publication date: Mar 25, 2021
author/source: Greg Staley
It's impossible to overstate how disruptive and destructive the coronavirus pandemic was to the restaurant industry. It dramatically shifted buying behavior of guests, created major supply chain fluctuations, and created health and safety restrictions on operations. This drove profitability down across many brands as they struggled with lower revenue and increased costs from new inventory items.
Now looking at the prospect of recovery, many restaurants are facing a long road to regaining the profitability they had before the pandemic hit. According to the 2021 State of the Industry Report from the National Restaurant Association, approximately 86% of restaurants margins have gotten thinner compared to pre-pandemic. Trying to rebuild margins without any changes to the way you work will take time you don't have, which is why many brands are now looking to new ways to use restaurant technology to reduce food and labor costs.
Just as online ordering, delivery, and touchless payment technology were a necessary life preserver when the pandemic hit, refining back-of-house technology will continue to lift restaurants during the recovery phase and into the future. First, expanding reporting will provide needed visibility to make quick, data-driven decisions while your business is still in flux. Second, inventory and purchasing tools give you better control of food costs as you find out what new customer dining behavior will be. Finally, labor and scheduling tools help retain employees and reduce labor costs as competition for labor begins rising.
1. Gain Real Visibility, Not Just Access to Data
Too often, operators fall into the trap of thinking that just because they can track down the data they want, it means they have visibility into their business. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Restaurateurs have access to a nearly limitless number of data points.
But in a fast-moving industry, if it takes three weeks to collect data, compile it with other locations, and decide what action to take, you have missed the moment.
This is where new technology can help. With real-time reports pulling information from your POS, suppliers, and back-of-house system, you can see potential problem areas, things that are working well, or areas of opportunity. You can change up your menu mix, further refine prep processes, or add training to underperforming stores based on what you see.
With profits as thin as they are, a delay of a month or two before action is taken can have a major impact on what the year looks like.
2. Shave Points Off Your Prime Costs
It's easy for something relatively small in your food or labor to throw off your profits for the week. This is why it's more important than ever to have close control over what your inventory costs, making sure you don't over order, and watching for any theft or waste.
Pen and paper inventory, or even more antiquated inventory software, make it difficult for operators to watch food costs by making inventory more time consuming and more difficult to integrate with your other data. More modern systems integrate with your point of sale system to deduct theoretical inventory in real time, which allows you to reconcile with actual inventory on your own cadence while still knowing what's available.
When combined with purchasing tools to maintain contract pricing and monitor deliveries, new inventory technology is a powerful tool for operators to keep a handle on costs while the industry finds its footing. As a bonus, managers and other employees will appreciate how much easier inventory is without having to duplicate data entry or search for the right paperwork.
3. Optimize Labor and Maintain Compliance
Competition for labor is already increasing as many people left the industry and more restaurants go back to higher capacity. This means you need to work both on retention and optimizing your schedules to reduce costs.
Labor management software saves your managers time by using sales forecasts to create an optimized predictive schedule. It also saves you from potential human errors that violate labor laws and cause high labor costs by alerting managers to overtime, mandatory break rules, and other compliance issues.
And you can give burnt out employees one less thing to think about with scheduling tools available on their phones. Modern labor tools allow employees to set availability, swap shifts, and request PTO from their phones. Employees are happy to have one less thing to remember, and managers don't have to try to keep track of group texts and sticky notes the next time they write the schedule.
Restaurants trying to find that extra boost as they begin recovering from the pandemic may want to look at how the restaurant technology landscape could help smooth that path. While you may worry about whether it's the right time to implement new tech, modern systems can help operators bring margins back under control and help you move forward into a stronger future.
Greg StaleyGreg Staley is the CEO of SynergySuite, a back-of-house restaurant management platform. Greg focuses on facilitating better visibility and increased profitability for restaurant chains through the use of intelligent, integrated back-of-house technology. For more information or to discuss SynergySuite's solutions, please contact Greg at _EMAIL_.
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A harmonic reduction technique for cycloconverter propulsion drives.
IEE 7th International Conference on Electrical Machines and Drives.
It is well known that cycloconverter drive systems can give rise to increased motor noise and vibration. This is mainly due to the harmonic distortion present in the output voltage and current waveforms. This paper describes research undertaken to reduce specific harmonic components in these waveforms. The aim has been to reduce those harmonics considered to be particularly troublesome in a typical marine electrical propulsion system. Specific harmonics in the output of the cycloconverter have been satisfactorily controlled and attenuated.
|Title:||A harmonic reduction technique for cycloconverter propulsion drives|
|Event:||IEE 7th International Conference on Electrical Machines and Drives|
|UCL classification:||UCL > School of BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Mechanical Engineering|
Archive Staff Only

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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"Science-Based Management in Practice: an example with native prairies"
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012
Native prairies managed by the USFWS in the Prairie Pothole Region are extensively invaded by introduced cool-season grasses, smooth brome (Bromus inermis) and Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis). Management to suppress these invasive plants has had poor success, mainly for insufficient understanding of prairie restoration ecology and absence of systematic evaluation of management effects. In partnership with the USFWS, we developed an adaptive decision support framework to assist managers in selecting management actions under uncertainty and maximizing learning from management outcomes. Decision making under this framework is adaptive, as monitoring feedback increases understanding of the system and in turn determines the path of future decision making. Refuge-specific data provided by cooperators reduces uncertainty across the whole region, allowing individual land managers to receive updated decision guidance that incorporates understanding gained from the collective experience of all cooperators. This model-based decision making approach merges science and management in a tangible way that is well-suited for many fish and wildlife applications.
Jill Gannon, Ph.D.
Northern Prarie Wildlife Research Center
United States Geological Survey
PDF of the Webinar presentations:

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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Definition of bigly
a. - In a tumid, swelling, blustering manner; haughtily; violently. 2
The word "bigly" uses 5 letters: B G I L Y.
Direct anagrams of bigly:
List shorter words within bigly, sorted by length
All words formed from bigly by changing one letter
Browse words starting with bigly by next letter


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Press Release 07-058
Follow the "Green" Brick Road?
Bricks made from coal-fired power plant waste pass safety test
May 22, 2007
Researchers have found that bricks made from fly ash--fine ash particles captured as waste by coal-fired power plants--may be even safer than predicted. Instead of leaching minute amounts of mercury as some researchers had predicted, the bricks apparently do the reverse, pulling minute amounts of the toxic metal out of ambient air.
Each year, roughly 25 million tons of fly ash from coal-fired power plants are recycled, generally as additives in building materials such as concrete, but 45 million tons go to waste. Fly ash bricks both find a use for some of that waste and counter the environmental impact from the manufacture of standard bricks.
"Manufacturing clay brick requires kilns fired to high temperatures," said Henry Liu, a longtime National Science Foundation (NSF) awardee and the president of Freight Pipeline Company (FPC), which developed the bricks. "That wastes energy, pollutes air and generates greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. In contrast, fly ash bricks are manufactured at room temperature. They conserve energy, cost less to manufacture, and don't contribute to air pollution or global warming."
Once colored and shaped, the FPC bricks are similar to their clay counterparts, both in appearance and in meeting or exceeding construction-material standards.
Supported by NSF's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, Liu has been working since 2004 to develop the bricks. The first phase of support enabled him to make fly ash bricks more durable by engineering them to resist freezing and thawing due to weather. Liu is now working from a second-phase SBIR award to test the brick material's safety and prepare it for market.
"Green manufacturing is a focus for the nation," said Tom Allnutt of NSF's SBIR program, who oversaw Liu's award. "Liu's innovative use of fly ash to manufacture high quality building materials will potentially decrease some of the negative environmental impact of coal-fired power generation while meeting increasing demands for greener building materials."
While researchers need to study the bricks further to determine how the mercury adsorption occurs and how tightly the metal is trapped, the new findings suggest the bricks will not have a negative impact on indoor air quality.
On average, air contains low amounts of mercury that can range from less than 1 nanogram per cubic meter (ng/m3) to tens of ng/m3--a small fraction of the Environmental Protection Agency limit for continuous exposure.
Inside a confined experimental chamber, the bricks did not raise the mercury levels in the surrounding air (originally more than one nanogram), and instead appeared to lower the concentration down to roughly half a nanogram.
Engineers from FPC of Columbia, Mo., developed the bricks with NSF support and reported their findings on mercury leaching at the May 7-10, 2007, World of Coal Ash Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Henry Liu has received a number of NSF awards since 1980 and founded FPC after retiring as professor of civil engineering and director of Capsule Pipeline Research Center, a state/industry university cooperative research center established by NSF at University of Missouri-Columbia in 1991 to research and develop capsule pipeline technology.
Joshua A. Chamot, NSF _PHONE_ _EMAIL_
Thomas Allnutt, NSF _PHONE_ _EMAIL_
Henry Liu, Freight Pipeline Company _PHONE_ _EMAIL_
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2012, its budget was $7.0 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 50,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes about 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards about $593 million in professional and service contracts yearly.
Get News Updates by Email
Useful NSF Web Sites:
NSF Home Page: _URL_
NSF News: _URL_
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Science and Engineering Statistics: _URL_
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Is Family Law a Zero-Sum Game?
Many people think that family law cases are a zero-sum game. When one party wins, the other party must necessarily lose, or so people think. Could it be that there can be two winners in a family law case?
What is a zero-sum game?
A zero-sum game occurs when one party must lose for the other party to win. The term "zero-sum" is used mostly in economic theory. However, the principle applies in other areas of our lives as well, or at least it seems to. At its root, zero-sum theory relies on the concept of scarcity. The idea is that if one person possesses an item, it is because another person cannot simultaneously possess the same item.
Does this same zero-sum concept work in family law cases? For example, there are only 168 hours in a week. Thus, if Parent A possesses a child 104 hours per week, Parent B can only possess the child 64 hours in the same week. But is possession of the child really that simple?
Zero-sum game theory is flawed.
Zero-sum theory relies on scarcity, as noted above. That is, the idea of scarcity requires the belief that there are limited resources available. But this theory fails to consider quality. If a resource is truly limited, is it possible that two people could take different percentages and still be satisfied with the part they took?
Time is truly limited. No one, no matter how rich, can buy more time. There are 168 hours per week for everyone on the planet. For parents who split custody with their children, there are still only 168 hours per week. But are all those hours of the same quality? For example, say a custodial parent technically has possession of the children during the week. How many of those hours are the children at school? How many of those hours is the parent and work? So the parent may possess the child 104 hours per week, but many of those hours are not spent with the child at all. What is the quality of those hours to the parent?
Multiple winners in family law
Because of differences in perceived quality, more than one party can win in a family law case. Whether the issue is child custody, or property division, two people can both get what they want without the other party having to lose.
Defying zero-sum game theory with child possession
A party who wants maximum time with the children can have it. Meanwhile, the noncustodial parent, who may only have the children on the weekends, can spend time with the kids having fun without having to worry about getting ready for school, homework, school night bedtimes, etc. This could be a huge win for the non-custodial parent. The custodial parent sees the children more times per week–almost every day– which is desirable for that parent. However, some of that time is spent doing homework, packing lunches, working on "surprise" or last-minute school projects, studying for tests etc. The point is 168 hours per week with the children can be divided many different ways, but not all hours are created equally. Some are more fun than others.
Defying zero-sum game theory with property division
Property division in a divorce can also defy zero-sum theory. For example, many times in a divorce, one party earns significantly more income than the other. At the time of divorce, the high earner is not nearly as concerned about basic life necessities as the lower earner. The lower earner frequently prioritizes immediate cash flow. Meanwhile, the higher earner generally values the longer-term benefit of preserving retirement accounts. We find determining what the divorcing spouses actually want allows us to divide the property in a way that benefits both parties.
Again, even though the marital estate only possesses a certain amount of assets, a savvy lawyer can help clients keep the portion of the estate they value most. For example, if one spouse needs more liquid cash, providing that spouse with a greater share of the equity in the home can help that spouse with their immediate financial goals. Meanwhile, the other spouse may keep more retirement assets, which that spouse values more than the immediate cash from the sale of house.
Quantity is only one factor in family law cases. The Texas Family Code structures the division of custody of children, rights and duties of the parents, and marital property division. Too many people think when one spouse wins, it is because the other spouse loses.
Fortunately, family law is not a zero-sum game. Win-win situations happen all the time. However, win-win situations rely on thoughtful and strategic legal work. Unfortunately, many family lawyers subscribe to zero-sum theory. We recommend seeking a family law firm that understands the value of win-win resolutions. At Youngblood Law P LLC, we reject zero-sum theory. We plan for win-win situations for our clients. Luckily, in family law cases many opportunities for win-wins exist. The question is whether your family law firm is up to the challenge of seeking out and pursuing win-wins, or if the firm merely settles for a zero-sum game.
Youngblood Law - divorce innovationLogoOur Firm
Youngblood Law, PLLC is a Fort Worth, Texas law firm dedicated to family law. We help working people through divorce so they can start their new happily ever after. We also proudly offer the collaborative divorce process for our clients. This essay is intended for educational use only and is not a replacement for competent legal counsel. If you are facing a family law matter, we recommend obtaining competent legal counsel like Youngblood Law, PLLC. For more information, contact us at _PHONE_, find us on the web at
Paul Youngblood _TAG_ _TAG_ _TAG_ _TAG_ _TAG_
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voltage of 140V which means it provide a power supply of 28kVA, hence its total power consumed is 28kVA x0.85 = 23.8kW. According to Malaysian electricity billing rate, the cost is RM9.36 /kWh and the power cost can be calculated as power consumption used x operating time x electricity billing cost. For the gas cost, the consumption rate varies with the operating condition of the machine. For example, 200A oxygen plasma cutter consume 2m3 of oxygen while cutting. Hence, the gas cost can be calculated as the consumption used x operating time x price of air/m3. The consumable cost of the plasma cutter is tracked on monthly or yearly basis. The cost is depending on the part lifespan, operating parameters, duration of cuts, number of pieces and operating skill. The effective way on calculating the cost is the consumption rate x operation time x part cost. Labour cost is the major cost of the operation because it depends on the experience of the operator hired and the average hiring cost per operator in Malaysia is around RM1000 to RM1500. Hence, the labour cost is calculated as the total hours operated per year x shop hourly rate x number of people hired. In the overall starting investment in CNC plasma cutter machine is approximate RM 600000 to RM700000 which include the initial and operating cost. This investment is a huge risk to handle due to the amount of money would be invested and countermeasures on reducing the risk is needed to prevent the loss of value of this investment. 10 Therefore, there are a few recommended countermeasures that can optimize the productivity and reduce the risk of loss in investment. The first recommendation is the preventive maintenance should be carried out to prevent downtime for repair which is costly. Also, secondary operation needed to be minimized and this can achieve by optimizing cut quality. This method can produce better quality cut piece and reduce the use of raw material which could cut down the operating cost. Lastly, optimizing the consumable cost by hiring good operator could reduce the operating cost as this reduce the investment risk.
The second factor of market risk in CNC plasma cutter investment would be the inflation of raw material price. This is because the inflation of the price will affect the price of the product produced by the machine and the profitability of the investment may decrease. For example, hot rolled carbon steel sheet is commonly used in CNC fabrication. 12 According to MEPS (International) LTD statistics, the price of hot rolled carbon steel sheet in May 2017 is around RM 2092 per tonne and the price in May 2018 is around RM 2548 per tonne. The reason behind the increasing price of carbon steel is due to two main factors which are the high demand of supply from the market and the low supply provided toward the market demand. From the difference of the price given throughout the years, it is shown that the inflation of the hot rolled carbon steel had increased to 21.8% and this could increase the price of the investment which will leads to the increase of market risk. However, the increased price of the raw material can be covered by rising of the cost of final product and service. 13 In the manufacturing field, the price of CNC made product usually cost at least RM1000 due to its high operating cost. Also, the operating of CNC plasma cutter can be charged in operating hour to make profit. In the current market price, the use of CNC machine is charged around RM240 to 320 per hour. Thus, in order to cover the inflation of raw material price, increasing the price of CNC made product and service could be an alternative to reduce the risk bear by the investing company. Moreover, the demand of CNC cutting needs in the market also one of the influencing factors in market risk. 14 According to the Malaysia's index of industrial production (IPI) in May 2018, the manufacturing sector output in Malaysia raised by 4.1 per cent and the major sub-sector which is non-metallic mineral product, basic metal and fabricated metal product had increased 5 percent. Based on the statistic given, the market has shown a good demand on manufactured product and the market risk on investing CNC plasma cutter will be less as there is high chance the CNC machine invest can fulfil the market demand. Hence, the value of the machine will be high due to its high demand in the market. As the value of the machine is high, there will be lesser risk for the investment to receive. For the last factor which affect the market risk of the investment is the economic stability of the country. 15 Malaysia has the one most open economy in the world with an averaging over 140 percent of GDP ratio since 2010. Malaysia economic is well-diversified and it is weathered toward the external shock. Also, the financial system and banking system of the country is well-functioning. Hence, the market risk will be low based on the current situation of Malaysia's economy and investment of the CNC plasma cutting machine would being less affected by the market risk.
Maintenance on Machine
Maintenance is a process of preserving a condition or situation or the state of being preserved. On the other hand, risk management is the process of identifying, assessing and controlling threats to an organization's capital and earnings. In this case, the maintenance risk of CNC plasma cutter is being discussed because it is very important as it is always the priority for a manufacturing company. Machines that have a regular preventive maintenance can prevent the unwanted break down, increase its uptime, maintaining the best performance of the machine etc. Hence, the company has to look forward to the maintenance risk as it will affect the profit of the company.
Before purchasing any product, an individual or a company has to do a lot of research and assessment regarding the risk of the product. One of the risks that the company has to consider is the maintenance of the product to determine whether or not to invest in that particular product. In order to discuss in detail, the product chosen by the company is fixed as CNC Plasma Cutter. First of all, the issue is the maintenance cost for the machine. According to the current market value, the preventive maintenance cost for CNC plasma cutter is around RM4000 per time for the first 5 years, 16. As time goes on, the component of the machine will start to get older and older. Hence, preventive maintenance cost will be increased based on the condition of the machine. Moreover, if there are many components of the machine break down, the maintenance cost will get higher and higher and the same goes to the time spend on the maintenance process. Besides that, 16 says that a minimum of 2 preventive maintenances have to be carried out to make sure the CNC plasma cutter is working in the best condition. Meaning to say that, the preventive maintenance cost for the first 5 years will be around RM8, 000 and the cost for the following years will up to RM10, 000 or above. Besides the preventive maintenance, plasma table cleaning also considers as one of the maintenances which can improve productivity and uptime of the CNC plasma cutter 17. Al Holst and Rachel Scheck 17 mentioned that "The plasma cutting arc produces a large volume of molten slag that pours over the slats supporting the metal being cut. After a few weeks of production cutting, the slat can become so coated with slag that they actually grow wider until airflow into the table is blocked." The environment will become unsafe and fill with smoke if the maintenance of the table is being delayed 17. In order to increase the production rate, the company has to purchase more than one CNC plasma machine based on the company modal. So, the maintenance costs will be double up based on the number of machines purchased. In short, the company has to consider the recurring cost as it is a huge burden for the company.
In this case, let us make a comparison of table maintenance costs between conventional plasma cutter and modern plasma cutter and the total maintenance cost table (Table 2) to illustrate the total maintenance cost in 10 years. Assume the company is using the conventional plasma cutter and the maintenance cost for the first 5 years is RM4, 000 per time, RM5, 000 per time for the following years and a total of two maintenances per year.
Annual Impact
Modern Plasma Cutter Conventional Plasma Cutter
Labor – Slag removal from table and slag bin RM 2536.25 RM 4869.60
Cost – Slag bin replacement RM 608.70 RM 3246.40
Cost – Slat and slat frames replacement RM 13886.48 RM 29530.07
Lost production (RM 910 / hour) RM 11869.25 RM 43826.40
Labor – Replace slats and slat frames RM 2556.54 RM 3043.50
Total RM 31457.22 RM 54985.90
Table 1: Maintenance of the table of CNC Plasma Cutter
Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 NPV
Cost (RM) 62985.90 62985.90 62985.90 62985.90 62985.90 64985.90 64985.90 64985.90 64985.90 64985.90 RM 639859
Table 2: Total maintenance cost in 10 years
The table above show the total maintenance cost of CNC Plasma Cutter machine in 10 years is RM 639839.00. According to 18, the actual amount of money must be larger than the NPV shown is the table above because the table above does not include the costs for major maintenance and emergency maintenance of the machine which will


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Antique Medicine Bottles Identification Valuation
You've uncovered a treasure trove of antique medicine bottles and can't help but be captivated by their unique shapes, colors, and the stories they hold within. As you begin to delve deeper into this fascinating world of collectible glassware, you'll want to develop an eye for identifying and valuing these artifacts. With meticulous attention to detail, extensive historical knowledge, and expertise in valuation, this article will guide you through the process of assessing your finds and determining their worth.
From understanding bottle markings to assessing condition, identifying age, and determining rarity factors – we'll cover everything you need to know about antique medicine bottle identification and valuation. We'll also explore online resources that can aid in your quest for information as well as tips on seeking expert appraisals. Finally, we'll discuss buying and selling strategies along with ideas on how best to preserve and display your collection. So grab a loupe or magnifying glass and let's get started in unraveling the mysteries behind these intriguing pieces of history!
History of Antique Medicine Bottles
It's fascinating to delve into the history of antique medicine bottles, as they not only reflect the medical practices of their time but also showcase unique artistry and craftsmanship. These glass containers were originally designed to store various remedies, potions, and treatments prescribed by physicians or sold over-the-counter. As pharmaceutical advancements progressed through the centuries, so too did the design and manufacture of these distinctive artifacts. Many early examples feature beautiful colors, intricate designs, and embossed labels that served as both functional storage solutions and impressive pieces of advertising for their respective medicines.
During the 18th century and well into the 19th century, medicine advertising relied heavily on visual appeal to attract customers' attention. The use of vibrant colors in antique medicine bottles was a key marketing technique employed by apothecaries and drug manufacturers alike. Amber, cobalt blue, emerald green - these eye-catching hues not only made products stand out on shelves but also provided an additional layer of protection against light exposure which could cause some medications to degrade or spoil. In addition to color variations, it was common for manufacturers to emboss their company name or product information directly onto the bottle's surface – another clever way to showcase branding.
As you explore your own collection or begin your journey into antique medicine bottle identification and valuation, pay close attention to these historical details that give each piece its unique charm. Keep an eye out for rare shapes or unusual closures such as pontil marks (a telltale sign that a bottle was hand-blown), ground glass stoppers with cork insets (indicative of later manufacturing techniques), or even unusual screw-top caps (which became popular after improvements in molding technology). By appreciating the artistry behind these containers and understanding how they fit within broader pharmaceutical advancements throughout history, you'll be better equipped to accurately assess their value today.
Understanding Bottle Markings
As you delve into the world of antique medicine bottles, understanding bottle markings such as Manufacturer's Marks, Patent Dates, and Numbers is crucial. These markings provide invaluable insights into the history and value of your collection. With meticulous attention to detail and extensive historical knowledge, we will help you decode these markings to enhance your expertise in valuation.
More about Antique Marbles
You'll often find clues to the origins of those old medicine bottles by examining manufacturer's marks, like a detective piecing together a historical puzzle. These marks can provide vital information about the bottle's age, manufacturing location, and even the specific glassmaker who crafted it. By comparing bottle shapes and embossed labels to known examples from various manufacturers, you can gain insights into the rarity and value of your antique medicine bottles.
To further enhance your expertise in antique medicine bottle identification and valuation, consider researching these key aspects:
- Bottle Mold Marks: Look for mold seams that run vertically along the sides or base of the bottle – these indicate how it was produced. Early bottles were created using a two-piece or three-piece mold process.
- Historical Context: Researching patent dates, company histories, and regional glassmaking traditions can help you understand which manufacturers were active during specific time periods.
- Glass Color & Quality: Analyze color variations (such as aqua green or amber) and imperfections within the glass itself to determine if they are indicative of particular manufacturers or production techniques.
- Base Markings: Many glassmakers stamped their initials or symbols on the bottom of their bottles – this is called a "base mark." Identifying these markings can be crucial to determining an accurate valuation.
Meticulous attention to detail and extensive historical knowledge will aid you in your quest for identifying valuable antique medicine bottles. As an expert collector, you'll be able to decipher manufacturer's marks with ease and appreciate each unique piece for its history and craftsmanship.
Patent Dates and Numbers
Cracking the code of patent dates and numbers can be an exhilarating challenge for collectors, unlocking secrets about each artifact's history and worth. To begin your journey in patent research, first locate the patent date or number on the antique medicine bottle; this information is typically embossed on either the base or body of the container. Keep in mind that some bottles may feature both a patent date (indicating when it was granted) and a patent number (assigned by the government). Understanding these two components' significance is crucial to accurately identifying your bottle.
Once you've discovered a patent date or number, dive deeper into its historical context by consulting resources such as The United States Patent and Trademark Office's online database. Here, you can search for information related to patents issued from 1790 onwards. Moreover, specialized books and websites dedicated to antique bottle collecting can provide valuable insights into specific manufacturers, designs, and time periods associated with your find. By meticulously piecing together this information, you'll not only gain a richer understanding of your antique medicine bottle's story but also enhance its overall valuation within the collector community.
Assessing Bottle Condition
When examining an antique medicine bottle, it's important to take note of any chips, cracks, or stains that could impact its overall value. Proper bottle storage and damage prevention are crucial in maintaining the integrity of your collection. Just like other antiques, the condition of a medicine bottle is one of the main factors when determining its value. Keep a keen eye for any imperfections and document them for future reference.
To help you assess the condition of your antique medicine bottles, here's a table to serve as a guide:
|Condition||Description||Impact on Value|
|Mint||No visible flaws; appears as if never used||Highest Value|
|Excellent||Minor wear or scratches but no major flaws; may have light staining||High Value|
|Good||Noticeable flaws such as small chips or moderate staining; structurally sound||Moderate Value|
|Fair||Significant flaws including large chips, heavy staining or cracks||Low Value|
|Poor/Damaged||Major damage such as broken parts or missing components; may require restoration||Lowest Value|
It's essential to be thorough when inspecting your antique medicine bottles to ensure accurate valuation. Pay close attention to details such as embossed lettering and labels – their legibility and preservation can also affect the bottle's value. Additionally, remember that patina or iridescence might be desirable for some collectors while others may prefer their bottles free from these features. Ultimately, understanding what affects the condition of your bottles will enable you to make informed decisions about their care and potential worth in the market.
Identifying Bottle Age
As you delve into the world of antique bottles, it's crucial to familiarize yourself with key indicators that reveal a bottle's age, such as glass color and manufacturing techniques. Understanding the nuances in these two aspects will showcase your meticulous attention to detail and extensive historical knowledge, elevating your expertise in valuation. In this discussion, we'll explore how to accurately identify bottle age through examining glass color variations and recognizing distinct production methods used throughout history.
The glass color of antique medicine bottles can significantly impact their identification and valuation, since it's often indicative of the bottle's age and rarity. Glass deterioration and color variations are key factors to consider when examining a bottle. Over time, the chemical composition of glass can change, leading to alterations in color that may provide clues about its age. For instance, manganese dioxide was commonly used as a decolorizing agent in the production of clear glass until the early 20th century; however, exposure to sunlight over an extended period can cause a reaction that turns the glass shades of purple or lavender.
In addition to changes brought on by aging and exposure, certain colors were more prominent during specific periods in history. For example, aqua was popular for medicine bottles between the mid-19th and early 20th centuries due to its low cost and ease of production. Conversely, cobalt blue bottles are rarer since they required more expensive materials—such as gold chloride for deep reds or copper for various shades of green—resulting in higher valuations today. By closely scrutinizing a bottle's hue alongside your knowledge of historical trends in glassmaking practices, you'll be better equipped to determine its origin and potential worth accurately.
Bottle Manufacturing Techniques
Understanding bottle manufacturing techniques is crucial in grasping their historical context and appreciating their unique characteristics. Early antique medicine bottles were made using a range of glassblowing techniques, with some dating back to the Roman Empire. As technology evolved, so did the methods used to create these fascinating relics of medical history. By examining the manufacturing process, you can gain a deeper understanding of how these bottles were produced and what factors influenced their design.
To help you better identify and value your antique medicine bottles, consider these key aspects of bottle manufacturing techniques:
- Hand-blown glass: Before the advent of machine-made bottles, skilled artisans would blow glass into molds or shape it freehand.
- Mold types: Early bottle molds were often made from wood or clay


Developmental characteristics of firesetters: Are recidivist offenders distinctive? [2018]
This study examined the prevalence of developmental disadvantage and the extent that disadvantage could differentiate between recidivist and one‐time firesetters in an Australian sample of firesetting offenders.
Variables pertaining to developmental experiences were collected from file data held by the Western Australian Department of Corrective Services pertaining to all offenders (n = 354) convicted of a firesetting offence between 2005 and 2010. Analyses of variance were conducted between recidivistic and one‐time firesetters to investigate which developmental factors were related to risk of recidivism.
Based on previous research, it was hypothesized that firesetters would have poor developmental experiences characterized by high rates of abuse, parental absence, early substance use and poor educational achievement. This hypothesis was partly supported. Multiple firesetters were much more likely to be victims of childhood sexual and physical abuse and be diagnosed with a learning disability.
Current theories of firesetting maintain that an impoverished developmental experience catalyses the development of psychological risk factors that precipitate and maintain firesetting behaviour. The high prevalence of developmental risk factors among this population lends evidence to this relationship.
These data suggest that physical and/or sexual abuse, the absence of a mother or father figure through childhood, problematic substance use, poor academic achievement and the presence of speech, learning and reading deficits are common among firesetters generally and the presence of childhood abuse and learning disability is a risk factor for repeat firesetting.
Ryan Bell, Rebekah Doley, Deborah Dawson
Legal and Criminological Psychology, Volume 23, Issue 2, September 2018


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Circular motion
 1. Jun 8, 2005 #1
 I have recently completed my mid-year chemistry exam and came accross a question that i cannot find an answer to. Me and my friends completely disagree and i was wondering if anyone could help me?
 -The question showed a simplified diagram of a train around a circular section of a track, and the question asked-"draw an arrow representing the force exerted on the wheels of the train by the track while the train is decelerating".
 Does the braking of the train have any effect on the forces present between the track and the train?
 Thanx guys...
 2. jcsd
 3. Jun 8, 2005 #2
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 Please DO NOT double post!
 4. Jun 8, 2005 #3
 So you can't actually help me, i just thought that i may have posted in the wrong section!
 5. Jun 8, 2005 #4
 wouldnt the braking create a greater magnitude of friction or create friction if there wasnt any initially present?
 6. Jun 8, 2005 #5
 See thats my main problem. Does the braking affect the interection between the track and the wheels, the question seemed to be quite specific. Is the brake force applied to the wheels or the track?
 7. Jun 8, 2005 #6
 There are actually two forces: the normal component F_cent of the reaction force of the track (providing the centripetal acceleration), and the backward pointing frictional force f_k that arises during braking. So the resultant force that the track applies on the wheel points somewhere between the center of the circular track and the backward direction.
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 8. Jun 8, 2005 #7
 Wow this forum is great, thanx for the speedy replies.
 See thats the answer i would give if asked for the net force on the system, however if it singled out the force ON THE WHEELS EXERTED BY THE TRACKS, is the answer still the same?
 9. Jun 8, 2005 #8
 It's the same thing. The weels have the same acceleration as the whole system. The difference is that the acceleration is multiplied with the mass of a single wheel, rather than the mass of all the train system.
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Like most people, you probably keep tabs on your cheque account just to be up to date with the balance. If you are an investor, I bet you monitor your investment accounts closely, too. But can you say the same of your home? Do you know its current worth?
Just a few years ago, Business Insider reported that a reasonably huge number of Americans were clueless about their home's value; a situation that may not reflect well on you as homeowner or property investor.
In some countries, like Canada, homeowners are lucky to have services that allow them to estimate the worth of their home. Nevertheless, since it's probably the single-most biggest investment you will ever make, it would be of great help to you to know its worth and, most importantly, things that can raise lower its value, which is what we'll look at today.
1. Proximity to Power Lines/Plants
Even though they play a significant role in our lives; i.e., fetching electricity to our homes, power lines can also be a problem, particularly if they are close to your property.
A study done in England and Wales to determine the relationship between high voltage power lines and childhood cancer found that the later had a role in the occurrence of the aforementioned disease. Yet that's not the only negative effect of living close to power lines/plants.
Some people hate the fact that such installations are imposing and unattractive. When you add the associated health effects, from cancer and headaches to insomnia, anxiety, muscle pain, and rashes, this can easily make your home unattractive and negatively affect its value.
One way to minimize the effects of power lines and plants is to use building materials that reduce exposure. To learn more, consult with a construction expert.
2. Unnecessary Renovations
The changes you make to your home that are either untypical for your neighborhood or require additional upkeep could negatively impact your home's value. For example, installing a pool in a colder climate while none of the homes in your neighborhood have one can make your property less desirable.
The same applies to things like large fountains, exotic gardens, and sophisticated landscaping, unless it's a luxurious neighborhood. But if it's not, a middle-class homeowner will consider such additions extra work, a fact that can make your home a hard sell and eventually lower its value.
So, before making renovations, take time to learn of upgrades that can hurt your property's value.
3. Personalizing Your Interior Design
A common mistake homeowners and property investors make is that they focus on the exterior a lot, forgetting that the interior equally matters.
We all have unique tastes and preferences and, so, if your home's color, wall, décor, and other aspects of your interior design are personalized, that could be the reason buyers are staying away from it or quoting lower prices because of the major renovation works they anticipate. Bear in mind that what looks attractive to you may not really appear the same to another person.
Therefore, when planning to sell your home, make the design neutral and simple such that the buyer can easily visualize how they would like the home to look.
Also worth mentioning is that interior designs are hardly constant. While there are timeless designs trends that refuse to go away, trendy designs continue to emerge year after year. Striking a balance between the two can help to meet buyers halfway or open room for more discussion, as opposed to leaning on one side and turning away the other half.
4. Being Nearby Landfill Sites
Landfill sites can drag down your home's value as well. How much harm it does will, however, depend on how close it is to the home and its size. For many, the noise, dust, vermin, and smell from such sites are a nuisance.
If your neighbourhood faces such a situation, it would be great for all of you to come together as homeowners and approach the environment protection agency in your area for a solution. In countries like the US, there are initiatives designed to make older or abandoned landfill sites conform to current standards.
5. Hoarders And Untidy Neighbors
If you have hoarder neighbors, that can easily be the reason your home's value is low. In case you didn't know, a hoarding house can be a serious fire hazard. Also, the rotting trash inside it can be a huge attraction for insects and rodents.
Such safety and health concerns, in addition to overgrown yards, clutter, peeling paint and the like in your neighbors' homes can lower your property's value and even turn off potential buyers. Fortunately, there are a number of solutions to this.
Final Thoughts
There's no doubt that there are way more things that could lower your home's value, besides what we've mentioned. However, these five are quite common and carry a large impact. Some, like being close to power lines/plants or landfill sites may appear unsolvable, but don't let that discourage you.
It would actually be great if you schedule an appointment with a competent property management firm as their experts can suggest ideas and solutions that can help you turn things around.
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Molecules on the Edge
This project involves the determination of blood residues on excavated stone tools from the archaic period and assesses the impact of storage, handling, and washing on molecular preservation. The materials that are the subject of the research are from the Tuban Cave, Israel. The cave contains evidence of more than 80,000 years of human occupation. Determining if the adhering material on the tools contain protein of lipids and if it is of human origin, this project will result in the formulation of guidelines for archaeologists and collection managers that optimize the preservation of such information on excavated objects.
In 1995, with funding from the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training of the National Park Service, examination was carried out of a assemblage of stone tools excavated from several sites, collectively called Barney Circle, along the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. Parallel experimentation was performed on a set of experimental tools in order to examine the impacts that excavation, conservation and storage may have on stone tool and pottery artifacts as these materials make their journey from the archaeological site to the museum drawer. Two of the most common interventions, human handling and washing, severely and disadvantageously impacted both protein identification by immunological techniques and DNA amplification using the polymerase chain reaction.
For residue analysis to provide maximal information to archaeologists, alterations in excavation techniques, post-excavation processing and storage, and long term curation will have to dramatically change. While it is unrealistic to propose the all excavations and museum collections accommodate the special needs of molecular level research, select sites and collections will benefit from the consideration given to the friable nature of ancient biomolecules. A shift in perception that considers the inorganic remnants of past life as divorced from the ancient biosphere, and unaffected by present biota to a more inclusive and organic view will add to the interpretation of the archaeological record. At the Barney Circle site, multiple tools were identified with macroscopic residues adhering to the surface, and several different proteins were identified on the basis of molecular weight and immunological reactivity. In cases where protein was preserved on stone tool edges, the use of the tool on animal products can be assigned though the identification of the albumin molecule from blood. The amount of protein remaining after some 1500 years, is vanishingly small. Further surveys of tool assemblages from excavations where human handling was not permitted will form the basis of comparative work ongoing in the laboratory.


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Religious Freedom Restoration Act creates conflict for employers
Although the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission protects employees from discrimination in the workplace from discrimination based on religious beliefs, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act bills that have surfaced in some states have some employers unsure of where the lines of discrimination and freedom of religion meet. In fact, Human Resource Executive Online states that religious conflict is the fastest growing area of discrimination in the American workplace.
While the Religious Freedom Restoration Act is not actually a new concept and was originally signed into law by President Bill Clinton back in 1993 (before it was ruled unconstitutional in 1997), the newer versions of the Religious Freedom Restoration Acts, such as those signed into law by Indiana, have opened a Pandora's box as to not only whether businesses have a right to refuse service to individuals who have opposing religious beliefs, but also as a way for some employers to decide whom they will and will not hire.
As an example, the Supreme Court is currently considering whether Abercrombie & Fitch had the right to refuse to employ a female job applicant who wore a hijab based on its practice of only hiring employees who meet their image-conscious practices. The clothing retailer maintained that it didn't know that the head covering worn by the applicant was a religious item.
A ruling that could place the burden of knowing whether a job applicant is in need of religious accommodations on the employer could potentially cause employers to ask job applicants questions about their religious affiliations. This could open employers to even more potential discrimination claims.
Individuals who believe that they have been the victims of religious discrimination may find it beneficial to speak with an experienced Michigan employment law attorney.
Source: Human Resource Executive Online, "Religion in the Workplace," May. 12, 2015
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Before sending parts back to LMR, we recommend following the steps below to ensure the return process is followed correctly! This will help speed up the return and get your money back as soon as possible!
RMA RETURN PROCESS STEPS
- Review the Return Policy
- Next, after reading the policy, click the "I agree with these terms" box to start your return.
- Then, select your Reason for Return.
- Select the condition of the part or parts.
- Fill out the Customer Information (first and last name, address, etc.)
- Enter Order Number(s) – you can list more than one order number if sending parts back from multiple orders.
- List item number(s) and quantity - please provide the order number for each part if returning more than one order. Example: type the item number then put the order number next to the corresponding part. (WYxxxx : SVE-8005 x1)
- Click the checkbox to agree to terms and check the Captcha.
- Next, click on the Submit Return box.
- Once completed, the next page will show your new RMA# that was created and you will have an option to process a UPS. Click the box that says "Create Return Shipping Label" if you choose to do so.
- Then, please check your email and find the RMA email and there you can also generate a UPS label by clicking the box named "Create Return Shipping Label" if you have not already done so.
- If you choose to generate a UPS Label, please enter the parts description. This can be as simple as "Mustang Parts".
- Next, enter your box dimensions – You will need to list Length x Width x Height. UPS prices shipping boxes by their dimensions so please be as accurate as possible.
- Before completing the UPS Label, you will need to agree to the UPS Shipping Policy by checking the box and click the "Rate" box for the UPS Label cost.
- If everything is ok with the cost then click "Process Shipment" and print the label.
At this point, you may write the RMA # on the box, tape the UPS Label to the shipping box, then either drop off the box at a UPS Store or give it to a UPS Driver. Returns are usually processed within 4 business days of receipt at our dock.
If you have any questions, please check out more related return information below or contact our Customer Care Team and we will be glad to assist!


How Is Skateboard Grip Tape Made?
skateboarder's toes image by Joseph Dudash from
Grip tape applied to the top of the skateboard deck creates traction between the rider's shoes and the board itself. Grip tape has a sandpaper-like construction commonly made from silicon carbide or a cheaper material known as aluminum oxide. Skateboard grip tape is now manufactured in a variety of colors, allowing skateboarders to customize their set-ups.
The Base
The manufacturer lays a large sheet of a screen-like polyester film onto a conveyor belt. The polyester film functions as the base of the grip tape. The screen-like design allows the grip tape to be pliable, making it easy to apply to the top of the skateboard deck. Tiny perforations produced in the polyester film allow for water and moisture to run off the grip tape. An automated machine applies epoxy to the top of the polyester film, creating a viscous surface.
The Coating
The abrasive mineral composition silicon carbide is sprayed on top of the polyester film to create the sandpaper-like texture of the grip tape. The cheaper version of silicon carbide known as aluminum oxide is used by the smaller manufacturers. Aluminum oxide is less expensive, but the grip wears out in a shorter amount of time.
Making It Stick
The grit-like silicon carbide dries on top of the polyester film with the use of a high-powered heat lamp. An automated machine applies an acrylic copolymer resin adhesive to the bottom of the polyester film, thus creating the sticky underside of the grip tape.
Backing Paper
A thick backing paper, applied over the copolymer resin adhesive, ensures that the sticky underside of the grip tape will not come into contact with other materials until the time of application.
An automated machine cuts the massive sheets of polyester film with the silicon carbide top and the acrylic co-polymer resin bottom into 32 inch by 9 inch strips. This allows the skateboarder to purchase only one sheet of grip tape per board for around $10.


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Disorientation and spatial abilities performance
Proceedings, 6th International Space Syntax Symposium, Istanbul, 2007
Author: Christian Beros Space Syntax Ltd; The Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, UCL.
This paper investigates the relation of Spatial Configuration with Orientation Performance of the individual in Urban Navigation. Spatial Orientation is defined as a function of the mind involving 'awareness of place' in the environment, and is a key aspect of Navigation in terms of maintaining a sense of where the subject is relative to its goal as it is moving. The aim of this paper is to shed light on Spatial Orientation performance and how it is linked to configurational and syntactical properties of space. This topic is intrinsic in the Space Syntax theory due its fundamental relation between spatiality and human activity.
The discussion is developed by the research findings and theories of Navigation, Wayfinding and Spatial Cognition, putting forward varied interpretations related with the research topic and the selected areas. The paper concludes that the Spatial Orientation in Soho and Covent Garden is determined by the Spatial Configuration of the area and that the navigation system used in Central London is mainly Path Integration rather than Piloting or Landmark Recognition System. Then, it is argued that Landmarks act as primary organizers of spatial features in cognitive maps, followed by an environmental knowing and understanding of the Spatial Configuration that is translated in Path Integration.
© 2017 Beros Abdul + All rights reserved


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Authors: Sheila Corrall and Stephen Pinfield
Comments: Discusses the range of definitions of "open" in policy contexts drawing on OER, OA and other aspects as well as controversies and the nature of disagreements.
Abstract: "Open" approaches have the potential to advance significantly the mission of higher education and research institutions worldwide, but the multiplicity of initiatives raises questions about their coherence and points to the need for a more coordinated approach to policy development. Drawing on the European e-InfraNet project, we adopt a broad definition of Open, including activity alongside content, and identify the different Open domains, their salient characteristics and relationships. We propose a high-level typology and model of Open to inform policy design and delivery, and employ Willinsky's framework for open source and open access to discuss the theoretical underpinnings of openness, finding important commonalities among the domains, which suggests that the framework can extend to all the Open areas. We then examine potential shared benefits of Open approaches, which reinforce the argument for a unified policy agenda. We conclude with some observations on limits of openness, and implications for policy.
Corrall, S., and Pinfield, S. (2014). Coherence of "Open" Initiatives in Higher Education and Research: Framing a Policy Agenda. _URL_


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Implementing Siebel eBusiness Applications on DB2 UDB for z/OS and OS/390 > Preparing for Implementation on the DB2 Host >
Estimating the Storage Space Required
The space needed by DB2 varies primarily based on the total number and types of users supported. Consult the IBM DB2 UDB for z/OS and OS/390 technical documentation for more information on these requirements.
The space required for Siebel data and indexes varies depending on what Siebel functionality you implement and the amount and nature of data supporting it. The process for making accurate database size calculations is a complex one involving many variables. The following guidelines will assist you in the process:
- Determine the total number, and types, of users of Siebel eBusiness Applications (for example, 500 sales representatives and 75 sales managers).
- Determine the Siebel functionality that you will implement and the entities required to support them. Typically, the largest entities are:
- Service Requests
- Estimate the average number of entities per user (for example, 100 accounts per sales representative) and calculate an estimated total number of records per entity for your total user base.
- Calculate the average record size per entity and multiply by the total number of records using standard sizing procedures for your specific database and the Siebel Schema definition. Typically, these entities span multiple physical tables, all of which must be included in the row size calculation. This calculation determines the estimated data sizes for the largest entities.
- Add extra space for the storage of other Siebel data. A rough guideline for this amount is one-half the storage required.
- Allow for a margin of error in your total size calculation.
- Factor growth rates into your total size calculation.


Saturday, 18 March 2017
A Ritual for the Planet by Candlelight for Earth Hour
Every year after the Spring Equinox is Earth Hour.
Earth Hour is an annual event when people are encouraged to turn off all non-essential electric lights for an hour as a symbol for their commitment to the planet. It usually takes place from 8.30pm to 9.30pm on a Saturday close to the Spring Equinox at local times all over the world and is a grassroots event, organised by the World Wildlife Fund.
The idea is that instead of using electricity, you do things by candlelight. Activities often include things like dining by candlelight, playing games or having a candlelit procession. However, you could try some candle magic while the electric lights are off.
Here is a ritual for Earth Hour designed to be done by candlelight – although you could do it as a Spring Equinox rite instead if you preferred. The ritual includes casting a circle by candlelight, scrying (or divination) for insight into what you could do to help the environment, and then making a dedication of actions you intend to make in the future.
You will need:
A candle lantern
Plenty of candles to light your space
A bowl or wine glass full of water for scrying
Paper and pens or pencils for everyone present
Some cake and wine (or fruit juice) to share
Optional: A dark and light candle to represent balance.
To start with, light enough candles to see by and put the rest of the things in the middle of your space – perhaps on a small table. Turn off your electric lights and begin your ritual by casting a circle.
How to cast the circle
Casting a circle is done at the beginning of rituals to create a safe and sacred space to contain the magical energy raised and keep out unwanted influences. Here is a simple way to cast a circle using just a candle in a lantern. All you need to do is walk clockwise in a circle around the edge of your space with the lit candle in the lantern. As you do so, try to visualise a circle of light surrounding the area. You can say: "By the light of this candle I cast this circle to be a safe and sacred space within which to honour Planet Earth for Earth Hour."
When you have done that, put the lantern down at the north of the circle you have cast and, if you want, also arrange other candles around the edge of the circle. It does look lovely and helps define your space.
The word 'scry' means to look, and is another term for divination or fortune telling, often using a crystal ball or a bowl of water. It is best done either by moonlight or candlelight.
Place your bowl or glass of water somewhere that everyone present can see it. Everyone should take a few deep breaths to relax and then concentrate on
the question they wish answered. For this Earth Hour rite, the question is: "What should I do, and what should I stop doing, to help the planet?"
Then all present should peer into the bowl of water and watch to see if any shapes or images appear. You probably need to give everyone at least 20 minutes for this, because it can take some time to get answers. Don't talk while you are scrying, just concentrate on looking at the water. The answers might come to you as images, shapes or shadows in the water, but they might simply be thoughts that come into your mind. Scrying can take a bit of practice, so don't worry too much if you don't seem to get anything. It can help to half-close your eyes as you scry.
Dedication of actions
Now it is time to write down the answers you got from the scrying, or to write down other thoughts about what you are going to do to help the environment.
Give everyone pens or pencils and paper for them to make two lists. One list is for actions they are going to take, the other is for things they are going to do less of. If you like you can have one dark candle and one light candle lit on the table to represent the balance of the two lists, but that's optional.
For example, you might say you will start growing your own vegetables, but waste less food; or you might say you will recycle more, but also aim to buy fewer products that are overpackaged. You might even choose to set up a donation to the World Wildlife Fund, but eat less factory-farmed produce.
After the ritual, everyone should put their lists somewhere they will see them to be reminded of their good intentions.
Cakes and wine
It is traditional to end rituals by sharing cakes and wine (or fruit juice for drivers and those who don't drink). Raise a toast to Planet Earth and make a promise to keep your intentions. Save a little of the food and drink as an offering the Earth– to be put outside after the ritual.
At the end of the rite, walk anticlockwise around the circle with the candle lantern and say: "The circle is open, the rite is done." Then snuff out the candle.
Timing an hour by candlelight
This is optional, but if you want to measure the hour by candlight, all you need to do is get a household candle or dinner candle that burns for a stated length of time. Just put a ruler along the edge of the candle, measure the length that will burn in an hour and stick a pin in at that point. Then light the candle at the start of Earth Hour and us it to measure how the time is progressing.
Other candle spells
My book Pagan Portals - Candle Magic: A Witch's Guide to Spells and Rituals details of lots of other spells you could try by candlelight for Earth Hour - or any other time.
Links and previous related posts
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What is VMware vCenter Heartbeat and How will it help you?
by [Published on 23 July 2009 / Last Updated on 23 July 2009]
The latest vCenter option – Heartbeat. Learn how Heartbeat can protect your virtual infrastructure from a vCenter downtime.
VMware's logic is that vCenter is used to manage so many Tier 1 applications and that makes vCenter, itself, a Tier 1 application. We all know that Tier 1 applications need to be highly available. So, if VMware's logic is right, then vCenter also needs to be highly available. That is where vCenter Heartbeat steps in.
Of course, this logic is true only if you feel that vCenter is worthy of that Tier 1 application status. At large enterprises they may not have to think about this question at all. These companies may have a large team of virtualization admins who use vCenter around the clock. They may have even opened up access to vCenter to various parts of the business who use it to manage their virtual machines. Obviously, in cases like these, there is more than just an inconvenience to a single admin if vCenter goes down.
However, at other companies who use vCenter, they have to first ponder the question as to what would be lost if vCenter were suddenly not available. I can tell you that the ESX hosts and Guest VMs will continue to work fine. vCenter is not required for ESX functionality but it is required for specific, more advanced, features of virtual infrastructure. For example, VMHA will still function but DRS will not. For the entire list seeWhat if my VirtualCenter server crashes?
What is vCenter Heartbeat?
So we said that vCenter Heartbeat provides vCenter high availability but what, exactly, does it check and attempt to protect you from?
 - OS failures on the vCenter server
 - Hardware failure of the vCenter server
 - Network failures affecting the vCenter server
 - Application failures on the vCenter server (like the vCenter services or SQL server failure where the vCenter data is located)
The backup vCenter server will even take over for the primary server if there is significant application performance degradation.
How does it work? vCenter Heartbeat server works by replicating all vCenter configuration and data to the secondary passive server using (hopefully) a dedicated network channel. The secondary server is really up all the time, with the live configuration of the active server, but an IP packet filter is masking it from the active network.
Here is what it looks like:
Figure 1: vCenter Heartbeat Server application (Graphic courtesy of VMworld Europe presentation TA15)
And here is a diagram of how it works:
Figure 2: Graceful transfer of vCenter server from active to passive (Graphic courtesy of VMworld Europe presentation TA15)
VMware's vCenter Heartbeat was announced at VMworld Europe 2009 and it is already used by over 130,000 customers around the world when announced. How can that be, you ask? No, VMware didn't come up with this product out of the blue. VMware is really just reselling NeverFail under the name. According to this story at Virtualization.info (VMware kills another ecosystem with vCenter Server Heartbeat 1.0), VMware has an exclusive agreement with NeverFail. That agreement means that VMware will not resell other products from competitors nor can NeverFail sell this product on their own any longer. In the same story, it's pointed out how this new exclusive agreement effectively kills all competition from a variety of companies who were previously partners with VMware.
vCenter Heartbeat is available for $9995 per vCenter or $12,995 when bundled with vCenter server.
How can vCenter Heartbeat help you?
More specifically, vCenter Heartbeat provides continuous monitoring of vCenter connectivity, databases, and components, license server, and update manager. I was very pleased to see that it does indeed work across a LAN or WAN. Thus, Heartbeat provides offsite replication and availability for vCenter. I also think that it's great that it has only a small impact on the performance of the virtual infrastructure. Unlike some other clustering solutions, Heartbeat is hardware agnostic so you can use a physical server as a primary server and a virtual server as a secondary server, etc.
We know that if you did run vCenter on a virtual machine, you could partially protect it using VMHA. However, that isn't going to work over a WAN nor does it help if the SQL data is not on the vCenter server. Plus, VMHA has no application awareness of vCenter and could care less if the services won't start (for example). That said, according to Virtualization.info, 60% of customers still run vCenter on physical machines.
There are several design configurations for implementing vCenter Heartbeat. For example, you could have physical to physical, physical to virtual, or virtual to virtual.
Initially, to create the secondary server, the primary server is cloned. If the primary is already a virtual server, you can simply clone it using the VI Client. If the primary server is a physical server, you would have to clone it using a P2V conversion tool like VMware Converter.
Keep in mind that Heartbeat does not just protect vCenter but also other VI components installed on the vCenter server such as Update Manager, License Server, Capacity Planner, and VMware Converter Enterprise.
For Oracle users out there, you should know that VMware Heartbeat only works only if you use MS SQL Server as your vCenter Server database. Thing brings up an important point – that the vCenter database does not have to be on the same server as vCenter for Heartbeat to protect vCenter.
For more information on vCenter Heartbeat, consider the VMworld 2009 session - Protecting your vCenter Server with Server Heartbeat, which offers both a Video and PDF
For VMware's official site where you can purchase (but not evaluate) Heartbeat, visit: VMware vCenter Heartbeat.
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Cefalù, Italy
Virtual travel to Cefalù, Sicily - Italy
Top attractions & things to do in Cefalù:
History, facts and travel tips about Cefalù
Cefalù, a haven of tranquility, a refuge, and a sanctuary of religious inspiration. A city of facets, levels, and epochs. The name, which translated means "head", probably referring to the shape of the hill and huge rock crowned with an ancient castle, rising above the town, was given to the town by the Greeks. Cefalù's origins are surrounded in mystery. Mentioned in ancient tomes over the ages by Pliny, Strabo and Ptolemy as simply a pleasant Sicilian town, the aroma of this charming city hangs enigmatically in the air of ancient history.
The city developed further when Roger II extended the city further up the hill towards its "head". In this expansion project, he respected the older Roman street map and town planning, which have remained to this day, as have parts of the old Roman walls which stretch right down to the seashore. He also constructed the awesome Norman Romanesque Cathedral in 1131, around which a myth of salvation grew up.


text:
Article in Mashable Tech
Big Idea: Jerry the Bear is a robotic teddy bear that "has" diabetes. Children are able to take care of Jerry by checking his blood glucose levels, giving him "insulin shots" and "feeding" him a variety of foods.
Why It's Working: Targeted specifically to children living with type 1 diabetes, Jerry helps sick kids not only learn about the procedures that are performed on them daily but also empowers them to understand the importance of symptom-checking and self-care.
People with type 1 diabetes, a lifelong genetic condition that prevents the accurate breakdown of glucose in the blood, rely on a steady amount of insulin to be delivered to their bodies every day. Since young children cannot manage an insulin pump, test their own glucose or deliver their own injections, parents with diabetic children must administer at least 3 finger-sticking blood glucose checks and frequent insulin injections every day to ensure diabetes is managed. For a five-year-old child, that's a lot of boo-boos in the name of love.
Enter Jerry the Bear, a fully interactive robotic teddy bear with type 1 diabetes and the brainchild of Northwestern students and Design for America fellows Aaron Horowitz and Hannah Chung. Horowitz, now CEO for the duo's company Sproutel, explains that Jerry the Bear was inspired by the teddy bears children often get after their diabetes diagnosis.


ali bears variegated moonlike spots, it is called Chandrottarakadali and is one-third of its length; Sákulá is variegated with large round spots similar to those that manifest themselves in a kind of leprosy (kushtha), or is furnished with tendrils and spotted like a deer's skin.
Sámúra, Chínasi, and Sámúli are (skins procured from Báhlava, (Bahlaveya).
Sámúra is thirty-six angulas long and black; Chínasi is reddish black or blackish white; Sámúli is of the colour of wheat.
Sátina, Nalatúla, and Vrittapuchchha are the skins of aquatic animals (Audra).
Sátina is black; Nalatúla is of the colour of the fibre of Nala, a kind of grass; and Vrittapuchchha (that which possesses a round tail) is brown.
The above are the varieties of skins.
Of skins, that which is soft, smooth and hairy is the best.
Blankets made of sheep's wool may be white, purely red, or as red as a lotus flower. They may be made of worsted threads by sewing (khachita); or may be woven of woollen threads of various colour (vánachitra); or may be made of different pieces (khandasanghátya); or may be woven of uniform woollen threads (tantuvichchhinna).
Woollen blankets are (of ten kinds):—Kambala, Kauchapaka, Kulamitika, Saumitika, Turagastarana, Varnaka, Talichchhaka, Váravána, Paristoma, and Samantabhadraka.
Of these, that which is slippery (pichchhila) as a wet surface, possessed of fine hair, and soft, is the best.
That (blanket) which is made up of eight pieces and black in colour is called Bhingisi used as rain-proof ; likewise is Apasáraka; both are the products of Nepal.
Samputika, Chaturasrika, Lambara, Katavánaka, Praváraka, and Sattalika are (blankets made of) the wool of wild animals.
That which is manufactured in the country, Vanga (vangaka) is a white and soft fabric (dukúla); that of Pándya manufacture (Paundraka) is black and as soft as the surface of a gem; and that which is the product of the country, Suvarnakudya, is as red as the sun, as soft as the surface of the gem, woven while the threads are very wet, and of uniform (chaturasra) or mixed texture (vyámisravána).
Single, half, double, treble and quadruple garments are varieties of the same.
The above will explain other kinds of fabrics such as Kásika, Benarese products, and Kshauma which is manufactured in Pándya (Paundraka).
Mágadhika (product of the Magadha country), Paundraka, and Sauvarnakudyaka are fibrous garments.
Nágavriksha (a species of a tree), Likucha (Artocarpus Lakucha), and Vakula (Mimusops Elengi), and Vata (Ficus Indica) are the sources (of their fibres).
That of Nágavriksha is yellow (pita); that of Likucha is of the colour of wheat; that of Vakula is white; and the rest is of the colour of butter.
Of these, that which is produced in the country of Suvarnakudya is the best.
The above will explain the fabrics known as kauseya, silk-cloth, and chinapatta, fabrics of China manufacture.
Of cotton fabrics, those of Madhura, of Aparánta, western parts, of Kálinga, of Kási, of Vanga, of Vatsa, and of Mahisha are the best.
As to other kinds of gems (which are not treated of here), the superintendent shall ascertain their size, their value, species, form, utility, their treatment, the repair of old ones, any adulteration that is not easily detected, their wear and tear due to lapse of time and place, as well as remedies against those which are inauspicious (himsra).
[Thus ends Chapter XI, "Examination of Gems that are to be entered into the Treasury," in Book II, "The Duties of Government Superintendents" of the Arthasástra of Kautilya. End of thirty-second chapter from the beginning.]
POSSESSED of the knowledge of the science dealing with copper and other minerals (Sulbádhátusástra), experienced in the art of distillation and condensation of mercury (rasapáka) and of testing gems, aided by experts in mineralogy and equipped with mining labourers and necessary instruments, the superintendent of mines shall examine mines which, on account of their containing mineral excrement (kitta), crucibles, charcoal, and ashes, may appear to have been once exploited or which may be newly discovered on plains or mountain-slopes possessing mineral ores, the richness of which can be ascertained by weight, depth of colour, piercing smell, and taste.
Liquids which ooze out from pits, eaves, slopes, or deep excavations of well-known mountains; which have the colour of the fruit of rose-apple (jambu), of mango, and of fanpalm; which are as yellow as ripe turmeric, sulphurate of arsenic (haritála), honey-comb, and vermilion; which are as resplendent as the petals of a lotus, or the feathers of a parrot or a peacock; which are adjacent to (any mass of) water or shrubs of similar colour; and which are greasy (chikkana), transparent (visada), and very heavy are ores of gold (kánchanika). Likewise liquids which, when dropped on water, spread like oil to which dirt and filth adhere, and which amalgamate themselves more than cent per cent (satádupari veddhárah) with copper or silver.
Of similar appearance as the above (tatpratirúpakam), but of piercing smell and taste is Bitumen.
Those ores which are obtained from plains or slopes of mountains; which are either yellow or as red as copper or reddish yellow; which are disjoined and marked with blue lines; which have the colour of black beans (masha, Phraseolus Radiatus), green beans (mudga, Phraseolus Mungo), and sesamum; which are marked with spots like a drop of curd and resplendent as turmeric, yellow myrobalan, petals of a lotus, acquatic plant, the liver or the spleen; which possess a sandy layer within them and are marked with figures of a circle or a svastika; which contain globular masses (sagulika); and which, when roasted do not split, but emit much foam and smoke are the ores of gold (suvarnadhátavah), and are used to form amalgams with copper or silver (pratívápárthasté stámrarúpyavedharáh).
Those ores which have the colour of a conch-shell, camphor, alum, butter, a pigeon, turtle-dove, Vimalaka (a kind of precious stone), or the neck of a peacock; which are as resplendent as opal (sasyaka), agate (gomédaka), cane-sugar (guda), and granulated sugar (matsyandika) which has the colour of the flower of kovidára (Bauhinia Variegata), of lotus, of patali (Bignonia Suaveolens), of kalaya (a kind of phraseolus), of kshauma (flax), and of atasi (Dinuin Usitatissimum); which may be in combination with lead or iron (anjana); which smell like raw meat, are disjoined gray or blackish white, and are marked with lines or spots; and which, when roasted, do not split, but emit much foam and smoke are silver ores.
The heavier the ores, the greater will be the quantity of metal in them (satvavriddhih).
The impurities of ores, whether superficial or inseparably combined with them can be got rid of and the metal melted when the ores are (chemically) treated with Tikshna urine (mútra) and alkalies (kshára), and are mixed or smeared over with the mixture of (the powder of) Rajavriksha (Clitoria Ternatea), Vata (Ficus Indica), and Pelu (Carnea Arborea), together with cow's bile and the urine and dung of a buffalo, an ass and an elephant.
(Metals) are rendered soft when they are treated with (the powder of) kandali (mushroom), and vajrakanda, (Antiquorum) together with the ashes of barley, black beans, palása (Butea Frondosa), and pelu (Carnea Arborea), or with the milk of both the cow and the sheep. Whatever metal is split into a hundred thousand parts is rendered soft when


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Calf thymus DNA characterization and its adsorption on different silica surfaces
MetadataShow full item record
DNA adsorption is the initial stage of gene therapy for drug delivery systems and solid phase extraction methods of DNA purification. High pore volume and high adsorption capacity are simple requirements not only for producing'smart' drug delivery systems but also the development of purification kits. Silica is the most used material for this purpose. The present study aimed at elucidating the calf thymus DNA biosorption process by the characterization of calf thymus DNA and silica to increase the efficiency of the currently used silica material. Mesoporous silica has long been used for DNA adsorption and silica aerogel is the new adsorbent investigated in the present study. When DNA solution was freeze dried on a silica wafer, self-assembled super helices formed as shown by atomic microscopy (AFM). Thus DNA existed not as single molecules but as large sized agglomerates in water. Thus it could be adsorbed in the macropores and on the external surface of adsorbents. Adsorption of calf thymus DNA to a silica aerogel, a mesoporous silica gel and a silica wafer was investigated in the present study. Silica aerogel was synthesized from TEOS by a supercritical ethanol drying process. The DNA adsorption capacity of the silica aerogel was nearly two times that of the mesoporous silica gel due to its macroporous structure and its higher silanol content. Silica aerogel was found to be a very promising material for DNA adsorption. Therefore silica aerogel can be considered as a good candidate for the delivery of DNA.


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The Problem of Lemons and Why We Must Retain Juvenile Crime Records
T. Markus Funk
Government of the United States of America - Department of Justice
Daniel D. Polsby
George Mason University School of Law
Cato Journal, Vol. 18, No. 1 (1998).
Most states, and the federal government, have statutes that "expunge" (destroy or seal) a young offender's record of juvenile delinquency when he reaches age 17 or 18. The justification for this policy is that it allows young men (and young women) who have been guilty of "youthful indiscretions" to enter adulthood without the heavy stigmatic freight of a criminal record. At bottom, expungement laws seek to prevent employers, police officers, and even judges from finding out about a person's criminal activities during his minority. Although a policy that allows for the expungement of isolated or minor acts of juvenile delinquency may not raise some of the problems discussed in this article, many current statutes tend to aggressively expunge records full of serious and repeated criminal conduct. Examining economicst George A. Akerlof's "Market for Lemons," this article will discuss some of the not so obvious negative consequences that result from such expungement schemes, such as an increased likelihood that race and socio-economic background may be improperly relied upon in sentencing.
Accepted Paper Series
Date posted: February 8, 1998
© 2013 Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Whether you are writing a novel, managing a project, or researching a legal case, Aeon Timeline 2 has the tools to help you map the past and plan the future.
A timeline is composed of a series of events: an occurrence that happens at a particular time for a given duration. Depending on your project needs, these events may represent plot points in a novel, planned future tasks in a project, or known events in a legal case or historical research.
Events are displayed graphically on the timeline with a title, date, and duration, but you can associate a lot of additional meta-data with an event, including colors, tags (keywords), notes, completion status, and other user-definable fields.
Entities and Relationships
Aeon Timeline is not just about events. You can add other items to your timeline such as people, places, projects, resources, and story arcs – known collectively as Entities – and create relationships between events and those entities to mark which characters were present at an event, or which employees are responsible for a task.
If you give an entity a date of birth, Aeon Timeline will calculate that entity's age for each event they are associated with, allowing you to quickly see someone's age at important events in their life.
Group by Type
As your timeline grows in size and complexity, it can be useful to separate events into groups rather than show them interspersed throughout other events. In Aeon Timeline 2, you can select which entity type to group by (e.g. Person, Project, Arc, Location). Events may appear in multiple groups if they have relationships with several different entities.
This allows you to see tasks divided by project or employee, or divide events in a fiction novel by arc, character, or place, making it easy to focus on events associated with an individual entity.
If an entity is configured with a birth date, their age will be shown along the top of the group.
Dependencies allow you to calculate the date of an event based on an offset from the start or end of another event (e.g. Event B = end of Event A + 10 days). This ties the two events together in time so that when you move one event, the other will automatically follow. An event can have multiple dependencies, in which case its start date will be set to the latest calculated date.
Dependencies allow you to ensure pre-requisites are met in a project (i.e. a task that cannot start until an earlier one has completed), or tie together events in a fiction story that require a fixed offset (e.g. a birth must occur 9 months after conception).
Link to Images/Research
Aeon Timeline allows you to link your events with images and external documents and websites, allowing you to link your chronological view with your research and supporting documentation.
Linked images can be shown directly on the timeline, and clicking on linked files will open them in their appropriate application (or directly within Aeon Timeline via Quicklook on the Mac).


text:
South Seattle Community College Students: My courses are online using CANVAS and not Angel.
How to get to class:
Username=Student Identification Number (SID)
Password =1st 6 letters of last name (lowercase - ignore punctuation and spaces)
ex 1: Jill Who-Needsit = whonee
ex 2: Sam Jameson = jameso
ex 3: Mildred Sing Song = singso
ex 4: Cho Du = dududu (please note that we repeat the last name to create 6 digits)


text:
Dawn baseline interplanetary trajectory for primary mission.
November 8, 2012
The thin solid lines represent the orbits of Earth, Mars, Vesta, and Ceres. The duration of the coast periods during interplanetary cruise are exaggerated in this depiction. In addition, thrusting at Vesta and Ceres is not shown.
Topics: Astronomy, Spaceflight, Planetary science, Mars program, Planet, 4 Vesta, Vesta, Unmanned spacecraft, Discovery program, Dawn, Ceres, Environment


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Sounding Knowledge: News
Sounding Knowledge Network
AHRC Network Research Project (2022-2023)
Aural Literacy Workshop 1 – Bamberg, Germany
In early December 2022, the Sounding Knowledge Network met in Bamberg, Germany for the first of our off-line Aural Literacy Workshops. The core team (consisting of Salomé Voegelin, Werner Friedrichs, Kevin Logan, Kerstin Meissner, Michael Gallagher, Abigail Hirsch and Timothy Smith) were joined by project participants Ingeborg Okkels, Marcus Wachter, Shanti Suki Osman, Selmar Schülein, Steffen Pelzel, Yosa Peit, as well as PhD students from the University of Bamberg, Verena Männer, Julian Schröter, Jana Ziel, Hanna Sophia Kaufmann, Ana Patricia Schultz, Vincent Weikert, Manuel Krauss and Lukas Barth, and Maxim Himmelspach from the University of the Fine Arts Braunschweig.
The workshop participants were tasked with building on the work achieved during two online meetings (see here for a list of participants), which took place in September and October 2022 and explored the practical and theoretical frameworks of sound in education, and education through sound. The first of these online meetings explored 'Positionalities' through an exchange of expertise, methods and tools as well as through presentations and discussion, to find the problems and promises of a Sonic Pedagogy. The second online meeting developed these positionalities through a focus on methodologies of teaching and learning through plenum discussions and breakout sessions, comparing methods, aims, methodologies and finally arriving at four speculative scenarios which subsequently became four questions which provided a conceptual starting point for our work in Bamberg:
- How can we use/produce sounds to grasp the material and spatial process of the political positioning-in-the-world/society?
- In what ways can a playful engagement with sound create a site for relational and experiential learning? And how might these sonic practices positively disrupt epistemic power structures and preconceptions?
- How can we use sounding and listening to create space for non-representationality?
- In what ways can we use Sounding and Listening to grasp and practice something that is unfamiliar/new to the students?
These questions structured and informed our aim to produce a teaching toolkit in Bamberg. The participants split into four groups, each tasked with thinking through their allocated question to create methods and tools for an applied scenario that might generate a Sonic Pedagogic moment. At the end of the first full day we came back together in plenum to present our tentative findings before enjoying a wonderful dinner in the beautiful old town of Bamberg, where less structured but fruitful discussions on sound, education, politics and art continued and networks were strengthened. The following half-day was spent developing these ideas further, with each group attempting to generate concrete text-scores, instructions, methods, tools, and pathways that could be communicated and ultimately transferred across pedagogical scenarios to create cross-disciplinary and applied possibilities for the promotion and testing of Aural Literacy.
These outcomes will be developed, responded to, applied and tested further in the next meeting which will take place in in February 2023 in London, when the core team, adjunct members, together with PhD students from the University of the Arts London and invited experts from Sound, Music, Pedagogy and Education will meet to together work towards the stated aim of the project: to create a Zine as a workbooklet for a Sonic Pedagogy
UAL Teaching Conference 2022
This paper with performance element introduces the 'Sounding Knowledge Network', an AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council UK) funded network project that responds to the visuo-centrism of conventional educational methods and the resulting lack of participative and embodied learning opportunities. The paper part will articulate the motivation and aims of the project, while its performative element will practically speculate on its methods. The objective is to introduce Sonic Pedagogy as a transversal practice that uses embodied, sensory and tacit learning possibilities, which are able to nurture a sensational dimension in education.
The hope is that participants will come, if not to fully understand, then at least to imagine the potential and need for sonic competencies, the skill to engage in a subject/discipline or materiality through the relational capacity of sound, and that they come to appreciate the benefits of a sonic sensibility, the ability to hear one's own position within a plural and interdependent world. The objective is to help the the audience to in their own teaching and learning use sound's invisible and connecting dimensionality and to become able to understand how it might augment their practices, allowing them to include the affective and the sensational in their own educational work.
The Sounding Knowledge conference presentation can be downloaded here.


BCG GAMMA, in Collaboration with Scikit-Learn, Launches FACET, Its New Open-Source Library for Human-Explainable Artificial Intelligence
BCG GAMMA FACET Helps Human Operators Understand Advanced Machine Learning Models So They Can Make Better and More Ethical Decisions
BOSTON—Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has released its first open-source software library for human-explainable artificial intelligence (AI). BCG GAMMA FACET enables users to make better business decisions by opening the "black box" of advanced machine learning models. Advances in AI have given data scientists powerful tools to analyze complex business problems and predict outcomes. FACET goes one step further, giving data scientists and business experts a new way to understand how a model arrives at predictions. With this new insight, data scientists can use machine learning models to inform decisions that save money, maximize yield, retain customers, remove bias, and improve patient outcomes.
BCG believes that humans must always be at the core of all AI-based decisions. By helping developers and business users understand how algorithms analyze the data sets on which AI predictions are based, BCG GAMMA FACET reestablishes human control over and trust in AI. It uses a newly developed model-inspection algorithm to explain the relationships between the model variables. And it applies a simulation approach to enable data scientists to conduct "virtual experiments" to determine how changes in these variables can affect predicted outcomes.
"Data scientists are often under pressure to explain the behavior of their models. This is precisely the aim of FACET: to explain the key variables in the models very quickly, in order to provide greater clarity in the dialogue between data scientists and operational teams. By facilitating the explicability of models, FACET contributes to the deployment of a more transparent and more responsible AI," says Sylvain Duranton, BCG managing director, senior partner, and global leader of BCG GAMMA.
"We are very glad that scikit-learn's simple and consistent design allowed BCG to develop FACET, a very valuable tool for our community," says Alexandre Gramfort, senior research scientist at Inria, co-author, and member of the scikit-learn technical committee.
"BCG GAMMA is very excited to join the open-source data science community with our public release of FACET," says Jan Ittner, BCG partner, associate director, and leader of the BCG GAMMA FACET team. "We look forward to working with the data science community and in partnership with scikit-learn to make AI more useful and understandable for everyone."
BCG GAMMA FACET is an intuitive, easy-to-implement, open-source software library available to the global data science community.
For more information about BCG GAMMA FACET, please contact Sophie Ruedinger at +49 _PHONE_ or
For more media queries, please contact Eric Gregoire at _PHONE_ or
BCG GAMMA is BCG's global team dedicated to applying artificial intelligence and advanced analytics to critical business problems at leading companies and organizations. The team includes 900-plus data scientists and engineers who utilize AI and advanced analytics (e.g., machine learning, deep learning, optimization, simulation, natural language and image analytics, etc.) to build solutions that transform business performance. BCG GAMMA's approach builds value and competitive advantage at the intersection of data science, technology, people, business processes, and ways of working. For more information, please visit our webpage.
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