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Countries With The Highest Government Spending To GDP Ratio
The world is in the midst of a seemingly unending sovereign debt crisis with many nations either unwilling or unable to control government spending. One measure that investors might use to track these expenditures on a global basis is government spending expressed as a percentage of GDP.
TUTORIAL: Economic Indicators: Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
The top five major countries with the highest government spending levels as a percentage of GDP are spread across the globe, and include some of the wealthiest nations in Europe, along with one of the world's poorest countries.
According to the Heritage Foundation, Zimbabwe is the most profligate spender under this criterion, with government expenditures totaling 98% of GDP in Zimbabwe in the latest year that data was available. This includes consumption and transfer payments, as well as direct government spending.
This doesn't necessarily mean that government spending is increasing on an absolute basis in Zimbabwe, as the economy in that country contracted for most of the last decade, before finally rising at a real growth rate of 6% in 2009 and 9% in 2010.
Any investor that is thinking of putting some money directly to work in Zimbabwe should probably reconsider because that country has little regard for property rights, price controls on major parts of the economy as well as restrictions on foreign exchange transactions and capital flows.
Investors with a high risk tolerance can look to the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, which allows foreigners to buy shares in companies based here. Liquidity is an issue here, as total share volume for the entire Zimbabwe Stock Exchange during a recent trading day was approximately 10 million shares. (For related reading, see The Birth Of Stock Exchanges.)
It probably comes as no surprise that Cuba is second on the list due to that county's reputation as one of the few remaining communist states. Cuba's government spending is at 78% GDP, a level that has been fairly stable over the last decade.
Although Cuba has made some efforts at reform through allowing limited private ownership of businesses, Cuba essentially has a state run economy and employs more than 80% of the labor force.
Investors can go into the over the counter market and buy shares of Cuban and other companies that operated there prior to the 1959 assumption of power by Fidel Castro. These companies all suffered the expropriation of assets in Cuba, leaving shareholders only the very, very slim hope that some value may one day be realized if the government in Cuba changes and offers compensation for these assets.
Although Europe is at the center of the sovereign debt crisis, with Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain often mentioned as having the greatest debt problems, these four countries aren't even the biggest spenders on that continent. That honor belongs to Denmark, France and Sweden, where government spending levels are at approximately 52% of GDP.
All three countries have seen this percentage increase since 2005, as government spending on fiscal stimulus and social protection surged to help buffer the effects of the recession. This is the pattern in most members of the European Union, where the average spending as a percentage of GDP increased from 46.8% in 2005 to 50.3% in 2010. (For additional reading, see Is It Eurobonds Or Bust For The Eurozone?)
Although Denmark, France and Sweden are at the top of the list, this does not necessarily mean that investors should avoid putting money to work here, as all three countries have AAA sovereign debt ratings from Standard and Poor's and the other major ratings agencies.
The lack of any relationship between investment quality and government spending as a percentage of GDP is demonstrated by examining Bulgaria and Romania. These two countries spend the least amount as a percentage of GDP, and yet have BBB sovereign debt ratings.
Although the United States has suffered from a recent downgrade of its sovereign debt rating, government spending as a percentage of GDP is in the middle of the pack. The White House reports that total government expenditures as percentage of GDP totaled 35% in fiscal 2010. This includes both Federal and State spending and off budget items as well. The Heritage Foundation, which calculates the spending level differently than the White House, puts the percentage at 38.9%.
The Bottom Line
Government spending as a percentage of GDP is a simple metric that some may rely on to keep up on government spending across the globe. One weakness of this measure is that it considers only the expense side and ignores government revenues generated through taxation and other methods. Use this in conjunction with other statistics to get a true handle on government spending. (For related reading, see What Is Fiscal Policy?)


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Water Pump For Basement was published at November 10, 2017 at 6:42 am. This blog post is published under the Basement category. Water Pump For Basement is tagged with Water Pump For Basement, Water, Pump, For, Basement..
Waterwa•ter (wô′tər, wot′ər),USA pronunciation n.
- a transparent, odorless, tasteless liquid, a compound of hydrogen and oxygen, H2O, freezing at 32°F or 0°C and boiling at 212°F or 100°C, that in a more or less impure state constitutes rain, oceans, lakes, rivers, etc.: it contains 11.188 percent hydrogen and 88.812 percent oxygen, by weight.
- a special form or variety of this liquid, as rain.
- Often, waters. this liquid in an impure state as obtained from a mineral spring: Last year we went to Marienbad for the waters.
- the liquid content of a river, inlet, etc., with reference to its relative height, esp. as dependent on tide: a difference of 20 feet between high and low water.
- the surface of a stream, river, lake, ocean, etc.: above, below, or on the water.
- flowing water, or water moving in waves: The river's mighty waters.
- the sea or seas bordering a particular country or continent or located in a particular part of the world: We left San Diego and sailed south for Mexican waters.
- a liquid solution or preparation, esp. one used for cosmetic purposes: lavender water; lemon water.
- Often, waters. [Med.]
- amniotic fluid.
- the bag of waters;
amnion: Her water broke at 2 a.m.
- any of various solutions of volatile or gaseous substances in water: ammonia water.
- any liquid or aqueous organic secretion, exudation, humor, or the like, as tears, perspiration, or urine.
- [Finance.]fictitious assets or the inflated values they give to the stock of a corporation.
- a wavy, lustrous pattern or marking, as on silk fabrics or metal surfaces.
- (formerly) the degree of transparency and brilliancy of a diamond or other precious stone.
- above water, out of embarrassment or trouble, esp. of a financial nature: They had so many medical bills that they could hardly keep their heads above water.
- break water:
- to break the surface of the water by emerging from it.
- [Swimming.]to break the surface of the water with the feet, esp. in swimming the breaststroke doing the frog kick.
- to break the amniotic sac prior to parturition.
- by water, by ship or boat: to send goods by water.
- hold water:
- to be logical, defensible, or valid: That accusation won't hold water.
- to check the movement of a rowboat by keeping the oars steady with the blades vertical.
- dead in the water. See dead (def. 36).
- in deep water, in great distress or difficulty: Their marriage has been in deep water for some time.
- in hot water. See hot water.
- like water, lavishly;
freely: The champagne flowed like water.
- make water:
- (of a boat) to allow water to enter;
- to urinate.
- take water, (of a boat) to allow water to enter through leaks or portholes or over the side.
- tread water. See tread (def. 12).
- to sprinkle, moisten, or drench with water: to water the flowers; to water a street.
- to supply (animals) with water for drinking.
- to furnish with a supply of water, as a ship.
- to furnish water to (a region), as by streams;
supply (land) with water, as by irrigation: The valley is watered by a branch of the Colorado River. Our land is watered by the All-American Canal.
- to dilute, weaken, soften, or adulterate with, or as with, water (often fol. by down): to water soup; to water down an unfavorable report.
- [Finance.]to issue or increase the par value of (shares of stock) without having the assets to warrant doing so (often fol. by down).
- to produce a wavy, lustrous pattern, marking, or finish on (fabrics, metals, etc.): watered silk.
- to discharge, fill with, or secrete water or liquid, as the eyes when irritated, or as the mouth at the sight or thought of tempting food.
- to drink water, as an animal.
- to take in a supply of water, as a ship: Our ship will water at Savannah.
- make one's mouth water, to excite a desire or appetite for something: The roasting turkey made our mouths water.
- of or pertaining to water in any way: a water journey.
- holding, or designed to hold, water: a water jug.
- worked or powered by water: a water turbine.
- heating, pumping, or circulating water (often used in combination): hot-water furnace; city waterworks.
- used in or on water: water skis.
- containing or prepared with water, as for hardening or dilution: water mortar.
- located or occurring on, in, or by water: water music; water frontage.
- residing by or in, or ruling over, water: water people; water deities.
Pumppump1 (pump),USA pronunciation n.
- an apparatus or machine for raising, driving, exhausting, or compressing fluids or gases by means of a piston, plunger, or set of rotating vanes.
- [Engin., Building Trades.]a shore having a jackscrew in its foot for adjusting the length or for bearing more firmly against the structure to be sustained.
- [Biol.]an animal organ that propels fluid through the body;
- [Cell Biol.]a system that supplies energy for transport against a chemical gradient, as the sodium pump for the transfer of sodium and potassium ions across a cell membrane.
- prime the pump:
- to increase government expenditure in an effort to stimulate the economy.
- to support or promote the operation or improvement of something.
- to raise, drive, etc., with a pump.
- to free from water or other liquid by means of a pump.
- to inflate by pumping (often fol. by up): to pump a tire up.
- to operate or move by an up-and-down or back-and-forth action.
- to supply with air, as an organ, by means of a pumplike device.
- to drive, force, etc., as if from a pump: He rapidly pumped a dozen shots into the bull's-eye.
- to supply or inject as if by using a pump: to pump money into a failing business.
- to question artfully or persistently to elicit information: to pump someone for confidential information.
- to elicit (information) by questioning.
- to work a pump;
raise or move water, oil, etc., with a pump.
- to operate as a pump does.
- to move up and down like a pump handle.
- to exert oneself in a manner likened to pumping: He pumped away at his homework all evening.
- to seek to elicit information from a person.
- to come out in spurts.
- pump iron. See iron (def. 16).
- pump up:
- to inflate.
- to increase, heighten, or strengthen;
put more effort into or emphasis on;
intensify: The store has decided to pump up its advertising.
- to infuse with enthusiasm, competitive spirit, energy, etc.: The contestants were all backstage pumping themselves up for their big moment.
Forfor (fôr; unstressed fər),USA pronunciation prep.
- with the object or purpose of: to run for exercise.
- intended to belong to, or be used in connection with: equipment for the army; a closet for dishes.
- suiting the purposes or needs of: medicine for the aged.
- in order to obtain, gain, or acquire: a suit for alimony; to work for wages.
- (used to express a wish, as of something to be experienced or obtained): O, for a cold drink!
- sensitive or responsive to: an eye for beauty.
- desirous of: a longing for something; a taste for fancy clothes.
- in consideration or payment of;
in return for: three for a dollar; to be thanked for one's efforts.
- appropriate or adapted to: a subject for speculation; clothes for winter.
- with regard or respect to: pressed for time; too warm for April.
- during the continuance of: for a long time.
- in favor of;
on the side of: to be for honest government.
- in place of;
instead of: a substitute for butter.
- in the interest of;
on behalf of: to act for a client.
- in exchange for;
as an offset to: blow for blow; money for goods.
- in punishment of: payment for the crime.
- in honor of: to give a dinner for a person.
- with the purpose of reaching: to start for London.
- contributive to: for the advantage of everybody.
- in order to save: to flee for one's life.
- in order to become: to train recruits for soldiers.
- in assignment or attribution to: an appointment for the afternoon; That's for you to decide.
- such as to allow of or to require: too many for

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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The aim of this section of the investigation is to quantify the amount of bio-ethanol that could be produced from the available land within the UK as worked out in the previous section.
To begin this analysis it is nessisary to assess the potential yields of the most suitable crops.
The two main energy crops which would be grown in the United Kingdom to produce bio-ethanol are sugar-beet and wheat crops. Ligno-cellulostic biomass (poplar and willow trees), waste straw and sawdust materials could also be used to produce bio-ethanol. However the technology and the chemical processes involved have not been proven for large-scale bio-ethanol production. For the purposes of this quantitative analysis, it has been assumed that the available land shall be split 50:50 for growing sugar-beet and wheat crops (although in real life this would not be the case).
Assuming that half of the 644,000 hectares of UK setaside land is used to produce bioethanol from wheat then:
Wheat Yield = 322,000 * 8 = 2,576,000 Tonnes per year
Bioethanol Yield From Wheat
Since bioethanol production is already a relatively mature technology, then to calculate the ethanol yield from wheat all that is required is to find what sort of yield levels existing plants achieve. The calculations that follow are based on the production yields of the Bioethanol Galicia Plant in Spain (ref16).
For Each tonne of wheat: 0.336m3 of bioethanol is produced.
From 2,576,000 tonnes of wheat:
Bioethanol Yield = 2,576,000 * 0.336 = 865,536 m3 (683,773 tonnes) per Year
= 865,536,000 Litres of Bioethanol per Year
Sugar Beet Yields
Assuming that the other half of the 644,000 hectares of UK setaside land is used to produce bioethanol from Sugar Beet then:
Sugar Beet Yield = 322,000 * 53 = 17,066,000 Tonnes per year
Bioethanol Yield From Sugar Beet
Similar to Wheat an empirical formula can be used to calculate the bioethanol yield:
For Each tonne of Sugarbeet: 0.108m3 of bioethanol is produced.
From 17,066,000 tonnes of Sugar Beet:
Bioethanol Yield = 17,066,000 * 0.108 = 1,843,128 m3 (1,456,071 tonnes) per Year
= 1,843,128,000 Litres of Bioethanol per Year
The total bioethanol production assuming use of 100% of the set aside land would be 2,708,664,000 Litres. For simplicity this can be rounded to 2.7 billion litres.
In 2002 the UK released for consumption 27.9 billion litres of petrol (ref18). By volume, the bioethanol produced from the set aside land could displace 9.7% of this petrol. This figure however is inaccurate unless the energy content of the fuel is taken into account.
Petrol has an energy content by volume of 31.5 MJ/L. Bioethanol has an energy content by volume of 21.1 MJ/L.
The total energy contained in 27.9 Billion litres of petrol:
= 27.9 billion * 31.5 = 878.85 billon MJ
The total energy contained in 2.7 billion litres of bioethanol:
= 2.7 billion * 21.1 = 56.97 billion MJ
This means that using all the setaside land to produce bioethanol could displace 56.97 billion MJ of the energy contained within the petrol, this is a 6.5% displacement by energy. 56.97 billion MJ of energy equates to 1.809 billion litres of petrol. Therefore 1.809 billion litres is the volume of petrol that would be saved over the year using all the setaside land.
Using all the set aside land to produce Bioethanol assuming a 50:50 split between wheat and sugar beet would result in:
If, for example, a 5% displacement by volume was required then we wouild require:
At this point it is worth noting some of the limitations and assumptions being made. As can be seen from the figures above bioethanol produced from Sugar beet results in a much greater yield, and so it would seem logical to produce bioethanol entirely from this source. There are however many other factors which should be considered. Firstly there is the problem of mono culture. When only one type of crop is grow on the same land for successive years then this crop will become very susceptible to certain pests and diseases as well as causing the depletion of certain minerals in the soil. The net result of these effects is a requirement for increased use of pesticides and fertilizers which due to their production process results in CO2 emissions. Sugar Beet yields are considerably higher than that of wheat and so fertilizer requirements are likely to be higher also, again causing increased emissions.
The best way to address this problem is with crop rotation. This technique of alternating between different crops helps alleviate the problems mentioned. For this reason it is necessary to use at least two different crops for producing bioethanol. If rapeseed, which is the crop used to produce biodiesel, is also added in then this will also help the problem. To gain a good understanding of what crops could be used and in what proportions would require a more detailed study in this area. This is outside the scope of this investigation and so a 50:50 wheat sugar beet ratio was assumed. Details of the limitations for biodiesel can be found here.


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An RDF Database
RDF is an expressive graph-based language for representing meta-data about resources. It is complemented with the query language SPARQL, and both are developed as standards within the W3C. In RDF, the smallest component is a triple: (, , ), which in graph language translates to a vertex (), path (), vertex (). Similarly, a SPARQL query is a list of triples where a position in each triple can be either bound or unbound. This allows for complex path traversal and star-queries when querying an RDF-graph. Although the basics of both RDF and SPARQL are simple, there are many challenges when designing large RDF-databases. In this research we are especially focusing on how to provide scalable representation and management for efficient storage and querying of large RDF graphs distributed over several physical machines.
This research is done in the context of Stellaris, a metadata management service originally developed within the AstroGrid-D project. Our original focus was to provide a flexible way to store and query metadata relevant for e-science and grid-computing, ranging from resource description of grid resources (compute clusters, robotic telescopes, etc.) to application specific job metadata or dataset annotations. Stellaris uses common web-standards such as RDF to describe metadata and the accompanying query language SPARQL together with a REST-based interface.
Parallel and Distributed Systems

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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acriflavineArticle Free Pass
acriflavine, dye obtained from coal tar, introduced as an antiseptic in 1912 by the German medical-research worker Paul Ehrlich and used extensively in World War I to kill the parasites that cause sleeping sickness. The hydrochloride and the less irritating base, neutral acriflavine, both are odourless, reddish-brown powders used in dilute aqueous solutions primarily as topical antiseptics or given orally as urinary antiseptics. Once used in the treatment of gonorrhea, acriflavine has been replaced by the antibiotics.
What made you want to look up "acriflavine"? Please share what surprised you most...


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WEEK 1 (FRACTALS)
1-1) Play the following "line chaos game": You need a coin, paper and pencil.
Draw a segment across the page; we will call its length "1". The left end is called H (for Heads) and the right is called T (for Tails).
Rules: Pick any point in the segment (called Xo, the "seed"). Flip the coin. If it turns up Heads then move the point toward the H end so that its distance to H is 1/3 of the previous distance. Conversely, if it is Tails then move the point toward the T end so that its distance to T is 1/3 of the previous distance. Repeat...
As an exercise to practice the game, do the following sequence: Start at the mid-point (Xo=1/2) and sketch the orbit for this succesion of coin flips: H,H,T. You should get something like this:
Your job is to find out what object would emerge if you would play this game for thousands of flips (that is, regardless of the seed you start with, as long as you erase the first few points, and the particular successions that might occur, is there a PATTERN that emerges? Is this an object you know?). A bit of thinking, and a short VPython program might help you.
1-2) Draw by hand the first three iterations of the fractals generated by removal according to the following rules:
a) "FRACTAL +": Start with a square of side length "1". Divide into 9 equal squares (side 1/3 each), and then remove the four corner squares (to get the + shape). Repeat for each remaining square.
b) "FRACTAL H": Start with a square of side length "1". Divide into 9 equal squares (side 1/3 each), and then remove the top and bottom midsquares (to get the H shape). Repeat for each remaining square.
c) "FRACTAL X": Start with a square of side length "1". Divide into 9 equal squares (side 1/3 each), and then remove the top, bottom, left and right midsquares (to get the X shape). Repeat for each remaining square.
d) "FRACTAL O": Start with a square of side length "1". Divide into 9 equal squares (side 1/3 each), and then remove the center square (to get the square O shape). Repeat for each remaining square. What is the "technical" name of this fractal?
Can you calculate the fractal dimension of the above objects?
1-3) Make a notch in the middle of one side of a piece of typing paper. Hold the sides of the paper firmly and pull them apart (in the plane of the paper) until the paper tears. The tear edge will be jagged and fractal-like. Overlay the torn edge on a piece of graph paper and estimate the dimension of the edge by box counting. Does the dimension depend on the speed with which the paper is torn? Try tissue paper instead of typing paper. Does the character of the edge depend on the structure of the paper?
1-4) Make a copy of fine graph paper on a overhead foil. Use this as one of the sheets in the "blob of goo between two sheets of plastic" experiment: Put a small blob of goo (tootpaste and mud work well) on this sheet, cover with a plain overhead transparency foil, and press firmly on the top foil until the small blob is squeezed out to a large, thin blob. Pull the foils apart, producing a fingery pattern. Do box counting to estimate the average dimension of the boundary of this "dendrite-like" pattern. Try the experiment with different pulling speeds. Does the dimension depend on the speed with which the sheets are separated? Also, try different "goos." Does the dimension depend on the material used?
1-5) Measure the fractal dimension of the boundary of a leaf of your choice. Compare with other people's results.
1-6) Measure the fractal dimension of the boundary of a feature on a map of your choice (could be a costaline, lake, country, etc.. Compare with other people's results.
WEEK 2 (CHAOS)
2-1) Below is a graph of the tent map, defined by the following iteration rule:
Xn+1 = s Xn..........................if Xn<1/2
Xn+1 = s (1-Xn)....................if Xn>1/2
Show the maximum height of the tent map graph is s/2.
Show the nonzero fixed point occurs at Xf = s/(1+s).
For s > 1, show the first iterate of s/2 has the value s (1 - s/2 ).
Use graphical iteration to locate four points which the tent map takes to the fixed point w of the Figure below.
Numerically calculate the four values of x you found when s = 2.
2-2) LIFE AND NONLINEAR DYNAMICS
Write a parable of your own. Specifically, take an instance from your life where a small choice, perhaps made in an offhand fashion, led eventually to a significant difference in your life. For your parable to be apt to the context of this course, the train of events flowing from your choice has to be deterministic. Try to identify some of the nonlinearities in the "dynamics of your life" that helped cause your choice to initiate the unexpected chain of events it did.
To emphasize the magnitude of the effect of this small choice, construct a plausible scenario of the result of your making a different small choice (under the same "life dynamics").
Do some research to find out what do the economists refer to by the "tulips' boom/bust" experience.
What do you think is the connection between market crashes and non-linear systems?
And outbreak of war and non-linear systems?
How about epidemics?
2-4) The Game of Life
a) Determine by hand the next generation of the Life configurations below
b) Determine by hand the next two generations of the Life configurations below
Using LifeLab and the random initial condition, observe which stable configurations arise spontaneously from the Life rules. (Allow some time to pass before drawing any conclusions - the transients must be allowed to die down.).
A textbook description is no substitute for the experience of Life. Play with LIFE to get a hint of the Game's many wonders. But here's a warning label for the user: Life is powerfully addictive! Use only when not faced with an impending deadline.
"Human consciousness, free will, or feelings can never be understood in terms of physical laws."
"People are mechanistic entities whose behaviors emerge from the same principles that govern all forms of matter."
Here are two opposite views of humanity.
Construct an argument that supports each position.
Which argument do you find more compelling?


nextRun will be set to 0.
This is useful for jobs which have to be fired from time to time.
To fire such an asynchronous job, just set nextRun=NOW() and wait for the next system cron run.
If such a job is running and a new nextRun=NOW() is applied, the 'AutoCron' job will be fired again during the next system cron run.
Type: Mail
Currently QFQ uses a special sendmail notation - this will change in the future.
 - Mail:
 {{!SELECT '' AS sendMailTo, 'Custom subject' AS sendMailSubject, '' AS sendMailFrom, 123 AS sendMailGrId, 456 AS sendMailXId}}
AutoCron will send as many mails as records are selected by the SQL query in field Mail. Field Mail body provides the mail text.
All columns of the SQL are available in STORE_PARENT.
Type: Website
The page specified in URL will be opened.
Optional the output of that page can be logged to a file (take care to have write permissions on that file).
 - Log output to file'='output.log - creates a file in the Typo3 host directory.
 - Log output to file'=/var/log/output.log' - creates a file in /var/log/ directory.
Also overwrite or append can be selected for the output file. In case of append a file rotation should be setup on
OS level.
To check for a successful DB connection, it's a good practice to report a custom token on the T3 page / QFQ record like 'DB Connect: ok'. Such a string can be checked via Pattern to look for on output=/DB Connect: ok/. The pattern needs to be written in PHP PCRE syntax. For a simple search string, just surround them with '/'. If the pattern is found on the page, the job get's 'Ok' - else 'Error - …'.
Access restriction
To protect AutoCron pages not to be triggered accidental or by unprivileged access, access to those page tree might be limited to localhost. Some example Typoscript:
# Access allowed for any logged in user or via 'localhost'
[usergroup = *] || [IP =]
 page.10 < styles.content.get
 # Error Message
 page.10 = TEXT
 page.10.value = Access deniedPlease log in or access this page from an authorized host. Your current IP address:
 page.20 = TEXT = getenv : REMOTE_ADDR
AutoCron / website: HTTPS protocol
 - For https the PHP extension php_openssl has to be installed.
 - All certificates are accepted, even self signed without a correct chain or hostnames, not listed in the certificate. This is useful if there is a general 'HTTP >> HTTPS' redirection configured and the website is accessed via https://localhost/…


Can You Name These Male '60s Bands and Artists From an Image?
By: Olivia Cantor
7 Min Quiz
Image: Wiki Commons by General Artists Corporation / Atco Records
About This Quiz
The 1960s was a decade characterized by unique political and cultural intersections. Music can attest to that. Just look at the roster of musicians and bands that came out that time. Can you name the male ones by looking at their images here? Take a guess!
Imagine having a budding singer register for the war draft. When the time came for him to do his patriotic duty, he left the concert stages and entered the army to be in another kind of stage. How can that experience influence his music, you think?
This is but one example of how male musicians faced the music, so to speak, during those tumultuous times. Some willingly went out and served while some remained at home to battle in another arena. The anti-war movement was burgeoning, the civil rights movement was gaining ground and other socio-civic stirrings were happening, too. Musicians took their pick and advocated for what they believed in. As a result, they left us with great anti-war and peace-loving messages embedded in '60s songs.
But that's not the whole picture of the '60s sound. Aside from political and social reflections, genres were also born. Rock 'n' roll came out from different musicians experimenting on mixing styles. That's why you hear a little bit of country music and a dash of gospel with a side of folk music in there. It can be danceable and it can be the easy-listening type, too. These experiments resulted in spectacular creations we're still continuing today.
Can you name these pivotal and popular male acts responsible for such musical creations? We know you can! Groove to this quiz and see!
"Don't you come back no more, no more, no more, no more" until you guess this great man's name. Tell us!
Jamie Foxx portrayed Ray Charles in a 2004 biopic. But some journalists criticized it for its inaccuracy of portraying certain aspects of the music legend's life. They say that the film didn't show how fiercely independent he was, like how he didn't rely on assistance for the blind when getting around.
"Help! I need somebody" to guess who this legendary band is. Can you name them?
Did you know that the Beatles got kicked out from a country once? That was in 1966, and the Philippine president's wife, Imelda Marcos, invited the Fab Four to a private breakfast. Due to a schedule conflict, the Liverpool boys never made it; Imelda's rage got them booted out as a result.
"Purple haze" might be all in your brain but so is his name! Can you identify this guitar hero?
Musician Jimi Hendrix belongs to an unofficial group termed as the "27 Club." This refers to popular celebrities who all died when they were 27 years old. Other musicians on this infamous list include The Doors' Jim Morrison, Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin and Amy Winehouse, to name a few.
"Start spreading the news" and this crooner's name as well. Do you know him?
Rumor has it that Frank Sinatra disliked Marlon Brando so much when the two were shooting the movie musical version of "Guys and Dolls." Brando played the lead there, which Sinatra originally wanted to play. Sinatra apparently looked down on Brando's singing and acting abilities, too.
"God only knows" what we'll be without their music. Do you know this surfin' and rockin' band?
A 1990 TV-movie biopic showed that The Beach Boys' drummer Dennis Wilson was the only true "beach boy" in the group. He was the "wild child" who loved surfing and hanging out at the beach unlike his brothers. Sadly, he died of drowning in the '80s.
"Come on, baby, light my fire" by guessing the name of this ethereal band. Game!
If you want to visit the final resting place of Jim Morrison, The Doors' controversial frontman, you'll have to fly to France for that. He died when he was temporarily living in Paris in 1971, so he was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery. He had an earlier tombstone and bust there, which was stolen.
As "fools rush in where angels fear to tread," can you quickly identify this heartthrob?
Music and showbiz life were in the Nelson family's veins, thanks to the popularity of parents Ozzie and Harriet in the '50s. Ricky Nelson grew up in his parents' show until he gained his own following as a teenage singing heartthrob. He also had twin sons who became musicians under the name Nelson.
Can you break "the sound of silence" by naming this duo?
Simon & Garfunkel initially created an album together in the early '60s but broke up when it flopped. When certain radio stations picked up "Sound of Silence" again, its popularity revived their career. Their popularity skyrocketed more when the song became part of "The Graduate" film soundtrack.
When you saw their faces, did you also say "now I'm a believer"? We'll believe you if you tell us which group this is!
The Monkees' creation was a bandwagon move to ride on the Beatles' popularity during the '60s. But the difference was, they started as a TV-show act who later toured as musicians. In an interview, The Beatles' John Lennon tipped his hat off to the group for running a successful weekly show.
Well, hello, and "it's nice to have you back where you belong" indeed. Now can you name this talented trumpeter?
Did you know that there's a certain medical condition called Satchmo's Syndrome named after Louis Armstrong? This syndrome affects the muscles surrounding the mouth and is evident in hard-blowing trumpet players like him. They get damaged lips, too.
"C'mon, talk to me so you can see what's going on" with this guy. Can you identify him?
Even music legends like Marvin Gaye battle demons and depression. His personal struggles led to a fight with his father in 1984, which ended the singer's life. His father shot the singer three times in the chest, causing his immediate death.
"I can't get no satisfaction" until you tell me who this band is!
The Rolling Stones got famous for their songs, their notoriety offstage and Mick Jagger's signature moves in singing and dancing. He's the inspiration of Maroon 5's song "Moves Like Jagger." Jagger joked on TV, though, that he didn't earn a cent from being referred to in that pop hit.
Who's this folk hero? "The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind."
Perhaps one of the most controversial Nobel Prize winners is folk singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. According to his 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature listing, he won "for having created new poetic expressions" with his songs. But certain literary figures contested this for not honoring a "real poet." He is shown here with singer Joan Baez at the Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C., Aug. 28, 1963.
Before you bid "bye bye love, bye bye happiness," tell us who this duo is first!
Since the Everly Brothers were real-life brothers who worked and collaborated together, they also had huge fights just like any other family out there. Younger brother Phil reportedly hit his older brother Don with a guitar when the latter messed up during a concert once.
"Get up offa that thing" and identify this legendary performer first!
The Godfather of Soul and The Godfather of Funk, James Brown, also had the nickname "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business." Growing up as a child during the Great Depression of the 1930s may have influenced his hardworking business ethic.
"Blame it on the boogie" if you miss this one. Guess who!
Before Michael Jackson made it big, he was part of his older brothers' group known as The Jackson 5. It was the older Jacksons Tito, Jermaine and Jackie who originated the group, then their younger brothers Michael and Marlon also trained with them and performed. Their father was their manager.
Can you "walk the line" to name this country-music legend?
If you want to see a cinematic version of Johnny Cash's life, watch the 2005 film "Walk The Line" with Joaquin Phoenix as the country singer. Reese Witherspoon played his wife June in the film, a role that won her an Academy Award. Both actors performed some songs themselves in the soundtrack.
"You ain't nothing but a hound dog" if you can't name this legend! Who's he?
Can you connect the King of Rock 'n' Roll Elvis Presley to the King of Pop Michael Jackson? Here's how: MJ got married to Elvis' daughter Lisa Marie Presley, and they stayed together for about two years before divorcing. They first met when he was 17 and she was 7 back in the '70s.
"It's only teenage wasteland" if you can't identify this great band. Take a guess?
TV fans might have noticed that all opening theme songs of "CSI" shows came from The Who's discography. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" has "Who Are You," CSI: New York" featured "Baba O'Reilly" and "CSI: Miami" used "Won't Get Fooled Again," while "CSI: Cyber" featured "I Can See for Miles


text:
Faculty of Quranic and Sunnah Studies
To achieve its initial aim and to widen the scope of its studies, USIM has established the Faculty of Quranic and Sunnah Studies for the 2000/ 2001 session and took its first group of students for the programme i.e. Bachelor of Quran and Sunnah Studies Programme.
It is the aspiration of this faculty to become another source to produce knowledgeable, skilful and professional graduates in the field of the Quran and Sunnah studies. The Faculty also hopes to spread the virtue of Islam by giving opportunities to the researchers and educators to study, learn and spread the knowledge and wisdom of the Holy Quran and Sunnah to the society and country.
The field of Quran and Sunnah studies is the most required field in Islam because it is fundamental in the Muslim's life. Thus, the establishment of the Faculty of Quranic and Sunnah Studies will enhance the realisation of the Quran and Sunnah in the life of the Muslims in the rapid development of the technology and global modernisation. As in reforming the development of the civilisation, the development of the character of human capital is a priority for the country, the importance of the Quran and Sunnah Studies cannot then be denied.
Based on this realisation and aim, the Faculty of Quranic and Sunnah Studies is committed to further uphold the dignity of the Quran and Sunnah studies in the national education stream. Among the initiatives taken by the Faculty are offering several new innovative programmes which integrate the classical Quran and Sunnah Studies with other disciplines according to the aims and needs of the country. Thus, beginning the 2005/2006 academic session, two new programmes have been offered i.e. Bachelor of Quran Studies and Multimedia (Hons) and Bachelor of Sunnah Studies and Information Management (Hons). Both programmes offered are in collaboration with the Faculty of Science and Technology, USIM, and regarded as value to the students from the religious stream in Malaysia to further extend their knowledge with their core of the Quran and Sunnah Studies.


the second has type b
(a,b,c)The type of three-tuples....
()Apparently the type of tuples with zero elements. If you think about it, there is only ONE value of this type. So it is called the unit type. Oddly enough, this technically isn't a tuple type; see the official docs for details.
a -> bThe type of functions from type a to type b.
Exercise: How would you define a function of "no arguments" in Haskell? Can the unit type help? Write a function called three such that three () == 3.
What is the type of the expression 21? Is it Int, Integer, Float, or Double? That's a tough one!
How about a type variable? Well, the variable cannot stand for ANY type, just one of those four. We need constrained type variables—something like a | a ∈ {Int, Integer, Float, Double}.
And what about the type of \x -> x / 2? Is it just a -> a | a ∈ {Float, Double} or perhaps a | a is any type for which (/)::a->a->a exists?
Haskell's solution is typeclasses. Types that share bits of behavior are instances of the same typeclass. Typeclasses live in a hierarchy. Here are some of the built-in typeclasses, shown with the functions they define:
Havig a hierarchy means that any type which is an instance of Integral, for example, is also an instance of Real, Num, Ord, and Eq. A type can belong to many typeclasses. Here's a list of some types and the typeclasses that they are instances of:
BoolEq, Ord, Show, Read, Enum, Bounded
CharEq, Ord, Show, Read, Enum, Bounded
IntEq, Ord, Show, Read, Enum, Bounded, Num, Real, Integral
IntegerEq, Ord, Show, Read, Enum, Num, Real, Integral
FloatEq, Ord, Show, Read, Enum, Num, Real, Fractional, RealFrac, Floating, RealFloat
WordEq, Ord, Show, Read, Enum, Bounded, Num, Real, Integral
OrderingEq, Ord, Show, Read, Enum, Bounded, Semigroup, Monoid
()Eq, Ord, Show, Read, Enum, Bounded, Semigroup, Monoid
Maybe aEq, Ord, Show, Read, Semigroup, Monoid, Functor, Applicative, Monad, Foldable, Traversable
[a]Eq, Ord, Show, Read, Semigroup, Monoid, Functor, Applicative, Monad, Foldable, Traversable
(a,b)Eq, Ord, Show, Read, Bounded, Semigroup, Monoid, Functor, Applicative, Monad, Foldable, Traversable
a->bSemigroup, Monoid, Functor, Applicative, Monad
IOSemigroup, Monoid, Functor, Applicative, Monad
IOErrorEq, Show
You can glean a lot of interesting information based on what typeclasses a type does not implement.
 - Functions and IO objects can NOT be tested for equality, nor can they be compared, printed, or read. (Function equality is undecidable in general, did you know?)
 - IOErrors can be tested for equality and printed, but not compared or read.
 - Bools, Chars, and Ints are bounded (have a minimum value and maxium value), but Integers, Floats, and Doubles, do not.
 - It makes sense to fold and traverse lists and tuples, but not much else (though you can create new types and add them to typeclasses, as we'll soon see.)
Type variables can be constrained to typeclasses. So we can say "The type of 21 is a, where the type variable a must be an instance of the typeclass Num." Haskell shows subclass constraints on the left of the => symbol in the type. Examples:
Prelude> :t 21
Num p => p
Prelude> :t 9.0001
Fractional p => p
Prelude> :t min
Ord a => a -> a -> a
Prelude> :t succ
Enum a => a -> a
Prelude> :t \(x, y) -> tan x < 5 || y
(Ord a, Floating a) => (a, Bool) -> Bool
Prelude> :t \n -> succ n == 8
(Eq a, Enum a, Num a) => a -> Bool
Prelude> :t \x -> \y -> \z -> (y, z, x - 1)
Num c => c -> a -> b -> (a, b, c)
Prelude> :t \x -> \y -> (y > y, x / 2.5)
(Ord a, Fractional b) => b -> a -> (Bool, b)
Type Signatures
Have you noticed that Haskell does way better type inference than Go, Rust, Swift, Java, C++, C#, and many other statically-typed languages? But even though Haskell can infer almost all types, it's considered good practice to put type signatures on all of your top-level declarations. Example:
feigenbaumConstant :: Double
feigenbaumConstant = 4.669201609102990
tripleToList :: (a,a,a) -> [a]
tripleToList (x,y,z) = [x,y,z]
isIncreasingTuple :: (Ord a) => (a, a) -> Bool
isIncreasingTuple (x, y) = x < y
advance :: (Eq a, Bounded a, Enum a) => a -> a
advance x = if x == maxBound then minBound else succ x
Why should you use type signatures?
Exercise: Do a search for the answer to this question: Why did the designers of Haskell choose to put the type signatures on a separate line of code, instead of embedding the type information into the parameter list, as is done in Go, Rust, Swift, C++, C#, Java, and friends?
Back to Programming, For a Bit
We're getting too deep again. Let's back out for a bit and look at how to actually do productive work in Haskell.
In addition to creating bindings and evaluating expressions with function calls, there are some other syntactic forms of expressions:
Prelude> 89::Integer -- type qualification
Prelude> let x = 10 in x * x -- let expression
Prelude> let x = 2 ; y = 3 in y * x + 1 -- let expression
Prelude> if 8 < 5 then 2 else 21 -- if expression
Let's play with some functions on numbers:
Prelude> logBase 2 1024
Prelude> floor 8.75
Prelude> floor (-8.75) -- without the parens, parses as floor minus 8.75
Prelude> recip 2
Prelude> isInfinite $ sqrt pi -- same as isInfinite (sqrt pi)
Prelude> sin (pi / 2)
Prelude> [round 0.5, round 1.5, round 2.5, round 3.5]
Prelude> 98 'divMod' 25
Prelude> 98 'quotRem' 25
Prelude> gcd _PHONE_ 55187
Exercise: Research the difference between quot and div, and between rem and mod. Explain the difference in words.
Exercise: Research the difference between trunc, round, floor, and ceiling. How does round behave at the midpoint between two integers?
Functions are totally first-class in Haskell, so all the cool stuff regarding higher-order functions, closures, and currying is front-and-center, and very natural, in Haskell.
Curried functions are the preferred style in Haskell. Uncurried functions are those
Prelude> add (x, y) = x + y
Prelude> add (5, 8)
Prelude> add x y = x + y
Prelude> add 5 8
Prelude> (add 5) 8
Prelude> plusFive = add 5
Prelude> plusFive 8
Prelude> map (add 5) [1..10]
Exercise: Research the functions curry and uncurry and provide examples of their use.
Notice that each of these three definitions are equivalent:
 add x y = x + y
 add x = \y -> x + y
 add = \x -> \y -> x + y
The last two notations really show off closures. The function \y -> x + y has a bound variable y and a free variable x. A closure is a function with a free variable that takes its value from the surrounding environment. The function returned by add x is a closure, since it carries around the value of x.
Closures arise naturally from curried functions.
But you will not see in Haskell closures used the way they are frequently used in JavaScript—to implement generators or to maintain state. Haskell has lazy infinite lists, and in the rare cases you need state, has a state monad. More on these later.
Operator Sections
Infix operators in parentheses are just like any other curried two-argument function:
 3 < 5 ⟹ True
 (<) 3 5 ⟹ True
 ((<) 3) 5 ⟹ True
So the function ((<) 3) when applied to an argument x


text:
After six months to a year of planning to create your customer-driven agenda, your Customer Advisory Board convenes. At the first break, the sponsoring company Customer Advisory Board team is concerned – okay, they are panicked – because the discussion is not staying on point. No one can figure out why. If we could be a fly on the proverbial wall, we might see what's going on.
- A too-dominant speaker – be it a member or executive – is likely taking too much air time.
- The remedy is expert Customer Advisory Board facilitation to draw out the members that are sitting on the sidelines.
- And, those advance interviews will have surfaced topical interests among the members that the facilitator can leverage to redirect or expand the conversation.
- The account review on-site before the meeting is a good opportunity to sort out the members most likely to want air time so that you have a solid "game day" plan to flank and divert as needed.
- One-way meeting content is the other culprit.
- Usually this is because the company is telling, or worse yet selling, and the content overlooks framing questions for members to create the basis of a discussion.
- Simply ask and build in thoughts about: What does the company want to know? What do members want to know? The advance interviews produced material clues, so integrate them as jumping-off points for discussion.
- The walk-through two weeks before the meeting and on-site create good opportunities to uncover the "talking heads" orientation.
Hearing and speaking abilities of members and executives are too inconsistent to ensure that all can literally be heard. Customer Advisory Board meetings are often held in large ballrooms or other spacious facilities. Acoustics are not always terrific. Two best practices resolve the vagaries of sound quality.
- Table top microphones are available for each two participants.
- All participants leading a discussion wear a microphone.
These resources are critical, not nice-to-have, especially if you have over 20 participants gathering. And, regardless of how well someone thinks their voice can carry, everyone hears better when voices are projected.
Your Customer Advisory Board members are spending time and effort to provide guidance for your business. Your company is expending considerable resources – money and Leadership Team commitment. Attending to the detail steps to ensure everyone is heard during the meeting enables a return on the investment for all.


would bet the chances of you getting it published are very slim.
Second, take my advice and do not mention in the cover letter that your mom is deceased. Publishers get tons of mail referencing sick people, handicapped people, people going through a messy divorce, people being channeled from the other side, and people grieving for their 127th china doll "Miss Calliope" who was recently decapitated by their incontinent Chihuahua. None of this has anything to do with publishing. It will be seen as a play for sympathy, and even if it works, our sincere sympathy has nothing to do with publishing.
Good luck!
And this goes for reused art from Felicia Bond or Beatrix Potter, or the text of Jane Yolen's Owl Moon.
Though I must say that when I've encountered such things, I could not help sending a rather pointed letter about plagiarism and its extreme inadvisability.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The Manuscript Wearing Sunglasses and a Hat That Won't Give Its Name
Quick Answers
I am a professional illustrator, and I've just started writing my first children's book, which I plan to illustrate as well. I've seen different advice on how and what to submit to publishers and agents as an author/illustrator. Some say you should submit a dummy book, and others say you should submit a standard manuscript with a few example illustrations included. If a dummy book is the way to go, do you prepare it as closely as possible to what you picture the final book to be? (layout, typeface, design, at least mock-up illustrations on each page, etc?) And if it is preferred to submit a standard manuscript, in what manner do you include the illustrations? Do you just include a few prints paperclipped to the manuscript, or do you try and show where in the story they fit, by laying out some text with them?
I would recommend manuscript pages, a sketch dummy (don't spend time worrying about type and design), and a couple samples of finished illustrations.
My first question is, as an editor, what do you want to see in a cover letter from an illustrator? I've seen plenty of advice for writers on how to structure a query letter, but there seems to be little advice for the illustrators. Is there anything specific that should or should not be in an illustrator's cover letter? Does the illustrator need a cover letter at all?
Not really. If you're just sending illustration samples, most of those come labeled with the artist's contact information and that's it.
My other question is about formality. In sending out packages of art samples/cover letter to publishers and their art directors or editors, how important is it to have typewritten addresses or address labels rather than handwritten?
Again and again I find myself reading a book which I bought based on reading the cover blurb, only to find that the story, and sometimes even the genre, has been completely misrepresented. For example a book I bought last year had a blurb which described a story about an archeologist finding an ancient sword in Jerusalem which may have been the sword of Mohammed and that finding it may change the world, the title was even Sword of God. The sword appears on the first chapter but immediately after finding it (as in still down in the tomb covered in dust) the character is drawn into a (rather cliched) espionage adventure in which war crimes in asia are uncovered. I spent the whole book wondering when and how the sword would be worked in and it never was.
Now, perhaps this happens because, like cover artists, blurb writers read only the first chapter, but I think it has to be a deliberate marketing ploy - after all, you can't return books after you've read them (at least not in Australia) so perhaps some publishers don't care about disappointing/lying to their readers as long as the purchase is made.
Seems awfully stupid to me. I mean, sure, a publisher might farm out its covercopy needs to a freelancer, but then how does the editor not read the copy and realize it's wrong for the book?
That's sloppy, sloppy publishing. In this country, people can and do return books, but if you don't have that option you can at least stop buying books from the publisher who can't reliably tell you about the books they print.
Do you know of any mainstream publishers that accept electronic submissions? Very few do currently. Why do agents want to go green and publishers prefer snail mail?
Do you mean mainstream publishers that take electronic submissions from agents? That's everybody. But if you mean mainstream publishers that are open to unagented manuscripts and take electronic submissions, no.
Agents get a lot of email in the way of submissions. People at publishing houses get a lot of email simply generated by the rest of the company they work for. Both agents and publishers battle a stormtide of incoming email, but if publishers had to deal with the email they already get and an ocean of submissions emails, we would be sunk. (Also our computer servers can't take it.)
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Show Some Initiative
By staying away from our offices. Please.
Do Your Family a Favor and Talk Some Sense Into Them
My sister wrote and illustrated a short picture book for my mother as a Christmas present. Now my parents want me to bring the book to my editor and see what she thinks. I know exactly what she'd think: "No. Thank you, but no." Oh, the story and the drawings are cute and fun, but I don't think the story can be stretched out to fill 32 pages (or whatever the length of a picture book is). However... I am not an editor. Is it possible that I'm the short-sighted one?
Well... you never know. I've said 'hell no' to manuscripts that went on to thrill the socks off of another editor and were published very nicely. (I still say 'hell no', but clearly some people love that stuff.)
I don't think my editor needs another picture book submission from a) someone who thinks their relative is brilliant, or b) someone who thinks they have an in because they know someone at the publishing house.
That's true.
Then again, it would take 30 seconds to read.
But how long to say no to it, and graciously? That's the time-suck.
Am I refusing my sister a fair chance? Or, should I just tell her to re-write the story until it's good enough? Also, is there a way to let parents down gently, without making it sound like the gift was terrible?
I don't know your family members, so I don't know what will make sense to them. You should at least try to bring across to them that editors field a LOT of friends-and-family manuscripts and they don't appreciate it. So while (of course) you are willing to do your sister as many special favors as there are stars in the sky, your editor isn't.
Editors are often sympathetic, patient people at heart (though overworked), but I know they all wish that more people understood that when one asks one's author friend to do a favor and send a manuscript to their editor, one is not asking the author to do you a favor-- emailing something takes very little time, and no energy. What one is really doing is asking the editor to do you a favor, and you don't get to ask strangers for favors.
Still, your editor likes you and wants to be kind, so sending your editor one manuscript from your family is probably ok with her. You may want to let your sister know that this is the only special favor you'll be able to ask of your editor-- so is this the manuscript she wants to use her golden ticket on?
And as far as your parents: I don't understand why, but it's clear that many people can't believe something is wonderful unless everyone else agrees. Which, in case anyone reading is feeling low on logic, MAKES NO SENSE. Publishing a manuscript is about appealing to thousands of people. There are lots of wonderful manuscripts that would make dozens, or scores, or even hundreds of people happy. They can't be published. They would be cherished, and they would sell, but they would not sell enough.
Publishing is about appealing to people who spend money on books. Publishing is about appealing to strangers. In terms of the story that a daughter writes for her parents, there is simply no excuse for any conclusion besides this one: if the parents think the story is wonderful, then it has appealed to the only important people in the world.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Take Four Lefts, and Then Ask Someone Else for Directions
My husband and I have written two novels together (one MG/YA and one Chapter Book). There are no human characters "featured" in either. We've gotten what appears to be interest in both ("excellent writing", "well developed worlds", etc.), but have not been able to entice an agent. Recently, one major house, after the editor (from a conference) requested a full and responded that he loved our MG/YA manuscript and went through the scenes he liked the best, said that his "boss" did not like the idea of animals having human characteristics. We've gotten that response from a number of professionals at SCBWI conferences we've attended. When they hear that there are no human characters in our completed manuscripts, they turn us down without looking at the work. So, my question is are we just looking in the wrong places or is this a market trend and both projects should just be shelved for the time being? Alternatively, should we take this as a "sign" that the projects just


Fraction multiplication as scaling
Scaling or resizing means comparing the size of the product to the size of one factor on the basis of the size of the other factor, without performing the multiplication. Scaling a number by a fraction less than 1 will be lesser then the original number. Scaling a number by a fraction greater than 1 will be greater than the original number. Multiplication is denoted by a cross sign '×'. Fractions are numbers that can be expressed in the p/q form. Here p the numerator and q is the denominator of the fraction.
Example 1: Smith's family ate three fourths of all the cookies in 4 cookie boxes. Write the equation of the quantity they ate and is it lesser than or greater than 4?
Solution: Number of cookie boxes = 4.
The fraction of cookies eaten from all the boxes = 3/4.
The amount to cookies eaten = 4 x 3/4. (This is the equation)
Now checking for the multiplication as scaling.
We have 4 x 3/4 < 4 (Because the fraction 3/4 < 1)
Hence the amount eaten by the Smith's family is less than 4 boxes.
Question: Multiple choice question (Pick the correct option.)
Without multiplying the numbers which one will have the product greater than 2?
a) 2 x 5/4 b) 2 x 1/4 c) 2 x 4/4 d) None of these.
Correct answer: option a.
Explanation: The fraction 5/4 >1. Multiplying a number to a fraction greater than 1 will be greater than the given number.
Hence 2 x 5/4 > 2.
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5 Ways To Increase Your Online Advertisement Engagement
online advertisement
Online advertisement has changed over the years but still plays an important role in the acquisition of the customer.
Mobile-ready websites and online ads for contextual marketing have enhanced the shopping experience of the audiences.
Online advertising is a perfect marketing strategy that helps you in making a good impression with the existing and new customers.
In this article, we will discuss the 5 ways that can help you in increasing the engagement of your audience through your ads.
1. Online Advertisement For Relevant Audience
While creating your online ads, always remember that it should be relevant to your audience. If you are selling seasonal items then create ads according to the time so that it brings maximum engagement for you. Taking account of weather and season time can make your ads more relevant for the audiences.
Audiences also expect your online ads to be more personal and relevant to their needs. Personalizing your online ads for the audiences not only attracts the user's attention but also brings traffic to your site.
2. Add Interactivity To Your Online Advertisement
In this age of digital marketing, everyone is trying their best to make their online advertisement more interactive and engaging so that the audience can easily engage with it. Make your audience entertain so that they can show interest in it.
Incorporating interactivity likequizzes, puzzles, games, etc. to your online advertising can increase the engagement of the audience to a large extent. Interactive online ads can increase the engagement rate by 2X as compared to simple online ads.
3. Engage Audience Through Multiple Ways
Online ads provide a great opportunity to engage your audience. Provide more than one link on your landing page so that you can engage your audience in multiple ways. Provide an interactive discount or provide them coupons on their first purchase. This will help you in converting them into a paying customer.
Always place a follow-up link in your online ads so that users can sign up for your newsletter and follow you on social media. Using these tricks in your online ads you can increase the brand reputation of your company and make your brand popular.
4. Target Your Audience Through Native Ads
Native ads easily target your audience. Whenever a user searches a query on Google or any search engine, native ads show on the top of the search result as related ads. Native ads are capable of bringing more engagement than the banner ads as the user directly engages with the ad.
A native ad easily engages with the audience and provides a clear purpose for your advertisement. The way native ads make interaction with the user and provide a clear vision to your online ad is far better than the banner ad.
5. Analyze User's Data To Place Your Ads
It is very important to analyze the user's data. This will help you in determining how they interact with your ads, engagement level of the audiences, and how your ads are performing on the different platforms. Determining these parameters helps you in placing your ads where the engagement is more.
The performance of your ads always matters in bringing engagement to your audience. So target your audience according to the niche and type of service you are providing. Place your ads on the platform where they are most active is a way to bring engagement through your ads.
There are many ways through which you can increase engagement. From personalized ads to analyzing user's data for placing your ads, you can increase engagement to a great extent. We at WPAdSense helps you in placing ads to your site easily.
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text:
a company of faith and modesty
At Sigetronics, the core business arena consists of special semiconductor devices and materials utilizing Si, SiGe and compound semiconductors. The products developed and supplied by Sigetronics will be used to construct various telecommunication modules, terminals, systems, and infra structures. These products will play a vital role as the base of information and telecommunication society.
Now the world is emphasizing human life and green environment beyond a society of information and telecommunications. The definition for being and the social responsibility of Sigetronics is originated from the questions: "why does both human life and green environment surge as the key issue? And how should the world change during the forthcoming ten to thirty years to make historical improvements?"
Recognition is the reason for the being of Sigetronics, and it also provides an opportunity for changes. Regardless of periodic unstableness, local unbalance, and certain drawbacks, it is clear that the advanced science and technology have expanded the horizon of recognition. As a result of the expansion, freedom and rightness enriched civilization as well as precipitated an endeavor for a welfare society.
Sigetronics is a start-up company focusing on special semiconductor devices and materials. The company desperately wishes to become a world-class enterprise in the field of semiconductor business in the future. Sigetronics contributes to human beings by establishing a welfare society holding life and environment in esteem. Sigetronics incubates a faith of sharing and enriching wealth, which is necessary to work for mutual benefits in operating business and trades. While we accomplish such goals and conduct businesses, our priority will be being "A Company of Faith and Modesty".
Again, Sigetroincs will become a company to which everyone gives compliments as if looking at a beautiful rose blooming in a well-formed garden. It is widely believed that the passion and dispersing aroma immersed in a red-colored flower conveys real happiness. Likewise, Sigetronics will take every employee filled with passion, and give words to be responsible until customers may feel happiness over satisfaction.


text:
Diesel Engine Noise Control Web Seminar RePlay
What Will You Learn
- Identify and analyze commonly occurring diesel engine noise sources
- Understand how analytical and experimental techniques can be used to solve diesel noise issues
- Prescribe appropriate noise control analysis and solutions for specific diesel engine NVH issues
Is This Course For You
This course is ideal for those want to understand the root causes of many diesel engine noise issues, and how to use this understanding to better diagnose and control diesel engine-related noises.
Those intending to take this web seminar should have at least a bachelor's degree in engineering, or equivalent, and be familiar with basic engineering mechanics and vibrations.
This course satisfies a requirement in the Diesel Technology Certificate Program.
Have colleagues who need this course? See Special Offers to the right.
Click on the Requirements tab to make sure you are properly equipped to interact with this course.
- 90 days of online single-user access (from date of purchase) to the two session,
approximately four hour, recorded presentation
- Course workbook (downloadable,.pdf's)
- Online learning assessment
- Instructor follow up to your content questions
-.4 CEUs*/Certificate of Achievement (upon completion of all course content and a score of 70% or higher on the learning assessment)
*SAE International is authorized by IACET to offer CEUs for this course.
- Windows 7, 8, 10 (other operating systems and mobile platforms are not supported but may work)
- Internet Explorer 11, Mozilla Firefox 37, Google Chrome 42 (other browsers are not supported)
- Broadband-1Mbps minimum
- The Basics of Diesel Engine Noise
- Combustion Noise Forcing Functions
- Combustion Mode Switching
- Mechanical Forcing Functions in Diesels
- Separating Combustion and Mechanical Noise Sources
- Strategies for Reducing Forcing Functions
- Surface Radiated Noise
- Exterior Covers: Radiated Sound and Simulation Modeling
- Gear Train Noise Issues and Countermeasures
- Drive-By Noise Contribution
- Diesel Engine Design Considerations for Low Noise
- Application Noise Issues


and the
"Quake 3: Arena" Graphics Engine
by Bryan McNett
In July 1998, John Carmack announced further details regarding the Quake 3 : Arena (Q3A) graphics engine. This article attempts to explain recent changes to the Q3A graphics engine while exploring order-of-operations. After you're done, you may download all-new files that enable you to play with the new features of the Q3A graphics engine in real time using Adobe Photoshop.
note! the web server was corrupting the photoshop files. this was fixed at 10am on 7/27. we apologize for the inconvenience.
This article assumes you have read Multitexture and the Quake 3 Graphics Engine (MATQ3GE).
Most relevant to our ongoing discussion of multitexture, bump-mapping has been dropped from Q3A's list of features due to excessive hardware requirements. This removes bump-mapping from the equation given in MATQ3GE. As a subtle side effect, the light-map is now free to appear later in the equation. It may be unclear what this means or why this would be important. It may help to discuss order-of-operations. Let's start with ordinary arithmetic:
Because multiplication and division are always done before addition and subtraction, two and three are multiplied together, and then one is added to produce seven. But parentheses can be used to rearrange the order-of-operations:
In this case, one and two are added, and then the result is multiplied by three to produce nine.
Multitexture can be done with alpha blending, multiple texture units, or a combination of both. Only the best 3D cards have multiple texture units, so we will concentrate on techniques that require only alpha blending.
Because alpha blending means blending a polygon with what's already on the screen, each operation is applied to the grand total of all previous operations. This order-of-operations doesn't care about multiplication coming before addition - it moves strictly from the start of the equation to the end, step by step. It is impossible to reorder the operations with well-chosen parentheses.
You can't choose the parentheses, but you can avoid confusion by wrapping everything in parentheses like so:
In MATQ3GE, many layers of bump-mapping are added to one layer of light-mapping. The result is multiplied with texture-mapping.
If the light-map and bump-maps were applied after the texture-map, the operations would not be done in the same order, and the result would not look the same, to say the least:
But if the bump-maps are gone (as is the case with Q3A), the result is the same regardless of the order-of-operations:
1. (L*T)
2. (T*L)
The light-map is free to come after the texture-map. Now that we've explained what this means, let's explain why it's important.
Let's consider the specular-map. Its purpose is to add shiny highlights to the texture-map. We can enable the specular-map in the above two equations in one of two ways:
1. ((L*T)+S)
2. ((T+S)*L)
The first equation shows us how the specular map was applied in MATQ3GE - by necessity, only after the light-map had already applied shadows to the texture-map. The second equation shows us how, without bump-mapping, the specular-map can be applied before shadows are applied.
click here to download bad.psd
1. ((L*T)+S)
when specular-mapping is applied after light-mapping, the shiny parts "glow" when they enter shadow. this looks bad.
click here to download good.psd
2. ((T+S)*L)
when specular-mapping is applied before light-mapping, the shiny parts are obscured by shadow. this looks good.
This is important because shadows are supposed to be applied after specular highlights. If the specular-map were to shine through shadows (as was the case in MATQ3GE), they would be specular in bright light, but emissive in shadow (note to Quakers: emissive is just a fancy way of saying fullbright). It would not be easy to design specular-maps that look good under these conditions.
For what it's worth, the above problem was contrived to help explain the kind of problems that arise with order-of-operations. Many solutions do not involve tossing away bump-mapping.
It is possible to get correct shadows and bump-mapping by combining bump-maps and specular-maps into specular-bump-maps:
click here to download specular-bump.psd
specular-bump-mapping kills two birds with one stone.
It is even possible, with the help of palettes, to combine all four specular-bump-maps into a single super-specular-bump-map:
Finally, the most twisted trick of all: the four specular-bump-maps for each 16 bit texture-map are packed into the same two bits of four separate 8 bit textures. Each 8 bit texture is shared by the specular-bump-maps of four 16 bit texture-maps. A palette selects which two bits define a four-color grayscale. If polygons are sorted by palette, only four palette switches are needed per frame. Like usual, six passes are required to get texture-mapping, specular-bump-mapping and light-mapping, but texture memory requirements drop from 48 bits-per-pixel to 24!


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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations, inherited and somatically acquired, are common in clinical prostate cancer. We have developed model systems designed to study specific mtDNA mutations in controlled experiments. Because prostate cancer frequently metastasizes to bone we tested the hypothesis that mtDNA mutations enhance prostate cancer growth and survival in the bone microenvironment. METHODS. The pathogenic nucleotide position (np) 8993 mDNA mutation was introduced into PC3 prostate cancer cells by cybrid formation. Wild-type and mutant cybrids were grown as nude mouse subcutaneous xenografts with or without bone stromal cell co-inoculation. Cybrids were also grown in the intratibial space. Tumor growth was assayed by direct tumor measurement and luciferase chemiluminescence. Gene expression was assayed using cDNA microarrays confirmed by real time PCR, western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS. Cybrids with the 8,993 mtDNA mutation grew faster than wild-type cybrids. Further growth acceleration was demonstrated in the bone microenvironment. A 37 gene molecular signature characterized the growth advantage conferred by the mtDNA mutation and bone microenvironment. Two genes of known importance in clinical prostate cancer, FGF1 and FAK, were found to be substantially upregulated only when both mtDNA mutation and bone stromal cell were present. CONCLUSIONS. The ATP6 np 8,993 mtDNA mutation confers a growth advantage to human prostate cancer that is most fully manifest in the bone microenvironment. The identification of specific molecular alterations associated with mtDNA mutation and growth in bone may allow new understanding of prostate cancer bone metastasis.
ASJC Scopus subject areas


text:
WUN research at UCT
WUN supports a diverse range of research activities across all disciplines and encourages interdisciplinary research in particular. Through joint research collaboration, WUN members are able to pool their resources and intellectual power to achieve collective international objectives that meet the needs of our global society.
As a comprehensive global research organisation, WUN shares many of the same objectives as UCT, fostering international research collaboration through a developed global support framework that can address issues of global concern, affect decision making at the level of policy, and unlock funding opportunities.
WUN research takes place in one of four thematic fields known as Global Challenges, each of which consists of a number of collaborative research projects involving leading researchers of similar fields of interest:
- Responding to climate change, focused primarily on food and environment security and encapsulating a number of innovative research projects that address scientific, cultural, health and social issues. Changes to our climate are leading to environmental changes, food and water shortages, and population displacement and migration. Collaborative and multidisciplinary research programs are a crucial component of the WUN response to these emerging problems, and experts from across the globe need to work together to explore sustainable approaches to how we can best adapt to a changing climate.
- Public health (non-communicable disease), which emphasises a life-course approach to opportunities for addressing non-communicable diseases, especially in low and middle income countries and transitioning populations, but also in developed societies where there are social disparities in risk.
- Global higher education and research, which addresses the sources, mechanisms, and social structures that give rise to today's higher education challenges, and works collaboratively across the network to propose reform policies for international research and education.
- Understanding cultures, which facilitates interdisciplinary research for understanding some of the principal consequences of globalisation for cultural identities. The research agenda of this Challenge is shaped by a concern with how profound globalisation trends such as a more integrated transnational economic system, the rise of global communications networks, increasing levels of population mobility, the advent of international consumer brands, and widening social inequalities are challenging national, regional and individual cultural practices. Deeper understanding of these challenges for cultural changes is necessary to inform effective policy-making and implementation.
These Global Challenges consist of a number of collaborative research projects, involving leading researchers of similar fields of interest. Across the network, they comprise more than 90 active initiatives in a portfolio spanning the arts, humanities, social sciences, engineering, science, health and medicine.


Question: What Is Academic Achievement Motivation Test?
What is meant by academic achievement?
In a general sense, academic achievement is the current level of a student's learning.
More specifically, for the purposes of ESSA accountability, academic achievement refers to the percentage of students at a school whose learning currently meets or exceeds their grade-level standards..
What are the entrepreneurial achievements?
11 Entrepreneurs Explain Their Major Accomplishments in 2018#1- Launching our first collection. Photo Credit: Brittany Bowers. … #2- Improving our following and readership. Photo Credit: Andrew Schrage. … #3- A number of things. Photo Credit: Deepak Chopra. … #4- New business. … #5- Social responsibility. … #6- Improving my focus. … #7- Reading 50 Books. … #8- Two accomplishments.More items…•
Why is academic achievement important?
Academic success is important because it is strongly linked to the positive outcomes we value. … Academic success is important because working people will need higher levels of education to tackle the technologically demanding occupations of the future. Now a day you need a post-secondary education in order to get a job.
What are the characteristics of achievement motivation?
Characteristics of High Achievement MotivationModerate Challenge. Individuals with high achievement motivation prefer tasks and problems that involve moderate levels of difficulty. … Personal Rewards. … Relevant Feedback. … Problem-Solving. … Interpersonal Skills.
How do we measure achievement motivation?
The Achievement Motivation Inventory (AMI) is a personality inventory designed to measure a number of work-related constructs. The AMI is viewed as a trait-oriented measure that assesses the concept of achievement motivation (Schuler & Prochaska, 2000). The AMI employs a 7-point Likert scale and consists of 170 items.
What are some examples of academic achievements?
How is academic achievement measured?
Academic achievement is almost entirely measured with grades (by course or assignment) and GPA. … The accomplishment of learning objectives and the acquisition of skills and competencies can be measured at the course, program, and institutional level.
What is an example of achievement motivation?
One of these needs is Achievement Motivation – which can be defined as an individual's need to meet realistic goals, receive feedback and experience a sense of accomplishment. For example, employees who are Achievement-Motivated thrive very well in corporations where they receive regular performance evaluations.
What is achievement behavior?
Achievement behavior is best defined as behavior on skill tasks or, at least, on tasks where individuals. believe or feel that their competence affects outcomes. Achievement behavior is distinguished from. other forms of behavior by its purpose: the goal of achievement behavior is to be or feel competent or.
What are the three types of needs?
Understanding the 3 types of needs: Achievement, affiliation, and power.
What is meant by achievement motivation?
Definition. Achievement motivation is the need for excellence and significant accomplishment, despite what rewards may be offered after the achievement has been met.
How do you describe academic achievements?
Academic achievement is the extent to which a student or institution has achieved either short or long term educational goals. Achievement may be measured through students' grade point average, whereas for institutions, achievement may be measured through graduation rates.
Who gave the principle of achievement motivation?
Achievement was initially recognized as an important source of human motivation by the American psychologist Henry Murray in the late 1930s. Although Murray identified achievement motivation as important to the behaviour of many people, it was the American psychologists David McClelland and John Atkinson who…
Why is it important to motivate achievement?
Achievement motivation is based on reaching success and achieving all of our aspirations in life. … Motivation is important because it affects our lives everyday. All of our behaviors, actions, thoughts, and beliefs are influenced by our inner drive to succeed.


text:
The Last Days
According to myth, Siberys is the name of one of the three first dragons, along with Eberron and Khyber, who ruled all. They discovered, or created, the Draconic Prophecy, and its words brought reality into being.
The remnants of the dragon Siberys can be seen above the world of Eberron, glowing in the night as a ring of golden Dragonshards stretching from horizon to horizon. These dragonshards occasionally plummet to Eberron and, like the Eberron and Khyber shards, are sought after for their various powers and uses.
Stretching above the Ring of Syberis and Eberron's twelve moons lies the Sea of Syberis, also commonly known as the Astral Sea. Along this sea lie angelic astral cities, scattered among various planes of reality. Like the planes of Eberron and Khyber, the planes of Syberis will occasionally create manifest zones within our world, but constantly ebb and flow along our world's borders, influencing our reality in numerous ways.


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Updated 10/05/2012 05:00 AM
State of Education: Learning at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
It's a favorite among tourists and sports fans: the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown. And these days, it's a source of education. Vince Gallagher reports.
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The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown is a popular destination, and a source of education. One way is through point to point video conferences.
"We do up to 500 video conferences a year and the video conferences are live sessions where we bring education into the classroom," said Anna Wade, Director of Museum Education.
Just like this particular one with an eighth grade class from Derby, Vermont.
"Here's the Hall of Fame itself, that's what we're best known for...this is a shot of our plaque gallery," explained museum teacher Caitlin Hier.
Even the artifacts process is explained.
"It comes from the game, we take it back to Cooperstown...it is weighed and assessed, there's a number put on it so we can find it in our records," said Hier.
This video conference field trip series does more than just explain the game of baseball. In fact, it can help students understand concepts behind math, science and in today's example, civil rights.
"That session will last about an hour and the teacher that we have here from the Hall of Fame will go over the African American experience in baseball from the 1800s all the way through present day," said Wade.
With an emphasis on one famous player...
"You can see behind me we have a shot of Jackie Robinson and you can see an artifact case right down there," said Hier.
For schools to participate, they would need a video conference system, and then they can sign up on the Hall of Fame's website. Teachers can even partake in a little fielder's choice, picking the topics for their students.
"So they can select math or science or civil rights, women's history, labor history, economics, whatever program what they would like and then we'll tailor the program to the student's need," said Wade.
There's also an onsite program known as the Diamond Discovery Days available for both school and home school students.
"They're available for kindergarten through 12th grade students and they'll take place for students on site...teachers and students can experience all the different modules that we have," said Wade.
A lesson both on and off the field.


text:
Log Splitter Safety Tips
- Read understand and follow all instructions on the machine and in the operator's manual before attempting to assemble and operate.
- Be familiar with all controls and proper operation. Know how to stop the machine and disengage quickly.
- Never allow children under 17 years to operate this machine. Children, 16 years and over, should read and understand instructions and safety rules in this manual and should be trained and supervised by a parent.
- Many accidents occur when more than one person operates the machine. If a helper is assisting in loading logs, never activate the control until the helper is a minimum of 10 feet from the machine.
- Keep bystanders, pets and children at least 20 feet from the machine while it is in operation.
- Hydraulic log splitters develop high fluid pressures during operation. Fluid escaping through a pin hole opening can penetrate your skin and cause blood poisoning, gangrene or death.
- Keep the operator zone and adjacent area clear for safe, secure fitting.
Did you find this helpful?


text:
Women who are pregnant or are planning to get pregnant should not be given Perjeta. Perjeta can cause embryo death and birth defects. It's important that you don't get pregnant while you're getting Perjeta; you must use effective birth control.
The most common side effects of Perjeta are:
- hair loss
- low white blood cell count (neutropenia)
- peripheral neuropathy (numbness, tingling or burning in the hands and feet)
Because Perjeta is likely to be given with Herceptin, it's important to know that problems with heart function or developing heart failure can sometimes be side effects of Herceptin. While research has found that adding Perjeta to Herceptin doesn't increase the risk of heart problems, your doctor will likely want to test your heart function before and during treatment with Perjeta, Herceptin, and chemotherapy.


text: Existing conceptual design methods mainly focus on component modeling and representation, which makes them insufficient to help in the conceptual design stage. Port ontology, as an approach to formally expressing product design, has been effectively applied to concept description of a product. An incidence matrix support for product conceptual design based on port ontology is given in this paper. It formally represents and organizes product information in both functional ontology and physical domain in a hierarchy. Port compatibilities are used to map and link the two components. This makes it possible to build incidence matrix and decompose it into an independence matrix, and allow designers from different backgrounds with various interests to access the design ontology. A multilevel matrix is constructed to generate principle schemes of products at different levels of abstraction, which facilitates design decision-making through the whole conceptual design stage. A case study is also given to demonstrate the proposed approach.


text:
Ethernet temperature / humidity monitoring with 2 relay outputs and 4 dry contact inputs (Web, SNMP, and E-mail). Output relays can be controlled over the Web.
- Sensors: 1xRJ11 1-Wire (max 5 temperature / humidity sensors)
- Inputs: 4 dry contact inputs (for detectors)
- Outputs: 2 output relays (24 VDC)
- M2M protocols: SNMP, XML
- Sending SMS: With external software only
- Response to thresholds: SNMP trap, E-mail
- IT – control: switch on/off or restart connected devices
- Security: supervising of sensors in IT rooms.
- SCADA systems: connecting of external inputs
- Monitoring of back-up power source: UPS and Diesel engines
- Monitoring of operating conditions: (temperature and humidity)
- ICT technologies (fire, security and phone systems)
- Logging of processes: storages, cold-storage rooms, freezers and fridges (food industry and pharmacy)
- IT – monitoring: server rooms, 19" racks (ICT)
- Camera systems: external sensors connecting(door contact, PIR)
- Large buildings: heating and air-condition optimalization
- Systems interconnecting: fire (EPS), security (EZS), access system
- Air-condition monitoring: temperature and evaporated water leaking
- Supervising systems: Information points, ATM, terminals
IT environment monitoring system with an option to directly control its digital outputs. Poseidon 3268 is a unique IP device with 2 relay outputs (NO/NC), 1Wire connector for temperature and humidity sensors and 4 dry contact inputs. When a dry input contact is closed, Poseidon sends an e-mail or a SNMP trap. Output relays can be controlled over the Web. In a typical application, Poseidon 3268 controls the environment in cabinets equipped with a fan. Critical temperature or door being opened alerts are sent to a central system then. Poseidon 3268 is also frequently used to restart a server or A/C unit remotely.


Action that involves young men and a tree in a nonsensical expenditure of effort. The image recalls, ironically, the labour scene of the paintings in socialist realism style where people used to be portrayed during their daily working activities.
Aerial photographs depict Jerusalem and heavens above it as a fiery inferno or as a tranquil heavenly landscape. The photographs fall between traditional landscapes and satellite imagery often seen from the conflict areas.
Experiments with an abstract object in the landscape: it all comes in to the reflection of how the environment is shaped by humans, at the same time all landscapes are in constant change by nature.
Images are originally attachments from junk mail I've received (Viagra, Porn etc.) The average colour of the image has been calculated and colour opacity reduced to 99{a0b4324157c1c2cc20f20a0325ce4b91f346c9529502a2f5dcfc1f5bed0237d4}. Only the ghost of the original image remains visible.


text:
Ultrasound Therapy Systems, Angioplasty
Definition : Ultrasound therapy systems that deliver energy into the vessels to eliminate areas of narrowing (i.e., angioplasty). These systems include a radio-frequency generator (frequency of 20 kHz is typical), ultrasonic transducers, and a catheter. Some systems include a ball-tipped wire that act as an acoustic wave guide, transmitting the energy to the target areas within the artery; other systems use small ultrasonic transducers on the distal tip of a catheter that are excited to produce the ultrasonic waves. Ultrasound angioplasty systems are mostly used in total occlusion and calcified plaques and to facilitate balloon angioplasty.
Entry Terms : "Direct Ablation Angioplasty Systems"
UMDC code : 18824


text:
Weatherize is a simple data visualization installation that allows an immediate visual representation of meteorological data coming from a city. Users can interact choosing by Twitter their favorite cities using the hashtag#wtrz NameCity. In real time, the system returns the representation of weather conditions regarding temperature, humidity and wind speed at that precise moment, which change according to the city selected by the user.
It can 'map' objects or structures that follow the regularity of a grid, using a simple dedicated interface for the Ipad. The patterns generated by triangles create unique colors that vary at every selection of cities in acomputational way. The vertex of each triangle are anchored to the grid and follow the path with random behavior.
Triangle represents a mysterious basic shape used in symbolic patterns across cultures and times. It shows the four Elements: Earth, Water, Fire and Air also representing the regularity of a stable element and the irregularity of a more elusive and intangible thing.
The triangle as the time: mysterious, uncertain and uncontrollable.
This shape is the most important factor in Weatherize, which is able to visualize meteorological data coming from user selected cities. The amount of triangles represents local temperature, the color represents weather conditions, the degree of opacity represents the local humidity and the speed of movement represents wind speed.
The code was entirely written in Processing 1.5.1, an open source programming language.
It consists of six main parts:
– The composition of the grid through keyboard commands or interface IPAD build with TouchOSC. The grid informations are stored into two text edit file, lineV.txt and lineO.txt;
– Receiving data from Twitter. We used the java library for the Twitter API. With Twitter4J, you can easily integrate your Java application with the Twitter service;
– Detection-time data via RSS feeds from Yahoo. The Twitter API functionality uses an oAuth system, which allows people to authenticate applications through a login at twitter.com. More info here.
(It's recommended to replace the right authorization codes in order to run correctly weatherize);
– Creation of triangles with different attributes;
– Upload screenshots of the remote server triggered the arrival of a tweet. We used a DataUpload java class developed by Philippe Lhoste – PhiLho(a)GMX.net;
– color palette for the moment decided arbitrarily;
Weatherize is able to send to user their custom image corresponding to that particular time exclusive and unique, thus creating a generative web piece containing the collection of all the photos:


How to Prep for a Bike Race
Prepping for a Bike Race
i Thinkstock Images/Comstock/Getty Images
Bicycling isn't just a great way to enjoy the outdoors, but it's also an excellent form of exercise. Harvard Medical School reports that the average 155-pound woman burns almost 600 calories in just an hour of moderate, 12-miles-per-hour biking. If you're competitive, or if you just want to add the excitement of a new challenge to your biking routine, consider joining one of the hundreds of bike races that take place across the country. While training and preparation varies according to the type of race and the distance involved, several general preparation strategies can help you squeeze the highest performance out of your body.
Step 1
Weight train with resistance-based exercises that target your biking muscles, such as squats and and leg presses for your calves, thighs and glutes. While specific workout schedules vary depending on your strengths and weaknesses, Harvard Cycling recommends one or two strength-training days every week in the three months leading up to your racing season.
Step 2
Cycle one long ride per week, starting a minimum of three months before your racing season. Focus on riding the distance that will be required in the official race you plan to do. If you can't go quite as far as the race requires, go as long as you can and try adding to the distance every week as you gradually build your endurance.
Step 3
Incorporate a couple interval rides into your weekly training, which now brings you to a total of three or four total workout days — one or two strength training days, one long ride and two interval rides — in the week. Interval rides, which help to quickly increase your speed and endurance, involve riding as hard as you can for three minutes. Rest for 90 seconds, then repeating it for a total of four quick 90-second rides in a set.
Step 4
Eat a small meal — no larger than 1,000 calories — approximately four hours before your bike race. Focus on relatively low-fiber sources of carbohydrates and protein, such as fruit and yogurt or white bread and peanut butter. This primes your body's fuel levels to give you a boost of energy in your race without the indigestion and discomfort sometimes caused by heavier foods.
Step 5
Arrive at the race course early enough before the race to give you time to survey the racing route, either on your bike or in a car. While you could do this on paper using a map, seeing the route in person gives you a better idea of what to expect so you don't experience surprises on the actual race.
Step 6
Warm up right before the race's start time by cycling slowly for 20 or 30 minutes. This rushes oxygen-rich blood to your muscles and helps prepare you for physical activity and intense exercise.
the nest


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I am learning how to play the piano, and am a bit new to the technology in audio. I read this great introduction into MIDI but need to know how I can construct a MIDI file from sheet music.
Why am I asking? I want to create a MIDI file that will take advantage of the cooler features of my PSR-e423 keyboard. One feature is that it will "grade" you on tempo, and correctness of notes. This grading system only works on notes played on Channel 1, and this channel can be easily substituted for other instruments. I can enable/disable 5 concurrent channels.
I think I've gone too far randomly downloading software (scala, etc) and have no idea if the software I found accomplishes my goal. I'll even work with a free trial if you know of one.
Any tips are appreciated. I can't wait to get started!
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migrated from avp.stackexchange.com Jan 24 at 18:30
2 Answers 2
You could use Ableton Live or Reaper or some other program to create the MIDI file.
Once you have chosen a program attach your keyboard to your computer via MIDI. Then, you can either record yourself playing the song live and fix the notes you miss, or you can use your keyboard as an input device to enter the notes manually.
When you are done, simply export into a MIDI file.
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I would recommend notation software, such as Finale.
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