has not been paid with that on which toll has been paid as well as those who, with a view to smuggle with one pass a second portion of merchandise, put it along with the stamped merchandise after breaking open the bag shall forfeit the smuggled quantity and pay as much fine as is equal to the quantity so smuggled.
He who, falsely swearing by cowdung, smuggles merchandise, shall be punished with the highest amercement.
When a person imports such forbidden articles as weapons (sastra), mail armour, metals, chariots, precious stones, grains and cattle, he shall not only be punished as laid down elsewhere, but also be made to forfeit his merchandise. When any of such commodities has been brought in for sale, they shall be sold, free of toll far outside (the fort).
The officer in charge of boundaries (antapála) shall receive a pana-and-a-quarter as roadcess (vartani) on each load of merchandise (panyavahanasya).
He shall levy a pana on a single-hoofed animal, half a pana on each head of cattle, and a quarter on a minor quadruped.
He shall also receive a másha on a head-load of merchandise.
He shall also make good whatever has been lost by merchants (in the part of the country under his charge).
After carefully examining foreign commodities as to their superior or inferior quality and stamping them with his seal, he shall send the same to the superintendent of tolls.
Or he may send to the king a spy in the guise of a trader with information as to the quantity and quality of the merchandise. (Having received this information,) the king shall in turn send it to the superintendent of tolls in view of exhibiting the king's omniscient power. The superintendent shall tell the merchants (in question) that such and such a merchant has brought such and such amount of superior or inferior merchandise, which none can possibly hide, and that that information is due to the omniscient power of the king.
For hiding inferior commodities, eight times the amount of toll shall be imposed; and for hiding or concealing superior commodities, they shall be wholly confiscated.
Whatever causes harm or is useless to the country shall be shut out; and whatever is of immense good as well as seeds not easily available shall be let in free of toll.
[Thus ends Chapter XXI, "The Superintendent of Tolls" in Book II, "The Duties


xBlazingStar94x (Level 11)
Wooo, watching Akira :D
followed by
| |
Death Note (Opinion)
So considering i am a big fan of the death note series, i decided for my first proper blog i would write up my opinion of the series.
To start with, if nobody is aware of this anime, i will tell you the basic just of what the series is about. The 'death note' is a notebook that allows you to kill anybody you like just by writing their name into the notebook whilst picturing the face of the person. The death note has several rules to it these include:
 1. it will happen.
 1. The notebook shall become the property of the human world, once it touches the ground of (arrives in) the human world.
 1. The owner of the note can recognize the image and voice of the original owner, i.e. a God of death/Shinigami.
 1. The human who uses the notebook can neither go to Heaven nor Hell.
 1. The human who touches the Death Note can recognize the image and voice of its original owner, a Shinigami, even if the human is not the owner of the note.
 1. Gods of Death, the original owners of the Death Note, do not do, in principle, anything which will help or prevent the deaths in the note.
 1. A Shinigami has no obligation to completely explain how to use the note or rules which will apply to the human who owns it unless asked.
 1. A Shinigami can extend their own life by putting a name on their own note, but humans cannot.
 1. A person can shorten his/her own life by using the note.
 1. The human who becomes the owner of the Death Note can, in exchange of half his/her remaining life, get the eyes of the Shinigami which will enable him/her to see a human's name and remaining life span when looking through them.
 1. A god of death cannot be killed even if stabbed in his heart with a knife or shot in the head with a gun. However, there are ways to kill a Shinigami, which are not generally known to the Shinigami.
 1. The specific scope of the condition for death is not known to the Shinigami, either. So, you must examine and find out.
These are not all the rules but the main and you get the idea of what the death note does.
So it all begins when a shinigami (god of death) named 'ryuk' drops his notebook into the 'human world' A young high school student, Light Yagami, finds the notebook on the floor and decides to kill off all criminals and become a 'god' of the 'new world' by getting rid of all evil. It later becomes battle to the death between the two greatest minds the world has between L and Light.
What is good about this anime is that you could take a side of either L, a very talented detective, or Light. L doesn't believe all criminals should be killed and works with police to stop light or aka 'Kira'.
I don't want to go into the entire series and say what i thought was best but i want to say what i thought about the death of L. After L dies, the anime seems to die a bit. I wouldn't mind if he died at the end of the series with Light but bringing Near into it was just like a smaller, younger version of L and i didn't like him at all really.
What i wanted to ask in this post, to the fans of death note, is what you think the ending should of been like. So an alternative ending? Or do you actually like the ending how it was, if so why do you think that?
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showed that morphologies of obtained products gradually changed from a few single hollow nanospheres (Fig. 2d) to a great deal of hollow nanospheres (Fig. 2e) and then to cross-linked hollow nanospheres (Fig. 2f) when the content changed from 0.1 to 0.3 g and then to 0.5 g (the reaction condition is kept at 180 °C for 7 h in all reactions). These varieties of products revealed that the content is a crucial factor for preparing carbon nanospheres in a large scale. Because the carbonization process was actually a defunctionalization process, the content of reagents largely affected the collision rate among base groups. These results reveal that carbon spheres could be achieved only the alginate is up to a certain content. The alginate solution is up to critical supersaturation and nucleation burst when these macromolecules dehydrate gradually.
The influence of temperature on products was also explored. When the reaction temperature is decreased to 160 °C, even if reaction time is kept at 12 h, carbonization reaction could not be complete and brown reaction solution was obtained when the content was reduced to 0.1 g, which identified the occurrence of aromatization. While a higher temperature (200 °C) was used, it led to accelerated dehydration of alginate intermolecules and a burst nucleation around spherical chain, which could result in the formation of cross-linked hollow spheres. These results revealed that temperature was a key factor in the preparation of carbon nanospheres through dehydration, aromatization, and carbonization. At lower temperatures, the energies of intermolecular collisions and of intramolecular collisions were not high enough to carbonize, leading to the failure of formation of carbon nanospheres. Compared with the carbonization of glucose, the carbonization of alginate was slower and needed higher temperature although glucose and alginate sodium were a kind of saccharide. The possible reason lies in the polymer structure of alginate. On the one hand, the polymer structure contained fewer –OH group and slowed the dehydration intermolecular process. More time and higher temperature were needed to realize polymerization and carbonization of alginate according to the theory of the rate of chemical reaction.
The filling ratio as an important parameter of hydrothermal systems has a critical influence on the reaction pressure, solubility of solute, viscosity, density, and dielectric constant of solution at constant temperature in a sealed hydrothermal system. To investigate the influence of filling ratio on the obtained products, a series of parallel experiments were performed with different filling ratios from 40 to 80% at 180 °C for 8 h. Obtained products congregate more easily and become randomly when the filling ratio of the reagent is low to 40%, compared with the filling ratio is up to 80%. It is well known that the viscosity of alginate depends on temperature, density, and the stirring rate. With the decrease in filling ratio, the alginate solution becomes denser, which makes carbonization reaction more intense.
The formation mechanism of hollow carbon nanospheres was also explored. At first, the formation of carbon spheres was a nucleation and growth process (Fig. 3). At a certain temperature, the alginate solution can form spherical micelles and further nucleate by dewatering. Compared with the dehydration of glucose, the dehydration of glucose became more difficult because less –OH group made intermolecular dehydration take place only when reaction system had higher energy. It may be explained why carbonization of alginate needed higher temperature than for carbonization of glucose. Then nucleation of alginate took place when critical supersaturation of alginate was got to. Finally, the growth of nucleus is controlled by diffusion or carbonization reaction according to the theory of Ostwald ripening.
Figure 3. Formation mechanism of hollow carbon nanosphere
The comparative experiment was made without ultrasonic processing, and irregular carbon chips were obtained. That is, ultrasonic process was key to the formation of the hollow structure. So we speculated that the formation of hollow structure was as follows: At first, sodium alginate was wholly dissolved in the water by heating the solution. Then hollow sodium alginate nanospheres were formed by cavitation of ultrasonic process. A great number of air bubbles formed and grew in the zone of negative pressure, and they were occluded in the zone of positive pressure during the ultrasonic process. This kind of cavitation led to air bubbles formed in the molecular of alginate. When the solution was placed in the hydrothermal condition at some temperature, carbonization took place in situ, and hollow carbon nanospheres were synthesized. According to the content of reactant, different structures made of hollow nanospheres were formed.
The Loading of SnO2Nanoparticles
Carbon hollow structures, typically in the form of capsules converted from their core-shell precursors, exhibited higher current and power density when used as a catalyst support in the direct methanol fuel cell. SnO2-nanoparticles-coated carbon spheres are useful functional nanocomposite in many applications including gas sensors, batteries, and optics. The special configuration in this nanocomposite is expected to prevent the SnO2 nanoparticles from aggregation and to increase its conductivity, hence the performance. In this article, SnO2 nanoparticles are loaded onto the surfaces of hollow carbon nanospheres by room -temperature surface oxidation method. To reveal the composition and structure of the above sample, XRD was carried out. Figure 4d shows the XRD pattern, in which all diffraction peaks were in good agreement with tetragonal rutile SnO2 (JCPDS No: 41-1445). The morphology of this kind of complicate material was characterized with TEM. The TEM image and amplified TEM image are given in Fig. 4a and b. SnO2 nanoparticles of several nanometers were loaded on the surface of hollow carbon nanospheres. The PL spectrum of the composite material was characterized by two peaks at 376 and 424 nm, and a broad peak centered at 476 nm in the wavelength of range 450–516 nm under excitation at 310 nm. The emission in the wavelength range 450–550 nm may be related to the intrinsic defect structures, in particular the oxygen vacancies originated from the oxygen deficiency induced during the growth. The prominent band at 420 nm is attributed to the recombination of the deep-trapped charged and photogenerated electron from the conduction band.
Figure 4. a,bTEM and amplified TEM images of synthesized SnO2@C,cits PL properties anddXRD pattern of synthesized SnO2@C composite
To conclude, hollow carbon nanospheres with the diameter of 100 nm were synthesized without template under hydrothermal condition via ultrasonic pretreatment. And the wall thickness was about 20 nm. The influence of the reaction time and the content was also observed. Then a possible forming mechanism was given. Hollow carbon nanospheres loading SnO2nanoparticles were synthesized and its photoluminescence peak appeared at 376, 424, and 476 nm. The hollow carbon nanospheres and their loading structure have potential application in many fields such as carriers, storage, and catalysts.
The authors acknowledge the National Natural Science Foundation (No. 50772074) of China, the State Major Research Plan (973) of China (No. 2006CB932302), the Nano-Foundation of Shanghai in China (No. 0852nm01200), and the Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials (No. 2009KF04).
Adv. Mater.. 2001, 13:11.
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Langmuir. 2001, 17:4779.
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Chem. Mater.. 2000, 12:2832. Publisher Full Text
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Bibcode number [2008NRL.....3

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


Monthly Archives: February 2011
Why count salmon? Getting the numbers straight — going back to 1933
Contributions to the Life History of the Sockeye Salmon by Wilbert Clemens 1933
As mentioned last week, I had the good fortune of coming across some pretty old reports on British Columbia Sockeye at a used book store.
This is the cover from the "British Columbia Fisheries Department 1933″ report titled "Contributions to the Life History of the Sockeye Salmon. (Paper 19)" by William A. Clemens. It's reprinted from the:
Report of the British Columbia Commissioner of Fisheries, 1933
These reports review the runs of sockeye on four of BC's large sockeye-producing systems: the Skeena, the Nass, Rivers Inlet, and the Fraser.
The "Introduction" to this 1933 report seems to point to a common issue. In the fifth paragraph it states:
"Introduction" to Report of the Commissioner of Fisheries 1933
The history of the sockeye-fishery on the Fraser River is illustrated in Fig. 1 [below]. The enormous packs of the years 1897, 1901, 1905, 1909, and 1913 are conspicuous. While the calamitous rock-slide in the canyon at and above Hell's Gate in 1913 was a factor in the elimination of this extraordinary cyclic run, it is evident that there has been a steady decline in the runs of the other three cyclic-years, and there is no reason to doubt that overfishing has been a most important factor in the decline of Fraser as a sockeye-producing area in all cycle-years. [my emphasis]
And here's the part of this report I find quite interesting: Figure 1. "Packs of sockeye salmon on the Fraser River from 1895 to 1933, in thousands of cases. The continuous line represents the actual packs and the broken line the trend.
Figure 1. Packs of sockeye salmon on the Fraser River from 1895 to 1933
What this graph shows is that in 1913 there were almost 2.4 million cases of canned sockeye salmon. Approximately 1.7 million of these were done in Washington but still based on Fraser River sockeye.
If you haven't had a chance to read earlier posts on this topic — I recommend: Once upon a salmon… and Somebody get the Fraser sockeye story straight, please…
Those two posts point to a serious discrepancy in the Fraser sockeye story.
The Cohen Commission into declines of Fraser sockeye presented in its earliest material a chart like this one below (i've added the numbers and question marks):
This graph, originally printed in a publication on the Mekong River in Asia, suggests that Fraser Sockeye only numbered about 25 million total run size in 1901 and about 37 million in 1913.
And if you've read all the various news stories from this past summer — many pundits were comparing this past year's Fraser sockeye run to the 1913 run.
But there seems to be a problem…
See a 1902 Fisheries report "Thirty-fifth Annual Report: Department of Marine and Fisheries 1902" states:
… the total pack of Fraser river sockeye for this year [1901] reaches a total of 2,081,554 cases. [as demonstrated in Figure 1 graph from 1933 report above]
Large as this amount is, representing a total of 30,000,000 fish, it could have been largely increased, possibly doubled, had the canneries had capacity enough to have handled all the fish available during the run.
On Fraser river, the canners placed 200 as the maximum number of fish they would guarantee to take from each boat and for 12 days, from 6th to 17th August this limit was enforced. The fishermen could consequently during this period fish only for a short time each day. During the height of the run they dare not put more thati a small length of their net in the water. In some cases nets were sunk and lost from the weight of fish.
_ _ _ _ _ _
And so… if just under 2.1 million cases represent approximately 30,000,000 sockeye canned (a case is 48 lb) and reports suggest another 30 million were available to be canned what does this suggest about total run size? –
And… what does the 2.4 million cases of 1913 represent?
Well… the math would suggest approximately 36 million sockeye were canned in 1913. And, so what was the total run size?
The graph that the Cohen Commission is working with, suggests that we're estimating the 1913 sockeye run solely by what ended out in cans.
_ _ _ _ _ _
And then, even despite the devastating rock slide, there were still over 500,000 cases of sockeye canned in 1917 [see Fig. 1 graph above from 1933 report] — the next big year of this cycle (1897, 1901, 1905, 1909, 1913…2010). That's still approximately 7,500,000 sockeye: canned.
But I thought that the 1913 run was decimated by the rock slide? — apparently fish still got through, because there was still enough sockeye four years later to can over 7 million — 500,000 48-lb cases.
_ _ _ _ _ _
Could it not maybe be that the main problem is as exactly pointed out in the 1933 report above:
And so if we were being warned of overfishing in the first half of the 1900s, is it all that advisable that we were taking 80% of the total sockeye runs in commercial fisheries from the 1950s on?
Salmon Think Tank
Do we not learn lessons from the past?
How is it that you spell "cod" again?
Oh right… "E" … "X" …"T" … "I" … "N" … "C" … "T" …
(at least commercially, and largely 'functionally' — why?
overfishing and mismanagement and lack of political will and too much bickering).
Why count salmon? trying to get the salmon story straight…
Dr. Suess wisdom
One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish…
There's some wisdom in this great old rhyme. And for some reason it is also a very popular search term to find this website which leads folks to this post from last year — Why count salmon?. (Whether folks stick around or not is another story…)
As mentioned in that post:
I haven't seen the book in awhile; however, I don't think there were any rhymes about "mark-recapture" sonar hydroacoustical split-beam single-beam DIDSON data capturing salmon counting wonder tools.
See if Suess' fish on the right were captured by one of these techno-gizmos utilized for counting salmon they'd show up as some grainy fuzzy blob resembling a baby ultrasound image.
See that silver streak in the image on the right… that's a sockeye… red and green fish… can't you tell?
If you go to this site (Using Sound Images to Count Salmon in the Fraser River, 2004) you can watch a little movie of this blip going by.
That paper also explains: Why would a fish biologist use an imaging sonar system to count fish?:
…Fisheries managers first allocate a portion of returning sockeye salmon to meet annual escapement goals (the number of fish returning to their home stream to spawn to sustain each stock) and then the remaining fish are allocated to harvesting by First Nations, commercial and recreational fisheries.
Reliable escapement data is a key requirement for effective management of sockeye salmon. Historically, the escapement of sockeye salmon stocks for which pre-season forecasts predict more than 25,000 fish will be returning is measured using a mark-recapture program (MRP).
These programs involve capturing and marking returning salmon below their spawning grounds and then constant monitoring of the spawning grounds to determine the ratio of marked to unmarked fish. Knowing the ratio of marked to unmarked fish recaptured and the total number of fish that were marked downstream, the number of fish that return can be estimated.
As a result of stock-rebuilding efforts that were initiated in 1987, the number of stocks exceeding the 25,000 fish criterion (changed to 75,000 fish in 2004) has increased, placing considerable pressure on the resources available for assessing sockeye salmon stocks in the Fraser River. A mark-recapture estimate requires a large field crew and since sockeye salmon begin returning to their streams in July and may not finish spawning until late November or early December, these programs are both labour-intensive and costly to operate. [my emphasis]
_ _ _ _ _
Hmmm. So let's recap:
Reliable data is a key requirement of effective management… mark recapture studies are labour intensive… we are still "estimating" regardless of method… AND we have changed the threshold of what runs are considered important enough to try and enumerate — it was 25,000 but now it's 75,000.
Does this then mean that we are only concerned about the larger runs and are focusing less and less on the smaller runs — those smaller runs which are the key components of biodiversity?
And… now our data is actually less reliable because between 1987 and 2004 we were trying to collect data on all runs larger than 25,000. After 2004, it's now only runs greater than


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Investment Casting Waxes: Different Wax Types
Manufacturers use a range of techniques to create complex parts and components. One of the oldest methods that is still used today is investment casting. This process involves creating the item out of wax and then building a ceramic shell around it. Once the shell is complete, the wax is melted out (called dewaxing) before the molten metal is poured into the ceramic shell. Once the metal solidifies, the ceramic shell is removed as the part is now created.
There are numerous waxes that can be selected. The type of wax used will be based on several factors including flow properties, whether the wax will be reclaimed and recycled, dimensional consistency, surface finish and the requirements of the application. Several waxes that you will often hear about are filled pattern wax, non-filled pattern wax, runner wax, water-soluble wax and sticky wax.
Filled Pattern Waxes
Filled pattern waxes are a type of investment casting wax that has fillers added. These fillers can provide certain properties to the casting to ensure strength, dimensional stability, lower thermal expansion and minimal shrinkage. The types of fillers that are found in filled pattern waxes will vary based on the supplier, yet some common fillers may include bisphenol-A (BPA), organic fillers, terephthalic acid, and cross-linked polystyrene.
Both small and large wax pattern productions can use filled pattern waxes. Two major advantages to these waxes are that they have low thermal expansion and minimal shrinkage. They don't require wax chills to be placed into the cavity of the patterns to prevent shrinkage as the wax solidifies.
This wax is often used when you are looking for more dimensional control of the created part or component and when using a wide range of injection temperatures. Due to the filler added, some wax may remain in the ceramic shell after the dewaxing process as it takes longer for the wax to be burnt out. Filler pattern waxes can be difficult to reclaim and recycle depending on the density of the filler material.
Non-filled Pattern Waxes
Non-filled, or unfilled, pattern wax blends contain less filler materials. This type of wax offers consistent mechanical performance and thermal performance. They are typically used for small and medium wax patterns when there are complex geometries and very defined patterns. Non-filled waxes have exceptional flow properties.
A main advantage to non-filled waxes is that they provide a high surface quality. So the ceramic mold will have fewer cracks and defects. It also completely dewaxes from the ceramic shell as it can be reclaimed and recycled.
Care must be taken when using non-filled waxes in investment casting processes. Due to a slower solidification, the surface of the pattern can sink. There may also be unwanted shrinkage along cross sections of the pattern depending on the wax temperature. Depending on the part configuration, the use of wax chills may be necessary with non-filled pattern waxes to avoid material shrinkage.
Runner wax blends are used by investment casting companies when desiring exceptional mechanical strength and lower viscosity. This type of wax has a lower melting point than pattern waxes. So it will drain completely out of the ceramic mold during the dewaxing process without the need to use higher temperatures.
Advantages to runner wax is that it has good soldering strength and minimum thermal expansion. The workers can handle the wax without worrying about the part breaking in the ceramic mold. The wax pattern will need to be immersed in water and stored there until it completely solidifies.
Some parts and components will require complex and intricate internal designs. So the wax pattern must have intricate cores placed inside. To create these cores, a water-soluble wax is used. Once the core is completed, it is placed into the wax pattern die and then the pattern wax is injected into the die. When the wax pattern is cooled, the water-soluble cores are dissolved inside by placing the pattern into a water and acid bath.
Sticky waxes are commonly used during mounting and finishing processes. These waxes help bond different pattern waxes together or when constructing a sprue assembly. The wax helps to create a strong adhesion with the parts so that they will stand up to being handled by workers when creating the ceramic shell.
Impro's Investment Casting Services
At Impro, we offer investment casting for a wide range of applications including automotive, medical, aerospace, and industrial equipment. When you are looking for an economical manufacturing process that is trusted, reliable and repeatable, investment casting can provide superior results. Contact us today for more information.


How do I attach documents / files?
Two options:
1) drag and drop
You just drag and drop the files into a rich text control. Images will be shown as images, other files as hyperlinks.
Note: in tables with text fields you can do the same in the rich text editor for table cells. You can reach the rich text editor through SHIFT-Enter.
2) file attachment control
We can add a file attachment control to items. This allows you to upload attachments and show them as a list of files. See the other question for more details or look at the animated gif on how to add the FileManager field to a category of items:


Credit Balances and Government Overpayments
Credit Balances and Government Overpayments
Credit Balances and Government Overpayments
On February 12, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Medicare Programme; Reporting and Returning of Overpayments Final Rule (Final Rule) governing the investigation, identification, refunding, and reporting of Medicare Parts A and B overpayments. The Final Rule provided much-needed detail and clarity to Parts A and B associated obligations created by its statutory counterpart, Section 6402(a) of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). However, some uncertainty, which will be addressed below, persists.
In 2010, Section 6402(a) of the ACA created Section 1128J(d) of the Social Security Act, which requires Medicare and Medicaid providers and suppliers, as well as Parts C and D health plans, to report and return government overpayments within 60 days of either the date on which the overpayment was identified or the date any corresponding cost report is due, if applicable. However, many key terms, concepts and logistical issues went unaddressed by the new section. For example, the statute neither defined "identified" nor articulated a proactive duty to investigate potential overpayments, despite appearing to create liability for acts of "deliberate ignorance" or "reckless disregard." Although the Final Rule addressed many of the questions arising from the legislation, it has been received by providers and suppliers with ambivalence, articulating new requirements for them while reducing their uncertainty.
Challenges Explained
Identification Defined
The Final Rule provided long overdue clarity for the identification concept:
A person [provider or supplier] has identified an overpayment when the person has, or should have through the exercise of reasonable diligence, determined that the person has received an overpayment and quantified the amount of the overpayment. A person should have determined that the person received an overpayment and quantified the amount of the overpayment if the person fails to exercise reasonable diligence and the person in fact received an overpayment. (42 CFR § 401.305(a)(2), 2016)
Providers and suppliers were happy to see the inclusion of quantification in the Final Rule. The 60-day clock does not start merely when they have determined that they were overpaid, but only when they have determined how much they were overpaid. Often, significant levels of effort are required to determine the amount of an overpayment, even after one learns that an overpayment was received.
Identification is defined, but a new concept is introduced: "reasonable diligence." "Reasonable diligence" is not defined within the text of 42 C.F.R. § 401.305. However, CMS did include the following in the commentary published within the Final Rule:
We believe that compliance with the statutory obligation to report and return received over-payments requires both proactive and reactive activities. (81 FR 7653, p. 7659)
Here, the expectation is articulated by CMS for participating providers and suppliers to take the initiative in finding and returning the overpayments the providers and suppliers have received. However, there is no prescriptive guidance as to what or how many compliance activities are sufficient to reach a "reasonable" level of proactivity.
Worthy of separate consideration is the investigatory or reactive component of "reasonable diligence." The commentary above introduces the "credible information of a potential overpayment" standard. The guidance continues later:
We believe credible information includes information that supports a reasonable belief that an overpayment may have been received.... Determining whether information is sufficiently credible to merit an investigation is a fact-specific determination. (81 FR 7653, pp. 7662-3)
Once again, CMS establishes a standard which leaves room for interpretation. However, the guidance does go on to note that the following scenarios might be examples of credible information:
 - Unusually high profits in relation to hours worked or the relative value units associated with the work
 - Hotline calls
 - Audit findings (even those over a limited time period would trigger the obligation to investigate a broader time period if the audit found overpayments and the cause of the overpayments was or might have been a factor over the broader time period)
 - Medicare contractor overpayment determinations
Also introduced in the reactive component of "reasonable diligence" is the "timely manner" concept for "good faith" investigations. The guidance goes on to say that providers and suppliers have, at most, six months from the receipt of "credible information" to determine the existence of and quantify any over-payments, except in "extraordinary circumstances." According to the commentary, "extraordinary circumstances" might include disasters and investigations of extreme complexity, such as violations reported through the Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol.
Other Key Provisions and Omissions
Six-Year Lookback
The first victory for providers and suppliers was the reduction of the lookback period from 10 years (as was originally proposed) to six. The six-year period aligns with key statute of limitations provisions in both the False Claims Act and the Social Security Act as well as with many federal and state record retention requirements. Despite shortening the lookback period considerably from the Proposed Rule, the lookback period will certainly cause pain for many providers and suppliers for reasons such as patient accounting and/or medical record system conversions and changes.
Reporting and Returning Logistics
"This final rule states that providers and suppliers must use an applicable claims adjustment, credit balance, self-reported refund, or another appropriate process to satisfy the obligation to report and return overpayments." The Proposed Rule required the use of the "voluntary refund process" as described in the Medicare Programme Integrity Manual. Sole reliance on this method would have proved inefficient for reporting and returning overpayments for singular claims and would have likely required the sending of a check in all cases.
No Relief on Small-Dollar Overpayments
CMS went out of its way to expressly dismiss any notion of an overpayment too small to be investigated: "We believe adopting a regulatory de minimis standard would be susceptible to abuse, especially in the context of claims-based overpayments." The resolution of small-dollar overpayments, especially those residing in credit balance populations, will prove burdensome and aggravating to many providers and suppliers. Fortunately, the Final Rule expressly allows for the use of statistical sampling and extrapolation for quantifying an overpayment amount for populations of accounts.
Our Point of View
Credit Balances as Credible Information
Although it is not mentioned as a specific example in the Final Rule, we believe the existence of credit balances on Medicare-related accounts (i.e., accounts on which Medicare Part A or B has made a payment) would constitute "credible information of a potential overpayment," triggering the requirement of a good faith and timely investigation. Across the industry, approximately one-third of credit balances are believed to be the result of overpayments. Therefore, unless a provider or supplier has an evidence-based reason to believe its credit balance population is extremely divergent from the national average and that a far smaller percentage of credit balances are caused by overpayments, the existence of a credit balance on a Medicare-related account would seem to easily meet the standard of being a "potential overpayment." Additionally, because of the ease with which credit balance reports can be pulled, attempts to assert non-negligent ignorance would seem dubious.
Not only do providers and suppliers have to worry about False Claims Act lawsuits for hanging on to overpayments, but they can also be fined by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) with a civil monetary penalty (CMP) for knowingly retaining an overpayment.
As healthcare organisations continue to experience increased scrutiny and fines for failing to identify and refund governmental payor-related overpayments, well-defined and efficient practices and processes become increasingly important. There are multiple steps that should be taken to ensure you are being proactive in handling credit balances and potential overpayments. We recommend robust credit balance resolution and overpayment refunding processes for Medicare providers and suppliers that kick the tires on your organisation's processes:
 1. Assess and understand your processes
 2. Identify and analyse your current credit balance population (past six years)
 3. Determine the presence of governmental overpayments
 4. Determine the methodology used to assess "reasonable diligence" for identifying and quantifying overpayments (e.g., population analysis, sample-based audits, statistical sampling and extrapolation)
 5. Perform a sample-based audit of your population or audit your entire population
 6. Understand audit results and resolve gaps
 7. Plan and execute a cleanup (if necessary)
 8. Implement ongoing monitoring efforts
Prior to beginning this exercise, ensure that you have the appropriate resources and personnel who are qualified and well-trained in credit balance resolution. In addition, verify you have in place quality assurance and root cause analysis processes, sufficient and effective controls around escheatment and other state requirements, and accurate and valid reports used for management and compliance oversight.
Ready to work with us?


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NGO's Efficiency and Transparency Policy: The Colombian Case
MetadataShow full item record
In recent years the influence of Colombian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in diverse social sectors of the country has increased. However, the legitimacy of this sector has been undermined by corruption. This distrust has questioned the efficiency of NGOs as social tools. Transparency as a mechanism against corruption and one of the tools that improves the functioning of an organization is considered. There is no doubt that Internet is an essential element in disseminating information to the different stakeholders of the organization.This paper sets out three main objectives: i) the analysis of information disclosure through the Internet of Colombian NGOs, ii) the analysis of the efficiency of these entities in reaching their social goals and, iii) the analysis of the online transparency effect in a greater efficiency of the Colombian NGOs.


Amino Acid Science
Targeted Cellular Technology
Targeted Cellular Technology is a patented formulation that allows reduced concentrations of amino acids and other ingredients in the milligram range to stimulate the production of neurotransmitters to treat the nutritional deficiencies associated with certain diseases and conditions.
TCT is a unique five phase mechanism of action used in TRGM medical foods to improve the uptake of amino acids and synthesis of specific neurotransmitters.
Phase 1:
Neurotransmitter Precursors: Specially formulated set of amino acids, nutrients and other natural ingredients.
Phase 2:
Uptake Stimulator: Stimulates the neuronal uptake of milligram quantities of amino acids and nutrients into target cells to be synthesized into neurotransmitters. Flavonoids and Ginkgo biloba are examples of agents used to stimulate neurotransmitter activity.
Phase 3:
Adenosine Brake Antagonist: inhibits adenosine brake allowing the neuron to release neurotransmitters.
Phase 4:
Neuron Activator: Stimulatory amino acids like glutamate cause the releases the neurotransmitter from the neuron.
Phase 5:
Attenuation Inhibitor: Amino acids and botanicals protect neuron from oxidative stress and damage
Unlike pharmaceutical agents that lose their effectiveness over time, our patented technology allows TRGM medical foods to maintain effectiveness without attenuation. We use hawthorn berry with amino acid precursors to activate adenylyl cyclase without down regulation, so patients don't build up tolerances to our medical foods.


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Screenshot of Civilization IV, a later version of the game that MIT's computer played.
What's the News: Many video gamers scoff at the idea of actually reading the instruction manual for a game. But a manual can not only teach you how to play a game, it can also give you the basics of language—that is, if you're a machine-learning
computer. Researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab
have now designed a computer system that can learn the meaning of certain words
by playing complex games like Civilization II
and comparing on-screen information to the game's instruction manual. How the Heck:
The researchers, lead by computer scientist Regina Barzilay, began by giving their machine-learning system very basic knowledge about Civilization II, such as the various actions it can take (moving the cursor, clicking, etc.). The computer also had access to the words and other information that popped up on-screen—though it didn't understand what the text and objects meant—and it knew when it won or lost a game. Here, the computer's behavior was mostly random and it was able to win 46 percent of the time.
The researchers then augmented the computer system so that it could use the game's manual to develop strategies. So, when words like "river" now popped up during game play, the computer searched for those words in the instructions and analyzed the surrounding text. With this information, the computer made assumptions about what actions the words corresponded to, giving greater weight to ideas that consistently produced good results and trashing those associated with poor results. Its winning percentage jumped to 79 percent.
What's the Context:
Two years ago, Barzilay conducted a similar experiment where she had her machine-learning system install software on a Windows PC by using instructions available on Microsoft's website. The system carried out 80 percent of the steps that a person using the same instructions would.
The Future Holds:
For most complex games that allow players to compete against computer opponents, programmers must develop and code various strategies for the computer to follow. The researchers say that programmers will soon be able to use their system to automatically create those algorithms (via MIT News).
The team is currently trying to affix robotic systems with their "meaning-inferring algorithms."
(via MIT News


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Vietnam is a country which is rich in natural resouces. Among them, oil and coal are the most important resources. Oil is being exploited by the PetroVietnam state monopoly while Vinacomin is the state owned giant that is in charge of the exploitation of Vietnam's mineral and coal resources. The coal found there are mainly anthracite coal and is ideal for the production of electricity.
Currently, the country faces an acute shortage of electricity. This will have to be addressed by building more hydro-power plants and coal fired power stations. Among these, coal fired power stations have the most potential.
For Petrovietnam alone, the company has already 5 coal-run thermo-power plants under construction. Vinacomin, in addition, also have additional coal-fired power plants. Just this year alone, Vinacomin will put into operation 2 additional coal-fed thermo-power plants, namely the Mao Khe Thermo-Power Plant and Nong Son Thermo-Power plant.
All these will generate a tremendous demand for coal. In anticipation of this increased demand, the government had already raised the coal export tax to 20% from 15% as of last year and it is anticipated that further increases will be likely as the local demand for coal increases.
Currently, most of the extra needs for coal is being met by importing coal from Indonesia and Australia. However, this avenue look increasingly difficult. Indonesia is considering imposing a heavy tax on coal exports which will likely drive up the price of coal significantly. In addition, Vietnam will have to compete with India, China and especially Japan for the import of coal from Indonesia and Australia.
Japan's Fukushima Nuclear Plant accident in March 2011 means that alternative sources of electricity generation would have to be found quickly and coal is one of these alternatives.
Economics of Coal Mining in Vietnam
Vietnam has about 52 active coal mines and all are majority owned and controlled by the state owned Vinacomin. Vinacomin almost completely controls the coal mining companies in every aspect of their operation, from the amount of coal produced to the price they sell the coal for.
Vinacomin gives every coal mine a quota on the amount of coal that they would produce evey year and the price they sell to Vinacomin is also determined by Vinacomin after a "negotiation". How Vinacomin determines the price for the coal largely is from the production cost of the mine. Therefore, Vinacomin pays a higher price to less efficient mines and mines which are more difficult mine. The profit of coal mining companies is fixed at 3% of the promised cost on paper.
If the mine experiences cost overruns (e.g. due to fuel cost increases etc.), Vinacomin will usually compensate the mine for this extra cost. However, while Vinacomin usually compensates mines quite promptly, delays are known to occur. A good example was what happened in September last year. Due to the tardiness by Vinacomin compensating for cost increases, many mines experienced losses.
As a result of this control, Vinacomin controls the revenues and profits of every coal mine.
Vietnam's Coal Reserves
The majority of Vietnam's coal reserves lie beneath the Red River basin. It is estimated to have 20 times more coal than Quang Ninh, currently the largest coal mining area of Vietnam. However, according to preliminary geological survey results, this coal lies thousands of meters underground and covers a vast area of 3,500 square kilometers, stretching from Hanoi to Thai Binh via Hung Yen, Hai Duong and other localities.
To exploit this vast coal reserves would require massive investment and foreign technological expertise. In addition, the environmental costs will be incalculable. Hence, I believe that for the present moment, it will not be feasible to exploit this reserve.
At present, the largest coal mining area remains that of Quang Ninh. The current listed coal mines are all based in this area. However, as the coal mines are generally open cast mines which generate a lot of air and water pollution, the coal is currently being mined at a huge environmental cost. In addition, the open cast mines are fast being depleted. As a result, Vinacomin will gradually shut down the open cast mines of Nui Beo, Coc Sau, Deo Nai etc and increase the exploitation of underground coal mines.


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NETW320 – Converged Networks with Lab
Lab #7 Title: CODEC Selection for a WAN
A codec is a device capable of performing encoding and decoding on a digital signal. Each codec provides a different level of speech quality. The reason for this is that codecs use different types of compression techniques in order to require less bandwidth. The more the compression, the less bandwidth you will require. However, this will ultimately be at the cost of sound quality, as high-compression/low-bandwidth algorithms will not have the same voice quality as low-compression/high-bandwidth algorithms. The following table shows three standard codec types along with their corresponding Coder Type, Bit Rate, Frame Size Delay, and Look Ahead Delay. These particular three were chosen because these are the ones we will use in this lab, but there are others. ITU Recommended Delay Values/G.114
Frame Size Delay (milliseconds)
Look Ahead Delay (milliseconds)
A common scale used to determine the quality of sound produced by various codecs is the mean opinion score (MOS). This standard is based on a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is very poor and 5 is excellent. Here is a common table used to rate values of MOS.
No Meaning Understood
In this lab, you will build a wide-area network that will consist of several LANs spread across the country and connected via the Internet with two types of traffic: data and voice. You will configure three scenarios where the data and voice traffic generated will be held constant. The only parameter that you will alter will be the type of codec used. In the first scenario, the voice traffic will use G.711 (PCM); in the second scenario, the voice traffic will use G.729 (CS-ACELP); and the third scenario, the voice traffic will use G.723.1 (ACELP). By holding the traffic generated for the data and voice users constant, and only changing the codec values, we will be able to see how the varying bit rate of the specific codecs used will affect the end-to-end delay for the data traffic, the end-to-end delay for the voice traffic, and the packet delay variation for the voice traffic for a wide-area environment. Motivation
Deciding on what codec to use is a tradeoff between bandwidth and speech quality; the more bandwidth the codec uses, the better the speech quality will be. Here are the codecs we will use, along with their corresponding MOS values. Codes
However, this is not the only factor that must be considered. Delay will greatly affect the quality of voice traffic because it is real-time traffic. Words and responses to words must be received in a coherent and timely manner for the voice conversation to be tolerated by the users. Here is a table with ITU-T recommendations for the overall one-way delay times for voice traffic. ITU-T Recommend Acceptable One-Way Overall Delay Times/G.114 Range in Seconds
Range in Milliseconds
0 to 0.150
0 to 150
Acceptable for most user applications.
0.150 to 0.400
150 to 400
Acceptable, provided that administrators are aware of the transmission time and the impact it has on the transmission quality of user applications. Above 0.400
Unacceptable for general network planning purposes: it is recognized that in some exceptional cases this limit is exceeded.
The table shown in the introduction lists a Frame Size Delay and a Look Ahead Delay. The frame size refers to the time it takes the sender to transmit a frame. For complex compression algorithms that reduce bandwidth, this delay can...
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Exercise 2.3.14. Suppose we have the following matrix
How can you extend the rows of to create a basis for? How can you reduce the columns of to create a basis for?
Answer: As defined is in echelon form but has only two pivots, in the first and third columns. We can add another row to to provide a pivot for the second column:
Since is in echelon form and has pivots in every column, the columns are linearly independent. Since also has pivots in every row the rows are also linearly independent. (See exercise 2.3.5.) The three rows also span with any vector in expressible as
Since the three rows of are linearly independent and span they form a basis for.
Turning to the columns of, since has three columns but only two pivots (in the first and third columns) the three columns must be linearly dependent, and in fact the second column is twice the first. We can therefore remove the second column to form the following 2 by 2 matrix:
Since is in echelon form and has pivots in all columns the columns are linearly independent. They also span with any vector expressible as
Since the two columns of are linearly independent and span they form a basis for.
NOTE: This continues a series of posts containing worked out exercises from the (out of print) book Linear Algebra and Its Applications, Third Edition by Gilbert Strang.
If you find these posts useful I encourage you to also check out the more current Linear Algebra and Its Applications, Fourth Edition, Dr Strang's introductory textbook Introduction to Linear Algebra, Fourth Edition and the accompanying free online course, and Dr Strang's other books.


This node makes particles move in a rotational manner. This is typically used to create rotational vortex effects, e.g. tornados.
The effect is weighted by a falloff calculated using the distance from the node to the particle, ramping from 100% at distance zero down to 0% at the distance specified by the Radius attribute.
This image is taken from the "tornado.dfx" sample project.
Example Nodegraph
Name Description
Rotation Heading Rotate the object about the y-axis.
Rotation Pitch Rotate the object about the x-axis.
Rotation Bank Rotate the object about the z-axis.
Scale X Scale along the x-axis.
Scale Y Scale along the y-axis.
Scale Z Scale along the z-axis.
Inherit Transform Channels
Name Description
Velocity Amount Scale the strength of the affectors velocity on the particles.
Spread Angle Change the angle of spread for the particles.
Vortex Angle Scale Controls the effect of the angular velocity by radius, making particles further away from the centre of the vortex move faster.
Outward Velocity Amount / Blend Controls the amount particles are pushed outwards.
Randomness How much randomness is added in the particles movement.
Name Description Typical Node Input
Vortex Position Node Overrides the vortex transform. Null
Mask Node Mask out areas that particles cannot spawn. Image Plane
Transform Modifier Links all transform properties to the input node. Null


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23 March 2012
For 10 years, a number of Oaxacan communities have contributed their bit to reduce the effects of global warming.
Hand in hand with the Civil Partnership Environmental Services Oaxaca (SAO), Pronatura and the National Forestry Commission (Conafor), communities in areas of the Sierra Juarez and South, as well as the Coast and the Mixteca, have learned to raise economic funds in a sustainable manner.
Oaxacan Communities have grown their forest, learnt how to take care and see they see them as an option to help the environment through carbon sequestration. Men and women have learned to neutralize the carbon dioxide emissions, a greenhouse gas that prevents the heat output of the atmosphere and causes overheating of the planet.


text: The pharmaceutical inventory management process adopted by the hospitals are facing challenges in data communication, which implied to excess inventory problems as the leading cause of bad forecast of their lack. This study aims to redesign the information flow and business process in the pharmaceutical inventory management by increasing its efficiency by implementing Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) supported by the Internet of Things (IoT). Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) and Structured System Development (SSD) as a method used in this study. Four stages of SSD consist of structuring Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD), relational table, use case diagram, and Data Flow Diagram (DFD) for process improvement. This study proposed five improvement scenarios simulated using iGrafx. The best scenario for the hospital to consider in conducting improvement is VMI intervention, IoT technology in the form of QR Code or RFID Tag, and Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) development. The proposed model resulted in pharmaceutical inventory management's time efficiency to 95.64%, which previously took 22.11 days to 7.72 hours.


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Drone warships may soon be sailing under their own power using sediment sucked from the sea floor. How does it work? Well, the batteries create current by using the natural fuel sources in the water and from sea bottom dwelling animalcules.
Office of Naval Research just did a patent on making energy with a combination of seawater and organic material at the bottom of the ocean. If this can work in large quantities, you can see an unmanned vehicle out there simply burrowing down into the bottom of the ocean trying to recharge. … It's unmanned systems [like that] that offer tremendous versatility and tremendous reach.
These fuel cells convert naturally occurring fuels and oxidants in the marine environment into electricity making them a viable power source for long-term operation of autonomous underwater unmanned vehicles, in-water sensors, and devices used for surveillance and monitoring the ocean environment.
Thus far they're using the technique to power small buoys but with enough research and big enouch batteries you could potentially sail the ocean blue with the slush at the bottom of the sea.


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The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is the central banking institution and the de facto central bank of Hong Kong. It was established in 1993 as an independent authority under the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government. The HKMA is responsible for maintaining the stability and integrity of Hong Kong's monetary and financial systems.
The mission of the HKMA is to maintain monetary and financial stability in Hong Kong, promote the integrity and efficiency of the financial system, and safeguard the interests of depositors.
The vision of the HKMA is to be a world-class monetary and financial authority that ensures Hong Kong's monetary stability, fosters a robust and competitive financial system, supports sustainable economic growth, and enhances the well-being of the people of Hong Kong. The HKMA aims to be a trusted and proactive regulator, a promoter of financial innovation, and a global leader in central banking and financial supervision.
The Role of HKMA in Ensuring Financial Stability in Hong Kong
The HKMA plays a crucial role in ensuring financial stability in Hong Kong. Here are some key aspects of its role:
- Monetary Policy Implementation:
The HKMA is responsible for maintaining the stability of the Hong Kong dollar exchange rate. It employs a linked exchange rate system, where the Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the U.S. dollar within a specified range. The HKMA conducts interventions in the foreign exchange market to maintain the stability of the exchange rate.
- Banking Regulation and Supervision:
The HKMA is the key regulatory authority overseeing banks and other authorized financial institutions in Hong Kong. It implements prudential regulations, sets standards, and conducts ongoing supervision to ensure the safety and soundness of the banking system. The HKMA assesses the financial health, risk management practices, and governance of banks to mitigate potential systemic risks.
- Crisis Management and Contingency Planning:
The HKMA develops and implements contingency plans to address potential financial crises and disruptions. It works closely with banks and relevant stakeholders to enhance preparedness and resilience in the face of systemic risks. The HKMA conducts stress tests and risk assessments to identify vulnerabilities and takes appropriate measures to mitigate potential threats to financial stability.
- Market Operations and Liquidity Management:
The HKMA manages the liquidity in the banking system to ensure the stability and smooth functioning of financial markets. It conducts open market operations, provides liquidity facilities, and monitors market conditions to maintain an orderly money market and support the stability of the financial system.
- Financial Infrastructure Development:
The HKMA promotes the development and efficiency of financial infrastructure in Hong Kong. It oversees payment systems, clearing and settlement systems, and other financial market infrastructures to ensure their smooth and secure operation. The HKMA encourages the adoption of innovative technologies and fosters a conducive environment for financial technology (Fintech) innovation.
- International Cooperation:
The HKMA actively engages in international cooperation and collaboration with other central banks, regulatory bodies, and international organizations. It participates in global discussions and initiatives related to financial stability, sharing insights and contributing to the development of international regulatory standards.
Through these functions, the HKMA plays a vital role in ensuring monetary stability, financial system integrity, crisis management, liquidity management, the development of financial infrastructure, and international cooperation in the financial sector.
Banking Regulation and Supervision by HKMA
The HKMA is responsible for the regulation and supervision of banks and other authorized financial institutions in Hong Kong. Here are the key aspects of its banking regulation and supervision role:
- Licensing and Authorization: The HKMA is responsible for granting licenses to banks and financial institutions operating in Hong Kong. It assesses the fitness and propriety of applicants, ensuring that they meet the required standards and comply with relevant regulations and guidelines.
- Prudential Regulation: The HKMA sets and enforces prudential rules and regulations to ensure the safety and soundness of the banking system. This includes requirements related to capital adequacy, liquidity management, risk management, corporate governance, and anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures.
- Ongoing Supervision: The HKMA conducts ongoing supervision of banks and financial institutions to monitor their compliance with regulatory requirements. It employs a risk-based approach, assessing the financial health, risk management practices, and governance of institutions to identify and mitigate potential risks.
- Off-site Monitoring and Reporting: The HKMA collects regular financial data and other relevant information from banks and financial institutions to monitor their operations and assess their overall risk profile. This off-site monitoring helps identify trends, emerging risks, and potential vulnerabilities in the banking system.
- On-site Inspections: The HKMA conducts periodic on-site inspections of banks and financial institutions to assess their compliance with regulatory requirements. These inspections involve reviewing internal controls, risk management frameworks, and operational procedures to ensure adherence to established standards.
- Crisis Management and Resolution: The HKMA plays a crucial role in managing and resolving banking crises or failures. It develops and maintains contingency plans, collaborates with relevant stakeholders, and takes appropriate actions to safeguard the stability of the financial system in times of distress.
- Consumer Protection: The HKMA promotes consumer protection in the banking sector by setting standards for fair and responsible banking practices. It oversees the handling of customer complaints and takes appropriate actions to address misconduct or unfair practices by banks.
Anti-Money Laundering and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority
Recognized as an international financial center and a hub for monetary flows, the HKMA places significant emphasis on protecting the integrity and stability of its financial systems through the implementation of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CFT) obligations that adhere to international standards.
The banking sector, as the primary component of the financial system, plays a critical role in this regulatory regime. The HKMA has been at the forefront of establishing AML/CFT systems, which encompass preventive measures such as Customer Due Diligence (CDD), transaction monitoring, and record-keeping to identify and mitigate risks associated with money laundering and terrorist financing.
One of the key aspects of AML/CFT implementation is conducting Customer Due Diligence. Banks systematically gathered information from customers and trusted sources during the account opening process. This information allows banks to establish the normal and expected banking transactions of customers, enabling them to identify and prevent any potential misuse of banking services.
The HKMA sets guidelines and requirements for banks to perform comprehensive CDD procedures, ensuring that adequate information about customers, their business activities, and sources of funds is obtained and verified. By implementing robust CDD measures, banks can assess the level of risk associated with individual customers and transactions, enabling them to identify any suspicious or unusual activities that may indicate potential money laundering or terrorist financing.
Transaction monitoring is another critical element of the AML/CFT regime. Banks employ advanced systems and technologies to monitor customer transactions in real-time, enabling the detection of patterns and behaviors that deviate from normal banking activities. Unusual or suspicious transactions trigger alerts, which are then subject to further investigation by banks to determine their legitimacy. The HKMA provides guidance and oversight to ensure that banks have effective transaction monitoring systems in place.
By implementing stringent AML/CFT measures, the HKMA aims to ensure the integrity of Hong Kong's financial system and preserve its reputation as a trusted and well-regulated international financial center.


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Anhinga: Anhinga anhinga
The male anhinga is inky black with a cluster of silver/white feathers on his wings. During breeding season, the male's blood-red eyes are surrounded by a bright blue patch of skin. Females are distinguishable by their buff-tan neck.
Also known as the snake bird or water turkey, the anhinga is a year-round resident of Florida. It is also found from coastal sections of South Carolina westward to Texas and Mexico, and even south to Argentina.
You can often spot the anhinga perched on a branch with wings outstretched, drying feathers. They feed on small fish, shrimp, amphibians, crayfish and young alligators and snakes. The fact that their feathers are less water resistant than other birds helps them to swim underwater, where they often spear fish with their long neck and sharp beak. They surface in order to flip their catch into their mouth for consumption.
Mating generally occurs in February with egg-laying occurring throughout the spring and early summer. Nests are built in shoreline trees 15 to 20 feet high.


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The objective of this study was to evaluate the mutagenic potentialities of two samples of water from different sources namely: raw sewage, treated sewage. Genotoxicity test was conducted using two varieties of Vicia faba var; Giza 3 and var. Giza Blanca). Several endpoints were used to estimate the mutagenic activity in Vicia cells such as: 1-mitotic activity 2-nuclear abnormalities and 3-chromosomal aberrations. Chemical analysis revealed the inefficient treatment of sewage where, many elements increased after secondary treatment, and even those elements which decreased did not reach the safe limits for use. Genotoxicity test exhibited change in mitotic activity with all water samples, either by decrease in the mitotic index in Vicia var. G. 3 or increase in case of Vicia var. G. Blanca. Many types of chromosomal aberrations and nuclear irregularities were also produced after all treatments. The most frequent aberration was chromosome stickiness among different types of abnormalities such as: micronucleus, banded chromosomes, bridges, laggard chromosomes and ring chromosome. The higher percentage of chromosomal aberrations is exhibited by raw sewage. The current data demonstrated the occurrence of mutagenic compounds in sewage water after secondary treatment and this requires further treatment to remove them. Moreover, their application to irrigate agricultural land must be stopped because of the mutagenic effects of plants irrigated by such waters.
Sewage water, genotoxicity, Vicia test.


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Malawi belongs to the SADC community and has not experienced H5N1 outbreak.
The country holds around 25,000,000 chickens, 50% are broilers production with 92% of the domestic chickens produced in commercial or semi-commercial industries.
Malawi has an extensive wetlands network with of course lake Malawi but also some others areas along the rift valley which can host numerous wild birds species. Wild birds migrations are important between December and March.
No active survey has been put in place for H5N1. However an emergency plan has been draft and a passive surveillance network has been set up and a media campaign has been launched. A AI National Task Force has been constituted.
Projects and Activities:
Two epidemiological survey of the influenza virus in wild birds has been conducted in Malawi, in February 2006 and April 2007, in the framework of the Technical Cooperation Programmes (TCP) of FAO ( Surveillance and prevention of HPAI, FAO TCP
). Objectives were to evaluate the Avian Influenza prevalence, in particular highly pathogenic strains, among wild bird populations, including both migratory and resident bird species; and to provide technical support to the national surveillance programme through capacity building of national counterparts on sampling techniques


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Established: 14 June 1948 through a 1650 acre transfer from the New York Department
of Conservation (NYSDEC) in exchange for the College's Salamanca Forest in Cattaraugus
SVEND O. HEIBERG MEMORIAL FOREST
Current Area: 3900 acres in Cortland and Onondaga Counties; Towns of Truxton, Preble,
Fabius, and Tully.
Purpose: To provide a field laboratory setting within which students, faculty,
and staff of SUNY-ESF can conduct educational, reasearch and demonstration
activities as chartered under the State Education Law.
- ClassroomsFour with capacities of 30 to 100.
- Research Structures- 9
- Support Structures- 11
- Road System- 18.9 miles
- Trail System-12.6 miles
- Allegheny Hardwoods-1395 acres
- Conifer Plantations- 1640 acres
- Open and Brushy Areas- 590 acres
- Miscellaneous- 245 acres
- Water- 30 acres
Genetic election and improvement
Christmas tree production
- Ruffed grouse habitat management
- Beaver population dynamics
- Pond fishery dynamics
- Watershed Management
94 species of birds reside or visit annually
32 species of mammals have been ID'd
6 species of fish are in the forest
- The forest sustains an estimated 19.5 cubic million feet of wood
with an estimated value of six million dollars.
- This forest is actively managed for the perpetual production of
quality forest products.
Public Sercive and DemonstrationRevised June 1994
- self-guided nature trail
- permit fishing program
- cross-county skiing program
- birding and hiking
- maple syrup production
- Christams Tree Production
- hunting in season


Exercise 14.10 - Sucrose Density Fractionation
Figure 14.2 Sucrose gradient distribution of RNA
 1. Refer to Chapter Three for details of fractionation, and form a 10-40% linear sucrose gradient in a nitrocellulose tube.
 2. Dissolve the RNA in 0.02 M sodium acetate solution to yield a final concentration of 250 µg/ml. The low pH of the solution helps to inhibit RNAse, while the salts will keep the RNA from forming large polymeric aggregates. 10
 3. Carefully layer 2.0 ml of the dissolved RNA onto the top of a sucrose gradient. This should be done by slowly allowing the solution to run down the side of the tube and onto the gradient. Be careful not to disturb the gradient.
 4. Load the ultracentrifuge with the prepared tubes and centrifuge for the equivalent of 18,700 RPM for a Beckman SW27 rotor, for 20 hours at 4° C (Refer to Appendix F).
 5. At the completion of centrifugation, remove the tubes and fractionate the contents into 1.0 ml fractions.
 6. Using a UV spectrophotometer 11 and microcuvettes, read the A_2_6_0 of each fraction. Calculate the amount of RNA in each fraction.
 7. Plot the concentration of RNA in each fraction against the fraction number. Based on the density of sucrose in each fraction, compute the density of the RNA in that fraction. Based on the relative size (greater density) of the RNA, determine the nature of the fractions (i.e. rRNA, tRNA).
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Cell Biology Laboratory Manual
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Digits In A Box
Object: take it apart and put back together
Difficulty: Level 8 - Demanding
Brand: Popular Playthings
Types: Plastic Interlocking Puzzles, Eric Harshbarger
Maker: Popular Playthings
Inventor: Eric Harshbarger
This is not your everyday "fit the pieces back in the box" puzzle, but those who have the stamina to persevere will be consoled to know that the number of possible configurations has been calculated as 4,239! Digits in the Box is a unique puzzle that requires players to fit each of ten geometric shapes into a cube container. These shapes are 3-D representations of the numbers 0 through 9. Unlike the three-dimensional pieces in most box puzzles, these digits lie flat. The pieces can be turned and fitted together to form a cube that fits snugly in the plastic box. No solution is included, but you may find yourself wishing to see one.


text: How can one ensure the measured magnetic signal is not coming from impurities in vdW crystals? More specifically magnetic Fe, Co, Ni impurity atoms or their oxides commonly appear in vdW crystals in no care is taken. Our magnetic crystals are grown slowly using top-notch flux zone growth technique for highest quality crystallization. This method does not use any transporting agent and does not contaminate the crystal these impurities. Special care is given to using highest purity precursors that are free of magnetic transition metal series and their oxides. This allows us to synthesize 99.9995% or higher purity magnetic vdW crystals and access their magnetic behavior without any concern over magnetic impurity contribution.


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in "Family Structure, Institutions, and Growth: The Origins and Implications of Western Corporations," stanford economist avner greif wrote [pgs. 308-09]:
"There is a vast amount of literature that considers the importance of the family as an institution. Little attention, however, has been given to the impact of the family structure and its dynamics on institutions. This limits our ability to understand distinct institutional developments — and hence growth — in the past and present. This paper supports this argument by highlighting the importance of the European family structure in one of the most fundamental institutional changes in history and reflects on its growth-related implications.
"What constituted this change was the emergence of the economic and political corporations in late medieval Europe. Corporations are defined as consistent with their historical meaning: intentionally created, voluntary, interest-based, and self-governed permanent associations. Guilds, fraternities, universities, communes, and city-states are some of the corporations that have historically dominated Europe; businesses and professional associations, business corporations, universities, consumer groups, counties, republics, and democracies are examples of corporations in modern societies….
"In tracing the origins of the European corporations, we focus on their complementarity with the nuclear family. We present the reasons for the decline of kinship groups in medieval Europe and why the resulting nuclear family structure, along with other factors, led to corporations. European economic growth in the late medieval period was based on an unprecedented institutional complex of corporations and nuclear families, which, interestingly, still characterizes the West. More generally, European history suggests that this complex was conducive to long-term growth, although we know little about why this was the case or why it is difficult to transplant this complex to other societies….
"The conquest of the Western Roman Empire by Germanic tribes during the medieval period probably strengthened the importance of kinship groups in Europe. Yet the actions of the church caused the nuclear family — consisting of a husband and wife, children, and sometimes a handful of close relatives — to dominate Europe by the late medieval period.
"The medieval church instituted marriage laws and practices that undermined kinship groups…. The church … restricted marriages among individuals of the same blood (consanguineous marriages), which had historically provided one means of creating and maintaining kinship groups….
"European family structures did not evolve monotonically toward the nuclear family, nor was their evolution geographically or socially uniform (Greif, 2006, chap. 8).** By the late medieval period, however, the nuclear family was dominant. Even among the Germanic tribes, by the eighth century the term 'family' denoted one's immediate family and, shortly afterwards, tribes were no longer institutionally relevant. Thirteenth-century English court rolls reflect that even cousins were as likely to be in the presence of nonkin as with each other. The practices the church advocated (e.g., monogamy) are still the norm in Europe. Consanguineous marriages in contemporary Europe account for less than 1 percent of the total number of marriages, in contrast to Muslim and Middle Eastern countries where such marriages account for between 20 and 50 percent per country (Alan H. Bittles, 1994). Among the anthropologically defined 356 contemporary societies of Euro-Asia and Africa, there is a large and significant negative correlation between the spread of Christianity (for at least 500 years) and the absence of clans and lineages; the level of commercialization, class stratification, and state formation are insignificantly correlated (Andrey V. Korotayev, 2003)."
the presence (or absence) of clans in societies is somehow connected to the mating patterns of societies. in fact, it seems to be that a whole range of kinship-based societal types is somehow connected to a whole range of mating patterns: the "closer" the mating patterns in a society, the more "clannish" it tends to be — the more distant the mating patterns, the less "clannish."
so we see a spectrum of "clannish" societies ranging from the very individualistic western societies characterized by nuclear families and, crucially, very little inbreeding (cousin marriage, for instance) to very tribal arab or bedouin societies characterized by nested networks of extended families and clans and large tribal organizations and having very high levels of inbreeding (specifically a form of very close cousin marriage which increases the degree of inbreeding). falling somewhere in between these two extremes are groups like the chinese whose society is built mostly around the extended familiy but in some regions of china also clans — or the medieval scots (especially the highland scots) whose society for centuries was built around the clan (h*ck, they even coined the term!). these "in-betweener" groups are, or were, characterized by mid-levels of inbreeding (typically avoiding the very close cousin marriage form of the arabs).
furthermore, not only do the degrees of extended family-ness/clannish-ness/tribal-ness in societies seem to be connected to the degrees of inbreeding in those societies, the degrees of "clannism" also seem to be connected to the degree of inbreeding — the more inbreeding, the less civicness, the less democracy, the more corruption, and so on.
it's not clear what exactly the mechanism(s) behind this inbreeding-leads-to-clannishness pattern is, but since mating patterns are involved, and mating is a very biological process, it seems likely (to me anyway) that the explanation is something biological — i.e. some sort or sorts of evolutionary process/es — like natural selection — resulting in different/different degrees of behavioral traits related to "clannism" in different populations with inbreeding acting as a sort of accelerant for those processes.
clans and clannism, then, are not things that peoples "fall back on" in the absence of a state as mark weiner suggests in The Rule of the Clan [kindle locations 106-108]:
"[I]n the absence of the state, or when states are weak, the individual becomes engulfed within the collective groups on which people must rely to advance their goals and vindicate their interests. Without the authority of the state, a host of discrete communal associations rush to fill the vacuum of power. And for most of human history, the primary such group has been the extended family, the clan."
rather, people's attachments to their extended families/clans/tribes — and, more importantly, their tendencies towards clannish behaviors — are likely innate behaviors. and those behaviors likely vary, on average, between populations since (long-term) mating patterns have varied — and, indeed, still vary — between populations.
such innate behaviors cannot be changed overnight — certainly not within a generation or even two (evolution does take some amount of time — but not, necessarily, extremely long amounts of time either) — and definitely not by simply changing a few laws here and there in the hopes of encouraging individualism. as avner greif grasped, although probably not fully because he's likely missed the underlying biology of what he's noticed, family structures need to be altered in order to effect changes to larger societal structures (again, all via tweaks to innate behavioral tendencies). and, again, that can't be done overnight — as greif pointed out, the process in europe began in the early medieval period (with the church's bans on cousin marriages) and didn't really start to take hold until the late medieval period — i.e. a 500 year (or, conservatively, a ca. 25 generation) timeline.
see also: Cousin Marriage Conundrum by steve sailer and Why Europe? by michael mitterauer (in particular chapter 3) and Institutions and the Path to the Modern Economy: Lessons from Medieval Trade by avner greif.
**see "mating patterns in europe series" in left-hand column below ↓ for further details.
(note: comments do not require an email. busy clan members.)